The shadow didn't put up a fight. Her limbs were lax, her head hung low enough that her hair spilled over the shoulders that shook with her quiet sobs. Akane grappled for her brother's arms, slowly sinking down to their knees together. She, too, was silent.

She reached around him, grimacing as she grasped the knife handle. It was slick with warm blood, but she tightened her grip. "Brace yourself," she warned, and whispered a count of three before jerking it out. Swiftly she murmured another incantation for the Cure spell as she let the knife drop harmlessly to the ground.

For a long moment she held Aoi, her chin on his shoulder, staring at some distant point beyond the scope of the lab room. "How...can you be so calm?" she asked him, her voice thick in her throat. "I can't even stand to look at myself. But you...I've never doubted that you loved me. How? Why?" It wasn't just because they were family. She'd seen plenty of siblings that detested each other, for reasons both petty and significant. Akane had always been a burden to her brother, depending on him for all her life. And she also knew it wasn't just for the sake of the world's future. His affection was warm, and genuine. She could feel that. But she couldn't understand it sometimes.