Jin’s POV
   Two days after Christmas, Shino is finally discharged from the hospital. Wakaba made a huge fuss over it, and she forced Jin to come to the hospital with her. Jin can’t even escape since it was a Saturday. This time, Estyshana isn’t here with them since she wanted her sleep. A shame.

   “How did you even know that she was being discharged?” Jin couldn’t help but ask as they’re on their way to Shino’s room.

   “I gave her my phone number when we visited her last time. I also lent her some coins so that she could call me when she’s allowed to leave here.” Wakaba replies smugly.

   “How nice of you to be so considerate…” Jin says dryly.

   “Speaking of nice, Shino-chan told me that you brought her outside during Christmas.” Wakaba continues as she’s smiling at him in a really annoying way.

   Jin rolls his eyes in annoyance. That ungrateful chatterbox…

   “By the way, have you already paid for her hospital fees?”

   “Sure did. I dropped by as Silver Wolf and gave the receptionist loads of cash.”

   Wakaba furrows her eyebrows. “In advance? How did you even know how much to pay for it?”

   “I didn’t. I made sure to pay lots so that I don’t end up underpaying. I told them that they could donate the balance to charity or whatever.”

   Shino was all ready to leave when Wakaba and Jin arrived. She’s wearing the same outfit that she was wearing when Jin brought her here.

   “What happened to the clothes I gave you?” Jin asks her.

   “I disposed of them. Can’t have anyone here finding out that I snuck out, can I? Should I have kept them?”

   “Eh, it’ll be fine. I’m sure my acquaintance will understand if I explain it to her.”

   “Hold on. What are the two of you talking about?” Wakaba asks.

   Jin told her.

   “...So, you got some clothes from Meiko-chan.”

   “That’s literally what I just said.”

   “You could have asked me, you know!” Wakaba says while looking a bit hurt.

   “Yeah, and you would have used the chance to tease me and be really annoying. No thanks.”

   “Well, I found out about this outing of yours anyway!”

   “If only someone could keep her mouth shut.” Jin says pointedly while glaring at Shino.

   Shino shrugs at that.

   “Guilty as charged.”

   “More importantly, did you manage to find anywhere to live?” he asks her.

   “Sure did. Chifuyu-san here introduced me to a good place that’s quite near Yokosuka.”

   Jin lets out a soft sigh of relief. That means that there’s no need for her to live at his place until she finds one.

   “Well, let’s go check it out first. After that, we’ll shop for your daily essentials.” Wakaba decides.

   “Sounds good.” Shino agrees.

   The three of them ride the train to get back to the area near their place. Then, they walk to the apartment where Shino will be staying with Wakaba in the lead.

   “Well, here we are.” Wakaba announces when they arrive at the place.

   The apartment is somewhat small with only three floors. It is, however, quite new-looking.

   “Where’s the landlord?” Jin asks.

   “He’s living inside that room over there.” Wakaba replies while pointing at a room near the end of the first floor.

   “Well, let’s just get this over with.”

   The landlord of the apartment is a middle-aged man called Kawada. He’s quite mild-mannered and looks like a nice person.

   “Ah, Minase Shino-kun. I’ve been expecting you.” Kawada-san said in a friendly manner after Shino introduced herself.

   He heads inside his room and comes out with a contract and a pen. On it are several rules and regulations that all tenants have to follow.

   “Don’t worry about the rules too much, especially the no late payment part. I could extend it to a certain extent if it’s necessary. Just remember to tell me if you have any financial trouble.” he tells Shino.

   Shino puts her signature on it once she has read through it.

   “I shall be in your care from now on.” she tells Kawada-san while bowing.

   He bows back.

   “Likewise. Welcome to the Suzuran Apartment.”

   “How is the payment of rent handled here, sir?” Jin asks Kawada-san.

   “We welcome both cash and credit. For the more tech-savvy tenants, we do instant transfer as well.”

   “Instant transfer will do, thank you. May I know your account number and the amount of rent I need to pay you? I’m paying for one month’s worth, by the way.”

   “It’s…”

   Jin transferred the required amount to Kawada-san’s account by using his phone. After verifying it, the landlord hands Shino a key.

   “Your room is on the second floor. Room 202.”

   “Thank you.”

   The room Shino got is adequate, to say the least. It’s a room for a single person, so it’s spacious enough for just that number of people. There’s a single bed, a closet, a tiny kitchen, a fridge and a toilet. All in all, it’s still better than Jin’s old apartment room.

   “I guess this is my new home now…” Shino mumbles as she looks around.

   “I expect that you’ll find it small compared to your old room.” Jin says drily.

   “True. Still, I have to live with what I have now. Speaking of our old house, it got sold off by a bank not long after our father got hospitalized.”

   “Like I care. I brought out everything I needed when I moved out anyway.”

   Now that the room has been inspected, it’s shopping time. And boy did it look half an eternity. It was fine until she was shopping for daily essentials like food, drinks, shampoo, toilet paper and stationeries. And then, her eyes were attracted to a boutique.

   “I need to go in there a little bit.” she told Jin and Wakaba.

   That so-called “a little bit” took her almost an hour.

   “Seriously, what’s taking her so long? Girls and their clothes…” Jin grumbles.

   “Just let her have her time.” Wakaba tells him patiently. “Based on what you told me before, it’s been a while since she has this kind of normal life, right?”

   “...Fine.”

   Shino finally came out after making Jin and Wakaba wait ten more minutes.

   “Nii-sama, can you pay for the clothes I just bought~?” she asks Jin in an overly cute way that he always finds both annoying and disgusting.

   Wordlessly, he follows her inside so that he could pay for her purchases. As he had half-expected, Shino bought lots of things, and the total price is quite flabbergasting. And so was the new phone she had to get. Jin could pay for them easily enough, but that’s besides the point.

   “You’re paying me back all these. Every single yen.” he reminds his younger sister as they head back to her room to put down all the things she bought.

   “Yes yes, I most definitely will. I’m even going to take an interview at the place I was interested in right now. Happy?”

   “Incidentally, what kind of place is it?”

   “A bookstore.”

   When she said “bookstore”, Jin was expecting a chain bookstore where they sell light novels and ahem, adult stuff, but nope. It’s an individually-owned place. While Shino is talking to the owner, Jin takes a quick look at the available products. They sell mostly reference books and those head-ache-inducing novels that have thousands of pages. No adult stuff or even light novels were seen. In other words, no creepy anime nerd will ever visit here.

   All of a sudden, Wakaba appears within Jin’s line of sight. She’s showing him an annoying smile.

   “Um, may I help you?” Jin asks her.

   “Are you looking for anything in particular?”

   “No. Just looking around.”

   Her smile got even wider.

   “Looking around and making sure that there won’t be any creepy customers that might come by while Shino-chan works, right?”

   Jin rolls his eyes. He should have been more careful.

   “Yes, I was doing just that.” he admits. “Are you happy now?”

   “I sure am. Boy, what a good onii-chan you are!”

   As the two of them are talking, Shino is done with the interview and comes over to where they were standing.

   “I got hired.” she reports.

   “Congratulations! Let’s go celebrate.” Wakaba decides. “I know a restaurant with some good food located near here.”

   “Sounds good.”

   Wakaba brings the Minase siblings to a fancy-looking place. Jin took one look at it and knew instantly that it’s being frequented by couples, normies and girls-only groups. For one thing, the interior design is very feminine. After they get shown to their table, Jin takes a quick look at the menu. The food is mostly Western style, with a few cute-looking cakes for dessert.

   “...cake here is really nice. You should try one, Shino-chan.” Wakaba is saying to Shino.

   “Hmm, I don’t know…” Shino hesitates.

   “Go on, choose one. Or two.” Jin encourages.

   Shino looks at him with a surprised look on her face.

   “Wait, does that mean…”

   “Yeah, I’m paying for your share. You don’t have to pay me back for this.”

   “Um, are you sure?”

   “Didn’t I say that it’s fine? Just choose whatever you want already.” Jin continues to encourage while pointedly ignoring Wakaba’s annoying smirk.

   “Well, in that case…”

   Shino ends up choosing three different slices of cakes along with her main course.

   “Aren’t three a little too many?” Jin asks her.

   “What are you saying, aniki? Don’t you know that we humans have a separate stomach for desserts?”

   “I’m pretty sure that we don’t.”

   “Just let her enjoy them. Worse comes to worst, you and I are here to finish them.” Wakaba tells Jin.

   Jin shrugs. “Sure, I guess.”

   When the food arrives, Jin is surprised to see Shino eating hers without taking dozens of pictures like she used to.

   “Aren’t you going to take pictures of it?” he asks her.

   She laughs awkwardly at the question.

   “No, I don’t do that anymore. I don’t have anyone to show them off to, anyway.”

   “What about your friends? You know, the two girls who went to Kitajoshi’s cultural Festival with you?”

   “Ah, them. Well, just before things went south for our family, we had a huge fight. We aren't talking with each other now.”

   Usually, Jin would leave it at that. But this time-

   “I know I don’t have any right to give you an advice, what with me next to no friends at all, but you should try to make up with them. Before it’s too late.”

   Shino lets out a giggle.

   “That’s definitely not advice a friendless person should be giving others.” she agrees. “Still, I really should talk to them. Just, not in the near future. I need some time to prepare myself.”

   “Suit yourself.”

   After they finished eating, Jin stayed true to his words and paid for Shino’s share of the bill without insisting on her returning the money. Once they’re done eating, Jin and Wakaba sent Shino home. Then, Jin does the same for Wakaba.

   “Thanks for today, Wakaba.” he tells her along the way.

   Wakaba tried but failed to look innocent.

   “For what, exactly?”

   “By forcing me to spend time with Shino. And brought her to a restaurant she might like since she hasn’t been to one for a long time.”

   “Well, you don’t have to thank me for the first one, since there was that thing during Christmas. As for the second one, you’re welcome. To be blunt, I doubt you know or care about those places.”

   “Guilty as charged.”

   Two days later, it’s finally time for Shino to be an official student of Yokosuka. Jin couldn’t care less, but Wakaba dragged him to the rooftop so that they could have lunch together along with the usual gang. Everyone minus Shino brought their own lunch. The latter settled by buying sandwiches and bread at the cafeteria.

   “Not to be intruding or anything, but don’t you know how to cook, Shino-chan?” Wakaba asks Shino.

   “No. I, um, have next to no experience in cooking or doing any sort of housework.”

   “I could teach you all about them if you want.” Wakaba offers.

   “Thank you. That would be really helpful.”

   “Or you could go bother Jin at his place.” Estyshana suggests.

   Jin glares at the demon. She stares back with an amused look on her face.

   “That sounds even better!” Shino agrees excitedly. “I’ll be in your care, aniki!”

   Jin groans at that.

   “Just every once in a while, got it? REALLY every once in a while, like once per month.”

   “Aren’t you going to tell her about Nyri-san?” Watanabe asks him.

   “What difference does it make?”

   “Who’s this we’re talking about?” Shino asks.

   “Nyri-san is a dragon who’s staying over at Minase-kun’s place.” Watanabe explains.

   Shino looks at Jin.

   “Can your apartment even fit something as huge as a dragon?” she asks.

   “It can since she’s in her human form as an eight years old.”

   “...Hmm, maybe I should call the cops.”

   “Don’t you dare.”

   Watanabe starts giggling all of a sudden.

   “You sure are a schemer, Esty-chan.” she says to Estyshana while grinning.

   The demon shoots her friend a blank look.

   “What do you mean, Anri?”

   “You want Shino-chan to interrupt Minase-kun as much as possible so that he won’t be alone with Nyri-san all the time, right?” Watanabe laughs.

   Estyshana’s face got red in an instant.

   “I-I-I-I-I-I’m n-n-n-not thinking about that kind of thing at all! Nope! Not one bit!” she stutters while averting her gaze.

   “You’re a bad liar as usual, Esty-chan.”

   Shino looks at the flustering Esytshana, then at Jin.

   “People probably already asked you this multiple times, but let me ask you anyway. Why aren’t you together with her yet?” she asks him.

   Jin shrugs at the question. “It’s complicated.”

   “I’m sure it is.” Shino says dryly.

   “Look, don’t talk like you know anything about relationships between two people when you haven’t been in one.”

   “Just so you know, I could get a boyfriend anytime I want. I mean, I got confessed several times before.”

   “I’m pretty sure that they were doing a punishment game. It’s either that or they were looking for rich brats to leech off on.”

   “You sure have a low opinion on me, dear brother.”

   “Were you actually surprised? Meiko, make sure that you don’t end up like her.”

   “Actually, Shino-san here is very nice. After all, she helped me out when I was struggling at answering an English question given by the teacher.” Meiko informs.

   Jin stares at her, then at Shino.

   “Who are you and what have you done with the real Shino?” he demands.

   “Why are you making it sound like I’m the Devil incarnate or something?”

   “That’s because you are.”

   “Look, I’m trying to change, okay? Except towards you. It’ll be too weird at this point.”

   “Fair enough. I don’t want you to be kind towards me either or I might end up puking.”

   “How’s this school so far, by the way?” Wakaba asks Shino.

   Shino shrugs at the question.

   “It’s fine, I suppose. Most of my classmates are pretty content with leaving me alone.” she replies.

   “Are they isolating you or something?” Jin asks.

   “Sure looks that way. They’re probably wary of me since our father caused a huge deal of trouble.”

   “Remember to tell me if you ever got bullied. I’ll be sure to do something about it.” Watanabe tells Shino.

   “Thank you. I most definitely will.”

   “Don’t worry Minase-san, I’ll be sure to watch over your younger sister!” Meiko promises Jin enthusiastically.

   “Thanks for the offer, Meiko. Still, there’s no need for you to do that. She can take care of herself.”

   “Minase-kun!” Wakaba chides.

   “What?” Jin demands.

   “As annoying as he is, he’s right Chifuyu-san. I can at least take care of myself.” Shino tells Wakaba. “Still, thank you, Meiko.”

   Meiko smiles happily at Shino’s gratitude.

   As lunch time is about to be over, those who have yet to finish their meal quickened their pace.

   “I don’t want to go back to the classroom~.” Watanabe moans.

   “I know how you feel, Anri~.” Estyshana agrees while sobbing.

   “Is something wrong?” Meiko asks while looking at the two of them with an alarmed expression on her face.

   “Oh, don’t mind them Meiko-chan. They were just being dramatic since we’re scheduled to take a simple small test right after lunch.” Wakaba informs.

   “What do you mean that it’s “simple”?” Estyshana demands. “I guess someone smart like you will never understand the struggle of us idiots!”

   “If only you did revision regularly…” Wakaba mumbles drily.

   “Shut it, Chifuyu.”

   “Well, it’s just a small test. We won’t get into too much trouble if we flunk it.” Watanabe says hopefully.

   Jin raises his eyebrow.

   “You’re talking as if you can handle the normal ones.”

   “Well, I admit that much.” Watanabe confesses. “As if you’re any better than us!”

   “Unlike you, I at least-”

   BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!

   The vibration coming from Jin’s phone interrupted him. He takes it out to see who’s calling.

   “Work again?” Wakaba asks once she notices his serious expression.

   “Sure is.”

   On the screen, the name “Diana Shannon, CIA” is displayed.