The sister takes the fan away from Saku and sits on it. She demands another tea, and out of sheer fear, Saku prepares one for her.

  Sister: “This tea tastes really good. You almost forget it’s instant tea. It’s a shame I have to kill you, otherwise I would have liked to take you as a servant.”

  Saku: “Who hired you?”

  Sister: “Like I said before: an unknown source. Either way, you’re going to die.”

  Saku and Najun are terrified. Najun prepares himself for a tackle, but suddenly he is wrapped in a line. A yellow, wide line coils around Najun and strangles him.

  Sister: “No, no. If you move, my Yellow Path will strangle you. It’s ironic, because my Yellow Path usually helps my siblings. Except back then, when my ability killed one of my brothers.”

  Najun: “Let me go.”

  Sister: “I don’t like your tone at all. Maybe I should bury you under our house. Or give you the wrong path.”

  Saku looks out of the carriage and sees a pile of destroyed trees and a lot of swirling dust. Naki is running through the forest, dodging the ax strikes of the Tin Man.

  Naki: “You’re pretty slow.”

  The Tin Man becomes angrier and swings wildly around. Naki seeks close combat, and they engage in a fierce exchange of blows with their two metallic weapons. Sparks fly around, and both weapons are close to cracking. Naki manages to cut into the Tin Man’s stomach with his speed, again and again, until a real gash forms.

  Naki: “[Finally a gash. With my speed and strong blows, I’ll defeat him quickly. I just have to watch out for his ax strikes.]”

  The exchange of blows continues. In the middle of the fight, the Tin Man opens his chest. From the open chest, many pincers emerge, trying to grab Naki. He barely fends them off and retreats to gain distance.

  Tin Man: “I want a heart.”

  Naki runs away, but the pincers chase him. He jumps into the river and uses the water to confuse the Tin Man. They begin a chase through the river. Naki jumps up onto the riverbank and climbs a tree. The Tin Man jumps after him and lands in front of the tree.

  Naki: “Looks like you can’t get up here. Too rusty?”

  Instead of answering, the Tin Man strikes the trunk with his ax. After only a few blows, the tree falls. Naki jumps to another tree, but the Tin Man fells that one too, and the next, and the next. The Tin Man shoots his pincers toward Naki, but they are too short.

  Sister: “And do you see the others in the forest?”

  Saku: “No.”

  Sister: “I’ll let you see their corpses later, but after that I’ll have to kill you.”

  Saku: “You’ll regret that. Our family will hunt you down and kill you if you kill us. You’ll never sleep again from fear. You’re signing your own death sentence.”

  Sister: “Why so aggressive? You’ll never be able to grow if you always rely on your family. But you’ll never grow up anyway, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”

  Saku: “Are you stupid? I mean this dead serious.”

  Sister: “I believe you.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Najun uses the brief distraction of the conversation and attacks the sister. He grabs her wrists and tries to push her down. He manages to push her down, but she wraps him with her Yellow Paths and throws him out of the carriage. After that, she wraps up Saku as well and steps outside.

  Sister: “You’re quite a pervert. I didn’t think you’d be such a handsy guy.”

  Najun: “You’re trying to kill us. That makes things physical.”

  Sister: “That’s not how a gentleman behaves. You should show me the path I’m supposed to walk, but instead you want to take my path away, and I absolutely have to prevent that.”

  She runs toward him and hurls many Yellow Paths in Najun’s direction. They surround Najun and leave him no escape route.

  Najun: “[Shit. If those yellow things catch me, I’m done for. The only free path is the one in the middle, straight toward her. But what am I supposed to do then? Punch her in the face or push her to the ground?]”

  Najun puts his plan into action and runs straight through the middle. While doing so, he still has to be careful not to get hit. He summons Bullet and shoots him forward. Bullet is stopped by the Yellow Paths and pressed to the ground. Before Najun’s fist can land on her face, he already feels himself being wrapped from behind. He feels his wrists and ankles being bound. He floats in the air in front of the girl. She is also strangling him with the paths.

  Sister: “You know, I also have another ability. I can read people like books. Literally like books.”

  She strokes Najun’s face, and he feels his face turning into many layers. It feels as if his face were a book being flipped through.

  Sister: “Wait a second… you killed someone?”

  Najun sweats and struggles more and more against the bindings. He already has wounds on his joints. He must prevent this girl from finding out what he has done.

  Sister: “It was someone you knew? Oh shit, you killed your half-sister?! You’re a psychopath. A seriously twisted guy.”

  Najun looks at her with pure hopelessness. He does not want to accept the fact, let alone hear it, that he killed his half-sister. He doesn’t want to hear it. He would kill her without hesitation just to make her stay quiet.

  Sister: “I can tell this topic bothers you. I’ll flip further. Hmm, nothing interesting… Oh, why are the last pages empty? I should also be able to see the near future, but with you I see nothing. Why can’t I read anything about you? What’s wrong with you? Are you hiding your future from me? No one has ever been able to do that. Never!”

  Najun: “[Bullet. Fight through those yellow lines and save me. Save me.]”

  A green light shines beneath the Yellow Paths. Bullet bursts out explosively. Immediately, the hummingbird rushes toward Najun to help him.

  Sister: “How are you hiding your future from me? You monster!”

  Before Bullet can reach Najun, the sister throws him high into the air. At the very top, he feels the fresh wind rushing through his body. He looks down and is struck by fear. He is so high up that it is certain he would die brutally upon impact.

  Sister: “Your death will be a red delight for me.”

  Najun: “[What should I do? I have to call Saku… Oh no, she’s wrapped up too. She can’t move. How am I supposed to survive this? Someone like me can’t survive a fall like this.]”

  Najun continues to think about the fall. The sister watches him enthusiastically and waits for the sound of impact. Saku is truly bound and has to look outside helplessly, without knowing that her cousin is about to splatter the entire carriage with blood.

  Najun: “[I could calculate the distance to the ground with my Birth-Protection, but does that even work in midair? Especially without ground beneath my feet. How could I even use my ability?]”

  Najun looks at the ground rushing closer and closer. His heart beats faster and faster. Sweat drips from his face. But in this terrible situation, an idea strikes him.

  Najun: “[If I can communicate with Bullet through synchronization, then I should also be able to synchronize my thoughts and abilities with Bullet’s, right?]”

  Najun closes his eyes and activates his ability. He searches for Bullet, who is sitting on the carriage. He synchronizes his thoughts with Bullet’s, just like in their usual communication. The veins on his forehead tighten. He squeezes his eyes shut. Suddenly, he sees from the bird’s perspective. He looks at the girl from the bird’s point of view. And when he looks up, he sees himself, just about to hit the ground. Immediately, Najun’s real body starts screaming and spitting. He gathers saliva in his mouth, spits it out, and then screams like the shriek of an animal. He tries to estimate his approximate distance this way. Najun now sees that he is only a few centimeters from the ground when he grabs the window frame and frees himself from the free fall with a swinging motion. He opens his eyes and looks at her with an arrogant expression.

  Najun: “Made it!”

  Sister: “What?! No! No! No! You were supposed to die. No one is allowed to have an undefined future. Someone who killed his own half-sister…”

  Her insane rant is interrupted by a loud bang coming from the forest. Everyone looks toward the forest and sees a person running out. It is impossible to tell which of the four people in the forest it is.