❝ 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍. ❞
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"Did you just see Mash?" Orter's steps come into a halt as his eyes glance back at his (hair colour) haired colleague. He looks away, "Yes." He says curtly.

"Did you say something to him?" (Name) walks up to him as she tilts her head to the side. "Something that might lower his motivation?"

At the moment, the students are busy watching the competition for being the next divine visionary. Mash, of course, has taken a part in it.

"So what if I did?" The desert cane challenges, making the crimson cane sigh. "That's not good, you know?" Orter averts his golden eyes at her, side-glancing the shorter female before looking forward. "I never said I'm a good person."

(Name) blinks and stops walking. Feeling her absence, Orter unconsciously halts his steps, something that is shocking even for himself.

"You can be a good person. You can always change," (name) mutters before continuing her walk.

Orter finds himself waiting for the crimson cane until she reaches his side before he continues his way. "I don't know if I will ever be good." He murmurs, his gaze softens on the ground. (Name) turns her head to look at him before she looks to the front.

"Well, I think you're a good person." She mumbles, her voice is barely audible to him, but he still manages to hear it. And that makes him blink his eyes wide and stares down at her. "You're just following the rules. And that makes you a good person. Not everyone can follow the rules all the time like you, you know?" She grins at him.

(Name) kicks the small pebble on her way as she continues. "But sometimes you need to break the rules. They might be illogical for you to follow them bluntly." She smiles down to the ground. "Mash is capable of changing the world's view. His ability can prove to the public that even an unmarked person deserves to live in this world."

She then stops, and once again, Orter finds himself stopping to wait for this rule breaker.

"That's why I'm asking you to let him prove himself, Orter. Just this once." She bows her head, startling him. "Until he fails to obtain the title divine visionary, please let him be." She pleads, head hangs low.

The desert cane frowns as he sighs. "Why would you go this far for a magicless person like him?" He asks, voicing out the question that has been haunting him since the day he met Mash Burnedead.

(Name) raises her head and locks her eyes with him. "I can't tell you at the moment. It's something personal." She immediately looks away, as she finds herself failing to maintain eye contact with him.

Orter stares at her before letting out a sigh. "I'll think about it." He mutters, turning away to continue his walk.

(Name) feels the corner of her lips twitch upwards as she catches up to him. "Anyway, have you read this book yet?" Orter raises an eyebrow at the familiar question as she takes out a book from her coat.

His eyes stare at her as another question pops in his head. "Do you always have a book in your coat just to lend it to me?"

Oh shit she almost drops the book-

(Name) feels her cheeks heating up as she tries to form a sentence. "I- uh, yes- I mean, maybe- No! It's just a coincidence!" She stutters, internally cursing herself for that.

Orter raises an eyebrow as he leans down slightly to look into her eyes. "Really?" He tilts his head to the side.

The flustered girl immediately looks away, trying to hide her red cheeks from the desert cane. The latter frowns at the lack of words, but before he can say anything more, (name) shoves the book straight to his face.

That catches him off guard as he is quite unfamiliar with an impolite treatment. As the book falls off his face, which he manages to catch, (name) is already vanished from his sight.

He deadpans before looking down at the book that he borrows (without his agreement) before letting out a sigh. He continues his walk as he holds the book in his hand.

"What a strange girl."

"...What are you doing here?"

"Wow, not even bother to hide your annoyance," (name) rolls her eyes as she lays her back on the sofa in the sword cane's office. "Sorry I came uninvited, though." She apologises sheepishly.

Rayne lets out a sigh as he continues his paperwork. "Speak, I know you come here to talk about something that doesn't even concern me."

(Name) sits up excitedly as she cooes, "You know me so well, bestie~" she sings, "Even though it doesn't concern you, yet you're still willing to hear?" She asks, wiggling her eyebrows teasingly.

The sword cane doesn't even bother to look at her as he replies, "It's not like I can stop you," he mutters with another sigh.

"Yep, you know me so well." she cooes before inviting herself to take a seat in front of him. "But I don't want to talk about myself. Let's talk about you and your brother instead."

Rayne's hand stops writing as his body goes stiff before he regains his composure. "There's nothing to talk about." He murmurs, eyes narrowing as his eyebrows furrow.

"Based on your reaction, there's definitely something to talk about." (Name) rests her head on her palm as her elbow rests on the table. "You know, you can't ignore him like that."

"It's for his own good," he immediately argues. "He shouldn't even have followed me."

"He followed you because you're his older brother," (name) locks her eyes with him. "It's a nature for younger siblings to follow their older siblings' steps. You do know that, right?" She asks, raising her eyebrows as Rayne nods his head.

"I know. But I don't want him to be in danger. I want him to live normally like other people. To have a family, without having to fight bad guys." He reasons. "I can do that for him. He just needs to live a normal life, not following me into a dangerous path."

"But does he want that?"

He freezes.

"Are you sure that's what he wants?" (Name) tilts her head to the side. "How can you be sure he wants that kind of life instead of being with his brother?"

Rayne keeps silent as he lowers his head. He does not dare to look into his senior's eyes right now. Not when he's being the wrong one.

"Rayne, you're his brother. You're the only family he has. Of course he wants to be with you." (Name) leans her back against the chair as she looks up to the ceiling. "Teenagers tend to start overthinking over small things. If you ignore him, he might think that you hate him." She softens her eyes.

'I wish I realised this sooner.'

The sword cane grips the pen in his hand. "He should know that I'll never hate him," he frowns.

"True, but you know how this world is. Let's take Mash for an example. He can't use magic, but his father still loves him." Rayne raises an eyebrow, not seeing how this is related. "Not all families are welcoming like that. Some people are willing to send their family members who lost their magic marks to the government. And suddenly blood is thinner than water," (name) sighs, shaking her head.

"Actually, I can't see the point in that, so I'll be bold. He might think you see him as a failure."

Golden eyes widen as the pen is dropped with a small 'click' on the table. "I'd never see him like that-!"

"But you didn't say that either," (name) interrupts him. "Communication is the key, Rayne. He won't know what you think of him if you don't talk."

Rayne can't find any words to remark on that statement, so he lowers his head, allowing (name) to continue.

"At least start a conversation with him. A simple 'how was school?' is more than enough to let him know that you don't hate him." She offers the sword cane a smile as she removes a strand of hair off her face.

After a moment of silence, Rayne speaks up. "I'll try to do that somehow," he murmurs. "By the way, you seem to have experienced things like this. Do you have any siblings, (name)?"

Now that he thinks of it, he doesn't really know anything about his senior. He just knows some general information such as age, magic and her obsession with cats.

Nothing more.

The way (name) lowers her head with a smile that he has never seen before makes him even more curious. The smile is not a playful one, nor a teasing one.

It is a longing smile.

"I had a younger brother," she mutters. "He's just like Finn. Fragile, insecure." She then stands up from her seat as she starts to take her leave.

"Don't regret it, Rayne. I don't want you to regret it just like I did."