Chapter 441

“Are you sure you don’t need my help?”

“Yeah. You should just rest at home, Matsuda-kun.”

“Are you drawing a line between us?”

“Why would you say that? Are you crazy?”

Miyuki snapped at me.

Seeing the fierce glare in her eyes, I figured I had said something unnecessary.

At the same time, I felt relieved.

If she found my remark absurd enough to actually call me crazy, it meant her affection for me ran deep.

“Sorry. Slip of the tongue.”

Miyuki let out a huff at my easy apology.

“Don’t say things like that. I’m going to scold you.”

“Was that a bad thing to say?”

“Yes.”

“Oh? And how exactly are you going to punish me?”

“I’m thinking about it.”

I secretly looked forward to whatever punishment she had in mind.

Though she might be the one ending up on the receiving end instead.

“Alright. I’m heading home, then.”

“Okay.”

“Are you absolutely sure you don’t need my help?”

“I told you I’m sure... You kept asking in the car, and how many times have you brought it up now...? Do you really want to help that badly?”

“It’ll get done faster if I help.”

“It’s fine. My sister mentioned she was bored, so we’re planning to go out together once the cleaning is done. You just get some rest, Matsuda-kun.”

“I can just go with you guys.”

“We were going to spend some family time together for the first time in a while...”

“Am I not family?”

My incredibly shameless words, tinged with a hint of genuine disappointment, brought a faint blush to Miyuki’s cheeks.

“No... that came out wrong. I just meant I was going to spend time with my sister.”

“Right?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I live here after we get married?”

“O-Out of nowhere...?”

Miyuki’s large eyes trembled as if struck by an earthquake.

She seemed completely taken aback by the sudden mention of marriage.

Of course, I had absolutely no intention of living here as a freeloader.

I already had my eye on a newlywed home for the heroines and myself. It was in a wealthy neighborhood on the outskirts of Tokyo.

My current place was spacious, but it wasn’t suitable for raising children.

So I planned to keep it as a vacation home for occasional visits and move to a detached house in the suburbs for a quiet life.

Right now, I was merely dropping a subtle hint to Miyuki that I was picturing this kind of future with her.

It would be great if she felt happy hearing it, and even better if it broadened her tolerance... something along those lines.

Of course, none of this was empty talk; I meant every word.

Miyuki surely knew that too. That was why her breath kept hitching in embarrassment.

Regardless, dropping one bombshell after another from yesterday straight through to today made Miyuki’s reactions incredibly entertaining.

Let’s lay it on even thicker.

“I guess we should live on our own as newlyweds, right? Then maybe just out in the suburbs...”

“S-Stop...! Stop it...!”

Miyuki’s hand shot up.

She reached up to cover my mouth. I dodged her hand effortlessly and asked.

“Why? Don’t you want to?”

“No...! I-It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just out of nowhere... Ah, stop saying weird things...!”

“What’s weird about it? Isn’t it perfectly normal to talk about this when you’re in love?”

I could clearly see Miyuki’s complexion shifting rapidly.

Flushing bright red from her neck straight to her ears at my relentless barrage of confessions, she looked on the verge of losing her mind from embarrassment.

“Matsuda-kun...! Please...!”

“Are you embarrassed?”

“I-It’s not that... that kind of thing is for when we’re alone together...”

“We’re alone right now.”

“We’re right in front of my house...! If my parents or my sister hear us...”

“So what? If they do, we can just sit down for a detailed chat...”

“Stop...!”

Biting her lower lip, she lunged forward and threw her arms around my waist.

A faint but undeniable smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

It was proof that she, too, had been picturing our future together.

Having confirmed that, I decided to stop teasing her.

“Alright, alright. Let go.”

I had stumbled back a few steps from a grip that was surprisingly strong for her. At my words, she pulled away and began fanning her face with her hand.

My bombshell declaration must have really flustered her.

“We can talk about that later... Just go now, Matsuda-kun.”

“Are we actually going to talk about it later?”

“We will...! We will, so hurry up and go...!”

Thinking how adorable she was as she started physically shoving me away, I agreed and climbed into my car.

I flashed a wide grin at her as she demurely waved goodbye, then drove back home.

“What do you want?”

A blunt voice answered the moment the call connected.

I let out a dry chuckle and spoke.

“What did you say, punk?”

“Why did you call?”

“Is that how you answer the phone? Can’t you speak a little more nicely?”

“Why are you acting all tough all of a sudden? You were such a softie yesterday... Unbelievable.”

Just like Miyuki, Hiyori seemed to be dwelling heavily on what she’d said yesterday.

She had supposedly whined to Miyuki, crying out, ‘I like Matsumatsu too...!’

Not being able to hear that in person was the greatest regret of my life.

“I don’t think I was acting like a softie.”

“True. I’ll admit that.”

“I just called to see what you were up to.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m just... at home. Hey! I told you to knock...!!”

Anger flared in Hiyori’s voice.

Through the Cell Phone, I could hear a young voice asking to borrow a game console. It seemed her younger sibling had barged into her room uninvited.

“Hold on a second.”

After she asked me to wait, a creaking sound echoed through Hiyori’s Cell Phone.

She must have opened a closet to get the console.

“What do you have to do if I lend it to you?”

“I have to gather fruit for an hour and put it in the box.”

“Right. Take it.”

“Thanks.”

“Shut the door on your way out. And if you ever barge into my room again, you’re going to get in big trouble.”

“Okay.”

The way Hiyori treated her sibling was exactly like how I treated her.

“Hello? You’re still there, right?”

Hiyori asked, seemingly having shooed her sibling away.

I had been silently waiting for her to finish, so I answered.

“Yeah. Your sibling seems like quite the rascal.”

“I’ve told you a bunch of times that they act a lot like you, sunbae-nim.”

“Right. Is that why you’re so mean to them?”

“I think I’m being perfectly nice.”

“Always talking back... But what was that about putting fruit in a box?”

“Oh... that? It’s nothing. I just made them gather some in-game items for me.”

“Really? Wait a second...”

A sudden realization hit me just as I was about to brush it off.

Could the fruit her sibling mentioned be the exact same fruit Hiyori gave me whenever we met up in-game?

It certainly sounded like it... So she wasn’t gathering them herself, but making her younger sibling grind for them and then giving them to me?

If that was true, it meant I had basically been stealing a little kid’s hard-earned loot.

Unbelievable, simply unbelievable... I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even speak.

“Aren’t you being a bit too harsh?”

“Whyyy.”

“How could you make a little kid do your grinding for you?”

“Because they’re my younger sibling.”

She was acting totally shameless, but it was hilarious how a tiny sliver of guilt seeped into her voice, like her conscience was actually pricking her.

“Don’t do that anymore.”

“They get to play games, and you get items, sunbae-nim, so everyone’s happy, right? Ever heard of a win-win?”

“Then what about you?”

“I get to be the one who gives you the items, sunbae-nim, so I win too.”

She had scaled back on those straightforward lines ever since things got physically intimate between us, so it was nice to hear one again after so long.

“Still, rein it in. Just be nice and lend them the console for free.”

“That’ll just spoil them.”

“You think? I don’t have any siblings, so I wouldn’t know. Anyway, at least try speaking to them a bit more nicely.”

“They won’t listen if I do that. Like I said, they’re exactly like you, sunbae-nim.”

From where I was standing, they sounded exactly like Hiyori...

I guess she just didn’t want to admit it.

“Whatever. If you aren’t doing anything today, come over and exercise.”

“.... Is Miyuki Hanazawa not around?”

“Nope.”

“Where did she go?”

“She said they were doing a big cleaning at her house.”

“Oh, really? By any chance, didn’t you hear from Miyuki Hanazawa yesterday?”

“Hear what?”

“Are you playing dumb? Or do you just want me to say it myself?”

“A little bit of both.”

“So you did hear. I’m not going.”

Hiyori displaying a totally different kind of shyness from Miyuki was incredibly cute.

“Then I’ll come to you.”

“.... Are you sure?”

“Why not?”

“Didn’t Miyuki Hanazawa say anything?”

“Who knows.”

“Ah, come on...! That’s your biggest problem, sunbae-nim. You’re always so vague...! You have to give it to me straight so I can understand. I’m already dense enough as it is... Don’t make my head hurt.”

“So you’re admitting it? That you aren’t that smart?”

“Yeah.”

Her blunt tone, sounding exactly like a pouting child dropping all honorifics, was incredibly cute.

“Whatever. I’m coming to pick you up, so stay right there. I’ll make sure your head stops hurting.”

“.... What? What exactly are you planning to do?”

“Exactly what I said. I’m giving it to you straight, but you keep overthinking my words. That’s why you’re getting a headache.”

“No lecturing allowed.”

Why did she have so many rules?

If she had been born in a different era, she definitely would have been a dictator.

“I can head over now, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Go get ready.”

“Okayyy.”

Hiyori’s voice jumped up a pitch, her mood clearly brightening at the thought of me coming to see her.

I hung up the phone and was just about to grab my gym clothes and sneakers when I froze, noticing a new message from Renka following yesterday’s.

[You Trash bastard. Are you going to answer me or what?]

Swearing at me again, I see.

If she was going to act like this, my plan to ignore her for just one day was going to stretch into two.

This time, I’d just leave her on read.

If you have something to ask, you can either call me or come see me in person.

With that in mind, I opened my chat log with Renka just long enough for the ‘read’ receipt to pop up, then backed right out.