The next day at nine in the morning, the doorbell of Masao Tanaka's house rang.
Masao Tanaka opened the door, and it was Yukinoshita Yukino.
Today, Yukinoshita Yukino wasn't wearing her school uniform or black stockings; instead, she had on a white mini dress with a blue jacket and a brown bag slung over her shoulder.
As for her hairstyle, it wasn't her usual straight black hair, but her favorite twin tails.
Looking at Masao Tanaka, who was blocking the doorway, Yukinoshita Yukino tilted her head.
"Tanaka-kin, what are you doing standing at the door? Aren't you going to invite me in?"
Masao Tanaka came back to his senses, carefully observing Yukinoshita Yukino, and asked curiously, "Are you Xuezhixia Classmate?"
Yukinoshita Yukino looked at Masao Tanaka as if he were an idiot.
"Tanaka-kin, in just one day, has your brain degenerated to the point where you can't even recognize people? I'm truly worried about today's tutoring session."
"You can't blame me for that."
Masao Tanaka shrugged helplessly, stepping aside to invite Yukinoshita Yukino in.
"Xuezhixia Classmate's style today is completely different from usual; it's a bit too youthful and vibrant. It's so cute it's practically unfair."
Passing by Masao Tanaka, Yukinoshita Yukino heard his words, and her face subtly flushed.
"Tanaka-kin, while your taste is good, there's one thing I need to remind you of."
"What is it?"
"Not just today, but even normally, I'm unfairly cute."
Masao Tanaka: ...
Yukinoshita Yukino changed into a pair of slippers with cat designs.
Because she had been coming over frequently lately, Kazumi Tanaka had specifically bought Yukinoshita Yukino her own dedicated pair of slippers.
The design was Masao Tanaka's suggestion: anything with a cat motif would do.
Yukinoshita Yukino was quite fond of these slippers.
After changing into her slippers and entering the living room, Yukinoshita Yukino asked with some curiosity, "Where did Uncle and Auntie go? Do they still have to work on the weekend?"
"Oh, them? They said they hadn't had a 'two-person world' in too long, so they went out to find a place to have fun. They'll be back at dinner time."
Masao Tanaka shook his head helplessly.
"Before, on weekends, they always stayed home to rest. I don't know why they're going to have some 'two-person world' this time."
Tanaka: Aren't we doing this to create space for you? You completely misunderstand our good intentions.
Yukinoshita Yukino didn't think much of it, simply remarking, "Isn't that nice? Uncle and Auntie have such a good relationship."
Thinking of her own parents, it seemed marriage was just a job for them.
In Yukinoshita Yukino's memory, she had never seen her parents show affection, not even overly intimate gestures.
She came into the living room, put down her bag, looked around, and asked, "Why don't I see Kashi? Did she go out with Uncle and Auntie?"
"You mean her?"
Masao Tanaka poured a drink for Yukinoshita Yukino and explained, "She went out to play yesterday and got bullied. She's feeling down in her room right now."
"Bullied?"
Yukinoshita Yukino frowned.
"Who bullied her? And Tanaka-kin, looking at your expression, why aren't you showing any concern? Instead, you seem a bit gleeful.
Even if Kashi isn't your biological sister, you should still care about her. And you've had similar experiences before, so you should understand her feelings even more."
She felt a bit angry. Kashi was bullied, and Masao Tanaka didn't talk about getting revenge for her; instead, he acted indifferent.
If Masao Tanaka wasn't going to treat Kashi like a sister, then she would do it herself.
If she successfully protected Kashi, the other party would surely look up to her and call her [Onee-sama] (Big Sister).
Then, the ear-touching thing...
No, no, now wasn't the time to think about such things.
What needed to be done now was to denounce Masao Tanaka's inaction and comfort the sad Kashi.
They say that when comforting someone, gently stroking their head can make them feel at ease...
It was rare to see Yukinoshita Yukino so angry, and Masao Tanaka found it somewhat novel.
However, to prevent her from getting too angry and ignoring him, he quickly explained, "The one who bullied Kashi wasn't a person, but a crow. Here's what happened..."
After a week of classes, Kashi finally had time to do her main job: searching for magic stones.
Yesterday, she set off on her quest to find magic stones, bringing some dry rations.
The method of searching was simple: the magic stone itself was a whole, and each fragment would guide the others.
Using the small piece of magic stone she had, Kashi quickly found a sizable magic stone in a nearby forest.
However, just as she held the magic stone in her hand, before she could gloat for two and a half seconds, a chicken...
Ahem, no, a crow flew over and snatched the magic stone from Kashi's hand.
Kashi, who went to chase it, not only failed to retrieve the magic stone but was also teased by the crow and ended up covered in mud.
This incident severely damaged Kashi's self-confidence.
Feeling down, she usually ate five bowls of rice for dinner, but that night she only ate three.
For revenge, she even came to Masao Tanaka for help, asking him to use the Mark Armor's power to blast the crow to smithereens.
However, Masao Tanaka did not agree to her request.
What was the difference between attacking a crow with a Mark Armor and using a cannon to kill a mosquito?
When Masao Tanaka explained to Yukinoshita Yukino, he did not mention the magic stone.
Instead, he said that Kashi had accidentally picked up a beautiful stone, which was then stolen by a crow.
After hearing Masao Tanaka's explanation, Yukinoshita Yukino was also a bit speechless.
Being bullied by a crow, it really was hard to find a place to reason about it.
After a moment of hesitation, Yukinoshita Yukino finally spoke, "How about we go check on Kashi?"
Masao Tanaka nodded.
"Okay, follow me."
He stood up and led Yukinoshita Yukino upstairs.
Yukinoshita Yukino, walking behind Masao Tanaka, suddenly said, "I'm sorry."
Hearing the sound, Masao Tanaka instinctively looked back at Yukinoshita Yukino, a little puzzled.
"Huh?"
At that moment, as they were going up the stairs, Masao Tanaka, walking in front, looked back and could see her from above.
He could clearly see Yukinoshita Yukino turning her head away, looking a bit embarrassed.
"I'm really sorry for misunderstanding you and losing my temper earlier."
Masao Tanaka scratched his head.
"It's okay, you were just angry because you cared about Kashi."
Since it hadn't caused too big of a misunderstanding, he didn't take it to heart.
"However, I didn't expect Xuezhixia Classmate to actually admit her mistake proactively."
Hearing this, Yukinoshita Yukino gave Masao Tanaka a glare.
"Am I, in your eyes, just an unreasonable and ill-mannered person?"
"No, it's just that I always feel like Xuezhixia Classmate is perfect and absolutely correct, no matter when or what she does.
I never imagined Xuezhixia Classmate making a mistake and then admitting it and apologizing.
To make Xuezhixia Classmate bow her head, it feels like I've gained something."
Yukinoshita Yukino retorted somewhat indignantly, "Tanaka-kin is right, I am very perfect, but I am still just a human, and I do make mistakes.
Also, to correct you, I am not bowing my head to you, but reflecting on my own mistakes.
Speaking of which, for me to recognize my own mistakes and proactively admit them, I'm quite amazing, aren't I?"
Yukinoshita Yukino pinched her chin, saying it in all seriousness.