They never discovered what had caused the fire…but perhaps it was for the best because sometimes you don't need to know how it happened, but moreover that it happened and that it wasn't just a dream.

"…I love you, Shou. Don't ever forget that…"

Ryou died protecting his brother as a human shield from the flames that night. The younger Marufuji received third degree burns but when the paramedics came, his heart was still beating and he was still conscious enough to cry when they pried his small body out of Ryou's black burnt arms.

A week later, he was awake again. The clean, aseptic smell of the hospital room caused his head to spin.

"…excuse me?"

Silver eyes looked up, blank and dead.

"This is your brother's, I think," the nurse said softly. "They found this in his ashes that night. He was clutching it when he died."

She pressed a slip of green cardboard wrapped in a handkerchief into his hand. He loosened the bindings around the card a bit and stared at it intently.

"…can you please leave?"

The nurse blinked, taken back by his request. Nonetheless, she nodded and left the room.

The handkerchief dropped into his lap. Shou groped for his glasses on the bedside table and perched them on his nose. The sides of the card were cindered and burnt, but he could still depict the picture of a golden rod shooting flames into machinery and the words 'Power Bond' printed as the title.

He leaned his head against the pillow. He closed his eyes.

…I love you, Shou. Don't ever forget that…

"Oniisan," he whispered to no one.