"What the heck—here I was thinking Horikita had at least a little backbone, and it turns out that's all?" On the way back, Ibuki was still grumbling nonstop about Horikita.
Shiina listened beside her with a quiet smile. Yukio gave the more even-handed reply. "Horikita's fine most of the time, but when it comes to Horikita Manabu, she gets… really wishy-washy."
"Why? That makes no sense." Ibuki couldn't get it. "They're siblings, right? What's there to be wishy-washy about?"
In Ibuki's view, if you're siblings you just say what needs saying. What's with the hemming and hawing? Doesn't that just bottle you up?
"Who knows?" Yukio didn't know the Horikita siblings' situation either, so he tossed out a saying. "Every family has a scripture that's hard to recite. Outsiders can't easily know what their friction is."
"Every family has a hard-to-recite scripture, huh?" Shiina blinked her cute eyes and chuckled at his words. "Hey, Yukio—do you think, in the future, my child and Mio's child… if they were brother and sister—well, brother-brother or sister-sister is fine too—would they have a hard scripture too?"
"Would they get along?"
"Huh?!" Before the addressed Yukio could react, Ibuki was the first to flush and puff up. Unlike Shiina's question, Ibuki completely missed the point, snapping, "W-who—who says I'm having a kid with this guy?!"
Obviously, Shiina had hit Ibuki's most embarrassing nerve—the tsundere powder keg went off with a boom.
Instead of discussing whether future kids would get along, the first thing Ibuki seized on was the idea of having a baby with Yukio, and she made her stance crystal clear.
Yukio glanced around. Thankfully, since they were coming from the auditorium, most underclassmen were still there saying goodbye to the graduates—no one was nearby. Otherwise, Ibuki's shout about not bearing Yukio's child would be all over ANHS by tomorrow.
Shiina seemed to discover something fun; the corner of her mouth lifted, her voice as light as drifting cloud. "Eh? Mio doesn't want to?"
"…" It was like all the capillaries under Ibuki's skin burst at once; a flush dyed her whole face. Gone was her usual swagger—only a girl's shyness remained. "O-of course I don't! Who does he think he is?!"
Yukio's interest was piqued; a smile flickered in his eyes. "Oh? Really impossible?"
"!" Ibuki's little fist clenched instinctively before her chest, fingers scrunching the bow on her collar into a wrinkled knot. Under her blue bangs, her eyes flicked up—half-accidental, half-attentive—to sneak a look at Yukio's expression. She acted like she was utterly unwilling, yet her voice suddenly dropped several pitches. "N-not… entirely."
Having a baby and such—that's way too embarrassing! How could Hiyori say it so calmly?
And moreover—and moreover—Ibuki's thoughts were stampeding; the moment she imagined the scene, her face burned and her heart raced, like a volcano blown open in her chest, roaring out of control.
Isn't this a bit early?! Why did Hiyori suddenly bring this up! Still, if—just if…
"If—if you, you jerk, a-absolutely had to—n-no, if you, you jerk, were willing to ask me p-properly, it's… it's not impossible…"
The further she spoke, the softer her voice became; inversely, her blush deepened in proportion to the drop in volume.
Yukio couldn't help laughing. "Ask you what? Speak up. I can't hear you."
"!" Ibuki bristled again; even the elegant line of her neck took on a faint rosy hue. "I didn't say anything! I said nothing! Can't hear? Then forget it!"
"Pfft~" Shiina couldn't hold it anymore and giggled. "Mio, you were just complaining that Horikita wasn't decisive and kept dithering, remember?"
The subtext: compared to Horikita, Ibuki was being just as stiff-mouthed—not much better.
Ibuki had no comeback. Her expression froze, her body stiffened—like someone hit a time stop button straight out of a naughty anime.
"Mio~" Shiina quickly slipped an arm through Ibuki's. "Don't overthink it, okay? I was just talking—mm, just a little discussion about the future."
"It's not like we're talking about right now. Even if we wanted to, Yukio wouldn't allow it. Don't you trust him on that~?"
Ibuki blinked, coming out of her time-stop mode. True enough—Yukio was dependable. He wouldn't ignore their age and start talking about children.
…If it's only a little imagining about later—about whether the kids would get along—Ibuki suddenly felt, hey, Hiyori's question is actually… kinda interesting?
Her little brain started turning. "Then don't worry, Hiyori. If in the future we… if we did, I'd absolutely teach my child martial arts and have them look after—and protect—their little sister."
"We wouldn't be like the Horikita siblings, all dithery."
She found it interesting, sure, but Ibuki's skin was thin—she couldn't even say it outright, so she used "if we did" to convey it. Still, her core point got across.
Only, that point made Shiina's expression turn subtly odd in an instant. Well now! She hadn't expected straightforward Mio—who didn't seem to have much girly scheming—to be a little… greedy.
Shiina had heard it: the emphasis wasn't on teaching martial arts, it was on brother and sister.
Even in a hypothetical, Ibuki's answer subconsciously assumed her child would be the older role—brother or big sister—and Shiina's would be the younger, a little sister.
And how do you define older or younger? By birth order.
Which meant, in Ibuki's subconscious, she was assuming she'd "go first," before Shiina, right?
Well, well. Just a second ago she was huffing that she didn't want it; a tiny bit of imagining later and her "I'll be first" thought was practically written on her face.
Thinking that, Shiina let out a tiny snort of laughter, but to keep Ibuki from re-tsundere-ing, she played along. "That sounds lovely. Then… we'll be in your care, Mio~"
That, Ibuki loved hearing. She clenched a fist with righteous conviction, swagger returning to her eyes. "Hmph. Of course. Leave it to me."
Yukio looked left, looked right. All he had to do was watch this scene, and along with the warm swell of happiness, he could almost see the future—Shiina's child wrapping Ibuki's child around her little finger.
For no reason at all, he wanted to laugh.
....
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