Chapter 114: Siblings

「Ahh…Uhh…」

I took a deep breath in front of the door.

I had done some training before coming here, but I got so nervous that my body stiffened when I actually stood here.

I had imaged myself knocking lightly on the door, going inside, explaining what had happened and apologizing.

I had imagined this sequence of events many times over and prepared myself to be yelled for it. I held down my trembling limbs.

I had come this far and all I had to do was knock on this door…but I couldn’t.

Now I was in front of the house where Lily used to live.

My purpose was, of course, to apologize to Kurogane-san, Lily’s older brother.

For the way I had acted as his sister Lily.

According to Kyou, her brother already knew that I wasn’t the real Lily and said that he didn’t hate me.

It’s not that I didn’t believe him, but I was still afraid to meet him.

Her brother was a very kind person.

I didn’t know when he realized that I wasn’t his sister, but he was always kind to me and never made me uncomfortable.

It was all thanks to him that I felt the concept of brother and sister and was able to enjoy the warmth of that bond.

I had been deceiving such a kind brother until now.

Even though her brother had forgiven me, I couldn’t forgive myself.

More than anything, the moment I stepped through this door and told him the truth, her brother and I would become complete strangers, with no blood relation.

That fear made my fingertips tremble, and I stood there unable to do anything.

The moment I finally mustered up the courage to knock on the door, her brother’s face appeared from beyond.

「Ah…」

Shock and impatience made my voice tremble.

Brother smiled gently at me and beckoned me into the house.

「Come in, Lily. 」

Brother’s voice sounded the same as always, but I felt uneasy because of how calm he was, so I bowed my head and quietly went inside.

I sat on the sofa in the center of the room, and brother sat on the opposite sofa.

After a moment of awkward silence, I decided that I had to be the one to start, so I raised my head, looked him in the face, and bowed.

「…I’m so sorry! 」

I could sense that brother was dumbfounded by my sudden apology.

But I still had to say it clearly.

「I…killed your sister. Then I pretended to be your sister. I’ve been playing the role of Lily all this time…I’m really sorry! 」

As I spoke, tears began to flow as I regretted what I had done.

At the same time, memories of the real Lily came back to me.

She was a much kinder, purer girl than me, and more worthy of becoming the hero the world needed.

I felt ashamed for taking her place.

No, what I should really be ashamed of was forgetting her and stealing away her place.

Brother spoke quietly to me.

「…Lily. I’ll call you Lily here. Listen, I don’t hate you. 」

I knew that he would say that.

But still, this was a matter of my own reckoning, and I absolutely had to apologize.

I kept my face down and listened to brother’s next words in silence.

「First of all, it’s probably not true that you killed Lily, right? I had heard the story from my sister before. That she had made a new friend deep in the forest. And I realized later that such friend was you. 」

Lily had told her brother about me.

The moment I heard that, I couldn’t help but look up, and I saw him smile gently when my eyes met with brother’s.

「I was surprised when I first found you. It shocked me to see my own sister wandering the forest covered in blood. She was also extremely dazed…」

「…」

That must had been after I transformed into Lily’s form, and just before that, I was wandering the forest with my body injured by those adventurers.

When brother found me, he immediately took me home and treated me.

After that, my health returned to normal, but I had lost my memories of the time before and after he found me, as well as many memories from before that.

Brother thought I’d been involved in some kind of accident and thought my memory loss was the result of that accident, so he told me about the memories I’d lost.

However, that was because I was a fake in Lily’s form and didn’t have the ability to inherit memories.

All I remembered were the parts Lily told me, and by adding the parts her brother taught me, my current memories were formed.

After that, I ran away from home to follow the path of the hero Lily that was meant to become, and before I knew it, I had become one of the great heroes.

From that time on, I started living in rented lodgings and had less contact with my brother, but I still returned home from time to time to enjoy meals with him.

「…When did you realize? 」

「That you weren’t the real Lily? 」

I nodded quietly.

Brother thought for a moment before answering my question simply.

「About a month after you came to this house. 」

「…?!」

It was discovered much earlier than expected, and I was surprised.

It was also the time when my body had recovered, and I was aiming to become a hero.

「Ho…How did you notice? 」

I asked without thinking, and brother answered with a gentle smile.

「Well, we’re brother and sister after all. It’s natural to notice when your sister has a different attitude than usual. But I think the biggest difference is the topics you talk about. 」

Saying this, brother looked me straight in the face.

「It’s because she stopped talking about her friend deep in the forest, which she had always talked about. 」

「…」

Indeed. It was an abnormality that should’ve been noticed.

I deliberately sealed my own memories in order to take Lily’s place.

I did this to convince myself that it wasn’t Lily who died there, but me, an SS-rank monster.

But I didn’t realize that this would be the biggest discomfort in becoming the person Lily was.

「So I went deep into the forest my sister had mentioned. There I found the ruins she had spoken of. When I went inside and saw the countless corpses and the devastation, I understood what had happened. Above all, my sister’s body…the real Lily’s body…was there. 」

「…I’m sorry…」

Brother looked surprised when I apologized again, but he quickly shook his head.

「No, I’m not blaming you. In fact, I’m grateful. In that devastation, my sister’s body was the only one that had been properly disposed of. That alone showed me how much you cared for her. 」

Seeing brother’s expression as he muttered this, I couldn’t stop the tears from overflowing.

My own memories of that time were vague, and I didn’t really know what I did.

Still, I sincerely apologized for leaving my important friend in such a place.

Brother spoke to me gently, as if to comfort me.

「…I’m sure you didn’t kill my sister, seeing the devastation and the scars on your body. So there’s no need to apologize for that. 」

「But I…pretended to be Lily, your sister, and…deceived you…」

Yes, that was the biggest sin I should apologize for.

No matter how I explained it, it didn’t change the fact that I deceived this person, Lily’s brother.

So I had to apologize properly for that.

As I spoke, brother thought silently for a while, then slowly spoke.

「That’s true…I was confused at first after I found out about Lily’s death. How should I treat you? Even if you are the friend Lily was talking about, you’re not Lily. How could I face such a person? 」

That was probably the true feelings that this person had been holding in for a long time.

His precious little sister died, and in her place, a completely different person pretended to be Lily.

No one wouldn’t be confused in such a situation.

So I looked at brother from the front, prepared for him to pour all of that hatred and resentment out on me.

But the expression on his face as he looked back at me was calm.

「But even so, I wanted to thank you. Because I saw the image of my sister in you. 」

「What? 」

I was taken aback by his unexpected words.

But brother continued without paying any attention to that.

「I knew you weren’t my sister. But no matter how much I knew you were a fake, your expressions, your mannerisms, your smile, your anger, the way you acted when you fought with me, everything was just like Lily’s. Even though I knew you were different on the inside, you were the spitting image of Lily. My sister, who was supposed to be dead, was alive and acting right before my eyes. That was a great support to me. 」

「…」

Indeed. Anyone could be moved by a person who looked just like a dead relative.

More than anything, hearing the voices and see the movements of those you cared about.

People could be saved by simple things like that.

「Above all, you had Lily’s true feelings. Or should I call it the same beliefs? My sister often said that instead of hunting monsters for hero points, we should live together. You made my sister’s words a reality, together with that young man called Kyou. 」

…That’s right, those were the words Lily often said.

Those words and feelings were engraved in my heart even after I became a Lily.

Maybe the reason I cooperated with Kyou was because I wanted to make Lily’s dream come true.

「That’s why I’m grateful to you. I was saved because you returned to me as Lily. More than anything…you made Lily’s, my sister’s wish come true. So I want to say thank you. 」

It was a thank you for me taking over what the real Lily would’ve done if she was alive.

I myself didn’t have the ability to inherit Lily’s memories or emotions.

But even so, if Lily’s feelings were connected to the actions I took, then it was an act of inheriting her soul.

I had always been ashamed of myself.

For killing Lily and taking her place.

But that wasn’t the case.

No matter how much I regretted it, Lily wouldn’t come back, so would regretting and worrying like that be a way to honor Lily?

No.

If I cared about her, I had to help her achieve the things she wanted to do.

That was something only I, who had taken on her place, could do.

That’s what brother told me.

Instead of regretting, I had to take over her dreams and help achieve them.

That would be the truest way to mourn Lily.

The moment I realized that truth, tears of joy started to flow, and I felt funny at myself for crying with such a strange expression even though my face was smiling.

Brother, who was watching, also laughed in a funny way.

「Your happy crying face is just like Lily’s. 」

Brother smiled and stood up, holding his hand out to me.

「Well, now that we’ve finished talking, why don’t we go eat a meal together for the first time in a while, Lily? 」

That was what brother always said when I returned to this house, and I replied with my usual response.

「Okay, then, I’ll treat you to a meal…brother. 」

My brother had just said that I had saved him.

But I was the one who had really been saved, I muttered to myself, taking his outstretched hand and wiping away my tears.

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