divine duty

Oneshot

Come home, he mutters, watching his brother perform on television. Deep down, though, he knows he won't: Rinne moves in a way he never did back in the village, like his energy was back.

Hiiro loves his brother, he does - but the duty to the village should come higher in his list of priorities, should stop him from seeking the easy and quick pleasures of life.

But no. No, his brother had not found a sense of purpose amongst what they'd known their entire lives, but on the foreign matters of idols, something so detached from Hiiro himself that it felt like an abyss had appeared between them.

Maybe it was his fault - maybe Rinne had gotten tired of the yapping puppy at his heels, and this was his way to punish him for being too clingy. To run away from his brother, abandon him with people who saw him as the lesser Rinne.

But no, his brother wouldn't do that to him, right? Rinne loved him. Rinne wouldn't have abandoned Hiiro for nothing.

Maybe - and this realization strikes him from thin air, as if the goddess of luck herself had whispered it in his ears - this was a test from above, meant to challenge him. If he could bring Rinne back to their village, his brother would love him. It made sense.

He looked at the television again - Rinne breathless, grinning with his group mates. If Rinne wanted to be an idol, fine: Hiiro would fight his way to the top, so they could stand as equals, and when they did, Rinne would realize the mortal world of men held no power over him anymore, and he'd come back home.

He rose to his feet, mind made, and went to search how to become an idol as good as his brother.