Chapter 69: Remilia Made to Cry.
....
"So that's how it is."
Seeing that Kihara didn't intend to probe further, Momo breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
She certainly didn't want him to find out about her secret eavesdropping. That would undoubtedly ruin her image as a gentle, considerate sister-in-law, or even leave him with a stereotype that she was a pervert.
For a young girl right in the middle of falling in love, such an accident was strictly unacceptable.
"Ahem... Brother-in-law, take a seat first, I'll go get us drinks."
"Sure. By the way, does outer space have carbonated drinks similar to cola? If you do, just grab me one of those."
"Got it."
Momo quickly brought out two bottles of drinks from the bedroom mini-fridge. After sitting down, she didn't stall for a single second, immediately starting to test the waters regarding Kihara's thoughts on Anna Yanami.
"Brother-in-law, you saw how Anna looked today too. Aren't you worried about her at all?"
"I am worried. But having you thoughtfully go over to comfort her on my behalf was a huge help." Kihara reached out and stroked the top of her head twice in praise. "How is she doing now?"
"She can eat normal meals."
"Sounds like she's doing just fine then."
She had originally intended to probe for information on her ally's behalf, yet ended up almost getting captured first by Kihara's sugar-coated bullet—the headpats. Momo had to exert immense willpower to shift her head away from his palm, pressing on with her questions: "Aren't you even a tiny bit curious why Anna suddenly turned into that state, brother-in-law?"
Kihara was well aware of Anna Yanami's true feelings. Right now, to ensure his "payback" against her could proceed smoothly, he could only pretend to be a dense, clueless blockhead in his response.
"Maybe she's not used to the idea of her childhood friend suddenly becoming someone else's boyfriend. But back then, she used to yell that she would definitely screen out a suitable girl to be my girlfriend. Now that Lala and I are together, it should be well within her expectations too."
"Wait... What you're saying is making my head spin a bit..."
Momo's brows knitted tightly into a deep frown. Rubbing her left temple as she slowly processed the information in Kihara's words, her purple eyes gradually widened into round circles, her face wearing an expression that looked as if she had seen a ghost.
"Are you saying... All those years ago, Anna was going around... No, saying she wanted to help you find a suitable girlfriend?"
"That's right."
Slap!
She covered her eyes in utter despair, almost wanting to give up talking to Kihara and charge over to Anna Yanami's house to interrogate her on what kind of pig-brained move that was.
Who on earth, when trying to win over a guy, would go out of her way to find a reason to push him toward other girls?!
That wasn't even human logic!
"What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing. So, brother-in-law, you've always just viewed Anna strictly as a childhood friend?"
"Yeah."
"I see." Having gotten her answer, Momo felt that Anna's romantic path was going to be exceedingly difficult. Yet she couldn't blame Kihara either; after all, the person who had nailed her dead into the defeated childhood friend spot was Anna herself.
Just as she prepared to find an excuse to wrap up the conversation, Kihara's next words froze her right in place.
"Even though Anna is a childhood friend, I still think she's a very charming girl. Back when she knew my financial situation wasn't great, she refused to take the slightest advantage of me no matter what."
"To repay me for taking her out for fine dining at that high-end restaurant, she forced herself to master great cooking skills, making me breakfast and dinner for a long time."
"For a month before our middle school graduation exams, she was worried I'd be too busy acting to pass the entrance exam for Gensokyo High, so she worked hard taking notes every day to tutor me..."
The calm tone couldn't hide the overflowing tenderness filling Kihara's pupils. That affection even drifted through the air straight into the depths of Momo's heart, making her feel a soothing warmth inside.
'Brother-in-law has remembered everything Anna did for him all along. If that's the case... Maybe we can still rely on this to redeem the foolish things she did.'
"Brother-in-law, as much as I'd love for you to keep talking, it's almost time to start cooking dinner."
"Oh, I almost lost track of time! Let me walk you through the cooking process first, then I'll formally teach you afterward."
"I'll study super hard!"
"Then I'll look forward to the day I get to eat a meal cooked by your own hands."
"Yes!"
With those words from him, a blazing fire ignited in Momo's purple eyes. She wished she could turn into a culinary genius on the spot to master cooking, conquer Kihara's taste buds, and then capture his heart.
...
After an exquisitely delicious dinner, Yuuka Kazami took her flower parasol and stepped out for an evening stroll. Because Yuuka was a flower yokai, Momo was extremely interested in her and proactively tagged along for the walk.
Lala and Nana took care of the dishes. Only Kihara and Remilia remained in the living room. The latter was just about to tell him to head to the bedroom to handle the side effect, only for Kihara to push it back repeatedly until nightfall.
"Say, you aren't scheming something bad, are you?" Remilia looked at him suspiciously, before quickly flashing a confident smile: "If I guessed right, I suggest you abandon your unrealistic fantasies as early as possible."
"Although my ability to manipulate fate has turned passive, it still allows me to avoid bad things. Your plan is destined to fall through."
"How could that be? I just want to pick a quieter time. You wouldn't want Nana coming over to cause trouble for you every few minutes either, right?"
Speaking of Nana, Remilia felt a headache coming on. She had no idea what wrong medicine that girl had taken—yelling that vampires were bats and therefore animals too, so she wanted to be friends with her.
Yet rather than a friend, Remilia felt Nana was merely using a random excuse to make it convenient to stop her interactions with Kihara.
As the proud current head of the Scarlet family, Remilia didn't take such provocations to heart; the other party's methods were far too childish to spark any interest in her.
Of course, the primary reason was that her full capabilities were currently sealed, and she was terrified of losing face if she couldn't beat Nana in a fight, so she put on a generous front.
But she wasn't so foolish as to state the true reason out loud—that would be way too embarrassing.
"Fine then. Just as you said, I'll come find you tonight."
"Mmhmm, see you tonight."
Kihara had never imagined that when he coaxed and misled Remilia at night—having her blink her naive, ignorant red eyes to help handle the side effect—things would unfold the way they did.
She ended up coughing violently from getting choked, her mouth and nose coated in a sticky mess that felt utterly miserable. Hearing Kihara say it wasn't over yet, her emotions crashed completely, and she burst into tears: "Sakuya... My mouth feels so sour... I didn't know it was this hard... I'm not helping you anymore... I want to go back to sleep!!"
Shinobu emerged from the shadow space at an unknown moment, her golden pupils filled with mockery as she snickered: "And thou claimest thou art not a little brat! Thou canst not even endure a tiny bit of hardship. Where has the pride of the Scarlet family thou speakest of gone?"
"I am NOT a little brat! I'm over five hundred years old!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. A five-hundred-year-old vampire still crying her eyes out?"
"I am NOT crying!"
Shinobu didn't bother continuing a childish argument with her. Tying her hip-length blonde hair up into a ponytail, she cast a provocative glance at Remilia: "Then prove it to me! If thou art truly capable, whatever I do, thou doest as well!"
"Hmph! So be it! Betting on the dignity of the Scarlet family, I will definitely make you take back your previous words!"
Where her line of sight couldn't reach, Kihara quietly gave Shinobu a thumbs-up.
What a brilliant provocation tactic!
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Thank you for reading.