"Can't you walk straight, or has your idiocy spread to your motor skills?" Samuel complained, stepping on Brant's foot.
"Shut the fuck up," Brant replied, stepping on his shoes in return.
They looked as childish as it got.
Are they really brothers?
"Stop it, both of you."
At the sound of Lorelei's voice, both men gripped their weapons tighter and stopped stepping on each other. In the early morning, the streets of Vinyl were practically empty compared to the afternoon. From below, Lorelei realized just how huge the dome was. She couldn't fathom how anyone could build something so massive. They entered a wide, spacious area that wrapped around the entire side of the dome. Multiple fountains covered the area, their jets shooting water high into the sky, all perfectly synchronized. Compared to the rest of the city, this area looked brand new, as if it had just been built.
"What is this place?" Lorelei asked, intrigued.
"The dome."
"I can tell…"
"She meant the expansion, idiot," Samuel added mockingly.
"It's the park. Before, there was only the dome, but Iria did some management and set this up in place."
The duchess?
The duchess had slipped from her mind since it had been almost two months since Lorelei last saw her.
When is she coming back?
Lorelei itched to ask the question but held the thought as a thought. From the moment she had died for the second time, she had decided to confront what she didn't have the strength to face back then—starting with asking the duchess about Clovis.
"Oh, Brant. Sam. What have you two come here to do?"
They had reached a wide white structure with piles of papers lying around, but nobody was in sight. Papers rustled from below, and a man rose from behind the counter, hitting his head against the desk. He scratched his head in pain and gave them an embarrassed smile.
"Janil, still as clumsy as ever," Samuel sighed.
Brant ran up to him and playfully put him in a headlock. "It's been forever, bud"
"Yeah, it has," the man answered, trying to slip out of Brant's grip.
Once he got a hold of himself, he arranged his messy dark hair and put his hat back on.
"They're making you work down here alone?"
"Yup, it's my punishment, apparently. The principal really is an asshole," he sighed. "Anyway, what do we have here?"
Samuel took a step to the side, revealing Lorelei standing behind him.
"Gonna get her signed up," he answered.
"Oh… Interesting." The man seemed to be scanning Lorelei from head to toe. His lecherous eyes almost made Lorelei uncomfortable.
He gave a simple grin and took a paper and a pencil from the desk.
"Well, miss. Sign here and here," he said, pointing at the paper.
Lorelei stepped forward toward the counter.
"I don't know how to sign."
"Write your full name, then," he replied, resting his arm on the counter to get a closer look.
Lorelei picked up the pencil and started writing.
L-
She realized her mistake and quickly changed the L to resemble an R.
Reili.
"Your full name, miss."
Lorelei hesitated, her hand hovering over the paper before writing.
Reili Fidelya
"Alright!"
Janil picked up the paper and read her name out loud.
"Reili Fidelya?" he questioned. "Your kid, Sam?"
"Of course not. I made an oath; how can I get married, let alone have a kid?"
"Why didn't you assume it was my kid!?" Brant interrupted, seemingly mad.
The man looked up at him, back at Lorelei, back at him again, then shook his head while raising his arm to pat Brant's shoulder.
"Just impossible with your attitude…"
"Say what!?"
"Calm down, Brant," Lorelei pleaded, seeing him reach for the handle of the sword on his back.
"Glad to see you haven't changed at all, Brant," he scoffed. "Maybe you have a little; the leash around your neck has gotten thinner." He burst out laughing. Janil was clearly referring to Lorelei when he talked about the "leash."
Brant turned away and leaned against the counter without saying a word.
"Anyway, if she isn't your kid, then who?"
"Stop asking questions and do your job," Samuel said, with a touch of superiority to rub salt in the wound.
The man gave a forced smile and turned around to place the paper on a brown square.
"Fine, fine."
He raised a hand over the brown square while yawning. Blue inscriptions and symbols appeared below his hand. The paper rose higher, and the inscriptions stacked on top of each other before vanishing in particles. Janil snatched the paper and placed it in another pile.
"All done!"
"Thank you," said Samuel.
"Can't wait to see what kind of kid you guys trained."
Brant walked away first, and Samuel followed after.
"Oh! And come back to see me sometimes; I'm bored out of my mind here!" the man waved while screaming.
Brant and Samuel walked side by side without answering Janil. They passed the fountain before returning to the normal, cozy streets of Vinyl.
"I need to pick something up. You guys go on without me."
Samuel left Brant's side and took the turn at the corner.
"Where are you going?" Brant asked.
"Pouty."
Without another word, Samuel disappeared, briefcase in hand, among the wave of people answering noon's call.
"It's just us two now. Let's go back home and train a bit more to prepare you for the tournament. Whadd'ya say?"
Lorelei nodded, and they headed back to the mansion in complete silence. Sometimes, Lorelei thought having them argue wasn't all so bad. Their rivalry ran even deeper than average sibling rivalry. If Samuel had to die for Brant, he would do it without hesitation. If Brant had to die for Samuel, he would do it without hesitation too. At the same time, if Brant had the chance to kill Samuel, he would, and if Samuel had the chance to kill Brant, he would also do it. Their rivalry had grown so profound that just the thought of having the other killed by anyone else would throw them into a blind rage. For them, that's what it meant to be brothers.
Brant pushed open the training hall door, and Lorelei went over to the slot to grab a weapon, but he stopped her. He pointed at her weapon and brandished his.
"You will be using that."
Lorelei seemed skeptical.
"It's a real blade."
"Exactly my point. How will you learn to survive if you aren't constantly training in a life-or-death situation? Now, fight as if your life depends on it."
Before even signaling the start of the battle, Brant rushed at Lorelei and swung his sword at her from the side. She reacted fast enough to block the hit, but due to Brant's monstrous force, her arms trembled after a single strike, throbbing in pain.
"You didn't give me a signal," she said, walking around Brant, waiting for an opening to strike.
"In life, you won't get any signal."
Brant kept up his assault, leaving no chance for Lorelei to attack and keeping her on the defensive.
"If you can't see an opening, then create your own," he said while swinging away at her.
Every strike she blocked felt like being rammed by a car at full speed. Lorelei opted to dodge instead of block, since doing so grew her chances of attacking. She took a step back and rushed at Brant, aiming for a straight pierce at his torso, but just as she expected, Brant used her momentum to roll over her back. This time, instead of being flung out, Lorelei jumped on top of Brant's sword and balanced herself on it upside down, her sword in her mouth. She used her hands to spin her body and kick his face, not once, but twice consecutively. On the second hit, she made sure to disperse as much energy as she possibly could into her leg and sent Brant flying to the ground. She caught herself before the fall and held her sword, waiting for Brant to move. Her chest swelled and relaxed; heavy breaths resonated around the hall.
"H-huff… H-huff."
She blinked once, and Brant's hand loomed over her face. A gust of wind blew her hair away, and a crushing atmosphere surrounded Brant. He leaned closer to her ear without saying a word.
"Boo!" he softly whispered. That sound alone was enough to make Lorelei shiver.
Brant took his hand away, and Lorelei crumbled to the ground, still petrified. She let go of her sword and breathed heavily.
"I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding," he tried to reassure her, patting her head in a slow, caring motion. "I won't do it again, I promise. I went too far on that one."
"You… You guys—" Lorelei was still trying to catch her breath. "You never took me seriously, did you?"
"…"
Just when she thought she had made progress. Just when she thought she was getting somewhere with all that training. Nothing had changed about her. Nothing would ever change. Lorelei would stay Lorelei, no matter which angle she was looking at.
"You know…" Brant sat down next to her. "My old man taught me something when I was younger—a lesson I never forgot. One more swing, one more swing can be the difference between life and death. On the day you face someone who's one swing ahead of you, there won't be a clear difference, but that one swing is what will make you lose. The day you tell yourself you're strong enough is the day you lose. The day you put your sword down and stop swinging is the day you fall behind. I don't want to lose anything again, Reili. I lost my family, the orphanage. We lost everything—Sam and I. We only have each other and our family's name, Reili, nothing else. Don't you ever stop training. One day, I'm sure you'll get as strong as us," he shook his head. "You'll get even stronger than us." He smiled while stroking Lorelei's hair.
From the door, Samuel, who had been waiting, walked away after seeing Brant get up. Without turning his back, Brant continued.
"I'm sure you've lost something too, Reili. You wouldn't be here if you hadn't." Brant raised his sword onto his shoulders. "Believe in me, believe in us, and keep swinging."
Brant pushed open the door and disappeared. Lorelei got back up and stared at the sword reflecting her sorry self. She cleared her bangs and picked it up. The sword seemed to react to her touch and vibrated agitatedly. Lorelei gripped it even tighter and brandished it in front of her. She adjusted her feet and started swinging.
"Way to act cool," Samuel smiled.
"Was I?"