A Brother

Tearju had returned with a red face to clean up the floor because she did not want her superiors to know about her blunder once again. Because if they knew that she had caused harm to a patient, even if unintentionally, once again, then her job might be at risk.

Of course, Rito didn't mind at all and simply allowed her to clean the floor while he laid down. Even though his front was in slight pain, he was able to keep his calm because of his newfound skill.

As she bowed her red face and started her task, the door of the room was opened, shocking Tearju greatly. She looked towards the newcomer with a panicked expression and immediately wanted to apologise for her mistake, but to her surprise, the person who had arrived was a little girl with long brown hair.

She was wearing a colourful top alongside a yellow skirt.

She was Mikan!

Rito also looked at Mikan and felt pleasantly surprised. He immediately stood up despite the pain and immediately smiled at her.

"Hey, you didn't have any troubles coming here, did you?"

Mikan looked at the kneeling Tearju for a moment and slightly bowed towards her and walked near Rito and shook her small head indifferently. She had reverted to her calm self already.

"Ah, Tearju-san, this is my little sister, Mikan Yuuki. Mikan, she is my nurse, Tearju Lunatique-san!"

Rito introduced both of them and Tearju immediately greeted her with a gentle smile alongside the aura befitting an elder sister. She squatted down to match Mikan's eye level and squinted her eyes and coked her head to the side.

"Hello, Mikan-chan, I am Tearju! You can call me by my first name!"

Mikan was slightly stunned by such a charming reaction and she blushed slightly and quickly bowed.

"Thank you for taking care of my Idiot Brother, Tearju Onee-san!"

Hearing her words, Rito's smiling expression stiffened while Tearju smiled cheerfully as she was addressed 'Onee-san' and immediately patted Mikan's head lightly.

"Well, I will let you two chat with each other."

Tearju smiled and left. But she did gaze at the side of her cheek for a while that was covered by Mikan's hair.

She didn't say anything and left with a smile.

"Ai, what happened to me being your precious 'Onii-Chan'?"

Rito immediately formed a sad expression and whined. He looked at Mikan and wanted to see her reaction, but unfortunately, all he got was a calm smile.

"I am sorry, that word is for only special instances."

She sat down near him and took out a bento and placed it in his arms.

"Huh?"

Rito looked dumbfounded!

"Aren't you going to feed me.... my beautiful little sister."

He immediately spoke and looked at her with expectant eyes, but all he got was cruel mocking in a sweet voice.

"You have already healed and can eat on your own! Don't be such a crybaby, Idiot Rito!"

She spoke with a huff and took out a book from her bag and started studying. Rito also sighed and felt that he wouldn't be able to get much reaction from her and started eating the bento obediently.

"You know, I can get discharged in two days!"

Rito looked and spoke out suddenly. He wanted Mikan to know about his condition so she wouldn't worry over him for anything.

"The doctors say that my condition is fine and I just need a little resting."

Hearing Rito's words, Mikan didn't look away from her book and simply nodded. But her eyes did brighten at the news.

Suddenly, his eyes were attracted to a particular mark on her left cheek. He had also noticed that Mikan had changed her hairstyle a bit and put out more bangs on her left side.

He placed his bento on the nightstand and leaned forward towards Mikan. He immediately raised his left hand and tried to brush her bangs away.

Meanwhile, Mikan, who was engrossed in her book was feeling happy since Rito would be able to return in two days. She felt slightly relieved and forgot all about her unpleasant day.

"What is this?"

Suddenly, a warm hand touched her left cheek, that was still let out a slight pinch. She quickly pulled her face and looked at Rito calmly.

"It's nothing, I just fell on the playground this morning!"

Seeing her abrupt reply, Rito frowned. He had already seen the blue mark on her left cheek and he was all too familiar with these marks.

He thought for a while and asked again.

"Are you sure? If you want my help, just say so!"

Mikan smiled lightly at his words!

"Sure, if I want some help in useless stuff, I will call for you."

Even though she tried to lighten the mood by mocking him like usual, Rito did not buy it this time.

'Sorry, Mikan! I really don't want to do this....'

He started eating his bento without commenting about the previous conversation. Seeing that Rito did not follow up, Mikan felt relieved and slightly disappointed. She didn't know why she would feel that way. After all, she knew that Rito wasn't well so she shouldn't burden him with more tasks.

As he ate silently, he looked at Mikan once again.

"Hey, Mikan? You aren't having any troubles at school, are you?"

She immediately frowned and snorted.

"I told you already, didn't I? I am fine!"

'Memory Reading!'

Even though Mikan was saying 'I just fell this morning!'

Rito was able to 'see' the scene inside her head as she herself thought of the scene that caused the mark on her cheek.

Through his [Memory Reading], he can only read the already processing thoughts of the target. So as to find the truth of the matter, he had to specifically target the place where the incident happened and then cause the target to think about it himself and then use the skill to extract information.

Rito 'saw' that he was walking out of the class during recess time when a group of boys and girls surrounded 'him'.

***

One of the girls with pretty black hair laughed out in a smug manner as her nails grew longer.

"Hehehe, you don't have any quirk and yet you attend the same class as us?"

The other boy with a really long nose also hissed and shouted.

"Yeah! Go away!"

Slowly, all of the boys and girls with different quirks started to bully 'him'.

One of the girls even slapped her in the face, but 'he' only endured everything silently.

***

As the memory changed into 'him' thinking about the meals to cook during dinner, Rito understood that Mikan wasn't thinking about her bullying incident anymore.

Rito did not immediately speak anything as he tried to comprehend the situation and think of a good solution.

He knew that many 'Quirkless' were highly discriminated against. Even the people with most useful quirk, for example: A person being able to fart rainbows, would scorn a quirkless human being.

Similar was the situation with Mikan. He also knew that such bullying incidents don't take long to erupt into a bigger problem.

If he stepped in and got the bullies punished, Mikan would be treated even more roughly later on. But if he didn't do anything, the situation may escalate as they might even beat her up.

Such is the life of bullies. They think that what they are doing is right! But they don't have the mental capacity of thinking about the situation of their target.

There was one more problem, it was Mikan herself. She didn't want Rito to involve himself in the situation and only endured all the bullying silently.

When he thought of how she was slapped by that witch-like girl, his heart couldn't help but rage. He wanted to think of ways to help her that won't make her suffer even more in the future.

After finishing his bento, he the box back to Mikan so that she can take it back home.

"Say, Mikan? Do you know about Adam and Eve?"

Rito asked suddenly.

"Hmm? Aren't they the first human to ever get created by the God?"

Mikan coked her head sideways and spoke out uncertainly.

"Yeah! Them. Do you know that some religions have different myths about the first person ever created?"

Rito asked with a mysterious smile.

Mikan was finally interested and she closed her book.

"Oh? Tell me."

Rito smiled and started speaking.

"According to the myths, the first person to be ever created was actually a beautiful girl. But the problem was that her beauty was too contagious and many beasts were attracted to her. God also saw this problem. Do you know how he fixed it?"

Rito asked Mikan with a smile as she shook her head silently.

"He created another human. His hands were very strong and could crack open bog rocks while his legs can blast apart dangerous beasts. God named this man– Father. With Father's protection, the little girl grew safely. But then, she was troubled once again. Even though her Father protected her from any harm, she always felt lonely as she couldn't converse with her father. So she prayed to the God and asked him to solve her troubles."

Rito stopped as he wanted Mikan to digest the story, but she immediately looked at him with interest and asked,

"What happened then?"

"Then, the God created another human being. He was beautiful and charming. He had the ability to make her laugh and also comfort the girl and share his warmth during the cold nights. The God name this human– Husband. With the addition of Husband, the girl never felt lonely and was also protected by her Father from any harm. One day, the trio was crossing a lake when suddenly, a small crocodile walked out of the lake and was blasted away by the girl's father."

"immediately, the lake shook and a spooky voice emerged from the lake— Human, this crocodile did not even walk near the girl and you killed him due to your own overprotective nature. I curse you, the person who caused all of this to be forever sealed by this lake."

"Immediately, the whole lake flew and stopped above the girl's head and fell on her body, sealing her forever. The girl felt very bitter. She did not ask for her father to kill the crocodile, but she was the one getting blamed in the end. She looked at her father and husband and called for their help, but to her distress, they did not respond at all. She finally understood that her father was only tasked with protecting her, with her sealed below the river, she was also protected from any harm indirectly."

"Meanwhile, her husband was tasked with keeping her company, but with all the lifeforms in the lake, she would never be lonely again."

"Seeing that their duties were finished, both men walked away and ignored the girl's request for help."

Rito showed a sad expression and even Mikan felt sad for the girl.

She then looked at Rito to continue the story.

He smiled and continued.

"The God couldn't help but take pity on the girl and asked her that what should he create to help her, to which, she replied— I want someone who can comfort me and listen to me. He should be strong to take over my burdens and he shouldn't act without my consideration! The God nodded and created another human being. He was strong and his shoulders could bear the weight of the whole world. He was also kind to the girl and always kept her company. He also picked up the lake on his shoulder and set her free and they both lived happily."

Rito concluded the story and asked a key question from Mikan.

"Do you know the name given to him by the God?"

Mikan thought for a while and shook her head.

"I don't."

Rito smiled and patted her head gently.

"The God named the man— Brother. He always helped the girl when asked for his help and he also bore her burden without any questions and always had a kind smile on his face when she asked for his help!"

Seeing Rito's smile and feeling the warmth from his hand, Mikan's head buzzed and she looked stunned as she got the answer.

'Brother!'