Kaito walked to school with Aiko glued to his side — her hand clamped on his sleeve like she'd die if she let go.
The morning sun was too bright for Sendai in spring. Aiko skipped along, pigtails bouncing, chattering about everything and nothing.
"Nii-chan, do you think the teacher will let me sit in your class today? Mine is boring and yours has Yuji-nii who's funny and tall and—"
Kaito glanced down, deadpan.
"No. Different schools. You go to elementary. I go to middle."
Aiko pouted, tugging his sleeve harder.
"But I wanna go with you! If I stay alone, the scary feelings come back…"
The streetlamp nearby flickered — faint, but Kaito noticed. Her CE leaking again.
He put a hand on her head, gentle loop to calm the flow.
"Breathe. In… out. Like me."
Aiko copied him, eyes big. The light steadied.
Kaito kept walking.
"You'll be fine. Just don't push the energy out when you're mad or sad."
Aiko nodded, but her grip didn't loosen.
"Promise you'll pick me up after? No forgetting?"
Kaito's mouth twitched — smallest smile.
"I don't forget, Aiko. Pinky swear."
They linked pinkies. She beamed.
As he carried her the last block to her elementary gate (because she "forgot" to walk), Kaito's mind drifted back.
To three years ago.
To how it all started.
It was a rainy evening in Sendai. Kaito was ten, already the "precise one" who fixed gates and won shogi without trying.
The matron opened the door to a soaked social worker holding a bundle — a girl about seven, shivering, eyes wide with fear.
"Found her alone in an abandoned lot. No family. No name. She's… odd. Lights flicker around her when she cries."
The matron nodded, took the girl in.
Wrapped her in a blanket.
Gave her a futon in the girls' dorm.
Kaito saw her from the hallway — small, curled up, sobbing quietly.
He didn't think.
He walked over. Sat next to her futon.
She looked up, sniffled.
"Who… are you?"
"Kaito. You?"
"No name…"
Kaito thought.
"Aiko. Because you look like you need one."
Aiko blinked.
"…Aiko. Okay."
She stopped crying.
But that night, the storm hit.
Kaito woke to screams and flickering lights.
The whole orphanage shaking.
CE so thick it pressed like a weight.
He bolted out of bed.
Ran to the girls' dorm.
A grade 1 curse — massive, twisted, tentacles of shadow and teeth — had manifested in the middle of the room.
It was born from Aiko's fear.
Her first big CE exertion — separation anxiety from her old life, amplified in the new place.
CE poured out uncontrolled, summoning the thing from her nightmares.
The other girls screamed (felt the malice, couldn't see it).
Matron rushing in.
Aiko curled in the corner, crying.
"It's my fault… the scary thing… make it stop…"
Kaito didn't hesitate.
CE looped through his body — full reinforcement.
He stepped between Aiko and the curse.
The curse lunged — tentacle whipping like a blade.
Kaito suppressed 70% — early HR burst.
Body lightened. Speed spiked.
He dodged, punched the tentacle.
Fist connected. Black flash spark by luck.
Tentacle exploded in black ichor.
The curse roared — pain, anger.
It swiped again.
Kaito took it on reinforced arms — bones rattled, skin tore, but he held.
Punched back — jaw, rib, eye.
Each hit cracked something.
But the curse was grade 1.
Too tough. Too fast.
It grabbed him — tentacle wrapped his leg, slammed him into the wall.
Crack.
Ribs cracked. Pain exploded.
Kaito coughed blood, but didn't stop.
Suppression burst again — 80%.
He twisted, punched the tentacle holding him.
It released.
He fell, rolled, stood.
Grabbed a broken chair leg — infused CE into it: "stay rigid and sharp."
Released — the leg froze as a makeshift spear.
He stabbed — pierced the curse's side.
It howled, CE flaring.
But it didn't die.
Kaito was out of breath.
Reserves endless, but body breaking.
He couldn't defeat it.
He just held it off — punch after punch, dodge after dodge — buying time.
The curse seemed to sense his reserves — endless, clean, no technique.
It hesitated.
Then retreated — slithered out the window, into the rain.
Gone.
Kaito collapsed to one knee.
Breathing ragged.
The room fell silent.
Aiko crawled over, tears streaming.
"Nii-chan… you fought the scary thing…"
Kaito wiped blood from his lip.
"Yeah. It's gone."
She threw her arms around him.
"Don't leave me! Please!"
Kaito patted her back.
"I won't."
From that night on, she clung.
Like velcro.
Like superglue.
Like her life depended on it.
Back in the present, Kaito set Aiko down at her elementary gate.
She hugged him one last time.
"Pick me up after, Nii-chan?"
Kaito nodded.
"Always."
She ran inside, waving.
Kaito walked to middle school alone.
His ribs ached a little — phantom pain from that night.
But he didn't mind.
She was worth it.