It is the dead of night when Ren wakes up suddenly. He is drenched in cold sweat, his breathing uneven and labored.
He looks around in panic.
Everything is silent, as always.
Iris and Yuzu are sleeping deeply beside him.
Mika, instead, is lying on top of him, her head resting on his chest.
It is one of those warm late-spring nights when Ren sleeps only in a pair of light shorts. Mika is wearing one of his T-shirts, definitely too big for her, and underneath she has only her panties.
It is the same nightmare — the one that has haunted him for six years. The night Raelor showed up at their door.
Before Eliss gave up her title as princess, Raelor had been her loyal bodyguard and, even after her marriage to Aoshi and the move to Earth, they had remained on good terms. In fact, they often invited him to dinner, and that evening he was there precisely for that reason.
But when Aoshi opened the door…
Ren will never forget his father's charred body collapsing to the ground, nor his mother's screams.
«Ren, Iris, take Yuzu and Mika and run — quickly!»
Those were her last words before she too was reduced to ashes, struck by Raelor's devastating attacks after a useless attempt to resist.
That night Raelor could have killed all four of them easily — and yet he did not.
Why did only their parents die? Why were they spared? Ren has no answer.
«R-Rennie… that bad dream again…?» Mika murmurs sleepily.
The agitation with which Ren woke up has roused her.
«It's nothing, really. Try to sleep, Mika.»
Ren closes his eyes again, but he cannot fall back asleep.
Partly because of that terrible nightmare, partly because of the light scratches Mika traces on his chest.
«R-Rennie… you're so tense… so nervous… if you want I can give you one of those relaxing massages you like so much, so you fall asleep again… what do you say?»
Ren gently strokes her brown bob haircut.
«Tomorrow you have the high school entrance exam, so you should rest. But thank you. You're really sweet.»
Mika shakes her head with determination — her large emerald-green eyes full of resolve.
«Absolutely not. After everything you do for us, let me do something for you. Please. I want to be useful too…»
Ren sighs in resignation. He knows he has no choice — Mika is stubborn enough to insist until dawn.
«All right… but promise that in five minutes we go back to sleep, okay? And not here — we would risk waking Iris and Yuzu.»
«Deal!»
Mika quickly slides off the bed. She grabs Ren's hand and drags him into the living room.
She makes him lie face down on the couch, then sits astride the lower part of his back — her thin thighs pressing against his hips.
Her small fingers sink into the muscles of Ren's back. She presses firmly on his shoulders, so hard that muffled groans escape his lips.
A bright future as a massage therapist awaits her — Ren always tells her that.
It all began a year earlier, when the physical education teacher gave a lesson on how to massage tense and inflamed muscles.
None of her classmates had paid attention, but Mika had been completely fascinated.
She had seen in that lesson a way to help her brother and, from that moment on, she devoted herself to learning. With such determination that, in just one self-taught year, she had reached an almost professional level.
«D-Do you… like it… Rennie?»
Her words are broken by long and deep yawns.
«Yes, Mika… you get better every day…»
«I'm really happy to hear that. And… by the way… I was thinking… when I finish middle school, maybe I won't continue studying. The mother of a friend of mine runs a wellness center, and she would be willing to hire me part-time. Then full-time when I come of age, if she likes my work… what do you think, Rennie?»
«Absolutely not.»
Ren's tone becomes serious and firm.
«W-Why…? At least I could help with the expenses too… Iris is destroying herself with work. I can't stand seeing her come home late and exhausted… I want to be useful too!»
Her movements become slower, weaker from tiredness.
«Mika… our sister does all this because she wants us to finish our studies and aim for a decent life. After all the sacrifices she's making, the last thing she would want is to see you throw everything away. She would never forgive you. And besides…»
Ren blushes slightly, his voice becoming uncertain.
«…I wouldn't be able to stand the idea of you putting your hands on some old pervert who goes there only to feel your touch…»
A long silence follows. Ren expects an objection, an insistence. Instead, nothing.
«Mika… are you okay?»
But he does not even have time to finish when… BAM!
Mika collapses onto him.
Now it is no longer her hands pressing on his back, but her soft chest.
Even though Mika is one year younger than Yuzu, she is already more physically developed, both in her chest and in her hips.
This is because Mika and Iris inherited their mother's curvy but slender figure, while Yuzu took after their father's slim build.
«Well… at least she fell asleep… If I move even a little, I'll wake her up, and she'll probably complain about not finishing the massage… ugh, what a situation…»
And yet, despite the weight of his sister on his back and the nightmare still fresh in his mind, Ren soon manages to fall asleep again.