Ryou Fujibayashi could easily imagine how her sister would react.
Even now,
her sister still held quite a bit of prejudice against Lin Ye.
As for that, Ryou had already done what she could do.
She knew that if she and Lin Ye hadn't already formed a real relationship, her sister would probably still be opposed to this day, and would never have shown this much patience in accepting it.
Her sister's current attitude was, more than anything, based on the substantial relationship Ryou already had with Lin Ye.
And besides.
Wasn't her sister, in some sense, no different from her?
Hadn't she too experienced something with Lin Ye?
Ryou Fujibayashi couldn't help but think so.
"Sister, I hope you can look at Lin-kun rationally. Lin-kun really is a good man,"
"You're head over heels, completely lost in it,"
"Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that Lin-kun is a good man. Didn't you accept his help and rescue yourself?"
Ryou looked at her sister. "Who was it that said if someone saved you, you'd give yourself to him?"
"..."
She had indeed said that, and had even been prepared to follow through.
"Giving myself to him is one thing — it doesn't mean I'd fall in love. If that guy wanted me, I definitely wouldn't refuse. I'd definitely satisfy his desires."
Kyou Fujibayashi had held that resolve, and that night she had truly been mentally prepared to give herself to him.
But,
in the end something unexpected happened — her little sister had beaten her to it, and that night it was her sister who ended up sleeping with Lin Ye instead.
Every time she thought about it,
Kyou was full of regret!
Why hadn't she paid more attention!
Now she no longer had the standing to talk her sister out of it.
She was now caught between trying to persuade her sister and supporting her.
There was nothing else she could do!
Her sister had already slept with Lin Ye — what else could she possibly do!
"So, Sister, you were willing to give your body to Lin-kun, which means you must have feelings for him,"
"Whoever saved me, I would have been willing regardless,"
"That's not true at all! There's no way you'd just give yourself to some stranger! I'm your sister — how could I not know you?"
"That's not it."
The two sisters argued back and forth over this for a while.
Neither could convince the other.
"Since you're like this, Sister, I still won't give up. I sincerely hope you'll take that step, so the two of us can stay together for the rest of our lives."
"We can already stay together for the rest of our lives just as we are,"
"But you'll have to marry eventually, Sister,"
"Says who? I could just not marry and stay with you instead,"
That made Ryou smile.
It was true — those were her sister's honest feelings, born of genuine concern for her. But how could a girl simply never marry!
And besides, if her sister really didn't marry and really stayed by her side forever, wouldn't that, in a certain sense, mean she was with Lin-kun too?
Yes.
As far as Ryou was concerned, wasn't that, in a way, also a form of staying together forever — the three of them together.
"So Sister really does want to be with Lin-kun after all,"
Kyou immediately looked baffled.
When had she ever said she wanted to be with Lin Ye? When had she said that?
She had no idea, not the slightest recollection of it.
"Isn't that the case though?"
Ryou said with a smile, "I'm with Lin-kun, and you're with me. Doesn't that mean the two of us sisters will always be with Lin-kun too?"
The logic
seemed, somehow, to hold no flaws.
But,
the conclusion Kyou wanted wasn't this at all!
"That's not how it is."
"Oh, so you want to have Lin-kun all to yourself. That's too much — really too much!"
Each word stabbed straight into Kyou's heart.
It shouldn't be like this.
It absolutely shouldn't be like this.
But no matter how Kyou tried to explain,
her little sister Ryou seemed to have already made up her mind, giving her no chance to argue back.
"Sister, you're my own sister. Do you really want to watch me get bullied? Shouldn't you, as my sister, protect me?"
Protect her sister, protect her —
that had been a given from the very start,
and to Kyou,
there was no hesitation in it whatsoever.
"If that bastard Lin Ye bullies you and makes you unhappy, I'll teach him a proper lesson and make him pay dearly."
Kyou declared through gritted teeth.
"It's not Lin-kun, though!"
Ryou corrected her. "The ones who'd bully me aren't Lin-kun — it's the women around him. They're the ones who'd bully me."
Kyou was caught off guard, her face showing shock.
She genuinely hadn't considered that possibility.
As far as she'd been concerned, the only one who could make Ryou cry from being bullied was Lin Ye himself — no one else seemed possible.
But,
the possibility her sister had just raised was actually quite high,
and she couldn't dismiss it at all.
What might those women do to fight over Lin Ye?
Women fighting tooth and nail out of jealousy over a man — how could someone as gentle-natured as Ryou possibly stand a chance against them?
She didn't think for a second that her sister could hold her own against those women; Ryou would surely be bullied to tears, left heartbroken and miserable, grieving alone in some corner.
The moment that thought crossed her mind,
a fierce urge to protect her sister surged up in Kyou all at once.
Yes,
she absolutely didn't want that to happen; she didn't want her sister to go through anything like that.
As the older sister, she should protect her, should build her a happy, joyful world.
So then, what should she do?
Kyou thought back to her sister's proposal.
"If we sisters were together, what man could handle that? Even a man like Lin-kun would have to bow down to it,"
Ryou didn't understand all the finer details, but the two of them being sisters — and twin sisters at that — this... how many men could actually handle that?
The dream of countless men,
and now that dream was laid out right in front of him. What man could resist it?
Lin Ye, maybe. But most others definitely couldn't.
That's what Ryou thought.
"Ryou, you should..."
"Sister, there are bound to be more and more women around Lin-kun — I think you already know that. In the future, there's no way Lin-kun will part with all those other women just for my sake,"
How Ryou wished that scene could actually happen!
But,
she thought the chances were far too slim.
She didn't believe her own charm could make Lin Ye go that far for her sake.
Her relationship with Lin Ye was nowhere near that level yet.
Ryou knew that Lin Ye's feelings for her weren't very deep, and that the way he treated her now was mostly based on what had happened that one night.
It was that night's events that had given Lin-kun a sense of responsibility toward her — otherwise, her relationship with Lin Ye would still be stuck at the level of mere friendship.
Thinking of this, Ryou still felt a pang of sadness and regret.
She truly didn't want their relationship to stop where it was — she wanted it to go further, wanted Lin Ye to like her more.
But even if that goal were achieved, going any further beyond it seemed impossibly hard.
"Ryou, I believe you can do it,"
"Thanks for trusting me, Sister, but I... don't have much confidence."
Ryou admitted openly that she lacked confidence.
Against those other girls, she had no confidence at all.
"For instance, if Ren were with Lin-kun, I... wouldn't even have the nerve to speak up, wouldn't even have the standing to."
Yeah.
With the others she still had a little confidence, but when it came to Ren, she truly had none at all.
Kyou understood her sister's thinking.
Things had reached this point,
and she had no better solution left.
She couldn't just accept her sister's proposal outright and completely change her past attitude and approach!
A lingering resistance still stirred in Kyou's heart, one she couldn't shake off.
She was actually aware that her own resolve had started to waver, but she still didn't want to accept it so readily, didn't want to walk down a path she didn't want to walk.
Perhaps,
it was her last shred of pride at work here.
Proud as she was, she really didn't want this — but for her sister's sake, for the sake of what her sister had said...
"Sister."
Ryou, snuggled up close to her sister, had eyes brimming with anticipation,
every glance in them full of hope and expectation directed at her sister.
Kyou didn't respond right away, but that reaction alone was already enough to please Ryou.
Her sister's reaction had already revealed her true stance.
From here on,
all it would take was time, and her sister would gradually let go of that inner resistance, and finally accept her proposal — to be with her and Lin-kun together.
That was what Ryou hoped for.
"I'm tired. I'm going to go take a bath,"
Kyou tossed out those words and headed for the bathroom.
Not five minutes after Kyou had begun enjoying the comfort of the hot water, the bathroom door opened.
Kyou flinched in fright, but seeing it was her little sister Ryou, she relaxed considerably.
"Ryou, what are you..."
Seeing her sister covered only by her underwear, Kyou looked a little puzzled.
"I'm going to scrub your back for you."
"That... isn't necessary!"
"Yes it is. I've always wanted to scrub your back for you — just let me fulfill this little wish of mine today!"
Faced with that reasoning, Kyou had no choice but to accept.
Before long,
the two sisters were talking and chatting in the bathroom.
Eventually they ended up in bed, leaning against each other.
"Sister, I've already made up my mind — for the rest of my life, I don't plan on leaving Lin-kun. So if you still want us to be together forever, please make up your mind too,"
She didn't want to leave him. Not even a little.
Kyou gazed at her sister's profile, and in the end, she stopped trying to talk her out of it, choosing instead to accept the reality of it.
Maybe someday her sister's thoughts and feelings would change.
But if her sister's resolve really held firm to the end, loving Lin Ye forever, without wavering,
then Kyou felt she'd just have to accept defeat.
"Good night, Sister,"
"Good night,"
Kyou closed her eyes.
The two sisters soon fell asleep.
Meanwhile, elsewhere,
things were a little different.
Back at the apartment, Lin Ye and Yukino Yukinoshita sat facing each other.
The atmosphere was heavy.
Faced with Lin Ye's silence, Yukino Yukinoshita finally spoke first. "You have nothing you want to say?"
"Yukino, just say it directly."
He didn't want to be caught off guard again.
"Ren — the friend Miss Ryou Fujibayashi mentioned — don't you think you owe me an explanation?"
What was there even to explain?
The answer, of course, was no.
"I think... there's no need, really!"
"Tell me,"
Faced with Yukino's firm tone, Lin Ye thought it over and decided to give her some information.
"I was worried it would make you more upset,"
"And keeping it from me makes me happy, does it?"
"You didn't know, so weren't you happy enough as it was?"
Lin Ye shot back.
Of course, the moment she'd learned Ren existed, everything had already come to light.
"I want to know, my boyfriend."
Yukino Yukinoshita stared at Lin Ye as she stated her position.
She already knew this person existed. If Lin Ye didn't say anything, if he kept concealing everything related to it, this awareness would torment her now and then, leaving her unable to compose herself.
She considered whether her future emotional state would be like that, and decided it would be better to just know about Lin Ye's affairs now — that way she could accept whatever might have already happened.
"I know your relationship with that Miss Ren started much earlier than ours did, so just tell me the truth. Whatever happened between you two, I can accept it calmly,"
"You're not angry?"
Yukino shook her head, her black hair swaying with the motion.
Her expression was serious, without a trace of joking in it.
"Really?"
"Really. I mean it seriously,"
Yukino Yukinoshita nodded again in confirmation.
Lin Ye immediately patted his chest and let out a huge sigh of relief. "Well, that puts my mind at ease,"
But the moment those words left his mouth,
Yukino Yukinoshita could no longer feel at ease at all.
What did Lin Ye mean by that?
Didn't that remark just mean he had a very intimate relationship with that female nurse?
It couldn't be that, could it!
Various thoughts kept surfacing in Yukino's mind.
Images of the two of them being intimate and affectionate wouldn't stop coming.
Had they perhaps already done things even more intimate than what she and Lin Ye had done?
Yukino Yukinoshita's heart sank to its lowest point.
"How I met Ren was actually very simple. Back then I went to the hospital, and I noticed her — she was very pretty, very cute, in a nurse's uniform, and she caught my attention right away,"
Yukino Yukinoshita knew Lin Ye had a thing for nurse uniforms, that he had a uniform fetish, so this particular remark didn't stir up much of a reaction in her.
At this point Lin Ye took out his phone and showed the girl a picture. "This is Ren — Ren Nanase."
Looking at the pink-haired girl, Yukino gave full credit to the nurse's looks.
A different vibe and style from her own, but still radiating a charm that drew men's eyes.
"So, did you confess to her? Did you pursue her?"
Yukino asked quite directly.
If he liked her, then of course he'd have gone after her and confessed, right?
"How could I possibly do that!"
Lin Ye shook his head. "I was hesitating over whether to contact her or not, and ended up just following behind her for a stretch of the road. She probably noticed me at the time — she must have been a little scared,"
Any girl who noticed a strange man following her would, generally speaking, be frightened.
Yukino Yukinoshita too would feel that kind of creeping tension and worry.
She would choose to head somewhere crowded as quickly as possible, to get away from the man following her.
In that moment,
she found herself curious what choice this nurse, Ren, had made.
Surely it wasn't a case of love at first sight just because of Lin Ye, was it?
...
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