When everyone in your world is crazy, and you are the only normal one, you are the only crazy one.
Mihri is not crazy, he does not doubt Illumi's saying about the endurance game, and accepts the status quo.
I am crazy, I know that electrocuting a 3-year-old child is inhumane, I am just pretending to be an unconcerned "normal person".
I put the camera's memory card in a box and put it away. Mihri's crying still echoes in my ears from the interrogation room. I think I might never use this memory card again.
If I want to threaten Mihri in the future, shouldn't I do it like Killua, by smashing his action figures?
This method has already been very effective anyway.
On the second day of the endurance game, Illumi and I finished our daily training and went to see Mihri.
When Mihri saw Illumi, he must have remembered yesterday's endurance game. The repeated painful torment must have left a deep shadow on him. He couldn't help but shiver, and greeted us with an unnatural expression.
"What a shame, the game wasn't successful," Illumi said with great regret, "I managed to get you an eagle."
"...I'm sorry," Mihri said dejectedly.
"It's okay, Mihri," Illumi patted Mihri's shoulder in a light tone, "I saved the game reward for you with Father. You can continue to challenge the endurance game until you succeed."
"But..." Mihri's attachment to pets was not enough to resist the pain he felt in the endurance game, and he hesitated.
"Don't you remember?" Illumi reminded him, "I told you yesterday, this game is mandatory. If you don't cooperate, you won't get a reward. If you participate actively, you will get a reward. Do you understand, Mihri?"
"Sister," Mihri looked at me, "Did Sister also get an eagle like this?"
Oh, sorry, the first eagle I got back then was a simple gift, with no other conditions attached.
To avoid discouraging Mihri, I chose to tell a kind lie, so I nodded.
"Then... why doesn't Brother have an eagle?" Mihri, although only three years old, was not unintelligent, "How did Brother's endurance game turn out in the end?"
Good question! I want to see how Illumi explains it!
"I don't need one. I am the eldest son in the family, and I cannot be distracted by pets," Illumi stroked Mihri's head, "I need to learn to share the workload with the family, learn to take care of you, and there are many other things to do."
What do you mean by "take care of you"? Illumi, your tone is a bit too arrogant! Who do you think you are? You are just the second son! I am the eldest!
Hmph!
In the end, it's all because of Silva's pampering!
I thought bitterly, training with Illumi every day.
As my proficiency increased, it was rare to step on Illumi's feet during evasion training, which greatly reduced the fun.
Correspondingly, I became more and more accustomed to Illumi's attack patterns and speed, and I was not injured much during sparring... no, not at all. After the injuries decreased, I intentionally learned the operations of Chairman Netero of the Hunter Association playing the ball-grabbing game in the original work, giving myself some action restrictions to increase the difficulty, such as not using one hand all the time.
Illumi is not an idiot, he saw it, so he also imposed stricter restrictions on himself, such as only attacking specific body parts.
I restricted my movement range to no more than one square meter, and Illumi restricted himself to attacking only from the front.
I restricted myself from retreating, and Illumi restricted himself from jumping.
Every time we sparred, the first thing we did was to test each other's restricted conditions.
I decided to go for something drastic, blindfolding myself at the start. Illumi would then tell me the body part he was about to attack before each attack.
This has the feel of "involution," truly anything can be subject to involution.
"..." I should go do my daily task of visiting Mihri.
Human adaptability is very strong. Mihri, who had accepted the electrotherapy setting, was now accustomed to lying down and being electrocuted. He still regarded Illumi as his own brother.
His temperament even gained a mysterious sense of maturity. He seemed to consider getting used to the endurance game a proud achievement.
He no longer spoke in a childish voice and began to deliberately act calm, not wanting to be petted.
Growth is so sudden, such inexplicable things.
Most children in this world are precocious. In the original work, children as young as 12 participated in the Hunter Exam, where participants bore their own risks, and no one found it problematic.
"Illu-bro," Mihri had also changed his address, no longer calling Illumi "brother."
No matter what world they are in, children long to grow up because adults seem to be omnipotent.
Omnipotence is impossible, but when it comes to bullying children and the weak, adults can indeed do as they please to a certain extent.
For example, Illumi, who is older than Mihri, can control when Mihri gets an eagle.
Mihri's performance in enduring electricity was average, Illumi told Mihri. Well, he was telling the truth, so the eagle Mihri received was different from my New Orleans. It was a light brown eagle with a white abdomen and inner wings, and was smaller than New Orleans.
Having something is better than nothing. Mihri didn't dare to complain much. After spending more time together, he got along quite well with the eagle and even named it "Pepe," after a certain anime.
Despite his attempts at maturity, no matter how much Mihri puffed out his chest and held his head high, he was still more like a child than an adult. His effort to act like an adult seemed a bit comical.
Before Mihri got fat and lost his cuteness, the days I could pet him were visibly decreasing. I wanted to catch his last cat-like tail and reached out to pat Mihri's head.
"...Sis," Mihri resisted verbally, but his body couldn't, or rather, dared not, resist.
He "respected" my "hobby" of electrotherapy before bed and knew I was not to be trifled with, possibly even more so than Illumi.
From calling me "Sister" to "Sis" now, his address for me does not include my name, thus expressing his "respect" for me.
My feelings are a bit complicated.
Is it better to have a "respectful" younger brother type, or an offensive younger brother type?
Come to think of it, it doesn't matter. They are the brothers of Meruem Zoldyck, not my brothers. Why am I worrying about them? I thought this while undergoing electrotherapy and contemplating life.
Controlling Mihri did not satisfy Illumi; instead, it further stimulated Illumi's desire for control.
Engaging in combat with someone is a process of constantly reading their intentions and responding. Reading deeper allows one to discern their emotions.
I read Illumi's emotions: ambition and desire.
He wants to injure me, he wants to suppress me, he wants to bring me under his control.
The other members of the Zoldyck family are at a much higher level than him, so they cannot be considered prey. Besides Mihri, who is easy to handle, only I can be considered prey.
Today's restriction was that Illumi blindfolded himself, and I wore a bell around my waist. He would attack based on the sound to determine my position.
Jingle.
Jingle.
Jingle.
The bell shook, its sound leading him on a desperate chase, his stamina depleted. He finally stopped to rest.
The difficulty was set too high, the involution had reached such a point.
Standing still, I played with the bell, making it jingle.
Come, chase me.
What is this?
It's nothing special.
I laughed.
He struggled with me, trying to pull out the finger that was piercing my chest.
A piercing pain, his finger was against my heart, rubbing the surface of my heart during the struggle, as if caressing it.
Due to the pain, my muscles contracted, biting his finger, not knowing if it was to reject or to embrace.
Under extreme tension, I felt this foreign object as hard and cold as metal.
I sweated coldly, taking small sips of air.
"Because... I don't want to play with you anymore."