I really don't want to be reborn.

"Ah."

A look of relief appeared on Mom's face.

They must have been worried about the relationship between the siblings for the past few years.

But the next second, Yoshino's mother winked at her son and said, "Look, Kyosuke, isn't Kirino cute right now?"

It's alright, I see it every day so I don't really have a concept of it.

He nodded perfunctorily, "Mm."

"So you have some improper thoughts about your own sister?"

"Uh-huh?"

The cleaver in my hand almost cut my finger.

Kyosuke looked up in surprise, then smiled helplessly: "Is this the first lame joke of the year?"

"Let me tell you a secret, Kyosuke. Your dad is actually a doting father. He often sneaks onto the set of Kirino's filming to observe her secretly."

He glanced at his burly father reading the newspaper at the dinner table and chuckled softly, "He'll probably be arrested as a pervert! All that daughter-obsessed and sister-obsessed stuff is just too much."

Just as Kousaka Kyosuke untied his apron, his younger sister finally returned.

Kirino dragged her tired body in.

She was very tired.

Social interaction is tiring because everyone tries to project qualities they don't actually possess.

Her true nature is quite different from what she displays at school.

Kyosuke greeted her warmly, "Welcome back, Kirino."

"Oh."

See, at least she's not so aloof at school.

------

Chapter Thirteen: What are you thinking, my dear?

My mouth tastes a little bitter.

Kirino stared at the ceiling, reminiscing about dinner from an hour ago.

The intestines of saury have a bitter taste. If my mother is cooking it, she will usually remove the intestines, but my brother doesn't.

He likes to use soy sauce to season salt-grilled saury.

From a young age, Kirino had a fondness for that peculiar taste; the combination of salty, savory, and bitter flavors was the perfect way to enjoy saury.

To put it naively, that's probably the taste of an older brother.

She really misses this taste.

This flavor contains the care and affection of an older brother for his younger sister, which is a normal emotion. However, Kirino Kousaka has never had a normal emotion for her older brother.

Her feelings were abnormal, extreme, and unacceptable to everyone—that's what Kirino thought. They were feelings that went beyond the sibling relationship, like smashing down that door and then embracing each other as they jumped into the abyss.

She knew that it was wrong to have a crush on her brother.

The person you have a crush on is wrong.

Having a crush is very painful.

She was both tired and fulfilled, living within the vastness of the world in one person's unrequited love.

She closed her eyes as if she were a terminally ill patient.

But the next moment he suddenly opened his eyes, a trace of the heavy and bitter longing still lingering in them.

"Kirino, are you free now? I need to talk to you about something."

……

Kyosuke Kosaka entered his sister's room.

If he remembered correctly, it had been almost two years since he last came here. He told himself that Kirino was no longer a child, and he couldn't just go into a girl's room, even if he was her older brother.

He had originally planned to rest tonight, read a novel for a while, and then go to sleep, but he noticed that his sister's complexion was a little off during dinner.

The heartache revealed in his exhaustion was like a stray bone in a fish fillet, causing him an unexpected heartache, a tingling sensation in his heart as if electrified.

What was Kirino's expression?

Heartache? Desolation?

The words of Kasumigaoka Utaha echoed gently in his ears during the day. He decided to have a good talk with Kirino and ask her what was bothering her.

What he considers a small matter could be a big deal for a girl of that age, and might even affect her entire life.

If possible, he wished his sister could stay carefree in her childhood forever, without experiencing the hardships of the world—of course, that was impossible.

When talking about Kirino's childhood, Kyosuke began to reminisce about his own childhood.

If memories had a scent, they would be the scent of camphor, sweet and wistful, a kind of spiritual heroin.

After a few seconds of recollection, he shook his head and looked back at reality, because recollection is a road with no return, and all the past springs can never be restored.

The younger sister opened the door, trying to avoid eye contact with him, and asked in a low voice, "What is it?"

"Didn't you say a while ago that there was a fun game...?"

"Ah."

Kirino gave a noncommittal "hmm," the sound mostly sounding like a hum from her nose, sticky and cloying, like snot.

This attitude wasn't exactly warm, it was rather cold. Kousaka Kyosuke, unperturbed by her indifference, casually walked into the room.

If someone makes a sarcastic mockery of you, do you immediately retaliate with a sharp retort?

If someone is indifferent to you, do you immediately become cold and distant towards them?

This is completely useless, and you easily turn yourself into the kind of person you hate the most.

He needed a great deal of patience, after all, repairing the long-standing cold war between the siblings was like reheating half-cooked food; it would take a while to cook it properly.

However, to be fair, Kirino's room is full of youthful girl vibes, and the pink theme is very warm.

He came in and immediately saw the game disc on the table, the one he had given her last night, a sister-themed game with an awful name.

Kyosuke stood in front of the computer desk and suddenly turned around.

"What...what are you doing?"

"Kirino, come play games with your brother."

Kirino Kousaka stared at him with wide, incredulous eyes.

…………

The brother and sister stood awkwardly, the sister supporting herself on the computer desk with one hand as she turned on the computer. The first thing that caught her eye was the screen.

The wallpaper features many cat-eared girls relaxing in their living room.

Yes, cat ears are gradually becoming a major appealing feature in the otaku community, and even some light novels are starting to create female characters with cat ears.

"...It's very exquisite, completely different from the style of my computer."

"Just change the skin and add a cute quick-start bar as decoration, aren't these basic common sense?"

Kirino smiled smugly.

She smiled as she smoothed her hair, looking strangely sweet; it was hard to imagine where her usual cold demeanor had gone.

My sister, who was skillfully operating the computer, had a natural and warm smile on her face, as if she had been given a completely different soul.

When asked which one was the real Kirino, he hesitated for a moment, then thought that the current one was probably the real one.

At school, she's definitely a well-behaved girl with good grades and a fulfilling life, but at home, she becomes aloof and rebellious.

But are these not actually her true inner self?

Wearing a trendy skirt.

They were using popular catchphrases.

She boasted that she had a boyfriend a long time ago.

Going to karaoke with friends or something...

This is how Kyosuke Kosaka describes today's female middle school students; to be even more scathing, one could add "pretentious maturity" and "lack of self-control."

However, he felt that his younger sister Kirino actually preferred playing games with her friends.

The monitor screen went completely dark.

Accompanied by a sweet, childlike voice, a title composed entirely of rounded cartoon fonts comes into view.

“Little sister~~maker~~EX~”

"You're back~~, Onii-chan! Fall in love with your sister!"

Kyosuke opened his mouth as if to say something, then pointed at the screen and said, "Although I've never played a little sister-themed game before, I know that these kinds of games involve building a good relationship with a virtual little sister and having sex, right?"

Kirino squinted and nodded. It seemed that having someone play games with her had forcibly lowered her intelligence, making her look silly and giving him a questioning look.

"So, there will be scenes of siblings making love, right?"

Kirino, who was smiling, was suddenly startled.

Kyosuke continued, expressionless, the question making his teeth ache: "I'm saying, are you really okay with watching a scene like this with me?"

Does it not matter?

"what……"

Kirino stared in surprise, her mouth agape and her face turning bright red.

It was as if many people were singing at the same time in her mind, each singing their own song, creating a chaotic mess.

Under Kyosuke's increasingly serious gaze, Kirino Kousaka stammered, waving her hands in defense, or rather, trying to exonerate herself: "I... I didn't pay any attention to these things when I was playing... Don't say strange things!"

Kyosuke gazed at her calmly.