---
Kiyono didn't speak; he only gave the girl a calm look.
Unable to bear the pressure, Eriri broke into a light cold sweat and forced an awkward smile. She kicked her slender left foot—wrapped in black over-the-knee socks—out from under the covers.
"Okay, I know you won't touch it! It's this foot!"
Kiyono glanced at her foot, then stood, walked to the side, and thoughtfully drew the curtain for her.
"Take off your socks first."
Very gentlemanly.
Very gentle.
Still, that single action earned a lot of points in Eriri's eyes; it had the quiet elegance of a chaste shōjo-manga male lead.
The girl slowly peeled down both over-the-knee socks and set them aside.
"Done!"
At her call, Kiyono pulled the curtain open again and sat back down.
Eriri bit her lip, avoiding his gaze, and extended her left leg.
Most of her body was hidden under the blanket, with only her snow-white left foot exposed—like a thigh kicked free from the covers during sleep—carrying a strangely alluring innocence.
Her bare foot was delicate as a jade shoot; her toes were as fine as pearls, her nails a rosy pink.
Kiyono glanced once, then, without expression, gently lifted her foot. With his other hand he scooped up ointment and spread it over the swollen area.
"Ehh—"
Coolness and warmth, pain and comfort—two sensations descended at once. Eriri's toes kept twitching as a faint sound slipped out of her; whether from pain or something else, she couldn't tell.
"All done."
He smoothed the ointment evenly over her ankle, stood, wiped the excess from his hands with a tissue, and put the medicine away.
"How will you get home?" Kiyono asked.
"Don't worry about it. I already asked my dad to pick me up. He'll be here soon," Eriri said weakly, drawing half her leg back under the covers.
"That's good…" Kiyono smiled, sunny and teasing. "By the way, if your foot's injured, does that mean you can draw more efficiently? Like a writer who can only churn out manuscripts."
"Is that really what you're concerned about?! Try caring about a girl's injury first!"
Eriri was speechless, baring her "fangs" as she snapped at him.
"Oh, you really think of yourself as a young lady, huh? It's not a big deal."
Kiyono chuckled, chatted briefly, and left the infirmary.
Huh?
He just left… like that?
Watching his back disappear and hearing the soft click of the door, Eriri suddenly felt a pang of loneliness.
She wanted to ask him to stay—to wait with her until her father arrived—but the proud, tsundere girl couldn't bring herself to say it.
The room darkened.
"So annoying… couldn't he be a little more gentle?"
Eriri pulled the blanket over her head again, an unfamiliar tightness in her chest.
A few minutes later—
Swish.
The door opened again.
Kiyono came back in with a heated canned drink, sat beside her, and set it down.
Eriri yanked the blanket back, blinking. "You didn't leave?"
Kiyono gave her a strange look. "…I just went to buy two drinks. I've got time to wait with you for your father."
"Oh… is that so?"
Eriri slipped under the blanket once more.
Relief welled up inside her—along with happiness, and a tiny bit of shyness she refused to admit. The corners of her mouth curled up before she could stop them.
Seriously, couldn't he say something when he goes to buy things? With his earlier attitude, I thought he'd leave without a second thought…
Wait!
Why am I so—so happy?!
Her heart skipped.
I am a firm believer in childhood sweethearts.
Startled by her own feelings, Eriri flushed and chanted silently, childhood sweetheart, childhood sweetheart, childhood sweetheart.
But… the time she'd known Kiyono wasn't all that different from her other childhood friend, was it?
Eriri squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment.
---
Cherry blossoms withered.
Early June, just before the rainy season.
Time began to flow again.
Kiyono felt it.
When he first entered this world and grew up from a child, time had seemed endless—limitless and ample. But once he reached the same "present" as the real world, he truly felt its passage.
How would this world end? Had he achieved his goals? After reliving youth like this again and again, what would he feel when he returned to reality?
These questions—and a vague sense of crisis—rose up from time to time.
Based on his previous world's experience, this one should conclude after high school graduation—but it never felt that simple.
He still had many goals.
Become a literary master.
Improve his painting.
Repay the Yukinoshita Family.
These weren't things to finish in two or three years.
That night, lying in bed with his thoughts in a tangle, Kiyono messaged a certain young lady.
"Kiyono to Yukinoshita Haruno: To what extent do you think one needs to achieve for you to choose to live as you please—and for the Yukinoshita Family to reach a higher level?"
"Marry my sister."
She answered without hesitation.
"I want to elevate my status!"
"It's not impossible for you to take the lead after marriage, you know."
Yukinoshita Haruno coaxed him like a charming demon.
"Ugh!"
After two minutes of silence in the chat, another gentle message arrived:
"We'll all be family soon, so don't rush to think about these things!"
Which meant there was still a long way to go.
Kiyono sighed. He needed to work harder—more diligently.
---
"Eriri-chan, have you read that super popular literary novel? I heard it even won the Akutagawa Prize!"
"This book is truly moving!"
After school, the girls' clique started their usual chatter.
Surrounded by them, Eriri secretly pouted.
Who bothers with those melancholic literary novels!
It's the age of mobile fiction and light novels, okay!
Still, to maintain her young-lady image, she nodded with a gentle smile, promising to read it that night.
After saying goodbye outside the campus, Eriri leisurely pedaled her bike home.
Passing a bookstore, she hesitated, then decided to go in.
Since she was already there, she might as well buy a few novels.
She parked her bicycle and wandered the shelves.
A prominent display made her raise an eyebrow.
— Japan's most outstanding literary book of the year: a story about family, love, and friendship.
— "Moon" is selling fast—projected to surpass one million copies this year, single-handedly boosting Akutagawa Prize sales.
"It seems pretty impressive… maybe I should buy a copy?"
Her heart stirred.
She took the book down, bought a few light novels as well, and headed home.
After a quick shower, she sprawled on her bed and began to read.
Time slipped by quietly.
The old wall clock ticked round and round.
She read on her back at first, then on her stomach with her feet in the air, and finally sitting at the headboard, completely absorbed.
Unconsciously, tears streamed from her azure eyes behind her black-rimmed glasses.
"Ugh, it's so good… and so familiar!"
The blonde young lady swiped away her tears, grabbed her phone, and searched for information.
"A signing event is going to be held this week…?"
At the same time, Kasumigaoka Utaha gently closed her copy, wearing the same expression and mood as the blonde girl. She lifted her phone—and saw the same prominent signing-event announcement…
---
"Why are you here?" Kiyono asked.
"Of course—because you're here," the girl replied.
"Don't say things like that so naturally on a boy's sofa!"
When Kiyono came home that evening, he found the young lady from the Yukinoshita Family sprawled on the couch, her snow-white straight legs gently swaying.
Under the warm lamplight, her jade-like skin seemed to glow with a faint sheen; the hint of blue veins only made her more alluring.
She held a book in both hands, turning the pages with relish—but today it wasn't her usual fashion magazine. Instead…
"Kiyono, you know, I've actually been reading light novels lately," Yukinoshita Haruno said seriously.
"Oh? What are you reading?" Kiyono took a sip of cold barley tea and asked casually.
"The Sole Right Sworn in the Name of the Eldest Sister: The Young Lady's Perfect Son-in-Law Plan Will Not Be Stolen by Her Younger Sister!"
With a bright, cheerful smile, Yukinoshita Haruno recited the whole long title in one breath.
"Ah, this novel is very interesting. For example, the scene where the male lead and the young lady kiss in the room, and the younger sister can only stare blankly from outside the door—it's truly delicious…"
Do you want to add the cuckold tag to yourself?!
"So, Yukinoshita Haruno, you came to show off your new hobby?" The pure-love warrior paused. "Have you eaten?"
"My sister's been waiting for you to come home—she's almost starving."
Haruno hopped off the sofa, her graceful bare feet landing lightly on the floor, and began putting the dishes on the table into the microwave one by one.
"Oh, by the way—Mother asked me to come today."
While the microwave hummed, she returned to the sofa, picked up a beautiful traditional outfit, and handed it to Kiyono with the gentle smile of an indulgent older sister.
"Tomorrow is your 700,000-sales anniversary, right? Mother wants you to wear this.
Last time you went to the signing in casual clothes, she quietly complained for ages."
Kiyono looked at the haori in his hands, his expression odd.
The garment was still warm and carried the girl's sweet scent—she'd clearly been using it as a cushion just now.
"Do you need your sister to help you put it on?" Yukinoshita Haruno chuckled, pressing down on his shoulder.
"I'm not a child anymore."
He protested.
Although he didn't want to wear it, he quietly put the clothes away.
Haruno's foxlike eyes curved into a smile.
She didn't continue teasing her "little brother." Instead, she set the heated dishes on the table and took a bottle of red wine from the refrigerator for herself.
"Are you a forty-year-old uncle?" Kiyono glanced at her glass.
"Don't copy Yukino's sarcasm to stop me! There are some things in life only wine can make you forget, you know."