“I’m telling you, even if it’s just to check on Kotori’s condition, there’s no need to stuff razor blades inside a hug pillow, right?”
Black lines fell across his forehead. If Shidou weren’t so good-tempered by nature, anyone else would have exploded by now.
“…Hm? Did you see me put anything strange inside?”
The metal shard danced between the girl’s fingers before being casually snapped in two. Kyoumi tilted her head up at the boy with an innocent look on her face. “I just kindly removed some junk that had stuck to it. So Shidou is the type who likes to falsely accuse people?”
“No matter how you slice it, hug pillows don’t come with razor blades stuck to them! Did a hurricane blow it in?!”
“I already bandaged you up, so stop nitpicking.”
She tossed the now-broken piece of metal into a nearby trash can, then calmly looked away, offering no further rebuttal to the boy’s complaints.
A black-and-purple bandage was now wrapped around the boy’s hand—made of the exact same material as the one covering Kyoumi’s left eye. The wound itself hadn’t been deep; it wouldn’t have bled much if the girl hadn’t pressed on it. In other words, this bandage was purely for her own amusement.
Proof of that was the tightly knotted section on the back of Shidou’s hand. To put it simply, Kyoumi had tied two dead knots in a row.
It was the kind that absolutely could not be undone with just one hand.
“…Haa…”
Feeling the bandage served almost no practical purpose, Shidou let out a sigh.
Asking Kyoumi to untie it wasn’t realistic. Since Tohka was now able to blend into human society normally and had even transferred into his class, Kotori should have come home by now and stopped staying out all night.
In that case, he’d just go home and have Kotori untie it for him.
“Don’t even think about removing it for now, Shidou. This is proof that you’re under my protection.”
She seemed to have read his thoughts and added that line.
“…What kind of logic is that…”
“Just don’t take it off. To be safe, wear it for three days starting today. After that, it should be fine.”
“This kind of wound would heal naturally in a single night!”
“It’s not just about the wound. Shut up and wear it.”
Refusing to explain further, the girl changed the subject. “How’s Tohka doing?”
“Tohka…”
Recalling what happened at school today, the boy’s expression turned subtle. “She transferred into our class as a new student. She already seems to know a lot of common sense… She’ll probably adapt to life here completely very soon, right?”
Though her common sense was still a bit skewed, and she tended to say things that caused misunderstandings. Shidou’s reputation had taken a few hits because of it.
But seeing her smile so brightly really made him happy.
“Oh? You don’t even know the details of how Ratatoskr taught her common sense?”
“…I don’t really know the specifics… But these past few days, Kotori has been staying late on Fraxinus handling Tohka’s matters. She said the task of teaching common sense was left to Miss Reine.”
“Miss Reine?”
“Yeah, she’s the analysis officer on Fraxinus. She always looks half-asleep, but she’s actually very reliable.”
“Is it really okay to tell me these things?”
“Because you’re worried about Tohka, right? Everyone on Fraxinus feels the same way, so it’s fine.”
“Hmph.”
Finding no trace of a lie on the boy’s earnest face, Kyoumi gave a light snort. “Whether it’s true or not, I’ll confirm it myself once I meet her, but…”
“Hold my hand—just like this is enough right now! We’ll face everything from now on together!”
In a chanting tone, without lowering her voice at all, Kyoumi dramatically extended her hand forward while the boy stared in confusion.
For some reason… it felt… a little familiar?
“Who cares about those guys! The AST? Other humans? If they try to deny you—then I’ll surpass them! And affirm you even more~”
A socially fatal chill crawled up the boy’s spine.
Those were the words he had shouted with all his heart right before kissing Tohka, to encourage her.
But when those slightly chuuni, confession-like words of passion were loudly recited in the middle of the street by the girl walking beside him, with pedestrians watching…
“STOP IT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
He couldn’t hold back anymore. Shame flooded his brain. Shidou frantically clamped his hands over the girl’s mouth and yelled at the top of his lungs.
In that regard, Shidou and Kotori really did have some sibling chemistry—even their embarrassment reactions were similar.
“Mmm~”
Without needing words, she let out a sound from her throat and looked straight into the boy’s eyes with a slightly amused gaze.
Realizing it was bad, he quickly let go and glanced around. Most passersby tactfully turned away and resumed walking as if nothing had happened.
“…What the heck was that all of a sudden…”
Unable to match the girl’s pace anymore, his face bright red, the boy quickened his steps and quietly questioned Kyoumi, who easily kept up.
“I was just curious why you ditched Tohka and left school alone. You said we’d face the future together, yet you didn’t even walk home with her after school?”
Is that why you’re getting revenge on me?!
“…Tohka is still living on Fraxinus… We don’t live together. Staff probably came to pick her up after school.”
“Probably?”
“Because Kotori told me not to worry, that everyone on Fraxinus would fully take care of Tohka for the time being…”
Arrangements for pickup and drop-off should have been made in advance.
“You don’t want to live together?”
“…How exactly do you want me to answer that…”
For some reason he felt utterly exhausted. He had thought he wouldn’t feel like this again after school ended, but right now Shidou would rather have dragged Tonomachi into the line of fire during Tohka and Origami’s standoff. That would have been far easier.
Shidou always walked to school. In other words, the Itsuka house wasn’t particularly far from school. The only times he came home late were usually when he went shopping for ingredients or fought housewives for half-price items.
Just adding one more pair of chopsticks wouldn’t be a problem; the kitchen still had plenty of ingredients. So there was no need to shop today. Besides, with one hand occupied holding an orca plushie, he wasn’t exactly suited for that kind of intense battlefield.
“Your adoptive parents are away—this is the perfect chance, and you really never thought about it?”
Apparently dissatisfied with his evasive answer, the girl pressed further.
“How do you even know they’re not home?!”
“…Since you’re going around sealing spirits, it only makes sense to send them away first. Besides, last time at the family restaurant you acted like you were handling all the housework yourself. They must have been gone for at least three months, right?”
Tilting her head slightly, Kyoumi looked over the building in front of them. “Also, your house looks pretty well-off.”
“I think it’s pretty average… Hm?”
Shidou approached the front door and frowned before taking out his key. He tried pulling the door instead.
As expected, it opened right up.
But it wasn’t because of a burglar—it was exactly the situation Shidou had predicted.
“Oh! Welcome home! Onii-chan!!!”
A cheerful, adorable voice that could heal just by hearing it. It was the cute-little-sister-mode Kotori that Shidou hadn’t heard in far too long.
In the girl’s line of sight, the girl with the white ribbon in her hair came bouncing over.
“Oh ho…”
Kyoumi’s eyes lit up.