Lonely Rock: Love Songs Dedicated to the Stars

Yuma reluctantly broke the orange in half and stuffed the larger half directly into Yuuki's mouth.

"It's quite sweet."

"Yes, it's quite sweet."

A lazy atmosphere filled the room.

Where did Mom and Dad go?

"It seems like the two of them went out early this morning, their annual New Year's date. Honestly, it's so cold, and they still have to go out together."

"So that means they had breakfast out, right?" Yuuki felt his stomach protesting. He checked the time; it was only 10 a.m. "Yuuma, I'm so hungry because I didn't have breakfast."

Yuzhen glanced at the clock on the wall; it was already 10 a.m.

"Let's wait another hour, then I'll go cook."

"No! Your older brother is starving to death! How can you bear to do that?"

"Aren't there oranges here? Let's have some to tide us over." Yuma picked up the remote and changed the channel, finding a tokusatsu drama playing. "Besides, if we eat now, is it breakfast or lunch?"

“This is called brunch.” Yu Xing sighed. “You’ve always insisted on eating breakfast, why aren’t you eating it today?”

"I've already eaten."

"what?"

Upon hearing Yuuma's words, Yuuki squinted at him. Then, Yuuki suddenly clamped Yuuma's legs tightly between his legs under the kotatsu.

"What are you trying to do?!"

Yuma was a little sleepy, but being squeezed like that woke her up.

"It's all your fault for eating breakfast without telling me!"

"How about I spit it out on you?"

"You're disgusting!"

The two of them struggled together for a short while before running out of energy.

"I was just kidding. I saved your breakfast." Yuma reached into the kotatsu table and rubbed her legs. "It's in the pot in the kitchen. It should still be warm."

"That's not bad."

However, even after learning where she would be having breakfast, Yuuki remained lying under the kotatsu (heated table) without moving.

"Didn't you say you were going to eat? Why aren't you going yet?"

Yuma kicked him under the kotatsu.

"I don't want to move." Yuuki kicked Yuuma back. "It's so warm here, I don't want to leave. Can you bring me breakfast?"

"Eat it or not, it's up to you. Anyway, I did cook for you."

Yuma ignored him and continued eating oranges while watching a tokusatsu program on TV.

Yuuki finally sighed helplessly. He could only slowly crawl out from under the kotatsu and leave the room to go to the kitchen to get the breakfast he had been longing for.

Yu-chan made him a beef and egg sandwich, and he also fried two hot dogs and stuffed them inside. Yu-chan took a carton of milk from the refrigerator and heated it up. Then he carried his breakfast back to his room, sat back down at the kotatsu (heated table), and began to enjoy it slowly.

While watching TV, Yuuma heard Yuuki eating breakfast next to him. He also smelled the aroma of hot dogs, which drew his attention, and he sat up.

"Give me something to eat."

"Didn't you already eat?"

Yuuki was still chewing something when Yuuma pulled his attention back from the TV.

Although reluctant, he still used a fork to stick out a hot dog and handed it to Yuma.

"I'm getting hungry because you're eating next to me."

Yuuma took the fork. He wasn't actually hungry, but seeing how much this guy was enjoying his food, he couldn't help but want to eat some too.

Yuzhen took a bite of half a sausage and exclaimed as she ate, "As expected of me, this sausage is really delicious."

"Isn't this hot dog a semi-finished product that Mom bought a while ago? What does it have to do with you if it tastes good?"

"Nonsense, if it weren't for me, how could this sausage have been fried to such a perfect crispy exterior and tender interior?" Yuzhen swallowed the sausage in her mouth and stuffed the remaining half into her mouth. "Hmph, this is truly a lucky hot dog."

"When did you become so narcissistic?"

Yuuki looked at Yuuma with a disgusted expression while holding the milk. He noticed that Yuuma seemed completely different from before.

"Haven't I always been like this?"

Yuma, on the other hand, was completely unaware of the changes in herself.

"You're not my brother! Give me back my brother!"

"What's gotten into you this time?!"

……

Kenzaki Yuuma and Kenzaki Yuuki, who were lying under the kotatsu (heated table) and had nothing to do at home in the afternoon, were woken up by the ringing of the phone.

Yuzhen groggily reached out and touched her phone, then rubbed her eyes and glanced at the contact name on the screen. Who was "Golden-haired Tsundere" again?

Yuzhen suddenly woke up and sat up abruptly to answer the phone.

"Senior Xingge, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Why did it take you so long to answer the phone?" Ichiji Hoshika noticed that his tone was off. "Were you sleeping just now?"

"I fell asleep because I had nothing to do." Yuzhen scratched her head. "I'm fully awake now, so just say what you need to say."

"It's about the New Year's shrine visit,"

Xingge paused for a moment.

Yuzhen remained silent, waiting for Xingge to continue, but Xingge also stopped speaking.

"What's wrong with visiting shrines during the New Year?"

"Are you an idiot?" Yu Xing sat up and yawned. "She wants you to go with her."

"Is that so? Is that what you think, senior?"

Yu-chan asked Hoshika on the other end of the phone.

"Who wants to invite you?"

He heard Xingge mutter this to herself, and as he understood it, Xingge meant that she wanted to go with him.

"But if you insist on me going with you, it's not impossible."

This perfectly matches Yuuma's guess.

"Then could you please ask Senior Xingge to accompany me?"

"Hmph, fine, I'll reluctantly agree then. Don't be late."

"it is good."

Chapter 36 New Year (Part Two)

Yuzhen hung up the phone and lay down again, but Yuxing walked over to him and pulled him up.

What are you doing?

Yu-ma originally wanted to sleep a little longer, but Yu-yu pointed to the clock on the wall and it was almost 6:30 in the afternoon.

After seeing the time, Yuzhen first checked her phone carefully and confirmed that it was almost 6:30 PM. It seemed that the clock on the wall was not broken.

He knew exactly what Yuuki meant; the guy was hungry. They'd only had lunch quickly, so it was normal for them to be hungry now.

Yuuma also felt a little hungry, so he and Yuuki left the room and went to the kitchen.

"I want to eat hamburger patties, croquettes, with a thick sauce, a bowl of miso soup, and some fruit salad after the meal."

"Do you think this is a restaurant? You actually ordered food." Yuzhen kicked him out of the kitchen in an annoyed tone. "You eat whatever I make. Go outside and wait."

"I'm going to tell my dad and mom that you skimped on my New Year's dinner."

"You can say that, but they might yell at you first for ruining their New Year's date."

Despite saying that, Yuzuru still made hamburger patties, croquettes, and miso soup for Yuuki, as well as a fruit salad for dessert. Yuzuru used durian-flavored yogurt from the fridge—who knows who bought it—to make the fruit salad, but Yuuki seemed to like it quite a bit.

It was already 8 p.m. when the two finished their meal.

"Then I'll head out."

Yuzhen changed her shoes and coat in the entryway.

"Let's go, let's go. Sigh, I'm all alone at home this year."

"Then you should find a girlfriend soon."

"No, that kind of thing is too much trouble."

After Yuxing finished speaking, she turned around and went back to her room.

After leaving the house, Yuma headed towards the agreed-upon location.

There were many people on the road; after all, it was less than two hours until the New Year, and everyone probably wanted to go and pay their respects.

When he arrived at the location, he found that Xingge had not yet arrived. Was she taking time to get ready? Youzhen expressed her anticipation.

Among the people coming and going were many young women, but many of them were fully covered up from the waist up, wearing only short skirts or shorts with black stockings on their lower bodies. Yu Zhen was a little confused; wouldn't it be cold wearing such things? He had felt that these things were quite thin when he wore black stockings before.

Is it pretty?

"good."

As Yuuma reminisced about the passersby, Hoshiga came up beside him, but he didn't notice at all. From Hoshiga's perspective, Yuuma was just staring at the black stockings worn by the girls.

Yuma only realized what was happening after she finished answering.

“That’s not what I meant. I wasn’t looking at them.”

Why explain this? I don't care.

You clearly seem really bothered by it.

Although it was cold, Yuzhen felt like he was sweating; he was under a lot of pressure.