After a while, Rika Izumi told Yuyu Izumi to go back to her bedroom and do her homework.
Hearing that, Kotomi Izumi said with undisguised glee, "Hehehe, you silly Yuyu, weren't you the one who said you already finished your homework?"
Yuyu Izumi shot her gloating sister an indignant glare, then turned to her mother with a helpless expression.
"Mom, didn't I already finish my homework? Every single day, whenever you've got nothing better to do, you make me do this and that. I finally finished my homework, and now you have to pile on extra assignments. If you're really that bored, why don't you go pick a fight with Dad?"
Maybe because she had grown up constantly playing with Kotomi, Yuyu had picked up all the wrong things—especially the art of sharp-tongued banter.
Rika Izumi felt a little helpless. She didn't know whether this was just Yuyu going through puberty, or whether her own parenting style really needed to change. When Yuyu was little, she had at least a few days of obedience. But recently, she had become especially rebellious. Ask her to do even the slightest thing, and she would grow impatient immediately, as if her precious personal time had been disturbed.
In Rika's view, what personal time could a child possibly have? If you weren't helping your parents with housework, then you were just being lazy!
What she didn't realize was that Yuyu was at an age where she valued her personal time more than anything. Whenever Rika saw her sitting around and assumed she was free, she would assign her chores—mopping the floor, extra exercises, and all sorts of tasks.
Sometimes the floor was obviously spotless, freshly mopped just the day before. But as long as Rika saw Yuyu idle, she would feel the urge to make her do something.
Because of this, Yuyu had argued with her mother more than once. Unfortunately, Rika simply wouldn't listen.
Or perhaps she knew her daughter had a point but refused to admit it out of pride, feeling that acknowledging her daughter's reasoning would undermine her authority as a mother.
After being snapped back at by Yuyu like that, Rika's temper flared. She was just about to lose it and properly scold her.
Sensing that mother and daughter were about to start arguing, Kotomi quickly stood up with Yuyu still on her back and said cheerfully,
"Come on, little sis. Onee-chan will take you back to your room to do homework. Yuyu, seriously—you're one of the luckiest girls in the world."
"Huh? Why?" Yuyu, who had still been a little angry at her mother, was instantly distracted by those words.
There had been several times during arguments with her mom when she would secretly fantasize—if one day she ran away from home, or even jumped off a building, what kind of devastated expressions would Mom and Dad show? Just imagining it would make her feel a little better.
It wasn't that she actually wanted to run away or jump. Just thinking about it in her head made her mood lighten, and the next day she could laugh and smile as if nothing had happened.
"The number of girls I've personally carried on my back is so small I can count them on one hand. Five fingers—one-fifth odds. You got that privilege. If you're not lucky, then who is?" Kotomi said with a soft laugh.
Yuyu felt a lot happier after being praised like that, though she still muttered faintly,
"Sis, why does that sound less like you're praising me and more like you're praising yourself?"
"Does it~?" Kotomi grinned, pretending innocence.
"It does!"
"Hehehe, let's go. I'll take you back to your room. Third Aunt is right—you're about to take your high school entrance exams. Do a few more practice problems and solidify those knowledge points. It won't hurt."
"But when you were in your third year of middle school, didn't you always say, 'Do practice problems help? Maybe for other people. For me? Definitely not—because I'm too lazy to do them!' You said it with such confidence. And when Auntie scolded you, you screamed for real."
Yuyu mercilessly exposed one of Kotomi's old embarrassing stories in front of Yui.
Kotomi's brow twitched slightly. If you're going to be ruthless, don't blame me for being merciless. She reached out and tugged a strand of Yuyu's hair without hesitation.
The two sisters had fought since childhood. They knew each other's weaknesses by heart. For example, Yuyu was most afraid of Kotomi pulling her hair.
Kotomi had no sense of moderation. She claimed she was just pulling one strand, but anyone watching might think she was trying to rip Yuyu's whole head off.
"That was because I'm not in my third year of middle school anymore. I don't need to grind practice problems now."
After plucking out a strand of Yuyu's hair, Kotomi spoke calmly, then carried the "wailing like a ghost and howling like a wolf" Yuyu back to the bedroom.
Once Kotomi left with Yuyu on her back, Rika smiled apologetically at Yui and said,
"Sorry you had to see that. They've been like this since they were little—fighting the moment they meet, for the most ridiculous reasons. Then a few minutes later, they'll make up again. And if they don't see each other for a while, they start missing each other terribly. Not long ago, Yuyu was even muttering, 'When is Sister coming to Kyoto to play with me?'
"When she found out yesterday that Kotomi was coming, she was so excited she didn't sleep all night. I'm a light sleeper. At three in the morning, I even heard her sneak out of her room to get water from the kitchen."
"I have a little sister who's still in kindergarten. We fight sometimes too," Yui Yuigahama said.
After that, she glanced in the direction Kotomi had left and couldn't help thinking about what Kotomi had said earlier—The number of girls I've carried on my back is so small I can count them on one hand.
Hearing that, Yui had felt happy… but also a little jealous.
Happy because Kotomi rarely carried other girls.
Jealous because she herself had never been carried by Kotomi.
The moment she realized she had never been carried by her, Yui's heart filled with loss and jealousy, as if she had just downed an entire bottle of vinegar in one gulp.
Gulp gulp.
...
Kotomi, who had carried Yuyu back to the bedroom, had no idea that her casual remark had once again made little jealous Yui jealous.
Fortunately, what she had said was, "The number of girls I've carried on my back is very small."
That at least made it somewhat acceptable for Yui. Knowing Kotomi hadn't carried other girls gave her a bit of comfort.
If Kotomi had told the truth instead—"The girls I've carried or held? Even ten pairs of hands wouldn't be enough to count them."
Then… Yui might not just be jealous right now. She might instinctively start looking for a chainsaw again.
Completely unaware that she had once again brushed against the boundary of death, Kotomi shook Yuyu off her back the moment they entered the bedroom, letting her drop onto the bed with a bounce.
"Hey, Sis! Don't you know my bed is the firm kind? My butt almost split in half!"
Yuyu complained, casually smacking Kotomi's waist.
Unexpectedly, even that light hit made Kotomi cry out in pain.
It startled Yuyu.
"Sis, what's wrong?! Has even the heavens decided they can't tolerate all your evil deeds anymore?" Yuyu asked in shock.
"Ah! What are you doing?! Couldn't you hit somewhere else? You had to hit my waist of all places. And what was that supposed to mean? If I repeat that to Aunt later, she'll smack your little mouth to pieces."
Kotomi Izumi rubbed her slender, alluring waist. No matter how beautiful it was, a waist could still ache.
Thanks to what Megumi did to me a while ago… Although several days had already passed, her lower back still felt sore.
"Forget the details for now. Sis, what happened to your waist? Sure, I hit it just now, but it was only a light tap. I didn't use any force. The way you screamed, anyone would think I was trying to murder you."
"I feel like you were trying to murder me," Kotomi complained resentfully.
"No way. If I really wanted to murder you, I'd grab that pillow and smother your nose with it."
Yuyu followed her sister's words with a joke, then asked curiously,
"So what exactly messed up your waist? Pulling all-nighters playing games at the computer? Didn't you say before you wanted to become an Apex Predator? It's been over a month now, and Season 13 is already long over. Did you make it?"
Although Yuyu didn't play Apex, she would occasionally watch Kotomi play or watch Apex highlight videos on YouTube.
It wasn't that she didn't want to play or couldn't play FPS games—it was simply because she didn't have a computer. Her parents were still quite traditional and strict when it came to raising children. At least until she graduated middle school, they had no plans to buy her one.
When she heard that Kotomi had recently built a desktop with a 3090 Ti graphics card, Yuyu had been so jealous she nearly cried.
Kotomi knew Yuyu had always wanted a computer of her own, but since her third uncle and aunt wouldn't buy one, there was nothing she could do. And honestly, it made sense—Yuyu was in her third year of middle school. Of course they wouldn't feel comfortable buying her a computer. If anything, they'd wait until after her entrance exams.
In truth, Yuyu's monthly allowance wasn't small, and her New Year's gift money each year was enough to make her hands go numb from counting. Unfortunately, she simply couldn't hold onto money. Every time she got some, she would splurge recklessly, buying all sorts of things without saving much at all.
On top of that, with how absurd computer part prices were nowadays, her pitiful savings probably couldn't even buy a single stick of RAM.
Thinking of this, Kotomi patted Yuyu's little head and said with a smile,
"How about this—whenever you meet someone, just say, 'My sister is the world's number one Apex Predator.' When the 40-series graphics cards come out, I'll give you my 3090 Ti."
"Really?!"
Yuyu's eyes lit up instantly. In that moment, Kotomi's image as an older sister grew enormously in her eyes.
Yuyu didn't have such outrageous demands for a graphics card. Forget a 3090 Ti—even a 2080 would have made her satisfied.
"Of course it's true. Your sister isn't short on money~"
With Kotomi's monthly royalties, even in this era of ridiculous hardware prices, she could easily max out the performance of a desktop without batting an eye.
Yuyu didn't know that Kotomi wrote novels, nor did she question why Kotomi said she wasn't short on money.
Because in Yuyu's eyes, wasn't that completely normal? Kotomi had plenty of allowance and didn't spend recklessly—only splurging on things she liked. As for things she wasn't interested in, even spending five yen would make her lose sleep for a week.
After that, Yuyu asked again,
"So your waist isn't sore from gaming?"
"Obviously not. You know my personality. No matter how fun a game is, I wouldn't sit at a computer all day playing it."
"Then your waist…"
Yuyu cautiously reached out and touched it. That scream earlier had genuinely frightened her—she had almost thought she'd broken her sister's back.
"Think about it. Besides pulling all-nighters gaming, what else is really hard on the waist?" Kotomi said mysteriously. Then she added, "Here's a hint—I have a girlfriend."
"Of course I know you have a girlfriend. I was just wondering how such a nice girl like Sister-in-law ended up liking a chaotic demon like you—"
Yuyu suddenly froze mid-sentence.
Because she finally understood what Kotomi's hint meant.
"Th-this… this is…"
She stammered for a long time. Even though she understood, she felt too embarrassed to say it outright. In the end, she could only squeeze out an idiom:
"This is… utterly indecent! Completely indecent!"
After saying that, Yuyu took a while to calm down. Then she finally realized why, when she saw Kotomi earlier today, she had felt that her aura was somehow different from before.
So it was because…
Yuyu felt like if you placed a bottle of water on her face right now, it would instantly boil.
After a long pause, she spoke again,
"But that's not right. Sister-in-law looks so gentle and well-behaved, like a little lamb. She doesn't seem like a big bad wolf at all. Could it be that she's the type who's gentle like a lamb normally, but fierce like a wolf at that moment? Wuwuwu… my poor, weak sister… Oh right, Sis, are you pregnant? When do I get to become an aunt?"
Before answering, Kotomi first expressed her speechlessness.
"…Why are you automatically assuming I'm the bottom?"
"Isn't that the case?" Yuyu shot back.
"…"
Kotomi opened her mouth, but couldn't find the words to refute it. In the end, she casually said,
"I never said I only have one girlfriend."
"That's true, with your personality… huh? Wait?"
Yuyu trailed off halfway, then suddenly realized what Kotomi had just said. She stared at her for a long time, utterly stunned, before asking in disbelief,
"Sis, sis, sis, sis… y-you… cheated?!"
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