At around six, the apartment felt suffocating.
Makoto pulled on his coat, grateful for any excuse to escape, even temporarily. He walked into the living room and tried to sound casual.
"They said the drivers are all busy, so I'll have to go pick up the pizzas myself." The lie came easily.
"Anything else you both want while I'm out?"
Yuna and Mika sat hunched over a textbook on the coffee table, pretending to study. The air between them was thick enough to cut.
Yuna looked ready to murder someone, probably him.
Mika glanced up with a smile that seemed slightly forced. "Oh, you don't have to do that! We can just wait."
She tucked her hair behind her ear, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks. "But if you're going out anyway, could you grab a bottle of ramune? The strawberry kind?"
Yuna's eyes were cold as she stared at him. "Get me a Coke. Full sugar, not that diet crap."
"Be safe!" Mika called out as he turned to go.
Behind her, Yuna silently mouthed some words: Get. Out. Now.
Half an hour later, he returned with pizza boxes, the warm smell filling the apartment.
"Well, your brother is back with the food," he announced loudly. "Help me open these, will you?"
The girls hadn't moved from their spots, but somehow the tension had gotten worse.
Mika greeted him with another bright smile while Yuna looked like she'd been stewing in rage the entire time he was gone.
"Oh, you're back! That was fast." Mika quickly cleared space on the coffee table, her movements jerky and nervous.
Yuna glared at him as she unfolded the pizza boxes with sharp, angry snaps.
Each sound echoed in the charged silence. She placed a perfect slice of pepperoni and mushroom on a plate and slid it to Mika with a tight smile.
"Here. Eat up."
Then she turned to him, her smile morphing into something dangerous.
She grabbed the worst slice she could find, burnt crust, barely any cheese, one sad piece of pepperoni, and shoved it onto a plate.
"And this," she growled, "is for you."
She slid it across with too much force, her eyes promising revenge.
"Hey, giving your big bro the worst piece, as usual. That's typical Yuna."
He sighed playfully, then transferred the most delicious-looking slice, the one with the most cheese and meat, onto her plate instead. "Here. You eat up."
Mika froze with her pizza halfway to her mouth, eyes wide with surprise and what looked like admiration.
Yuna's hand stopped mid-air, her knuckles white around her fork.
She stared at the perfect slice on her plate, then at him, emotions warring across her face. Fury, confusion, and something raw and vulnerable that made his chest tighten.
For a second, he thought she might actually throw the plate at him.
Then something shifted. Her shoulders relaxed slightly. The murderous look in her eyes softened just a fraction.
She took a slow, deliberate bite.
"It's okay," she muttered grudgingly. "I guess."
Mika watched them both with interest, a small, knowing smile on her lips. She took a bite of her pizza without breaking her gaze from his face.
Makoto chewed his sad, burnt pizza and turned to Mika. "You have a great figure, though. What do you usually eat, Mika?"
Pink spread across Mika's cheeks. "Oh! Um, thank you. I just try to eat healthy. Salads, grilled chicken, that kind of thing."
She sipped her ramune, eyes sparkling. "But I have a major sweet tooth. I could eat cheesecake all day."
Her gaze lingered on him, warm and inviting.
Yuna made a wet, spluttering sound as she choked on her pizza. Mika jumped at the noise.
"She also runs," Yuna said through gritted teeth. "Every morning. Five miles."
She took a massive bite of pizza without breaking eye contact. Her meaning was obvious: She's perfect and you're a slob.
Mika giggled softly, making Yuna's grip on her fork tighten visibly. "It's not that much. It just helps me clear my head."
She looked at him with an expression that mixed innocence with something that made his stomach flip. "Maybe you could join me sometime?"
Makoto hummed cheerfully. "Maybe I should. Yuna has been telling me to lose my fat belly for a while now."
He chuckled. "Or maybe I should just try to fatten you up by making you more cheesecakes instead, hmm?"
Dead silence. Yuna's fork clattered onto her plate like a gunshot.
Mika's eyes went wide, her face turning deep red. "I... I..." She stammered, completely thrown off balance.
Then a shy smile appeared. "I wouldn't mind that. Your cheesecake is definitely worth a few extra miles on the treadmill."
Yuna was practically vibrating with rage. Her smile looked painful, her eyes black with fury.
She stood abruptly. "I'm going to the bathroom."
She stormed off, each footstep sharp and angry against the floor.
Mika watched her leave thoughtfully, then turned back to him. "She's very protective of you, isn't she?" Her voice was soft and curious.
"Hmm, perhaps." He smiled at Mika and nodded toward the hallway. "Let me go check if she needs any help."
At the bathroom door, he knocked. "Are you okay in there, Yuna? Got a stomachache?"
The door flew open. Yuna yanked him inside with surprising force and slammed it shut.
The small bathroom suddenly felt claustrophobic.
"Stomachache? I'm about to have a fucking aneurysm!"
She kept her voice low but venomous. Her hands were balled into fists, knuckles white, chest heaving with angry breaths.
"Are you TRYING to get her to fall for you?" She jabbed a finger into his chest.
"First the cheesecake, then the running, and now you're talking about fattening her up? What's next, you're going to offer to help her pick out a wedding dress?!"
She paced the tiny space like a trapped animal. "And she's not even fighting back! She's just smiling. Like she's already won."
She stopped, back to him, shoulders slumped.
Her voice cracked and came out as a broken whisper. "She's better for you. She's nice. She's normal. She's everything I'm not."
She turned around, eyes wet with tears she was fighting to hold back. "And you're going to choose her, aren't you?"
He nodded calmly, a serene smile on his face. "I was just being nice and polite to my little stepsister's best friend."
His eyes sparkled with mischief. "So what was your game, huh? Telling her about our convention trip and inviting her to our cosplay-making session?"
Yuna flinched like he'd slapped her. Her face went completely blank, the rage and despair vanishing instantly.
The tears seemed to freeze in place.
"My game?" The words came out hollow. She stepped back until she hit the sink.
All the manufactured emotions dissolved, leaving her exposed and raw. "I don't..." She shook her head jerkily. "I just wanted to see."
Her gaze dropped to the floor. "I wanted to see what you would do when a normal girl, a good girl, was right there. An easy choice."
She looked up, and every mask was gone. No Ganyu, no Klee, no mercenary masseuse.
Just Yuna, eighteen years old, terrified, and so hopelessly in love with her brother that she'd burn everything down just to see if he'd stay with her in the ashes.
"I wanted to see if I was enough. Even when I'm... this."
She gestured vaguely at herself, at the invisible mess of their relationship. "But you weren't supposed to be nice back to her."
Her voice broke as a single tear escaped down her cheek. "You were supposed to choose me."
His heart ached watching her fall apart.
He giggled softly. "Wasn't I showing you how much I care about you all day?"
"I gave you the bigger cheesecake slice, I made your favorite milk tea, and I even gave you the most delicious piece of the pizza."
He paused, eyes glinting wickedly. "So what else should I have done? Should I have given you a deep kiss and groped you in front of her, next?"
A sound escaped her that was half sob, half laugh.
She wiped at her cheek roughly. "You're an idiot. A complete and clueless idiot."
The words had no bite to them.
She stepped forward, closing the space between them until she pressed against his chest, fists bunching in his shirt.
"Yes," she whispered desperately. "You should have. You should have kissed me. You should have put your hand on my thigh and told her to fuck off."
Her forehead dropped against his chest. Silent sobs shook her shoulders.
"You were supposed to be my disgusting, possessive, fat pig of a brother. Not some polite, charming stranger."
She looked up with red-rimmed, pleading eyes.
"I don't want you to be a good person. I want you to be mine."
Makoto smirked slowly, predatorily. "And am I not already yours?"
His voice came out as a dangerous rumble. He dropped to his knees. His lips found her cunt through the thin cotton of her shorts.
Yuna's entire body went rigid. A sharp gasp tore from her throat as his mouth found her.
Her hands flew from his shirt to his hair, not pushing him away but clutching desperately as pleasure crashed over her.
"N-No! Not here! She'll hear!"
Her protests died as her knees gave out.
She slumped against the wall, legs shaking, hips tilting toward him instinctively.
The bathroom filled with her ragged gasps and the wet sounds of his mouth working against her.
Her scent, musky and aroused, overpowered the clean smell of soap.
Her head fell back against the tile, eyes fluttering closed. Her fingers twisted in his hair until her knuckles went white.
"F-Fuck... You're so disgusting..."
Then came a soft knock.
"Yuna? Are you okay in there?"
It's Mika's voice.