We found a bench in the most forgotten corner of the park, behind a garish, out-of-service rocket ship ride. The silence between us was heavy, suffocating. We are brother and sister, but we are also strangers, hiding secrets that had now collided with catastrophic force.
"Since the beginning," I finally said, answering the question she hadn't asked. "I saw your first post. I thought the craftsmanship was amazing. I just wanted to support a talented artist."
"All that money," she whispered, staring at her hands. "Your part-time job… you spent it all on me."
"It was worth it," I said, and I meant it. "I was proud to be your fan."
We talked for an hour, the words coming out in a slow, painful trickle. She told me everything- the studio, her friends, the pressure, the joy, the fear. I listened, and every word was a fresh wave of guilt. She had been living this incredible, stressful, vibrant life right under my nose, and I had been too wrapped up in my own world to see anything but my "normal" little sister.
Eventually, the conversation withered, leaving only the one, terrible topic we had been avoiding.
"About the message," I started, the words tasting like ash. "What you said… your feelings."
Rina visibly flinched, curling in on herself as if expecting a blow. "Please, don't," she mumbled, her face burning with shame. "Just forget it. It wasn't for you, it was for him. For the fantasy. It was stupid."
"But I am him, Rina," I said, the words feeling like a curse. "That person you thought was a knight, that was just me, sitting in my messy room."
"Stop it!" she cried, finally looking at me, her eyes full of anguish. "I know! Okay? I know. And I'm so, so stupid."
Seeing her this broken was unbearable. I had to stop this. I had to be the brother. I had to build a wall.
"Rina, listen," I said, my voice firmer than I intended. "We're family. Brother and sister. The feelings you confessed… that's a line we can never, ever cross. It's forbidden. It's wrong." I had to make her understand. "Starlight_Knight_01 is gone. Ectiqa can stay. But those feelings… you have to let them go. We have to go back to being siblings. It's the only way."
Each word was a nail in the coffin of the beautiful, impossible thing she had felt. She just stared at me, her heartbreak clear in her eyes, and gave a small, defeated nod. "I know, Onii-chan."
We agreed to keep each other's secrets. We agreed to try and go back to normal.
But as we walked out of the park, leaving the sounds of fake joy behind, we were no longer just a brother and sister. We were two people burdened by a forbidden love, a shared secret that would now silently follow us everywhere we went.