The person who likes me is a yandere.

Is this a missionary activity by some religious group...?

I really did run into a weird rag doll... Is this also a product of my bad luck?

I pulled away from my rag doll.

The strange doll spouting incomprehensible words didn't pique my interest.

Go home quickly.

I was about to leave on the spot...

But with her peculiar aesthetic sense, Sora muttered to herself, "Looking at it... it really is quite cute. Sora might... want to hug it too." She walked closer and stood in front of the doll.

……

Qiong and the rag doll gazed at each other in silence.

"...Do you...hope for luck?"

The rag doll has its arms outstretched, posing as if to hug someone.

And so Qiong—

"Hey!"

He hugged her as if he were about to collide with her.

"Wow... It feels prickly when I hug it. It's like a brush... But maybe it feels nice."

I really don't understand Qiong's emotions.

Let's share in the good fortune.

My sister was hugging a strange cat doll (though it seemed to be female) at the entrance of a large discount store. I tried to pull them apart, but they clung to each other like long-lost lovers.

There was no other way but to resort to the ultimate solution.

I scratched Qiong's stomach to weaken her, and then shoved the puppet aside to stop the two of them from embracing. Whew, that took me almost a minute.

The rag doll I bumped into fell to the ground with a thud, but immediately got up and walked to my side.

Are you going to complain?

Should we continue to say things that sound like missionary work?

When I think like this—

"...I...will protect you."

"what?"

This statement surprised me.

The rag doll's words were distinctly different from anything it had said before; they contained a powerful will. How should I put it? I felt a warmth akin to listening to a very close person whispering sweet nothings.

The rag doll, carrying a basket of tissues—piled high with unused tissues—was about to leave.

I couldn't help but speak to that retreating figure.

"Wait a minute, the rag doll!"

I chased after him. The rag doll turned around.

I took the stone out of my uniform pocket.

It is a teardrop-shaped lapis lazuli.

I forcefully placed the stone meant to ward off misfortune into the puppet's hand and made it hold it.

"...?"

The rag doll tilted its head completely to the side, making one wonder if its neck was broken. Perhaps its head was too large, preventing it from tilting its head even slightly.

"This is a gift for you, take care."

"...Brother, what are you doing? We should probably go home soon~"

Hearing Qiong's call, I left the doll.

I followed behind the dome of the parking lot, which moved with light, leaping steps.

"Kyoma looks energetic. Do you need help carrying what I'm carrying?"

Although we haven't made a rule that when we buy two bags of stuff and head home, I have to carry the heavier bag and Qiong has to carry the lighter one, it's pretty much always like this. Also, since there was only one bag today, I was the only one carrying the things.

"Brother...that just now..."

"Ok?"

"Weren't you just trying desperately to pull away from Sora who was hugging the doll? Was that... because you were jealous?"

Qiong asked with a hearty laugh, like a mischievous child.

"...Hmm? But the one inside the mascot costume is...a girl, right? So you won't be jealous."

I cannot give a reason to stop Kyō from hugging others.

"I just felt embarrassed to be hugging a plush toy and getting attention in front of the store. Oh, and more importantly, our dinner tonight..."

I used appropriate ambiguity to steer the conversation towards meat.

After all, we have 250 grams of meat tonight, which costs 3,000 yen per gram.

On our way back from shopping, we didn't go directly home from the bus stop in front of the Ebisuya department store.

On our way home, we need to take a detour to a certain place.

It was a dike that offered a panoramic view of the riverbank.

"Hey, Qiong. Let's have some snacks. We can eat them on the go and start right away."

Today's snack is two Delicious Sticks.

"No way, we have to eat our snacks at our usual spot."

When we finish shopping and head home, we enjoy the snacks we just bought by the river (or bring them home if the weather is bad). This is a preference of Hinata's and mine.

We strolled leisurely for five minutes through the residential area in the afternoon, carrying our shopping bags.

The two arrived at the levee.

Climbing up the slope that seems to absorb the scent of grass even from your lungs, and standing on the concrete road of the embankment, a comfortable breeze caresses your body.

This is different from the wind that blows through the dusty streets.

Turning our backs to the residential area we had just passed, a wide riverbank and a vast river stretch out before us, with the opposite bank extending outwards. In summer, the riverbank becomes a stage for fireworks displays; the distance from the embankment to the river is about thirty meters. Below us, what lies open up—is it grass? It's almost a grassland.

From here, one can see cars moving slowly and crisscrossing on the bridge. How leisurely!

"Heave-ho."

Kyō sat on the gently sloping grassy bank of the embankment. Kyō, who possessed a particular fondness for chrysanthemums among flowers, said she preferred grass to blossoms. She explained that looking at grass brought her peace of mind, and it also gave her a sense of life. Therefore, she preferred admiring the greenery along the riverbank to admiring flower fields.

However, if you're going to give a gift, a bouquet of flowers is probably more likely to please her than a bunch of herbs. Or does it depend on the type of herbs?

“…Um, brother.”

What do you think of white clover?

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing... Anyway, what's wrong?"

"The TV said this morning that this is a lucky place for Libra brothers today... Brother, maybe something good will happen?"

"I see. So the riverbank is a lucky spot?"

"No, the lucky spot is on a slope."

"...It feels like an amazing divination."

"Yes, fortune telling is very popular."

My back fell down the riverbank slope.

Lying on the grass, gazing at the clear blue sky, is truly refreshing. Being able to rest in a place you love is indeed a fortunate thing.

Qiong, who was next to me, tore open the packaging of two delicious sticks.

"...Hehe, a telescope."

Kyō held the delicious stick in front of her eyes, and my gaze met hers through the hole in the stick. Even an elementary school student wouldn't do something like this.

"Don't play with the food. Come on, let's eat."

Qiong maintained her posture while holding the binoculars and said:

"Brother, this is precious food. You have to chew each bite fifty times."

"Impossible. But I'll savor it carefully."

As I gazed at the greenery along the riverbank and the azure sky, I split the two delicious sticks, each with a different flavor, in half, and the two of us finished them in five minutes. They were truly delicious.

"Brother, next time I go shopping, I want to buy the mentaiko flavor that I didn't buy today, and sit there and eat it."

In the direction the dome points...

There is a concrete bridge pier without an abutment.

When the new bridge is built, the old one should be completely demolished. I don't know if it's because our town is experiencing financial difficulties or if there's some other intention, but an old bridge pier remains there. The huge oval concrete block stands alone on the riverbank, looking as if it fell from the sky, as if it existed since ancient times, or as if it were avant-garde art.

She wanted to climb to a high place and sit there to eat snacks. Qiong's childlike side made me smile.

"Okay, let's eat over there."

We took a bus home from the bus stop closest to the levee.

There's a reason why I'd rather be called a "pervert" every morning than give up on hugging others and desperately try to pull away from the embrace of others.

It's not because I have an incurable, severe sister complex, nor because I'm a jealous person... that's not the case at all.

She was known as the "Goddess of Cuteness" at school and was popular with both boys and girls.

She gets as excited as a child when she's in a food store.

Her aesthetic sense is a bit strange.

She is my only family member, and the most important family member to me.