The room was softly illuminated by a single bedside lamp.
“Miss Clara, I thought you’d be passed out in there.”
At this moment, Lucia had also changed into her pajamas and was sitting propped up on the bed fiddling with her laptop. Her ponytail was undone, making her look even more like Clara’s older sister.
On the double bed, Lucia occupied only half, but the other half was covered with a soft, thin down comforter—enough for Clara to roll around three times without falling off.
“Hehe, the bath was just too comfortable. I couldn’t quite bring myself to leave.”
Clara scratched her head, then slipped off her pajama pants and clambered onto the bed with both hands and feet.
She gently lifted the comforter, first tucking her slender legs without an ounce of extra fat under the covers, then slowly sat down, finally resting her hand on the edge of the blanket and tilting her head toward Lucia.
“Lucia, you finished washing up too?”
She yawned, mouth wide open as she spoke.
“Ah? Yeah.”
Lucia was momentarily charmed by Clara’s little action, so she hesitated a moment before replying.
“This apartment has several bathrooms. I rinsed off in one of the others.”
“No bath?”
“No, it seems only the main bathroom has a bathtub.”
“You should’ve said so earlier. I would’ve washed quicker so you could soak too.”
Clara thought to herself that she had definitely spent too long and shouldn’t hog the bathtub.
As she reflected, Clara glanced again at Lucia’s laptop, where complicated blueprints she couldn’t understand were displayed. She simply asked,
“What are you still looking at this late?”
“My graduation project still has some problems to solve. I asked Miss Fran to take a look for me…”
Okay, definitely a topic she didn’t understand.
Clara interrupted, “Stop looking now! Tomorrow’s the first day of work. Do you want to show up yawning?”
“I’m not tired yet. You go to sleep first.”
Even so, Clara insisted.
“Better to sleep early and fix your jet lag.”
“Mm…”
Lucia smiled bitterly before closing her laptop.
Although Clara was just a kid, her tone sounded surprisingly mature.
“Miss Clara, do you have family in Central City?”
She didn’t, originally…
But starting today, she did.
Although she wanted to answer like that, Clara ultimately shook her head.
“No, I don’t.”
“So you live alone? No wonder you seem so mature…”
She thought to herself that at thirty-five, she wasn’t exactly the one to talk about maturity.
Clara muttered inwardly, then asked again,
“What about you, Miss Lucia? Do you have family in Central City?”
She asked on purpose, wanting to take this rare opportunity to understand how her little sister viewed her older brother.
Lucia turned off the bedside lamp and lay on her side, resting her head on her elbow.
She looked at Clara and replied,
“I have an older brother in Central City too. I chose to work here because I wanted to follow in his footsteps. But, wouldn’t you know it, he’s gone on a business trip out of Central City these past couple of days. What a coincidence, huh?”
“Wow, what a coincidence.”
Clara’s tone was a little exaggerated, and she asked again,
“What does your brother do? What kind of person is he?”
It took some courage to ask a question like that; Clara’s heart even beat a little faster.
“My brother is… um…”
Lucia paused for a moment, her expression serious as she answered,
“My brother… is a hero.”
“…Huh?”
Clara wasn’t expecting that kind of answer and was momentarily stunned.
Without a doubt, she was considered a weirdo—so how did she become a hero in her sister’s eyes?
Could it be that Lucia thought having a weird older brother was embarrassing and so lied about him being a hero?
Seeing Clara’s confused look, Lucia quickly clarified, “Haha, my brother’s not actually a hero by profession! But to me, he is a hero… he’s my hero.”
Clara finally relaxed.
“So you really admire your brother?”
“Of course. He even said once that he wanted to be a hero, but to earn money quickly and support my studies, he chose another career and gave up on his dream.”
Hero or weirdo, it wasn’t really a different industry—they belonged to the same field, just vastly different in status and public reputation.
Clara lay back looking at the ceiling.
“Maybe he simply couldn’t become a hero. Unless you’re born with superpowers, the standards are really high. Even magical girls have to be recognized by the magic gems…”
Clara said this, but Lucia firmly denied it.
“No, if he hadn’t given up, he would definitely be a hero by now.”
Why!
Clara herself didn’t think she could make it, but Lucia had so much faith in her brother?
“Does your brother have any special abilities?”
“Um, not really~ But my brother has been a hero since we were kids. When other children in the village bullied me, he was always the one who stood up for me.”
Lucia’s smiling eyes gazed off into the distance as if recalling something…
But…
That wasn’t really heroism, just what a brother should do, right?
Still, for a little girl under ten, a protective older brother and a hero might as well be one and the same.
No, wait…
Clara remembered something.
Back then, she was in the throes of her chuunibyou phase—always wearing a masked hero’s mask, calling herself a hero to Lucia. That was why Lucia got the impression that Clara really was a hero, because she kept whispering it in the ears of a child.
Clara’s cheeks flushed red.
Anyone recalling their chuunibyou days would react like this, and she didn’t want Lucia to see it, so she pulled the blanket up to half-cover her face.
Fortunately, Lucia didn’t notice and went on, “That’s why I’m studying heroics and researching the maintenance and manufacture of specialized hero equipment. Someday, I want to help my brother become a real hero—to make up for what he missed because of me.”
So it was like that?
Clara had somewhat guessed.
“So your graduation project is…”
Lucia smiled, “Hehe, it’s an exoskeleton I developed.”
There was an exoskeleton suit in that suitcase?
No wonder it was so heavy.
“Of course, it’s not comparable to the Sigma Hero-grade armor~ but it allows ordinary people to act like heroes. Still, at most, it’s only lower-tier hero level. The materials I can afford limit how far I can go, but I’ll keep upgrading it…
If Miss Clara wants, I can modify it to suit you. It might help with missions?”
An exoskeleton made by an intern who hasn’t graduated yet probably wasn’t very advanced.
But since it was equipment made by her little sister, Clara really wanted to try it…
However, no. That was gear meant for Squirrel.
So she closed her eyes and answered calmly.
“No thanks. That’s better left for your brother.”
Well then, the next big double chapter update begins now.