Brothers (Part 3)

Chapter 10 - Curious

Jyugo and I walk to the infirmary.

Jinx: "Hey, Jyugo. Can I have just a little circulation in my hand?"

Jyugo: "Huh? Oh, sorry."

He unclenches my hand a little.

Jinx: "You know, I thought you'd be used to this by now."

Jyugo: "Hm... easy for you to say, your eyes are normal. They don't need to be 'examined' every other day."

Jinx: "It's not every other day. Besides, you're eyes are really pretty. I bet they're Dr Otogi's favourites."

We walked in and saw Trois sitting on the waiting bench.

Jyugo: "Huh?"

Jinx: "Trois!"

He looked up and smiled.

Trois: "Jinx, Jyugo, fancy seeing you here."

We sat next to him.

Trois: "What's the matter, Jyugo? You seem upset."

Jinx: "He's having another eye exam. And he's... kind of in a bad mood. I'm his emotional support sister."

Trois: "Oh? So you have to go through examinations that often, huh? Sounds rough. I came here to get some new glasses, so I thought I might as well get examined while I was at it."

Jyugo: "Is that so..."

Trois: "It seems you hate it quite a bit, huh? You're not in very high spirits."

Jinx: "He ran away from his last two exams."

Jyugo: "Hey, that last one wasn't my fault! You were there! *sigh* I have to take it every time even though my eyes aren't bad... in fact, it feels like it'll make them go bad. I hate it."

Trois: "Well, you're eyes are certainly unique, but what I'm most curious about is this."

He pointed to his neck.

Jyugo: "By 'this', you mean these shackles?"

Trois: "Yes, that. I couldn't forget what I saw back then even if I tried. I'm curious about just what kind of structure it has and how you're able to do all that. I'm truly interested in your shackles, and I want to know more about them."

Jyugo: "Well, to be honest, I don't really know much about them either. I can't really explain it that well."

Trois: "I suppose that's true. If they were something that could be easily explained, you would have taken them off a long time ago."

Jinx: "Jyugo said they can only be removed by the person who put them on him."

Trois: "Is that so?"

I nodded.

Trois: "Interesting. And what about you, Jinx?"

Jinx: "Huh? M-me?"

Trois: "Yes. Those special senses of yours."

Jinx: "Oh, my hearing and smell?"

He put his hands under my arms and lifted me onto his lap.

Trois: "The structure of your nose and ears are like anyone else's."

I smiled as he ran a finger down my nose and tucked my hair behind my ears.

Trois: "Yet your senses are that of a hound's, better even. So then the question is how..."

Jinx: "Aheh, I couldn't tell you that. As far as I know, I was born with them."

Trois: "Really? You were born with such a gift?"

I smiled and nodded. We both look over to see Jyugo lost in thought.

Trois: "SO, This is just a suggestion, but-"

Jyugo: "Y-yes?!"

Trois: "I want you to show me that just one more time. Could you pretty please let me study your shackles a little bit?"

Jyugo: "What?"

Trois: "I mean, don't you want to know about stuff like the strength, weight, or material properties?"

Jyugo: "Has anyone ever told you that you're kinda weird?"

Trois: "No, well I mean, there's no helping it if you see something that incredible, right? There's a romanticism to things like transformation, and I find that unknown feeling to be kind of fascinating. In any case, I want to study it and expose its secrets."

Jyugo: "Yeah, you're an odd one."

I giggled.

Jinx: "I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little curious about all that too."

Trois stroked my head.

Trois: "You see, if it weren't curiosity, we'd never learn a thing."