I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

As expected, whether it's Sora or Yui, even if they lose their past memories, the accumulated emotions will still change them and help them grow...

Yuu Tenkuji unconsciously clenched his fist, his expression unchanged.

"Then I'll take my leave."

On the other side, after witnessing the interaction between the brother and sister, even though the silver-haired girl was staring at her like she was a monster, Yui Yuigahama still showed a bright smile.

He seemed completely unfazed, even appearing relieved.

"Nice to meet you, Kyō!"

"...Don't call me that so intimately, I don't know you that well."

Chapter Nine: This System is Amazing! (Updated on 12/23)

The kitchen door was closed, and the aroma of hot water rinsing tea leaves filled the air.

To be honest, there wasn't a single skill related to "tea ceremony" on that dazzling list of skills.

However, the "perfect" level of "cuisine" includes dishes related to tea, such as "tea-soaked rice"; the "expert" level of "dessert making" also has a lot of knowledge related to tea, such as what temperature of black tea should be paired with this pastry to achieve the best taste. The boundaries between them are actually quite ambiguous.

With his previous work experience, brewing a cup of fragrant and sweet Qimen black tea was not a difficult task for Tiankongsi You—he even specially went to someone to collect the tea leaves, which were absolutely authentic Anhui Qimen black tea, although they were quite expensive.

After the tea was brewed, he began to hesitate about something else:

Should we add some medicine to this cup of tea and make the unsuspecting Yui Yuigahama drink it?

There were only six drops of the "Life Elixir" left. As the first friend to visit her home, Yuu Tenkuji didn't mind sharing some of the precious life essence with her.

But I have a feeling that if they add each other, their friendship will no longer be pure, and it will most likely accelerate in the direction that Natsukawa Masuzu encountered in the last mission...

Simply put, it means becoming boyfriend and girlfriend.

Drink this, and you'll be mine.jpg

Yuu Tenkuji would never admit that he had developed a bit of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) regarding the word "girlfriend." Just thinking about it would make him feel slightly irritable, and he didn't want to think about it any deeper.

Unless the system releases the fourth task.

"Let's wait until later. There's no rush... and the medicine won't expire."

Finally, Yuu Tenkuji put the bottle back in her pocket, sighed softly, picked up the tea tray, and walked towards the living room with three cups of warm tea.

"They should be done arguing by now, right?"

Halfway through brewing the tea, they heard Sora shouting. If she hadn't felt there was no need for her to intervene, Tenkuji Yu wouldn't have cared about brewing the tea; she would have gone out to mediate long ago.

There's not much noise outside now, so they've probably finished discussing it. Luckily, he had already said he would stand by his sister's side and wouldn't put himself in a difficult position no matter what the outcome.

As for Yui Yuigahama, Yuu Tenkuji believed that the girl wouldn't do anything to put him in a difficult position.

His fingers touched the kitchen door, but before he could open it, he suddenly stopped, a question he had ignored for half a day popping into his head—

Where did that "unlucky charm" that always returned to its own pocket no matter how it was thrown away go?

I haven't seen it since this morning; I just checked my pockets and it's nowhere to be found...

Could it have been refreshed and disappeared due to changes in the world line?

That would be fine, but the worst-case scenario is that the bad luck has already accumulated to the point where, as the price for the "misfortune event," the amulet disappears on its own.

But he didn't encounter any bad luck today... Does his sister's dislike of her friend count?

After much deliberation, Yuu Tenkuji frowned and silently cried out in her heart:

"System, add points... no, give me an explanation."

Without the familiar system voiceover, a panel suddenly popped up.

System: "This system is currently undergoing a major update. Please wait patiently. Current progress: 3.33%..."

Tenkuuji Yuu: "???"

……

As he said he was going to make tea, the moment he closed the kitchen door, only the pink-haired girl with a bun hairstyle and the silver-haired little girl remained facing each other in the living room.

The floor-to-ceiling windows were locked, and the air seemed to freeze as if it couldn't circulate.

It's a bit strange to call it a standoff. Although the atmosphere in the living room was somewhat heavy and quiet, Kasugano Sora just ignored Yuigahama Yui and didn't continue to show any sharp attitude.

She moved the game console in front of the TV, plugged it in, and then listlessly picked up a game.

"Xiao Qiong really likes playing games."

Sitting on the sofa, Yui Yuigahama broke the silence with a seemingly pointless remark, trying to make her voice sound friendly and approachable.

Awkward conversation aside, she's already succeeded at at least being able to talk to someone, and she's not afraid of being treated coldly—after all, people who can be friends with Yukino Yukinoshita are usually used to this kind of attitude.

"It's just average." As she expected, Kasugano Sora replied indifferently.

To avoid being told by her brother that she was being impolite, Kasugano Sora gave a perfunctory reply but had no intention of continuing to chat with Yuigahama Yui.

She cupped her delicate, fair face in her palm, gazing at the LCD screen, seemingly lost in thought, lost in contemplation.

Yui Yuigahama was not discouraged. In order to prevent the atmosphere from returning to silence, she tried her best to find topics that might interest her.

"...Enough!"

After giving a perfunctory reply, Kasugano Sora suddenly sat up and threw the game controller onto the sofa.

A cold and hostile gaze swept over Yui Yuigahama, like a house cat baring its claws and growling in its throat. As if unable to contain her irritation, she asked in a chilling voice:

"I'm asking you, did you force You to bring you here?"

"……force?"

Yui blinked, tilting her head in confusion: "Why did you say 'force'? And with Yu's personality, can anyone really force him to do something?"

"I can... but that's not the point." Too lazy to boast in front of her, Kasugano Sora pressed, "If not you, then who made Yu's mood so bad? Has anything happened during the kendo tournament?"

If it were just a normal bad mood, Kasugano Sora wouldn't care that much.

But in his eyes, she sensed a despondency and self-mockery unlike anything she had ever seen before…

In front of her younger sister, Yuu Tenkuji doesn't deliberately hide her emotions. In the past, when she got a low score on a test, she would honestly express her disappointment, but she would cheer herself up soon afterward.

Unless something happened that he didn't want his sister to know, or something serious enough to have a huge impact on him—at that time, Tenkuji Yu was just a brother who was obsessed with saving face.

What Kasugano Sora wanted to know was: during those four days and three nights in Kyoto, which demon or monster had shaken Yu's resolve?

"Even if you ask that... we really didn't encounter anything strange. We just went out and had fun, and we won the competition smoothly. There's no reason for Xiaoyou to be in a bad mood, right?"

Although Yuuki-kun did ask a few strange questions, that doesn't seem like the reason at all.

As Yui Yuigahama pondered earnestly for Kasugano Sora, she bit her lip, lowered her head, and racked her brains to recall various scenes from the past.

The fragment flashed through her mind, and she unconsciously murmured:

"That's right, no matter what, I've never seen Xiaoyou look disappointed..."

Chapter Ten: Sister and Friend (13/23)

The voice slowly faded away.

As if a shallow cut had been made in her heart, Yui Yuigahama's eyes dimmed, and a bitter smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Xiaoxue said the same thing as Xiaoqiong..."

In other words, only those who know him well and are close to him can see that Xiaoyou has something on her mind.

"And I've had a crush on him for so long, yet I can't even do something like this... How pathetic."

Even Xiaoxue, who is always at odds with him, is no match for him. What have I been doing all this time?

"……snort."

Noticing the change in her eyes, Kasugano Sora frowned, gradually abandoning her aggressive attitude. Slightly annoyed, she hugged her slender legs and gently bumped herself against the back of the sofa.

"It seems it really has nothing to do with you... If that matter were truly important to him, he probably wouldn't have told me, right? In that case, I can only try to cheer him up..."

Hearing these murmurs, Yui Yuigahama temporarily put aside her gloomy mood and faced her with a warm smile: "Sora really cares about her brother! Yuu will be very happy when she finds out, right?"

"Do you need to tell me?"

Kasugano Sora glanced at her with disdain and said indifferently, "Caring for and supporting each other is just a matter of course for us... Otherwise, how do you think we've managed to get through these past few years by relying on each other?"

"Yes. That's why it's even more hard to part, isn't it?" Yui Yuigahama lowered her eyes and sighed softly, "It's precisely because they are such close siblings that they feel resistant to outsiders interfering, isn't it?"

"..."

She stiffened slightly, as if she had been told the truth.

Then, Kasugano Sora turned around and looked at her with utmost seriousness.

"If it were you, and you could be with him forever, but someone insisted on squeezing into your world and shamelessly trying to steal your most precious place, would you be willing to open your door to welcome her?"

Despite her young appearance, the silver-haired girl spoke with remarkable maturity, without a trace of wavering or uncertainty, making it impossible for anyone to easily refute her.

She stared intently at the pink-haired senior in front of her, and from her cherry-like lips came words that carried considerable weight.

"From the past to the present, the two of us have always walked side by side, and that will not change in the future. No matter what you outsiders say, as long as Yuya agrees, that's enough..."

"I can do everything you can do, he doesn't need to find a girlfriend outside at all!"

Seemingly unafraid that Yuu Tenkuji in the kitchen would hear her words, Kasugano Sora made a resounding declaration, and was not even satisfied with that.

With an air of dominance that seemed intent on overwhelming everyone, she stood up from the sofa and stared at Yui Yuigahama with an unquestionable gaze.

"Remember this: anyone who tries to take Yu away from me is my enemy!"

"..."

After being stunned into silence for a long while, facing such a menacing little monster, Yui Yuigahama sighed softly and then calmly shook her head.

"Xiao Qiong, there's no need to be so hostile towards me."

"Just like you guessed, whether it was in my third year of middle school or shortly after the start of the school year, Xiaoyou rejected my confessions."

"No matter how much I like him, he always treats me as a friend... No matter how hard I try to get closer, I can't even see into his heart."

"How do I rob it? I'd rather you tell me, because I don't understand anything about it..."

Without shedding a single tear, she simply smiled and uttered those words in a helpless tone.