Tokyo Soft Rice King.

Now, Kuroba Akira can only pray that his younger sister will wake up after sleeping at the Saionji house, just like a computer that has been restarted, and return to her aloof and indifferent god-like state.

The less a girl resembles her younger sister, the safer she is.

Chapter 404 The Enigmatic Sibling Relationship

After completing all of this, Akira Kuroba gave a thumbs up.

Qingxia witnessed the entire process of Kuroba Akira's smooth combo of hypnosis, suggestion, memory alteration, making empty promises, and putting her to sleep, and it was truly breathtaking.

She was thinking to herself, 'Could it be that Kuroba-kun was a con artist in his original world?'

After all, he was someone who had worked in game development, and he had a very good grasp of players' psychology.

The younger sister is much easier to please than the player.

Kuroba Akira laid the sleeping Hikari flat on the ground and then used his own cushion as a pillow for her.

Just then, Hitomi Anri, who had just finished making a phone call to Machi Saionji, returned to the house.

“My lord, I have already asked Zhencheng to tell your uncle…”

Then, upon seeing Tianyu Guang sleeping peacefully, she quickly covered her mouth.

Kuroba Akira and Haruka also put their index fingers to their lips and pointed outside the room, indicating that they would continue talking outside.

The three of them moved out of the room together and gently closed the sliding door.

"Mingjun, have you put Xiaoguang to sleep yet?"

"Yes, Xiaoguang's memory was a bit confused just now, so I tried to distract her and then used suggestion to coax her to sleep."

The general process was correct, but Kuroba Akira's summary was too simplistic, omitting the most exciting parts. So Haruka, who witnessed the whole thing and was deeply impressed, couldn't help but add to it.

"Xiaotong, listen to me, Kuroba-kun really gave off a feeling of being the final villain just now!"

Then she explained the general outline of Kuroba Akira's actions, but Haruka cleverly avoided mentioning Kuroba Akira's words, "I am your husband," thus preventing Kotomi from reacting negatively.

After removing the information that might displease Anri Tong, Anri Tong listened to the remaining parts with amazement, thinking that as expected, the most powerful thing about a wise ruler is his silver tongue.

Of course, the use of the tongue, besides speaking, also has another impure meaning, but not many girls understand that feeling yet. They haven't reached that level of intimacy, so naturally they haven't unlocked the more advanced deep kiss, which is the special operation codenamed PR13.

Like Qingxia, although she has lost her virginity, she has only experienced pain and bleeding, and has not yet enjoyed any truly wonderful sensations.

In terms of basic strategy progress, let alone comparing with the four top-tier erotic girls, Zi Tong Qin Qiu, it is far inferior to Zhen Cheng, who has learned about the whole set of wonderful flavors through empathy, and even inferior to Mirai and Shiori, who are just observing and learning from the sidelines and trying it out on their lips.

Even Moe, who had only had one experience and had eaten pan-fried buns, enjoyed it much more than her. At least the three seniors taught Moe the best, most enjoyable, and happiest things step by step.

Hongxiang, who should be considered Qingxia's 'junior', also fully demonstrated the characteristics of a mature and sophisticated woman and the skill of switching between dual personalities. During her playful phase with Kuroba Akira, she instantly caught up with the Four Special Ones. Originally, she was a heavyweight on par with Akiko, but she entered the game so late because she needed to support her newbie alt account.

Currently, seven out of ten women have already reached base, and the remaining three are Schrödinger's virgins. They are still considered virgins in the traditional sense, but their experiences have far surpassed those of true virgins, and their hearts have long since lost their purity.

Ten people is really a lot; it's already exceeded double digits. This is a number that a normal man can't handle.

Fortunately, Kuroba Akira is no longer a normal man. With the support of the gods and a backup hidden energy source, there's no need to worry about him being killed by him.

Moreover, the harem structure is currently being readjusted, and the order of priority is about to be reshuffled, at which time a completely new matching and ranking mechanism will be formed.

That's why Hitomi Anri doesn't want any new 'variables' to come into play at such a crucial moment.

Fortunately, Kuroba Akira, whom she had assumed would unconditionally side with her sister, did not choose her sister this time.

However, she wanted to hear the deeper reasons.

"Wise ruler, don't you want your sister to regain her memories?"

Qingxia was stunned for a moment. Although she also wanted to know the answer to this question, she was surprised that Xiaotong dared to ask it directly. Such an offensive question was very impolite.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. After all, Xiaotong and Heiyu-kun are already more than a couple. They've done everything they should and shouldn't have done, said everything they should and shouldn't have said. They're practically husband and wife, just waiting for a marriage certificate. So what questions can't they ask?

Kuroba Akira replied dismissively.

"If Hikari really only sees her brother as a brother, I definitely hope she can regain her memories... But how should I put it... is it just my intuition as a man?"

"A man's intuition doesn't seem like it's going to be accurate."

"It's hardly a suitable reason...it's hard to believe."

Hitomi Anri and Haruka Tomita both shared their thoughts.

“I know this is very unreliable, and it sounds even more mystical than a woman’s sixth sense, but after the ‘trial’ at the end of the year, I do feel that my crisis radar is more sensitive than before.”

Kuroba Akira closed his eyes and carefully recalled the feeling he had just experienced from Amehiro Hikaru. It was like being shivered by an overly cold air conditioner, and goosebumps rose all over his body. Only then did he seek the same insight from the class monitor.

"I think you must have smelled it too, class monitor. It feels like your defense against Xiaoguang today is on the same level as your previous defense against Ziyin."

"Yes, she deserves that treatment."

Anri Hitomi dared not be careless at all.

"Because you can see the big picture from small details, you can tell from those few little actions she made in order to recall that the original Ame no Hikari probably had special thoughts... To use the otherworldly buzzword you mentioned before, Mingjun, it's like she had a tendency towards 'German orthopedics'?"

Qingxia was completely unaware of this internet meme, but she could understand the implied meaning from the expressions of the two people, and she simply asked again to confirm it.

"So, before losing her memory, Hikari was the first 'original conqueror' to target Kuroba-kun... and she was the one with the highest difficulty level, after all, she had to overcome two mountains: reality and society."

"Yes, and the key point is that her original target is gone. I'm just a new character whose appearance is the same as the old one. Do you think Xiaoguang will buy into this uninspired reskin? Even I know that the reprint will definitely not be as valuable as the original."

"So, Kuroba-kun, you're afraid to bet on how Hikari will treat you after she regains her memories?"

"There's no need to gamble on this, because she most likely won't be able to accept it, and the more important it is, the more she'll be unable to let go. She might directly kill me as an imposter, while there's a small chance that she'll pretend to accept it, but in reality, she's thinking of 'turning me back to normal'."

Anri Hitomi summarized it this way.

"Both sides are 'dead ends' for the current wise ruler, it's just a matter of physical death versus spiritual death, so I agree not to let her regain her memory."

But Qingxia felt there was still a third possibility.

"However, it's also possible that Kuroba-kun will regain his memories and formally recognize Hikari, right? If the two siblings then sit down and talk, I think there's still a possibility of reconciliation."

"This brings us to the question of whether a wise ruler who regains his memories will still be the same wise ruler he is now. It's the same paradox as The Ship of Theseus."

"I don't think that even if someone has an extra memory, their personality won't change drastically."

"……Um?"

These words gave Akira Kuroba some special insights.

This reminded him of the sudden sense of unease he felt when he looked at the memories in the comb before.

The original Amane Hikari was the brother-complex little sister that all brothers dreamed of... but she herself is no longer a sister-complex sister?

And didn't the original Kuroba Akira notice anything unusual about his sister?

Or do you know, but pretend you don't...? Is it a two-way street?

Something's not right... It feels like there's a 'deviation'...

Suddenly, Kuroba Akira had a flash of inspiration.

The word "deviation" made him realize the true source of his sense of incongruity.

"Have it!"

Kuroba Akira clapped his hands, the sound of which made the two girls turn their heads.

"Wise ruler, what have you thought of?"

"I suddenly realized that if I had to say what's the strangest thing, it's the memory of me that I saw through the comb."

Haruka also tried using the comb, but she didn't see the sibling memories in the comb, so as to what was different, only Kuroba Akira could analyze it herself.

"Did that Kuroba-kun act strangely in any way?"

"No, quite the opposite, the strangest thing is that he doesn't seem strange at all."

The two girls looked at each other, clearly not understanding what he was saying, because they were missing a piece of information. Kuroba Akira hadn't deliberately mentioned it, but this time, if he wanted to explain his sense of incongruity, he had to say it.

"Although you may not know this, I was actually thirty years old in my previous life."

"So, in my past life, I was already a thirty-year-old older brother?"

How kind you are, class monitor. You even deliberately used the term "big brother" which doesn't sound so old, but because it reminds people of a famous meme and is an ominous line for the person saying it, it would have been better to just use "uncle".

"Just call me Uncle, class monitor. I don't think there's anything shameful about being old."

"I see. This sense of maturity, the non-high school student's decadence, the obsession with dreams, and the professional competence that is broad but not deep... it is not surprising at all if it is the life experience accumulated by a wise ruler in his thirties."

Being decadent and superficial is unnecessary.

"But the thought of a mature and wise ruler in a suit sitting in the classroom calling me class monitor... Pfft, the contrast is so strong, yet strangely harmonious, it's so weird..."

"The original me wouldn't wear a suit either. Although I was a corporate slave, the game company didn't have any dress code requirements, so my style of dress wasn't much different from now... Anyway, all of us who come from another world are fifteen years older than our counterparts in this world. This is because the two worlds are about fifteen years apart, and this difference is proof that the two worlds are completely different."

After listening to Kuroba Akira's detailed explanation, Haruka raised her hand and asked a question.

"Excuse me, why is it fifteen years? It feels like an ambiguous period that's neither too long nor too short."

"The class monitor's grandfather said that this is the age gap formed by the accumulation of small deviations in history, but as for the principle, I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with the rules of the world or some mysterious thing... Why there is a fifteen-year difference is not the question we are going to discuss today. Getting back to the topic we were just talking about, it is because of the fifteen-year difference that I feel something is wrong with me."

At this point, both of them understood what Kuroba Akira meant.

"I see. It's quite special that thirty-year-old Shiraha Akira and fifteen-year-old Kuroha Akira have 'the same personality.' After all, people grow up; no one is mature from the start."

"That's right. I've experienced a lot and seen all walks of life. I've gained a lot of insights and become who I am today. But I wasn't like this when I was fifteen or sixteen. Although I still lacked ambition, I was different back then..."

Although it was a bit embarrassing to reveal his dark past, in order to explain himself clearly, Kuroba Akira suppressed his shame and commented on his past self.

"How should I put it? It's quite... uh, awkward, I guess. It's kind of a complication of chuunibyou (middle school syndrome). It's about deliberately pursuing 'being different' and feeling ashamed of being like everyone else, so I'm very unconventional..."

In fact, Akira Kuroba felt that only one word was needed to describe his past self.

fool.

What an idiot.

He's just a complete idiot.

Although things aren't much better now, they're still much better than when I was so narrow-minded that I didn't even realize it.

"It took me a long time to realize that the worst part was actually myself, who didn't cooperate with the group because I felt bad about myself..."

Kuroba Akira once said that if he saw himself in this world, he would definitely slap him twice and berate him for his stupidity.

"But the version of me I saw in the comb before acted too normally. If I really had a younger sister, I would definitely love her very much, that's for sure. But did I really not notice at all that Hikaru's feelings for me were beyond what I could possibly want?"

"Indeed, although sometimes they can be really slow to notice, in terms of emotions, a wise ruler will still be able to perceive and respond, which is one of the most outstanding advantages of a wise ruler."

"That's why it doesn't match up. Besides, when I was fifteen, I was quite obsessed with light novels, especially those about siscon (sister complex) stories... If I really had a younger sister and realized that she was a brother-complex... I'm afraid I would have chosen the wrong path when I was younger."