"Hello, Senior Jiang Si."
When Jiang Si saw Jiang Keke bringing a friend in, he briefly thought he was experiencing an illusion.
Ever since their parents died three years ago, this sister of his, who had broken ties with him, not only had a terrible attitude towards him.
In fact, she was cold to everyone, as if she was ready to cut ties with the world.
Never mind making friends, at school she could hardly get a few words out with her classmates.
Every time he attended a parent-teacher meeting, the class teacher would emphasize this issue to him.
Your child is too reclusive, they can't go on like this, maybe they should go to a hospital and see if there's something wrong...
Schools these days pay too much attention to students' mental health, which made Jiang Si quite unaccustomed.
Back in their day, conditions were nowhere near as good...
"This is my friend, Yin Lian."
Jiang Keke's words cut off his thoughts, so he nodded, "Get along well."
"Don't need you to say it."
It wasn't that Jiang Si was being childish like Keke, wanting to play a cold war game.
He was always communicating with Jiang Keke normally, just in continuation of the style he and his father had at home in the previous life.
Compared to a sister, Jiang Keke was more like his daughter, at least in terms of psychological age.
When their parents were at work, he was the one helping to take care of the little girl, changing diapers, feeding, and coaxing her to sleep.
Calling himself her dad wouldn't be taking advantage of her, especially since their parents had passed away. The elder brother is like a father.
As for why he's so cold and even casual as a father...
It's because his own dad in the previous life was like this.
Although the parents in this life were more affectionate, they didn't spend much time together and weren't that familiar, so Jiang Si was still more accustomed to the past life's way of getting along.
In the rebellious phase, he was beaten, otherwise left alone, and rarely seen day-to-day as long as he didn't cause trouble.
If it became unbearable, he could stay with relatives, reducing the trouble.
So after saying hello, Jiang Si proceeded to make a meal in the kitchen, and Jiang Keke completely ignored him, dragging her friend to the bedroom.
From this perspective, they were quite in sync as family.
As for Yin Lian, she was the unlucky one.
She was supposed to be visiting Jiang Keke's home to see if she could persuade her parents to let her join the Disaster Strategy Bureau.
But instead, found herself in an awkward situation upon arrival.
"Your brother is Jiang Si, huh..."
Back in the bedroom, hearing Yin Lian's sigh, Jiang Keke was a bit curious, "What's up? You know him?"
"Hardly anyone in high school doesn't know him, right? All the nearby high schools know his name."
Yin Lian's face was full of complexity, "He frequently skipped classes, drove teachers half mad with anger, and most often caused trouble, actively provoking the hooligans outside school, claiming it was for combat practice, and even ended up putting people in the hospital, then got the hooligans' parents to come to the school... Luckily, they had criminal records, the school was able to manage."
Jiang Keke's lips twitched. Of course she knew of her brother's notorious reputation.
But she hadn't expected it to spread so widely, even the Magical Girl knew.
"He's just that bad."
"Not exactly bad, though..." Yin Lian let out a slightly awkward laugh and quietly said, "At the very least, the hooligans near the school are too scared to come around anymore, afraid of getting beaten by him, it's doing a good deed, no one's bullying the students."
"Dad and Mom told him to study well up to college graduation," Jiang Keke removed her slippers, sat on the bed, and hugged her legs, "But he simply doesn't study well, always skipping class to fight or saying he needs to train..."
"Your parents..."
"Passed away three years ago in an encounter with a Disaster Beast."
Though the tone was indifferent, Yin Lian still offered an "I'm sorry."
She somewhat guessed Jiang Si's parents had passed since she had once overheard during his fights near the school entrance in high school.
Later, Jiang Si's homeroom teacher came out, bringing him back and angrily scolding him incessantly.
"So just because you're an orphan, you don't regard the school anymore?"
But she could never be sure if the teacher was simply blinded by anger, calling him an orphan just out of insult, or if his parents had truly passed.
Now having it confirmed left her feeling somewhat guilty.
"As you've seen, it's just me and Jiang Si at home, we don't get along well. If you want to convince him to let me join the Disaster Strategy Bureau, you can try, I'm not interested in discussing this with him."
The discord was visibly obvious...
Yin Lian sighed, "Then I'll give it a try."
With a huff, Jiang Keke turned her head, hugged her legs, and lay down on the bed, "Suit yourself."
...
While eating, seeing Yin Lian come out of Keke's room, Jiang Si paused for a moment.
He didn't expect Jiang Keke's friend to come out.
Even more unexpected was Keke not coming out.
Typically, Keke would come out to eat, and then he'd head upstairs to his room.
Everyday life was usually like this.
He glanced over, discovering Keke seemed to have no intention of coming out, so Jiang Si cleared the table and planned to head back to his room first.
"Senior Jiang Si, you should recognize me, right?"
The other party cautiously asked, Jiang Si glanced at her, "Don't remember."
Ahhhh, starting like this was indeed a mistake!
She had rehearsed countless times before coming out, being at the same school, she was usually the class monitor often at the office helping teachers, and Jiang Si was often standing punished in the office as the problematic student, so they had crossed paths.
Thinking about it carefully, they hadn't actually met that many times, but under such circumstances, having met three or four times should leave a deep impression, right?
So she thought about using this opener to try and close the gap a little.