Touko stares at it, then at me, her heterochromatic eyes full of surprise and… Wounded disbelief.
"Kita… You're… You're using this… On me? For him?"
For him?
No. It's not for him. It's for… me.
"It's not about protecting him,"
"It's about stopping you."
Her grip on Kaito's shirt loosens.
"You can't keep doing this, Onee-chan,"
"You can't treat me like I'm still a child who needs you to fight all her battles. You can't just… Attack everyone who gets close to me."
My gaze moves to Kaito, to Kotori, then to Lenah and Haruka.
"They're… They're my team now. And you are, too. You have to stop seeing everyone as a threat."
I release the azure thread. It dissolves into nothingness, leaving Touko's arm free.
Touko's hand falls away from Kaito's shirt. She doesn't look at him or anyone.
She stares at her arm, at the space where the azure thread had been.
Kaito straightens his shirt, clearing his throat awkwardly.
"Right," Kaito says.
"Well... Thanks, Horikita."
Touko stares at the floor, her silver tail limp, her usual lively energy completely gone. She looks… Small. Defeated.
My chest aches.
Seeing her like this… All the fight gone out of her… It's wrong. It feels like I've broken something essential.
I didn't want to hurt her. I just wanted her to… To see me.
"Onee-chan—" I say, moving my hand towards her.
Touko takes a step towards the door, turning her back to me.
"You're right," Touko says, and I almost look around for whoever said it.
I've never heard that voice before.
"You're strong now. You have a new team. You don't need me to… Get in your way."
She doesn't wait for a reply. She… Begins to walk away.
The door is just a few steps away. She's leaving. She's actually leaving.
No.
That's not what I wanted. I didn't want to push her away. I just… I just wanted her to listen. To understand.
My hand, the one I used to stop her, feels empty.
I try to reach out, but my fingers are numb and useless. I'm frozen in place.
...
Lenah, however, moves.
It's not a sudden dash, not an aggressive interception.
She simply steps from her position by the wall and places herself in front of the doorway.
"Where are you going, Touko?" Lenah asks, crossing her arms.
"Out of the way, Lenah,"
"This doesn't concern you."
"You are a member of this team."
Lenah doesn't raise her voice or move from the doorway.
"Act like one."
Onee-chan's fists clench at her sides.
"Team."
"I don't see a team. I see my sister choosing a stranger over me. I see her pointing some… New power at me to defend a human she just met. Does it look like a team to you? It looks like I've been replaced."
"Your perception is incorrect," Lenah states.
"This is not a replacement. This is evolution. Horikita is no longer the child you fled the Underworld with. She is a warrior making her own choices. That you perceive this growth as a personal slight is a failure of your own judgment, not a betrayal on her part."
"Failure?"
"You know nothing about us. You weren't there. You didn't see what we had to go through, what I had to do to keep her safe! You see a 'Failure', I see the only thing that kept her alive!"
Onee-chan's words… They're not just an emotional outburst. They're a weapon. And they struck true.
My chest tightens until it hurts to breathe.
She's right.
She's absolutely right.
Lenah wasn't there. Haruka, Kaito, Kotori… None of them were. It was just us. Just Onee-chan and me, against a world that wanted us dead. Every scrap of food, every safe place to sleep, every monster she cut down so I wouldn't have to… That was her. It was always her.
And I… I pointed a power I don't even understand at her. To protect a stranger.
Even our own kind saw us as different. In the Underworld, we weren't pure-blooded enough. We were outsiders.
She protected me from them, too.
From the whispers, from the glares. She was my only shield. And I just used my new power to push that shield away. For a boy I barely know.
"That's correct," Lenah says, her voice cutting through my spiraling guilt.
"I was not there. I cannot comprehend the depth of your bond or the sacrifices you made for her."
Touko goes still.
"However, I am here now," Lenah continues.
"And I see a sister who is making the same mistake as me."
"You are trying to protect her from pain. From growth. From making her own choices. You believe that by being her only shield, you are keeping her safe. But you are not. You are building a cage."
Cage.
That's what Onee-chan's love feels like sometimes...
"I had a student once," Lenah continues, her arms slowly uncrossing and falling to her sides.
"My first. I trained her. I protected her. I tried to shield her from the harshness of this world, just as you have done for Horikita. I thought I was making her strong. But I was making her dependent. And when a true threat came… A threat I could not shield her from… She was not ready. And I lost her."
Lenah's hand touches the violet ribbon in her hair.
"Your fear of being replaced is blinding you, Touko. You see Horikita's new strength, her new allies, as a threat to your bond. But the real threat… is your refusal to let her grow beyond you. That is the path that leads to loss. That is the mistake I made. And I will not watch you make it, too."
...