Shinji Matou at Your Service

"Say what you have to say, no one's stopping you."

"You said it."

Touko exhaled a smoke ring, her eyes drooping and her mouth curling up in a malicious smile.

Aoko's expression stiffened, and just as she was about to stop her, Touko began spilling the beans.

"So... should I talk about when she was five and hid her wet bed sheets in the backyard leaves and burned them, only to get a severe beating from our father?"

"Or the time in fifth grade when she was so drowsy she ate the chalk the teacher threw at her?"

"Right, how about when she was in her second year of middle school and received a love letter from a senior who was gay?"

Aoko exploded again, but this time it was not just anger but also embarrassment and shame.

"I don't want to hear it! None of them! You can't say any of them!"

"But this is the Grievance Pavilion specifically for venting, and the owner allows me to complain."

"You traitor, treating your cute little sister who trusted you and told you everything like this."

"Oh well, I'm the worst sister in the world anyway."

With nothing left to say, Aoko resorted to cursing: "You—you should just get nasopharyngeal cancer, oral cancer, lung cancer, and die."

Touko was indifferent: "Doesn't matter, I'd just get a new body, even if I had cancer all over my body, what could it do to me?"

The two faces drew closer, Aoko's spit sprayed onto Touko's face, and OTouko's smoke ring blew into Aoko's.

Although they were cursing, the melody of their souls was not dark but warm and nostalgic, making Shinji sigh.

"Sisters are something special."

"Huh?"

The sisters spoke in unison.

"No matter how close friends are, they need a process from being strangers to being familiar. But sisters don't need that; they are born as intimate friends."

Shinji smiled at the Aozaki sisters, who even argued with impeccable synchronization.

"Are you dumb? What's so good about it?" / "It's more like they're born troublemakers."

"Even if you come early, that person always wants to compete for what you have." / "Even if they come late, the good stuff always goes to them."

"Always acting self-righteous and bossy." / "Always unreasonable and reckless."

"In short, having an older/younger sister is just a nuisance."

The sisters smiled simultaneously, reaching a consensus.

"Yes, it's better to get rid of the older sister." / "Indeed, it's better to get rid of the younger sister."

Then their smiles turned into exaggerated expressions, their gazes clashing like fire and ice before they each looked away after a few seconds.

Aoko crossed her arms and complained in a disdainful tone.

"That person always puts on a cool face trying to act tough. If she's so great, she shouldn't always miss out on what she wants."

Touko bit her lip hard, her face turning pale. However, Aoko's next words made her paleness turn into a blank expression.

"I'd rather continue being an ordinary girl who is loved. Back then, I was loved by my parents and cared for by those around me. Whose fault was it that made me run into this absurd world?"

"Still saying such things now, that's my sister for you, always taking others' things and acting justified. A carefree childhood, leisurely teenage years, becoming a magician, inheriting the family business, and even the color I wanted... everything good went to her. I—"

Unnoticed, the cigarette had burned out and was about to burn her lips, yet Touko didn't notice. Meanwhile, Aoko, who had been sitting with her arms crossed and head held high, gradually softened, her head lowering, left only with a look of loneliness as she listened to Touko's barely audible, perhaps one-time-in-a-lifetime, heartfelt words.

"—I might be... jealous of her. That hopeless fake, always showing off and messing around, disappearing to cause trouble somewhere... just thinking about it gives me a headache."

The cigarette fell.

Red hair turned black.

The little Grievance Pavilion returned to silence, but this time the atmosphere was not heavy but softer, more—warm.

Aoko, with her head buried in her arms, suddenly lifted her suitcase and slapped a bill on the counter.

"Leaving already?"

Shinji asked, "The drink isn't finished."

"With the place stinking of smoke, who could still drink?"

Accompanied by her final complaint, Aoko lifted the door curtain and walked out.

"Thank you for your patronage."

Shinji spoke with a half-smile, looking at the remaining Touko with the same expression.

Feeling awkward under his gaze, Touko asked, "What... exactly do you want?"

"Nothing, just thought it would be better to talk things out."

The teasing on Shinji's face gradually faded, replaced by warmth in his eyes.

"A hundred looks back from past lives for a chance meeting in this one. Cherish it while you can."

"Mind your own business."

Touko slapped the table and stood up to leave.

After taking a few steps with her head down, she found Aoko blocking her path with her long hair swaying.

"Speaking of which... it's been many years..."

"...Yes."

Touko stopped, her slender eyebrows arching upwards.

"Are you looking to settle this?"

"Sure, where to?"

"There's a bar street not far ahead."

"Bring it on, I'll make sure you drink until you're kneeling on the road."

Aoko's face lit up with excitement, and Touko wore a similar expression.

"With just you? I'm the Grilled Meat Emperor's big eater!"

"I'm also the Grilled Meat Emperor's big eater!"

"Let's pub crawl the place tonight."

"No problem, watch me drink all the bars and izakayas dry!!!"

The confident, cool older sister and the spirited, high-spirited younger sister seemed to have returned more than ten years ago.

That year, the older sister was 16, and the younger sister was 14.

That year, the older sister read at home while the younger sister caused trouble outside.

That year, the sisters loved to hide in the study, whispering secrets no one else knew.

Their expressions back then were just like the two walking side by side now.

Time cannot flow backward, but hearts can remain unchanged.

"Do you see it? Justeaze."

Inside the Complaint Pavilion, Shinji quietly smoothed the gap in the door curtain.

Justeaze beside him nodded with a smile.

"It's my first time seeing Touko without her glasses, showing such an expression."

"Katou is left at the Tohno residence by Touko to monitor spies from all sides. You follow them quietly, just in case they drink too much and no one pays the bill or they collapse on the roadside. They're both drinkers and big eaters; even if there's a winner, the victor will likely be barely conscious."

"Got it."

Pure white spirit particles drifted out, transforming into a spectral shadow to protect the sisters who were no longer young.

"The melody of their souls is truly beautiful."

"The color of their souls is truly beautiful."

"Who says primary colors are the highest? Who says orange is the flawed red? A soul has never been something that can be judged by simple colors."

In the now-empty Grievance Pavilion, Shinji closed his eyes, letting the light of his soul spread outward like the tide.