Having cleaned myself I went back to my bedroom, feeling completely refreshed, I wore a simple sleeveless gray t-shirt and white shorts. I left my bedroom and went downstairs. All the bedrooms of the house were on the second floor, with two guestrooms on the first floor.

 

The moment I entered the living room I was greeted with a now-familiar sight.

 

“Hello, Taka-chan. You finished your routine only now?”

 

Anna-nee greeted me with a gentle and warm smile, something to which I was already accustomed. She was sitting on the sofa with a book in her hands.

 

Despite having only 13 years she was already showing the signs of being a woman, with a prominent hourglass figure more developed than the other girls her age. Just looking at her was enough to make me look forward to how she would be in a few years.

 

I definitely can’t let anyone else have them.

 

“Yeah, I’m done. Since we’re on vacation I couldn’t resist sleeping more than usual” I replied, displaying a wry smile.

 

“And despite of that you didn’t stop with your exercises” commented Anna-nee.

 

“Of course not. If I want to keep other guys away from the two of you then I need to stay in form” I said confidently.

 

“Hehehehe, I certainly hope so or I might run away with some old pervert”

 

“Not on my watch”

 

“Hehehe”

 

Anna-nee and I would often have conversations of that nature, joking around about how I would not allow any other guy but myself to be with both her and Rina. Anna-nee might think I was just joking but I certainly wasn’t. There’s no way I would allow anyone to have anything to do with the two of them.

 

“So, what’s this book about?” I asked.

 

“It’s just some pleasure reading. I started this some time ago and I thought I might finish it today” replied Anna-nee.

 

“...Really? So, if took it from your hands and looked inside I wouldn’t have mathematical formulas, language rules, or anything related to it, wouldn’t I?” I asked skeptically asked.

 

“Oh relax Taka-chan, it’s just a normal romance that a friend recommended. Here, you can read it if you want” said Anna-nee, closing the book and presenting it for me to take it.

 

I squinted my eyes a little, looking at the book and then at her face, trying to find any signs that she might be lying. In the end, I concluded that she was telling the truth and gently pushed the book back to her.

 

“That’s okay, I trust you”

 

“Thanks. You don’t need to be such a worrywart with me, you know? I’m the big sister, it’s my job to take care of you, not the other way around” said Anna-nee.

 

“By that logic then I’m the man of the house so it’s my job to take care of all of you. And I’m just making sure that you don’t put too much pressure on yourself like before.”

 

“Yeah yeah, I know” replied Anna-nee, sighing in exasperation.

 

Despite clearly finding my behavior a little overboard Anna-nee didn’t comment more about it. She knew that I was acting only because I was concerned about her.

 

“Where’s Mom and Rina?” I asked.

 

“Mom went to buy some groceries and I think that Rina is in her room” answered Anna-nee.

 

“Okay, thanks”

 

Having learned what I wanted to know I went back to the second floor, where all of our rooms were located, and Anna-nee went back to read her book.

 

Despite having scared her off earlier I was still sure of what exactly Rina wanted to talk about with me. She and I have been closing the distance that existed between us, and part of that was that she was engaging in a few of the hobbies that we used to share.

 

Rina would only come to my room that way when she wanted to borrow a video game that I have. We both had our consoles but the games that we had in our rooms were very different. My collection of games revolved around the fighting, RPG, and shooting genres, while Rina had games a very great collection of visual novels. There were times when one of us would want to play something different, so we often borrowed from each other.

 

That was the only thing that would make Rina enter my room without knocking.

 

I knocked on her door and waited for a few seconds for an answer.

 

“...Who is it?”

 

“It's me. I brought the game that you wanted”

 

“How do you know which game I wanted”

 

“I took a guess and brought three games with me. Can you please open the door?”

 

I didn’t hear an answer for a few seconds and then, when I was starting to think to call her again, I heard the sound of the door knob moving and the door opened.

 

Just like Anna-nee, Rina had a more developed figure than other girls, something that I couldn’t help but notice every time I looked at either of them. She was wearing a loose yellow T-shirt with white shorts. She had a frown on her face, probably from what happened earlier.

 

The moment she looked at me her face went beet red again and she avoided looking directly in my direction.

 

“Let me see” she said, showing her empty hand to me.

 

I gave her the games and she looked then, identifying the one she wanted.

 

“It’s this one. Thanks, I give it back later today”

 

Having selected the game she tried to close the door, but didn’t let it.

 

“Hey, how about we play together?”

 

“Huh?! I-I don’t think...”

 

“Come one, don’t be shy. I promise to hold back a little”

 

“That’s not the... Hey, what do you mean by ‘hold back a little’?!”

 

Rina was a little competitive when playing games, so it was an easy way to distract her from what happened earlier.

 

Besides, it was also the perfect way to increase the ‘intimacy’ between us.