"I'll work on Sagiri's way of thinking!"
Faced with Sato's gaze, Izumi Chiyo spoke somewhat cautiously.
I know it's my fault, okay!
She pouted inwardly, feeling a little wronged.
Wasn't she already actively trying to correct things?
"In that case, I won't disturb you any longer."
"Mhm."
Izumi Chiyo nodded gently and did not try to keep him.
After Sato left, the door to Sagiri's room quietly opened a crack. A pair of lively eyes peeked out through the gap before Sagiri's weak little voice sounded.
"Okaa-san, did Onii-chan leave?"
"He left."
Izumi Sagiri softly let out a sigh of relief before opening the door and walking out.
Seeing this, Izumi Chiyo helplessly crouched down in front of her daughter and pinched her cheek.
"Is Little Nohara really that scary? Why do you insist on hiding from him?"
Sagiri's lips moved slightly, but no words came out. Her adorable face simply turned red.
This was not a matter of fear at all.
It was a matter of embarrassment.
"Alright then, Okaa-san won't ask about that anymore. But regarding the manga..."
Izumi Chiyo looked seriously at Sagiri and said:
"Okaa-san really hopes you can have a proper career in the future."
"But I like it..."
Sagiri spoke somewhat gloomily.
She really did not want to give up drawing doujinshi...
"Drawing manga doesn't mean you can't also do other things. When you have free time, you can still try other kinds of work too."
"Then... okay."
Sagiri hesitated for a while, but when she saw the hopeful look in Izumi Chiyo's eyes, she pressed her lips together and nodded.
Immediately, a gentle smile bloomed across Izumi Chiyo's face.
...
Before they realized it, time had already reached mid-February.
University entrance examinations across Japan had begun, and Fujimiya Konomi had spent several days running between different schools.
Although her first choice was Chiba University, she also had to consider what would happen if she failed to get in. So besides Chiba University, she attended entrance exams for several other universities as well.
However, those schools were all located in Chiba City, and their rankings were much lower compared to Chiba University. With time being tight, she could not travel farther away for exams and could only choose a few safer backup options.
As for the time afterward, Fujimiya Konomi completely relaxed.
After all, once the exams ended, there was basically an empty period until graduation in March.
In Japanese anime, one often saw cherry blossoms during graduations and school entrance ceremonies, precisely because both took place during cherry blossom season.
"Sato, your phone's ringing!"
Sato had just finished bathing and stepped out of the bathroom when he heard Fujimiya Konomi's voice from the living room.
"A call?"
Wrapping his bathrobe properly around himself, he walked toward the living room with some confusion.
Fujimiya Konomi was watching television there. The moment she saw him come out in a bathrobe, her face unconsciously reddened, and she could not help glaring at him.
"At least be a little careful!"
Sato glanced at her.
"When we were kids, a certain little brat even went swimming in the river with me."
Even though Fujimiya Konomi looked mature now, she had once been just as clueless as any child.
Naturally, Sato had not particularly wanted to play with girls either.
But he remembered one summer when the weather had been extremely hot. He went swimming in a small creek not far from home.
Unfortunately, while he was swimming there, Fujimiya Konomi happened to pass by and saw him.
Leaning over the bridge, she curiously looked at him while chattering nonstop with all kinds of questions.
The noise gave him such a headache that he tempted Fujimiya Konomi into coming down too.
Unexpectedly, after only a few words, she was actually persuaded.
Perhaps children from the countryside were naturally a little wild. Back then, still wearing a little dress, Fujimiya Konomi had jumped directly off the bridge.
Unfortunately, the water beneath the bridge was deeper than expected, and since she could not swim, she immediately started flailing around.
At that moment, Sato had been completely stunned.
You can't swim, and you still jumped in?!
He hurriedly swam over, pulled Fujimiya Konomi out, and dragged her to shore.
Oh, and he had also performed artificial respiration on her.
That incident was exactly how he first got to know Fujimiya Konomi.
Naturally, Fujimiya Konomi remembered that event very clearly as well. Hearing him mention it now, the girl who had already grown into a young woman could not help becoming embarrassed and angry.
"Don't talk about that!"
Grinding her teeth, she glared at Sato in humiliation.
No matter how gentle and refined she had become now, that was still the greatest black history of her life.
Sato smiled before taking his phone and walking into the bedroom.
The caller ID on the screen read: Kasumi Utako.
"Hello?"
"Is this Miyabi-sensei?"
"It's me. What's wrong?"
Sato sat down on the bed while listening to the voice on the other end.
After he finished speaking, Kasumigaoka Utaha seemed to take a deep breath.
"You really are a pervert."
"..."
"Eh?"
"Let me ask you something first. Do you have a younger sister?"
Hearing that, Sato immediately understood why Kasumigaoka Utaha had called.
He sighed helplessly.
"No, so don't worry. There's not going to be any sibling-route development."
"Hmph!"
Kasumigaoka Utaha snorted from the other side of the phone before speaking gloomily.
"Miyabi-sensei, why did I never realize before that you were such a pervert?"
"No wonder you said this game would leave a heavy mark in galgame history. Your ideas are seriously twisted."
"This is just a normal game."
"How is any of this normal?!"
Kasumigaoka Utaha's voice suddenly rose several levels, sounding faintly resentful.
"I mean, brothers and sisters, and actual blood-related ones at that. Isn't that kind of development way too strange?"
"Stay calm, stay calm."
Sato comforted her a few times.
Although this sort of plot could absolutely make people's scalps tingle and shake them mentally, what normal person would actually do something like that in real life? Just dealing with everyday life was already exhausting enough...
"The music demo on my side is already prepared. Why don't you listen to it before deciding?"
After saying that, Sato walked over to the computer and sent Kasumigaoka Utaha the demo track that the members of the Light Music Club had already recorded.
There were still many flaws, but this was not the final version anyway.
Far away, in a certain bedroom, a girl frowned slightly as she sat down at her desk, put on her headphones, and clicked open the file that had just been sent over...