After bawling her eyes out in my arms, Ria finally fell asleep curled into a tight ball on my lap.
There is a saying that someone is most at peace when they sleep. I couldn't have agreed more.
I looked away from Ria's torn expression, reflecting what lingered in the depths of her heart. I felt the hurt as if it were my own.
Most adults would brush aside such feelings which currently tormented Ria, saying it was a part of growing. But I always felt that wasn't good enough.
Saying this is apart of growing up is like saying you should get over the death of your first pet. You mourn but you never forget. It's with you for life.
While I suffered in the nurse room, Ria had experienced everything that happened within the game, Stars To Lovers. Starting from the heroine and a few of her capture targets raining accussation after accusation on her, ending with her being driven (suspended) from school. Everything piled up until eventually drowning the poor girl, and making her unable to lift her head the same ever again.
While most of it was true, there was a time and place for things to happen.
Everyone knows Ria was a ripe-bitch but have they never heard of the term subtle? If they were such kind hearted people as they portrayed themselves to be, they would have thought of a better way to approach this matter regarding Ria. No one was asking them for a lot, just a bit of class, ya know? Even someone as petty and low class as myself had a bit of shrewd elegance.
Why create such a big scene? Game settings or not, that pissed me off.
Now thanks to their actions, they ruined a girl's reputation over something that didn't even deserve such a harsh punishment. What makes it more infuriating is they probably don't even feel any sort of remorse over it either.
Kind hearted...my ass. Excuse the language.
Actually, maybe I'm being a tad bit bias right now but someone has to stick up for the girl - who better than her brother.
Because I couldn't stand seeing such a painful expression any longer, I smoothed a finger down between Ria's brows. I was surprised when it actually worked and her expression mellowed out.
The weather was getting colder and mosquitoes were nipping at my skin, making it quite uncomfortable to be outside right now.
Gently as possibly, I scooped Ria into my arms and started walking towards our house. She wasn't light but I managed without breaking too much of a sweat.
Fortunately, our mother won't return until later due to work and our father rarely returned, so we had the house to ourselves.
It was better that way. Less fussing and having to explain ourselves.
Sometimes, the mind of a teen was far from that of an adult.
I soon arrived at Ria's bedroom. With a bit of manuvering, I managed to kick her door open and reveal a room that was dripping pink and lace.
I was momentarily stunned until I looked down at the girl sleeping like a baby in my arms and thought it was actually quite fitting. Though, I was probably the only one in this world (besides our parents) who'd think so.
I lay Ria on the canopy bed that screamed princess style, being as gentle as I can be before entering the ensuite. Unlike the bedroom, Ria's bathroom screamed opulence.
I returned a few seconds later with a warm, damp cloth in hand. Folding it in half, I used it to softly wipe away the dirt and grass stuck onto Ria's school dress. It left little water marks but it was either that or undress her.
While I wasn't opposed to doing the latter, considering I am soulfully female, I had given up the moment I saw the intricacy in which her uniform was buttoned. I never knew a rich girls uniform could be so complicated until today.
So, to save myself face, I decided to go ahead with the current plan. It wasn't too bad, at least the uniform has some form of water resistance.
Once I cleaned it enough, I tucked Ria into the blankets and moved to leave the room. I also needed some time to myself to think things through. Just one thing after another had taken a toll on me.
However, I froze and hesitated on whether I should do it or not.
Seeing no loss, I would be the only one to remember, I turned back and bent forehead to peck Ria on the forehead.
"D-dad..."
She twitched in response, making my heart jump anxiously in my chest. In my head I chanted, Don't wake up, Don't wake up...
Fortunately, Ria made no other movement besides shift into a more comfortable position on her side. I sighed in relief and quickly backed out of the room.
I originally didn't want to involve myself in the plot, fearing the consequences of doing so and mostly because I was too lazy, but things happened and opinions reversed.
I entered my room after settling my mind on something.
Over at my desk, I pulled open the top drawer and took out a small J5 notebook.
The appearance of this notebook was plain and unadorned just like my room. The same could be said for the contents in the book as it was just a bunch of words and numbers only I could cypher the meaning of.
They were written in a code I had created with my otaku sister.
When were children, we grew up on strict standards. We weren't allowed to watch the television after a certain time, gaming devices were only allowed during the weekend and we had a set bed time.
However, we were rebillous she-devils at heart. If our parents said one thing, we'd do the complete opposite.
For example, cellphones were not allowed until we became seniors in highschool. But there were things we wanted share with each other without our parents knowing. Such as my sister's countless crushes or my adventures into shady places.
So, we made up a code language that blended numbers and letters together.
When I first woke in this world, I hadn't completely resigned myself to lying around doing nothing as my memories of the past world were still fresh and needing to be released.
At the point of bursting, I had thought, what better way to release all that information than writing it all down?
To ensure my safety, I coded these memories.
Since then, I have spent a good portion of my free-time (when I could be bothered) writing down everything I knew about Stars To Lovers in code form. I started from the time I had played the game to my sisters many ramblings sessions - I didn't miss a damn thing I had deemed important. Everything else, however, I totally forgot. Which made up a good portion of the game, unfortunately.
Still, as I read through my content saved a smile curved its way onto my face before I tucked the book into an inner pocket on my uniform blazer.
From today onwards, this book and its contents will become a part of my person.
From today onwards, I'll be officially joining the game and dishing out trouble wherever it wasn't needed.
I was the epitome of petty.
I originally thought it would be troublesome becoming involved earlier on. It just didn't seem appealing. I enjoyed playing the game on the television screen but real life experience was different.
I just wasn't one for real life in general but that somehow changed when I saw the state Ria was put into today.
This stubborn girl was annoying, obnoxious and rude but I had actually come to care about her as a person. She reminded me of my previous sister, literal trash but somehow cute.
So, what happened to ria today, affected me too. It was like a slap to my face. It made me think, these people think they can push my family over and get away with it?
Like I said. I am a petty person. I'd drag someone to the depths of hell before admitting I am in the wrong. I'd curse a person just for looking at me the wrong way.
And game settings aside, anyone who tries to drag those I care about, is asking to be destroyed.
Because of that mindset, I couldn't just stand on the sidelines anymore. I wouldn't stay hidden. By admitting and accepting this change, it was as if I had broken through an endless darkness and found the light.
My smile curved even higher when I thought of the coming days and how everything wouldn't go as planned; like in the game.
If you wanted to destroy something, you had to thoroughly destroy it. My father used to always preach this to my sister and I. He would also tell us to never leave things unfinished, even if it meant you had to be the bad guy. Sometimes, people deserved to be fucked up.
Besides, I was getting a little bored. Despite having all the riches at hand and good looks to match, nothing was truly outstanding about Seven's life.
Life was going along too easy and was it not time to spice it up a little?