After Megumi Kato found the first-aid kit in the living room cabinet, she returned to the second-floor bedroom. Looking at Kotomi Izumi tucked beneath the blanket as though she had already fallen fast asleep, Megumi hesitated for a moment over whether she should wake her.
If she did not wake Kotomi, she could let her sleep a little longer. Then, once Kotomi woke up naturally, Megumi would have the perfect excuse to let her stay the night. When nighttime came, they could even sleep together.
Megumi Kato was sorely tempted not to wake Kotomi. At the same time, however, she wanted to treat Kotomi's wounds as soon as possible, afraid that delaying too long might cause something to go wrong with them.
Applying antiseptic to the wounds would inevitably sting. If the pain woke Kotomi up, then once her wounds had been treated, she would probably go home.
Truthfully, Megumi Kato did not want Kotomi to go home. She wanted Kotomi to stay the night.
Just as Megumi Kato was still hesitating, Kotomi Izumi slowly opened her drowsy eyes and gazed at Megumi with a dreamy smile. It almost made one wonder whether Kotomi had truly been asleep just now or had merely been pretending.
"You brought the first-aid kit up?" Kotomi Izumi asked with a smile.
"Ah... Mm, I did. Do you want to sleep a little longer, or should I apply the antiseptic now?"
"Hehe. If possible, I'd like to do it myself. Self-reliance is the road to prosperity."
"No. Don't think I don't know exactly what you're planning. If I let you do it yourself, you'll definitely be scared of the pain and barely dab at it before calling it done."
Megumi Kato immediately saw through Kotomi's little scheme. As Kotomi's girlfriend, how could she possibly not know what Kotomi was thinking? Kotomi simply thought disinfecting the wounds would hurt too much, so she wanted to apply the antiseptic herself and use as little pressure as possible, reducing the pain somewhat.
"Aw, it's mainly because disinfecting wounds hurts way too much. Whether it's rubbing alcohol, iodine, or hydrogen peroxide..."
Seeing that Megumi Kato would not agree, Kotomi Izumi could only smile sheepishly before obediently sitting up.
Megumi Kato sat down and opened the first-aid kit. First, she wiped the tweezers with alcohol. Then she used them to pick up a sterile absorbent cotton ball, soaked it thoroughly in antiseptic solution, and used the saturated cotton ball to disinfect the wounds on Kotomi's body.
"Hiss—Megumi, be a little gentler! It doesn't feel like you're wiping my wounds with a cotton ball right now. It feels like you're stabbing them with a knife!"
The antiseptic stinging against her wounds made Kotomi Izumi suck in a sharp breath from the pain.
"Sorry. I'll try to be even gentler. You need to bear with it a little too, Kotomi. I was already using very little force just now. If it still hurts, I don't think the pressure is the problem. It's probably the antiseptic working on the wounds."
Hearing Kotomi's pained voice made Megumi Kato's heart ache, and she did everything she could to make her movements even gentler.
After fussing over her for quite a while, Megumi finally finished treating all the wounds.
Megumi Kato set down the tweezers and placed the used absorbent cotton balls into a resealable bag, planning to throw them into the living room trash can when she went downstairs later.
Sitting on the bed, Kotomi Izumi saw that Megumi had finally stopped treating her wounds and let out a long breath of relief. Then she collapsed backward onto the bed, as though enduring the pain of having her wounds disinfected had drained away every last bit of strength she had only just begun to recover.
After lying there panting for quite some time, Kotomi Izumi slowly propped herself up with one arm. She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, then asked Megumi Kato faintly:
"For a second there, I thought the pain was going to make my consciousness float right out of my body. Megumi, don't tell me you disinfected my wounds with straight alcohol?"
Megumi Kato shook her head and replied innocently:
"No. I knew you were scared it would hurt, so I deliberately didn't use alcohol. I used a relatively mild antiseptic solution instead. The only thing I used alcohol on was the tweezers."
"Relatively mild...? Judging by how I reacted just now, that antiseptic didn't feel very mild at all." Kotomi Izumi's lips twitched.
"Haha. When I was little, I always heard my parents say that the more an antiseptic hurts, the better it must be at disinfecting wounds." Megumi Kato smiled faintly.
Kotomi Izumi smiled helplessly, then glanced at the clock on the wall and discovered that it was already almost seven in the evening!
Kotomi Izumi, who had originally wanted to rest a little longer, hurriedly got to her feet. She picked up the clothes she had casually tossed onto the floor earlier and anxiously said to Megumi Kato while getting dressed:
"Megumi, it's getting late. I should head home."
"Eh? You're going back now? Aren't you going to rest a little longer?"
"No, no. It's almost seven already. Mom and Dad will worry if I get home too late. Even though I called Mom earlier, I told her I'd be home soon."
At the mention of the phone call Kotomi had made earlier, a faint note of grievance slipped into Megumi Kato's voice:
"That's right~ When you called Aunt Izumi a few hours ago, you said you were at Yui's house. Why did you lie? Do you really not want Aunt Izumi knowing that you're at my house with me that badly?"
Megumi Kato was beginning to settle accounts after the fact. Kotomi Izumi hurriedly explained:
"Of course not. The main reason is that I don't want Aimi to know I'm at your house. You know she's always had a problem with you. Whenever she sees you, you can't exactly describe her as friendly and cordial. It's more like sparks flying every time you meet, like fire and water refusing to coexist.
"If she found out I was at your house spending time with you, then once I got home, she'd definitely be angry and grumble at me for ages. Today's Friday night. Knowing her, she might keep grumbling all the way until next Friday.
"She only recently recovered from her fever, so it's better not to get her worked up."
After hearing Kotomi Izumi explain it that way, Megumi Kato finally understood why Kotomi had lied and claimed she was at Yui's house when she called home earlier. So it was because she did not want Aimi getting angry.
Still, now that Aimi had come up, Megumi Kato could not help chuckling and teasing:
"Maybe she'd keep grumbling until this day next year~"
Kotomi Izumi could only smile sheepishly at that, because it really was something Aimi might do.
Aimi's hostility toward Megumi Kato could not be exhausted even if one talked about it for three days and three nights.
At the same time, Kotomi felt somewhat embarrassed. Aimi was her younger sister, while Megumi Kato was her girlfriend. With her own little sister showing such intense hostility toward her girlfriend, Kotomi, as the elder sister caught between them, could only feel helpless and embarrassed.
Megumi Kato did not appear upset. Instead, she smiled faintly and asked with a trace of concern:
"You said Aimi only recently recovered from a fever. Did she catch a cold?"
"Mm. She caught one a few days ago and only started feeling much better yesterday."
"In that case, why don't I go home with you? You don't have much strength right now, so I can support you on the way. I can also visit Aimi now that she's recovered from her cold."
Megumi Kato offered the suggestion with a light smile.
Faced with Megumi Kato's suggestion, Kotomi Izumi thought about it for a moment before vigorously shaking her head and refusing.
"No, no. Having you support me all the way home would be way too embarrassing..."
"What's embarrassing about that?" Megumi Kato asked in confusion.
"Because..."
Kotomi Izumi's cheeks flushed faintly. After hesitating for a moment, she decided to tell the truth so Megumi would not overthink her refusal:
"After getting all cuddly with you, having to be supported home because I don't have any strength left would make me look like some weak bottom. No way. That's way too embarrassing. I'm not some weak bottom! Even if my chances of being the top aren't a hundred percent, I've got to be the top at least eighty percent of the time!"
Megumi Kato had felt a little disappointed when Kotomi refused her, but after hearing little Kotomi solemnly insist on such a ridiculous reason, the corners of Megumi's lips rose despite herself. She desperately wanted to laugh.
"Pfft..."
Megumi Kato tried her best to keep her laughter quiet.
Kotomi, however, was not amused and immediately protested:
"Did you just laugh at me?!"
"No, no, I absolutely didn't laugh! Pfft..."
Before Megumi Kato even finished speaking, Kotomi's adorable appearance made another laugh escape her.
This one was even clearer than the first.
Clear enough to turn Kotomi's question into a statement.
"Ugh—you really did laugh at me!"
Kotomi Izumi immediately puffed up her cheeks in indignation.
"Sorry~ I was wrong. I won't laugh at you anymore. Come on, deflate those little cheeks. Don't puff yourself up like a pufferfish." Megumi Kato reached out and rubbed Kotomi Izumi's puffed-up cheeks.
Only then did Kotomi stop puffing out her cheeks and instead let out a haughty little snort.
Seeing that Kotomi was no longer sulking, Megumi Kato continued:
"Still, that can't be the only reason you're refusing to let me take you home, right? There should be another reason."
"Mm... There is. Actually, the other reason is pretty simple. If you went to visit Aimi right now and she saw the two of us coming home together, she'd probably explode with anger on the spot," Kotomi Izumi said helplessly.
"Hahaha, true. Aimi really hates me, after all." Megumi Kato laughed as though she had already guessed that reason.
"Sorry about that..." Kotomi Izumi apologized.
"It's fine, it's fine. As Aimi's future sister-in-law, I'll work hard to improve my relationship with her too," Megumi Kato said.
After getting dressed, Kotomi Izumi braced herself against the wall and slowly made her way downstairs one step at a time.
Megumi Kato had originally wanted to support Kotomi, but Kotomi firmly refused.
After all, Kotomi felt that letting Megumi support her would make her look like a weak bottom. To avoid appearing weak, she stubbornly forced herself onward and refused Megumi's help.
After sitting at the entryway and putting on her shoes, Kotomi Izumi stood up and said to Megumi Kato:
"Megumi, you don't have to come outside. I can walk by myself. I'll message you once I get home."
"All right."
Megumi Kato nodded, then could not help glancing toward Kotomi Izumi's thighs. Looking somewhat embarrassed, she said shyly:
"Sorry, Kotomi. I accidentally tore your pantyhose again."
"Sigh... I've lost track of how many pairs of tights you've torn by now. I'm almost getting used to you ripping them. At least the pair I wore today wasn't that expensive."
"I'll definitely be careful next time. I absolutely won't tear your pantyhose again!" Megumi Kato promised, though the longer she spoke, the guiltier her voice sounded.
Kotomi Izumi chuckled and lightly tapped Megumi Kato on the head with one finger before saying irritably:
"Bad Megumi. That's exactly what you said last time."
"Sorry..." Megumi Kato lowered her head and admitted her fault.
Just as Kotomi Izumi was about to turn and leave, Megumi Kato suddenly grabbed her wrist. With reddened cheeks, she hinted:
"Kotomi, before you leave... could you give me a kiss?"
Faced with Megumi Kato's request for a kiss, Kotomi Izumi shot her a bashful, reproachful look:
"Hmph, I knew you'd say that~"
Then Kotomi Izumi rose onto her tiptoes and parted her lips slightly, faintly revealing the tip of her soft pink tongue.
The next moment, Kotomi's tempting cherry lips met Megumi Kato's.
The sensation was instantly sweet, like honey.
The kiss lasted for a very long time.
Even so, to Kotomi Izumi and Megumi Kato, it somehow still felt far too short.
"Megumi, I'm going now," Kotomi Izumi said reluctantly.
"Be careful on the way. Remember to message me once you get home."
"Mm-hmm~"
Kotomi Izumi obediently nodded, like a sweet and dutiful little wife.
By the time she arrived home, it was already 7:15 p.m.
She greeted her parents and told them she had accidentally stayed at Yui's house for too long, then headed upstairs and returned to her bedroom.
The moment she entered, sure enough, she saw Aimi sitting on the bed, looking as though she were sulking.
"I'm home~" Kotomi Izumi said cheerfully to Aimi.
The moment Aimi saw that her sister had returned, she instinctively brightened with joy. Then, remembering that she was supposed to be sulking right now, she hurriedly put on an unhappy expression and gave a little snort:
"Welcome home... Why did you come back so late?"
"Sorry, sorry. We ended up talking about lots of interesting things, so I accidentally stayed at Yui's place for too long. I was even planning to stop by the convenience store on the way home and buy you a caramel orange pudding, but they just happened to be sold out today."
To make her story more convincing, Kotomi Izumi deliberately added a small lie, claiming that she had wanted to stop at the convenience store on the way home and buy Aimi a caramel orange pudding, only to find that it was sold out.
There was a twenty-four-hour convenience store along the route between the Yuigahama residence and the Izumi residence, and it sold caramel orange pudding.
Caramel orange pudding was Aimi's favorite kind of pudding.
After hearing Kotomi Izumi's lie... ahem, her explanation, Aimi Izumi believed her without the slightest suspicion.
After all, Aimi believed that her big sister would absolutely never lie to her. Even if her sister ever did lie, there would definitely be some unavoidable reason behind it, and she would surely explain herself right away.
In any case, after hearing Kotomi Izumi's "explanation," Aimi's sulky mood eased considerably. She said seriously:
"So that's what happened. But Onee-chan, you still can't come home this late again. Walking around at night isn't safe."
"Hmph. Of course I know that. As your Onee-chan, I haven't become so useless that I need my little sister teaching me something that obvious, have I?"
Kotomi Izumi pinched Aimi's little nose and chuckled.
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