The Advent of Madness: My Twin Sister And I

I'm not delusional.

I'm a Curse.

Both literally and figuratively.

The Perfect Cursed Doll.

My existence, my reincarnation, is what put Esme in that situation. Had I not been born, would things have been different?

I don't know.

But I'm glad I was born.

I'm glad I met my lovely, sexy Esme.

I'm glad I've got an erotic Hilda to bully.

And I'm happy that they love me.

Beyond so.

But me...

Sighing, I rubbed my forehead with my forearm back and forth. My hand slipped through the hair scattered behind me, tracing the soft strands carefully, sensing the Curses threading them.

Can I fix the taut relationships strung between us?

Is it my place to do so?

Shouldn't it be on Esme, the one they'd dedicated themselves to, to fix it?

Shouldn't it be Nemora, the one who leads them, to fix it?

I don't know.

I can't know, and I won't know.

I just have to try, try, and try again. Repeatedly, until the probability of our cohort shattering apart is lowered to a minimum.

Until the threads stringing us together like puppets in a play are tightened, reinforced, and thickened enough to be grasped with our bare hands—not dolls upon a stage, not marionettes, but as puppeteers.

Though I doubt I'll ever be that.

Chuckling to myself, I rolled over in my bed and smothered my face into the pillow.

I needed to cool off.

My thoughts were messy and counterproductive.

-----

"Fat Hilda, what's your hair routine?"

A hand pinched a smidgem of flesh off the side of Hilda's well-rounded hips, a smaller, clean hand that was followed through by a young, soft voice.

Her snowy hair draped down her back in a neatly tied long ponytail while she cheekily leaned forward and teased away at Hilda, "Tell me, what makes that luscious red hair so shiny? It looks like a literal gem."

Hilda's face quickly turned red, not from shame, but from mild frustration, as evidently portrayed by her response, "Number one, I'm not fat. Number two, I do nothing! I can say the same thing back to you. Why is your hair so bright, light, and airy? You don't let me touch it, but a lot of girls would be jealous of it."

In return, Esme took a step back, twirled herself with her arms spread wide with a grin, "I'm Alora's twin sister, of course it's good. Naturally so."

Hilda 'scornfully' curled her lips, "Are you done showing off?"

"Nope. Showing off is a fun thing to do. Your reaction each time is marvellous. You know what I'm doing, but you react well every time."

"I don't like you." Puffing her mouth up, Hilda adorably twisted her head away.

"Aww... You don't~?" Esme, chuckling, took one step forward, patted Hilda on the back, then took off with a skip in her step. She'd shed some of the weight piling on her shoulders.

Hilda, now left alone, pumped up her absurdly large breasts that drooped elastically down and over her forearms, "Seriously, why are the twins so alike? Sometimes I almost mistake them for one another in the way they mess with me." She mumbled under her breath, but the smile leaking from her lips was unmistakable.

Scratching her head, Hilda latched her grubby palms onto her hips and sauntered back to the Captain's Cabin.

She might as well mess around for a while longer.

But now that she was thinking about it...

'Where is Esme even going? Isn't she scheduled to run around the corridors today? So why is she going straight to the resting cabins...'

Hilda wasn't entirely sure why Esme had done that, but she didn't think much more of it.

-----

I awoke to another person's warmth lingering on my cheek.

Alas, once again, there was no one there.

But I already knew who it was; it couldn't be more obvious. Unfortunately for Esme, I'm much more sensitive than the average Awakened. While the others might not notice, thanks to her completely pure Blessings and lack of a trace of her presence, my Curses allow me to sense the opposing end of this world's power system very clearly.

Lapping my hand over my cheek, I absorbed the lingering warmth with a satiated smile.

This touch of Esme's is different from the average person's.

It's the touch of the one I love and the one who loves me.

The most taboo of all touches.

That makes it special.

Too special for my dainty little heart to handle.

A maiden's heart is quite fragile, dear sister~

I'll have to teach you a lesson soon~

Hmm~

A maiden's heart~

A maiden's~

A~

SincewhendidIbecomeamaiden?

WhendidIceasebeingaman?

-what'swrong-

-areyouhesitating?-

-can'thandleyourvileself?-

-shouldwehandleitforyou?-

My head whipped backwards violently.

A red, burning fist mark etched itself onto my face while the fist in question thrummed achingly; not with pain, but with fear.

I heaved for air as I threw myself up and off the bed; I need to move. I need to go do something; I can't stay still any longer. I enjoyed my 20-minute nap; that's enough for now, it's still my shift.

I have to get out of here.

Now.

Immediately.

I must stop listening.

They must stop talking.

Stumbling over my steps, I rushed out of the bedroom, through the corridors, and out onto the main deck of The Canary.

Cold air and a whiplash of noise smacked my brain straight the moment I stepped onto the deck.

Feeling the wind slicing deep into my flesh and absorbing the thunderous noise drowning the deck with the sound of crashing, sweltering waves of black liquid, I let out a genuine sigh of relief.

I even smiled.

That feels better.

Shutting the door behind me, I rested my back on it. Relaxing for a brief period, I soothed my floundering brain and took in my immediate surroundings to compress the overflowing rush of information crashing through it at all times.

And, amid this rush of information, I felt the vibrations coming from above me, from the quarterdeck.

Two pairs of feet stood side-by-side, not Nemora's, but Hildekar's and Elden's.

Huh?

That's interesting.

The misunderstanding between them and Jill was artificially created due to Hildekar's unnecessarily prideful and shameful self... Hildekar would never have initiated it; it had to have been Elden.

I was intrigued, but it wasn't my place to get involved.

---

The silence between two men is seldom awkward, and certainly more so when it's two men who have known each other for years.

The familiarity of this silence is, at times, even a sanctuary. It is a period of peace for men to bond over the soothing sound of nothingness. And in this case, it is the sound of thunderous waves.

Standing side to side, Elden occasionally glanced over at Hildekar's hand to observe his control over the helm. It was an interesting sight, one he hadn't paid much attention to over the past month.

"If you're going to stare, then at least say somet-" Hildekar spoke up as he noticed Elden staring at his actions, but just as he noticed, a jolt pushed The Canary aside, throwing Hildekar off his balance.

It was a series of unfortunate circumstances.

A set of circumstances that led to Hildekar falling over towards Elden.

That led to his hand reaching out to try to stabilise himself.

Only for his hand to land on Elden's pants.

Swoosh!

...and promptly drop them down to the man's ankles as Hildekar thumped his face straight into the wooden flooring of the quarterdeck.

The man tilted his head upwards awkwardly and carefully.

And, hidden behind the pack dangling above him within form-fitting underwear was Elden's darkness-ridden face.

Hildekar smiled wryly, "...Would you believe me if I told you it was an accident?"

The answer to that question was a foot to the face.

Tumbling into the railing, the impact was light, yet unbearably shameful for both of them, "I'll take that as a no..." Grumbling, Hildekar rubbed his face and staggered up while keeping his eyes off Elden.

"Not really. I believe you." Elden picked his pants back up and cleanly denied Hildekar's understandably biased assumption.

"...That's a lie." Hildekar, still rubbing his face, stumbled by him and took control of The Canary again.

"Believe what you want, but I know it's an accident. This one is beyond obviously an accident, the other incidents, however..." Elden's fingers rubbed together with a grim grin, "...like the time you just so happened to walk in on my maid while she was bathing. Or the time when you just so happened to walk in on yours and Jill's maid bathing..."

Hildekar gulped beside him, "Would you believe me if I also said those were accidents...?"

The already cold air around them dropped by a couple of degrees.

And Elden's answer:

"Actually, yes. I would."

It wasn't what Hildekar expected.

"Come on, you didn't genuinely expect me to believe that you'd repeatedly commit these 'insidious' acts that tore at our friendship. Once or twice, sure, I would suspect you. But repeatedly? Even Jill, that thick-headed, prude grass-head, knows by this point that it's your Curse. Clearly, the girls don't mind, so we had to have figured it out at some point, you know?"

"That's... Yeah, makes sense."

"So, why didn't you tell us?"

On this point, Hildekar remained quiet.

"Is it something private?"

Hildekar flinched.

"It's not private?"

Hildekar gulped.

Elden, hearing that, gradually twisted his head and glared at Hildekar, "You bastard, don't tell me you were just so embarrassed and glued to your pride-"

Thwack!

A mild kick slammed into Elden's ankle, transferring a trickle of warmth to his cold body.

Elden sighed and mumbled, "Dumbass..."