Family Matters

-----Yui's POV

Yui: "Thanks."

Kaede: "Sure you had enough?"

Yui: "Mm"

With the whole incident with Natalie yesterday, Kaede's been more forward with giving me plenty of her blood. I understand why, but it still weirds me out. In a way, I think I prefer to drink subconsciously instead of like this, even if it's delicious.

Yesterday, mom did come back to pick up Natalie. She was still resting, so it was quite the scene we were making when we had to carry Natalie out of the dorms. Gabriella did end up meeting my mom, but once she realized who it was, it was like she sobered up in an instant and ran back to the dorms. I'm hoping today that we could talk, but she tends to hang out with Leon and the other counts and viscounts.

Kaede: "You gonna check on Natalie after class?"

Yui: "Yeah. She didn't wake up when mom picked her up, so I'd like to see if she's okay."

Also because I'd like to make sure that we're on good terms. Sure she accepted me when I took her to Kaede, but she was barely conscious. I'm scared that when she does finally wake up, that she's frightened of me.

All that said, I do need to hurry up and finish my end of things. I don't want to have mom waiting much longer. George and Mark will be tricky, but more importantly-

(Iris: "Your father has built quite a strong bond with your brother.")

I recall what my mom said. I know Fabian and I had our differences, but he's still family. So I'd like to focus on Fabian more than anything right now.

After splitting from Kaede, I find myself slumped on my desk, trying to figure out a plan to talk with my brother.

Yui: "Hah~"

Luna: "What's the matter?"

Yui: "Thinking."

Luna: "Really? You look more like you're anxious about something."

She's not wrong. What if Fabian does in fact stay back with our father? And if we do end up going to war, we'd be fighting against each other. I just want everyone to live happily.

Yui: "Maybe."

Luna: "Mmm~ Did you want to talk about it?"

I really wish I could, but I'd risk mom's plans if I leak it to anyone, even Luna. However, maybe I can beat around the bush and not directly say anything.

Yui: "So, I have this friend. They plan on moving somewhere, but they really want to bring their other friend with them. I'm not entirely sure what to do to help."

Luna: "Huh? Wait, you're not talking about yourself, right?"

Yui: "No no, just a friend."

Luna: "Hmmm. Then why doesn't your friend just talk to them?"

Yui: "See, that's a bit challenging. Their schedules don't mesh well-"

Kendal: "Okay everyone. Time for class."

Cutting our conversation short, our teacher comes into the room. It's honestly boring being in this class now. Now that I have some ability for magic, I'd much prefer taking a different class, but then again, I'd be leaving Luna all alone. A big part of why I chose this class in the first place was because of Luna.

Kendal: "Things will be different today. We'll be having another group exercise with the other knight classes."

Hearing those words, my eyes lit up at the thought of training with my brother. I hardly see him, so this will prove to be valuable.

Kendal: "This will involve some usage of magic this time around. I know most of you are only comfortable with fighting with weapons, so be sure to pay attention to the other classes and see how they fight using magic to supplement their sword fighting."

In other words, Spellsword. Most people in these knight classes do use some magic, but they focus more on weapon fighting. Spellswords tend to have an equal balance between the two, and are regarded as "special" in this kingdom. Fabian seems to be on track to becoming one, much like Alice.

Kendal: "We'll head out on the next bell and join up with the other classes, so take this time to prepare and go over your notes."

I really wish I could bring everyone... Once I leave, even my teacher, Kendal, will likely become our enemy. Leon too of course will be impossible since he's literally the son of the king.

Yui: "Hah~"

Luna: "You sighing a lot, hehe."

Yui: "Mm."

Glancing over at Luna, smiling away causes some of my stress to fade. I'm glad she's just a commoner and her and her family is under my mom's influence. At least she'll be coming along with me.

Eventually, we finally arrive in the training grounds. The classes were still in their respected groups, but at least now I can see Fabian off in the distance. I notice his gaze looking my way, but when I gave him a wave, he just looked away coldly. What's up with that?

Teacher1: "Okay, first years. Be sure to keep up. Think of this like how you all competed in the tournament."

Teacher2: "But we will limit the magic to be strictly low-tier magic. We don't want anyone getting seriously injured here."

"Seriously injured?" Makes it seem like it's okay if we get moderately injured or something. I guess training is finally picking up which makes my heart flutter at the possibly of getting hurt. Not that I actually plan on it in the first place.

Kendal: "Like he said, be sure to keep up. Pay close attention to the other classes, guys."

Teacher: "We'll have the second and third years fight first. First years, pay attention for now."

Ugh. I was hoping it'd be like last time and hopefully I could go against my brother, but now I'm just sitting here watching? Actually, now that I'm looking around, I've fought many of these people in the tournament. And now that I think about it, Kaede is in the summoning class, and Marcus is in the third year mage-specialist class. That makes me the best knight in the academy, huh.

Their sparring match began, but I focused on my brother more than anyone else. Seems as though it's individual assessment today instead of group assessment like the time before. Fabian though, seems to be completely dominating the second year guy, even burning the guy's arm with flame magic.

With his match already finished, I look around to notice that a lot of magic is being casted. A thought crosses my mind, thinking of me just taking control of all this magic and decimating the entire place. I guess that's what you'd call an intrusive thought? Not that I'll actually do it, haha.

Kendal: "Alright guys, you're up."

Most of our class went to fight with the second years, but not me. I immediately went towards my brother who stood alone as he'd finished fighting another opponent already.

Yui: "Hey."

Fabian: "Hey."

His tone was lower, with hardly any emotion put into it. And now that I'm up close, it seems like he's almost angry in a way.

Yui: "What's wrong?"

Fabian: "Nothing to be concerned about."

Yui: "That so?"

I draw my sword towards my brother, the same way we did back when we fought in a group, only this time it's just us. It was also that time when we finally managed to talk things out. I'm hoping that this will be a repeat like last time. And this time, there's obviously something he's hiding.

Fabian: "Yes."

He readies his sword, and in the next few moments, we engage. Immediately I notice something peculiar, but it seems like Fabian's gotten slower than I remember, or is it maybe because I'm faster? But when I fought Alice not too long ago, I still felt the same, I think.

But this sparring match would be different as he manages to counter-attack me with his off-hand, throwing a fireball my way. I almost instinctively took control of it, but quickly managed to dodge it. But my hesitation would prove to be a detriment as he followed up with another attack with his sword. It was fast, but I managed to just barely deflect it in time before repositioning myself.

Fabian: "Getting a bit sloppy there, sis."

Yui: "Heh. My bad."

Finally, I could see him smile. Quite odd that my brother get's enjoyment out of fighting. Really does make me remember all those times growing up where he desperately wanted to play-fight with me. But I guess that's the difference between us. He might fight for his enjoyment, but I fight in order to get stronger. When I found out I can't use magic, I trained every day with Alice to get to where I am. But I know you can only get so far with skill alone. And this sparring match was evident of that.

Every time Fabian was on the back-foot, he'd use fire magic to turn the table on me, taking control over the fight. It's honestly frustrating how seamlessly he fires off magic like that. Meanwhile I have to concentrate so much just to even get my hand wet. At least I'm making it up with my quick reflexes and swordsmanship Alice had taught me.

Yui: "So? You going to tell me what's up?"

Fabian: "Like I said... It's nothing to be concerned about."

Yui: "If it's something eating at you, I'd like to hear it. We're family after all, aren't we?"

I would've thought he'd open up by those words, but surprisingly, his face contorted as if he's in pain. His attacks also started to get a lot more brutish in style. Yeah, something for sure isn't right.

Fabian: "It's... None of your concern!"

It might be because of his anger all of a sudden, but didn't he generate a little too much fire just now? It's quite a large fireball this time, It's be too risky to try and dodge it. And even if I do successfully dodge it, there's people behind us. If I just dodge it now, the fireball will blow up on someone else. Fuck...

Leaving me with no choice, I fling the large fireball up into the sky with my off-hand, before exploding it in the sky. The look on my brother's face was one thing, but then I notice that everyone around us had stopped to see what was going on; in other words, me. Thanks bro. Now look what you made me do.