(Elaria POV)
"Onee-sama? Do you think Onii-sama will like us gutting the kills first?" I asked.
My dearest Onee-sama pondered for a moment, "I think it will be better if we left it for dearest little brother to decide, maybe he still has more surprises in store for us~"
I agreed with her and simply picked up my most recent kill, a brown hare that was about as big as my arm with a crossbow bolt stuck halfway through its chest.
Carefully dislodging the bolt from its body, I hung it on a harness that I had around my waist, letting it join the few other hares that I had hunted down moments ago.
Both of us had already collected several hares each, opting to leave the bigger game to the other girls while the two of us took care of the smaller ones.
"So how is it?" I asked offhandedly.
Onee-sama lifted what looked like a telescope with wires connecting it to a backpack she wore, "The FG one-two-five-zero? I guess it's usable since I could spot that hare in the dark without much issue, though the backpack makes it rather impractical in a combat scenario."
I nodded, "Mmhm, mmhm. This was supposed to be mounted on a tank and not carried around, but I managed to make it smaller using Monster Crystals as the power source. I'll need to make more improvements for field use."
"The fact that you managed to jury rig these storage rings to function using Monster Crystals is also something…" Onee-sama smirked, lifting her other hand to inspect a ring on her index finger that had small pieces of Monster Crystals embedded in them. "You know this would cause a huge incident if this was released?"
"Ehehe~ There's a reason why I'm keeping this a secret even from Onii-sama~"
She looked at the night vision goggles before giggling, "You had wanted to use this to spy on him, didn't you?"
I looked away from her, whistling innocently.
"Well whatever, I will be using this too so don't mind me~" Onee-sama laughed, storing the night vision scope away into her ring.
I rolled my eyes at her but refrained from commenting since she was right about what I was going to use it for.
I started to pack up our things, both of us bringing out our flashlights to navigate the darkness better, the need for stealth already gone.
Just as I flipped the switch on the device, there was the sudden feeling of unease that washed over me, sending shivers down my spine.
I turned around, "Onee-sama?"
My dearest Onee-sama nodded, "I felt it too, you're not imagining it."
We inspected our surroundings with our flashlights, checking even the tree branches for any sign of abnormality.
Finding nothing, both of us mutually agreed to return to Onii-sama's side as quickly as possible.
Onee-sama and I held hands, both of us scanning either side of our path as we moved through the undergrowth.
It didn't take long for us to find something that wasn't there when we first passed through, a simple wooden door built into a wall of solid stone that stretched to our left and right, blocking our return path.
"This was not here before… Was it?" I asked.
Onee-sama shook her head, walking up nonchalantly to the door to inspect it.
I followed behind her, watching her tap the door, the door frame and the walls with her knuckles.
"Solid wood and stone. I do not believe somebody built this in the small time frame we had walked past here. It might have something to do with the feeling we had earlier..."
I gasped, "Oh!! Is this one of those standard horror movie scenes?! The lone cabin in the woods, the unmoving statues that disappear when you're not looking, the girl with long hair, the crazy witch, the dolls and voices in your head!"
Onee-sama smiled wryly at me, "You do have an overactive imagination, dear little sister."
I pouted at her, "It's totally possible ok?! Maybe this one has something like an endless white corridor filled with doors that lead to nowhere!"
Onee-sama took a step back and shone her flashlight along both sides of the wall, frowning when she realised that the wall stretched beyond the range of our lights.
"It seems like whoever put this here wants us to go in."
"Ohhh~ The door will creak noisily and the entrance would be completely dark and--"
"Dearest little sister, I do love you very much but please… Stop talking."
Ah… Onee-sama does not like the horror genre much it seems.
Onee-sama sighed before trying the door, finding it unlocked.
It was obvious that she did not want to go in but her elder sister pride was probably making her present a strong front for me.
She shoved open the door with unexpected force, revealing a brightly lit doorway that ended at another door of similar design.
I wanted to comment again but I managed to refrain from doing so at the last moment.
"Nowhere to go but forward," Onee-sama sighed, mostly trying to convince herself.
I followed in after her, making sure the door was left wide open just in case.
Onee-sama had her hand reached behind so I grabbed it to reassure her, it goes without saying that she would most definitely bury me alive should I leak this out to Onii-sama.
She moved at a speed that was not quite a walk or run, reaching the other door in under a minute.
Onee-sama turned back for a moment to check if I was still behind her before reaching forward and yanking the door open.
Of course, behind the door was what I had initially expected to see: a plain brick wall.
Knowing what was already coming, I turned around at the same time as Onee-sama, both of us groaning when we saw the door that we had come through closed shut even though there had been no sounds of any doors closing.
Just as I was about to suggest to Onee-sama that we try to break through the brickwall, the walls on either side of the entrance slide open, allowing two young girls with very similar facial features to walk in and stand in the middle of the corridor.
Neither of them said anything and they simply stood there, watching us with a blank expression on their faces.
I frowned, "Well what are you two doing here?"
They remained silent.
"I'm going to assume you two are the cause of this?"
Their lips curled upwards into a sinister smile before they started to laugh, their voices sounding inhuman.
I raised my eyebrow at them, "I'll take that as a sign of hostility then?"
Both of them ignored my question and continued their laughter.
Onee-sama and I shared a look, both of us nodding at the same time before turning back to face the twins.
I had already given them sufficient warnings.
The two of us took a step back and our storage rings flashed, depositing our weapons of choice within our hands.
Let's see if these two can stand up to this eh?
I couldn't resist myself and blurted out, "Say hello to my little friend!"
Onee-sama and I pulled the trigger at the same time~
