"Eh?! Brother actually came home on time?!"
Seeing Chihaya Tetsuya, who had returned home at eleven at night, Chihaya Anon, who had been lying on the living room sofa playing on her phone, sat up in shock.
"I was already prepared to wait for you until one or two in the morning!"
"I knew it..."
Chihaya Tetsuya shook his head helplessly.
If it were the old him, in the middle of a burst of inspiration, Chihaya Tetsuya would definitely have pulled an all-nighter at the studio. However, now he not only had the duty of seeing Toyokawa Sakiko home, but there was also potentially a dangerous "time bomb" at his own house.
And as he had expected, Chihaya Anon had not gone to bed early, but had chosen to wait for him to come home.
"Once you officially start school, you're not allowed to wait up this late anymore."
After hanging up his jacket, Chihaya Tetsuya sat down right next to his sister.
"So, how did the entrance interview go?"
"A piece of cake!"
Chihaya Anon said in a lighthearted tone:
"After all, my grades in middle school were excellent, and with my experience as student council president, passing the interview was pretty simple!"
As she spoke, she took out a transparent bag from beside her—
"Ta-da! Look, I even got the uniform!"
"..."
Chihaya Tetsuya turned his head to look at the uniform in Chihaya Anon's hand. As expected, it was the exact same one Toyokawa Sakiko wore.
"Well? Want to see how it looks on me?"
Chihaya Anon asked Chihaya Tetsuya with a beaming smile:
"This is your little sister's first time wearing a high school uniform, you know! Even Mom hasn't seen it yet!"
"...Alright."
Although he had already seen how the uniform looked on Toyokawa Sakiko, seeing how excited his sister was, Chihaya Tetsuya had no reason to refuse her.
Soon, after getting her brother's reply, Chihaya Anon immediately rushed into her room with the uniform. Before long, having changed into the brand-new uniform, Chihaya Anon pushed open the door and reappeared in her brother's sight.
"Ahem!"
After changing, Chihaya Anon didn't run straight to Chihaya Tetsuya. Instead, she took out her phone, opened her music player, and after selecting a background track, she set the phone aside and theatrically began to imitate a model's walk towards Chihaya Tetsuya.
When she reached him, she even struck a special pose—
"Hmph hmph, how is it?"
Chihaya Anon placed one hand on her hip and lifted her chin proudly:
"Pretty cute, right?"
"..."
On the other side, after taking in his sister's whole dazzling display, Chihaya Tetsuya had no intention of answering her question. Instead, he began to carefully examine his sister's appearance—
"Tightening the tie a bit more would give a more serious student feel. Also, because your frame is quite slender, it would be better to adjust the shoulders, cuffs, and hem a little."
With that, he reached out and lightly pinched the corner of the uniform jacket before saying:
"Give me the clothes when you change out of them. I'll have them altered before tomorrow morning."
"Uwah, what kind of answer is that..."
Faced with her brother's serious and proper designer's reaction, Chihaya Anon instantly deflated like a popped balloon.
She first turned off the music on her phone, then sat back down in her previous spot, dejected.
"At a time like this, the first thing you're supposed to do is call me cute, right?"
"Cute... I've probably said that countless times since you were little. There's no point in repeating it now."
Chihaya Tetsuya was completely unmoved.
"More importantly, my job is to think about how to make you even cuter."
"Ngh—!!!"
Hearing this, Chihaya Anon buried her head in her hands and flopped over to the other side.
The disappointment of not hearing the word "cute" and the loving words he had just spoken instantly intertwined, leaving her at a loss for how to respond—
"Yah!"
"Don't lie down like that when you're wearing a skirt."
Chihaya Tetsuya placed a blanket over Chihaya Anon's legs.
"Not to mention you're wearing a new uniform. Do you want to go to school tomorrow in wrinkled clothes?"
"...I know."
Hearing this, Chihaya Anon pouted and sat up again.
"Brother, you're really not like the male leads in shoujo manga."
"And?"
Chihaya Tetsuya asked back with a blank expression:
"Are you disappointed in me?"
"Of course I like you even more!"
Chihaya Anon threw her arms around Chihaya Tetsuya's arm, then very naturally rested her cheek against it.
"Actually, I'm a little nervous about starting school... It's already been over half a month since the school year started in Japan, so all the little groups and hierarchies in each class are already formed. What if I'm like I was in the UK this time, and I can't fit into the class? How am I supposed to explain to everyone why I'm starting at this time?"
Having experienced failure once, she was no longer as blindly confident as she used to be.
Before fantasizing about becoming the "top girl in class" again, she first learned to imagine the "worst-case scenario."
However, this didn't mean she would become indecisive and timid because of it.
"You just said you'd make me even cuter, right, Brother?"
"Mhm."
"In that case, I have nothing to be afraid of!"
Chihaya Anon hugged her brother's arm even tighter.
More than verbal praise, what Chihaya Anon needed most right now was her brother's real and practical support and encouragement.
"Thank you, Brother."
"...Oh."
Although he didn't quite understand, his sister's mood had at least calmed down.
In that case, the girl should be heading to bed soon...
"By the way, on my way to the interview this afternoon, I saw a kind of strange girl. She seemed to spend the whole lunch break squatting down and picking out rocks from the ground!"
"Mhm..."
"And when I passed by the music room, I heard someone playing the piano inside, and it was super beautiful! I wonder if it was a teacher or a student."
"Mhm..."
"Hey, are you even listening, Brother!"
"...Give me the shirt inside, too. I want to add a bit of a cinched waist effect."
"You're really not listening..."
(It seems Brother's mind hasn't switched back from work mode yet. To not disturb his train of thought, it's better not to bother him anymore.)
(Speaking of which, I completely forgot to ask how his day went. But seeing him so immersed in his work... it seems he's found his inspiration, right? Is it because of that new assistant?)
(...)
(Alright, I'm going to start working hard, too!)
So as not to lose to this unknown assistant, a burning fighting spirit began to ignite in Chihaya Anon's heart.