“Shidou, the bathwater you prepared is a bit cold, you know?”
Pushing the door open, the girl with a towel wrapped around her hair spoke in a cheerful tone.
In her line of sight, the boy was standing and pointing something out to Kotori, while the girl was sitting with her hands over her ears, looking like she was chanting I’m not listening, not listening, not listening.
Well, since Shidou was in Kotori’s room, he naturally had some complaints about his little sister’s behavior.
This lecturing appearance was understandable.
To be precise, Kyoumi had already heard the boy’s somewhat helpless voice while still in the hallway.
The progress must not have been going smoothly at all.
“Oh! Onii-chan! I’m going to take a bath!”
As if spotting a savior, the girl quickly stood up and slipped out the door in a flash before Shidou Itsuka could react.
“I’ve prepared the bathwater for you.”
Stepping aside to make way for Kotori, Kyoumi casually reminded her.
“Oh—”
The girl’s voice echoed from the hallway, while the thudding sounds of her feet against the wooden floor gradually faded away.
Although she didn’t know what exactly the boy had been lecturing about, it seemed Kotori didn’t want to listen at all.
“…Sigh…”
Rubbing his forehead, Shidou Itsuka let out a sigh.
On this matter, he and Kotori hadn’t reached any consensus.
She was clearly just a thirteen-year-old girl, yet her thinking was several times more open than his, a sixteen-year-old high schooler.
Even though spirits were beings that transcended common sense and required careful handling, the boy still couldn’t quite accept it.
She’s in such a hurry to sell off her own brother, huh?
He couldn’t help but feel that way…
As a result, he was a little dissatisfied.
Your brother here has been the neighborhood’s favorite “someone else’s child” since elementary school, you know.
Although his reputation at school was a bit strange now… did she really have to act like she was in a rush to marry him off?
“Mmm… Kotori just now had two white ribbons, so… little sister mode?”
Yawning, with a hint of drowsiness in her visible single eye, Kyoumi pressed her brow and confirmed with the boy.
“…Little sister mode… yeah, you could say that,” Shidou Itsuka’s attention was pulled back by the girl’s words, snapping him out of his slight resentment.
He then noticed the other thing Kyoumi had mentioned earlier.
“The bathwater got cold? That shouldn’t be…”
“What temperature did you set it to?”
“I think around thirty-seven degrees?”
“Hmm, so Yu turned it up to the water heater’s maximum, and that barely passed.”
“…The ideal temperature is forty-seven, you know~ Too bad the highest setting is only forty-three.”
“Are you trying to stew yourself?”
He really couldn’t understand that kind of thinking.
In Shidou’s view, that temperature was already far beyond what one could step into right away.
“I’m just a little afraid of the cold, that’s all. Being cold-bodied is really annoying~”
“That’s not ‘a little’…”
He could already imagine the room filled with blurring steam.
But then Shidou Itsuka paused.
“Speaking of which, the water temperature you set for Kotori…?”
“…Though it feels a bit cold to Yu, it can’t go any higher, so it’s forty-three~”
“…Don’t bully her like that…”
It wouldn’t cause burns, but if she jumped in without paying attention, a scream wouldn’t be surprising…
Thinking this, Shidou was about to step out to remind the girl who was probably in the bathroom now, but as he passed by Kyoumi, she grabbed the hem of his clothes.
“She’s clearly a flame spirit?”
“Ah, that…”
The scorching pillar of fire was still vivid in his memory.
It would be strange if the current Kotori got scalded, wouldn’t it?
“She may still be a kid, but she can at least bathe herself properly.”
“…You’re the one who did it…” Why was she acting so self-righteous about it…
“Because Shidou’s lecture wasn’t effective anyway. Besides, this is just a little bit of Yu’s fun—it doesn’t even count as a prank.”
“…Haa…” He could already picture the girl giving bizarre options during tomorrow’s date.
Shidou made up his mind: the moment he heard something outrageous, he’d immediately take off the earpiece and toss it into a trash can.
“What does Shidou think?”
“Think about what…”
Not catching what the girl said, Shidou Itsuka suspected he’d missed something.
But as Kyoumi let go of his fingers, pinched the hem of the T-shirt she was wearing as pajamas, and slowly spun around, he realized she was asking for his opinion.
Shidou’s clothes looked a bit loose on Kyoumi.
From the wide neckline, he could see the clear outline of her fair collarbone, slightly lifted by the modest curve of her chest, preventing any further body lines from being revealed.
The hem that covered the top of her stockings extended well past the absolute territory, almost reaching her knees.
Perhaps because she hadn’t dried herself thoroughly, there were a few noticeable water stains on the fabric around her shoulders and back under the light.
For some reason, though it was an appearance that conveyed fragility, there was subtly something sensual about it.
“Um…”
It was clearly within the safe category—at least from his preferences, Shidou liked women with fuller chests like Tohka—but he still felt his face growing hot.
Shidou Itsuka wasn’t sure where to look.
As his gaze shifted downward, it landed on the girl’s petite, rounded toes, slightly curled and outlined by the dark stockings.
“…Why are you still wearing those… ah,” Realizing his words might carry some ambiguity, Shidou Itsuka hurriedly corrected himself.
“Still wearing the gloves.”
He had actually meant the stockings and long gloves together.
…Though it was bad to comment on someone else’s clothing habits, did normal people really keep long gloves and stockings on after a bath?
“There are some other reasons too,” Kyoumi teased with a wink, wiggling her fingertips.
“But they’re pretty warm. Want to touch and see?”
The boy’s gaze followed her movement to the junction between her upper arm and the glove’s opening.
On the surface, though it outlined a slight indentation into the flesh, not a bit of skin was exposed.
Thinking about it that way, they did seem to be the thick, insulating type.
Honestly, he was a little curious.
But not out of any perverted intent—it was just that, staring at those dark long gloves, some… subtle thoughts were awakened…
…Looking closely, they’re kinda cool… I really want to try wearing them…
If it involved touching the bandaged wound, the boy would feel too guilty from the bottom of his heart.
But just touching the gloves…
“Then…”
He’d had fantasies like this before… wearing long gloves, a cape, a custom mask and hat, cool sticker tattoos, practicing awesome finishing moves in front of the mirror—
Unfortunately, except for the last one, everything else had been shelved in the boy’s heart due to insufficient pocket money.
“And besides, I’m only wearing these. Yu just gets cold in the limbs a bit—there’s no need to worry too much~”
“…Eh?”
“Vacuum, you know?”
“On second thought, never mind… ahaha, I suddenly remembered I have homework to review, so I won’t disturb your rest, Kyoumi—”
His face stiffening as he forced a laugh, the boy slowly shifted his body to avoid being grabbed by the hem again, cautiously retreating out the door.
The somewhat flustered footsteps gradually faded away, and only then did the smile on the girl’s face fade.
“There’s no school tomorrow—where would homework to review come from~”
Stretching her body comfortably, the girl sighed lightly as she sat on the edge of the bed, lifted the fresh blanket, propped herself up, and slowly lay down.
“Tomorrow… huh…”