At the Yuigahama residence, on the second floor.
Yuka's bedroom.
After Kotomi Izumi carried Yuka back upstairs and placed her on the bed, she picked up her phone and checked the time. It was already ten o'clock at night.
"Yuka, are you sleepy yet?" Kotomi Izumi asked.
For Kotomi Izumi, ten at night was basically when nightlife was just beginning. Normally, around this time, she would have just finished bathing and would be sitting in front of her computer, preparing to play some APEX or P5R.
But for Yuka, who was still in kindergarten, ten at night was already very late.
Children who went to sleep early would probably already be getting drowsy by this hour.
Sitting on the bed and pulling the blanket over herself, Yuka shook her head in response to Kotomi's question.
"I'm not very sleepy yet. I want Penguin Onee-chan to read me the storybook."
Hearing Yuka say that reminded Kotomi Izumi that before taking her to the bathroom, she had promised to read her the fairy-tale picture book before bed.
"Okay. Then wait here for me for a moment. I'll go downstairs and get the storybook."
"Mm-hmm!"
Yuka nodded with a smile, her expression incomparably happy.
After Kotomi left the bedroom, Yuka obediently sat on the bed and waited for Penguin Onee-chan.
Kotomi Izumi remembered that before Yuka went to bathe, she had left the fairy-tale picture book on the sofa in the living room.
Sure enough, when Kotomi reached the living room, she saw a fairy-tale picture book lying quietly on the sofa.
"Yuka seemed to spend the entire afternoon reading this book. What kind of story is in here that could make her so absorbed?"
Curious, Kotomi Izumi picked up the fairy-tale picture book from the sofa.
Once it was in her hands, she turned it sideways to roughly check how many pages there were. After taking a look, Kotomi could not help saying in surprise,
"This thing is really thick. No wonder Yuka spent the whole afternoon reading it. But does a fairy-tale picture book meant for little kids really need to be this thick?"
Kotomi Izumi looked at the cover. The title read Bedtime Story Collection for Good Children.
"Yuka also told me there were some words in this book she couldn't recognize. That's not surprising. Kids her age still don't know that many characters, and with a storybook this thick, it's inevitable she'd run into words children simply can't understand.
Adults know far more words. Even if they encounter something unfamiliar, they know they can look it up in a dictionary or something. How would a little kid know that? To children, they're just obscure words.
Is this publisher's fairy-tale picture book really meant for kids? Then again, the title is Bedtime Story Collection for Good Children..."
Kotomi Izumi did not continue examining the book closely. She turned to leave the living room and happened to run into Yui Yuigahama, who was carrying a change of clothes and preparing to take a bath.
"Kotomi, Yuka hasn't been giving you any trouble, has she?"
Yui Yuigahama asked. Although her little sister was usually very sensible, Yui still worried that Yuka might take advantage of how much Kotomi doted on her and deliberately make some unreasonable requests.
"No, no. Yuka has been very well-behaved." Kotomi Izumi shook her head with a smile, then waved the fairy-tale picture book in her hand.
"I came downstairs to grab this. I'm going to read Yuka some bedtime stories for a while."
"Bedtime stories, huh..." Yui Yuigahama looked a little embarrassed.
"Mom and I actually don't read Yuka bedtime stories very often. We thought about doing it before, but Yuka refused and said she preferred reading fairy-tale picture books by herself.
She said that if she read alone, she could stay on any page as long as she wanted, and if she liked a certain part of the story, she could flip back and reread it several times."
Yui Yuigahama paused for a moment before continuing.
"She sounded so serious at the time that Mom and I genuinely thought Yuka preferred reading alone rather than having one of us read to her.
Thinking about it now, she probably did want Mom or me to read bedtime stories to her. She just worried that doing that would cause us trouble, so she told us otherwise.
Since she rarely gets to sleep with you, Kotomi, she probably wants to act like an ordinary child and be spoiled by you a little."
After hearing Yui Yuigahama's explanation, Kotomi Izumi froze for a moment before smiling faintly.
"So in Yuka's mind, asking someone to read her bedtime stories already counts as acting spoiled?
That's why I keep thinking Yuka is so sensible that it hurts to watch sometimes."
After saying that, Kotomi Izumi prepared to head upstairs.
However, before going back up to find Yuka, she naturally did not forget to drift lightly in front of Yui, then gently kiss her on the lips.
"That was your goodnight kiss. Goodnight~"
"Kotomi, I feel like one goodnight kiss isn't really enough..." Yui Yuigahama said softly with a blush, voicing what she truly wanted.
After saying it, she worried inwardly, Does saying something like that make me seem too willful?
"You Little Dumpling, you're really greedy."
Kotomi Izumi laughed as she gently tapped Yui's nose with one finger.
But she did not give Yui a second goodnight kiss.
It was not because Kotomi did not want to.
Rather, she and Yui were currently standing in the first-floor hallway, and Mrs. Yuigahama's bedroom was not far away.
Mrs. Yuigahama was probably not resting yet. She was likely still working on illustrations in the small room attached to her bedroom.
Once she became tired from drawing, Mrs. Yuigahama might very well leave her room and walk around the house a little to clear her head.
What if Kotomi happened to be giving Yui a second goodnight kiss right when Mrs. Yuigahama came out?
Mrs. Yuigahama already knew that Kotomi and Yui were dating.
But Yui herself still did not know that Mrs. Yuigahama knew.
After briefly thinking it over, Kotomi Izumi decided not to give Yui a second goodnight kiss.
Besides, during those eight hours that afternoon, she had already let Yui thoroughly enjoy herself.
Faced with Kotomi Izumi's refusal, Yui Yuigahama looked a little disappointed, but she still obediently nodded.
"Then... okay. Kotomi, goodnight."
"Mm-hmm, goodnight~"
After exchanging goodnights with Yui, Yui Yuigahama entered the bathroom while Kotomi Izumi carried the fairy-tale picture book upstairs toward the second floor.
I wonder if this counts as playing hard to get... Kotomi Izumi silently thought while walking up the stairs.
To avoid accidentally waking Yuka if she had already fallen asleep, Kotomi Izumi opened the bedroom door extremely carefully.
After gently pushing it open, she saw Yuka sitting on the bed under the blanket.
An atmosphere of boredom seemed to surround the little girl as she "fought against boredom" while staring at the ceiling, making one wonder what exactly was going through her mind.
Kotomi Izumi opened the door so quietly that Yuka, who was staring at the ceiling in boredom, did not immediately notice that her beloved Penguin Onee-chan had returned.
Yuka's fondness for Kotomi Izumi was like the admiration and dependence a little child might feel after meeting a kind older girl.
She wanted to see that older girl often and might even innocently tell her family, "When I grow up, I'm going to marry Onee-chan!"
Whenever she saw that older girl, she wanted to act spoiled, yet she also constantly tried to look cool in front of her, believing that doing so would earn the older girl's affection.
In reality, the older girl truly did love such an adorable child, just as Kotomi loved Yuka.
But Kotomi's love for Yuka was not romantic love, and perhaps it could never possibly become romantic love.
More than anything, Kotomi's love for Yuka resembled a mother's love for her child.
A child's feelings toward an older girl like this might gradually weaken as they grew up.
Eventually, they would slowly understand that they had never truly wanted to marry that older girl or become her lover.
Rather, as a child, they had encountered a beautiful older girl for the first time and developed a sense of admiration toward her.
And because that older girl treated them so well, they naturally wanted to act spoiled around her often and depend on her.
Only when Kotomi Izumi quietly walked to the bedside did Yuka finally snap out of her daze and notice that Kotomi had returned with the fairy-tale picture book.
"Penguin Onee-chan, hurry and get in bed. I saved you a spot."
Yuka patted the space beside her.
Normally, Yuka liked sleeping right in the middle of her bed.
But tonight, because she was sleeping with Kotomi, she had saved the space against the wall for her.
—Kotomi liked sleeping on the side against the wall.
Yuka had learned that from her sister.
After finding out that Kotomi liked sleeping against the wall, Yuka deliberately left that side empty and waited for her.
Although Kotomi Izumi really did prefer sleeping against the wall, seeing that Yuka had deliberately saved that spot for her still made her curious.
"Yuka, why did you save the spot against the wall for me?"
I don't remember ever telling Yuka that I like sleeping against the wall... Kotomi Izumi thought inwardly.
"I heard it from Onee-chan before. Penguin Onee-chan likes sleeping against the wall," Yuka answered honestly.
"So Yui told you..." Kotomi Izumi smiled after learning the reason.
Although she did not want to disappoint Yuka's thoughtful gesture, Kotomi Izumi still picked Yuka up and moved her to the side against the wall.
"Thank you for being so thoughtful, Yuka. But you should sleep against the wall instead. Onee-chan would feel a little worried if you slept on the left side."
After setting Yuka down, Kotomi Izumi sat on the bed and explained.
After all, if Yuka slept on the outer side, Kotomi genuinely worried that she might roll over in her sleep and accidentally fall off the bed.
Thinking about it that way, letting Yuka sleep against the wall was safer.
Kotomi Izumi was so concerned about Yuka that she completely forgot Yuka normally slept alone anyway.
Naturally, if Yuka regularly fell out of bed while sleeping, that would already have been a problem long ago.
Yuka also knew that Penguin Onee-chan was simply worried about her, so she nodded.
"I understand, Penguin Onee-chan."
"Such a good girl~ All right, let's start the story. Yuka, where did you get to this afternoon?"
As Kotomi Izumi opened the fairy-tale picture book, she had Yuka sit between her legs and lean backward against her chest.
That way, both she and Yuka could see the book clearly.
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