A view of two worlds

Admittedly kind of stupid not going to lie. Maybe it was because just really wanted to use such a useless skill or just because I wanted to be 100% positive. Now looking back though it was dumb really dumb. I gotta make sure not to start being non-self aware and think.

I mean It's a perfectly reasonable response. I would run away if someone started shouting something at me too. It didn't help that Appraisal also said it out loud making it just a very awkward situation.

Note to self do not yell stuff at people in the middle of the night. No matter how excited you are for a catgirl.

Anyway, I decided to head back to the house after that odd encounter. Which isn't as easy as it might sound. It's not like I had trouble getting her but it's the fact of how to get in. When I left the house for some reason Ren was still awake in the house's main room. Blocking the door.

She wasn't with anyone and she was just reading a book so I came to the scary conclusion she was waiting for me. I assumed it probably wasn't about anything good so I decided not to leave through the front door.

How did I get out then? Well you see It might seem a bit extreme but I decided to go out through the window. Since I had been in a room on the main floor there was an easy escape route right there.

Look I'm just not in the mood to talk to anyone, more than usual. Anyway, my problem now is getting back in. Which I have decided to go in the same way I came out. Which means climbing into a window.

"Welp"

I throw my cloak through the window and hop in soon after. After a bit of struggling and world-class flexibility, I made it through the window with only one scratch.

"I guess that works" I unconsciously say out loud.

"Works for me too"

I do not unconsciously say that or say it at all. Instead, it's made from a teenage girl's voice coming from the opposite side of the window in the room. Her face was lit with a single candle and with a book in her hand.

"Ren"

"Akari" She closes her book.

Me and my sister look at each other waiting for the other to talk first. Neither of us did, however, and we stayed there in silence for a few moments. Me sitting on one knee and Ren sitting in a chair, legs crossed.

It's a stupid standoff but a standoff non the less. It looks like Ren has something she wants to talk about. The only problem is that I and Ren haven't had a "normal conversation" in years. Sure we've talked but we've never sat down just to chat before.

Finally, the silence is broken.

Ren lets out a sigh. "Looks like you don't want to explain why you decided to come in through the window. As long as you're here it's fine I guess."

It really does seem she wants to talk to me. I wonder what she could possibly want to talk to me about. It would have to be pretty goddam important if she decided to come to me.

"Akari I got something really important to talk about."

"Important? Wouldn't it be better to talk about it in the secret basement? Maybe let me sit on something more comfortable?"

"Oh well you see the basement is being renovated for the thing that I was just about to talk about. For now this will be your room. It'll be fixed up soon. Probably… Now can I continue?"

"Sure I guess" I respond confused

"Akari I think I might have found a way to go back home," She says seriously

I stand there frozen trying to understand what she just said.

"Look It might not even be true but in this book, I think I have the answer we need to return home."

She's not joking, is she?

"I know you might not believe me but If we work together on this and get home we can pretend like this was some big nightmare."

Ok that's a bit too far.

"Nightmare?" I try to respond normally.

"Yep just some dumb little nightmare"

Ren gets up and walks over to my kneeled position. She reaches out her hand in my direction

"You know I don't like saying this more than anyone but please help me Akari. Common bro"

I look up at her and I can see she has the most genuine smile I've ever seen on her face. She really thinks we can go back home. Good for her.

"Welp I'm happy for you Ren, you'll be able to go home to all your friends, and maybe you'll be able to say hi to mom for me." I stand up, wipe my hands on my pants and put my hand on her shoulder as I speak.

"But I'm not going with you" I continue to say.

Ren drops the book in her hand as soon as I finish talking and for some reason has a really confused look on her face. Doesn't she know how much I like this world? How naive of her.

After my assertion, Ren just stands there looking at the ground so I decide to start leaving the room. Ren should have bought some new food and I'm getting kinda hungry. Before I can even leave the room I hear Ren speak up.

"But-but what about mom?" Ren turns around and… is crying?

"Uhh, Ren are you ok?"

"Am I ok?! I think the question is, are you ok!?

Well, other than a voice I hear every once in a while I think I'm perfectly fine. Ren keeps talking before I can even explain that, however.

"What about everyone? Wouldn't they be terrified to figure out that we just disappeared?! Don't you care about all the people that love you?!"

"Uhh, Ren-"

"NO!" Suddenly a chair goes flying past my face. Barley missing me and instead hits the door I was about to walk out. Terrifying.

"Do you really want me to go to mom and just say "Oh sorry but Akari doesn't feel like coming home" How do you think mom would react? There are so many people that care about you and you want to throw that away?"

Suddenly I feel like Ren struck a cord. Probably not the one she was hoping for though.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," I say without even bothering to turn around.

"Wha?"

"You're wrong, nobody cares about me. Not my friends, not my clanmates, not the people at school, and definitely not mom."

"Akari, what are you saying?"

I turn around to respond to her.

"I'm saying that if I go back I'm leaving more things here than I ever did where we used to live."

Ren now decided to stay silent.

"Now can you leave me out of this dumb old book and never talk to me about it ever again."

As I say that I mistakenly decided to pick up the book. It's not like I was going to do anything with it. Actually, I was just going to hand it to her but Ren didn't think so. Because soon I see a fist coming straight for my face.

Luckily due to peer reaction speed or my increase of stats, I stumble back barely dodging her punch. Stumbling, I somehow manage to stay on my feet to come face to face to Ren and Ren definitely doesn't look happy.

Ren clenches her fist and starts to walk over to me.

Now listen I'm not a man that will go around abusing women but I feel in this circumstance I have some leg room to say It's self-defense. Seeing as Ren's walk soon turned into a run I guess I have no choice.

Not wanting to get punched I move to the right making Ren go right past me. Seeing as Ren definitely hasn't raised any of her skills I easily out-speed her. which came in handy as her next few attacks were sloppy straight on punches that I decide to just dodge.

"Listen Ren I know you're mad but you can still leave so what's the deal?"

I don't know if it was cockiness or something but I decided to start calming her down while she tried to hit me. It wasn't a problem either; her punches were easily evadable. Which comes to show how much stronger I have really become. I could probably mess up the average joe in my other world if I wanted to.

"Look Ren this just proves the difference between you and me. Look how much stronger I've become. I'll be fine, trust me."

My talking doesn't really seem to be doing anything but just getting her madder. Thankfully she finally tires out and stands in the middle of the small room breathing heavily. Ren must really be going through something tough if she decided to fight me.

Anyway, I take this small moment of pause to lean against a nearby shelf. I close my eyes half because I'm feeling a bit cocky and also because I feel like I need some rest. In my momentary state of having my eyes closed, I hear something from Ren.

"Self-control"

Self-control? What on earth is she talking about? Is she trying to say I need to go easier on her? No can do I don't feel like getting walled by my little sister.

Wanting to see what Ren was talking about I open my eyes. For some reason when I open my eyes I don't see Ren at all. Well, that's not entirely true. I do see Ren but specifically, a fist incomposing my entire view.

How had she gotten that close to me so fast? I'm unable to linger on these thoughts for very long as the feeling of her fist impacting me and then my back crashing into the wall behind me rushes my senses.

Ahh, I can't tell what hurt more, the fist or wall. Because both hurt a fuckton. Not enough though for me there's no way my little sister is going to beat me up.

Seeming when Ren punched me it made a visible dent in the wall so I had to slowly pull myself out. I don't get very far until I hear Ren again.

"Not finished?"

Fuck no! Well, I'm a bit focused on keeping my eye on her to actually say that but I definitely give her a defiant look. After getting out of the small hole in the wall I stand there In a prepared position. There's no way she's getting me by surprise again.

"Your funeral," She says annoyed.

I watch as Ren launches off the ground rushing right at me not too dissimilar to the sloppy punches from before. The only difference? She is impossibly fast. Ren only takes one leap and she is already halfway to me.

Dogging obviously wasn't an option so I put my hands up blocking my face. It's too bad that Ren decided to aim this punch and hit my unguarded stomach. As the breath leaves me I fall to the ground.

Soon I can't concentrate on anything and my eyes start to become blurry. It feels like I'll pass out any second.

I couldn't even beat my own sister…

Funny…

Before I pass out I do hear a glimpse of a conversation.

"Ren Im back I got- OH My GOD! What happened here!?"

"Marissa, I-I just"

"What did you do to him, Ren?"

"He-uhh. Fell?"

"He fell?? Ren, we'll talk about this later, just help me here."