For once, Kotomi Izumi had taken the initiative and acted aggressively.
After enjoying the feeling of "holding the initiative" for a whole three seconds, Megumi Kato seized control again.
Kotomi originally tried to fight back and reclaim the upper hand, but the result was predictable.
Megumi wrapped her in her arms and did whatever she pleased.
Only after more than ten minutes had passed did Megumi reluctantly let little Kotomi go.
Kotomi Izumi looked at Megumi with a resentful little gaze and said faintly,
"I originally just wanted to give you a quick little kiss and then go back to sleep..."
"If it were only a quick little kiss, I wouldn't be satisfied~"
"Besides, it's already getting late. If I let you keep sleeping, I'm worried you'll be late."
Megumi Kato spoke with a light laugh.
The concern in her tone almost sounded as though she were saying, I definitely wasn't being greedy and kissing you for that long on purpose. I was only worried you'd oversleep.
If Kotomi had not seen the mischievous smile at the corner of Megumi's lips, she might actually have believed her.
Still, Kotomi Izumi did not say much.
After all, if they were being technical, she was the one who had launched the "declaration of war" first.
Kotomi simply lay down in Megumi's arms like a tiny kitten acting spoiled and said softly,
"I'm honestly jealous of you, Megumi. You wake up this early every day and still aren't tired."
"Whenever I have to get up early, I spend forever struggling under the blankets."
"Maybe it's because I go to sleep pretty early every night."
"I usually start getting ready for bed around ten," Megumi said with a smile.
As she spoke, she gently stroked Kotomi's little face with both hands.
"Huh... You sleep at ten? That's so early."
"But thinking back on it, when I was little, if I wasn't already getting ready for bed by eight, I'd feel like I was staying up really late, like an adult."
Kotomi Izumi sighed nostalgically while lying in Megumi's embrace.
"That's true."
Megumi Kato quietly gazed at Kotomi in her arms, a gentle and indulgent smile on her lips.
The two remained like that for several peaceful minutes.
After a while, Megumi slowly spoke.
"By the way, Kotomi, there's something I should tell you."
"I ran into Aimi outside just now, and... we accidentally got into an argument."
"Mm, I already guessed that you probably argued with Aimi today."
"Actually, it feels like you two never meet without arguing."
"Aimi had just gone downstairs. If I roughly include the time she'd spend eating in the kitchen, then the moment she stepped outside, she'd probably see you waiting for me."
"Then she'd provoke you the second she saw you, and you'd counterattack and make her mad."
"Within a minute, the two of you would be going at each other."
Kotomi Izumi shrugged helplessly and laughed.
"The relationship between you and Aimi can practically be described as fire and water."
"Every time I see the two of you arguing, I actually feel a little torn because I don't know who I'm supposed to side with."
"If I side with you, I'm afraid my little sister will feel wronged."
"If I side with her, I'm afraid you'll be unhappy."
"Hehehe... Next time, I'll try to give Aimi a little more leeway."
"I can tell she's a girl who cares a lot about saving face."
"As long as I don't make her feel embarrassed, she probably won't provoke me first," Megumi said with an awkward little laugh.
No. Even if you give her face, she won't stop while she's ahead. She'll think she has momentum and keep pressing the attack.
In her mind, you're the evil woman trying to steal me away. Of course she's going to dislike you... Kotomi thought.
She had originally wanted to say that out loud, but after thinking about it, she decided against it.
Instead, she asked,
"So what did you two argue about today?"
Since Kotomi was curious, Megumi recounted what had happened earlier.
After listening, Kotomi could not help laughing.
"Of course Mom said something to you."
"Our family is very protective of our own."
"But she could also tell that Aimi was the one who likes provoking people first because she thinks whoever attacks first wins."
"So she only said that because she wants you to give Aimi a little leeway and stop making her so angry all the time."
"Be careful. One day you might accidentally make Aimi cry."
"Huh? Aimi can actually get angry enough to cry?" Megumi asked in disbelief.
"Of course."
"Aimi doesn't cry often, but if you really push her far enough, she will."
"When her anger builds past a certain point, her emotions become so intense that she doesn't know what to say anymore, or she can't express herself properly."
"Once she gets flustered enough, she'll start crying."
Kotomi Izumi explained with a smile.
"Then I'll be more careful when I talk to Aimi from now on."
"Even though she always likes provoking me, I don't actually want to make her cry."
"Although sometimes, even if I pretend not to hear her provocations, she still refuses to coexist peacefully..."
Megumi gave a helpless twitch of her lips.
Then she lowered her head, looked at Kotomi's face, and softly said,
"Still, speaking of Aimi... she really does cling to you a lot."
"I've wondered before whether the reason she's so hostile toward me is because she thinks I'm going to steal you away."
That's because Aimi has treated you like a love rival for ages... Kotomi silently agreed.
Out loud, however, she said,
"Who knows~ Maybe Aimi just dislikes you for no particular reason."
"But she really does like clinging to me."
"We grew up together, and when I was little, I depended on Aimi a lot."
"Huh? The older sister depended heavily on the younger sister?" Megumi asked in surprise.
This was the first time she had ever heard Kotomi mention it.
"Yeah."
"After all, when I was little, I was a useless older sister who couldn't even dress herself properly."
"And I ate a lot too."
"Sometimes I'd be playing in my room in the afternoon and suddenly get hungry and want something to eat."
"With a useless older sister like me, Aimi learned how to take care of me pretty quickly."
"Sometimes when I got hungry and wanted formula, Aimi was the one who prepared it for me."
Kotomi Izumi smiled as she spoke.
By the end, she even looked a little embarrassed.
"Haha. Hearing that Aimi took care of you so meticulously ever since childhood suddenly helps me understand why she's so hostile toward me."
"After all, I'm the one planning to 'steal away' the Kotomi she's looked after since she was little~"
"If I put myself in her place, I might even use some extreme methods."
Megumi said it half-jokingly and gently rubbed her cheek against Kotomi's.
Although Megumi had only been half-joking, Kotomi still shuddered when she heard the words.
Because she knew perfectly well that Megumi really was capable of using extreme methods!
For example—
A hatchet.
The "wonderful" memories of that hatchet resurfaced once again, and Kotomi suddenly felt a phantom ache in her abdomen.
"Kotomi, what's wrong?"
Megumi noticed Kotomi's expression suddenly change and asked curiously.
"N-Nothing."
Kotomi Izumi quickly shook her head.
She could hardly tell Megumi, I suddenly remembered that you once stabbed me to death with a hatchet.
After a while longer, Kotomi slowly sat up from Megumi's embrace.
Normally, this was about the time she would finally get up after going back to sleep.
She brought Megumi downstairs with her.
After eating breakfast together, Kotomi Izumi left the house with Megumi.
The moment she opened the door, a blast of cold wind hit her face and made Kotomi shrink her neck.
"It's freezing. Is the temperature dropping again?"
It was already late October.
As November drew closer, the temperature was steadily falling.
Remembering that it had even snowed a few days ago when she left for Kyoto, Kotomi could not help sighing,
"The snow came really early this year."
"With the temperature dropping like this, it already feels like winter."
"Do you know what I wanted to do most when it snowed that day?" Megumi Kato asked with a light smile.
Faced with the question, Kotomi tried thinking for a while but still could not come up with an answer.
So she shook her head.
"I can't think of anything."
"Don't give me a hint. Just tell me the answer."
"All right. Since that's the case, I'll tell you."
"The answer is that I wanted to build a snow hut with you!"
"A snow hut?"
Kotomi Izumi froze for a moment.
Then she said nostalgically,
"Ah, that really takes me back."
"When I was little, whenever it snowed heavily, I'd use the snow on the ground the next day to build a little snow hut."
"Sitting inside it and eating snacks felt special."
"They were the same snacks I usually ate, but somehow they tasted different inside a snow hut."
"Exactly."
"Unfortunately, Chiba hasn't had many heavy snowfalls in recent years."
"Now that I think about it, it's probably been several years since I last built a snow hut."
"The temperature is dropping quickly this year, so we'll probably get another big snowfall eventually."
"When that happens, let's build one together."
"Okay."
Megumi nodded vigorously after Kotomi agreed, feeling very happy inside.
Chatting and laughing along the way, they soon reached school.
After arriving at Class 1-F, Kotomi greeted Yui Yuigahama and the others, then returned to her seat.
She placed her phone on the desk and prepared to continue watching the television drama she had recently been following.
Incidentally, when she greeted Yukino Yukinoshita earlier, Kotomi could clearly sense that Yukino was waiting for her answer.
After noticing that expectation, Kotomi very much wanted to respond to Yukino as soon as possible.
She practically wanted to give her an answer right then.
But after realizing that Megumi Kato, Yui Yuigahama, and Mashiro Shiina were all nearby, she had no choice but to abandon the thought.
It was not only because Kotomi feared Megumi's hatchet.
More importantly, Kotomi knew perfectly well that she had not yet responded to Mashiro Shiina's feelings either!
Mashiro had first confessed her feelings to Kotomi before Sobu High School's cultural festival had even begun.
At that time, Kotomi Izumi had not even become lovers with Yui Yuigahama yet.
Sitting at her desk, Kotomi spent several minutes thinking about whether she should respond to Mashiro first or Yukino first.
After thinking for a long time, she still could not decide.
So in the end, she chose not to think about it for now.
She would simply let things happen naturally.
When the boat reached the bridge, it would straighten itself out.
By the time one episode of the drama finished and the ending song began to play, the new homeroom teacher of Class 1-F, Eiren Kanagawa, finally arrived late.
She placed her handbag on the podium and apologetically said to the students,
"Sorry, everyone."
"Sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday was just too comfortable, so I completely forgot today was Monday and almost slept until I woke up naturally out of habit."
"Luckily, I didn't cover myself properly with the blanket last night and woke up because I was cold this morning."
"I was just about to check my phone and go back to sleep when I saw the time, and all my sleepiness vanished instantly."
"Fortunately, the traffic lights were very cooperative today."
"Most of them were green when I drove through."
"I only had to wait for a red light for a few minutes at one intersection."
"What time did everyone wake up this morning?"
"Did anyone else almost go back to sleep and then suddenly realize today was Monday like I did?"
The moment Eiren Kanagawa arrived, she spoke in such a humorous, playful way that she hardly looked like someone who had nearly been late.
Sure enough, her jokes once again made the students laugh.
The classroom, which had originally felt somewhat gloomy because it was Monday, finally became a little livelier.
And just like that, the first homeroom period of Monday morning passed pleasantly.
During the break after third period, Megumi Kato went out to buy Kotomi a Pepsi.
Yui Yuigahama went with her.
Kotomi Izumi remained alone at her seat, continuing to watch her drama.
Seeing that Megumi and Yui had left, Yukino Yukinoshita finally seemed to spot her opportunity.
She turned around and spoke to Kotomi, who was looking down at her drama with Bluetooth earbuds in.
"Kotomi."
Kotomi did not react.
She was too absorbed in the drama, and with in-ear Bluetooth earbuds in both ears, there was no way she could hear Yukino calling her.
"Kotomi!"
Yukino raised her voice slightly and reached out to gently nudge Kotomi.
Only then did Kotomi come back to her senses.
She removed her Bluetooth earbuds and looked at Yukino in confusion.
"Yukino, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing. I just wanted to ask you..."
Yukino hesitated shyly for a moment.
Then she finally gathered her courage and said,
"Are you free this Sunday?"
"I recently learned how to make a new dish."
"I thought you might like it, so I wanted to invite you to my house for dinner this Sunday."
The moment Kotomi heard Yukino wanted to cook for her, she felt tempted.
But the moment she heard it was this Sunday, Kotomi refused without hesitation.
"Sorry, Yukino."
"I'm a little busy this Sunday, so I don't really have time."
Because I'm going on a date with Iroha... Kotomi silently added in her heart.
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