I really don't want to be reborn.

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Adjusting your mindset is essential for focused thinking.

Hmm... Do you have any tickets? Not giving them to me? If you don't give them to me, I'll just take them!

When I was in middle school, I had an experience of sharing an umbrella with a girl. I think I blushed back then.

Chapter 18 Sea Bream or Saury, That Is the Question

Love and career are two major pursuits in life.

In essence, these two pursuits are the same: they are both ways of self-affirmation.

A career determines its value through social recognition, while love, of course, determines its value through the recognition of a particular person.

We come into this world, are attracted and captivated by the appearance and soul of someone or some others, and leave in haste before we are satisfied, and thus life ends.

So, does that mean the meaning of life lies in love?

no……

Kyosuke Kousaka's unwillingness to think about this question—yes, his very unwillingness to think about it—already explains half the answer.

The meaning of love lies in making people not seek a deep understanding of this issue.

Kyosuke Kosaka was immersed in the transitional stage between liking and loving, in the ambiguous state of being neither close nor distant. According to Einstein's theory of relativity, time flew by quickly, and soon it was the weekend.

Kirino is coming today, so he plans to get up early and buy some better ingredients. He realized that when he agreed to come over that night, he hadn't told his sister that Kasumigaoka was here.

I reckon she'll throw a little tantrum when I see her later.

I bought some of her favorite ingredients as a way to appease her and calm her down.

Kyosuke thought to himself, then turned over.

"Well……"

Then I saw a familiar face.

The two of them remodeled the bedroom, and the two tatami mats were less than ten centimeters apart, with the pillows almost touching.

Lying back to back or flat on your back is fine, but lying side to side like this is very dangerous.

At least he felt it was very dangerous.

The girl's eyes were still closed, her breathing was shallow, her lips were flat, and only her eyebrows were smiling, like a petal being blown open by the late spring wind.

"Kasumigaoka?"

He called out softly, but the girl didn't wake up. Time passed slowly, and Kyosuke remained motionless on his side, watching her sleeping face.

Sunlight and wind squeezed in through the cracks in the window, and faint rays of light fell on her cheeks. Kousaka Kyosuke had never felt so alive as he did now.

When you wake up in the morning, brush your teeth and wash your face, just like any other ordinary day, whether you go to work or stay at home, do you ever think like this—

Is this what life is like?

Is this all there is to our lives?

Besides enough money to live on, what else is needed?

It is not enough for a person to merely live.

He also wants sunshine, freedom, and a small flower to wear on his chest.

My fingers, without my control, gently stroked her eyebrows, which, like her personality, were slightly prickly.

With fingers pointing downwards, stroke the smooth and delicate skin.

He had observed Kirino's face up close; the fine hairs on her face were particularly noticeable in the sunlight, while Kasumigaoka Utaha did not. Kyosuke touched her ear and then tried to press her nose.

Then I saw a pair of ruby-like eyes.

A fleeting look of bewilderment crossed her eyes, before her gaze settled on his mischievous hand, and she remained silent.

"Uh……"

Kyosuke Kosaka withdrew his hand with lightning speed, shifting his body slightly backward, and apologized readily: "I'm sorry..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha blinked again.

Was he trying to pinch his own nose as a prank?

That's all she could think.

With a soft hum, the girl did nothing and said nothing, closing her eyes as if she wanted to sleep a little longer.

Even though it's the weekend, I still have to get up early to buy groceries.

His annoying sister...

She was half asleep and half awake, feeling troubled, while Kyosuke was caught in a strange mood, so embarrassing that he wanted to leave the group. He had actually felt a long-lost shyness just now!

very obvious!

He had almost forgotten what that feeling was like.

Kyosuke patted his face to calm himself down, sat up, and saw, by the first rays of sunlight streaming through the window, that the girl had turned over and was now lying flat on her back, with the blanket half rolled up.

He could faintly hear the morning news from the Doma family next door, with the host making deliberately funny remarks, but he couldn't hear a word of it. He just felt his mouth was dry and he didn't know what to do.

She got up and made breakfast. Kasumigaoka Utaha had been cooking for him for a week, so she was allowed to sleep a little longer while he started cooking. She spent about ten minutes lost in thought in the small living room before finally coming out of the bedroom.

"Good morning."

"Yeah, I slept pretty well last night."

She habitually hugged the pillow as if it were a cushion at home, rubbed her eyes, and walked out, suddenly asking a question: "Why did you apologize just now?"

Kyosuke turned his head and slightly opened his mouth, feeling embarrassed.

Why apologize?

Need I say more?

He hesitated for a moment before explaining, "Because...because I'm a little curious about girls' noses, um, I kind of wanted to pinch them, sorry for waking you up..."

"..."

Kasumigaoka looked at her in surprise, his expression like that of someone who had discovered the boy in front of him was actually writing a novel, but he immediately smiled. At first, it was just a smile, then he chuckled softly, the meaning of which was unclear.

His eyes narrowed into curved lines, the corners of his eyes and lips lifting together, making her steps lighter, and his voice became cheerful: "What would you like to eat today?"

"Um, Kirino, she..."

"Do you like fish?"

Interrupted abruptly, Kyosuke Kousaka could only nod: "I like it very much."

…………

"How about matcha and red bean flavored dumplings?"

"You can give it a try."

"Curry chicken?"

"No problem, I'm not picky about these."

Inside the mall, two high school students mingled with the middle-aged and elderly crowd. Kasumigaoka Utaha seemed to be in a particularly good mood today. Holding a bag of baking powder, she turned around with a mischievous grin: "I'll make you your favorite sea bream..."

He raised an eyebrow: "I really like your... braised sea bream, but what are you doing with the baking powder?"

The girl's smile widened: "I made sea bream... grilled!"

His expression froze, and he complained, "It's gone from a grand feast to wagashi (Japanese sweets)! That's too much!"

As she looked down intently at the food he liked, and muttered complaints about the high prices in the seafood section—Kousuke Kosaka felt like the whole world was being incredibly kind to him.

My phone rang at an inopportune moment; it was my sister calling.

"Kirino?"

"Ugh, where are you now? It's so noisy!"

"I'm buying groceries, and I'm wondering what else you like to eat besides saury?"

Hearing this, Kasumigaoka Utaha, who had her back to him, silently threw the saury out of her shopping cart...

Kirino's voice trembled slightly with a hint of shyness: "Mmm, I still like it... I still like it... Whatever, I can eat anything. By the way, when are you coming back today?"

"It'll be around eleven o'clock, so we have about an hour left."

"I know!"

Kirino hurriedly hung up the phone and opened the apartment door under the complicated gaze of her good friend Ayase Aragaki: "Okay, this is it, Ayase."

"Is...it really okay, Kirino?"

"It's alright, it's alright—wait, that dead cat... cough, Gokou-kun is here too!"

At the entrance of her brother's current apartment, Kirino Kousaka solemnly introduced her best friend, Ruri Gokou, to her best cousin, Ayase Aragaki.

"Wait, hold on... Hurry up and bring this microwave over! I'm exhausted!"

"This is troublesome. Today is a belated housewarming party for Kyosuke, and also to celebrate his discharge from the hospital. I don't know how to make desserts, so I can only ask Ayase to give him a surprise. What do you guys think—"

Her excited and cheerful words came to an abrupt halt.

The first thing you see when you open the door is two laptops on the table, one black and one pink, like two loving couples snuggling together.

Kirino took a deep breath, like someone about to sink to the bottom of the sea, a cold breath: "Kasumigaoka Utaha..."

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Thanks for the reward, Duoduo. I won't say anything more. I'll go back to writing right after I finish uploading this chapter.

Thank you all for your support, no matter what it is, even just a small post, I am very grateful —_a person who is currently making empty promises...

Chapter Nineteen: I want to see just how far your sister complex goes.

That female dog's best friend at school?

Is her name Ayase Aragaki?