Normally, Lumine rarely called him “brother.” If no other factors were involved, he would be very happy.
But…
the one responsible for that “brother” was Su Yu, and this made Aether completely unable to be happy.
He even felt a bit aggrieved.
The two siblings had depended on each other for over a decade.
Lumine’s personality was a bit airheaded, a bit aloof, and she had real talent for cooking.
This had long made him proud of his sister’s superb culinary skills.
And now, because of those very skills, his sister had gotten to know that guy.
Damn it!
Wanting to leave him behind was absolutely out of the question.
He had to keep a close eye on that Su Yu fellow!
“I’m coming too.
Don’t worry, I’m not that rigid, I’m very open-minded.
Just treat me like air.”
At this moment, Aether was like an old father protecting his calf!
“Uh, alright.”
At her brother’s sudden change, Lumine blinked those lethally cute big eyes and nodded vigorously, looking very happy that her brother no longer treated Su Yu differently.
Seeing Lumine nod, Aether also helplessly nodded, pretending he really had no objections.
Since open opposition was useless, he prepared to change his approach: endure on the surface, temporarily avoid the sharp edge…
After tidying up a bit, the two pushed the door open and headed out.
And right across from their door, a door happened to open as well.
Two white-haired figures, one tall and one short, looked over in surprise.
And Aether happened to see that tall, thin man with a mole at the left corner of his mouth, melancholy written all over his brows.
The two looked into each other’s eyes, and in each other’s gaze found the tacit understanding of close friends.
“Ayaka, Ayato, want to come along?”
“Mm-hmm.”
…
Downstairs, Furina’s apartment.
“Su Yu!
Hurry and get up!
What’s going on today, you actually let me wake up before you?
I thought I’d slept in late enough today.”
Furina was straddling outside Su Yu’s blanket, not caring at all about the man-and-woman-alone atmosphere, a hint of excitement in her tone.
But this was perfectly normal.
It was like how parents usually woke their kids up for meals, and one day the child woke up and saw their parents still sleeping soundly, inevitably feeling like “I finally won.”
Su Yu of course heard Furina’s call, but since he’d been sealed by the blanket, he could only silently recite “five more minutes” and prepare to go back to sleep.
But just as that thought settled, his face felt a vigorous rubbing motion.
No helping it, he could only get up, then looked at Furina with resentment.
Seeing Su Yu’s gaze, Furina was first stunned.
Just as she was about to mock him, she immediately recalled the mess she’d made in the middle of the night.
Her smile vanished, and she lowered her head like a good little child.
Of course, she had no idea that the reason Su Yu woke up late wasn’t entirely because of her.
But regardless of the reasons, the pressing matter now was that it was morning, in the middle of summer, and there was someone pressing down on him, and that person was Furina…
Tch, he had to suppress his drowsiness.
“Ding.”
Just as Furina and Su Yu were staring at each other wordlessly, the sound of a doorbell interrupted their awkwardness.
Not only was Su Yu grateful for that bell, Furina was even more grateful for it, because she didn’t want the topic to return to last night’s ice cream.
If Su Yu settled accounts afterward and punished her with a month of no ice cream, that would truly be the sky falling!
No helping it, if it were food, apart from Varesa, no one could match Paimon, but when it came to sweet things, Furina wouldn’t fall short of anyone by a hair!
Back outside the door, four people, two yellow-haired, two white-haired, were looking at the door with puzzled expressions.
“Let’s hurry and go.
Don’t bother with that Su Yu guy.
He might already have gone to school ahead of us.”
Aether looked at Lumine and “kindly” suggested.
“Based on our apartment’s cleanliness and the shoe prints on the mat in front of the door, they should still be inside.”
With her hime-cut hairstyle and a small fan she’d pulled out from who-knows-where, Kamisato Ayaka said this calmly, looking quite the detective.
“Actually, I also think Aether has a point.
Maybe the cleaning was done after they left, wiping away the footprints.”
Kamisato Ayato of course believed in his sister’s deduction, but there was no helping it, better to spoil his sister’s fun than have his sister stolen away by someone.
So Kamisato Ayato, with those thick brows and big eyes, could only go against his conscience.
“Su Yu wouldn’t leave first.
Even if something came up, he’d give me a heads-up in advance.”
As for Ayato’s words, Ayaka was still fairly inclined to believe them.
The possibility did exist.
To further confirm how likely it was, Ayaka lightly furrowed her brows, took out her phone, and opened her chat with Su Yu.
Her index finger swiped down, the circle spun, but no new messages popped up.
And Lumine couldn’t help but sneak a peek at the chat too, but no messages appeared either.
“See?
That Su Yu guy is always lazy and scattered.
Maybe he forgot, and he’s already at school by now, who knows, right?”
Seeing the situation, Ayato further deepened his own guess.
Originally he’d only been guessing casually.
After all, even though he found Su Yu somewhat dark around the eyes, he still knew Su Yu’s routine and habits fairly well.
Early to bed and early to rise, and he handled Furina’s three meals.
He was a somewhat strange man, sometimes diligent, sometimes lazy, but in all this time of knowing him, he’d never once stood someone up.
But if they were home, they wouldn’t take this long to open the door.
They couldn’t have just woken up, could they?
As he thought, Ayato’s tone grew more and more certain.
If Su Yu really stood up his sister, that would be just wonderful.
Just thinking of Ayaka growing estranged from Su Yu because of being stood up, this tall man couldn’t help but hum lightly.
“Creak.”
“Oh my, let me see who’s talking bad about me, Brother Ayato!
Did you hear who it was?”
Before Ayato’s words had even settled, the door opened.
Su Yu and Furina came out, sweat on their temples.
No helping it, dressing and washing in such a short time, plus hastily stuffing down bread and milk, time was too tight, and in the rush they’d broken a sweat.
The moment he stepped out, Su Yu wrapped an arm around Ayato, who wanted to flee.
What a joke — you offend this Su and still want to run?
Meanwhile Aether smiled faintly, secretly glad he hadn’t followed Ayato’s line of talk.
“I’m reporting!
That Aether guy did it too!”
Aether’s snickering naturally didn’t escape Ayato’s keen eye.
He’d originally planned to have Aether cover for him, but a glance showed this yellow-haired brat snickering.
That sight immediately made Ayato, whose first move had failed, expose him.
“Oh!
Kaeya’s here!”
Just as Su Yu and Ayato’s steps drew closer, and the ill-intentioned smile on Su Yu’s face was already overflowing, Aether hurriedly pointed behind the two and shouted.
Following the direction Aether pointed, Su Yu didn’t see even a hair.
“Hahaha!
Don’t think you can catch me!”
By the time Su Yu and Ayato came back to their senses, Aether had already run a good distance.
“I’ll help you chase him.”
Ayato volunteered, broke free of Su Yu’s hold, and ran off in Aether’s direction.
These two guys…
are they putting on a double act?
But this way…
then your two sisters…
Hehehehe!
Keep the stones rolling!
Thank you for Reading!