Hikari had already finished just now.
So seeing Suiren crawl out as well, he had nothing to say.
And Suiren, with her mouth full from sneaking a bite, was even less able to speak.
So after exchanging a glance with each other, Suiren's face flushed red, and she quickly hurried up the stairs at a fast pace.
Suiren, whose mouth had been filled with milk, was feeling very uncomfortable at the moment and prepared to hurry to the bathroom to clean up.
But what she didn't expect was that shortly after leaving the living room, just as she reached the staircase landing, she ran into Aoi, who was walking towards her.
"Suiren-nee."
Hearing Aoi's call, Suiren's heart was already in her throat.
What made her even more nervous was that Aoi actually blocked her path and asked her, "Nee-san, where did you just go? I've already come back with the vegetables, you know."
Suiren helplessly swallowed down a portion of the milk in her mouth, nodding while forcing out the words, "Mmm... got it..."
After hastily answering, Suiren didn't dare to say anything more, her face red as she hurriedly left.
Aoi watched the hurriedly departing figure of Suiren, her slender eyebrows arching slightly, then suddenly smiled.
'Really, she didn't even wipe the fuzz clean from the corner of her mouth.'
Aoi walked downstairs and headed straight towards Hikari, who was comfortably lying on the sofa at that moment.
Upon reaching Hikari's side, Aoi directly grabbed his arm, "Come with me, let's go to my room!"
Pulled along by Aoi, Hikari followed her once again into the girl's private bedroom.
After closing the door, Aoi pushed Hikari onto a chair, then said to him with a smile, "Hikari-kun, is there nothing you want to tell me?"
"Huh? What's up now?", Seeing Aoi's beautiful eyes fixed tightly on him, Hikari spread his hands.
"Still trying to play dumb?", Aoi smiled slightly, "I'll just say it straight. Hikari-kun, how did it feel bullying an Nee-san right in front of her little sister? Did it feel good?"
Sure enough, this girl had noticed earlier.
Judging from Aoi's demeanor and words, Hikari knew that Suiren hiding under the table earlier hadn't escaped Aoi's notice at all; she was completely aware.
But facing Aoi's aggressive questioning, Hikari didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "How long were you watching for?"
"Not too long. Probably from the moment you told Nee-san to use her ample chest to squeeze it for you," Aoi crossed her arms, smiling as she spoke.
"So, you watched for more than half the time?", Hikari said.
"Right. I not only watched, but also recorded the shameless affair between Hikari-kun and Nee-san~", Aoi said with a giggle.
"Tsk! Tsk! You clearly saw your own Nee-san being bullied, yet you didn't come to stop it or help, but instead took pictures from the side. Aoi, you're really something else, your personality is truly rotten."
"Speaking of which, you said before that you liked me, right? Yet you just watched me and Suiren-nee like that, smiling away. You're not into cuckolding yourself, are you?", Hikari asked Aoi with a smile.
"I'm not like that!", Aoi immediately denied.
"I'm not into any self-cuckolding nonsense. It's just that I saw Hikari-kun and Nee-san having quite a bit of fun, so I didn't want to disturb you," Aoi pouted as she said this.
"I see...", Seeing Aoi's seemingly somewhat displeased expression, Hikari smiled.
"What are you smiling about? You're clearly dating me, yet you sneak around with Suiren-nee. Don't you feel any guilt in your heart?", Aoi leaned in closer to Hikari.
"When did I say I was dating you?", Hikari laughed.
"Ara~ Ara~ It's one thing to do something so excessive with Nee-san right in front of me, but now you're not even admitting to dating me? Hikari-kun, I must give you some punishment," Aoi said, pretending to be angry.
"What punishment?", Hikari asked curiously.
"First, you fall down for me!"
Aoi pushed Hikari down onto her soft bed.
"Was bullying my Nee-san comfortable? Now let me bully you a bit, Hikari-kun!"
Hikari, lying down, initially had the ceiling in his line of sight, but Aoi simply plopped herself right onto his face.
She really meant it when she said she'd bully him; Hikari immediately found himself in a world of suffering.
An ordinary person might have said 'I can't breathe.'
But faced with this mischievous girl, Hikari couldn't really resort to force. So he could only resort to his verbal skills, trying to persuade her through words and oral communication.
However, it must be said, Aoi did have some prowess.
At the very least, compared to the older Suiren, Aoi's current skill level was temporarily a bit more advanced.
The amount of time she bullied Hikari was actually quite a bit longer than the time Hikari had bullied Suiren earlier.
It was also fortunate that Hikari possessed a physique far beyond ordinary people and skills like 'Silver Tongue'.
Otherwise, he really might not have been able to persuade Aoi to stop.
But Aoi was indeed quite reasonable.
After she finished bullying Hikari, she also let Hikari bully her for a while.
In short, with Aoi, it was a case of tit for tat, an eye for an eye, returning the favor in kind.
After bullying Hikari the way he had bullied Suiren earlier, and then being bullied by Hikari in return, Aoi finally lay down obediently beside Hikari.
"Satisfied now?"
Looking at Aoi lying on his chest, her little face flushed, Hikari smiled and reached out to pinch her cheek.
Originally, Hikari thought Aoi had had her fill of fun, but to his surprise, Aoi, with a red face, shook her head, "No, I'm still not satisfied."
"Then what else do you want?", Hikari asked.
"I want it," Aoi suddenly hugged Hikari, her beautiful eyes fixed intently on him.
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Then beg me."
"I'm not going to beg you. That would make me seem so low."
"Is that really what you think?"
"Hehe, Hikari-kun knows me too well. Don't they say men like playing hard to get? I was just pretending to refuse."
"You better just beg me directly."
"Please, Onii-chan, my dear husband~"
"Alright."
Seeing the usually mischievous Aoi now obediently nestled against his chest in such an adorable way, Hikari smiled, grabbed her arms, and flipped over, pinning her underneath.
———
In Ino Village, inside a certain narrow, dilapidated house—
A middle-aged man with graying hair, soot-blackened cheeks, and somewhat unclean clothes sat on a suitcase, gnawing on a flatbread in his hand with extreme displeasure.
Due to his age, Yoshizawa Eigen's teeth weren't in the best shape, so biting into the flatbread often produced loud, crunchy noises.
Yoshizawa Eigen had never known flatbread could be so hard, so difficult to eat, because he had never eaten it in his entire life up to that point.
As the direct heir of the Yoshizawa family, Yoshizawa Eigen had actually never suffered much in terms of material hardship.
Although he had encountered setbacks while managing family and business affairs before and his son Yoshizawa Takeo's lack of ambition had annoyed him endlessly. But in terms of the hardships of daily life, he truly hadn't experienced them.
Yoshizawa Eigen used to live in mansions, travel in luxury cars, and eat delicacies at every meal.
Now, all he had in hand were a few flatbreads.
Compared to his previous life, Yoshizawa Eigen felt his current days were fit for pigs.
And the reason he was now gnawing on these unpalatable flatbreads wasn't because Yoshizawa Eigen wanted to remember past bitterness and appreciate present sweetness.
It was because he was forced, out of desperation.
Jinno Sumire had truly pushed him too far.
In Ino Village, Jinno Sumire's influence was undeniably the greatest; no other family could rival it.
And after Jinno Sumire learned that Yoshizawa Eigen had actually tried to have someone kidnap Jinno Ai, she used the Jinno family's power to launch a fierce retaliation against the Yoshizawa family's businesses, and even against Yoshizawa Eigen himself.
Actually, before taking action, Yoshizawa Eigen had heard that Jinno Sumire doted on her only daughter, Jinno Ai.
But he truly hadn't expected Jinno Sumire's retaliation to be so insane. Even if it meant shutting down businesses for several days and sustaining continuous losses, she was determined to concentrate her forces to retaliate fiercely against him.
Over the years, Yoshizawa Eigen had trained a group of usable subordinates.
But he had dispatched quite a few of these trusted men while investigating Miyuri and Hikari earlier. The result was that everyone he sent out had disappeared; not a single one had returned.
This had already depleted the vast majority of his personnel.
Coupled with the fact that the Ino family's power was inherently stronger than his, in the face of Jinno Sumire's successive attacks over the past few days, Yoshizawa Eigen truly had no recourse left.
He didn't even dare to imagine what that ruthless woman would do to him if he were caught by Jinno Sumire's people and brought before her.
Therefore, facing Jinno Sumire's retaliation, Yoshizawa Eigen's recent goal was to first escape from Ino Town.
But Yoshizawa Eigen could think of this; naturally, Jinno Sumire could guess it too.
All the exits around Ino Town and village had long been guarded by people Jinno Sumire sent.
So at that moment, Yoshizawa Eigen couldn't even easily escape Ino Town; he could only hide, moving from place to place within the village.
To avoid exposing his whereabouts, he didn't dare go to any of his conspicuous, luxurious properties. He could only take refuge in remote, dilapidated corner houses.
Moreover, constantly on the move, he couldn't enjoy any delicacies either. For convenience, he could only make do with dry rations.
Yoshizawa Eigen's face, as he gnawed on the flatbread, was filled with resentment.
"Damn it all! It's all because of that b!tch Miyuri and that damned brat named Hikari!"
"If it weren't for them, why would I have tried to kidnap Jinno Ai, why would I have offended Jinno Sumire, why would I be forced to this point? It's all their fault!"
Nearly choked by the flatbread, Yoshizawa Eigen, with his subordinate's help, gulped down a mouthful of water. Then, coughing, he continued to curse.
"Yoshizawa-sama, I've found out about that brat Hikari's movements!"
"That guy seems to go to Ino Shrine frequently lately, and he often hangs out with Jinno Sumire. They seem to be on very good terms..."
A man hurried in and reported respectfully to Yoshizawa Eigen.
After all, he was still the head of a family. Although he was already in a very sorry state due to Jinno Sumire's pressure, Yoshizawa Eigen knew that information was even more crucial at times like this.
So he had been using his limited manpower to gather news about those mortal enemies.
Upon hearing his subordinate's report, he felt even more resentful.
"Damn it! That brat named Hikari has even managed to latch onto the Jinno family, that big tree."
"Could it be that the reason the kidnapping of Jinno Ai failed last time was because he interfered? That's why he's gotten so close to Jinno Sumire."
Yoshizawa Eigen pondered carefully, vaguely guessing the situation at the time.
"That brat named Hikari is truly detestable. Could it be that Takeo was killed by him? And all those men I sent to investigate Miyuri and him, they all disappeared. It's likely all related to him!"
"I underestimated him before, thinking he was too young. Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Thinking about his previous dismissive attitude towards Hikari, Yoshizawa Eigen now regretted it immensely.
But dwelling on this was useless now. Even if he hated Hikari, thoughts of revenge had to be set aside for the moment.
Because Yoshizawa Eigen was now struggling to protect himself. Those under the Jinno family's banner were all waiting to catch him and take him back for a reward.
"No, no. That brat named Hikari is not easy to deal with. And the Jinno family and that woman Jinno Sumire are even harder to handle."
"They seem to have joined forces to target me. If things continue like this, I'll eventually be finished off by that damn Jinno Sumire."
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