Do You Want to Save Her?

Soren still found himself breathing a little easier the moment the café door shut behind him.

It was late afternoon, not crowded enough to be noisy, not empty enough to feel exposed.

The windows were fogged faintly at the edges from warmth inside meeting cold outside, and the mana lights above the counter glowed a soft amber that made everything look calmer than it was.

Louise sat in their usual spot near the wall, posture relaxed, cup of tea already in front of her, and a smile on her face that suggested she had been waiting to enjoy this.

Soren slid into the seat opposite, set his own cup down, and stared at it for a moment as if heat could organise his thoughts for him.

“Sis,” he said.

Louise’s smile widened.

“Little Brother.”

He exhaled through his nose, half sigh and half warning.

“Please don’t start already.”

“I haven’t started,” she replied sweetly. “You asked to meet. I’m being supportive.”

“Your face says you’re being entertained.”

Louise blinked slowly, all innocence.

“Can’t I be both?”

Soren didn’t answer.

He took a small sip of tea, then set the mug down carefully and watched the surface settle, buying himself a second of patience.

“Whatever, let’s just get this over with,” he began, tone flat, “A couple of days ago Esper decided I needed to suffer.”

Louise’s eyebrows rose with immediate interest.

“That’s not new.”

“It was a focused kind of suffering,” Soren clarified. “Very well thought out.”

Louise leaned forward a fraction, grin sharpening in a way that was fond rather than predatory.

“Oh no.”

Soren ignored the reaction and kept going, because if he paused Louise would fill the silence with questions she didn’t deserve answers to yet.

“She declared it was a date,” he said, and made the word sound like a complaint. “Then dragged me around the shopping district for hours.”

Louise hummed.

“Hours?”

“Hours,” he repeated, because it mattered. “It was a whole thing. She looked pleased every time someone noticed us, so I’m starting to think making me suffer is her new favourite hobby.”

Louise’s smile twitched, trying to behave.

Soren continued anyway, deliberately making it sound as exhausting as possible, because if he described it normally Louise would hear the part he didn’t want her to.

“I assumed there would be limits, but that was my biggest mistake,” he added, and the faintest curve tugged at his mouth before he caught it and smoothed his expression back into neutral.

Louise caught it anyway.

Her eyes flicked to his mouth like she was collecting evidence, and her smile deepened.

Soren glared.

“I didn’t do anything,” Louise said, voice gentle. “Continue.”

He narrowed his eyes again, then shifted his gaze back to his mug.

“After walking me around like some sort of display,” he went on, “she took me to a restaurant meant for nobles.”

Louise’s brows rose higher.

“A proper one?”

“A proper one,” Soren echoed. “The sort of place that feels suffocating just to stand in. It was my first time going to one and I can easily say I never want to go again.”

Louise’s expression softened for half a heartbeat, a quiet understanding that didn’t need words, then the amusement returned and she took a slow sip of tea like she was settling in.

“How did you survive?” she asked.

“I ate,” Soren said. “And I hated that it was good.”

Louise let out a quiet laugh, warm rather than mocking.

“Oh, that’s so tragic.”

“It was a trap,” he muttered, and his eyes flicked down as if the menu itself had offended him personally. “She sat there looking smug while I was trying not to want to die from the price of everything.”

Louise pressed her lips together, shoulders lifting with contained amusement.

“Sounds like you had a wonderful time.”

“It was the worst,” Soren replied. “And every time I wanted to complain about something, she would read my mind and just smile. God she’s so annoying.”

Louise nodded slowly.

“That does sound like her.”

“It was exhausting,” Soren insisted, even though the irritation in his voice had thinned into something closer to resigned disbelief. “Then, after lunch, she refused to let me pay, laughed at me for trying, and announced that the rest of the date was ‘fixing my wardrobe’.”

Louise’s gaze slid over him with gentle judgement, the kind that didn’t try to hide itself.

“Does your wardrobe need fixing.”

“No,” Soren said immediately.

Louise waited.

Soren sighed.

“I had a perfectly good academy uniform and loungewear for sitting around the clubroom.”

Louise’s smile turned radiant, and she looked almost proud, like she had raised him and this was the result.

“Little Brother…”

Soren glared harder.

“It’s enough, I didn’t need anything more.”

“I’m not judging,” Louise lied, tone far too sweet. “I’m just… processing.”

Soren pushed on, refusing to be derailed.

“I expected her to take me somewhere expensive just to see my reaction.”

Louise nodded as if that was obvious.

“And she didn’t?”

“She didn’t,” Soren confirmed, and he still sounded offended by the fact. “She took me to normal shops. Cheap ones. It was weirdly nice of her, to be honest.”

Louise blinked, surprise genuine this time.

“That’s… surprisingly considerate for her.”

Soren hesitated, then shrugged like the word didn’t matter.

“She said she wasn’t going to bankrupt me because I needed more than two shirts.”

Louise’s smile warmed.

“Well, that’s sweet.”

“It was practical,” he corrected automatically, but it came out less convincing than he wanted.

Louise’s eyebrows rose in quiet disbelief, but she didn’t press.

Soren took another sip, then continued, voice still flat, but with the occasional tell slipping through in spite of him, a small snort when he remembered something absurd, a faint twitch at the corner of his mouth when Louise’s eyes softened.

“She argued with me about colours,” he said, as if it had been a battle. “Made me try things on. Kept saying I looked ‘tragic’. Then kept paying whenever I wasn’t fast enough.”

“And you let her,” Louise said gently.

“I fought her,” Soren replied. “I won sometimes.”

Louise’s eyes sparkled.

“I didn’t take you to be so petty.”

He ignored the implication and kept going.

“Then, just when I thought we were done, she took me to a tailoring parlour.”

Louise’s posture shifted slightly, interest sharpening.

“What? A proper one?”

“Yes,” Soren said, voice flattening again. “She made a reservation. Then I got measured, had to choose the design. It was a whole process.”

Louise stared.

“She ordered you a custom suit?”

“She ordered me a custom suit,” Soren confirmed, pinching the bridge of his nose as if the memory physically hurt. “And she paid in advance so I couldn’t even contest.”

Louise’s smile faded into something more thoughtful, less amused, and Soren didn’t like that she had found the part that actually mattered.

He filled the silence quickly, because he refused to let that become the centre of the conversation.

“And then,” he said, “I made it worse.”

Louise blinked back into warmth.

“Oh?”

Soren’s eyes narrowed.

“Don’t look happy about it, you don’t even know what I did yet.”

“I’m not happy,” Louise said, smiling. “I’m just curious.”

Soren exhaled slowly.

“…I bought her a ring.”

Louise went still for a beat, then her smile returned like it had been waiting for that sentence.

Soren continued before she could.

“Let me clarify, because I can tell you’re misunderstanding something,” Soren hurriedly explained. “It wasn’t because of feelings or anything. I did it to repay her, and also because I didn’t want anyone to be able to create conflict by pointing out that she didn’t have one while I did.”

Louise’s gaze stayed on him, fond and sceptical.

“But…” Soren added, tone turning strained, “for some reason she made me put it on her.”

Louise’s shoulders shook once, a laugh swallowed badly.

“Little Brother…”

“It was humiliating,” Soren said, and the warmth on his cheeks betrayed him even as he tried to keep his face neutral. “Then after basically forcing me to do that, she suddenly said that she needed to punish me and kissed me on the cheek before running away. Ugh… she’s so annoying.”

Louise didn’t even pretend to keep a straight face after that.

She covered her mouth and laughed into her tea, quiet enough not to disturb other customers, but bright enough that Shirone looked over and smiled too.

“What’s so funny?”

Louise lowered her hand, eyes shining.

“You.”

Soren’s eyes narrowed.

“Me?”

“Yes,” Louise said, leaning forward, elbows back on the table, the picture of smug affection. “You’re telling me all of this like it was the worst day of your life, and yet you’re still smiling.”

“I’m not smiling.”

Louise’s gaze flicked to his mouth.

“You are.”

Soren’s expression flattened.

“It was an exhausting day, I wouldn’t ever want to repeat it.”

“Mm-hm,” Louise hummed, utterly unconvinced, then softened her voice, because she wasn’t trying to make him defensive. “You don’t have to pretend it was unbearable. You can say it was… a lot, and still admit you didn’t hate it.”

Soren stared at his mug for a second, then muttered.

“It was a lot.”

Louise’s smile turned gentler.

“There we go.”

Soren narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t sound proud.”

“I am proud,” Louise said with a quiet laugh. “Little Brother, you survived an entire day with Essy. That’s an accomplishment.”

Soren scoffed.

“Survived,” he corrected.

Louise’s grin sharpened again, just a little.

“Also, I’m impressed.”

Soren’s eyes narrowed.

“By what?”

Louise lifted her cup, took one small sip, then set it down like she was preparing to deliver something unreasonable.

“You’ve hooked one in already.”

Soren stared at her.

Louise held the gaze, smile calm, not cruel, just amused in a way that felt almost motherly, like she was watching a child try to deny the obvious.

“Sis…” Soren said slowly, warning in his tone.

Louise’s eyes widened innocently.

“What?”

“That’s not what this is.”

Louise tilted her head.

“Then what is it?”

Soren leaned forward, because if he didn’t correct her now she would carry that idea like a trophy for the rest of the week.

“It isn’t like that. Essy is just… Essy. She’s overfamiliar, she likes teasing, she performs, she does things to get reactions, she doesn’t understand the right sense of distance, and she has a habit of turning everything into a show.”

Louise nodded, patient.

“That’s true.”

Soren latched onto the agreement.

“Exactly.”

Louise’s smile didn’t move.

“And yet.”

Soren’s eyes narrowed.

“And yet what.”

Louise’s gaze stayed on his face, gentle, but sceptical enough to be annoying.

“And yet you said she thanked you sincerely, you said she’s acting strange now, and you said she kissed your cheek before running away. I’m not saying it’s love, Little Brother. I’m saying it’s something.”

Soren’s jaw tightened, irritation flaring because Louise was poking at a foggy area he had been trying not to look at.

He took a sip to buy time, then spoke simply.

“She doesn’t like me.”

Louise blinked once, then watched him carefully.

“That’s confident.”

“Because I know her,” Soren replied.

Louise’s eyebrows rose.

“Do you really, though?”

He glared.

Louise softened her smile.

“Alright. Tell me why you think she’s acting strange, then.”

Soren exhaled through his nose.

“Because she’s embarrassed.”

Louise’s expression turned mildly impressed.

“Look at you, already solving it.”

Soren’s gaze slid away.

“I didn’t solve anything. It’s still awkward.”

Louise hummed.

“How awkward?”

Soren hesitated, then admitted.

“She’s been avoiding me, or she’s been deliberately over the top. Way more than usual.”

Louise’s eyes narrowed slightly in thought.

“Give me an example.”

Even if he didn’t want to, he wouldn’t get to the bottom of it if he didn’t speak.

His gaze drifted to the café window, to the street outside, then to nothing at all as the memory replayed itself with irritating clarity.

“Yesterday…”

————「❤︎」————