The four of us could only stare as Flora’s figure vanished upstairs, leaving most of us confused before Kaori looked at me with a wry smile as she said, “It seems like she must have felt something when looking at Crystal, how about asking her?”

 

“What do you mean?” I asked together with the others, we were all confused except for her.

 

“Think of it like this, imagine being a single child and being treated most special by everyone around you only for your parents to announce the news of another child entering your place, taking everything from you… how would you feel?” Kaori inquired.

 

“I would be a bit jealous?” Mana answered before Kaori smiled as she pointed at the bags she carried which were filled with Crystal’s clothes, making all of us understand in an instant why she suddenly switched moods in an instant.

 

She must have seen Crystal and the bags on Kaori’s hands which were obviously for children, considering her intelligence, she must have held back a bit which was why she acted like so. It was obviously different from how I imagined she would act though.

 

“I’ll check up on her, the three of you can have dinner first,” I said while taking off my shoes as the three nodded, afterwards, I soon walked towards the stairs, climbing up as I looked at our room’s door which was locked.

 

The hallway on the second floor was quieter than usual, especially without Flora’s usual screaming from downstairs. After reaching for the door, I tried twisting the knob open only to realize that it was locked from the inside.

 

“Flora… are you awake?” I knocked on the door despite having the keys. It was a bit inappropriate for me to open the door forcibly through the keys, especially in this situation. I felt like she wouldn’t open her heart to me if I were to do that which is why I decided to do it this way.

 

Ten seconds passed by… a minute passed by and there was no response from her which made me worried as I knocked twice while saying, “Flora… open the door, I will buy you food…” but there was no response still.

 

I felt like my heart was about to suffocate, imagining Flora herself hugging her pillow in tears… it reminded me of that time when Mom passed away, no one other than Kaori was beside me that time… each night was suffocating.

 

“Flora…” I knocked one more time but there was still no response from her, a simple silence which was painful as I sat down on the floor, leaning on the door with a wry smile as I whispered in a soft voice in the silence, “Are you there, my little sweetie?”

 

There was no response as always but that didn’t stop me as I asked, “Are you mad at me for suddenly bringing another child home?” to which silence replied, the same old silence which made the smile on my face turn even wrier as Kaori came up from downstairs looking at me with a nod before she left silently.

 

“I am sorry… I hope you can forgive Mama for doing so, Mama has some circumstances… I hope you will accept my apology…” I said but there was still only silence. I felt like standing up and opening the door forcibly with the keys but endured as I looked up at the ceiling with a smile.

 

It felt like an entirety passed by as little footsteps echoed from behind before the door behind me opened, causing me to be surprised a bit as I fell to the floor head first as Flora who was on her pajamas, holding her teddy bear in her hand looked at me with a sad smile.

 

Tears fell from her eyes as she looked at me in the eye, asking, “Aywumi-mwa won’t replace Flora?” which surprised me as I sat back up and shook my head many times with a smile.

 

“I will never replace you, who told you I will? You are my dearest daughter whether it’d be now or forever, don’t be too insecure!” I said while grabbing her shoulders before even more tears fell from her eyes as she ran towards me, hugging me tightly.

 

Her cries echoed throughout the hallway as I hugged her back before a few moments passed by as Kaori came back up from downstairs with Crystal holding her hand, she was trembling a bit… it was like she was nervous as she came up.

 

Flora, noticing Crystal peeled off from me as she walked towards her carefully which scared Crystal a bit as she hid behind Kaori as if afraid Flora was about to do something to her. Of course, I was also afraid and tried to stop her, but Kaori signaled me to let it go as Flora continued walking towards Crystal who also tried backing off.

 

As if irritated by her actions, Flora soon pounced on Crystal screaming, “Iyaa!” before the two of them fell on the floor as Flora hugged her tightly while smiling, “Are you my new little sister?” with a gentle tone, surprising me greatly.

 

In response, Crystal nodded a bit before a brighter smile appeared on Flora’s face as she stood up from the floor and lent a hand towards Crystal who was on the floor confused but decided to take the hand anyway as Flora glared at me a bit.

 

“Let’s go eat,” Flora held onto Crystal’s hand while looking at her with a smile, it felt like something had changed within her which made me feel a bit strange as Crystal nodded before the two of them walked down the stairs with Flora being super cautious, making sure Crystal doesn’t fall.

 

Her interactions with Crystal were so adorable that it really felt like Flora had turned into a respectable elder sister who dotes on her younger sister. The two of them were so adorable that even I couldn’t help but gasp in cuteness.

 

“I was expecting her to react at least a little differently…” Kaori mumbled.

 

“What were you expecting?” I asked as the two of us walked down the stairs.

 

“Well… I was expecting that girl to demonstrate her rank in the house and lay out rules in front of Crystal which if you consider her personality… would probably the action that would have happened more. The twist was too unexpected that I was speechless…” Kaori replied with a wry smile.

 

“Right… that makes sense, who wouldn’t be speechless seeing Flora suddenly becoming a kind older sister… that glutton suddenly becoming so doting,” I mumbled before an adorable scream came from the dining room.

 

“Flowa is not a glutton!”

 

The two of us giggled a bit as we reached the dining room where Flora could be seen seated right next to Crystal with their seats merged, Mana could be seen on the other side with Leisha and another seat next to her which was free.

 

Kaori soon walked to the free seat as she pointed at the front seat which seems to be reserved for me, it looked as if I was considered the head of the house which felt weird as I was technically the most useless out of the bunch, but I couldn’t complain as I sat on the front seat before Leisha smiled at us.

 

“How about we start eating now?” Leisha suggested before all of us nodded at the same time as all of us except for Crystal bowed down before the bow.

 

“Thanks for the meal!” all of us synchronously said as Crystal looked at us a bit confused but followed quickly after before all of us soon started conversing, eating the delicious meals in front of us.