The Middle Little Brother: Sinclair's Story

Title 125, Section 79, Row P, east-exclusive clause: clean decapitation of the offending party using a weapon. Resolved.

You sure like to go into details, don't you... Great work. Let's move on to the next right away.

Mm. Understood.

Brother Sinclair! This cur hath insulted the Big Brother before my presence!

Wha-what? That's it. Rotate his ankles four more times.

Then 'tis decided! Let this judgment most fair smite thee!

Hnnnnngh!!

Thanks to the untimely visit from the Middle, the Backstreets of District 8 are in complete disarray.

Now that the Middle of the east have been away from District 8 for a while due to certain issues...

Most fugitives who were either able to escape from the Middle, or had their sentences delayed for whatever reasons, were all preparing to make themselves scarce.

B-but I heard that you'd all left District 8...!

You're lucky that we caught you before you fled. If you'd given us the slip this time, the punishment would've been doubled by the time we inevitably caught up to you.

And they could have really escaped too, were it not for the Big Brother and his Little Brothers from the south.

But... thanks to a certain someone who decided to steal the Big Brother's hair coupons at U Corp., the Middle of the south had traveled all the way to the eastern part of the City.

It might seem foolish and frivolous to some, but... to the child, and the Middle as a whole, this was serious business.

He'll be back soon.

Thinking back to his conversation with the Big Brother, the child checked the time, perhaps out of anxiety.

The Big Brother had left the other Little Brothers in his care, and the child wanted to deal with this business before he returned.

Haah. Normally, I would've left our siblings in District 8 to deal with this, but... Mm, I suppose my overenthusiasm has been giving you all undue trouble.

We're family, Big Bro. There's no such thing.

I simply can not bring myself to forgive them. Not only did they dare to leave my cute and adorable diary discarded on the ground, they also dared to nick my hair coupons.

We'll take care of the small tasks, so why don't you go do some sightseeing now that we're in H Corp. anyway?

This place is pretty popular for uh... yeah, medical tours. You should get yourself some of those famous Boluses so you can avenge your hair coupons with real vigor.

Don't worry about us, okay? You told me you had to visit the senior Brothers and Sisters of the east, too.

Tch, then I'll leave them to you while I'm gone. I'll be back in about four hours.

A loud, dramatic voice broke through the child's ruminations to earlier on this trip.

Hark, Brother Sinclair! A news I must relay unto thee; both acts of vengeance shared to us in the book have been paid for!

Precisely calculated. Among the retributions that have been synchronized to our Books of Vengeance, five of them that have been highlighted by our seniors in the east are now complete.

We've still got about twenty minutes until Big Bro returns... Hey, nice work. There's still a lot of time left.

... I'm sure this'll satisfy our eastern siblings.

After taking care of a few lines of Vengeance...

The child from the south and the other Little Brothers were having a discussion in a circle.

Alright, shut up. One question at a time.

Do I have any restaurant recommendations in District 8? If this is for treating Big Bro, I already have a reservation for a pretty damn good roast duck place, so don't worry about it. Next question.

So uh... I wore this all the way from the port, is that gonna be okay? Outfit-wise?

You thought to ask this now? Really...?

Anyways, it's not like we have a uniform policy like we're some legit Association. Just gotta be able to blend in with each other, so don't worry about it too much.

What should we expect in the east? What are some Taboos we should watch out for?

How can we make sure that the Big Brother has the best possible time while he's here?

Despite the barrage of questions, the child was able to answer most of them.

I ask thee, Brother Sinclair. However art thou so knowledgeable in the matters of the east? Dost thou hail from this region, perchance...?

Nah, but... I just happened to live here for a while due to... certain events.

Hm. Anything more we can add on to their sins? We should throw the whole book at 'em to make sure that our Big Brother is happy.

Meursault. Remind me what the punishment for stealing hair coupons is?

Title 8, Section 20, Row A, Line 6. Complete and total extermination of all involved parties.

Well, can't get much worse than that for them, huh.

Mm. If certain impudent behaviors are observed after our encounter, it may be possible to apply a few more articles to punish them further.

Perfect. We should be able to make sure that Big Bro has a good time here.

After staring at its texts for a while, the child shuts the Book of Vengeance and brings the other siblings to attention.

He's lording over them like he's their boss, but the Little Brothers don't mind.

They know that the child's been a part of the Middle for a long time despite his young age, and there were even rumors that the child was to be promoted to Young Brother soon.

They also know that he's been on several Vengeance hunts alongside the Big Brother, some of them pretty significant.

All set?

Oh, of course. But I see that you've returned early.

Sightseeing's great and all, but I just couldn't focus on anything else other than those damn hair coupons they stole from me. Oh, and take this. And don't forget to share it between you boys.

Are these Boluses...? But these tortoise Boluses must've cost you a fortune...

Our siblings in the east were selling them at a discounted price, so I picked some of 'em up.

Anyways... You've really grown since we've met, huh?

I can remember it just like yesterday, kid. Bawling and trembling, terrified of even throwing the meekest punch... And look at you now. You're getting promoted to Young Brother soon, aren't you?

B-Big Bro, can we please not talk about my early days...?

Perhaps the Big Brother's description of the child was too different from the way he presently carried himself.

The other Little Brothers all looked at the child with apparent disbelief.

The child could not wait to move on from this discussion; he turned away and changed the subject.

A-anyways.

Big Brother's given us Boluses for our troubles. Now we really have to get those bastards, otherwise the folks will start to think that the Middle's all bark and no bite.

Let's go show them what it means to mess with the Middle in the City.

The child and the Little Brothers began to march behind the Big Brother.

Perhaps these chains may one day become shackles to hold the child back...

... But for now, they are his unbreakable and trustworthy bonds.