The aftermath of the 'Starlight Inn Incident' is not a fiery explosion. It is a nuclear winter. Our apartment, once a place of comfortable, chaotic warmth, becomes a silent, frozen tundra. Rina, my beloved sister, is now the Ice Queen, and I am her sole, miserable subject.
The first morning is the worst. I wake up to a house that is unnaturally quiet. I stumble into the kitchen to find Rina is already there, moving with a silent, ghostly grace. She is making breakfast. Or rather, she is making breakfast for one. A single, perfect omelet sits on a single plate. She pours a single glass of orange juice. She does all of this without making eye contact, without acknowledging my existence. I am less than a ghost to her; I am a void, a vacuum where a brother used to be.
"Morning," I try, my voice sounding rough and loud in the oppressive silence.
She does not respond. She simply takes her plate and her glass and glides into the living room, turning on the TV to a morning news program. The message is crystal clear: the cheerful babble of an anchorman is preferable to the sound of my voice. I am left to rummage through the fridge for expired yogurt, my punishment for crimes I did not, in fact, commit.
This becomes our new, miserable routine. The Great Sibling Cold War. Communication ceases entirely. We are two enemy spies forced to share a safe house. She leaves for school ten minutes before I do, ensuring we do not have to walk together. At school, she actively avoids me, creating a veritable Rina-free exclusion zone that I am not permitted to enter. If she sees me walking down the hall, she will abruptly turn and walk in the opposite direction, even if it makes her late for class.
Kenji, of course, notices immediately. "Dude, what's up with you and your sister?" he asks at lunch, as Rina sits at a table on the other side of the courtyard, surrounded by her friends. "Did you guys have a fight?"
"Something like that," I mumble, poking at my food.
"Was it about a girl?" he asks, his eyes gleaming with the thrill of gossip. "Is it about Hime-Hime? Did Rina-chan get jealous because a super famous cosplayer was flirting with you?"
"It's not that simple, Kenji," I sigh.
"Dude, your sister has a total brother complex," he declares with the confidence of a seasoned psychologist. "It's classic. You're her Onii-chan, her protector. Now another girl is on the scene, and she's marking her territory. It's like watching a nature documentary."
He is so close to the truth, yet so far away, that it gives me a headache.
The war at home escalates. Rina begins to wield domestic chores as weapons of passive aggression. She does her laundry, but not mine. She cleans the entire apartment, except for my room. One evening, I come home to find she has cooked a delicious-smelling curry. My stomach growls in anticipation. I go to get a plate, only to find the entire pot is empty. She has eaten her portion and then meticulously packed the rest into Tupperware containers, labeled 'Rina's Lunch - DO NOT TOUCH.'
I am living on convenience store onigiri and despair.
The silence is the worst part. I find myself missing her annoying, clingy behavior. I miss her teasing. I miss her stupid jokes about our forbidden future. The quiet is a constant, suffocating reminder of her anger and my failure.
One night, almost a week into the cold war, I am walking past her room. The door is slightly ajar. I peek inside. She is not working on a costume. She is sitting on her bed, scrolling through her phone, a sad, lonely expression on her face. She is looking at the Ectiqa Alliance fan forums. She is reading a thread full of fans praising her, celebrating her, and she looks completely miserable.
Because the one fan whose opinion she truly cares and loves about is a monster who got kissed by her mortal enemy in front of a love hotel.
I retreat to my room, my heart a leaden weight in my chest. This has gone on long enough. I cannot fix this on my own. I am out of my depth, drowning in a sea of silent, feminine fury. I need help. I need an intervention. I pull out my phone and send a group text to Miki, Hana, and Kenji.
Me: Emergency meeting. Tomorrow after school. Cafe Blue. It's about Rina. I'll pay.
The promise of free cake is a powerful motivator. They all agree to be there. I just have to survive one more day of the arctic silence.