Tokyo: My Girlfriend

After stretching out, my tired body finally got a good night's sleep.

When he opened his eyes the next morning, Shinichi Kitagawa woke up with a relaxed brow. Although he had dreamed of Hina again yesterday, his body was no longer protesting that he needed to rest.

"Waaah..."

A strange, sweet voice sounded in his arms. Kitagawa Shinichi looked in the direction of the sound and was surprised to see Aoki Akemi lying in his arms, sleeping while holding him.

He opened his eyes wide.

Akemi Aoki was also awakened by Shinichi Kitagawa's slight movement. She opened her fox-like eyes, looked up, rubbing her eyes as she observed his surprised expression: "Hmm, you're awake, Shinichi-kun? By the way, why are we sleeping in the same bed...?"

"Are you asking me, Akemi...? What's going on?"

She glanced at their physical condition in a daze.

The girl nestled her entire body against Kitagawa Shinichi's chest, her other hand resting on his chest, and her legs wrapped around his thigh.

Aoki Akemi realized what was happening and slowly sat up straight: "Oh right, I think I was sleepy after the massage I gave you yesterday, so I was thinking of taking a nap and going back to my own bed after I woke up, but I ended up falling asleep... I'm sorry."

She got up openly and went back to her bed, then lay down again, as if nothing had happened: "I'm going back to my bed."

Kitagawa Shinichi thought back to what happened last night and wondered if he shouldn't have let her massage him, though it was too late to think about it now: "You... just went back like that?"

Akemi Aoki was clearly still a little groggy, lying on her bed with her head half-turned back: "How about I reply to Ichi-kun and sleep in his arms again? I don't mind, but Ichi-kun probably won't like it." She winked one eye: "Just kidding, I'm not that unreserved."

Beads of sweat dotted his forehead. "That's not what I meant... Never mind." He looked at the other person's untouched pajamas and breathed a sigh of relief. "As long as we didn't do anything yesterday, that's fine. Actually, we couldn't have done anything anyway."

Akemi Aoki chuckled, glancing at her phone: "It's only six o'clock, we can still sleep for an hour. Let's go back to sleep together, Shinichi-kun. Good morning... oh... should I say good morning in this situation?"

When Kitagawa Shinichi saw that she was fast asleep again, he had no choice but to sit up and take advantage of the time to write down some musical scores. He was no longer sleepy at all.

Kitagawa Shin paused for a moment as he turned to the side and picked up the pen.

It seemed like the smell lingered on Akemi after her shower... Luckily, she had brought a simple change of clothes; she'd change into a short-sleeved shirt before checking out.

During the day, the two took the train back to Kabasaki Town together. On the train, Shinichi Kitagawa handed the song he had just written to Akemi Aoki and told her to practice it hard for the next two weeks.

I will check on her progress every night, and if she encounters any problems while singing, she should ask me for help immediately.

After all, this song is quite difficult to sing.

Akemi Aoki tucked a strand of her long, light blonde hair behind her ear and solemnly raised three fingers, swearing, "No problem! I'll learn as soon as possible! If I can't learn it, you can punish me however you want, Shinichi! You can even do lewd things."

Shinichi Kitagawa was almost used to it: "Akami, you really are something. Why do you always steer the conversation to some weird place in the last sentence of every conversation?"

Akemi Aoki stared blankly at the other person: "Really? No, I was just saying it offhand."

"Playing dumb again, huh? Do I look like the kind of guy who's easy to fool?"

Akemi Aoki chuckled, "I didn't say that! Shinichi-kun has a very great image in my heart!" She raised her little fist, "Long live Shinichi-kun!"

Kitagawa Shinichi was amused by her actions and felt inexplicably a little silly.

After waving goodbye at the next major intersection near the station, Shinichi Kitagawa returned home and opened the door.

"I'm back."

Looking up, I saw a girl wearing an apron, cooking around 3 PM.

He asked in surprise, "Dinner's being made so early?"

As a result, Kitagawa Rena stared at him with cold eyes, put down the spatula, and rushed towards Kitagawa Shinichi.

The force of the impact nearly knocked him over, but he managed to take a half-step back and steady himself. Looking at Kitagawa Rena in his arms, he asked, "Rena, what are you doing?"

Rena Kitagawa's voice was cold and detached, seemingly devoid of any emotion, but the words she uttered were anything but: "I missed you, you idiot Shinichi."

She brought her nose close and sniffed the repulsive fox smell on Kitagawa Shinichi: "Go take a shower and change your clothes after you finish eating. You smell awful. Do you really have to sit with Akemi in the car?"

Shinichi Kitagawa grinned: "But Akemi and I can't sit separately, can we? We went to Tokyo together."

Rena Kitagawa looked up: "It's not necessarily impossible. Which Japanese law would it violate if we sat separately?"

"You know what, what you said makes a lot of sense." Kitagawa Shinichi raised his hands in surrender and walked towards the bathroom: "Then I'll do as Rena says. I'll take a shower after dinner."

Rena Kitagawa smirked, gave a cold snort, tossed her twin tails, and returned to the kitchen: "What my sister says is always true! You can't go wrong trusting me."

She glanced at Shinichi Kitagawa out of the corner of her eye; her brother was clearly in a better mood today.

Tonight, Rena cooked another big meal: a sushi platter, a family bucket of tempura, and other side dishes.

Shinichi Kitagawa ate his fill.

During the meal, Kitagawa Rena put food on his plate, hesitated for a moment, and then suddenly said without any apparent reason, "Can I not take the college entrance exam, Shinichi?"

"Not going to university?" Shinichi Kitagawa knew that Japan wasn't so fixated on university degrees.

Many high school students, once they have a hobby or a direction in life, will voluntarily give up university and enter the workforce early, but Rena…

"Why would Rena suddenly have this thought? Your grades have always been pretty good, haven't they?"

Rena Kitagawa chewed on the crunchy tempura and said:

"Good grades don't mean I like studying. To be honest, I haven't realized all these years that apart from Shin-ichi, my life is completely empty. Whether it's future plans or ideals, it's all a blank."

Rena Kitagawa noticed the grease on Shinichi Kitagawa's lips and pulled out a napkin to wipe it off for him. "Even when Shinichi was talking about the future, all I could think about was things related to him... But..."

Her eyes were filled with disdain: "Now that Shin-il has found his direction in life, he probably won't be spending much of his time with me anymore, right? He might be spending time with Ming-mei, or with other singers, but he definitely won't be spending a lot of time with me."

She continued, keeping her eyes closed and straightening her body, "So I need to have some hobbies or other ideals of my own to shift my focus and get rid of these trivial moments when Xin Yi isn't around, so as to avoid the fate that befell my mother."

Shinichi Kitagawa was surprised, surprised that Rena would say such things.

Kitagawa Rena looked at the food on the table, her expression becoming much more serious:

"Back then, my mother gave up everything and devoted all her energy to taking care of my father, which caused him to fall in love with someone else due to excessive pressure."

Even now, I still think the affair was my father's fault. He clearly had other solutions but chose to run away. But my mother also definitely bears some responsibility, and I know very well that my personality is actually very similar to hers.

To be honest, I've had the idea of ​​monitoring Shinichi around the clock, and I still do, but I know I absolutely can't do that. So I definitely have to shift some of my attention away from him and not follow in my mother's footsteps.

She turned her head again with a smug look, as if seeking praise: "So I've decided to start looking for my own hobbies from today onwards. I'm not going to do something as uninteresting as going to school anymore. That's why I'm not going to university. Does Xinyi think that's reasonable? Do you support me?"

After listening to her long speech, Shinichi Kitagawa initially wanted to chime in, but by the end he had no such intention. He simply felt that Rena had truly grown up.

He put down his chopsticks and patted her head: "That makes sense, your brother is very supportive! Rena has really grown up."

Enjoying her brother's caresses and praise, she asked curiously, "So, will Xinyi take the college entrance exam later?"

"I probably will, since I have a clear plan for the future, and university isn't too busy, I have a lot of free time. But I'll still rent a place to live with Rena."

Hearing this, Kitagawa Rena was no longer worried: "It would be best to rent a room with only one bedroom. Rooms with two bedrooms are very expensive."

"Don't worry, we're not that short of money."

Rena Kitagawa turned her head and scoffed, "Idiot Shinichi! You don't understand what I'm saying."

Kitagawa Shinichi smiled; how could he not understand? "Alright, let's continue eating." He picked up his chopsticks to grab some more food, but Rena suddenly blurted out again, in a muttered tone, though this time it seemed she had planned it all along:

"Has Shinichi and Haruhi really broken up? Don't ask me how I know, even a fool could see it."

Shinichi Kitagawa froze for a moment, but still smiled and said, "That's right, this time it's a complete breakup."

Reina Kitagawa, who had already anticipated this outcome, was secretly happy, but for some reason, she couldn't smile. Instead, she was worried about Shinichi Kitagawa's feelings, so she rested her head on his shoulder and linked her arm with his.

"Shin-yi, you have me. When you're lonely, just hug me. I'll always be by your side, just like you. I will never abandon you because we are one."

Shinichi Kitagawa glanced at Rena, who was clinging to him, his eyes glistening, and hummed in agreement: "With Rena around, even the worst mood will quickly improve."

"So, our relationship is love, right?"

"Family ties."

"There's no such thing as family affection, it's love!" she retorted, pressing her face closer to the other person.

Shinichi Kitagawa hesitated, observing Rena's cool yet adorable demeanor as she acted coquettishly. He suddenly blushed slightly, because she was just too cute.

Perhaps it really is a bit of both, even though he knows that his feelings for Rena are mostly those of a younger sister.