Translator: Reflet
Editor: ryunakama
In the morning, having left the suite room, Taiyou and Youran took the elevator to the bottom floor.
Taiyou was not wearing the custom tailor-made suit, but his school uniform, and Youran was not in her kimono with her hair down, but was sporting a casual attire with twintails out.
Neither of them were in the formal attire they had attended the party with. This was their usual getup.
Youran and Taiyou were linking arms, bodies firmly next to each other.
No matter how you slice it, they looked like an ordinary high school couple.
If you were to leave out one of them being a super attractive girl.
「I"m gonna go ahead to school, but what about you？」
「I promised Sakura something, so I"ll be meeting with her」
「With Sakura？」
「Mhm. Cause she"s in a hurry to consolidate Juunishima"s interior. I"ll meet her to establish something. She"s superior in her own way, so it would be a waste to leave her id――Ow-」
He flicked her on the forehead as she was talking.
「Hey, what the heck?」
「Stop saying things like that. She"s your blood-related sister, isn"t she?」
「I could care less about how I speak」
Arms still linked, she spoke while rubbing her forehead.
「And stop making that face. It"s oddly cold――and I get in a bad mood just looking at it」
「But……」
「Okay. Just rephrase it」
Taiyou said, turning to the side and staring straight at Youran.
「That"s definitely not a cute face」
「Cu――」
At a loss for words, Youran then began sulking.
Her face showed that it was quite a shock for Taiyou to tell her that it wasn"t "cute".
「But……Me, and them……」
「You"re sisters, connected by blood. Couldn"t you be a little nicer?」
「That doesn"t……matter」
「Yes, it does matter」
「If she becomes yours, then maybe I wouldn"t――actually, I would put in the effort to be nice, but if that doesn"t happen, then I don"t see why I should」
「Becomes mine？」
「Yep. If she"ll be the seventh person in your seven, then……I"ll get along with her」
「……So that"s the line you"ve drawn?」
「Mhm」
Youran answered promptly. There was no wavering whatsoever.
「It"s good that you have your criteria, but when I see you acting like that……it makes me a little worried for Pochi」
「Adashino？」
「Yeah, cuz she――」
「Don"t worry」
She cut through the middle of what Taiyou was saying.
「Adashino is Kohaku"s daughter after all」
「……Oh, I get it」
The girl"s real name was Juunishima Adashino. They called her Pochi.
Just like Sakura, she was a sister of a different mother; a girl with whom they had a complicated relationship.
It had become more complicated just now.
「That"s fine in and of itself, but…」
「But？」
「Reeeally sloppy」
「Eh? What is？」
「Pochi is your younger sister, and Kohaku"s daughter-in-law. It"s fine up to here, but from my standpoint, if we go so far as to make her a daughter-in-law, that would make your actual younger sister your husband"s daughter-in-law」
「It sure would」
Youran said nonchalantly.
「See? It"s convoluted」
「But considering everything about Adashino……Wouldn"t it be fitting for it to be convoluted? Kohaku seems like she"d enjoy that」
「Ohhh, she does seem like she would enjoy this」
「See? She"ll enjoy it. Convoluted stuff」
「Yeah, she sure would」
「So it"s fine」
「Well……is it?」
As they were nodding at each other over Kohaku, the elevator reached the first floor.
The door opened, and the two of them got off the elevator together.
There were still nearly no people in the first floor lobby. Most of them were employees.
Amidst all that, he walked outside, arm linked with Youran.
「Oh-」
Taiyou suddenly stopped walking.
He had stopped walking because he had seen an attractive girl walk by.
An attractive girl of the same age as them.
A girl he remembered meeting before at last night"s party.
He remembered seeing her, but he couldn"t remember her name.
「What was……her name?」
「Urara Natsume. She"s the only child of the Natsume Household. Yeah, she did come to yesterday"s party」
「Yeah, I felt like she had that kind of name」
When Youran said that, he recalled the name of the girl he had met at last night"s party.
Having changed into a dress, it was normal attire (albeit clearly expensive), and she was pretty as always.
She was remarkably proud-looking; enough of a beautiful girl to make eight out of ten people turn their heads.
「That"s what you want？」
「Even if I do, I"m not sure how to……」
Taiyou gave a wry smile.
Taiyou felt like if he said that, the conversation might head in a weird direction for Youran.
「I"m not exactly saying that. She"s the girl who talked to me first yesterday. Which is why I remembered」
「Oh, that"s what you meant」
「Ah. Our eyes met」
「Same with me」
「……I wonder if she realizes who I am」
「Doesn"t seem to have」
「Hey, she doesn"t even recognize you」
Not realizing who Taiyou or even Youran was, after meeting their eyes for a second, Urara walked out guarded by SP, getting into a waiting car.
「She definitely hasn"t recognized us. With the Natsume family"s social standing, bowing would be the minimum if she recognized us」
「What if she"s recognized us but pretends to not notice on purpose？」
Taiyou said, jerking their linked arms.
「If she were able to do that, she wouldn"t have been the first one to approach us yesterday」
「Ah, I see」
Taiyou was satisfied, understanding somewhat.
Youran was sullen next to him.
「……That annoys me」
「I dunno what you"re annoyed about, but you"d best not do anything」
Taiyou warned her.
「I won"t! I won"t, but she didn"t regard you――」
「But she didn"t regard New Moon Director either」
He said, cutting off Youran.
He had a nonchalant face that was staring far away.
「I could care less about myself」
「And the same goes for me. Who cares about me, right？」
「Uu……But I――」
Youran understood what he was saying, but didn"t appear to be satisfied.
Taiyou thought her to be very cute when she looked that way.
Taiyou thought of her as a comparatively logical woman.
It was amusing to see her be torn between emotion and reason like this.
Youran continued to groan until Urara had completely gone away.
Until she breathed a sigh, as if giving up.
「Okay, I won"t do anything. In exchange」
「In exchange？」
「……Pull them」
「Hm？」
「I said pull them. If you do that then I"ll keep it under control」
「……Kay」
For a moment there he wasn"t sure what she was on about, but soon realizing, he pulled her twintails for her just as she requested.
As if that had made her feel better, her eyebrows that had been tight gradually began unfolding.
「And one more thing」
「Whatever you wish, Princess」
As Taiyou was messing around, Youran got out of their arm lock, standing directly in front of him and looking straight up.
「Pull Aoba"s too. She"s been waiting for that」
「……You little」
Taiyou wryly smiled, giving her a casual smooch.
「You really are a girl who goes from extremity to extremity」
He liked that, but he purposely didn"t say it.