Chapter 489 was a combined chapter.
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Hozuki Nozomi arched a brow and threw his arms wide.
"Calling me perverted? That's rich coming from you, Mitsuha. A few days out of sight and suddenly you've grown a spine? Come here — let me hug you properly."
Miyamizu Mitsuha puffed her cheeks and turned her face away, the ribbon in her braid catching the afternoon light.
"I don't wanna."
"Why should I be the one to walk over?"
"Then I'll come to you, alright!" Hozuki Nozomi rose with a smirk, spread his arms, scooped her up in one clean motion, and dropped back onto the bed with her cradled against him.
Miyamizu Mitsuha's cheeks bloomed pink, but she didn't squirm free.
"You're such a rascal, honestly."
"Because it's the only way to keep every one of you." Hozuki Nozomi shot back without missing a beat. "So — Mitsuha, what brings you here out of nowhere?"
"It's Dad. He wants to meet you."
"Oh? Why the sudden interest?"
"Yotsuha accidentally let it slip."
"Then why didn't Yotsuha tag along?"
Miyamizu Mitsuha shot him a sulky look and thumped his chest with a small fist.
"Yotsuha has school too, she can't come by whenever she wants. Speaking of which — are you two still swapping bodies?"
"Not anymore. It only triggers when she hits some problem she can't solve on her own. Same as it was with you before."
"Alright, enough chatting. Since you came all the way over here, Mitsuha, let me see how much you've filled out lately."
Hozuki Nozomi grinned wickedly, gaze roaming over Miyamizu Mitsuha's soft, guileless face.
Her cheeks flared crimson, but she gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and tipped her chin up in surrender.
He caught her mouth with his — slow at first, coaxing — then slid his palm under the hem of her blouse, tracing the warm dip of her waist upward until his thumb brushed the underside of her breast through her bra. She gasped into his mouth, small hands fisting in his shirt.
"Nn — Nozomi, wait — "
"Not waiting," he murmured against her throat, dragging her braid aside with his teeth. Her skirt rode up over her thighs as he pressed her down into the mattress, and the little whimper she gave when his hand slipped beneath the fabric — "hyaa — !" — was the exact sound he'd been chasing all week. Her hips lifted for him without permission, her body a traitor to her bratty little mouth.
...
A while later.
Yukino Yukinoshita, hair pulled up in a high ponytail, pushed the door open with a bowl balanced on her hip.
"Dinner's ready, Mr. Scumbag."
"Ah — Yu — Yukino!"
Miyamizu Mitsuha shoved somebody off and yanked her blouse back into place, cheeks scorched all the way to the tips of her ears.
"Come now, no need to be shy. Let's head down and leave this greedy villain to cool off."
Yukino Yukinoshita took Miyamizu Mitsuha's hand without ceremony and led her out.
Hozuki Nozomi, shameless as ever, followed a step behind.
...
At dinner, Shiina Mashiro plopped herself directly into Hozuki Nozomi's lap and stared up at him with that blank, kittenish expression, mouth slightly parted, clearly waiting to be fed.
Suo Yuki's cheeks puffed out on reflex.
Mashiro was too sly.
Even at the dinner table, she monopolized Onii-chan.
And there wasn't a thing anyone could do about it.
It really was impressive — the way Shiina Mashiro could plant herself on a boy's lap and calmly wait to be spoon-fed without a flicker of embarrassment.
Everyone at the table knew Mashiro's pet-like nature by now, so no one raised a fuss.
This round.
Mashiro had struck gold.
….
After dinner.
Hozuki Nozomi rested a while, then wandered off for a long shower.
Afterward, he settled quietly into his room.
A small anticipation coiled in his chest.
Tonight — who would come first?
Some time later.
The door eased open with a whisper.
A soft, warm body slipped under his blanket.
Hozuki Nozomi's arm curled instinctively around her slender waist.
"This feel... Sumireko?"
"Idiot. Don't say it out loud."
Sanshokuin Sumireko, face burning, buried her pretty features into the hollow of his chest.
"Alright, alright, I won't say another word."
Hozuki Nozomi dipped his head and caught her lips in a gentle kiss.
Sanshokuin Sumireko had been one of the earliest to fall for him and one of the most loyal since. Her looks were fox-eyed and sharp, her figure lush in all the right places — full breasts that shifted heavy against his ribs when she rolled into him, a waist he could nearly span with his hands.
Hozuki Nozomi wasn't about to neglect her.
He tugged her thin nightshirt up over her hips, and Sanshokuin Sumireko whimpered — "haa~n" — as his fingers slid between her thighs and found her already slick, already ready, already his. She hooked one long leg around his waist and pressed her forehead to his jaw, panting softly as he worked her open.
"Mou... you didn't even wait for me to say hello properly..."
"You came here, Sumireko. That was hello enough."
She bit his shoulder in retaliation, then muffled her cry — "nnh — !" — against his collarbone as he sank into her.
...
The next morning.
Miyamizu Mitsuha slipped out of Hozuki Nozomi's arms, face still tinged rose, and headed home early.
Due to a certain someone's overzealous performance, Yukino Yukinoshita and Sanshokuin Sumireko were both still fast asleep.
Shiina Mashiro and Asada Shino had been up until dawn co-oping some VR game and were likewise dead to the world.
Which meant.
By morning, only Ogiwara Sayu and Aoyama Nanami were bustling around the kitchen.
Aoyama Nanami watched Ogiwara Sayu humming cheerfully as she trimmed vegetables, and couldn't stop her lower lip from jutting out.
"Sayu, aren't you jealous?"
"Jealous of what?" Ogiwara Sayu tilted her head with a soft smile.
Aoyama Nanami jerked her chin toward Hozuki Nozomi's bedroom.
"That bad guy... he's getting more shameless by the day."
"Nanami, you could try being a little more proactive, you know."
"Hmph... proactive, no thank you."
Ogiwara Sayu set the tray aside, took Nanami's small hand in her own, and gave a reassuring squeeze.
"Don't be shy. Hozuki Nozomi won't leave you out."
"What about you? Weren't you the only one here at first?"
Ogiwara Sayu nodded, dimples showing.
"That's right. And thank goodness for Misaki-senpai — otherwise I'd have been worn to nothing by myself."
"Worn to nothing..."
Aoyama Nanami's face went hot, and she cursed a certain someone under her breath.
"He's not human!"
How could a regular guy possibly be that relentless?
"Nanami~ I heard that. You're talking behind my back again."
Hozuki Nozomi's arms wrapped around her from behind.
"Hyaa — ! You... you're awake."
Aoyama Nanami's slim body jolted, and she stammered, shoulders wriggling in a token protest.
"That's right. And since you called me inhuman, I've got to prove the point, don't I."
"...Sayu, want a turn?"
Ogiwara Sayu shook her head, laughing quietly. "I'm cooking. Go handle Nanami — she's the jealous one."
"I — I'm not jealous!" Aoyama Nanami cried, ears scarlet.
"Yes, yes. Then I'm jealous. I'm jealous of Nanami."
"How does that even — don't — mmnh — !"
He'd already spun her, walked her backward against the counter's edge, and swallowed her protest with his mouth. His hand slid up under the loose hem of her sweater, palming one soft breast through her thin bra, thumb dragging across her nipple until she keened — "aan~" — into his lips. Her cooking apron ended up bunched at her waist, her skirt shoved up her thighs, and by the time he'd hooked her leg over his forearm and pressed himself between her legs she'd stopped fighting entirely.
"N-Nozomi... Sayu's right there — "
"She knows. Don't be loud, then."
"You — mmph — !"
….
A short while later.
Aoyama Nanami had been forced into a mid-morning nap on the sofa, hair mussed, sweater lopsided, one sock missing.
The little burr of resentment in her chest, however, had vanished clean.
...
Yukino Yukinoshita glanced at Aoyama Nanami, who was still covering her small face with both hands, and couldn't stop the amused smile tugging at her mouth.
"Nanami, why so bashful?"
"Mmn... Yukinoshita, you have no room to talk. Are you really going to pretend you weren't just as flustered last time?"
Yukino Yukinoshita's cheeks warmed. "Ahem — well, I'm past that stage. I'm used to it."
"You though — if something's bothering you, don't sit on it. We can work through anything together."
Aoyama Nanami snuck a glance at Yukino Yukinoshita and dropped her gaze to the tabletop.
"I don't think I'm pretty enough..."
Yukino Yukinoshita sighed and folded Nanami's fingers between her own.
"Silly. After all this time, you're still stuck on that?"
"Nanami is plenty cute — more than enough. What matters is that guy won't let you go anywhere, right?"
"So don't overthink it. If he catches you saying you're not pretty again, he'll come over and hammer that opinion right out of your head."
"Mnn... my mistake."
Aoyama Nanami shrank instantly.
Clearly, she also understood that showing another sliver of insecurity would summon Hozuki Nozomi to reinforce her conviction personally, and her body already ached from the last such reinforcement.
She studied Yukino Yukinoshita's gentle profile, and something warm unfolded in her chest.
"Yukino... thank you."
"Silly girl. Why thank me? According to that man, we're family now."
"Family looks out for each other. And, well — someone has to keep an eye on him, or he'll get truly out of hand."
Otherwise.
There really would be more and more sisters — Yukino set her teacup down with a soft clink and reached across to smooth a stray lock of hair behind Aoyama Nanami's ear.