Contend

"So, it's not in my best interest, but I don't think you should go talk to him about it," Naoto said as he unlocked the front door to Sunlight HQ. He nudged the door aside while bringing a miniature drawer to locate another potted plant next to the entrance of the headquarters. He cushioned his smartphone over his fatigued shoulders as he placed his keys inside the same miniature drawer.

"Nah, I wouldn't. His stubborn ass is always missing anyway. You already know what he's going to be doing." He continued.

The sun had recently set, and the breeze was growing thicker with the chilling midnight breeze almost settling it. Naoto gazed over his shoulder and discerned Ryo on the living room couch napping. Naoto clutched his smartphone and pressed it over his ear. "Hang on, I'll call you later," He said, continuing to watch Ryo. "Be safe during patrol. See you later, Sumire."

Naoto settled his smartphone in his pocket and stood next to Ryo to examine him. "Still sleeping," Naoto muttered, remembering Ryo's lack of sleep from yesterday's events. "Get better soon, man."

He noticed his throat area was slightly bruised, which was an unusual spectacle as they had just celebrated April's survival with a hilarious pizza party. He additionally noticed a tiny bag of ice grabbed from the freezer inclined over Ryo's forehead that fell inside the couch. Naoto approached Ryo without waking him and grabbed the ice bag. He placed it back on Ryo's forehead and saw mini scratches on his cheeks that were inhuman and unnatural.

The shattering noise of glass echoed Naoto's instincts to focus on the upstairs. He finished examining Ryo and sprinted upstairs, equipping a taser from his back pocket if a burglar had invaded their headquarters. He nearly slid on the polished hardwood floors before he caught the source of the noise; Jinni had collapsed near one of the closets that she cleaned earlier today. Her dark-blonde hair was no longer braided and ran down to her shoulders soaked in tears. Several parts of her split hair were clumped together to give her a witch's features, and her clothes were stripped down to a white tank-top and tight black sweats.

"Jinni?" Naoto called, putting away his taser. His mind couldn't contain the raw emotion of seeing one of his closest allies fallen and broken apart. He didn't even comprehend what had happened. As a result of his confusion, he had forgotten about his germaphobic status to assist her. Naoto slid forward and used his bare hands to touch both of Jinni's shoulders to lift her. "Jinni!? What happened? Are you okay? Talk to me!"

Jinni slowly lifted her head, revealing her pale sickly face with remnants of vomit around her mouth. Her eyes were almost corpse-like as if she had seen a real ghost for the first time. Strands of her hair nearly fell in clumped-up piles of stress and effort. She looked over to Naoto's worried expression and spoke in a monotonous tone. "Oh. Naoto. You're here," There was no smile on her face any longer, nor did she bother quipping in Italian phrases mid-sentence. "I knew you would come."

Naoto clutched her shoulders and brought her back to lean against the closet door. He wanted to gently interrogate her in case any signs of danger had happened, considering Ryo's condition was mildly wounded. His eyes beholding Jinni in this battered and fractured state only shattered the innocence in his heart regarding her playful banter and antics that made their conversations in Sunlight lively. "What happened, Jinni? You look like you've just died and come back to life. What happened to Ryo? Were you two attacked?" He asked.

Jinni shook her head as her face shriveled up like a raisin. Her unbearable agony could not be suppressed any longer from her fake smiles. "My brother…" She choked and could barely enunciate her words aloud to Naoto. "I thought of my brother…"

"Oh, shit," Naoto paused as if he already knew whom Jinni was referencing. "Don't tell me it was Rose Accel. Did she come? Why the hell did she come when we were gone?" He asked.

"She and Akai wanted to speak to Ryo," Jinni clarified as her monotone voice closely resembled a broken violin that was overplayed and rusty. "I didn't know they would come. There was no warning. She attacked Ryo, and I had to stop her. But as I did, I lost myself again, Naoto. I lost myself and Ryo was the one to blame for it."

"What are you talking about?" Naoto asked.

"Don't you understand?" Jinni cried, raising her voice. "She never came to see Ryo. She used him as an excuse to come and see me. What do you think it's for? Don't you remember the burial site? The burial site of both the dragon and my brother? She only came to beat it out of me, but she knew she could not do so with Ryo. He was my shield… and I let him get hurt. He had been tired since his friend was in that accident, and I let him get hurt. Sumire is his sister, and I let him get hurt. This is all my fault, Naoto. Me and my sorry excuse for a brother!"

"Jinni…" Naoto muttered. He could only watch in horror as Jinni began gently clawing her cheeks with her nails. Everything that Jinni had said and acted was something Naoto wasn't prepared for. It struck him like a truck and snared him in imaginary rope from acting any further to protect his ally. "I'll call Rose Accel. I'll make her pay for what she did."

"No, don't!" Jinni cried.

"Then what do you want me to do!?" Naoto shouted, losing his temper. He couldn't stand how useless he was as a spectator for Jinni's inner pain. There was something deeper in his heart that prompted him of his poor communication skills and uselessness. It was something that he had been constantly reminded of for the past few years, and only recently brought up by Ryo. "I don't want to just stand here and do nothing! What do you want from me?"

"Smile for me, Naoto," Jinni spoke to herself as she placed both of her hands on the sides of her plunging blonde hair. "Smile. You must smile. We must all smile. Va bene. Va bene, Jinni. Brother. Brother..." She repeated.

"Jinni, stop it!" Naoto cried. His instincts caused him to seize Jinni tightly with an affectionate hug to restrain her from thinking any further about the past. His body carried him away to initiate such an unthinkable action that would risk his sanity for carrying germs, and even showing such emotion towards someone who constantly bullies and teases him for his phobia. However, he didn't think twice. He only enacted, which was the fear of losing Jinni altogether. He didn't even let the fragile and chaotic memories of his sister suspend him in his tracks. "Stop it. Please." He begged, wrapping his arms around Jinni's tangled blonde hair.

Jinni's eyes rose from their dulled state as Naoto embraced her. She wrapped her arms around Naoto's shoulders and continued gently sobbing. "Naoto," She called. "You're hugging me. I can't believe it."

To support his maturity, Naoto slowly brushed Jinni aside with a gleeful and hopeful smile. "Come on, don't get the wrong idea," He clarified. "If you ever think about that stuff again, just think of something else that makes you happy. Think of something that doesn't involve that scrap heap dragon or your brother. Especially something that doesn't make you think of that asshole Rose Accel. She wasn't supposed to be here. She just came to mess with both of you and to trigger something inside you, that's all. She's petty and useless, just like Akai."

Jinni giggled. "You hate Akai that much?" She noted.

"Of course I do! He's always looking at you…" Naoto instinctually stated as he noticed how Jinni completely swapped personalities after his affectionate embrace. He suddenly realized that it might have come out as incorrect and continued his sentence. "And looking at Sumire, of course! He's a douchebag. You know that already, right? Besides, he plus Rose Accel means you're combining two douchebags to form a pile of shit. The point is, they're not worth getting riled up or upset about. We leave our missions to them sometimes, and I'm glad we don't have to get them involved in our business. It's gonna stay like that, and I'm glad it does."

"I know," Jinni chuckled as her cheeks reddened. She naturally smiled at Naoto at his meager and silly attempt at cheering her up from being reminded of her burdened past.

"So, just think of something else," Naoto continued. "I know, what about fried pastries? Or pasta? Or Claude's breakfast soup? Ryo's smile, maybe? Or Nana's cuteness?"

As Jinni continued filtering out Naoto's panicked thoughts and expressions to comfort her, the only thing she could think of was being with Naoto at the moment. She gazed up at him with a truthful smile filled with joy and without force.

In comparison to Naoto's request to think of something else to comfort her memories regarding her brother and the unknown dragon, she could only look into Naoto's eyes momentarily, but shake it off after realizing that his heart was impossible.

To change the subject, she wanted to speak about something regarding Naoto personally that had bothered her for quite some time.

His next words were something that Naoto amalgamated for decades by holding in things that were dear to him. Never did he once believe that Jinni had the ability to be sad and broken until he realized that deep down, she was just as human as he was. She was deeply flawed, had fake smiles telling different stories of her mind, and engaged in filtering conversations and conflicts to avoid unnecessary pain. There was something that Naoto noticed inside Jinni's behavior that gave him a boost in confidence, and that had to do with all of her teasings. However, he couldn't say it. Not this time, at least.

Jinni spoke instead, interrupting Naoto's train of thought regarding their relationship. "Naoto. When are you going to tell me about your sister? When are you going to tell Sumire and the others? Maybe Ryo?"

"You mean… Sophie?" Naoto shuddered as soon as Jinni brought her up. His concentration from his previous thoughts shattered apart. Despite being observant, bitter, and watchful of his words regarding Sophie Hiragi, Naoto's instincts next to Jinni made their conversation much more comforting as he felt more willing to speak about it. "Now that's not fair. This was about you, not me." He said.

"Do you still love her?" Jinni asked, tilting her head to the side after wiping away her tears. "After abandoning you for someone else? Or do you still hate her? I have to know."

"Why do you want to know so badly?" Naoto asked as his eyes lowered themselves in shame. "She made that choice to go find her friend. She loved her more than she loved me. I couldn't stop her from doing so. She turned her back on me every time I tried to help her. I was useless, and you already know that."

"You are not useless, Naoto," Jinni reminded. "I wanted to know, because…" She paused and shoveled herself through the hardwood floors before opening the entrance to her tidy room. Naoto watched as she picked herself up with the assist of her door. "Never mind. Thank you, Naoto. Buona notte, Good night." She finished, opening her door and slamming it harshly on the way inside.

Despite his best efforts to comfort Jinni, and after even sacrificing his germaphobic status, Naoto still struggled to understand Jinni's troubles. He could only recall an incident regarding a junkyard scrapped dragon and her brother which Rose Accel triggered. After believing to have stopped her from dwelling in the past, it was the existence of his sister where he was besmirched after being mentioned about it. Everything revolving around the idea with Sophie Hiragi only corrupted and rendered his life void of all happiness.

Ryo's concerned attitude toward Sophie also had pushed him away. He even pushed back Sumire, the loving crush of his life, after mentioning Sophie's name. And now, Jinni's truthful smile had vanished after he had kept in the memory of Sophie for so long. Naoto clenched his fist in annoyance, which shortly after, converted into a confident resolve.

"No more," Naoto whispered to himself after he placed his hand on Jinni's doorknob. The idea of pushing others away from him regarding even the slightest thought of his sister's memory would only negatively impact his health. He established an inner dilemma to let himself go, believing the best course of action would be to take responsibility. He even assessed the significance of the preservation of his sister's memory to Jinni's happiness, believing the latter was more important.

Sophie Hiragi, I guess you and I are the same. We're both searching for our purpose. Only this time, I'm not running anymore.