"I- I didn't understand...? Can you say it again, Clara?"
I took a deep breath, straightening my posture even more than before.
I looked at the person in front of , my boyfriend, who was looking at with dilated eyes.
And I repeated my words.
"If you can't tell why you don't trust ... yes, I want to break up, Paul."
His already widened eyes widened even more, his lips parted, but he just stood there.
He was in shock.
"Do you want to say it once more?"
I told him, everything.
I an... not everything. I didn't say anything about Clairvoyance, but I told him about my awakening and about mory Travel, about the conditions under which it had to work.
At first, he thought I was dreaming. But when I showed him that I could use my mana, he just froze.
He thought I had misunderstood the skill, but when I repeated the description out loud, he was at a loss for words again.
Now... he was almost speechless.
I let out a deep sigh and slowly let myself fall back on the couch.
"Paul... I love you... I really love you, but... I believe that the most important thing in a relationship is trust. And... and you don't trust ."
I had to think really hard to make that decision.
But I was determined. No matter how much I loved the person in front of , no matter how sweet my dreams were... I wasn't too stupid to see that there was sothing wrong with this relationship, with him.
I just... needed so ti to accept it, that's all.
And today, I realized I'd made the right decision. Because...
"Now, when I ask if you let look at your mories, you can't say anything. When I ask you what you've been hiding from , you can't tell anything. We've been dating for months and I don't really know anything about your past, about your problems. You tell , does this relationship... does it really make any sense at all?"
He lowered his head, silent again.
One second...
Two seconds...
Three...
...
"If you're still silent... haven't you already given your answer?"
I felt tears in my eyes as I looked at him. Because... after I told him everything, I thought he could finally trust , that we could move on.
The mont he told everything, I was going to tell him everything myself too, about my brother, about Clairvoyance, about my own secrets...
But no. Paul... He was just silent.
"I... I want to be alone for a while, Paul. You can co back when you think you can trust again. But right now... no. Just leave alone."
Again, he said nothing. His yellow eyes were fixed on the floor, trembling.
I sniffled slightly, wiped my eyes on my sleeve.
I repeated.
"Please... if you care about at all, pack your things and get out of my house..."
And it was at this mont that he finally lifted his head up, his eyes fixed on .
The change... it was so sudden. His widened eyes suddenly returned to normal, his trembling stopped. His expression... suddenly cold and blank.
When he took a single step towards , I finally realized sothing was wrong.
Paul seed like a completely different person.
"Stop..."
But he didn't stop.
"Paul, I said stop."
He looked at with the sa cold eyes. As if... as if he didn't care about anything anymore.
"Paul!"
He took another step. But... with only a few centiters between us, he suddenly stopped. His eyes seed to turn back for a mont, looking toward the door of my house.
His eyebrows furrowed as if he had seen sothing he hadn't expected.
And finally, for the first ti, his lips moved.
"I... I'm sorry, Clara."
I felt a senseless anger building up inside , I picked up the pillow next to the sofa and threw it at his face, but... he didn't even move.
"Get out of my house!"
His eyes turned to one last ti. His lips curved upward slightly, the coldness in his eyes disappeared. His expression softened.
I felt myself freeze.
"I... I'm really sorry. I did sothing stupid. For a mont... I stopped thinking about what I was doing."
He turned around, his movent had already stuttered for a mont.
"If you want to go... Fine, I'll go."
And... he did. He turned around and walked out of the room with slow steps. He took his phone, his backpack. He put on his hoodie and ca to the front door of the house.
He turned to one last ti, as if he really... regretted everything. But when he realized I didn't say anything, he opened the door and walked out.
Silence enveloped , and then... a strange coldness.
I felt bad. When he made that face, when he apologized, I... almost asked him to stay.
Do I love him that much...? So much that I could think of reversing my firm decision with a single act...
I pulled my knees up to , put my arms around them, and buried my head down, unable to stop my eyes from watering as the minutes ticked by.
However, after a short while, the familiar lody of the doorbell filled my ears.
I don't know why, my body moved spontaneously.
Before I realized what was happening, I found myself in front of the door, holding the handle.
Maybe I wanted to see him co back, I thought he would let look at his mories. I... I wanted our relationship to continue, not to end like this.
I opened the door with this blind hope.
But... it wasn't Paul who I found.
Instead... it was soone with a cane and a black mask on his face.
"Yes...?"
As I studied his clothes and his body, trying to understand who he was, I finally focused on his eyes.
And then... all of a sudden... I was frozen in place.
"Co on..."
His familiar voice filled my ears, almost as if... I was in an impossible dream. But he didn't stop there, he slowly removed the mask from his face.
And...
"Do you really forget your own brother? It's been like... seven months!"
He paused for a mont.
"Huh, now that I think about it, it's been a while..."
*******
Clara's shocked, stunned expression... Ah, it was exactly what I had expected!
Now, I was going to go in slowly, close the door gently, and hug her. Everything was as I had imagined.
But then... I paused. My eyebrows furrowed, my upturned lips suddenly straightened.
"Were you... crying?"
Her eyes were slightly red, and there was a faint trace of her clothes on her forehead.
"A- ah..."
Her red eyes watered again, her whole body trembled. She took a few steps back, away from the door... away from .
She wiped her eyes on her arm, forced herself to stand up straight.
Without saying anything, I went inside and closed the door. I sighed as she tried to wipe away the tears that kept flowing. I approached her, took her body in my arms, and pulled her close to .
"I'm sorry."
She sobbed once, her body trembling again.
"For leaving you alone, for jumping into a war and putting so much on you. You... you've had a much harder ti than I thought, haven't you?"
I took a deep breath, tightening my arms around his body.
"But... I'm back, I'm here now, so... you can leave everything to again."
And, finally, she stopped holding herself back. Finally, she stopped wiping away her tears, and she too wrapped her arms around .
"Idiot..."
My lips curled upwards.
"Yeah, I guess I have to admit I'm a bit of an idiot."
"I- I... missed you... do you know how much...?"
"Why wouldn't I? Why do you think I rushed here as soon as I got to Cevilian?"
She paused, said nothing. Then... she said one thing in the sa shaky voice.
"W- welco back..."
My smile widened involuntarily.
"Thanks."
*******
Clara looked first at the cane next to and then at my right arm.
"So... are you crippled now?"
I choked on the tea I had just drunk and eventually cald down as I tried to stop coughing with my left hand on my chest.
"Hey... it's a bit rude when you say it like that, you could be more polite..."
One of her eyebrows raised slightly.
"So... you're crippled."
As the seconds of silence ticked by, all I could do was sigh.
"Well... sort of? But I can still fight! And without any trouble at all. It's just... better if it doesn't last too long, I guess."
Clara took a deep breath. As if... she didn't like what I had said.
She had already cald down. If at first she was extrely surprised that I had co back, now she seed much more relaxed. She cried a bit, though... And it took so ti for her to accept it, to believe that she was not dreaming.
"Anyway. How did you manage to get here unnoticed? You are quite famous now... No one knows about my house and that you're my brother, right?"
"Heh, your brother is much more important than you think. I told so big shots to leave alone for a few days and poof! No journalists, no bodyguards... nothing."
Well, I wouldn't say there are no guards, though...
Clara was silent for a while. Then, she decided to change the subject.
"What happens now, then?"
There were so many questions behind those four words, even though she was only asking one thing.
But it was natural to worry, to wonder.
Clara was a normal person, I didn't want her to take part in anything I planned for the future, she... just had to live a happy and quiet life.
"It's not much... at least not much that concerns you. Ah, the Tenebra Family will be a noble family now, though, so that might concern you a little... not gonna lie"
She didn't react much as if it was sothing she had expected. I continued.
"I'm going to start a company. With the noble status and the support of the Holar, I plan to beco even more important than I already am. Then, I'll use all these connections to create a happy future where we can live without worries. At least that's my plan."
Again, there was no reaction. After a short ti, she rely nodded.
"Why are you so quiet?"
I paused after my question, rembering her eyes and expression when she opened the door. Suddenly, my eyebrows furrowed.
"Now that I think about it... you were crying before you ca in. Did sothing happen?"
Clara let out a deep, really deep sigh. Finally, she raised her eyes to mine. And this ti... she seed a little determined.
"I... I've been through a few things while you were away... I don't know what to do, what I should do... So listen to carefully, okay?"
My eyebrows furrowed even more and my expression beca involuntarily serious. Because... she was definitely not going to talk about simple things.
Clara said nothing for a short while. She just raised her hand and opened her palm. And then... the mana in her body was suddenly drawn into her hand.
"Well, I... I can use mana now."
Oh, well...
I an, I can't say I'm not surprised. But... it was sothing that was going to happen sooner or later, and she was getting close to that age...
It's not a big deal if I think that all people wake up at a certain age, without exception.
"But that's not the problem, it's the skill the system gave ."
My eyebrows went up, I gave her my full focus, and then...
"Well... I have a skill called Clairvoyance in my status window."
Silence fell suddenly across the room.
Clara looked at innocently as she withdrew the mana concentrated in her hand.
Finally, what she said replayed in my mind.
Seconds passed, and then more.
"Huh...?"
My eyes twitched as I looked blankly at the person who was my sister.
"Clairvoyance... The sa Clairvoyance I am thinking about? You know, the one the seers have...?"
"Yes..."
I jumped up, not caring about my cane. I quickly put my hands on Clara's shoulders. I didn't even care about hurting her, I didn't care how serious and frightening the expression on my face was.
"Clara... you... awakened as a seer?"
Clara looked really scared. Her eyes were on and her body was trembling slightly.
Still, she confird .
"Y- yes..."
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