-Spiritual Kinship- 2nd half

Chapter 24 - Fairy tale revelations

"—dou, Shidou..."  

Shidou heard a voice calling out to him, as he groaned softly, peeking through his fuzzy eyes and was greeted by a pink blur with white hair who seemed to resemble his brother. 

And at that moment,

"Wake up, Shidiot!" Shidou was punched in the stomach by a soft pink fist.

"Gufuu!" Shidou let out a sound as he heard a chuckle.

"Dammit Syouji, I'm awake... what is it?" Shidou meticulously rubbed his eyes in order to restore his distorted vision as the hazy scenery gradually clarified. 

Shidou then sat up and noticed he was reclining on a bed-like structure, although the encompassing space was obviously an unfamiliar space for him. 

The only thing he could recognize was his brother who was there standing over him. It was Itsuka Syouji who had his arms crossed. His pale blue hair was parted down the middle resembling curtains. For some reason he was wearing what seemed like a pig costume made of wool.

He had soft features that gave off a gentle and peaceful atmosphere. Although, as his brother he was inclined to doubt it. Most importantly, he was on a bed yet the space he was in was unfamiliar.

"Where are we...?"

Shidou furrowed his eyebrows as he propped his body up with a rustle. It would appear that the piece of furniture he was lying on was made of straw. Upon closer inspection, the weathered housing, they were in was also made of the same material.

"This is..." Shidou spoke with his shoulders trembling.

"We got attacked by Westcott, Shi-bro." Syouji said pointing at Shidou.

It was then that Shidou noticed that his body felt deteriorated as his movements were somehow less nimble. Shidou gazed upon himself and noticed he was wearing the same pig costume as Syouji.

"Pig... straw house... could this be?" Shidou muttered as Syouji nodded.

"Basically, yeah. We're the three little pigs." Syouji explained. However, Shidou felt as if there was something wrong with that.

"Three? But... there's only two of us?" As Shidou said that, Syouji moved his head towards the table. When he did that, Shidou shifted his view in that direction and saw a third pig. He was noticably tired as he take long deep breaths of air. He was sitting on a straw chair at a straw table.

"You are...?" Shidou asked as Syouji walked over to the table, joining the man.

"...We need to talk." The man said in a somber tone. 

"You're damn right we do. It's been long overdue for an explanation, Shinji-san. Everytime I asked you, you would always put it off." 

Syouji stated as Shidou sat next to him, both of them facing the man who had a striking resemblance to him. 

"You can't run from my question this time, Shinji-san." Syouji said that, narrowing his eyes at Shinji.

"Syouji? What's going on?" Shidou asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I... I-I just... want to know. I want answers." Syouji said with a downhearted tone as Shidou rubbed his back.

"Shidou, Syouji I'm... sorry I couldn't be present in your lives. To this day, it's still one of the things I can't sleep at night about." Shinji spoke with a heavy sigh. 

"I'm gonna tell you everything. The whole truth of why and how you were born. After all, I was there when you were born... and I was there when your mother abandoned you."