"To think we actually ran into patrol officers..." Mahiru clutched her chest, her voice tense.
"Sora-kun, let's hurry up and leave."
"There's no need to be so panicked." Sora's tone was unhurried. "Even if we get caught, it's usually just a verbal warning."
"Even if Sora-kun says that, you're definitely still panicked, right?"
"I'm not panicked."
"I don't believe you."
"Mahiru, you can feel for yourself. My heart rate hasn't increased at all."
"No, let's go, let's go quickly."
"..."
The two chatted as they rode their bicycles quietly away.
They had already ridden most of the distance earlier, so it didn't take long for the two to arrive back outside their homes.
"Mahiru, you can end the Time Stop now."
Sora parked his bike, turned to Angel-sama, and suggested, "Let's go sit in the small park up ahead for a bit. I'll help you purify your magic power, and we'll go home after that."
"Okay..."
Mahiru nodded gently and hopped off the bike.
When she released her grip on Sora, Mahiru only felt that the reassuring warmth quietly drifted away, and she inevitably felt a sense of loss in her heart.
The two walked their bikes into the nearby small park.
Sora parked the bike and sat down with Mahiru on a deserted bench.
The night was deep.
The park had long been devoid of people.
"Sora-kun, I'm ending the Time Stop."
Mahiru softly reminded him, then deactivated Time Stop.
The cold evening breeze howled past once more.
In the deathly still park, the various chirps of insects quietly emerged.
Sora turned his head to look at Mahiru: "What's the side effect this time?"
"Umm..." Mahiru gently pursed her pink, moist lips, realizing she couldn't feel the chill in the evening breeze. She slightly tilted her head.
"It should be the sense of touch."
"Sense of touch, huh?"
A reminiscent look appeared on Sora's face. He reached out his right hand and naturally grasped Angel-sama's soft hand:
"I suddenly remembered that around this time last month, Mahiru was moon-viewing alone in the park. You had also lost your sense of touch. You didn't let me help purify the magic power then. As a result, you took a cold shower after going back and caught a cold and fever that very night."
"Has it really been that long?"
Hearing Sora say this, Angel-sama suddenly realized that, unknowingly, more than a month had passed.
Mahiru gently pursed her pink lips, recalling the feeling of sitting alone on the park bench back then.
She had received a call from her mother at the time, and her mood was super despondent. Sitting alone in the park, she felt as if she had been abandoned by the entire world.
But now...
Although she couldn't temporarily feel the warmth of Sora's palm, her body and soul were being enveloped by a different kind of warmth. Angel-sama's gaze was gentle, secretly looking at the boy's profile:
"I'm no longer lonely now."
"It's exactly a full moon." Sora looked up at the sky. He saw a silver moon shining brightly, casting its watery glow for thousands of miles.
"The moonlight is super beautiful." [oh my, is it real? Suspicious eyes.jpg]
Mahiru's pretty face flushed slightly. Although they had held hands many times, she was still shy. Hearing this, she tilted up her pretty face and looked at the bright moon in the sky:
"It is indeed a very beautiful full moon." [hoho… she accepted.]
"..."
Time quietly slipped by.
The magic power purification had long been completed, but neither Sora nor Mahiru got up. They remained sitting together, moon-viewing.
It wasn't until Sora's phone vibrated, with Sagiri messaging to ask why he still wasn't home, that the two quietly stood up.
"Sora-kun, shall we head back?"
Mahiru's pretty face was flushed. She raised a hand to shyly tidy the stray hair by her ear.
"Let's go."
Sora and Mahiru stood up together and walked their bikes out of the park.
Arriving at the front door.
Mahiru stopped walking, turned to look at Sora, and softly spoke first:
"Sora-kun, goodnight."
"Mahiru, goodnight."
"..."
Watching Angel-sama go inside, Sora turned and went back to his own house. After a simple wash, he entered his room and began working on his game.
But not long after, the sound of knocking suddenly rang out.
Sora got up to open the door and saw a silver-haired loli wearing pajamas standing outside. Hugging a body pillow, she tilted her small face up, her voice very quiet:
"Nii-san, Silent Hill is so scary, I can't sleep..."
Sora looked down: "And?"
Sagiri's small face flushed slightly: "So I want to sleep with Nii-san tonight."
Sleep with my little sister?
I'll lose my qualification to be a human being!
"No." Sora flatly refused, while offering a solution.
"You can ask Elf to come keep you company."
"I don't want to." Sagiri quickly shook her head.
"Aside from Nii-san, I don't want to sleep with anyone else."
Don't spout nonsense, saying things like that will cause misunderstandings!
"..."
Sora was expressionless and quickly closed the door.
"Nii-san, hurry up and open the door." Sagiri quickly stuck her foot in, stepping inside the room.
"You don't want me to have insomnia tonight, do you?"
"You don't have school tomorrow anyway, so what if you have insomnia."
"Idiot Nii-san, you don't care about me anymore."
"I care more about my integrity."
"Ugh—"
Faced with Sagiri's acting spoiled and throwing a tantrum, Sora felt a headache coming on, and ultimately still let Sagiri into the room.
"Ehehe~"
Sagiri hugged her body pillow, her face full of happiness as she pounced onto the bed.
"You sleep on the bed tonight, I'll sleep on the floor." Sora said expressionlessly, allocating the sleeping spots.
"Okay."
Sagiri didn't argue this time, happily agreeing.
Since I'm already inside, I naturally get the final say on where I sleep... There are more and more bad women around, Nii-san even went night running with that woman. I have to hurry up and night-attack Nii-san!
I'll strive to night-attack Nii-san every day from now on!
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was 11:00 PM.
Sora turned off his computer and lay down to sleep.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Nii-san."
"..."
The night passed without words.
The next day.
Sora opened his eyes right on time in the morning. He suddenly noticed his arm felt a bit numb. Looking down, he saw Sagiri had appeared in his arms at some point. Her small face was flushed red, and there was a wet, glistening streak at the corner of her mouth.
"Phew~"
Sagiri's eyelashes trembled lightly, and she groggily opened her eyes. The ahoge on top of her head swayed gently. Her voice was soft and sweet, exceptionally cute:
"Nii-san, good morning..."
Sora pressed his fingers against his brow: "Did you do this on purpose, or was it an accident?"
"Meow?" Sagiri blinked, a sly look flashing across her small face.
"I don't understand what Nii-san is saying."
Sora put on a stern face: "You clearly slept on the bed last night. How did you end up on the floor?"
"Umm..." Sagiri averted her gaze, hiding deeper into Sora's embrace.
"I sleepwalk."
Sleepwalking is a lie, a premeditated night attack is the truth!
"Hurry up and get up." Sora took a deep breath.
"I'm going to prepare the bentos."
"Nii-san, you get up first, I'm so sleepy." Sagiri yawned.
"I need to sleep a little longer."
"..."
Sora had no choice but to get up himself, make the bentos, and then head out to school.
Arriving at the train station, Angel-sama and Elf had already arrived early.
"Idiot Sora, good morning."
"Sora-kun, good morning."
Elf and Angel-sama greeted him.
Sora responded to each of them and boarded the train with the two girls, swaying their way to school as usual.
Just as they walked into the school grounds, a girl with straight bangs suddenly rushed out from the side and grabbed Sora's wrist:
"Damn it! You've finally come to school ahhhhh!"