Akina Izumi looked at the photo of Tomoka Yuigahama and thought she looked more and more like her middle school friend, Tomoka Mizuniwa.
But since so many years had passed, her memories had become hazy, and she couldn't be sure the woman in the photo was really her old classmate. Back then, they had gotten along quite well. Whenever Akina forgot to do her homework, Tomoka Mizuniwa would readily lend hers to copy.
Like most students, though, their friendship gradually faded after graduation. At the time, they had written their contacts in each other's yearbooks, promising to stay in touch. But after graduation, how many really did?
Sometimes, when reminiscing about student days, a person's name might resurface. But then you'd realize in the blink of an eye, more than ten years had passed without contact. With a sigh at the fleeting days of youth and how fast time flies, life's busyness would soon take over again.
Akina handed the phone back to Yui Yuigahama with a smile. "Mrs. Yuigahama is so youthful. She looks just like a young girl."
Kotomi Izumi, chewing fried rice with a big spoon, didn't say anything aloud, but in her heart she fully agreed. Even though Tomoka often complained that she was almost forty and already an old lady, her complexion and appearance still looked like that of a woman in her twenties.
Only her demeanor and movements carried an added maturity and elegance.
It was precisely that maturity that had once compelled Kotomi to steal a kiss on Tomoka Yuigahama's cheek while she slept.
It wasn't just a feeling that grew over time. From the very first meeting, Tomoka Yuigahama's beauty, maturity, playfulness, and charm had been etched deeply in Kotomi's heart.
Kotomi had told herself many times: She's Yui's mom. But even now, she still couldn't stop herself from falling for Tomoka Yuigahama.
"Kotomi." Yui Yuigahama's voice came from beside her.
Kotomi quickly snapped out of her thoughts, worried that Yui might have noticed something odd in her expression.
"Ah?"
"A grain of rice—right on your mouth, just like a little kid."
Yui pointed at the corner of Kotomi's lips and smiled as warmly as spring sunshine. She had noticed Kotomi getting a rice grain stuck there while eating.
She had imagined reaching out to brush it away, like in a novel, then popping it into her mouth while gazing at Kotomi with a doting smile, making Kotomi blush in embarrassment.
But when it came to actually doing it, she lost her nerve. What if it didn't make Kotomi blush but instead made her angry?
If Kotomi got mad, would she whip her? …Wait, if that really happened, wouldn't that be kind of nice? The thought flickered through Yui's mind, as if she had awakened to yet another hidden trait—or maybe just leveled up the one she already had.
Kotomi licked away the rice grain, then glanced at Yui. One look at her expression, and she knew Yui was lost in her wandering thoughts again.
What exactly was going on in that head of hers this time?
Just as breakfast was wrapping up, Aimi woke earlier than usual. She had wanted to crawl back into Kotomi's bed to keep sleeping, but when she pushed open the door, she saw the bed neatly made and Kotomi's pajamas folded at the side.
Her drowsiness vanished instantly. She ran downstairs in a hurry. Kotomi's shoes were still there, which reassured her a little. But then she spotted another unfamiliar pair of women's shoes.
Her "enemy radar" immediately went beep beep.
Hearing her sister's voice from the kitchen, Aimi rushed toward it. She planned to run in, leap into Kotomi's arms, and cling to her just like when she was little, acting spoiled until her sister fed her.
"Onee-chan~ good morning~ give me a hu—huh?!"
One moment Aimi Izumi had been smiling sweetly, but the instant she saw Yui Yuigahama sitting in her spot, her expression instantly turned cold. Thankfully, it was Yui and not Megumi Kato—if Aimi had seen Megumi in that seat, the whole kitchen might have felt like it dropped into an ice cave.
Why are you here? Aimi almost blurted out. But then she remembered—this was Yui Yuigahama. Yui wasn't a bad woman who wanted to steal her sister away, so Aimi couldn't treat her like Megumi. That would be far too rude.
What? That attitude toward Megumi wasn't polite either? Well, Aimi didn't care about politeness when it came to Megumi. That wicked woman was always trying to snatch her sister away. Every time Aimi saw her, she wanted to run up and punch her.
Adjusting her mood a little, Aimi put on her practiced polite smile and greeted: "Good morning, Yuigahama-oneechan. Why are you here? Did you come to see my sister?"
"Good morning, Aimi. I made plans with Kotomi to go to karaoke today. The cultural festival's performance is coming up soon, so I wanted to practice with her while we have the day off."
Yui smiled warmly. Even before she knew Aimi was Kotomi's sister, she had already recognized her, since Aimi used to visit her family's cake shop often to buy Baumkuchen.
Though, for some reason, Aimi had stopped coming by lately.
"You're going to karaoke with my sister? Just the two of you?" Aimi's little ears twitched as her mind started racing.
"Mm!" Yui answered without hesitation, not suspecting anything.
"Then I want to go too!" Aimi suddenly declared. She didn't trust leaving her sister alone with Yui. Who knew if they'd really be practicing singing at the KTV?
Besides, Kotomi hadn't spent time with her yesterday either—she had gone shopping with Megumi instead. When Kotomi got home, Aimi had sulked for a long time. In the end, Kotomi only managed to coax her back into a good mood by agreeing to bathe together that night.
"…."
"…."
"No."
Before Kotomi or Yui could even respond, Akina Izumi set her chopsticks down and said flatly, forbidding Aimi from tagging along to the KTV.
If Aimi had insisted, Kotomi probably would've agreed to let her come, since she and Yui were really just going there to sing—not to go on some disguised date.
Honestly, who even goes on a date at a KTV? A net café would make more sense.
As for Yui—whatever Kotomi said, she'd go along with it. If Kotomi wanted Aimi to come, she wouldn't argue.
But before Kotomi could even answer, her mom had already spoken up and shut the idea down. Kotomi froze in surprise.
Mom, are you seriously trying to create a two-person world for me and Yui?
"Eh? Mom, why won't you let me go to karaoke with my sister?"
Aimi was stunned. She thought her mom wouldn't interfere, but suddenly she had said: You're not going.
If Kotomi had been the one to say it, there might have been room to argue. But since it was Mom, that meant there was no room for discussion. She'd have to obediently stay home.
Akina Izumi gave her a look that said Do you really need me to explain? and reminded her: "Today's Sunday. If I'm not mistaken, you haven't finished your homework, have you?"
"Ugh…" Aimi's face stiffened. Looks like her mom was right. Weekend homework—while she had written a little, there were still plenty of assignments left undone.
"Aimi, you didn't finish your homework?"
Kotomi was surprised. She remembered that in the past, Aimi always stayed up late on Friday nights to finish everything, leaving Saturday and Sunday completely free for play. Even now, in her third year of middle school with more assignments than before, Aimi had never dragged her homework past Saturday afternoon.
And yet here it was, already Sunday, and she still hadn't finished. Could it be the teachers had really assigned too much this week, since exams were coming?
"Ehehe… there was kind of a lot…" Aimi scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"It's not that there was a lot. It's that you spent ten minutes on homework and five hours gaming the past two days. After fifteen minutes of homework, you'd run straight to your laptop. How could you possibly be done now?" Akina mercilessly exposed her.
Blushing, Aimi wanted to run back upstairs.
She really had wanted to finish her homework early, but… the super yuri gal game she had been looking forward to finally released on Friday! An R18 one, at that!
Of course, she immediately logged onto the official site to buy the deluxe edition. After installing it, she couldn't resist diving in right away. The game had a total of 20 storylines, and in just two days she had already cleared 10 of them while sitting on her bed with her laptop—learning all sorts of new "knowledge."
As for the R18 age check?
Everyone knew how flimsy those were on Japanese websites. Just a popup: Are you 18 or older? with two options—yes or no.
Click yes, and you were in. No barriers at all.
That company's site was the same. One click, and she could browse, purchase, download, and install the game without issue.
Anyway, Aimi had spent Friday and Saturday glued to her game. It was fun, but it left a mountain of unfinished homework.
And how did Akina know?
Friday night, she had poured two glasses of juice—one for Kotomi, one for Aimi.
After dropping Kotomi's off, she entered Aimi's room just as the gal game reached the infamous CG scene. Aimi's big eyes were glued to the laptop screen, unwilling to miss a single detail.
The CG art and voice acting quality were top-notch. For the first time, Aimi thought her laptop screen felt too small, not nearly satisfying enough.
So absorbed was she that she didn't even notice her mom standing right there at her bedside, watching her play.
Akina didn't say anything. She just set the juice quietly on the desk and left, heading back to Kotomi's room to ask:
"Kotomi, do you have any spare headphones?"
"Headphones? Yeah."
Kotomi had plenty. Earlier in the year, she had bought a Razer headset, but after watching reviews, she'd picked up a SteelSeries one too. The Razer set was now sitting unused.
"Can I let Aimi borrow this for a while?"
"Of course."
Akina Izumi took Kotomi's headphones back to Aimi's room, just as the infamous CG scene was coming to an end.
Aimi, still unsatisfied, was about to load the save file to watch it again when Akina lightly cleared her throat. Only then did Aimi snap out of it and realize her mom was standing there in her room—holding a pair of headphones!
"M-Mom…"
"You like playing these kinds of games, huh? Well, you'll be in high school soon, so it's normal to be curious about them. But don't get so absorbed you forget to use headphones. Here—this is a pair your sister used before. With them on, you can play as loud as you want. Just don't stay up too late."
Akina set the headphones down, gave a quick reminder, and left—while Aimi wished she could dig a hole and bury herself inside.
"After they come back from karaoke, I'll finish my homework…" Aimi tried to argue weakly.
"No. Kotomi and Yui are going to practice for the cultural festival performance. What would you be doing there? Causing trouble? The Sobu High festival is less than a week away—you've seen the date on the tickets, haven't you? Do you really want to watch your sister embarrass herself on stage because she didn't practice properly?" Akina asked firmly.
"Ugh… I get it. I'll stay home…" Aimi hung her head, muttering quietly.
Kotomi could only smile helplessly at her mom's overwhelming pressure. Honestly, bringing Aimi along wouldn't have been a big deal. But since her mom had gone out of her way to create a private moment for her and Yui, Kotomi gratefully accepted her mother's kindness.
Thank you, Mom.
After breakfast, they waited at home until nine o'clock. Then Kotomi Izumi and Yui Yuigahama left together for the KTV near the station.
As they left, Aimi felt reassured about her sister being alone with Yui. With her self-proclaimed keen powers of observation, she concluded that Kotomi and Yui's relationship must be nothing more than pure friendship.
That thought let her relax as she watched them go.
Once they had walked a little farther, Kotomi casually reached out her hand toward Yui and said as if it were nothing:
"It's cold. Warm my hands for me."
"Okay!" Yui's face lit up with joy, her mind flying to who-knows-where.
Hand in hand with Kotomi, the silly dango walked along grinning the whole way.
—
—
40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon:
Patreon.com/DaoOfHeaven