Kuvira's Assistant

Chapter 35 - Finale

Part I

"Hey."

"... Hey." Akemi responded warily.

"Glad to see that you're recovering..."

"... Yyyeah. I'm good. Well, much better now... Getting there."

Eiji could barely maintain eye contact with his sister as he spoke. He felt quite bad for not speaking to her earlier, but was so washed over with anger that he couldn't bring himself to even look at her during the memorial.

He had blamed Akemi for what happened to Toshiro; for enabling Kuvira. For letting the tyrant acquire that much power. The disappointment and pure anger he felt towards her made it very difficult for him to even approach her.

"Look, I'm sorry for sort of... Ignoring you earlier. I think you can imagine why. But I realise that ignoring you isn't gonna get us anywhere." He sighed, "We need to talk."

"Yeah, you were very obviously ignoring me... It wasn't your best move, considering how shitty I already feel." She sighed, "But... I-I don't blame you for doing that. I know that being involved with the Earth Empire wasn't the best or smartest thing I've ever done..."

"I agree." Her brother said as his blood began to boil again.

Akemi squinted upon hearing the immediate agitation in Eiji's tone. She didn't appreciate being blamed for what happened, and she could very clearly see where her younger brother was going with this talk. She could tell that deep down he blamed her, too, for Toshiro's death, and the amount of guilt she felt hurt more than anything she'd endured the past few weeks.

"You know, I do remember someone warning you about the 'Earth Empire'. Someone DID tell you NOT to get involved with Kuvira." He explained as he clenched his teeth, "... Oh yeah. I did."

Akemi paused for a minute to compose herself before calmly retorting, "Mmm, yep. You did. Good for you." She said. She tried to agree just so she could avoid getting into a fight with him right in the middle of the memorial grounds, of all places.

Eiji looked at her confused as emotional pain clearly stung his eyes.

"Good for me? This isn't a JOKE, Akemi. I'd TOLD you not to join the fucking 'Earth Empire', but YOUR FASCIST ASS had to go ahead with it and be her minion anyways." He elaborated, his tone growing angrier and more aggressive, and his voice louder and louder.

He wheeled himself closer to his sister confrontationally as he continued, "You dismissed everything I told you as, I quote, 'anarcho-blabber', and just went ahead and worked with OUR BROTHER'S murderer!!!"

Akemi tried to be calm. She anticipated a reaction from Eiji, but she could feel herself getting more and more emotional again. She couldn't handle any sort of harsh confrontation just yet.

Her nostrils flared as her eyes welled up, "DON'T blame me for this, Eiji. EVER. Everyone was moaning and crying when the Earth Kingdom was unstable, and so when I first joined her to sort out the Kingdom, we actually got things DONE. We HELPED people. How far she went with her OWN actions, though, is NOT my responsibility."

Their loud exchange caught Bumi's attention from the other side of the courtyard, making him yell at them from a distance, "Hey, hey, HEY-"

The siblings glanced at him briefly and ignored his reaction.

Akemi continued, "If you'd taken a moment to be SYMPATHETIC for once, you would've stopped to think about the fact that I actually worked against Kuvira while I was a part of the Empire. I-"