Capítulo 41: I Won't Let Her Take It Away!
On a crepe layered with cream and mango, each bite offers a combination of three distinct flavors, tripling the delight.
As Izumi Kotomi enjoyed the mille-feuille cake, Megumi Kato, sitting beside her, rarely picked up her fork. Instead, she propped her face on one hand, her eyes reflecting a faint, unreadable depth as she watched Kotomi eat. A subtle smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she asked, "Do you like it?"
"Mm-hmm, it's delicious," Kotomi replied with a satisfied smile as she continued to eat.
"Do you prefer baumkuchen or mille-feuille?" Megumi suddenly inquired.
"Which do I prefer?" Kotomi pondered for a moment before answering, "I think I like baumkuchen more. But really, I just love sweets in general, so I enjoy anything sweet."
Hearing Kotomi's response, Megumi's smile deepened for some reason. "Is that so? I'm pretty good at making desserts myself. If you're interested, you can come over to my place often, or I can bring some desserts over to your house when I make them."
"Wouldn't that be too much trouble?" Kotomi asked, feeling a bit shy.
"It's no trouble at all. I've been wanting to meet your family. You often mention your sister, almost every day in fact. It makes me curious about what kind of sister could make you think about her so much," Megumi said softly, lowering her gaze slightly.
"Do I really talk about my sister that much? Heh, I can't help it—she's just so adorable. Every time I think of her, I can't help but mention her."
"Oh? So, does that mean you think about your sister even when you're at school?" Megumi asked, her grip on the fork tightening ever so slightly, though her tone remained light.
"Yes," Kotomi admitted with a nod.
Megumi's smile widened as she put down her fork and poured more warm tea into Kotomi's cup. "You really love your sister, don't you? She must be very happy to have you as her sister."
"Happy? That's a bit of an exaggeration," Kotomi said, embarrassed, as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger.
Megumi didn't push further and instead steered the conversation in a different direction.
Before they knew it, it was six o'clock. Kotomi, realizing it was getting late, stood up to leave.
"I'm about to start cooking. Would you like to stay for dinner?" Megumi asked as she stood up, seeing Kotomi off.
Kotomi shook her head and replied, "I'm afraid I can't tonight. I didn't tell my mom beforehand. Maybe next time, I'll stay for dinner."
"I'll be looking forward to that day. I hope it comes soon," Megumi said in her usual light tone, though there was an unusual undertone in her voice.
"Goodbye."
After putting on her shoes, Kotomi said goodbye to Megumi and walked out the door.
"Take care," Megumi said. She didn't close the door right away but instead walked outside and watched Kotomi's figure as she left. Only when Kotomi was completely out of sight did Megumi smile faintly and turn back into her house.
It took Kotomi only a few minutes to get home. As Megumi had mentioned earlier, the Izumi and Kato homes were quite close to each other.
"Mom, I'm home," Kotomi called out as she took off her shoes at the entrance and walked into the living room.
"You're so slow, sister," came the response, not from her mother, but from her sister, Izumi Aimi.
"Where's Mom?" Kotomi asked, looking around.
"Mom said she and Dad are still at the tailor's, getting fitted for suits and dresses for that wedding they're attending. They won't be back until later, so she said we should order takeout for dinner."
"Oh, right. So, what do you feel like eating tonight? Ramen Ichiraku is probably closed today. How about Yoshinoya's beef bowl? I'm really craving their extra-large beef bowl."
Kotomi set her bag down on the couch and began scrolling through her phone, looking for the restaurant's number.
As a seasoned foodie who loved her meals, Kotomi had saved the numbers of dozens of takeout restaurants in her phone. From Chinese cuisine to Japanese food, desserts, and fast food, she had them all meticulously labeled with details about their specialties.
One word: professional!
Oh, two words, actually.
"Yoshinoya? Sure, but I don't want a beef bowl. I'll have the teriyaki chicken bowl with a soft-boiled egg."
"Okay, I'll order it now."
Kotomi dialed the number for Yoshinoya, ordered an extra-large beef bowl, a teriyaki chicken bowl, and an extra soft-boiled egg, confirmed the delivery address, and then hung up.
"All set. Have you finished your homework?"
"I haven't finished it yet," Aimi replied.
"Delivery will take at least 40 minutes. Why don't you work on your homework in the meantime?"
But Aimi didn't respond directly. Instead, she asked quietly, "Sis… You usually get home early after school. Why are you so late today?"
"Huh?" Caught off guard by the sudden question, Kotomi hesitated for a moment before smiling slightly. "I joined the art club at Sobu High School, so I'll be getting home a little later from now on."
"The art club? Since when were you interested in drawing?"
"I've always been interested in drawing, but I usually just doodle. Now that I have the chance to join the art club and use proper materials, I couldn't pass it up! Once I get better, I'll draw a picture of you."
Kotomi giggled as she spoke, then picked up her bag and headed to her room to finish her homework quickly. She still had writing to do later, so she needed to get her assignments done as fast as possible.
Left alone in the living room, Aimi suddenly realized something. Even if her sister joined a club, it would only make her an hour late. But today, Kotomi was more than two hours late!
Aimi's eyes narrowed slightly. "Sister… she must have gone somewhere else after school."
Upstairs in her bedroom, Kotomi sat at her desk, working on her homework. Even though she now had the system's help with her studies, allowing her to instantly understand any problem and know how to solve it, there was one thing the system couldn't help with: copying down poems.
She had to write out the verses, not just once, but three times!
"System, do you have a pen that makes writing super fast and automatically writes the correct answers? I really don't feel like copying all these poems."
[You'll have to write it yourself. Even though I'm a system, I'm not Doraemon. I don't have gadgets! If I had a pen like that, I would have used it when I was studying that thick textbook Five Years of System, Three Years of Transmigration for my system exam.]
Hearing this, Kotomi sighed and resigned herself to copying the poems.
She would occasionally take breaks to read a manga—um, study how manga artists create their works… yeah, that's it!
After about forty minutes of on-and-off work, she finally finished her homework.
"Finally done…" Kotomi murmured, resting her cheek on the desk.
Ding-dong—
At that moment, the doorbell rang.
"Is that the delivery?" Kotomi got up, walked to the door, and opened it.
The delivery person, who had been getting impatient, looked up as the door finally opened. When he saw Kotomi, he was momentarily stunned and then spoke excitedly, "H-Hello! I'm the delivery person from Yoshinoya. Is this the Izumi residence?"
"Yes, sorry for the wait. I was coming downstairs," Kotomi apologized as she took out her wallet to pay.
"It's no trouble at all!" the delivery person quickly replied.
"Here you go." Kotomi handed over 1,700 yen to the delivery person with a smile. "Thank you for your hard work."
After taking the delivery bag, Kotomi closed the door.
"Delivering food isn't such a bad job after all," the delivery person muttered as he got back on his scooter and headed back to the restaurant.
Being pretty has its perks, doesn't it? Even when making small mistakes, you can still be forgiven.
Kotomi carried the takeout into the living room, grabbed two cold sodas from the fridge, and went upstairs to call her sister for dinner.
"Aimi, dinner's here," Kotomi called as she knocked on Aimi's door.
"Coming," Aimi replied softly, opening the door and following Kotomi downstairs.
"Did you finish your homework?" Kotomi asked as she dug into her extra-large beef bowl.
"I still have one English worksheet left," Aimi replied.
She cut open the soft-boiled egg in her teriyaki chicken bowl, letting the yolk flow over the rice and chicken. This was something Kotomi had taught her six years ago.
"There sure is a lot of homework in your third year of middle school, even more than I have as a high schooler," Kotomi commented with a hint of schadenfreude.
Perhaps most older siblings are like this—when they see their younger siblings drowning in homework, they can't help but feel a little smug.
"Yeah, with the high school entrance exams next year, there's more homework, and the teachers are speeding through the material. They said they want to finish the new content before the midterms and then start reviewing."
"Hang in there~ Which high school are you planning to go to? Are you thinking about staying in Chiba City or going to Tokyo? Honestly, the schools in Tokyo have better resources and higher college acceptance rates."
"I was torn before, but now I've made up my mind." Aimi put down her chopsticks and looked directly at Kotomi. "I'm going to Sobu High School."
"The same school as me? Hehehe, that means you'll be my little junior, won't you?" Kotomi laughed at the thought of her sister attending the same high school.
Aimi smiled faintly as she watched her sister eat, thinking to herself:
Yes.
I'm definitely going to Sobu High School.
Otherwise, that short-haired woman will steal my sister away.
The closer I am to my sister, the less chance anyone else will have to take her from me!
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