"Lin-kun,"
Haruno pointed a finger at her own belly, her playful eyes arching up, and went on with a face full of mirth, "What should we name our future child!"
Lin Ye slowly typed out a few question marks in his mind.
A child?
Your thoughts leap awfully fast.
"Let's leave the jokes there,"
"I'm serious, you know! I want to bear a child for you, Lin-kun,"
She was smiling, the words a joke, yet they were the kind of words you couldn't help but believe.
"Don't,"
"Is one too few for your liking? Then two. Or three would do too—any more than that won't work, though. If you really want more by then, Lin-kun, I'd have no choice but to ask Yukino to help out."
Aren't you the one who most detests me getting close to your little sister?
So how come now you're using your little sister to bewitch me again?
Truth and falsehood mingled, the real and the unreal all at once.
Lin Ye knew he only needed to grasp the crux of Haruno's words, not to be dazzled by her surface behavior and conduct—just seize the essence of the matter and that would be enough.
"Let's skip that middle step of yours and just have Yukino come over directly."
In an instant,
Lin Ye caught the flash of startled, unwilling expression that crossed Haruno's face.
This sister-complex woman still didn't want Lin Ye getting close to the little sister she loved and cared about most.
Otherwise, why would Haruno come rushing over so promptly each of the last few times he'd visited Yukino's apartment!?
"I really can't skip my part of the process! If you skip me, how could I make you happy, Lin-kun!"
"Skip you, and I'd be even happier."
"How sad. How could you treat a great beauty like me this way, Lin-kun!"
"A detestable great beauty can be dealt with just like this,"
"Even sadder. A boy like you, Lin-kun—I really can't fathom why the big star Mai Sakurajima would like you."
Haruno sighed with feeling.
Lin Ye gave a small laugh. "Surely you can guess the reason?"
Now that Mai Sakurajima's presence had been restored and the memories of those involved had returned, there was no way Haruno wouldn't know the reason—after all, Haruno could be counted as having taken part in this whole affair from beginning to end.
"Sigh, a hero saving a beauty, rescuing a damsel in distress from a hell of dire misery—no wonder Mai Sakurajima fell for you and came to like you."
Putting herself in those shoes,
Haruno felt that even she herself might have fallen. She was already a fairly rational girl,
more rational, more mature, calculating by gains and losses, by profit and interest.
Stronger than Yukino by who knew how many times.
But if she'd faced the same situation as Mai Sakurajima, faced a Lin Ye who reached out a hand for her without regard for anything, then this maiden's heart of hers—so strictly kept under control—would sprout once again, grow, and perhaps in the end bloom into a charming flower.
"Lin Ye really is too amazing—one girl after another falls for your gentleness,"
"You aren't, you didn't."
"Hahahaha…"
Haruno's smile was radiant.
Lin Ye and Haruno said their goodbyes.
She saw Lin Ye off a few steps, then turned back, once more coming to Yukino's apartment, and detected no problem in the living room.
How to put it!?
Knowing Lin Ye had come to Yukino's apartment, she panicked!!
Even though she knew she could guard against it for a while but not forever, unease was still unease. To ease the worry in her heart, to find peace of mind.
Haruno knew her state wasn't right, yet she couldn't avoid it—when it came to matters involving her little sister, she often couldn't keep herself rationally in check.
"Sigh!"
To be completely at ease in the future, either Lin Ye would have to leave Yukino entirely, or… she'd truly end up together with Yukino,
Haruno let out a soft sigh as she came to the door of Yukino's bedroom,
'Knock knock knock…'
She rapped on her little sister's bedroom door.
"Come in."
From the rhythm of the knocking, Yukino knew it was her sister.
Today, her sister had paid another visit.
To be honest, the frequency was getting a bit high.
Associating the fact that both times her sister had arrived just when Lin Ye came, she inevitably linked the two together.
Once was a coincidence, but twice—the odds of it being a coincidence were very small.
Yukino quickly arrived at a guess,
and that guess made her displeased with her sister.
"Good evening, Yukino."
Before responding, Yukino did her best to sit up and lean back against the headboard, making herself look a little more natural.
"Sister, is there something?"
"I can come find Yukino even without a reason, can't I!"
Having said that, Haruno walked in and came to the bedside. "Yukino, guess who I ran into on my way here?"
"Lin Ye,"
"Correct. And here I thought Yukino was planning to hide it for a bit, holding on to some wishful thinking."
Yukino Yukinoshita shot her sister a sidelong glance. "He's my boyfriend, my fiancé. There's no need for me to hide it."
"Wah, Yukino, you're serious!"
"I'm very serious."
Haruno's heart chilled by half.
"Then why not have your fiancé stay over,"
She'd found her point of counterattack,
"We still need to spend some more time together. I think that day will come quite soon."
Haruno fell silent.
In the past, she would merely have treated this as her little sister's simple retort against her, but now, she could no longer be sure—perhaps her sister really did have this thought.
Maybe, this was her little sister's true thinking after all!?
"Don't regret it."
"There's no need for you to worry, Sister. I, Yukino Yukinoshita, will never do anything I'll regret. The things I do, I'll bear the corresponding consequences myself."
The girl with long black hair spoke earnestly, her words steeped in maturity and accountability,
but Haruno only wanted to sigh that her little sister was merely putting on an act of being mature.
She was still far, far from the point of standing on her own and bearing responsibility.
"Save that for when you're grown up and can say it to our parents!"
Yukino Yukinoshita understood that her sister hadn't believed her.
This… was no surprise either. She had never once received her sister's trust and recognition.
But one day in the future, she would surely prove it, would surely make her sister acknowledge her.
"Sister, I'm sleepy,"
"Rest early,"
With that said,
Haruno smiled and began to undo her own clothes.
"Sister, what are you—"
"Since Lin-kun isn't staying to keep Yukino company, naturally it falls to me, your sister, to stay and keep Yukino company, so Yukino won't be lonely all alone in the dead of night,"
"Who would be lonely!"
Yukino Yukinoshita's emotions flared up all at once.
Haruno simply ignored her, stripped down, and slipped in.
"No getting into bed without bathing first,"
"I'm your sister,"
"No,"
But Haruno was already in bed,
and very soon,
Yukino was exposed. She couldn't hold a single posture for long, and as she lay back down, Haruno noticed something off about her.
Haruno's first reaction was that her little sister had lost her first time, just moments ago—but if that were the case, Lin Ye couldn't possibly have left.
"Yukino, what's this…"
"It's nothing, my body's just a little uncomfortable,"
"He bullied you,"
Haruno deliberately questioned in a cold tone brimming with murderous intent.
"It has nothing to do with Lin Ye,"
That said, she still felt it did have something to do with Lin Ye.
Still, in the end the injury was caused by her own carelessness; she bore the main responsibility.
"Really defending him."
"It has nothing to do with him."
"Fine, fine, fine, can't I just believe you? I also don't believe my little sister would hand herself over to that man so quickly."
"Sister, I think you should hurry and find yourself a partner!"
If her sister had a partner, she wouldn't have so much time and energy to spend on her.
This was Yukino Yukinoshita's thinking.
She hoped that in the future, that partner of her sister's could share some of the pressure for her.
"Do you support me, Sister?"
"I don't oppose it,"
"Whoa, the one your sister likes is Lin-kun, you know!"
"Get away from me,"
She knew her troublemaking sister would say exactly that.
"How hurtful."
Haruno wrapped her arms around her little sister Yukino with a chuckle,
"Ow,"
Yukino instantly let out a pained cry.
At last, Haruno also learned where her little sister was hurt and uncomfortable.
"You! If you took a fall and got hurt, you should've told your sister. If you won't tell your sister, you should at least tell that fiancé you can't stop thinking about and adoring!"
"There's no can't-stop-thinking-about,"
"You didn't deny the adoring,"
Yukino Yukinoshita instantly wanted to retort, but realized that continuing to talk with her sister would only drag her into an even greater disadvantage.
In the end, she once again used her consistent method—silence; that is, keeping silent.
"I'm tired, I'm going to sleep,"
"…"
Haruno gazed at her little sister, who had closed her eyes, and her own eyes turned gentle. "Good night, Yukino."
'Click,' the light went out.
The room sank into silence.
The hearts of the two sisters still kept their distance, drawing no closer at all.
...
...
Facing Lin Ye's arrival, Kyou Fujibayashi no longer had the same resistance as before,
only, seeing Lin Ye again, she couldn't help but recall the trembling of that night.
"My sister is resting upstairs. You can go up and see her,"
"Thank you,"
"But…"
"But what?"
"No funny business. My sister's body hasn't recovered yet."
Kyou Fujibayashi warned.
She was worried Lin Ye wouldn't be able to restrain himself and would go tormenting her sister again—given her sister's current physical condition, she couldn't withstand the ravaging.
"What kind of person do you take me for?"
"Hmph, a man who can't get enough,"
"If I really couldn't get enough, I'd have taken you first thing,"
Lin Ye joked. With Kyou Fujibayashi, he could already make jokes like this.
The two of them had at the time come just a hair's breadth from breaking through that final layer of their relationship, and Ryou Fujibayashi was aware of all of it.
"Got the guts to try? You dare?"
"I can't do wrong by Ryou."
"Heh,"
Kyou Fujibayashi laughed. "If you really mean that, then go and break things off with the other women on your own, be good to my sister alone, and I'll believe you,"
Faced with this proposal, Lin Ye gave a faint smile and offered no answer.
For Kyou Fujibayashi, that was already enough. This guy Lin Ye wouldn't give up other women for her sister's sake—even though Lin Ye had already had a physical relationship with her sister.
Lin Ye went upstairs and knocked on Ryou Fujibayashi's bedroom door.
"Come in,"
After the door opened,
the moment Ryou Fujibayashi saw it was Lin Ye, she immediately set down her tablet and made to rise and greet him. Lin Ye quickly raised a hand to gesture for the girl to stay put,
"Just stay seated, Ryou."
With a click, the bedroom door closed.
Sitting downstairs, Kyou Fujibayashi glanced over, then thought for a moment and went to the kitchen to prepare tea.
Since Lin Ye had come, he was a guest, and so she would treat Lin Ye as a guest—though this particular guest was, to her, rather complicated.
Kyou Fujibayashi busied herself in the kitchen once again.
Meanwhile, in the upstairs bedroom,
Lin Ye pulled over a chair and sat by the bed, chatting idly with Ryou Fujibayashi.
"Ryou, how's your body feeling?"
"It's actually a lot better. Because of your ability, Lin-kun, I don't really feel much pain, but for the sake of my body it's still necessary, so, still…"
As she spoke, she blushed again.
Lin Ye gave a faint smile and gestured for the girl to relax.
"And you, Lin-kun—how was school today?"
"Not bad,"
He briefly mentioned the events of these past couple of days, though he didn't tell her about the matter with Rui Tachibana.
His relationship with Ryou had already grown intimate to this degree, but not to the point of telling her one hundred percent of everything about himself.
Still, if the girl asked him outright, he wouldn't deliberately hide it.
"Um… Lin-kun, tonight…"
Facing Lin Ye's puzzled look, Ryou Fujibayashi's cheeks grew even more flushed. "Actually, I… it's fine, or maybe I could…"
"Ryou, what nonsense are you imagining? I came over today simply to visit you and confirm your physical condition, not to satisfy my own desires."
Ryou Fujibayashi nodded hard. "Sorry, I… I remember the book mentioned that afterward, a boy's needs increase."
"Isn't it a girl's?"
"Ha!"
Ryou Fujibayashi froze in a daze.
"Both, actually, but a girl's needs aren't low either, so—Ryou, are you hinting at something?"
Ryou Fujibayashi shook her head hard in denial, nearly shaking it like a rattle-drum. "No, no, I'm not! I have to take care of my body—how could I be thinking about that sort of thing."
But the reality was that she really did, on occasion, replay that night in her mind.
Although toward the end it had been unbearably painful, and she'd wanted to flee several times, on the whole it had still let her experience a comfort like heaven on earth.
She did feel a bit nostalgic for it.
"I am thinking about it, you know!"
"Eh!"
"Just kidding,"
"Uh, ngh…"
Ryou Fujibayashi gritted her teeth and pouted,
but the corners of her mouth curled up, carrying a faint, happy smile. She, Ryou Fujibayashi, liked her current life.
Soon,
the topic turned to Chiba City Hospital, and Lin Ye asked about the serial car crash in Chiba from a while back.
"Ryou, there's a girl named 'Sora Kasugano.' Do you know her?"
Ryou Fujibayashi searched her memory.
"It seems there really was such a girl—silver-haired, I think, and very cute, though I never saw her myself. Another colleague saw her and told me about it,"
She recalled a few things,
"She said the girl was quite pitiful—her parents and older brother all died in that car crash, leaving her all alone,"
"Sigh,"
The gentle girl's sympathy overflowed once again,
but soon she lifted her head to look at Lin Ye. "Lin-kun, why are you suddenly asking about her—did you… run into her?"
That said, she did, after all, worry whether Lin Ye had taken an interest in that girl.
"Mm, I ran into her on the subway yesterday and asked a friend to look into it. I learned she'd been hospitalized at Chiba City Hospital for a while,"
Lin Ye told Ryou Fujibayashi about encountering Sora Kasugano on the train last night.
"Thank goodness for you, Lin-kun—otherwise, who knows what brutal life experience Sora Kasugano might have had to go through."
Being assaulted by a pervert was something no girl could accept.
For a girl, it was something hard to speak of yet would leave a lifelong shadow.
She only had to imagine—if the girl really had such an experience, what terrible thing might a girl who'd lost her parents and older brother do?
One careless moment, and she might choose suicide to end her own life.
In that instant, Ryou Fujibayashi was worried.
Fortunately, Sora had met Lin Ye.
Lin-kun truly was a man who helped wherever he went.
"Ryou, have you heard any other information?"
Under Lin Ye's questioning, Ryou Fujibayashi racked her brain but couldn't come up with much. She took out her phone and said, "Let me ask my colleague. She had contact with her and knows more than I do—she should know more."
"Sorry to trouble you, Ryou,"
"Why stand on ceremony with me,"
Ryou quickly dialed a number. "Xiaomei, it's like this—I'd like to find out about Sora Kasugano. Yes, the cute little girl who lost her parents and older brother last month."
"Why are you asking?"
"It's like this—a friend of mine ran into her, and now she's all alone, so I'm a bit worried. Didn't I happen to hear about it from you all?"
A few minutes later,
Ryou Fujibayashi obtained more about Sora Kasugano's time at the hospital.
"According to my friend, while she was hospitalized, she would get up in the middle of the night now and then, saying she'd seen her mom, dad, and older brother,"
"Everyone understood, but gradually, as it happened more and more often, it made people feel a bit strange,"
"In the end, though, no one ever actually saw the parents and brother she spoke of,"
"Oh, and there was a black rabbit doll she always held onto, and she wouldn't let anyone touch it,"
...
Lin Ye recalled the original work.
In the original, Sora Kasugano also frequently held onto a black rabbit doll.
But on the train, she hadn't been holding that black rabbit doll.
Was it simply a coincidence?
Generally, carrying a doll around when going out wasn't really appropriate, after all.
Lin Ye still kept a wary eye on the doll.
"Thank you,"
"I already said, there's no need for thanks between us,"
Ryou Fujibayashi reminded him once again.
'Knock knock knock…'
"Ryou, Lin Ye, it's me, I'm coming in,"
"Okay, Sister."
The door opened,
and Kyou Fujibayashi walked in carrying a tray,
two cups of tea along with fruit, small cakes, and that sort of tea snack.
Once inside,
Kyou Fujibayashi set the tray down by the nightstand. "Help yourselves."
"Thank you, Miss Fujibayashi,"
Lin Ye responded with a smile.
"I'll be going now. You two shouldn't chat too late either. Oh, and Student Lin—stay over at our place tonight! I'll prepare a guest room for you afterward,"
"This…"
"Lin-kun, stay! Head to school a little earlier tomorrow morning."
Under Ryou Fujibayashi's urging to stay, Lin Ye agreed.
Kyou Fujibayashi left the room, giving the time and space to Lin Ye and Ryou Fujibayashi.
"Your sister's a bit different now,"
"My sister's attitude toward people she's familiar with, people she has a good feeling about, is actually fine!"
At the very least, Ryou Fujibayashi was reassured, knowing her sister would get along well with Lin Ye,
even though the two of them had earlier come close to getting along all the way into bed.
"So I used to leave a really bad impression in your sister's mind,"
"A man who's got his eye on her little sister—do you think the impression would be good? If you had a little sister, Lin-kun, and a man had his eye on your sister, what would your reaction be?"
"Tokyo Bay would need one more corpse,"
"Hmm?"
After a brief moment of astonishment, Ryou Fujibayashi covered her mouth and laughed. "Hahaha, Lin-kun, you see! Even you're like this—you're even more ruthless than my sister. At least my sister wouldn't think of killing someone,"
The key point was that she knew Lin Ye had the ability to kill someone and get away with it.
She also worried Lin Ye might really do such a thing, but on second thought she still felt she was overthinking it.
"Your sister has surely thought of it too—she just never said it out loud,"
"Ah, my sister—my sister isn't that kind of girl,"
"Ask her, just ask and you'll know,"
He looked at the girl before him with a smile. "Under my ability, your sister Kyou Fujibayashi can't hide anything,"
Hypnosis was far too powerful—her sister would definitely speak her true feelings.
"This… let's not, there's no need to spend the time on it,"
She gently declined, not daring to, finding no need for it.
"You see! You don't even have confidence in your own sister,"
"I do have confidence! My sister likes to bully people and take revenge, but she definitely doesn't have any thoughts of killing—definitely not, absolutely not,"
She kept psyching herself up, cheering herself on.
So Lin Ye didn't continue arguing with the girl.
Half an hour later, Lin Ye ended his conversation with Ryou Fujibayashi.
"Rest early. I'm getting ready to rest too,"
"Mm, good night, Lin-kun,"
"You too, good night, Ryou,"
As he reached the doorway, the girl's voice came from behind him, "In a few days, it should… should… be okay."
This girl—still so fond of thinking of others.
Lin Ye felt that if he made a request right now, she definitely wouldn't refuse.
This meek girl always put others' thoughts and needs first, while her own situation, by contrast, she barely considered at all.
This just wouldn't do!
To love someone, you must first love yourself—if you don't even know how to love yourself, how can you love others?
Lin Ye worried that Ryou Fujibayashi would suffer losses in the future, would be bullied.
A girl like this—he couldn't quite set his mind at ease about her.
Lin Ye came to the guest room, walked in and turned on the light, and just as he was about to close the door he saw Kyou Fujibayashi arriving.
"Miss Fujibayashi, you haven't rested yet?"
"I want to talk with you alone,"
Lin Ye looked at the girl, then finally gestured with his hand. "Please."
The two came into the guest room and sat facing each other, one on the bed, one on the chair.
The silence lasted for a while,
and Kyou Fujibayashi spoke first. "As her sister, I hope you can be faithful to Ryou,"
She was direct and decisive, going straight to the point,
and that stumped Lin Ye,
he couldn't be faithful.
"Miss Fujibayashi, I'll take good care of Ryou, and I'll give her happiness,"
This answer already conveyed Lin Ye's intent to gently decline,
Kyou Fujibayashi caught it. In fact, she'd known from the very start—to make this guy be faithful to one girl was harder than ascending to heaven.
In the past,
she would have taken a hardline stance, forcing Lin Ye to break up and actively distance himself from her sister.
But now, she would no longer do that,
she knew she had no standing for it.
"Be better to my sister. I don't want my sister to be heartbroken. If you can't give my sister happiness, then please leave my sister Ryou of your own accord. Better a short pain than a long one,"
This was Kyou Fujibayashi's advice and thinking at this moment.
Her sister and Lin Ye already had a physical relationship; making the two of them break up now was unrealistic,
but as for the future, it really wasn't certain.
Faced with the other women around Lin Ye, could her sister fully endure it?
At the very least, Kyou Fujibayashi herself couldn't endure it for long,
love, in the end, was selfish.
But compared with her attitude before, she'd softened a great, great deal.
"If my sister wants to break up with you in the future, please don't forcibly keep her by your side, and even more, don't use a power like Hypnosis to alter her will."
Power—this power was too formidable, able even to affect memory.
Kyou Fujibayashi had once wondered whether she too had been subjected to Lin Ye's hypnotic power, but in the end she chose not to think deeply about it, treating it as though it had never happened.
"I can promise you that,"
"Thank you,"
Kyou Fujibayashi gave her thanks. "As for the promise I once owed you,"
Hmm?
No way! You still intend to make good on it?
And you still insist on doing something with me?
"Giving myself to you is impossible, but some other form of compensation, I can still manage,"
The moment Lin Ye heard it, he knew Kyou Fujibayashi hadn't dug herself into a corner and was still fixated on the content of that promise.
This was a good thing,
"What compensation do you want? If it's something I can do,"
"I can't think of anything right now. I'll contact you once I do,"
Lin Ye didn't refuse; instead, he calmly accepted—only by accepting would the girl not harbor an even greater sense of indebtedness toward him.
This was the girl's compensation to him,
Lin Ye understood.
"Alright,"
Kyou Fujibayashi accepted it.
"It's getting late, so rest early too. If anything comes up, contact me—you can come straight to my room,"
"Okay,"
But Kyou Fujibayashi didn't immediately get up to leave.
"Is there something else?"
Right now Kyou Fujibayashi looked very hesitant, and what's more, her cheeks were still flushed, wearing an embarrassed expression.
"Whatever you want to say, you can say it directly,"
Under Lin Ye's coaxing, Kyou Fujibayashi spoke up.
Her purple eyes fixed on Lin Ye, flickering with a faint bashfulness. "From now on… when you bully Ryou, be a little gentler, and the time… don't let it drag on too long either. She… won't be able to take it,"
"You—you too, show some restraint. It's not good for your body,"
Lin Ye: "…"
He knew the reason.
He knew Kyou Fujibayashi had also experienced it firsthand.
Her saying it outright meant she herself surely couldn't take it.
"I'll be mindful,"
"Thank you,"
Kyou Fujibayashi also knew that not having that need satisfied was a rather agonizing thing, but still, she felt she had to say it.
If Ryou were bullied so fiercely every single time, she felt her sister would surely be broken.
Kyou Fujibayashi glanced several more times at Lin Ye's slight frame.
Could a young man's body really be that good?
According to the information she'd gotten from books, a man shouldn't be that strong.
Or was it because of that connection he'd gotten tangled up with?
Before she knew it, having returned to her room, Kyou Fujibayashi was overthinking.
And the experience of that night surfaced once again.
How unbearable!
She was clearly a virgin!
Why did she have that sort of experience.
So hard,
she wanted to cry so badly.
Kyou Fujibayashi had insomnia.
The next day,
Lin Ye got up early, used the Fujibayashi home's kitchen to prepare breakfast for the two girls, and then left.
After returning home and changing into his Sobu High uniform, he headed to school again.
Today,
Yukinoshita came to school.
Lunch was taken care of.
After school,
at Yukinoshita's reminder, Lin Ye went in to take part in club activities.
The Service Club,
had one new visitor.
...
____
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