"Why does it have to be like that... What are you busy with? Can you tell me?"
Aimi could not help feeling disappointed.
She had originally planned to use buying gal games together as an excuse to go on a date with Kotomi.
She had even imagined that if the atmosphere felt right, she might take the initiative and confess to Kotomi again.
Her first confession had never received a proper response from Kotomi.
Because of that, Aimi often wondered whether, if she found the right opportunity and confessed once more, Kotomi might immediately respond to her feelings this time.
That tiny thought had gradually taken root in Aimi's heart.
Just as she was finally preparing to put the idea into practice, using a trip to buy gal games as her excuse—
Kotomi rejected her outright.
Along with her disappointment, Aimi also found it unbelievable.
She simply could not imagine Kotomi Izumi, someone who had always loved gal games, refusing to go with her to buy special editions and store bonuses!
At first, Aimi thought Kotomi might be lying to her.
But the instant that thought appeared, Aimi shook her head and immediately pushed it away.
She trusted that Onee-chan would never lie to her!
In other words, Onee-chan truly did have something to do next weekend.
But—
What exactly was it?
Aimi Izumi could not help becoming extremely curious.
Faced with Aimi's persistent questioning, Kotomi Izumi's cheeks faintly heated up.
Avoiding her gaze, she said,
"I-It's just something I have to do..."
"Anyway, I probably won't be home next weekend, so I can't go buy gal games with you."
"You can go by yourself. While you're there, buy a copy for me too."
"I'll send you the list of gal games and bonuses I want when the time comes."
Even as Kotomi Izumi said that, she knew perfectly well that such a simple explanation would never completely satisfy Aimi.
But right now, she had no idea how she was supposed to explain it...
To stop Aimi from continuing to ask and successfully change the subject, Kotomi thought for a moment.
Then, enduring the stabbing pain in her wallet, she gritted her teeth and said with apparent calm,
"As a reward for helping me shop, I'll pay for all the gal game bonuses you buy this time!"
"Even if you empty out the entire gal game store, I'll cover the bill."
The instant Aimi heard that, her attention was completely redirected.
Her adorable eyes sparkled brightly as she asked with anticipation,
"Really?! No matter how many gal games or bonuses I want, you'll buy all of them for me, Onee-chan?!"
I have a feeling my wallet is about to suffer catastrophic blood loss... Kotomi Izumi thought as the corner of her mouth twitched.
She suddenly wanted to take back what she had said.
But words, once spoken, were like spilled water. There was no taking them back.
Kotomi could only force herself to endure the pain and continue,
"O-Of course it's true!"
"Do you think your Onee-chan is short on that little bit of money?"
"When the time comes, buy whichever gal games you like and choose whichever bonuses catch your eye."
"Don't hold back."
"If you don't pick enough, I'll actually get mad at you!"
"Thank you, Onee-chan!"
"There are two gal games where I've wanted both the physical editions and every single bonus for ages."
"But they were so expensive that I kept hesitating and trying to choose just one favorite."
"One moment I liked this acrylic stand, and the next I liked that keychain."
"I've been agonizing over which one to choose for days."
"I never expected you to be so generous, Onee-chan. You're actually buying all of them for me!"
Aimi Izumi said happily.
"Hmph. The thing I hate most is multiple-choice questions."
"Only children make choices. Adults take everything!"
"If I'm already buying one bonus, then buying two isn't that different."
"So why not collect every bonus I like?"
After saying that, Kotomi Izumi even gave a confident little snort.
"Yay! Onee-chan is the best!"
Aimi cheered happily.
Just as Kotomi had predicted, saying this instantly shifted Aimi's attention away from the matter of "next weekend."
Phew...
Kotomi Izumi quietly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.
Then she switched off the bedside lamp and said with a soft laugh,
"All right. Those bonuses won't go on sale until next weekend anyway."
"No matter how excited you are now, you can't buy them immediately."
"It's getting late, so go to sleep."
"Don't you have to go back to school tomorrow too?"
"Oh, right. I took a few days of sick leave and almost forgot winter break hasn't started yet." Aimi Izumi giggled.
"Winter break? That's still ages away!"
"School hasn't even been back in session for two months yet."
Kotomi Izumi lightly tapped Aimi on the head.
At the same time, she could not help thinking expectantly, When does winter break start again...?
The night passed in sleep.
The alarm rang right on time.
Kotomi Izumi slowly opened her eyes and turned it off, then reluctantly stayed curled up beneath the blankets for a while longer.
The colder the weather became, the more tempting it was to stay in bed.
After all, the moment you got up, you were greeted by chilly air.
Under the blankets, everything was warm and cozy.
Who wouldn't want to stay there?
Kotomi Izumi even briefly considered wrapping herself in the comforter and going to school like that.
After dozing for another twenty minutes, Aimi, who was sleeping beside Kotomi, woke up.
As a third-year middle school student, Aimi had to arrive in class before 7:50 every morning.
Because of that, she rarely slept in.
Unlike high school, her arrival time was much tighter.
If she was even slightly careless, she could easily end up late.
While putting on her school uniform, Aimi looked at Kotomi, who was still curled up beneath the blankets, and said,
"I'm so jealous you're a high school student, Onee-chan."
"Even at this hour, you can still leisurely sleep for another half hour."
"Hehehe, it's pretty nice~"
"Last week when you were home on sick leave, every morning when I got up to change clothes and saw you lying there asleep, I was probably thinking the exact same thing."
"The difference is, right now you want to become a high school student as quickly as possible, while I want to take a few sick days and lazily stay home."
Kotomi Izumi stretched beneath the blankets and spoke contentedly.
Going back to sleep after waking up was always the best kind of sleep!
"Ah... I'm so jealous. I want to wake up later too."
"All right, stop complaining. I'm going back to sleep."
"When you leave, remember to close the door quietly~"
Lying in bed, Kotomi Izumi looked at Aimi through her drowsy eyes with a faint smile.
There was even a hint of smugness in her voice.
"Got it~"
Aimi dragged out the words enviously.
After finishing dressing, she quietly left Kotomi's bedroom.
"Mm... Let me check the time."
"Good, I can still sleep another half hour."
"When it comes to going back to sleep, even losing one minute is a terrible waste!"
Kotomi Izumi glanced at her phone.
Then she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
Meanwhile—
After leaving Kotomi's bedroom, Aimi first returned to her own room to pack her schoolbag.
Then she took it downstairs for breakfast.
"Hm? Kotomi isn't awake yet?"
Akina Izumi, who was serving breakfast, looked curiously at Aimi when she saw that only her younger daughter had come downstairs.
"Onee-chan is still sleeping."
"It's so nice~ Even now, she can still sleep for at least another half hour."
"I'm so jealous. I want to become a high school student as soon as possible too."
"Haha. You've already taken several days of sick leave, so stop dreaming about sleeping in and hurry up and eat breakfast."
"But I really do want to become a high school student soon."
Aimi Izumi picked up her bowl of rice and took a bite of fish.
"Just because you want to sleep in during the morning?"
"No."
Aimi shook her head.
"Once I become a high school student, I'll be able to go to school and come home with Onee-chan every day!"
As she said this, expectation sparkled in Aimi's adorable eyes.
Hearing that, Akina Izumi naturally understood why Aimi was so eager to become a high school student.
It was entirely because she wanted more time with Kotomi.
After realizing her younger daughter's thoughts, Akina first felt somewhat helpless.
She opened her mouth, but did not know what to say.
So instead, she casually mentioned,
"Let's talk about that after you finish your high school entrance exams."
"I heard Sobu High School's admission cutoff is going to rise a little next year. You'll be fine, right?"
"I'll be fine."
"I put Sobu High School as my second choice because I'm absolutely confident I'll get in!"
"My first choice, Sakura Seiran Girls' Academy, is only there because it looks impressive."
"I can't get in there anyway."
"A few days ago, I was chatting with Miya and the others at school and happened to hear this year's admission cutoff for Sakura Seiran Girls' Academy."
"Just hearing it gave me goosebumps."
"I can't get in. There's absolutely no way."
"When I heard this year's cutoff, I honestly felt like that girls' school had no intention of accepting ordinary students at all."
"They only want geniuses and top students whose grades are absurdly good."
"After all, to put it directly, it's a private elite girls' academy."
"It has excellent educational resources, so naturally it wants to cultivate an entire school of high achievers."
"Turning an average student into an elite student from scratch is difficult."
"But cultivating someone who was already an honor student in middle school is much easier," Akina Izumi said incisively.
"And the tuition must be really expensive," Aimi Izumi complained.
"The tuition isn't that bad."
"If you bought fewer gal game bonuses, the amount you spend would probably cover one academic year at Sakura Seiran Girls' Academy."
Akina Izumi took a sip of miso soup and spoke casually.
Aimi Izumi was just about to nod and say, "Exactly, exactly."
But before the words could leave her mouth, she froze.
For a moment, Aimi thought she had misheard.
She stared at her mother in astonishment and suddenly had no idea what to say.
As far as she knew, only she and Onee-chan were supposed to know that she liked playing gal games.
Why did Mom know?!
Looking at her younger daughter's shocked expression, Akina Izumi spoke leisurely, as though she had seen through everything long ago.
"I knew a long time ago."
"Back when you first got obsessed with gal games, you were probably too busy enjoying the HCG artwork, story, dialogue, and voices."
"You didn't even notice that your Bluetooth earphones hadn't connected properly."
"The computer volume was also turned up really high."
"Even if I didn't want to hear it, I could hear everything perfectly clearly."
"W-What?!"
At that moment, Aimi suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to grab Onee-chan and flee the planet.
But Akina Izumi did not stop there.
Instead, she delivered another perfectly aimed blow.
"Oh, right, Aimi. Since we're talking about this, I should remind you of two things."
"First, even when you're wearing earphones to play games, listen to music, or watch movies, don't turn the volume up too high. It's bad for your hearing."
"Second, I don't object to you playing gal games."
"But your high school entrance exams are coming up soon, so during this important period, you should still devote more attention to studying."
"Unless you can be like your Onee-chan and spend all day eating and sleeping yet still rank first in all of Tokyo."
"I-I know..."
Aimi Izumi lowered her head.
She suddenly had no desire to continue talking with her mother.
She only wanted to finish breakfast as quickly as possible and hurry to school.
This was way too humiliating!
Aimi had never imagined that her mother had discovered her obsession with gal games because her Bluetooth earphones had failed to connect while she was watching an HCG scene!
After hurriedly finishing breakfast, Aimi Izumi grabbed her little schoolbag and rushed out the front door.
But the moment she opened it, she saw Megumi Kato standing beneath a streetlamp.
Hearing the door open, Megumi assumed Kotomi had come out and looked up.
When she saw that the person at the door was not Kotomi but Aimi, Megumi froze for a moment.
Then she quickly adjusted her disappointed mood and politely greeted her.
"Good morning, Aimi. You're already leaving for school? You're so diligent."
"Heh. I'm still not as diligent as a certain someone who blocks our front door first thing every morning."
Aimi Izumi reflexively responded with a sarcastic jab before speaking unhappily,
"Hey! Why do you wait outside my house for Onee-chan every single morning?"
"Are you a little girl in kindergarten?"
"Do you seriously need my Onee-chan to accompany you even to school?"
"Without her, do you suddenly forget how to find the way?"
Naturally, Aimi had no patience whatsoever for Megumi Kato, the evil woman who fantasized about stealing her Onee-chan away.
What Aimi did not know was that Megumi no longer merely wanted to steal her sister.
She had already made her move on Kotomi!
Megumi Kato had long since grown accustomed to Aimi's hostility.
Smiling pleasantly, she said,
"That's right~"
"My motivation for going to school every day is having Kotomi walk to and from school with me."
"Walking together on the way to school and home, chatting about ordinary everyday things..."
"That feeling is one of the most precious gifts in daily life."
"Gradually, you start liking it and depending on it."
"But you, Aimi..."
"Since your school schedule is different from Kotomi's, you probably don't get many opportunities to walk to school with her, do you~?"
"Y-You... You..."
Even though Aimi had been the one who started the provocation, less than a minute later, poor little Aimi had already been angered by Megumi to the point that she could not even form a complete sentence.
Seeing little Aimi become this furious, Megumi did not stop while she was ahead.
Instead, she added one final line and asked,
"Are you jealous?"
—
—
40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon:
Patreon.com/DaoOfHeaven