"Sora-kun~"
A faint voice sounded behind Sora.
Turning his head to look, he saw Angel-sama with an apron tied around her waist, her arms crossed over her chest, looking over with a smile.
Sora instantly straightened his back and quickly pushed Elf and Sagiri away:
"Time to eat, time to eat."
"..."
After dinner.
Following a brief rest, the time unknowingly reached 7:00 PM.
Sora told Sagiri he was leaving, telling her and Elf to stay at home, and went out with Angel-sama, carrying tools towards the lakeside park.
The journey was silent.
Arriving at the lakeside park, with Mahiru's help, Sora quickly fixed the bicycle. Then the two continued their running exercise, during which no accidents occurred. After the night run ended, the two rode their bicycles home together.
10:00 PM.
Sora was in his room writing code when a knock on the door sounded again.
Knock knock knock.
Getting up and opening the door, a silver-haired loli wearing pajamas and hugging a body pillow stood outside.
"Nii-san, I can't sleep..."
Sagiri tilted up her small face; her opening line was exactly the same as last night.
Sora looked at her speechlessly:
"Scared of the scarecrows so you can't sleep?"
"That's right..." Sagiri tilted up her small face, looking at him pitifully.
"As soon as I close my eyes, my head is full of those scarecrows. It's so scary, it feels like there's a scarecrow hiding under my bed."
If you're that scared of horror games, you shouldn't have watched so enthusiastically this evening!
"So Nii-san, hurry up and get out of the way." Sagiri urged quietly.
"I want to sleep with Nii-san tonight."
"I refuse."
Sora was expressionless, playing a refusal card.
"Eh?"
"I'm worried my chastity will be taken away."
Sagiri quickly puffed out her pink cheeks, her gaze disgusted:
"Nii-san doesn't have such a thing!"
Even if he really had such a thing, as his little sister, taking away Nii-san's chastity is perfectly natural, right?
I finally made it to the second playthrough, I won't just stand by and watch those bad women snatch Nii-san away!
"Anyway, no, you hurry back and go to sleep."
Sora reached out to close the door.
"No." Sagiri stuck her small arm straight inside.
"If Nii-san won't let me in, I'll sleep in the hallway. If I catch a cold and fever, Nii-san will have to take responsibility for the rest of his life."
Sora was speechless: "Isn't 'the rest of his life' a bit too exaggerated?"
"I don't care, Nii-san is my property anyway, you have to stay by my side for the rest of your life..."
Sagiri averted her small face, the tips of her ears slightly red, muttering quietly.
"What did you say?"
"Urusai (shut up), Nii-san hurry up and let me in!"
"..."
Faced with Sagiri throwing a tantrum, Sora helplessly opened the door, pressing his fingers against his brow:
"Let's get this straight first, no 'sleepwalking' tonight."
Sagiri guiltily averted her small face: "Got it, Nii-san is so naggy."
"Come in."
Sora opened the door.
Sagiri actually had many good qualities. For instance, she was clean; her room was never messy or dirty. Moreover, she never caused trouble for others. Every day, she just prepared meals, occasionally bought some snacks, and helped with the laundry. She was less trouble than raising a kitten or puppy.
Of course, for some unknown reason, she seemed to have become more troublesome lately...
The night passed without words.
The next day.
When Sora woke up in the morning, he felt his arm was slightly numb. Looking down, a silver-haired loli was lying in his arms, sleeping with her small face flushed red and a moist glistening at the corner of her mouth.
Swearing she wouldn't sleepwalk... totally untrustworthy.
Sora helplessly pressed his fingers against his brow, pushed away Sagiri's thigh pressing on his body, and then got up to go downstairs and prepare breakfast.
Time flows like water, and a few days passed in a flash.
These past few afternoons after school, Sora would go to the library with Mahiru and Elf to study. Tia appeared punctually every day, her attitude towards studying exceptionally proper. Compared to Elf, who always liked to slack off, her enthusiasm for learning was at least several stories high.
Every night at 8:00 PM, Sora would go out with Angel-sama, ride to the lakeside park, and night run together for exercise.
During this time, Sora also went out with Kuroneko to do a bounty commission... In short, every day was super fulfilling.
Monday.
As soon as Sora walked into the classroom and sat down, the blue-haired girl with the ahoge on her head swiftly came to him. With her hands behind her back, the smile on her pretty face was bright and radiant, truly rivaling the sunlight outside the window:
"Sora, Sora~ Let's go eat out and celebrate after school today, okay?"
"I want to go eat at that Nanyue cuisine place again!"
"When I woke up this morning and checked, 'Dungeon Meal' has passed the review and can be found in the Dengeki Novel Prize event!"
"..."
"Passing the review is just the first step. Isn't it too early to celebrate?"
Sora strongly suspected that celebrating passing the review was a fake, and finding an excuse to eat a feast was the truth.
The Dengeki Novel Prize, held by Dengeki Bunko, is an award completely geared towards new authors. The grand prize has very few restrictions on the subject matter of the works. As long as it doesn't involve pornography or politics, it will basically pass the review.
Last Friday, the annual Newcomer Award officially began. Under Sora's urging, Anna finally gathered the courage to participate in the contest.
"I forget who said it, but breaking through from zero to one is much harder than going from a thousand to ten thousand." Anna rested her chin on her hands, looking over expectantly.
"So of course we have to celebrate properly! Let's go eat, let's go eat!"
Facing his childhood friend's expectant gaze, Sora naturally couldn't bring himself to ruthlessly refuse:
"Got it, got it. We'll talk about it after school."
"Ehehe~"
Seeing Sora agree, the smile on Anna's face grew even brighter, the ahoge on her head swaying happily:
"You promised, you can't back out now."
Besides having a meal together to celebrate, Anna actually had another purpose.
She hadn't written a wish in the Losing Heroine Diary for a few days. Anna wanted to get close, so she decided to make a wish today.
"One more thing." Anna stood with her hands behind her back, her voice cheerful, her eyes bright.
"Dungeon Meal still doesn't have a single comment yet. It's frustrating."
"Sora, be the first to comment for me, okay?"
"This is the first light novel I've ever written. The first comment is super meaningful. Sora, hurry up and comment. The first time is super important."
Sora: "..."
It's just a comment, it's not that important, alright!
"I'm going to go chat with my friends first."
Anna kept her hands behind her back and quickly turned to leave. However, her eyes kept sneaking glances at Sora's movements.
Seeing Sora take out his phone, Anna immediately sped up, slipped out of the classroom, went to the hallway, and expectantly took out her phone.
Before long, the first comment on "Dungeon Meal" refreshed.
"Keep it up!"
Seeing the familiar ID, Anna's eyes quickly curved into crescents:
"Hmph, you say it's not important, but Sora's body is very honest... Screenshot saved!"
"..."