When I came to school together with Sylphie, I learned about Norn's shut-in episode.
It was Linia and Pursena who told me. The two of them had been waiting at the school gate first thing that morning. They told me Norn had locked herself in her room at the dormitory the entire previous day and refused to come out.
"…I'm going to check on her!" The moment she heard this, Sylphie took off running toward the girls' dormitory.
As for me, I froze. I should have just followed Sylphie.
The fact that Norn had shut herself away hit me harder than I expected.
"Boss… aren't you going?"
"You're just gonna let it go?"
I was dazed. What should I do? What should I say?
I didn't know.
When it was me, once I shut myself in, I never came out.
Why?
Because there were too many enemies waiting outside. Because I thought that if I went to school, I'd just get bullied again.
Right.
Bullying.
Even if you drag a shut-in outside, they'll just have a miserable time.
So what I needed to do was eliminate the cause.
Before meeting Norn, I had to remove whatever drove her to shut herself in.
That thought flashed through me in an instant.
The cause.
The first thing that came to mind was bullying.
My own memories flooded back vividly.
The high school cafeteria.
After waiting in line for about five minutes, just when I thought it was finally my turn—
these tough-looking delinquents cut right in front of me.
I confronted them with a misplaced sense of justice.
"Huh? Who the hell knows," they played dumb.
I raised my voice, broadcasting their behavior so everyone around could hear.
People casting glances our way.
I puffed up with pride, proclaiming my righteousness.
And then I got beaten to a pulp.
Pummeled so badly I couldn't stand up again.
A small incident can turn everyday life into hell.
If Norn was going through the same hell,
I wanted to pull her out of it.
I wanted to beat the hell out of the delinquents and carve out a space for her.
If their parents showed up to fight, I'd fight them too.
Nobles? Royalty? I couldn't care less.
I'd resist with everything I had.
I'd make them regret ever pushing me this far.
Even if Norn's own words or behavior had been the catalyst.
There are things in this world that are right to do, and things that are wrong.
Norn is my sister.
Even if she hated me, hated Eris, and hated everything about our current situation—
she's my sister.
A big brother has to protect his younger brother and sister.
You can't just abandon them.
---
I led Linia and Pursena toward the first-year classroom.
I could have gone alone, but I had no confidence in my appearance.
With Linia and Pursena by my side, no one would dare mess with me.
"Boss…"
"Linia, stop it. He's seriously angry for real, it's scary."
The two of them seemed a bit confused about my behavior.
I understood why.
I was aware I was making a fool of myself.
I could imagine how pathetic it must feel to be dragged along.
But right now, I was a monster parent.
Shame was something to throw away.
We reached the first-year classroom where Norn's class was.
Homeroom had already started.
"Pardon the intrusion."
I flung the door open and strode inside.
"R-Rudeus… san. Class is in session right now."
"I'll just need a small amount of your time. That's fine, right?"
"But—"
"That's fine, right?"
I pushed past the teacher and planted myself at the podium.
I scanned the classroom.
Every single face wore a dumbfounded expression.
Somewhere in this room was someone who had tormented Norn.
Had they punched her? Kicked her?
Maybe it was verbal violence instead.
They'd cornered Norn—a girl whose family life was already in shreds—and sliced her apart with their words.
"As I'm sure you're all aware, one of the students in this class has recently stopped attending school."
"…"
"I'm not sure if you all know this, but she's my sister."
The classroom murmured.
"I haven't heard the details from my sister yet,
but there really aren't that many reasons for someone to stop wanting to come to school.
The person who created that reason—
I believe they're in this room."
I swept my gaze across the classroom as I spoke.
Several people broke eye contact when my gaze found them.
A few who looked tough, wearing their uniforms sloppily despite being only first-years.
Suspicious. Could be them.
Actually, wait—was that the top dog among the first-years?
I couldn't remember the name.
Could it be them…
No, jumping to conclusions would be premature.
"I'm not asking much from that person.
Maybe it was meant as a joke,
or you were trying to befriend my sister and it just took an awkward turn.
I'm sure my sister has her faults too."
I cast my eyes across the room.
Who was it? Who had done something terrible?
That one? The noble-looking princely type?
Or over there, that intimidating demonic-race girl?
No, actually, that ordinary-looking girl seemed more suspicious.
Bullies often look perfectly normal on the surface.
"If you could, please come forward.
I won't be angry.
I just want you to understand that my sister was hurt, and to apologize."
The moment you step forward, I'm going to tear you apart.
Some of the kids in here were around Norn's age.
But many were older.
A few looked to be in their late teens.
Did they turn a blind eye, or had they participated?
What kind of person bullies a ten-year-old?
"…"
No one said a thing.
They just stared at me, dumbfounded.
"U-Um…"
A single girl timidly raised her hand.
I nearly hurled a stone cannonball at her right then and stopped myself.
She looked like the timid sort.
About thirteen years old. A tanuki-type beast-race.
Short bob, looked clumsy, with a roundish face.
The type who'd normally be on the receiving end of bullying.
"A-A little while ago, I was talking to Norn-chan, and…"
"And you said something terrible?"
If it was just a petty argument, maybe that couldn't be helped.
"N-No, it's… I knew about you, Rudeus-san.
But I said Norn-chan is just a normal kid, so she's different from her big brother, and she got really mad…"
Mad?
Norn got angry because I was compared to her?
What did that mean?
"Oh—"
A teacher standing nearby suddenly spoke up.
I turned toward her.
An older female teacher.
Don't tell me she had something to do with this.
Bullying isn't always carried out by students alone.
There's always the possibility it's teacher-led.
"Do you recall something, sensei?"
"Well, the other day I assigned Norn-san a certain homework assignment…"
"You gave her so much homework she couldn't finish it, stripped her naked, and made her stand in the faculty room?"
"O-Of course not! I just told her that since her work was a bit lacking, she should study harder like her big brother…"
"…"
"And when I said that, she looked like she was about to cry, but said she'd do her best."
Huh?
This time it was a look like she was about to cry?
"Now that you mention it, I…"
Starting with the teacher, several people in the classroom began speaking up.
---
We left the classroom and made our way to the cafeteria.
At this hour, the cafeteria was deserted.
I took a seat and slumped forward onto the table.
I was a little shaken.
It was my fault.
Apparently, Norn only showed her emotions when she was compared to me or when my name came up.
The students in the classroom had all known that Norn and I were siblings.
Of course they had.
Unlike with Eris, Norn and I shared the same father and mother.
Our facial features were fairly similar too.
And Norn hated being lumped together with me.
She hated being compared, and she hated being praised by bringing up my name.
Ah, of course—they weren't the villains.
At least, not in the sense that they compared them out of malice.
Some had probably said it with genuine warmth.
"You're different from that infamous class rep, huh."
But I was well-known in this school.
Being well-known meant you were more likely to be used as a point of comparison.
Still, for Norn, it must have been brutal.
At her previous school, she'd always been compared to Eris too.
Always seen as the lesser one, living a life accumulating stress.
She'd started fresh at a new school, begun dormitory life.
She thought she'd finally escaped Eris—only to be compared to me instead.
No matter where she went, she was reminded that she was the bottom of the barrel among the siblings.
That had to be painful.
And to top it all off, there was the infamous underwear incident.
Among the first-years, was there anyone whose heart had been seriously wounded by that?
Thanks to Ariel's cover-up, it had more or less become a laughing matter.
I'd heard she was forced to strip, but in reality, it wasn't quite so dramatic—it was apparently a heartwarming scene of Linia and Norn exchanging underwear.
A bystander had mistaken it for a hazing situation and reported it to Ariel. That was all.
I'd left that cover-up to Ariel.
She'd take care of it.
But still, Norn must have been shocked beyond words.
That I—the pervert—ranked even lower than her.
"Sigh…"
What was I even doing?
Going off half-cocked on my own, storming into the classroom.
Pulling a stunt like that.
What kind of "monster parent" was I?
I was just an idiot.
"Both of you. Thanks for today. I really looked like an idiot, didn't I?"
At the very least, I thanked the two of them.
I'd made them carry my stupid burdens.
Put them through pointless things.
"Moving for your sister's sake doesn't make you an idiot, nya."
"But it was a little surprising, nya. I've gained some respect, nya."
I conjured a cup and filled it with water.
I drank.
It had no taste whatsoever.
But I let out a breath.
"Nya, Boss. What are you going to do now?"
"There's nothing complicated about it. I'm the reason she shut herself in."
Shut herself in.
Right. She had shut herself in.
It had only been one day, but she had.
"Forcing her to come to class isn't the answer."
"Right, nya."
"If she stays in her room, she'll turn stupid, nya."
"Right, nya, right, nya."
"Stupid like Linia, nya."
"Pursena's got it right, nya—nya!?"
I had no interest in playing along with their comedy routine.
I knew all too well how difficult shut-in situations were.
No one shuts themselves in their room because they enjoy it.
There's always a reason they can't come out.
Dragging them outside by force won't solve anything.
It'll only make things worse.
But leaving them shut in isn't good either.
You'll definitely regret it.
A month, two months—time spent doing nothing will echo later.
I'm speaking from experience, so I know.
But explaining that probably wouldn't help.
"If only I could go back to those days"—that kind of sentiment only comes from people who shut themselves in long enough to regret it.
If you shut yourself in for a year, ten years, regret never forms.
And by the time it does, it's already too late.
That's why all parents push their kids to try.
Because they regret something, big or small.
"If your sibling is the least capable among all of you, and other people keep making comments about that… what are you supposed to do?"
When I put it that way, the two of them exchanged glances and shrugged.
"…I'm not an idiot, so I wouldn't really know, nya."
"We're reasonably capable ourselves."
Right—I think they'd been sent here precisely because they were too idiotic to lead their tribes.
They'd been told to study up and become worthy of being clan leaders.
But maybe being idiotic and optimistic like that wasn't such a bad thing.
Still, Norn was far more sensitive.
She couldn't handle being compared.
"Oh, but there's one example, nya."
Linia proudly offered up a name.
"Aunt Ghylaine was a violent disaster at everything she tried, but once she started swordplay, she became the Sword King, nya."
"Ah… I see."
Ghylaine was a bit of an exception, though.
But maybe unexpected talent does exist.
The point was, Norn didn't have to follow the same path as me or Eris.
If you didn't want to be compared, do something no one could compare you to.
I couldn't think of what that might be.
But this world was vast.
It didn't have to be magic or swordsmanship. There had to be something.
Maybe she really didn't have talent for what she wanted to do.
Like Zanoba.
But even Zanoba seemed to have fun every day.
Making puppets, gazing at them, adoring them, collecting them.
That was enough.
As long as she could live happily, that was all that mattered.
But I doubted saying that would make her accept it.
If I were her, I wouldn't accept it either.
"Still, what am I supposed to say to her?"
"You don't have to overthink it, nya. Just lay it out in one punch, nya."
"Exactly. Just tell her to come out and join class, nya."
They made it sound so simple.
But wait—maybe.
Maybe I was the one overcomplicating things.
Come to think of it, Norn was only ten years old.
Maybe she was just throwing a bit of a tantrum.
Besides, she'd only been shut in for one day—today was only the second.
At this point, it was less "shut-in" and more like just "cooped up."
Anyone could have a bad mood and hole up for a bit.
I shouldn't push it.
I shouldn't mediate.
Wasn't that thought just… running away?
Support her as much as a brother could, make sure she lived as comfortably as possible.
Wasn't that enough?
Even if she found it annoying—wasn't that okay?
She was still only about a third-grader in elementary school, not a middle schooler or high schooler.
"Alright. I'm going to go see her."
Before I knew it, that's what I'd decided.
"That's the right call, nya."
"Just give her a solid slap on the cheek and she'll listen, nya."
If I said that, would she even listen?
I was the cause of all this.
The idea that anything I said would work was laughable.
No—no thinking. Right now, I just needed to go see her and say something.
"Will I be able to get in?"
Norn was in the girls' dormitory.
I could walk on the road in front of the dorm, but they probably wouldn't let me inside.
"We'll force our way in from here, nya."
"We'll sneak in. Leave the infiltration plan to us, nya."
Linia and Pursena thumped their impressive chests.
---
Infiltration.
It wasn't all that difficult.
We had allies on our side.
Sylphie and Princess Ariel, for one.
When I explained the situation to Ariel, she willingly agreed to help.
However, Goliade and the rest of the girls' dormitory's self-defense corps probably wouldn't be sympathetic to our cause, so we decided to sneak in quietly.
The infiltration team was Linia, Pursena, and Sylphie.
Sylphie looked dejected.
"I'm sorry… I said I'd look after Norn-chan in the dorm, but… she wouldn't listen to me…"
"No, Sylphie, it's not your fault. Mostly it's mine."
I explained to Sylphie what had happened.
Why Norn had shut herself in—and whose fault it was.
Sylphie looked somber but shook her head.
"Rudy, it's not your fault."
"But I…"
I… I…
No, I hadn't done anything wrong, strictly speaking.
I didn't even know what I should have done.
But I had to do something about it.
---
Night.
Targeting mealtime, I made my way to the girls' dormitory.
Right now, most of the girls had moved to the cafeteria.
Ariel was giving a speech there.
People had gathered in the cafeteria to listen.
But not everyone.
The cafeteria couldn't hold the entire population.
That said, the self-defense corps members camped on the first floor needed to be kept occupied, so it seemed someone had devised a plan for that too.
I moved as stealthily as possible to the designated window.
A single flower adorned the windowsill.
I used that as my marker and tossed a pebble up from below.
The pebble struck the windowsill, and the window promptly opened.
I used the earth spell "Stone Cannon" to elevate my body, then quickly slipped inside.
At the same time, I dispelled the spell and flattened the ground back to normal.
The moment I entered the room, a heavy, musky smell hit my nostrils.
It was musky, but not exactly unpleasant.
Probably because it was the scent of adolescent girls who happened to be beast-race.
Apparently, living creatures tend to be tolerant of the scent of potential mates for producing offspring.
"Good work."
"Welcome, nya."
Linia was there to greet me.
Her eyes gleamed bright in the darkness.
Cat eyes.
I looked around the room.
The layout was basically the same as any other.
Bunk beds, a desk and chair, a closet.
It was dark, so I couldn't see well, but it looked a bit messy.
"Don't stare too much, nya. It's embarrassing."
"My apologies."
In the darkness, I groped my way toward the exit.
My hand brushed against something.
It was a pretty soft material.
"Oh, that's Pursena's bra, nya."
"…"
So Pursena was that size.
Impressive.
"Mmhm, you can take it with you if you want, nya."
"Absolutely not."
I tossed Pursena's bra aside.
Normally I'd at least press it to my face and take a deep breath, but now wasn't the time.
Linia knocked on the door from inside.
A knock came back.
"It's okay, nya."
The moment she said that, I lunged out and dove into a cart that had been prepared in front of the room.
It was a laundry cart.
I buried myself in the sheets that were packed inside.
I recognized the scent.
They were Sylphie's sheets.
Blankets and shirts were stuffed underneath as well—probably to completely conceal my body.
All of it was Sylphie's.
And yet, strangely, I felt no excitement.
Right now, it was about Norn.
Norn was suffering right now.
Shut in. Cooped up. Alone.
I had to rescue her.
As her big brother.
"Alright, let's go, nya."
The cart began moving.
During the ride, I thought about Norn.
If it was just a child's tantrum, that would be fine.
But what if it was something deeper?
Could I handle it?
At the very least, I hadn't left my room until my own brothers drove me out.
If I were in the position of being the older brother or parent—
I couldn't think of a single way to get myself out of that room.
"We're here, nya."
My thoughts still in disarray,
the cart reached its destination.
Norn's room.
---
I entered the room.
Dark.
No lights were on.
I lit the candle that was kept in the corner of the room.
In the dim glow, I saw a young girl sitting on the bed, hugging her knees.
Two eyes emerged from the darkness.
Norn sat there, staring straight at me.
"…"
I walked carefully and sat down in a chair.
What were you supposed to say at a time like this?
What had I wanted someone to say to me?
I couldn't remember.
Everything I'd planned to say had gone out the window.
All I could recall were the things I'd hated being told.
The last thing I wanted was empty platitudes.
Under no circumstances should I just start lecturing off the bat.
"Go to school."
"Do you have any idea who's paying for this?"
"Don't cause trouble for other people."
That sort of thing would backfire.
Maybe Linia and Pursena were right—maybe one solid punch would work.
Norn was ten, so she might listen if I threw my weight around.
But that would be the furthest thing from a solution.
Surely, in the near future, something similar would happen again.
And next time, Norn would be even more stubborn.
Besides, the root cause of all this was me.
How could I say anything with a straight face?
How could I lecture her with my head held high?
Maybe I should apologize first.
But even if I did, what would that solve?
My reputation wouldn't disappear. Norn would still be compared to me.
"Norn."
"Brother."
We spoke at the same time.
I closed my mouth to listen to what Norn had to say.
But Norn had also fallen silent.
I felt like I'd missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I decided to speak first.
"Norn. I'm sorry. Ever since you came here, things have been tough for you, haven't they?"
Norn said nothing.
"You'd just started at a new school, and because of me, it turned into this. I don't even know what to say…"
Norn said nothing.
"I… I don't really understand you at all…"
Norn said nothing.
I had nothing else to say.
Despite thinking through everything on the way here.
The truth was, I didn't know a single thing about Norn.
I'd kept my distance, avoided getting close, never bothered to learn.
"…I don't know what I'm supposed to do when things turn out like this."
Norn remained silent.
I had no idea what she was thinking.
I couldn't even tell if she'd heard what I said.
It really wasn't working, was it.
Maybe I should just leave her alone until Paul came back.
Yeah.
That was probably the right call.
I should pull back for now and consult with someone.
Nanahoshi might understand the mindset of a girl her age.
Elinariette might be able to coax her out smoothly.
There was no reason I had to carry this entire burden alone.
"Oh—"
A memory from the past suddenly surfaced.
I remembered the time I'd shut myself in, and my brother had come to my room.
Back then, my brother had stood in front of me, hitting me with all sorts of logical arguments.
In my mind, I'd spat on every word.
I hadn't said a single thing back. I'd ignored him completely.
My brother had stayed by my side for a while, even so.
He'd watched me with those eyes that seemed to want to say something.
I'd rejected him to the very end, convinced that someone like him could never understand my feelings.
…So this was what my brother had felt back then.
A silent me. A silent brother.
My brother had stayed for hours, but eventually he left.
After that, he never tried to contact me again.
I don't know what he was thinking after that.
But after he stopped coming, other people came.
Maybe those visits had been arranged by my brother, after all.
In the end, I hadn't listened to any of them.
…Probably.
If I pulled back now, there'd be no coming back.
Norn would remain shut in forever.
I couldn't leave.
I sat there in the dim candlelight, gazing at Norn.