“You followed me here—!”
Crunch.
Kotori bit through the candy ball, pulled the second plastic stick from between her teeth, and her twin tails swayed, drawing the girl’s gaze. Kotori grumbled quietly while rubbing her numb cheeks. “What if Onii-chan finds out?!”
“Little things, little things. See? The evidence is about to be completely destroyed~”
Kyoumi surveyed the healing-filled room, hopped over the tilted colorful box leaning against the door, spun on the carpet, and flopped backward onto the girl’s bed.
“Breaking into someone’s room without permission is not a little thing!”
Kotori hugged her knees to make more space for the lying girl, instinctively grabbing a small bear plush from the bedside and clutching it to her chest.
Kotori wasn’t a wild sleeper, so she only had a normal single bed. Add the cartoon animal plushies lined up around the headboard that could make anyone blush just by looking, and trying to lie sideways with two people made the space feel extremely cramped.
“I just wanted to see what Kotori’s room looked like~”
Kyoumi used one arm as a pillow behind her head, closed her eyes, and answered casually. “And it turned out to be an amazing cute-style room. If I end up sleeping on nothing but a futon staring at a blank ceiling tonight, wouldn’t that be too pitiful~?”
The way she was already being picky about where she slept left Kotori speechless. The girl could only shift further back, pressing her weight against her upright body.
“…That bandage on Onii-chan’s hand… did you do that…?”
Silence lasted several minutes. Kotori was the first to lose the mysterious “whoever speaks first loses” battle.
“I did~ He got a little hurt when we met, so I gave him the matching bandage~”
“…Why?”
“To check whether little Kotori had been sealed.”
Kyoumi slowly opened her eyes. The rose-colored pupil turned, unable to catch the girl’s expression hidden behind the bear plush. “Angry?”
“If I’m angry, can I step on you?”
Kotori buried her face in the plush, her voice muffled and low.
“No~”
“Then I’m a little angry…”
“Is that so~? Then let me sleep with you tonight?”
“How did you even reach that conclusion…”
The plush fell to her side. There wasn’t much real anger on the girl’s face; instead, there was a hint of grievance.
“If Kotori won’t make up her mind, then I will.”
Kyoumi stretched slowly, her voice turning lazy. “Are you free tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow’s Tuesday. Both Onii-chan and I have school.”
Kotori turned her cheek, lips faintly pouting as she smoothed her bangs and gave a half-yes, half-no answer.
“Then after school is fine.”
“…That little time isn’t enough…”
“Then we’ll both skip.”
“No way.”
“Is that so? Then should I trigger a spacequake?”
“That’s going too far!”
“Yes, yes~”
Kyoumi responded perfunctorily and slightly adjusted her plan. “Ratatoskr, right? Can’t they cause some kind of disturbance to cancel school for two days?”
“It’s Ratatoskr… If I ask everyone, they probably could… but…”
“When pursuing happiness, you have to be ruthless~”
“…Why don’t you go first?”
“If you want to walk the same path as me, getting hurt is inevitable. Kotori doesn’t want her brother to mysteriously vanish into thin air, right?”
“Guu…”
“The faster we solve it, the sooner you might get a chance to try capturing me. Backing down now won’t do, will it?”
“…”
Her ears turned red. Crunch. She bit through the last Chupa Chups, pulled out the tooth-marked stick, and tossed it into the snack bag that doubled as a trash can.
Kyoumi’s meaning was crystal clear.
If Kotori didn’t seal first, Kyoumi wouldn’t cooperate with being sealed. And any reason Kotori’s little brain could come up with to let Kyoumi and Shidou date first would be powerless in the face of Kyoumi’s clear willingness to harm Shidou.
…The correct thing was to let Shidou regain the Healing Flames first. But even so, Kotori absolutely couldn’t say out loud that she wanted to go on a date with her brother.
Especially not in front of this girl. Saying it would feel like losing.
【Who does Itsuka Kotori like the most?】
【It’s Shidou! I love my big brother, okay!!】
In the end, the reason Kotori felt nervous and a little scared of Kyoumi wasn’t mostly because of the overwhelming gap in combat power. The bigger part was… embarrassment.
“Then tonight we’ll discuss strategy together~”
Taking that as settled, Kyoumi twisted her waist, rolled onto her side, and raised a finger. “By the way… Kotori, your uniform skirt is a bit short.”
“Hey——!”
Kotori pressed her legs together, used her knees and calves to push herself upright on the bed, and the faint embarrassment on her face visibly shifted toward that of a tiny snarling beast.
Perfect. Harmless leverage only needed to be held at the right moment. Caring too much would only reduce its future effectiveness.
She didn’t have a recording device, but anything worth remembering wouldn’t be forgotten as long as Kyoumi didn’t want to forget it. She could imitate it perfectly later.
Hmm… since switching surface personalities was just a matter of changing ribbons, it seemed both Commander Kotori and little-sister Kotori shared the same pink-and-white preferences on the inside…
She’d find a chance to check the wardrobe later~
While her mind wandered to unrelated details, Kyoumi sat up.
The crowded bed wasn’t suitable for roughhousing, and messing up all the little things on the floor would take forever to clean. Though it was Kotori’s room, it had already been internally booked by Kyoumi as tonight’s sleeping spot.
Fortunately, although the girl was a bit annoyed, she showed no signs of starting a windmill-fist barrage.
“Dinner’s ready——!”
The boy’s voice traveled up through the floor, conveniently diverting some of the girl’s attention.
“I thought we still had five minutes. Shidou cooks pretty smoothly~”
“Hmph, of course. If Onii-chan’s cooking were sold in a restaurant, it would totally be fine~”
While speaking, Kotori had already hopped down to the floor.
“Is that so? Then I’ll have to find some flaws to tease you a bit~”
Kyoumi didn’t take it seriously. Normally, this was just “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” If Shidou really had the skill to work in a restaurant kitchen, Kotori wouldn’t still love the fancy kids’ meals at family restaurants.
…Normally, that is.
Swallowing the rice in her mouth, the girl who had planned to nitpick the boy’s cooking suddenly fell silent. Her scrutinizing gaze darted between the smug-looking girl and the clueless-looking boy.
“So~? How’s Onii-chan’s cooking~?”
She was clearly just a food inhaler, yet Kotori acted prouder than the cook himself.
What could she say? It was just omurice——
“Shidou, you’re really good at this kind of home cooking?”
The words got stuck in her throat and came out differently.
“Ah… it’s passable, I guess. It’s just me and Kotori at home now… I taught myself a bit. Is it to your taste?”
Scratching his cheek, Shidou Itsuka asked with slight concern.
“Not bad.”
Kyoumi stole a piece of hamburger steak from under Kotori’s chopsticks, paused, then continued, “I’ll have miso soup too.”
“…Isn’t it right in front of you?”
“From now on as well.”
“…?”