After hearing this, Tachibana Hina slowly sat up, stretched, and settled down beside the tea table, taking out a can of beer and opening it.
"So I was discovered? I worked so hard to maintain my initial position without moving at all."
"After all, that night at the bar you drank four bottles of high-alcohol beer continuously, and at the end you could still walk home steadily with a normal expression.
I don't think two cans of beer could knock you out."
After hearing Murakami Yuu's explanation, Tachibana Hina looked at the two empty cans in the trash.
"Really, so that was the problem. I thought I was discovered when I was secretly peeking at you two."
Tachibana Hina laughed and poured some beer into her mouth, then her expression suddenly changed, turning to look at Murakami Yuu with resentful eyes.
"Since you already discovered it from the beginning, you should have exposed me earlier. Making me pretend to lie there for so long was very uncomfortable."
"No way."
Murakami Yuu smiled.
It was rare for Tachibana Hina to collapse and leave the scene on her own, providing an opportunity. He was then actively invited by Tachibana Rui to soak in the hot spring. Connecting this to the message full of implications she had sent him earlier, combined with the current situation, he concluded that something might happen in the hot spring pool.
After all, Murakami Yuu was also a normal man who had expectations for such things. Even if nothing really happened, he could at least enjoy some small benefits from the sidelines, so naturally he wouldn't expose Tachibana Hina and let her get up to interfere.
It was about what he had expected in advance—he did receive some benefits, but the development was somewhat unexpected.
Murakami Yuu glanced at Tachibana Rui and found that she had changed from lying flat to lying on her side.
He imperceptibly curved his lips.
Tachibana Hina covered her forehead and looked at the night sky in the garden, slowly sighing.
"Despite having such a handsome appearance, inside you're completely black-hearted.
For some reason, when talking with you, it doesn't feel like facing a student, but rather like facing a scheming adult."
"Current male high school students are all like this. There are many who are mature and precocious. I'm just one of them."
"They're different. Their maturity is directed toward adult books, and their precociousness is in romantic relationships."
Hearing this answer, Murakami Yuu instantly thought of his close friend Torizuka Reita—it was an incredibly apt description.
But he still instinctively chose to defend his male compatriots:
"That's a bit too generalized. It's not good to condemn everyone with one stroke."
Tachibana Hina finished her beer, shook her head, and said nothing more. She stood up and walked to the sleeping Tachibana Rui's side, poking her face with her finger. The latter murmured softly twice, gently grasped the mischievous finger, and fell back into deep sleep.
"Rui is really cute."
Tachibana Hina stroked Tachibana Rui's hair.
"Gentle, clumsy, wholeheartedly helping her foolish sister return to the right path.
That little brat who used to follow behind me has also grown up. If I had talked seriously with her from the beginning, perhaps so many things wouldn't have happened."
Murakami Yuu glanced back at her, then quickly turned to face the garden, with his back to them.
"It's not too late. At least nothing irreversible happened. Since you already know your mistakes, just proceed on the correct life path from now on."
"That's true. My problems have been resolved. Next is her matter, or rather, your matter with her."
Tachibana Hina was silent for a while, then asked softly:
"You two have already done it, haven't you?"
Hearing this, Murakami Yuu could no longer maintain his composure. He turned to look at the smiling Tachibana Hina, but his words still showed no flaws:
"Why would you think that?"
"What if I said that we sisters have telepathy, and many things that happen to one person's body can be vaguely felt by the other? Would you believe it?"
"Whether I believe it or not is secondary. I'd think that would be a very erotic thing, especially in certain specific situations."
Murakami Yuu stepped on the gas, slightly increasing the speed.
Veteran driver Tachibana Hina understood immediately and glanced at him with some displeasure.
"The night Rui didn't come home, when I was cleaning the next evening and went to her room to collect trash, I found an emergency contraceptive pill box in the wastebasket.
Rui has had very few friends since childhood, and not a single male friend. But you appeared at this time, making it hard not to think in that direction."
"That's quite a logical analysis..."
"So, am I right?"
Although Tachibana Hina was asking, her tone was very certain.
Meeting her inquiring gaze, Murakami Yuu originally wanted to nod. After all, Tachibana Hina was Tachibana Rui's sister, and as family, she had the right to know. There was no harm in telling her about this.
But then he thought about the circumstances that led to that incident. The root cause that prompted Tachibana Rui to make such a move was Tachibana Hina herself. Because she felt her sister was immature and didn't understand the adult world, the stimulated Tachibana Rui wanted to shed her naivety on a physical level to prove she was already a qualified adult who could communicate with her sister on the same level.
Knowing that her sister had casually given away a girl's first time in such a way, what would Tachibana Hina think?
Self-blame? Heartache? Regret?
In any case, it wouldn't be positive emotions...
Thinking of this, Murakami Yuu chose to shake his head in response to Tachibana Hina's question.
"My thinking is wrong?"
"I don't know."
Murakami Yuu gave such an ambiguous answer.
"What kind of answer is that?"
"After all, I've already agreed with Tachibana Rui-san that we won't tell anyone about what happened between us. The scope of 'anyone' includes you too, Hina-nee."
Tachibana Hina looked at Murakami Yuu who said this seriously, laughed softly, and didn't pursue the matter further.
"Do as you like. I won't ask about things between you two anymore.
Just please promise me one thing—don't make her sad, or else this sister will be very angry."
"You actually have siscon attributes?"
"It's just that I feel like I've rarely cared about her since Rui entered middle school, so I want to take some remedial measures to warm up our relationship.
Although it's somewhat late now, I still occasionally want to fulfill my responsibilities as a sister. Is that strange?"
"No, it's natural for a sister to protect her younger sister. That's a wonderful behavior."
Murakami Yuu glanced at the sleeping Tachibana Rui and smiled.
"I can't say absolutely, but within the scope of my vision, I'll try not to make her sad."
This was an answer that satisfied Tachibana Hina. She came to sit beside Murakami Yuu, picked up her beer and gestured toward him.
"Then I'm counting on you, Rui's prince."
"What an embarrassing nickname..."
Murakami Yuu picked up his beer and lightly clinked it with hers, then both drank it all.
Tachibana Hina then realized something and felt somewhat self-reproachful:
"Not knowing your identity and age at the bar before was one thing, but doesn't my behavior just now count as encouraging underage drinking?"
Murakami Yuu heard her words and helplessly opened two new cans of beer, handing one to Tachibana Hina while saying helplessly:
"It probably does. So are you planning to go to the police station to turn yourself in?"
"As if!"
"Then that's fine. Don't worry about so much in private situations. Anyway, let's toast first."
Murakami Yuu picked up the canned beer, but Tachibana Hina snatched it away.
"No way. I didn't react before, but now that I'm aware, I can't do this. Since you're a student, you should act like a student. If you pick up bad habits before entering society, you won't be popular with girls in the future."
Murakami Yuu looked at the serious Tachibana Hina with an expression of barely contained amusement.
"Won't be popular with girls..."
He repeated it quietly, finally couldn't hold back, and looked at Tachibana Hina with a smile.
"Are you serious about that?"
From Tachibana Hina's perspective, Murakami Yuu in front of her had exceptionally handsome three-dimensional features, with long, slightly curled eyelashes beneath which were a pair of bright and gentle eyes.
Although she was very reluctant to admit it, with such a dazzling, high-quality face, even if he had one or two bad habits, countless girls would probably still throw themselves into his arms, right?
But Tachibana Hina still didn't want to lose face as an adult in front of Murakami Yuu, so she stubbornly insisted:
"I'm serious! Don't argue with me about this. Anyway, I won't let you drink anymore."
She took orange juice from the side and tossed it to Murakami Yuu.
"Just drink this to keep me company."
"What an inflexible sister."
Murakami Yuu was somewhat helpless, but didn't continue to dwell on such matters. Watching Tachibana Hina pour another half bottle of beer into her mouth, he brought up the next topic:
"Just drinking is boring. Let's talk about something."
"Oh? What do you want to talk about?"
Under the dim indoor lighting, Tachibana Hina's face was slightly flushed from the alcohol.
"Let me think..."
Murakami Yuu propped himself up on the tatami behind him with both hands, and after thinking for a moment:
"Tell me about some things from Tachibana Rui-san's past. She seems to have never mentioned these to me, and I'm somewhat curious about what kind of person she used to be."
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