"Ryu, are you awake?" Bell called out with a voice a little louder than a whisper.
There were two flat mattresses on the ground with a white haired girl, wearing a gray dress that lay on the mattress on his right, facing upwards. A small lantern stood closely beside her head, but the fire from the fireplace was doing a better work than it.
According to Bell's memory, Ryu is his fifteen years old sister who got blind when she was barely two years old. They were never able to tell what caused it, she woke up one day and started acting strangely, at first Bell thought if was a joke till when their mother saw her. His grandfather had tried everything he could but to no avail.
Sadly, a once optimistic girl with a bright future was turned into a hollow shell within a few days.
_i'm sure by now she must have forgotten what we look like_ Bell couldn't help but think about the possibility.
"Big brother, is that you?" Ryu called out, Bell could sense a hint of fear in her voice.
"Yes" Bell answered as he kneeled down beside her, he carried the lantern with his left hand while helping his sister on her feet with his right arm.
_her skin is a so soft!_
"Thank the goddess" she lets out a sigh of relief. "I thought it was someone else."
Bell was stunned by her statement, apart from his mother, his grandfather and him, they was no one else who lived with them.
"Why would you think it was someone else?" Bell asked as he helped her to stand on her feet, he gently pulled her up and held her waist till was standing straight. "We're the only ones living in this house"
"Your voice-"
"Huh?"
"Your voice, it sounded a little bit different"
What she said made him froze for a while.
"Big brother, what's wrong?" she asked as she curiously touched his body till she felt his face and rubbed her forehead against his.
"No, it–it's nothing"
Even though Ryu was blind, she was able to know her family by their voices, for someone that has been like that for that long, it's only expected of her.
"Your body still feels the same. Maybe I'm just thinking about it too much, you must have grown some much. I wish I could see your face" His little sister said blankly.
Bell tried to hold back his tears as he helped her to the door and slowly to the sitting room. Bell could finally see Ryu face clearly, her skin was also pale, almost like their mother's but she didn't look weary, she didn't even have any type of expression on her face, at least, not the one Bell could read.
"You will, I'll make sure of it"
.
.
.
Bell stared at his dinner, using a wooden spoon to play with it. Dinner that night was pottage–a thick soup made by boiling vegetables, grains, and sometimes meat–and he was tired of it.
But it wasn't like he didn't want to eat it, it was just that his mind was clouded with so much thought that he had lost his appetite.
_Should i tell them that I'm not from this world?, Would they even believe me?, Saying that would just make me look crazy_/
He didn't know if he was his thoughts or the thoughts of the previous owner of the body that was making him needing to help them, they are now his family after all.
"You don't look too good, Bell. Did anything happen?" His mother asked. She also seems to have lost her appetite. "Or is it the food?"
"Huh?" Bell looked up and quickly looked down at his meal, it didn't look too good. He scooped up a spoonful and swallowed, it didn't taste too good either. "It's ummm..."
He dragged his statement, trying to find the perfect way to put it. But in the end, he decided to come out clean.
"I want to go to the capital" Bell said.
But at least it was better than telling them that the real Bell was dead, if he was able to leave, he would be able to explore this world and also be able to make enough money to take care of his family, that was what the previous owner wanted to do after all but since he isn't alive to fulfill that dream, he was going to do it for him. But, for some reasons, his mother didn't appear to be happy, instead, she looked sadder than she did before.
The room was quiet for a while before Ryu broke the silent.
"I'm hungry" Ryu said, making Bell feel like she was trying to end the awkwardness between him and his mother.
His mother quickly regained herself.
"Bell, please feed your sister" she said and stood up, heading upstairs with her meal. "I'm going to rest in my room, I'll be leaving early tomorrow. And Bell, meet me in my room when you're done"
"Okay" he replied with a nod and turned to Ryu.
Bell fed Ryu her meal and added a portion of his food for her, since she seems to be enjoying it. She carefully opened her mouth then closed it immediately she felt the spoon in her mouth. She must have noticed something wrong, but she didn't say anything.
"Big brother?" She suddenly called out as he tried to feed her. "Why do you want to go to the capital?"
"Hmm, I was just thinking if I could get a better job over there, maybe as an adventurer. I'll join a guild and make a lot of money, then you and mother could come and live in the capital"
"...cough... cough..." Ryu almost choked on her meal as Bell hurriedly carried a cup of water to her, she drank and he kept it back on the table .
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just remembered something" Ryu said with a saddened look on her face. "It's just that..., That was also what father said few years ago, and he never came back"
Bell received received another glimpse of his memory. His father had also went to the capital few years ago. He said he was going to be an adventurer and make a lot of money–exactly what Bell just said–but when he left for the capital, he never came back. His family had received a letter few weeks later saying he died during a dungeon raid and his corpse was devour by a monster.
_That must have been the reason why mother was like that, there were scared that another member of their family was going to die. If tell them that the owner of the body, bell, is dead. It will scatter their broken hearts._
"Ryu?"
"Yes, big brother"
"Will you come with me to the capital?"
"I don't know" Ryu was rather straight forward with her answer. "But I won't be any use staying here with mother, I'll just be a burden to her and a bigger burden to you"
"It doesn't matter, I promise to take care of you. I won't let anything harm you"
"'hmm" Ryu nodded. "If you say so"
Bell stood up and walked upstairs, leaving Ryu behind as she absent-mindedly stared into the darkness of the night through the opened window.