Time slipped like sand through my fingers; hours since Qianji Sister and Xinuo’s fight, and afternoon pooled like warm tea.
Eastern Moon Aixue and Faya dropped by like two swallows. They froze when they saw Qianji Sister and the others, eyes wide as moons. After I introduced everyone, and since we were all girls aside from me, the chatter flowed like a brook.
They soon left for student council work, hurrying like ants under sun. That council never rests, not even on a day off.
…
2 p.m.
“Mmhmm~ Emperor’s body is still so soft, like fresh mochi.”
“Uh, Qianji Sister, you’ve been hugging me for over an hour. That should be enough, right?”
“Not enough! We siblings haven’t met for years; an hour’s just a drop in the sea.”
“That’s because you rarely came home, Qianji Sister.”
“Don’t sweat the details! Mmm, Emperor’s cheeks are so peach-soft. Pinching them feels like kneading dough.”
“Hey, Yumigawa Senki, my Servant’s cheeks are mine. Don’t just pinch them.”
“Uh, since Xinuo Miss has spoken, I’ve got no choice.”
Reluctance shadowed Qianji Sister’s face like dusk as she let go of my cheeks. Then—
“Wow, Emperor’s hair is so smooth, like silk in a breeze!”
“Uuu, my brother’s being monopolized by Qianji Sister!” My sister’s whine drizzled like rain.
So, what’s the situation now?
—I sat on Qianji Sister’s lap like a kitten in a sunbeam. One of her arms circled my waist, and the other combed my hair, slow as a spring wind.
She’s not as extreme a brother-lover as Serenemoon, but Qianji Sister has always treated me like a cute cat since we were small, scooping me up and petting me whenever she felt like it.
I’m happy she’s this close, honestly. But I’m still a boy; held by a beauty of her caliber, my face heats like rising steam.
Her scent kept threading into my nose, light as osmanthus. And those two soft clouds on her chest pressed against my back, warm as sunlit cotton.
It had gone on for over an hour. I’ll be honest: I couldn’t take it. My heart fluttered like a trapped sparrow.
“…Brother, thou truly art crowned by a thousand favors,” Elyar said, sighing like wind through pines.
“Boss, I want a hug too!” Hill rubbed against me like a needy puppy. Too bad I couldn’t move at all.
“Qianji Sister! You’ve hogged my brother long enough, that’s plenty!” My sister buzzed like a hornet.
“Servant, I know you two are close, but show some restraint,” Xinuo said, her eyes cold as winter ice. She’d opened a novel, but never turned a page.
“Mmhmm~ Emperor’s skin is so pretty, pink like dawn.”
Once she’d had her fill of my hair, Qianji Sister started tugging my clothes right there in public, bold as summer lightning.
“Uwahh! Qianji Sister, don’t take my clothes off!”
“…Servant.”
“It’s not my fault!” Xinuo, your gaze is stabbing me like needles. Ow, ow, ow.
“Qianji Sister, don’t take my brother’s clothes off! (drool, drool)”
“Littlesky, drooling while you say that kills any credibility,” Elyar muttered, rubbing her forehead like she had a headache.
“Hmph! Don’t get the wrong idea, Elyar. I’m not drooling because I’m excited by my brother’s pink skin!” My sister wiped her lips and puffed her chest like a proud sparrow.
“You just said it yourself! And you’re acting tsundere?!” I was wrestling Qianji Sister with all my might, but that line ripped a shout right out of me.
“Yumigawa Senki, he may be your brother, but you’ve played with him long enough!” At last, Xinuo pulled me off Qianji Sister’s lap, sharp as a drawn blade.
“Well, since Xinuo Miss insists, we’ll stop here today.” She said that, but her reluctant look clung like a trailing ribbon.
Sigh. Qianji Sister’s power has soared these years, and her looks have ripened like autumn fruit. Yet her habit of “playing” with me hasn’t changed a bit.
“Good you know. And you, Servant!” Xinuo’s gaze shifted to me, close as thunder and just as scary.
“W-What is it?!”
“You have the gall to ask? Your master is right here, and you were flirting with Yumigawa Senki nonstop!” Her words crackled like dry frost.
“Wha—?! I did not!”
I was so wronged I could cry; she was the one hugging me. Though… I did enjoy it, like a thief savoring honey.
“A mere Servant, and you talk back?” Xinuo stretched my cheeks long, then longer, until they burned like chili.
“Boss is so pitiful,” Hill said, tossing me a sympathetic look like a tossed blanket.
“Emperor, pray for your own safety,” Qianji Sister said, hands-off as a drifting cloud. Hey, who put me in this mess?
“Brother, I can’t do anything, but I’ll pray for you.” My sister clasped her hands like a shrine maiden.
“…Brother, thou must live strong,” Elyar said, face grave as a stele. It was just my cheeks!
(Because of Xinuo’s oppressive aura, all of that stayed in my head. I didn’t dare say it out loud.)
“That’s that. Today I’m going to properly ‘educate’ you, Servant.” Xinuo smiled, fox-sweet under an autumn moon. For a heartbeat I nearly drifted, but fear beat out the charm like rain dousing a spark.
At this point, nothing I said would change the wind. So—today ended quietly under Xinuo’s “education,” an unwarranted disaster like a sudden storm.
…
The next morning.
“Ah, I’m beat.” I’d just sat up when I saw Qianji Sister on the opposite bed, and fatigue washed over me like a gray tide.
Why was she on a bed facing mine, and why was there an extra bed? Simple as clear water.
Both my sister and Qianji Sister wanted to live in the same room as me. The room was huge, a hall with echoing walls. After the space we usually used, half of it still yawned empty like a courtyard.
So we added a bed. The room didn’t look much different; emptiness still spread like bare fields. This dorm’s rooms are ridiculously large, almost wasteful.
Why sigh so early in the day? Honestly, nothing big—just thinking of yesterday’s calamity made my bones tired like damp wood.
And we had P.E. this morning. The thought alone drained me, like mist clinging to the mind. I still hadn’t recovered from yesterday.
“Emperor, if you sigh early in the morning, bad luck will stick like burrs!” Qianji Sister’s voice drifted over in a lazy drawl. She’d woken at some point, rubbing her eyes like a sleepy cat.
The sight left me unsure where to look, my gaze fluttering like a moth.
Her sleepwear hung loose, decadent as a late rose. On her, it was half-languid, half-bewitching, and dangerously close to slipping.
As she sat up, the cloth slid down, revealing a perfumed shoulder like snow—and the faint curve of her chest, misted as moonlight. (She wore nothing underneath.)
“Forget all that! Qianji Sister, I’m a boy! Could you be more careful? Your chest is almost in full view!” My words shot out like pebbles skipping water.
“It’s fine if it’s Emperor~☆” She smiled, starry as a sticker.
“Why is it fine if it’s me? And what’s with that cutesy tone?” My ears burned like coals.
“Because—”
“Because?”
“Mm, because I like Emperor the most! So even if you see everything, it’s fine!” Her confession burst like a firecracker at dawn.
“Where’d yesterday’s cool, dashing Qianji Sister go?!” My heart staggered like a drunk crane.
“Ehe☆”
“…Ah.”
“Ah?”
“Aaah! I really am tired.” After a scene this explosive at daybreak—never mind that it’s my own sister—and piled on yesterday’s exhaustion plus her heart-thumping words, I just… I’m really tired, like autumn leaves falling without wind.
…
