"Phew—"
After arriving at the restroom, Kotomi Izumi turned on the faucet and splashed her face with cold water several times. Only when the faint heat on her cheeks finally subsided did she let out a long breath and turn off the tap.
After washing her face, she didn't return to her seat right away. Instead, she stood in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection with a somewhat absent gaze.
Kika… Yukino… I didn't expect that after just a few days of traveling in Kyoto, I'd end up with two more girlfriends. I absolutely can't let Megumi find out about this. Otherwise…
At that thought, Kotomi couldn't help but shiver. Even just imagining it made her recall the cold gleam of the blade from when Megumi had killed her before.
'If I think about it carefully, the first time I got close with Ayani Kika was much earlier than when Yukino confessed to me. So, in terms of timing, Kika would be my third girlfriend, and Yukino would be my fourth.
'But… am I actually in a romantic relationship with Kika right now?
'Even though we've already been intimate, when I'm with her, it strangely feels like we've known each other for a long time. There's none of that fresh, passionate feeling of just falling in love.
'Rather than lovers, what I feel toward Kika is more like two long-time friends who, out of curiosity, accidentally shared a kiss.
'I wonder if she feels the same way about me…'
'Focus, focus… So in terms of how it feels, I'm still not sure whether Kika and I are actually in a relationship. As for Yukino, I just responded to part of her feelings. If I had fully responded earlier, then we'd already be a couple now.
So that would make Yukino my third girlfriend, and Kika my fourth…'
'No, no, that's not right. The last time I came to Kyoto, I kissed Mashiro several times, and that was before I started dating Yui…
'Back then, I even planned to find a good time to confess to Mashiro after returning from Kyoto.
'But between novels, manga, the cultural festival, pretending to be Shizuka-sensei's girlfriend, and everything else, I got so busy that I completely forgot about it.
'It's not like I never remembered—I did, occasionally. But every time I did, I somehow forgot again a few days later…'
Mm… sorry, Mashiro.
Standing in front of the mirror and talking to herself, Kotomi let out a helpless sigh and quietly apologized to Mashiro—even though she couldn't hear it.
She had never really thought deeply about it before, but now that she did, she realized that arranging the order of a harem was actually incredibly troublesome.
Who's first, who's second, who's third… If she didn't sort this out clearly in her mind, it could easily lead to a complete battlefield in the future.
As someone who had already been stabbed once… ahem, a broad-minded girl, Kotomi firmly believed that while a harem was a must, a battlefield situation had to be avoided as much as possible.
Even if it did happen, she had to do everything she could to keep Megumi out of it.
After all… Megumi was the type to pull a knife at the slightest disagreement.
Just as Kotomi stood there in front of the mirror, frowning over how to arrange her harem rankings, the phone in her coat pocket suddenly began to buzz.
Rule number one of The Self-Cultivation of a Scumbag Girl: always keep your phone on you.
Kotomi took her phone out, thinking it might be Aimi calling to ask when she'd be home.
Although she had only been in Kyoto for a few days, she actually missed her little sister quite a bit. She was just about to hang up and call back with a video call when she glanced at the screen—only to see that the caller was Ayani Kika.
"Kika?"
Kotomi felt a little puzzled. Earlier, on the way to the station, she had sent Kika a message:
[Kika, I'm already in a taxi heading to the station. When I booked my return ticket earlier, I accidentally selected the wrong departure time—it's set for midnight tonight. I wanted to stay in Kyoto a few more days, but it looks like I'll have to head back to Chiba today.]
After sending that message, since it hadn't been marked as read and there was no reply, Kotomi had exited the conversation and opened LINE instead to message the other girls.
Then, with everything that happened afterward—Yuki and Tomoe, followed by Yukino's confession—she had completely forgotten to check whether Kika had replied.
Before answering the call, Kotomi glanced at the message interface. It now showed as read, but there was still no reply. It seemed that after seeing the message, Kika had chosen to call directly instead of typing a response.
After all, Kika was used to handwriting input on her phone, carefully writing each character stroke by stroke. The first time Kotomi saw it, she had been completely stunned. Kotomi rarely used handwriting input, and even when she did, her writing was messy and rushed.
If you're not good at using a Japanese input system, then compared to writing each character one by one, calling is definitely faster…
Seriously, Kika, you should spend some time learning how to use your phone's input system… Kotomi thought to herself as she answered the call.
"Good evening, Kika-nee~"
Kotomi spoke first, her tone soft and slightly coquettish—more like a cute little kid in kindergarten than a high school girl.
"Good evening. Have you already boarded the train?" Kika asked slowly. From the other end of the call, the faint sound of cold wind howling could be heard.
"Yeah," Kotomi replied honestly.
"...Looks like I still came too late." After a brief silence, Kika let out a soft sigh.
"Huh? Why do you say that?" Kotomi asked, confused.
"I'm at the entrance of the Shinkansen station right now. I wanted to see you off, so after reading your message, I rushed here on my bicycle as fast as I could. I thought I was riding pretty quickly, but it seems I was still too slow. Maybe it's because I haven't ridden in a long time?"
"Huh? You rode a bicycle?!"
Kotomi was startled. Back in middle school, she had also tried riding a bike to school in the mornings. It was fine in the summer, but in winter, she gave up completely and went back to walking every day.
The reason was simple—riding a bike in winter made your hands freeze.
Even wearing gloves didn't help much. When your hands were going to freeze, they froze anyway.
Riding in the winter morning was bad enough—riding at night was even worse.
There had been one time when she rode her bike to a nearby convenience store on a winter night to buy Pepsi. She had forgotten to bring gloves, and on the way there, her hands had been so cold she felt like they were about to fall off. She had nearly cried from the cold.
Originally, she had only planned to buy a few bottles of Pepsi and some chips, but by the time she checked out, she had also bought a pair of cotton gloves.
So when she heard that Kika had ridden a bicycle all the way to the station, Kotomi felt both surprised and a little worried about whether her hands had gotten frostbitten.
"Kika-nee, it's so cold—you should take a taxi when you need to! Riding all the way from home to the station, aren't you tired? And even if you're not, biking in this weather must be freezing. Are your hands okay?"
"Are you… worried about me?" Kika asked, her tone carrying a faint trace of happiness.
"Of course I'm worried about you. If the Shinkansen weren't already speeding along, I'd be tempted to open the window, jump out, and run all the way back to Kyoto to find you. I was even thinking that over the next few days, I'd come up with another excuse for Yukino and Yui and stay at your place for a night."
Kotomi spoke half-jokingly.
Kika could tell she was joking, so she played along.
"I think that's a great idea. But jumping off the train is dangerous. How about this—once you arrive in Chiba, you buy another ticket back to Kyoto and come straight to my place? That way, you won't need to make excuses to them."
"That won't work either. When we get to the station, the three of us will still be together. If I suddenly buy another ticket, they'll definitely ask where I'm going. Then I'll have to come up with another excuse."
"Then what if you pretend to go home first and then head back to the station?"
"Then I'd have to make excuses to my parents and my little sister. Honestly, that's even harder than dealing with Yukino and Yui. My excuses might seem flawless, but in front of my dad, they're like a sheet of thin paper—he can see right through them at a glance."
"Your father sounds impressive."
"In a child's eyes, their dad is always like a hero who can save the world!" Kotomi said proudly.
"I agree," Kika nodded in approval, then immediately asked, "Then in the future, if we have a child together, what should they call us? Both 'Mom'?
"That's easy. I've already thought about it. The child can call me 'Mother' and call you 'Mom.' That way, it sounds different."
After saying that, Kotomi let out a few proud hums, clearly pleased with her own idea, her tone practically saying, praise me.
Only then did Kika seem to relax, letting out a quiet breath.
"Now that your tone is back to normal, I'm relieved. Earlier, it was a bit better when you mentioned your father—your pride made your voice livelier. But when you first answered my call, you sounded… tired. Not physically, but mentally exhausted. It made me worried. I wanted to ask what was wrong, but I was afraid it might make you more tired, so I didn't ask directly. Instead, I tried to bring up other topics to lift your mood.
"Now that you sound like your usual lively and smug self again, I feel a bit more at ease. If you're willing, could you tell me why you sounded so tired earlier? If not, that's fine too."
Kotomi was momentarily stunned. Earlier, Kika had indeed seemed to be deliberately finding topics to talk about. Kotomi had thought she was just trying to chat casually and had even been looking for an opportunity to end the call.
After all, just as Kika said, she had been mentally exhausted and didn't have the energy to talk. She had only wanted to return to her seat and sleep, hoping that the fatigue would disappear after a nap.
But now that she thought about it, during that seemingly casual conversation, the exhaustion in her heart had indeed quietly vanished.
"I thought I hid it pretty well, but you still noticed," Kotomi said with a small, admiring laugh.
"I am a few years older than you, after all. Those extra years of experience aren't for nothing. Don't underestimate your big sister~" Kika replied with a smile.
"Mm-hmm, I definitely won't underestimate you anymore, Kika-nee—though I never did to begin with~"
Kotomi laughed several times after saying that, feeling noticeably lighter.
Originally, she hadn't planned to tell anyone about the harem ranking problem that had been troubling her. But after thinking it over, she decided to tell Kika after all.
It was partly to thank her for easing her mental fatigue. Without Kika's help, Kotomi felt that even if she went to sleep, waking up might not have been enough to truly relieve the exhaustion in her heart.
After all, mental fatigue wasn't the same as physical fatigue.
Physical fatigue could be solved with a hot bath, a hearty meal, a bottle of your favorite soda, or a good anime binge followed by a long sleep.
But mental exhaustion often required time to heal—sometimes just a few minutes, sometimes years.
If not for Kika's earlier conversation, Kotomi didn't know how long that feeling would have lingered.
Out of gratitude, she decided to tell Kika everything that had been bothering her about the harem rankings.
She even thought that maybe by talking it through, she might come up with a good solution.
There was another important reason as well.
The relationship between her and Kika still wasn't clearly defined. It was vague—calling them friends didn't quite fit, since they had already been intimate.
But calling them lovers… Kotomi didn't even know what kind of feelings Kika had for her.
What she did know was that, at least for now, her own feelings toward Kika weren't strongly romantic. It was more like a sense of dependence on an older sister.
On top of that, Kika already knew that Kotomi had multiple girlfriends and didn't seem bothered by it. At most, she would tease her occasionally.
That was why Kotomi felt comfortable enough to openly discuss something like harem rankings with her.
If it were Megumi, Yui, or Yukino… even if she had ten times the courage, she wouldn't dare say a word.
Well… maybe with eleven times the courage, she might blurt it out in a moment of recklessness.
Kotomi explained everything that had been troubling her from beginning to end. Kika listened quietly the entire time, not interrupting once.
After she finished, Kika let out a helpless sigh. Then, with a tone that sounded like a mix of teasing between long-time partners and a big sister lecturing a mischievous younger sister, she said with a smile:
"I didn't expect my little scumbag Kotomi to not only have such grand ambitions, but also such long-term vision.
"You haven't even gathered all your 'sisters' together to sit down and get along yet, and you're already thinking about ranking them.
"Sigh… I didn't think Kyoto felt that cold tonight, but after hearing all that, it suddenly feels freezing."
"Then I'll hang up for now. Once you get home, give me a call again."
"No!"
Kika refused firmly, her tone carrying a strength that hadn't been there before.
"In weather this cold, the moment I saw your message, I didn't waste a single second. I threw on my coat, grabbed my bike key and house key, rushed downstairs, unlocked my bike, and rode straight to the station as fast as I could. What do you think I did all that for? It was just so I could see you a few more times before you left.
"Even though my house isn't far from the Shinkansen station—it only takes about ten minutes by bike—you're right. Riding in winter at night is really cold.
"But I still ended up being too late. By the time I arrived, you had already boarded the train and left. I couldn't even see you one last time. And now, can't I at least listen to your voice a little longer?"
By the end, Kika's voice carried a faint trace of grievance.
—
—
40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon:
Patreon.com/DaoOfHeaven