Night had fallen at the Tenkuji household.
After cleaning the dishes, Sora called out to Yuu, who was about to head upstairs.
"Yuu, you've been busy with cultural festival stuff lately."
"Yeah, what's up?" Yuu turned around, puzzled. "Didn't I already tell you?"
"Your cultural festival…" Sora hesitated. She twirled her white hair and looked away, saying casually, "When does it start?"
Yuu quickly understood what his little sister was getting at. He couldn't help but smile. He walked over and patted her head.
"The first weekend of December. How about I turn down all invitations and spend the whole day exploring the school with you?"
"You said it. Don't you dare ditch me halfway!" As if not giving him a chance to back out, Sora looked up, her eyes sparkling. "Besides, I'm not really that interested in the cultural festival. I just want to see how popular you are at school and how many girls are always clinging to you… So, be prepared."
"Hahaha, Sora's such a tsundere!"
As if ignoring her glare, Yuu vigorously ruffled her hair. He laughed heartily: "Just admit you want to visit the cultural festival. It's normal for a hikikomori to crave a riajuu school life. No need to be shy, no need to be shy. Your big brother's actually happy about it~"
Sora gave him a cold stare. Her soft, sweet lips seemed to curl in disgust.
After being stared at for a few seconds, Yuu stopped laughing and cleared his throat twice. He pulled his hand back and quickly headed upstairs.
Sora followed him up and asked, "Besides Yuigahama Yui, you have other girls."
Yuu denied it firmly: "No, absolutely not. At school, I always keep my distance and never flirt proactively!"
"Really?"
"You know I'd never lie to you."
"So, the ones who approach you passively don't count?"
"I reject everyone who confesses to me! At least for now, Yui's the only one I have an ambiguous relationship with. If you don't believe me, you can ask her."
"Fine, forget it then. You know I'll always choose to trust you." Sora huffed unhappily. Though still a bit reluctant to accept it, she didn't chase him into his room. "Anyway, I'll find out when I visit your school… Besides that dango girl, how many more shameless girls are after my Yuu!"
"Your word choice is extreme…" Yuu shook his head helplessly. Before closing his bedroom door, he remembered something and said to Sora, "Oh, right, Sora. This weekend, some friends are coming over for a cooking class."
"Cooking class?" Sora stopped walking toward her room, tilting her head in confusion.
"Yeah. I'm the instructor. I'll teach two people how to make mapo tofu and some desserts… Yui's coming too."
"I see. What a hassle…" Frowning reluctantly, Sora didn't oppose the idea of outsiders coming to their house. She only muttered, "Fine, I won't come downstairs then. Don't make too much noise."
Yuu laughed: "Join us. Learn to cook, boost your feminine charm."
Sora shook her head.
"First, I don't like cooking." She said flatly, as if it were obvious. "Second, no matter how well I learn, could I cook better than you? Only people who can't even make miso soup need to bother learning to cook."
"What you said makes sense." Yuu shrugged helplessly.
Sora finished speaking and turned to head back to her room. But as her hand touched the doorknob, a thought flashed through her mind.
"Wait, feminine charm… Yuu, the two people you mentioned—are they both girls?"
Sensing the pressure and chill in her voice, Yuu instinctively cleared his throat. Then he puffed out his chest and nodded with utmost sincerity:
"Yup. They're both juniors. Same age as you."
"Cute?"
"You could say… cute? You've met one of them. The white-haired girl we saw at the doctor's visit."
"…"
At her bedroom door, Sora slowly turned around. Her soft, delicate teeth bit down slightly. A transparent flame seemed to ignite in her pale eyes. She glared at him angrily.
"Yuu, didn't you just say it's only Yuigahama Yui?"
Yuu hurriedly raised both hands and slowly backed behind the door: "Just looking after juniors, that's all. I swear I have no bad intentions toward them!"
Her flat chest heaved. Sora pulled the corner of her lips into a fake smile: "Bringing them home to learn cooking. What's next, bringing them to your room to learn something else? Tired of studying, just go to sleep? Heh, what a kind, caring senpai to your juniors."
"No, trust me. I'm really not a sleazy guy who flirts with anyone cute!" Yuu's body slowly disappeared behind the door. "Right now, I only like Yui. Bringing them over is purely for practical reasons…"
Before he could finish, Sora rushed forward. She angrily yanked at his bedroom door, trying to open it.
"No use arguing! Get out here, and let's have a family meeting. Explain your relationship with those two juniors clearly!"
The noisy argument chased away the night's tranquility.
Even in the corners untouched by light, the siblings' voices swept away the gloomy dust. For a moment, the silence left the luxurious house occupied by just the two of them.
So, before bed, Yuu looked at the ceiling cloaked in darkness. He thought silently.
"With them around, I'm not alone."
"That's the one thing I don't need to fear at all…"
Slowly, he closed his eyes.
Yuu looked forward to opening them and seeing the morning light fill the sky.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
At Yukino's luxurious apartment, where she lived alone, on the same night.
Having been caught skipping school by her domineering mother, Haruno was temporarily banned from visiting Yukino to catch up. Even with her whereabouts closely monitored, she couldn't sneakily tease a certain ex-boyfriend either. Right now, she was playing the part of an obedient student and daughter with a sad face.
Regarding this, Yukino only wanted to say: good job, her mother should've done this ages ago.
However, being restricted didn't mean Haruno lost her channels for gathering information.
Thus, Yukino became the victim.
Every night, she had to deal with Haruno's calls, all asking about that guy at school. It made her increasingly irritated. Several times, she wanted to hang up and ignore her.
The reason she didn't wasn't because she feared her overly free-spirited sister. It was just that she didn't want to create more trouble for herself.
"I feel like you're in a bad mood today, Yukino-chan."
On the phone, Haruno asked with keen interest: "Did something happen? With Yuu-chan?"
"You're overthinking it." While drying her long, wet hair, Yukino replied coldly, "Even if I'm in a bad mood, it has nothing to do with that guy."
For some reason, hearing her sister call him so familiarly only added to the irritation weighing on her heart.
Haruno clicked her tongue, dismantling her pretense without hesitation:
"It's rare for Yukino-chan to lie."