NOVEL NEXT (Chpt. 11) Sister?
It was early morning, I could hear the wind and water flowing when suddenly I was shaken. I heard a childish panicked voice however she was trying to be quiet at the same time. it was weird. I was woken up. It was Ari.
“Yami, Yami!”
“... Y-yes?”
I asked in a confused voice. I was literally just woken up, I could not process anything Ari looked at me with a difficult face as if saying ‘Isn’t it obvious?!’ I am sorry Ari I do not understand, I apologized in my mind. Ari seemed to have picked up that I did not understand what she meant and started pointing at a lump on the ground. It was Aizen.
“Huh?”
Aizen was sleeping like a cat, she was pretty cute, but ‘You are human now, behave like one!’. I reprimanded her inside my head. ‘sigh’ How do I go about this. I turned to Ari. And addressed her in a serious tone.
“Ari.”
“Yes?!”
She was clearly flustered. However, at that moment I felt a hand on my shoulder it was Aizen. Ari became even more nervous when she saw her. However, she quickly became at ease when Aizen spoke in a gentle and soft voice.
“Hi, Ari was it? My name is Aizen. Yami told me a lot about you, pleased to meet you.~”
I looked at Aizen with an expression of disbelief. Who are you? What did you do to my dragon? I wanted to retort in so many ways but I decided to keep my mouth shut. While Ari was no longer nervous she had a difficult expression. She opened her mouth and declared with a childish voice.
“I don’t know who you are, but Yami is mine!”
She then proceeded to stick her tongue out. I was flustered I thought Aizen would react like something along the lines of: ‘Foolish mortal, you have made your last mistake.’ or ‘You dare disrespect me?! Die!’. However, Aizen just scratched her head with a perplexed expression. And whispered to my ear.
“Hey, Kuro. Can’t you like introduce me or something.”
“A-ah yes…”
So, she really changed huh? I turned towards Ari and looked her dead in the eyes. She flinched a little bit by that. I started speaking with a serious tone while gesturing with my hand to where Aizen was, like if I was selling a product or something.
“Ari, this is Aizen, she will be traveling with us from now on.”
“Eh.”
Ari let out a stupid voice and glanced towards Aizen with a difficult expression. She seemed mad or upset, I could not tell. She pointed her finger towards Aizen and said full of jealousy.
“What’s your relationship with Yami?”
Aizen flinched and made a difficult expression. She started scratching her head again thinking of what to say, then she suddenly turned her head towards me as if saying ‘Should I say it?’ I just nodded. Aizen spoke with a happy tone.
“We are family.”
“eh…”
Ari was completely taken aback by this. She looked at me as to confirm to which I simply nodded. She completely froze, ‘Ari.exe has stopped working.’ I made a lame joke inside my head. Ari recovered after a few seconds and went up to Aizen. Aizen was flustered by this however she did not move. Ari was checking her hands and all she saw was the black with gold ring. Ari began speaking with a confused voice and expression.
“A-Aizen, you are not a beastkin?”
Aizen was perplexed to see this and glanced at me scanning my entire body. She looked even more confused. Ari seemed to have noticed this and ran over to me in a hurry and took the [Disguise] ring from my hand. My ears and tail came out from inside my body. I shivered from the strange sensation that I will not ever get used to. Aizen looked at me with wide-open eyes.
“Ahahaha… So that’s how it was!”
She seemed to have gotten a sudden realization. Ari and I were perplexed by this. Aizen showed us her ears. They were slightly pointy, Ari was shocked and spoke instantly in a voice of the same nature.
“Half-elf?!”
Ari froze again. Aizen came over to me and started whispering in a happy tone. She also gave me back my ring, she seemed to have gotten a hold of it somehow.
“You see Kuro, I became something like a mixed dragon and human. I did not understand it at first, but looking at you I realize now.”
Ah, so that’s how it was... I still don't get it! Ari was still frozen and started muttering but I could somewhat hear it. She was saying something like ‘Beastkin and half-elf in the same family, how is this possible.’ She seemed to have reached a conclusion and turned to us. She spoke in a happy tone.
“So you and Yami are sisters?”
“”Eh.””
We both let out stupid noises. However, Ari seemed to misunderstand something and continued by asking in an excited voice.
“So, so, who is the older one?!”
Ari looked like she already knew the answer however Aizen made an evil smile as if enjoying this and pointed towards me. Ari’s eyes grew wide but seemed incredibly happy. However, she looked at me with a reproachful look, and started speaking in an angry voice containing a bit of excitement?
“Yami, why did you not tell me you had a little sister?!”
“...”
I just stayed silent. I didn't even know I had a sister myself?! How do I even tell you about it! I looked at Aizen with cold eyes, she stiffened and made a wry smile. I decided to try my best to apologize to Ari.
“Ari I am sorry.”
It was an awful attempt at an apology. However, Ari just nodded in satisfaction after hearing it and turned around. ‘I guess she can be quite childish too. Huh?’ I muttered. I saw Ari bombarding Aizen with questions such as: ‘How did you meet Yami?’. Aizen looked at me asking for help but I just sneered. She did not answer most of the questions, then I heard a troublesome question.
“Aizen, what is your class. Yami is a tamer and she is really amazing!”
Aizen looked troubled and glanced at me. I made a cross with my arms as if saying ‘Don’t say anything troublesome’ She picked up and that and answered with her usual dignified voice.
“Mage.”
Ari’s eyes sparkled and made another question full of excitement.
“What’s your level?!”
Aizen just looked at me and nodded, then spoke while looking at Ari with the same tone.
“Level 20.”
Ari’s eyes grew wide. She started praising Aizen. Aizen had a smug look on her face basically saying ‘Praise me more.’ Ari seemed to stop for a moment as if realizing something but I paid it no mind. Looks like Aizen knows what is considered “normal” in this world, but level 20 is incredibly low huh. I better ask her later. However, right now I want to hit that god damn dragon! Coaxing a little girl into praising her.