155: Parting

……

—Nii-san!

I finally caught up to you. Honestly, you’ve always been so good at running away.

But unfortunately for you, as you got better at escaping, I got better at tracking you down.

All the signs, the hints of your presence, and the whispers of people who were also pursuing you… I crammed all of it into my empty head and pieced together your whereabouts. And so I found you.

It wouldn’t be possible for anyone but me. The people in the city are hardly accustomed to the hunt.

In addition, Madara-senpai was able to draw over the majority of your pursuers.

Logically speaking, I am the only person who can confront you like this right now.

So there’s no escape.

…Ahaha.

? Why are you laughing?

No no, my bad. It’s not like I’m trying to make fun of you or anything…

It’s just so funny thinking about how you can be so full of yourself whenever you say stuff that’s so completely off-target.

So, Brosef, why’d you come after me? Can you even give me a reason?

Or do you just see someone in your family and reach out for them without a single thought, just like a baby?

I… No, I don’t really understand myself why I chased after you just now, Nii-san. It was an impulse, I guess—

I just thought that if you were being chased by a mob of people, I needed to protect you.

That’s why I was born. To become the shield for the chief—to support you, Nii-san.

It’s even the entire reason I followed you to the city in the first place. So if I see you, I’ll chase you. That’s obviously the correct thing to do.

…If that’s what you believe, then there’s nothing left for me to say to you.¹

So basically, if I can eliminate that “reason” of yours at its roots, then there won’t be any need for you to chase after me anymore, right?

You were trained only to do what’s “correct”—poor little Hiiro!

……

All righty, then let’s do this. I was planning on telling you a little later on, but who woulda guessed what fate had in store…

Listen to what I’m about to say, and keep your ears peeled.

Hiiro.

…Yes. What is it, Nii-san?

I will return home. And I plan to assume my role as chief.

R–really…? I’m so happy you’re finally willing to take things seriously.

I’m always serious. But anyway, your job here in the city is done—You’re relieved of your duty.

Right? That’s the whole reason you came to the city, became an idol, and tried to learn more about this whole idol thing, isn’t it?

…You’re right. That was my goal.

All of the interesting things I experienced and the sparkling days I spent with everyone in ALKALOID—for a moment, they made me forget about that.

Ahaha, all’s well that ends well, even if you forgot about it. So good work! You’re as sharp as ever; I’m so proud of you, Brosef.

Competency and stupidity—or in other words, obedience, are the best qualities someone can have, from the perspective of a politician.

Huh, when you think about it that way, maybe you really did idolize me.

You molded yourself to be the perfect person for me… Doesn’t that mean you loved me, even just a little bit?

…I don’t fully understand things like love.

But it feels like you’re saying these things with ill intent. I’ve learned there are many things in this world that can be considered correct.

However, I’d like to believe that the correct way of life for our hometown is the one way that should never be denied or persecuted.

Because if it is… all of my hard work, all of the feelings that were my foundation—

It would feel as if everything that’s accumulated inside of me is being denied as worthless, as meaningless. I would feel tainted… I’d be disgraced.

I don’t doubt it. This world keeps spinning round and round while everyone shames and scorns, imposes on and crushes different people’s ideas of what’s “correct.”

We try to predict how the dice will land, and we can make a killing if we guess right—

But if we’re wrong, we lose everything. Our urban ancestors built this big ol’ gambling den and called it modern society.

And those are the rules of this casino. But our hometown works differently. It’s an old-fashioned, feudalistic monarchy, one which offers safety and stability, but none of life’s pleasures.

And none of the joy you get from living.

……

I kept running ‘cause I couldn’t stand it, but well, it’s time to pay the piper.

I’m all grown up now, so it’s high time I stop messing around and get my head out of the clouds.

—But Hiiro, my baby brother… You’re different.

You’re still just a kid, and you don’t even know what you wanna be when you grow up.

You’re better than you used to be, but you’re not quite all the way there yet.

So keep playing around in this casino.

A kid’s job is to play. And until you become an adult, until you wake up from your dreams, live for your own pleasure—Live for your own happiness.

I’ll give you everything you need to do that. I am supposed to be your big bro, after all.

Family’s gotta look out for each other; that’s the “correct” thing to do, whether you come from the city or our hometown. Isn’t it a no-brainer for living things to increase their rate of survival by protecting their own?

So you mean to say… Umm, what do you mean to say?

Hiiro. I’m going home, and I’m taking the crown.

And everyone back home is probably all set to put me on that throne once I give ‘em my okay.

And I’m giving that okay right now. And with that, here’s my first order as chief.

Amagi Hiiro. From this day forth, you are disowned. Don’t you ever use the name “Amagi” again.

…What?

From this moment on, you’re free. All the bonds, all the rights, every last thing that comes with that name—They have nothing to do with you anymore.

Naturally, it’s forbidden for anyone who is not of our people to set foot in our homeland.

So if you violate this ban and show your face back home, then as chief I will send out our soldiers—and I’ll destroy you.

……

Other than that, do whatcha want. You can live a fun, interesting life here in the city.

With all your dear buddies who seem to care so much about you.

……

Hiiro. When you came into this world as a wrinkled little baby and your mother took you into her arms…²

I thought man, I wanna give this guy everything I have, every single thing I care about.

I became a big brother.

But in the end, you never even accepted all the sparkling things I found for you; they didn’t even faze you…

Nah, that was all my fault. Both now and back then—you never did anything wrong.

I just sucked at it. I know I act like I’m older and wiser, but I really am just a dumb kid who doesn’t know right from left.

Sorry, Hiiro—I’m a loser of a brother. The only thing I can give you is this tiny little piece of freedom.

……