A/N: I apologize for the delay in uploading; I was busy with the painful thing called life. This time, I am uploading a story that I wrote at least half a year ago when life was easier and simpler. It's pretty easy to guess that I based this setting in Japan.

Also, I have just registered this story for Wattys2019 under the category of fanfiction! Though I don't actually have much hopes to win, there doesn't seem to be any harm in trying. Please check out the books available for voting in the same category (there might be better DMC fanfictions there!)

[Strange Siblings]

Personality: Post-DMC4SE/Pre-DMC5 Vergil

"Let me copy your math homework before class tomorrow, Vergil. I promise I'll owe you." 8 year old Dante Sparda strolled down the street alongside his twin brother, bag slung lazily over one shoulder. Nobody in their school had any doubts that if it was allowed, Dante would just give up bringing his bag to school altogether. The lazier one of the twins was always asleep in classes anyway. That being said, Dante still had some level of wits that kept him from having to take additional classes.

"You already owe me too many things for count." Vergil answered, stopping and grabbing his brother's bag to jerk him back. A short moment later, a car zoomed past right in front of them –not having spotted two elementary school boys walking home from school. "That was one more."

"That doesn't count." Dante was too used to his brother saving him to even bother giving thanks. Between the two of them, thanks were becoming more and more uselessly given the sheer number of times Vergil found himself either saving Dante from his own stupidity or simply helping his twin out.

"What counts then?" Vergil asked, checking once more for cars on the road before stepping across.

"Letting me copy your math homework." Dante answered, catching up easily.

"In return, you carry the groceries on our way back."

"But they're heavy!" Dante whined. "I'll carry Mara's bag later."

"I carry Mara's bag today, and you do the groceries." Vergil argued. "If you don't hand in your homework this time, Teacher is going to have you stay back after school to do them. I heard her say that to our gym teacher in the staff room."

"What? But if I stay back, then you'll have Mara all to yourself! That's unforgivable."

"Then make your choice: either do your homework yourself, carry today's groceries, or stay back in school tomorrow." Vergil didn't bother replying his brother's implied insult. For some weird reason, Dante seemed to have a strange perception that if Vergil was allowed to be alone with Mara, Vergil would 'do something funny' to the poor girl. Vergil hadn't been bothered to find out exactly what doing 'something funny' entailed.

"Fine, I'll carry the groceries today..." Dante grumbled, but neither brother had enough time for more words to say as they turned into the gates, and through the open front doors of the small building that was tucked safely by the road. The sounds inside the building was the usual noisy and chaotic ones with the sounds of children screaming, crying and caregivers scolding, lecturing. Nothing much was out of the ordinary as the pair of brothers removed their shoes at the entrance, then invited themselves further into the building.

"Ah, look! Mara dear, your brothers are here to pick you up! Let's dry those tears, shall we?" The caretaker in charge of the children of Mara's age group spotted the Sparda brothers before they spotted them, pointing towards where Dante and Vergil were scanning the messy playroom for their precious little package.

Little Mara stopped rubbing the tears out of her eyes, still crying as she checked to see if the caregiver was lying, then immediately ran towards the pair of twins with her short hurried steps, arms flung out in demand for a consoling hug.

"Big Brother!" Mara cried as she ran into Vergil, wrapping her arms around him, pressing her face to his chest and sticking to him like glue.

Startled and surprised, Vergil and Dante exchanged worried looks before turning their attention to their crying little sister who was wiping her tear-stained face on Vergil's shirt without care.

"Dante, Vergil, you guys are finally here." The caregiver was too used to having Mara's older brothers coming to pick their little sister up by now.

In all honesty, the caregiver had only seen the siblings' father only once during Mara's first day. She had found out through Vergil's honest explanation shortly after that their mother had passed away early due to sickness in their lives, and that after she passed, she had written in her will for her organs to be donated. The heart had been given to an orphaned Mara who had nothing to her name; not even parents, who gave Mara up after finding out about her heart problems at birth. Thus, Mr. Sparda had adopted Mara into the family after the successful heart transplant operation, and kept his wife's heart in the family.

"What happened?" Dante was quick to ask, frowning outright now while Vergil put his warm arms around his sister, patting her softly on the head and whispering to her that things were fine.

"It seems as if a classmate Takashi wanted to give Mara a present, but didn't know that she was afraid of bugs. He gave her a beetle and scared her into tears." The caregiver explained with a helpless expression hung on her face. She didn't want to blame the young boy for his good intentions of wanting to give Mara something (because she knew that the boy was attracted to Mara), but the present had not been well thought out by the 5 year old.

"He gave our Mara a beetle?!?" Dante exclaimed, expression turning furious quickly. "Where is Takashi?"

"There in the corner..." The caregiver wasn't very sure whether it was a good idea to tell the protective brothers the location of where the culprit was at. Every employee at the kindergarten knew that despite the fact that the Sparda brothers who came to pick their little sister up every day were only 8 years old, the two boys were very capable of taking care of their own day to day lifestyles with their little sister. More importantly, they were very protective of their little sister.

Their protectiveness made sense to a small extent: Mara's personality was one of an angel and she had the appearance to back up the character of an angel.

"Dante." The hard tone from the generally more serious and more reliable Vergil made his twin brother pause before he made it too far in his journey to punish the culprit who had brought tears to their little sister's eyes. "The boy didn't mean it."

"He made Mara cry!" Dante argued –clearly not as mature as his twin brother was. "I promise I won't harm him, but I need to teach him that he's not supposed to make girls cry."

Then, since he received no more warnings from Vergil, Dante stalked his way to where Takashi stood sulking in a corner, glaring at the floor as if it had done him great disservice. It was the indignant pout of a boy who didn't understand why his well-meant gift had made the girl he liked burst into tears, and why he was being sent to stand in the corner even though he had just wanted to give her something he liked. He had even smiled nicely at Mara when he handed the beetle over. Their teacher had taught them that smiling while handing things over showed the other party that the giver was trying to be nice.

"Takashi, I am Mara's brother." Dante introduced himself, standing in front of the sulking boy. 3 years older in age also meant that Dante's height almost doubled the poor 5 year old, who looked up fearfully. "Do you know what you did wrong?"

"I'm not wrong!" Takashi burst, shouting back rebelliously. "I gave Mara a beetle! She's not supposed to cry!"

"Think about the first time you got a beetle. Were you not scared until someone held it for you so that you can see it properly? If there was nobody to hold the beetle for you safely, would you not be scared?" Dante answered, crossing his arms. If he was being really honest, he actually wanted to do bad things to the young boy. But Mara was here, and he didn't want his little sister watching him beat people up. He was sure she would cry more if he did so, and making his precious little Mara cry was something he would rather die than do.

"I wasn't scared!" The boy mimicked Dante's crossed arms too in a huff. "I caught it with my hands the first time I saw it!"

"Liar." There was very good basis for Dante's claim; he had been a 5 year old before. The first time he had discovered beetles, he had almost wanted to cry because of how threatening the bug looked. It wasn't until their father showed how harmless the little thing was that Dante realised that despite how black and threatening it looked, it could do nothing to him. Vergil had been like all other boys too –claiming that he wasn't scared –but Dante had seen the moisture in Vergil's eyes and how white his twin's knuckles were when they first encountered the beetle together.

"I'm not a liar! You're the liar! You bully!" Takashi shouted back, then burst into tears as if he could not stand the fact that he was being accused as a liar. Dante's suspicion was strong that the tears were more due to guilt at lying than actual indignance of being accused.

"What are you doing to my son?" The sudden intrusion of an adult surprised Dante as he backed up to find the woman with her hands protectively around her crying son, glaring at the older boy. "Why are you bullying my boy, and why is nobody stopping a ruffian like you?"

"You have things mistaken, ma'am. I wasn't bullying Takashi." Dante uncrossed his arms in hopes that he didn't come across like a bully though it was a little bit too late for appearances.

"I heard you call him a liar. On what grounds are you accusing him of that? And what is a boy like you doing here? Where are your parents? Didn't they teach you not to pick on boys smaller than you?"

"Don't bring Dad into this argument!" Dante's defensive instinct rose again with his voice. "He has nothing to do with this. And Takashi is the one who made my sister cry in the first place! If you don't believe me, you can ask their teacher."

"Is that how you talk to your elders?" The lady drew back with shock and disgust. "Is this what your father taught you instead of teaching you proper manners?"

"I said don't bring Dad in-" Dante's replying shout was interrupted when a hand pasted itself over his mouth, forcing the words back down. Turning in anger, he stilled a little to see Vergil standing beside him, a neutrally polite expression pasted. And because Dante had spent his whole life with his brother, he was the only one who saw the murderous look hiding in Vergil's blue eyes as the boy looked up at the adult woman.

"I sincerely apologise for the wrongs that my brother has done, Mrs. Tsuhashi. It was his wrong to have shouted at you, and we apologise deeply." Vergil declared, bowing and forcing Dante into one no matter how reluctant the young brother was. On Vergil's free hand clung a red-eyed Mara who had barely stopped her tears.

"That's more like it. I see at least one of you were taught proper manners." Takashi's mother seemed satisfied that someone was bowing to her.

"Yes, I assure you that Dante did not mean to be so rude. He happened to only be in a fit of anger for what was done to our little sister. He was trying to address a wrong, but he did wrong by choosing the wrong way. I hope you forgive his mistake." Vergil answered humbly again as he straightened, looking up steadily at the woman who was quickly becoming startled at how well-versed the young boy in front of her was. From their uniforms, it was obvious that this pair of twin boys were still in elementary school, but the words coming out from the boy was mature beyond his age.

"If you have apologised that sincerely, I supposed there is nothing else I can do except forgive him." She answered, a small sense of shame rushing through her at having almost lost her top at a young boy.

"Since we are talking about forgiveness, I forgive you and your son too, Mrs. Tsuhashi." Vergil answered, one hand holding on to his little sister –a girl that Takashi's mother had seen and heard of often from her son –and the other still covered over his brother's mouth.

"You forgive us? What are you talking about?" The woman asked, stunned that she was getting forgiveness from an elementary school boy.

"I forgive you for having jumped to conclusions and not only scolded Dante, but also insulted our parents without pausing to find out the truth, Mrs. Tsuhashi. I forgive Takashi too, because he meant well by giving the beetle to my little sister even though he did not know that Mara was not familiar with bugs. He meant well, but I don't think you did." Vergil explained, then bowed once more –this time less formal than the one before. "Still, I forgive you. Now, please excuse us, Mrs. Tsuhashi. There is a sale at the grocery store on the way home. It will be over soon."

The abruptness of the farewell took the adults in the kindergarten by surprise, and this stunned silence was taken well advantage of by a certain 8 year old boy who dragged his twin and guided his little sister out of the kindergarten gently as if nothing else had happened.

________________________________________________________________________________

"That's right." Vergil said, chancing upon a remembrance of a short moment that had occurred in the morning that he had forgotten until now. "Mara said that she is doing cleaning duty today, so she will be out slightly later."

"I guessed." Dante answered, leaning his back boredly against the low wall by the school gates.

The wall was the perfect height for Vergil, and thus he had taken the waiting time to spread out his homework on the top, solving questions steadily while standing and ignorant of the gazes that were going their way.

"Good afternoon." Vergil heard his twin greet a pair of passing students politely, having no doubts that Dante was wearing his charming smile and trying to trip up poor innocent middle-school girls into falling in love with him. Dante was the worst kind of playboy –he was the kind who knew he was desirable and had no qualms in using his charms to get what he wanted.

"Good afternoon, Dante-Niichan, Vergil-Niichan." A familiar voice said, causing Vergil to look up from his homework in curiosity. The question of who had greeted them was answered when he saw their sister's close friend Yuki standing beside them. "Mara is still inside the classroom. She has cleaning duty today."

"We know. Thank you for telling us, Yuki." Vergil answered with his own charming polite smile. Unfortunately for the girls in this middle school, Vergil was also the same type of playboy that Dante was: he knew that his charming smile could get girls to do what he wanted, and he had used exactly that to keep tabs on how his sister had been doing in school. It was easy to say that he knew all of Mara's close friends by name, and he was the first person they reported to if his little sister experienced any sort of inconvenience in school.

Of course, sweet little Mara had absolutely no knowledge of such a thing going on.

"Uhm... Can I come over to your place again with Mara? We wanted to have a studying session and my mother does not like people coming over to my place..." Yuki seemed to have plucked her courage to ask Vergil who had turned back to his homework after generously giving out his smile.

"You are welcome as long as you stay in Mara's room." Vergil answered without looking, filling in the answers to yet another question on his book. He didn't have to look to see the elation that had written on Yuki's face. He needed to give occasional incentives –allowing her the privilege of going to their house and catching sight of Mara's brothers in their natural habitat -to keep Yuki reporting to him faithfully while not trying to take advantage of his little sister's kindness.

"What's your game this time?" Dante leaned in to whisper in his brother's ear, watching as a happy Yuki promised that she would visit soon, bade her farewell and went skipping on her way home.

"Mara will tell me when Yuki plans to come over, and I will arrange a shift on the same day." Vergil answered in an equally soft tone. "She wanted to come to study, so us being there or not will make no difference."

"You're truly a heartbreaker." Dante sighed at his twin's cold ruthlessness. Even at 17 years old, Dante had never seen his brother turn his eyes to anyone with genteel. The only exception to that rule was Mara.

"I never attempted to give anyone hope that they would have a chance to go out with me. I certainly have not acted in any confusing way towards anyone that may possibly create misunderstandings. Any sort of delusions regarding me is not something I can take responsibility for." Vergil's cold, rational answer came back as sharp blue eyes scanned the next question, then chose the correct answer quickly.

The pair resumed their own activities, Dante keeping a close eye out on the boys leaving the front gates of the middle school and issuing warning glances to them while shooting charming smiles to girls. The students of the school were more or less used to the presence of this pair of twins outside their school gates by now. Almost everybody knew the Sparda brothers: they were the protective elder brothers of the school's number 1 beauty Mara Sparda. Ever since Mara entered the school on the first day, her brothers had waited for her outside the school gates everyday no matter if it rained, shone, or snowed.

"Big brother! I'm sorry for being late!" Mara's lively and happy greeting came shortly after the bulk of the school's student had cleared out of the school. Vergil and Dante turned to find their little sister running happily towards them, a glow to her face that immediately lifted their moods.

"It's okay, we didn't wait long." Vergil answered, packing up his book into his bag. "Let's go. We must walk a little faster, or Dante and I will be late for work."

"It's okay if we part way at the station, Big Brother. I can walk home from the station by myself." Mara answered sweetly as the trio started on their walk towards the train station. Her brothers fell into step by her left and right on automatic, as if they were her bodyguards.

Her brothers' presence had been a very reassuring thing for Mara when she was younger, and she had loved the fact that they always picked her up from school no matter how old they were. High school students like them would be embarrassed to be caught picking their little siblings up, but Mara's brothers never missed a single day. It was the same for her: middle school students would be embarrassed to be picked up from school by their elder siblings, but the ones doing the picking was Mara's brothers. Mara loved her brothers more than anything in the world, and thus there was absolutely no embarrassment as she enjoyed their journey home every single day after school.

Of course, Mara began to worry a little more as the years passed. It had been fine when her middle-school brother picked her up when she was still in elementary school, but now that the both of them were high schoolers and had part-time jobs after school, picking her up from school required them rushing to their workplace after walking her home. She had tried to insist many times that she was fine walking the last part of the journey from the station to their home alone to save her brothers time, but they had never relented.

And this time was no different, as Vergil shook his head.

"If we leave you alone, who knows what sort of perverts will be trying to stalk you? We have to be here as your protectors." Dante declared, doing his best to come off as a heroic figure.

"You're exaggerating, Second Brother." Mara laughed her beautiful laugh. "Why would anyone want to stalk me?"

Unfortunately for the pair of twins that were the elder brothers to Mara, she was not only beautiful and kind, but also completely oblivious to how much attention she attracted daily with her looks and personality. Protecting that innocence was also one of their job, as Dante found his answer naturally.

"Because there have been news about a stalker around our neighbourhood recently." He lied easily. "He targets our area when schools are dismissed so that he can catch young bloods like you. You won't even hear them coming. One moment you're walking, next moment you hear them calling your name. Then, when you turn around, they-"

"Mara."

The conveniently timed call of Mara's name made the poor girl spin around quickly with shock, timid wits making her unconsciously grab her elder brother's uniform.

Fortunately for them, it was not a stalker.... well, at least it did not look like such because Mara seemed to recognise the young boy wearing the same uniform.

"Takeru?"

Dante had to admit that the young boy had a nice set of features. As someone who attracted the attention of the girls in whichever school he went to, Dante had learnt from experience about what schoolgirls found attractive in a boy, and the one who stood in front of them had most of those 'handsome' features.

"Are you busy? Can I talk to you?" The boy named Takeru seemed to have only eyes for Mara, not even acknowledging his elders.

"I'm sorry, Takeru. Is it possible for us to talk about this in school tomorrow? My brothers will be late for their part-time job." Mara expressed apologetically.

"I... Um, it is best if we talked about this outside of school." The boy seemed to hesitate a little at the Mara's refusal to give him even just a little time.

"Mara, is this Takeru from Class C?" Vergil's intrusion into the middle schoolers' conversation surprised the both of them as Mara turned to her elder brother to find his cool blue eyes assessing the boy up and down carefully.

"Yes. How did you know?"

"Yuki might have mentioned him to me once in passing." He answered vaguely. The truth was far from his words: Yuki had loyally reported to him through text a few days back about how she had heard rumours of a good looking boy in their cohort named Takeru working up the courage to confess to Mara.

Vergil did not discourage boys from working up their courage and doing their best to obtain what they viewed as a goal. 14 years old was good enough as any for boys to begin realising that dating girls and confessing their love was not a rare or completely shameful thing to do. While Vergil did not go through the same kind of puberty as the average boy (and probably neither did Dante who had his charming and flirtatious character ever since young), he had observed the many schoolmates around him during his schooling years and understood that talk about love and infatuation starting in middle school was not rare.

In all, Vergil was not the overprotective type of brother who absolutely abhorred anyone from trying to confess their love to his little sister. Mara had a loveable character and appearance, and it was inevitable for her to receive confessions now, and in the future when she would undoubtedly grow to become even more beautiful than she already was. No, Vergil wasn't the kind of brother who would terrorise boys trying to gain Mara's attention. He was not like that because Mara already had a brother who was like that. Dante took that role from him.

That being said, Vergil did not approve of Takeru's confession today. No, it was not because he did not like the boy. It was not because he thought that his sister and the boy were too young to talk about the love. It was simply because he would be running late for his part-time job, and he didn't want to get a pay cut. Vergil had duties to attend to, and he didn't want to run late for them.

Thus, with the boy still obviously fretting whether he should still go ahead and confess to Mara while her brother's flanked on by her sides, Vergil stepped forwards to grab Takeru's attention.

"Save your words." He said. "Try again when you are sure that it is love and not just desire you feel for my sister."

"It's not what you think. I lo-" Takeru protested quickly, surprised to be blocked with such frank words.

"If you do, then wait and learn. Until you learn how to love her like we do, don't try." Vergil's advice came in a tone that sounded more like a warning.

Thus, as abruptly as the attempted confession started, Vergil forced it to an end as he spun around, took his sister's hand and gently pulled her spinning around and forcing her feet to move away from the frozen boy.

"I know I was going to stop his rejection, Verge, but you didn't have to be so cold." Dante's voice was low so as not to let the poor rejected boy still behind them hear.

"I was speaking the truth." Vergil answered. "Are you fine with this, Mara?"

He looked down at his sister, not particularly surprised when he saw the blush colouring her cheek as well as her stunned expression as if she hadn't yet caught up with reality. He hadn't been afraid of rejecting the Takeru in Mara's stead because Yuki had told him that Mara had never considered Takeru as a potential boyfriend. In fact, Takeru had very limited communication with Mara, and which probably made the boy some sort of a stranger to her. Still, knowing that she was about to receive a confession that was cut short by Vergil's sharp words had to stun her.

"Um... Big Brother, you said you love me...?"

"Of course. You are my sister." Vergil answered letting his sister's hand go since they were regaining their pace towards the station.

"I love you too. Don't forget about me." Dante interrupted, eager to express himself.

"Isn't it strange...? My friends don't talk about 'love' when it comes to their siblings. Isn't it a little strange if you tell people that you love me?" Mara asked softly, looking up at her brothers flanking on her left and right.

"There are different types of love, and what I have for you have always been and will always be sibling love. Others can have different names for it, but I still love you no matter how old we all are."

"Besides, how can we not love you? You're the cutest little girl I've seen in the entire world." Dante added, though Mara had heard too many of such exaggerated claims from her Second Brother to believe them for real.

Her focus was, after all, less about her Second Brother, but her Big Brother. Vergil was still as reliable and steady for as long as Mara knew him. Her Big Brother was her saviour. Ever since their father passed away a year ago, Vergil had kept the entire family going by his sheer willpower. Sure, Dante had helped out. But Mara knew that if Vergil hadn't gotten himself a job at the host club near their house, Dante would not have known what to do to help support the family.

"Then... Can I say I love you too?" Mara ventured to ask shyly, keeping her eyes down and on the road in front of her.

"I'm glad that you do." Vergil answered.

Clearly, neither Vergil nor Dante could sense that inside the young girl's heart, the type of 'love' she expressed was less of what Vergil had described, and more of what Takeru had wanted.

________________________________________________________________________________

Mara flipped through the magazine that Yuki had lent her, stopping at the double-paged interview that she and her brother had gone through a month ago. Mara and her brothers had somehow gotten themselves scouted by a talent agency as teen models, and the company was smart to keep them as a 'sibling set'.

With a pair of college student twin brothers, and a high schooler younger sister in the mix, there had been many famous brands of clothing lines that had approached them to sell clothes meant for the younger crowd. Somehow –Mara was still a little taken aback at how fast it had all happened –they found themselves propelled into semi-fame, where every teen in the neighbourhood seemed to know exactly who they were. Of course, this rising fame had attracted many requests for interviews to get to know this 'sibling set', and Mara's manager (who acted as the manager for her brothers as well) had accepted only one for their sake a month ago.

The special thing about this interview had been the fact that the three of them were not interviewed together, but separately. Mara had answered the questions posed to her as honestly as she could, but she didn't know what answers her brother gave, or even what questions they were asked. She had tried to pry answers out of her brothers, but none of them had relented. All Dante had told her was that she would get the answers she wanted from the magazine, but it had been awkward for Mara to go get the magazine herself to read up on her own interview.

It was different if she was just borrowing her friend's copy to browse through her brothers' answers...

Skipping the section of the her answers paired with a very flattering picture of her in the latest style, Mara focused on the second page where her brothers stood back to back in the middle of the page, looking confidently out at her. Their answers decorated the empty space around them, and she concentrated on those words quickly.

V: Things are working out unexpectedly well for us, but I do not see it in my future to continue down this path for long. I think many of my fans are already aware, but I am currently enrolled in a Medicine course in my college. I plan to become a doctor.

Vergil's answer to a question about his future ambition reflected exactly what Mara knew of him. He had started this modelling job only because Dante had been super hyped at it when they were first offered the contract, and Dante's enthusiasm had infected Mara. With two of them excited to start a modelling career to see how far they could go while still studying, Vergil had been dragged along for the ride. Mara's big brother's dream of becoming a doctor was never forgotten through his part-time modelling gig.

D: I imagine my brother saying something cool and noble like "I want to become a doctor and save all lives" but that's just him. I'm staying in this for the long run, so you better prepare to be seeing more of Dante. I'm going to enjoy Vergil and Mara being in this for as long as they want to, but when things get real, I'm aiming higher. I don't want to just be a model. I want to act. I'm looking an end-goal of being famous and good at everything. I'll just hit all of them one by one when Vergil is out of this place and stops nagging at me.

Mara chuckled a little to herself at how unique her second brother's answer was, then looked around self-consciously to check if anyone had seen her laugh to herself. Thankfully, most of the patrons in the café had gotten over the excitement of Mara's arrival and had returned to whatever they had been doing. She had gotten a table to herself, waiting for her friends to be done with club activities. Mara had promised them that they would come to this recently-opened café to try out the cakes and to gossip.

V: If I am expected to be completely honest, I started on this road because I could not trust Dante to be out in this industry alone with Mara. Our little sister's safety is our main priority, and Mara was influenced by Dante's excitement when we were first scouted. That guy is too much of an idiot and too reckless sometimes to think things through when it comes to Mara, and I was afraid that he might be a handful. There might be only one person in this world who can control him, and that unfortunate role has been thrust upon me.

Mara chuckled again, this time softer to make sure that she was not attracting unwanted attention. Even at home, Mara always heard Vergil lament about his role as Dante's twin brother, as the eldest son of the family and basically having the responsibility to watch over them. He had made it clear that he was completely fine and at home with taking responsibility for Mara, but Vergil often complained about holding the responsibility of watching over Dante and cleaning up the countless messes that her second brother created. He had not been silent about treating Dante the same age as Mara as they grew up together, and Mara was amused to see him being true to his usual self even during the interview.

D: Why did I join this industry? It's simple really. I want people to see my face and recognise me anywhere. I'm no good with books anyway, and I like people looking at me. I want to earn lots of money, and if Mara has an elder brother who is famous, boys will think twice before trying to ask her out because they've got to get past me.

The words in the interview was in accordance to Dante's personality, and though Mara knew her brothers inside out, it was still a joy for her as she scanned through the rest of her brothers' answers for the entire interview. Then, because her friends had yet to arrive at the café, Mara humbled herself and scanned quickly through the section of her own answers to make sure that her words had not been twisted or put out of context.

"Are you reading about yourself, Mara?" The question jolted her concentration, and she looked up with embarrassment to see Yuki and Saki taking their seats in the stall that she had gotten for them.

"N-No! I was looking through the section on my brothers." Mara said, though from the expressions written on her friends' faces showed that they weren't exactly convinced.

"You looked like you were learning about yourself." Saki teased, but it was soon that they had given their orders to a waitress, and had their cakes and tea set in front of them, the conversation topic fading away as they commented on the café in general. It was business as usual for high school girls like them, and Mara almost forgot about the magazine that was left untouched on the table ever since her friends' arrival until Saki spoke up.

"You know, when I read the interview yesterday night, I got the impression that your brothers have a pretty serious sister complex, and they aren't even trying to hide it." Saki commented with a sigh, bringing up a topic that had suddenly swerved far away from cakes and tea. "Girls in general are attracted to guys who can take care of their sisters well, but when they develop sister complexes, girlfriends get conflicted."

"You sound like you are speaking from experience. Does Hiro have a sister complex like Mara's brothers?" Yuki pounced on the implied meaning, and though Mara would have liked to wedge in a protest that her brothers were just protective like any other siblings out there, she stopped herself from doing so since she didn't want to side-track the conversation.

"Not like Mara's brothers, but a sister complex still." Saki sighed heavily once more, frowning a little bit. "I fell in love with him because he was so gentle to me. I was glad that him having a sister made him very gentle and thoughtful around girls. But recently, I've been feeling that his sister is a bigger priority in his life than me. I mean, I understand that they lived out most of their lives together, and his little sister is really cute, but... I'm his girlfriend! It's not like I'm trying to make him choose between his sister and me, but I just want a little attention from him, and not hear him talk about how he's worried that someone is chasing his sister, or that she is acting weird recently!"

"But you can't really blame him, can you? I remember you telling me before that Hiro's sister has a complex about her appearance. I can imagine if he feels like he is her guardian, and that he always thinks about her. Even though I never really met any problems in school, Big Brother always takes it upon himself to be my guardian. He cares a lot about my welfare, and it's really helpful especially when I have troubles that I don't know how to solve." Mara rationalised, but it seemed as if her idea of 'rational' didn't seem so common when her friends turned to look at her curiously.

"You know that Vergil-Niichan cares more than just 'a lot' about your welfare, right? He crosses the line of obsessiveness. If there is a prime example of the different types of guys with sister complexes, your brothers are the ones. Dante-Niichan is the aggressive type –the type that threatens everybody around you and tries to keep you single and innocent for as long as he can. But Vergil-Niichan is the passive type –the scary one that looks and acts really normal, but common sense doesn't apply to him when it comes to you." Yuki asked, explaining as she did so.

"I've never heard of anything like that before." Mara laughed, dismissing her friend's words with a wave of her hand. "Where are you getting this from?"

"From observation." Yuki answered, undaunted by Mara's dismissal. "And from your words, Mara, Saki and I have reasons to believe that you actually have a brother complex too."

"What?" Mara exclaimed with surprise, then covered it quickly with laughs. "No, no, that's impossible. Big brother and Second brother are important to me, but I don't have complexes."

"You're always talking about your brothers and how they are doing things that worry you. I don't think you realise, but many of the things that worry you or concern you at times are directly related to them. Yuki and I thought it was because you only have them as your family, so it is natural that you are closer to your brothers than other girls, but especially now that the three of you are getting famous being models, it's getting more obvious. You have a brother complex, Mara. Especially with your big brother." Saki pressed.

"I don't!" Mara defended hotly. "I just care for them the same way they care for me. Is it wrong to care for family members?"

"It isn't but probably not as obsessively as the three of you." Yuki answered, grabbing the magazine on the table and flipping open to the page that she had been reading not long ago. "Listen to your own answers, Mara: My ideal type of guy I'd like to go out with is someone who is reliable without needing many words. He doesn't have to be too adventurous or ambitious, but he has to be able to be stable, sensitive and most importantly, protect me in times of need. The ideal type you were describing in the interview was your Vergil-Niichan."

"That's probably because he's the person who took care of me so well after our father passed away! It's fair for girls to want to look for guys who can take care of them, isn't it?" Mara protested, not willing to believe what her friends were trying to sell to her. She had a brother complex? Mara had never thought that she would be labelled with a brother complex. Sure, she thought a lot about her brothers, but that was only because they cared a lot about her too.

"Yes, but probably not as accurately described as you." Saki answered now, leaning over to take a look and quote Mara's own answers in the published interview. "In terms of appearance, you're looking for a guy with a lean build, broad shoulders and a height of around a head taller than you. That's a wide range that we were willing to forgive, but you narrowed it down further. You prefer sharper features, almond-shaped eyes and tight lips. You like guys with strong arms, and prefer martial artists over regular sportsmen. You like a man even better if he is good with swords. You're literally talking about your big brother. Everybody knows he practices Iaido to keep his shape, and everything you described was him."

"I was describing someone else, not Big brother! You're just trying to force him into that image." Mara protested, but was distracted at something outside the window.

"Speak of the devil. I mean, devils." Saki commented, having her attention taken to the same scene. "They must not know what to do since you told them that you're here with us."

"They could just be walking around. Dante said he wanted to buy something a while back." Mara excused for the sake of her brothers, watching as they strolled along the street, conversing as they did so.

"They wait for you outside the school every day though you're a high schooler and they're in college now. When you suddenly say that you're hanging out with us outside after school, I imagine that they don't know what to do all of a sudden since they don't have to pick you up." Yuki supported. "But don't you think the guy wearing that black hood walking behind them looks suspicious?"

"Everyone looks suspicious to you, daughter of the Chief of Police." Saki answered.

"No, I meant it. Look. He's definitely keeping a measured distance behind Mara's brothers. His hands are in his hoodie pocket and he's hunched forwards a little, like he doesn't want the material to press against the shape of whatever he has in his pocket." Yuki explained. "And he's wearing a mask."

"He could just be sick and have cold hands."

"Or he could be holding a weapon." Yuki suggested, standing up. "We should call them to get their attention just in case."

Mara couldn't agree better. Jumping quickly out of her seat and dashing for the door of the café, she stood outside a short distance behind the suspicious man and her brothers who had passed the windows of the café.

"Big Brother! Second Brother! Behind you!" Mara called worriedly. Her actions were not backed up with much thought, because she froze when the hooded man spun around too, sharp eyes widening at the sight of her.

"Mara Sparda!" She heard the man exclaim, and suddenly the hooded man took quick running steps towards her, hands withdrawing from his pockets.

Mara flinched, shrieking as the man jumped.

"Mara!" She heard her brothers' shout, and felt a heavy body ram into her, pushing her to the ground.

"Get off me, get off me!" She screamed, hammering her fisted hands wherever she could with her eyes closed because she didn't want to see what kind of disgusting expression her attacker had.

"It's me. It's me, Mara. Calm down. You're okay." Hands captured hers in warm, strong ones, and Mara only stopped when she realised that the voice belonged to her big brother instead of the unfamiliar one of the suspicious man. She ceased her struggle as she opened her eyes, relief flooding her when she saw Vergil holding her, having pushed her to the ground.

"What... What happened?" She choked, the tears flooding as she blinked desperately, trying to look around for everything she had missed when she squeezed her eyes shut.

"The man tried to attack you, but I pushed us out of the way." Vergil answered, wiping the tears from her cheek as he looked back. "Looks like Dante has him covered."

"W-Who is he? What did he want?" Mara continued to sob even while her brother pulled her to her feet, but enveloped her into his warm, consoling hug. The two were completely oblivious to the fact that Mara's shrieks had caught the attention of everyone in the vicinity and a crowd had gather around them, trying to understand what had happened.

"Manager told us about a guy who was dropping Dante and I death threats about how we should give you more freedom and let you date whoever you want, or else. He was convinced somehow that we were controlling you and not letting you live a happy life, and he wanted to 'save you'. Obviously we couldn't allow someone so dangerous to continue being out there, so even though we made a police report behind your back about this guy, Dante and I agreed that it was better to talk a walk around the place to draw out the man. We had noticed him immediately, Mara, but we expect you to call out to us and startle him. That was dangerous." Vergil explained, still keeping her in his warm hug and stroking her head softly. "Now, stop those tears as soon as you can. You're safe with us now."

"I thought... the guy was dangerous, and I thought you and Second Brother didn't know about him. I wanted to warn you..." Mara wiped the tears within her brother's embrace, sniffling.

"I know, but it was still dangerous. You should have dropped us a text or given us a call by phone. But it's okay, nobody was hurt."

"Hey, don't say that! I'm hurt emotionally! Vergil, you cheater! I wanted to be her saviour and be all heroic and be the one hugging her right now." Dante's protest from somewhere behind Vergil made Mara chuckle despite her tears.

"Trust Dante to still be able to make you laugh." Vergil said, but there was amusement in his voice too. "Has the tears stopped?"

"Mostly." Mara admitted, wiping the last of the tears. "I'm okay now. You should let me go, or Dante's not going to have an end to his complains."

"His complaints are endless with or without this." Vergil answered, unwrapping his arms, but keeping one hand tightly holding Mara's to give her the strength and reassurance that she really needed.

From a short distance away, Saki and Yuki stood within the crowd and still watching the scene of the three semi-famous models deal with their situation. The two 17 year old girls looked at each other with convinced confirmation written all over their face, nodding in agreement to unspoken words between them.

The Sparda siblings were definitely a strange bunch.