“...”
“...”
The silence was deafening as it permeated the room. The air was dripping with fear, as even the slightest movement could tip the balance, and bring with it the wrath of the fearsome hannya.
Needless to say, the location was Ishitake Yuuji’s dorm room: him the captive, and his sister the captor.
Yuuji’s onyx-black hair touched the floor as his handsome features remained glued to the ground. Though he was far taller than his younger sister, he dared not move a muscle from his dogeza without her say-so, and the overwhelming pressure that radiated from her side of the room held an icy grip on his heart.
Ishitake Ayumi had been a quiet, book-loving girl. As the apple of their grandfather’s eye, she had been kept safe from the world within the confines of his influence and had never been forced to fight for her life like so many others. Yuuji had only ever known her polite, docile attitude on the few occasions they had been able to meet while growing up, so he had always hoped that one day she would be free of her cage, and live life the way she wanted.
So, how had he ended up in such a bizarre situation?
Only ten minutes ago, he had arrived back to the comfort of his safe space on the island to find his adorable little sister waiting outside his door. Having just finished one of the most emotionally taxing moments of his life, he was looking forward to a moment of reprieve, though he should have known better from the moment he saw the raging stormcloud above the girl’s head.
Her petite stature barely reached his chest, and the way she looked up at him with her big brown eyes was normally reminiscent of a cute little critter, making him instinctively want to hug her close and protect her from harm.
Normally.
It was impossible to tell when she had first found her power, but whenever the topic of his relationships happened to come up, an icy chill would emanate from her very soul. Even in a life-or-death battle he could hold his own, but against the glare of his charming little sister, he felt he would suffer a fate far worse than he could ever imagine.
Though he had been single for his entire life up until this point, these days she would lambast his ‘playboy behaviour’, something that he had felt was an unjust punishment - at least until now.
“Yuuji-nii.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am?”
As she finally spoke once again, cold mist followed her words, and he shivered in fear.
“Do you think being in a relationship with two girls at once is a normal thing to do?”
“I-I believe it is uncommon, ma’am!”
Truthfully, he didn’t have much of a clue. Even excluding his own circumstances, romantic relationships were a rare sight amongst the religious sites he spent his youth travelling between, and often those that he did see were shaped largely by the culture of the region.
“Then, do you think taking another girlfriend only a day after the first is a normal thing to do?”
“T-That is a little more complicated…”
“JUDGEMENT!”
“-GYAH!”
He howled in pain as her foot dug into his back, his bones creaking under the pressure. With her delicate features she wasn’t strong in a traditional sense, nor did she have fighting experience, but the intense power she showed in those few moments was superhuman.
“P-Please, it wasn’t my intention!”
“NONSENSE!”
“-KWAAAH!”
The hammer (sole) of the judge fell once more between his shoulders, flattening him against the floor of his room like a bug. For a moment he even felt some sympathy for the cockroaches of the world, but he cast away his delusion and returned to the cruel reality he was faced with.
“Think of the feelings of those girls, you blockhead!”
“I-It was their suggestion!”
“DEATH! You think I would believe that!?”
“-GU-HAK!”
He was guilty until proven innocent, it seemed.
It was a difficult story to believe. Only weeks before, if someone had told him that he’d confess to the beautiful girl he was trying to hide his feelings for, just to have his gorgeous childhood friend confess to him the day after, he’d scoff and roll his eyes. He would think they'd gone insane if someone said that he would wind up dating the two of them together - and that the girls themselves would put forward the idea.
“Umm~? Is this a bad time?”
“Yuu… is this what you like..?”
Just as he was arriving at death’s door with open arms, the situation became even more complicated.
Both of his newly dubbed girlfriends stood in the entryway, watching the bizarre sight with confusion. Not that they were in the wrong - entering a room to see their boyfriend squirming on the ground as his little sister stepped on him wasn’t exactly the best look, though his main concern would be the outlandish conclusions they’d likely jump to, knowing how they were.
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...”
The four of them looked at each other in silence, as Ayumi slowly lifted her foot, and stepped back. Though her worthless womanising bug of a brother deserved her full wrath as far as she was concerned, there was a time and a place for that, and she would much rather perform furious justice for the sake of humankind in private.
Freed from his restraint, Yuuji jumped to his feet and coughed awkwardly, hoping to regain some semblance of his reputation while he still could. The door should have been locked, but he knew that it was a pointless endeavour against his new partner, and frankly he was happy that they had come to his rescue.
“Ayumi-chan, it’s been a while! How are you?”
“...Hibiki-nee, isn’t there something more important to talk about first?”
As expected, the ridiculous situation went entirely over Hibiki’s head, and she acted as her normal, cheery self as if nothing had ever happened. To Yuuji, it was definitely part of her charm, as the girl herself blinked her wide lilac eyes and tilted her head cutely in confusion.
“Hmm? Oh! That’s right, I guess we’re sisters-in-law now!”
“-!?”
“-PUHAH!”
The horned girl’s cheeks burned a faint red as she smiled in delight, her bashful beauty stealing Yuuji’s heart once again for a moment… before his sister’s fist ploughed into his gut at Mach III.
“Yuuji-nii… You got married?”
“Guh… No! Of course not, we only started dating yesterday!”
“Hehe~!”
Once again he’d suffered a grievous blow from a misunderstanding, as Hibiki held her cheeks while lost in thought, unaware of the damage her words had caused. Thankfully this time it seemed Ayumi accepted the truth for what it was, and with a huff, she unballed her fists and turned away.
“I… thought I was going to die…”
“Mmm~. Mimi is strong. I can tell her power level is easily 5 digits without needing a scouter.”
“...I don’t even know what that means.”
Even on his deathbed, he couldn’t quite follow Ji-Hye’s references, but he got the gist of it at least.
It hadn’t been long since he last saw the girls, and she had recovered well from the timid state she was in at the time. As he looked closely at her stunning features, she too blushed slightly and retreated into the comfort of her hoodie, with her honey-brown eyes watching him closely. The dark circles that always lined her face due to her non-existent sleep cycle were quite faint, and her sleek copper hair was glossier than normal, so though he hadn’t realised it during the commotion earlier he could tell now that she had worked on her appearance before her confession.
He was reminded once again about how lucky he truly was to have both of these girls care deeply for him. Though she showed it in a… different way, he could tell his sister’s anger was also a form of love, and she had mentioned on several occasions that she just wanted him to settle down with a kind girl and live a happy life.
The key being that he would assumedly have a monogamous relationship, and stop his so-called womanising.
“You two… are you really happy with sharing my stupid brother?”
“Hehe~, it couldn’t be anyone else!”
“Yuu makes the best coffee.”
“...Couldn’t you have come up with a better reason than just the coffee?”
Though he retorted with a sigh, it warmed his heart to hear their clear responses, and it was his turn to blush sheepishly. Hearing the words from the two of them directly finally made Ayumi accept the situation for what it was, and she pouted as she looked at him.
“Hmph! Fine. Don’t you dare break their hearts, Yuuji-nii! And no more flirting!”
“As if I ever would. And don’t make it sound like I go around flirting with everyone I see.”
Content enough with his words, Ayumi marched out the door, turning to glare at her brother for only a moment as she left. As difficult as it was to appease her, he preferred this version of his sister far more than the one who would treat him respectfully from a distance, as his grandfather seemed to want.
“Haa… She finally left. I can’t believe she knew something was up without anyone even telling her. What the hell even are ‘Yuuji-nii senses’ anyway?”
He shook her words from his mind, deciding it was probably for the best that he didn’t know.
“Thanks for coming, you two. Did you need something?”
“Ah! Aoi-nee asked us to hand you this. She said she forgot to give it to you before you left!”
He smiled wryly as he received the small cardboard box with his name on it. It wasn’t too surprising that the sly doctor had some scheme planned for him even so soon after her last, but the thought of her ravishingly chilling grin made his hair stand on end, so he decided just to face it head-on without thinking too much.
“Got it. We’ll see what it is…”
He lifted open the lid and peeked inside.
‘Yuuji-kun~, please read the instructions carefully, and be safe when you’re having fun~!’
She’d dutifully signed her name with delicate cursive at the bottom, and he only needed to lift the paper slightly to see the full contents of the package: a bulk pack of condoms.
“...”
He slammed it shut, and held the lid down tightly.
“Yuuji? What was it?”
“Nnn? Yuu?”
“...I can buy these on my own, damn it!”
He didn’t know where exactly she was right now, but she was surely chuckling to herself in bliss.
*Ping!*
“Ah!”
“Hnn?”
Finally, some respite came in the form of a notification to Ji-Hye’s phone, and a chance to change the subject landed gracefully in his lap.
“Ahem, don't worry about it. Ji-Hye, what’s that?”
“Mmm~! Yuu~, don’t worry! I just placed an order for stilettos and a whip. I’ve never tried it before, but I’ll work hard!”
His personal hell wasn’t over yet.
