Published at 23rd of September 2024 2:04 pm

Chapter 2103: Expectations

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"Ruki-kun, come over here..."

After a minute of silence where my stay in this room hung in the balance, those became the words that came out of Kazuha-nee's mouth. It was an invitation to come closer to her. The tone she used was also pleadingly inviting.

I just said she should follow the agreement I made with Ogawa and yet, this became her response?

If I wasn't someone who tends to overthink things, I'd probably be jumping to her side already without fully understanding the meaning behind it.

When I glanced back in her direction, I saw her looking at me with the same complicated look on her face.

It's a face that mirrored her current internal dilemma.

Is she against the idea of cutting off contact with me?

I honestly don't know. And I don't like to assume things here.

And so, I have to think of a response...

Having met her gaze again, I could feel her eyes sticking on me as though she was trying to dissect my head and read my mind.

I guess that's fair. It might be too baffling for her to hear me say she should just follow Ogawa's warning when I already showed her my shameless side.

"Kazuha-nee, if I come over... are you not afraid that I will act shamelessly again?"

In all seriousness, that's all I can think about. If she gives me a reason to get close to her, I probably won't be able to hold myself back.

I already recognized my interest in her, after all. She became the reason why I kind of mellowed down on my pettiness towards Ogawa. If not for her, the delusional guy would've suffered a fate no less different than Taku.

But well... even my interest in Kazuha-nee wouldn't save him if he annoyed me again. Good thing he's behaving properly this week.

As my head once again wandered somewhere else, Kazuha-nee replied to my question.

"I don't care... Just come here. Next to me."

This time, she even tapped the space beside her and moved slightly to the side as though opening up a space for my feet to slide inside the kotatsu if I did come over.

"Alright. Don't say later that I didn't warn you."

Upon saying that, I dramatically stood up as though I was reluctant to move.

With both of my arms pressing on the table, I lowered my head and sluggishly straightened my back.

Kazuha-nee watched me carefully without even blinking.

One step. Her eyes followed me.

Another step. Her body quivered a little. Maybe because of excitement.

Two more steps. And I was now standing before her.

With her head raised, Kazuha-nee gestured for me to sit down.

And so I did.

As I slowly crouched down and crossed my legs, Kazuha-nee tugged at my sleeve.

I didn't pay attention to it immediately. My butt was still hanging, after all.

But the moment I settled down, one of my hands pressed down on the floor a few centimeters behind her.

Because of that, my body slightly turned in her direction, closing in the remaining distance between us.

I haven't even touched her yet but this indirect move already put her on high alert.

Her hold on my sleeve tightened and she eventually moved to clutch my collar.

I glanced down at her hand before moving my gaze back to her face. My inquiring eyes forced her to voice what she wanted to say to me.

"You do know you're going to lose your connection to this older sister, Ruki-kun. Is that really fine with you?"

I see. So my assumption was partly correct. At the very least, she's reluctant to part with me. Did I corrupt her enough that my influence on her was already this high? Or was it because she couldn't take revenge on me if our connection was cut off? Or maybe it was both?

Haa... Anyway, looking at my actions so far, I feel like I'm being indecisive and too cautious this time.

I'm not being myself, huh?

Alright. Let's take a deep breath first and calm down.

I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes.

Even with my blackened vision, I could still feel her gaze on me. Moreover, because I shut down my sense of sight, my sense of hearing became enhanced.

I could hear her pulse from the hand holding my collar. I could hear her unsteady breathing

that was slowly quickening. Not because of excitement but impatience.

Yeah. I'm putting too much on this. I should just drop everything and be myself.

"No. It's not fine. I still look up to you as an older sister, Kazuha-nee. But more than that... I'm already seeing you as a woman."

"If you say it like that, it feels like whatever you're presenting is too shallow. You said you like me. Was that born from what happened between us? I get that men are feral beasts who can call for a woman easily as long as you give them a little bit of attention but I'm expecting more from you, shameless little brother."

She's right. It was quite shallow if I thought about it. However, that's also how my interest in my girls started. They all started with a small interest and eventually bloomed to love.

But in retrospect, it's not really hard to label me as a playboy who cannot stop falling for girls. "Little brother, huh? Like I said, we're too different from each other, Kazuha-nee. Tell me, what are your expectations from me?"

"... I don't know exactly."

It took her a while to answer that as well but in the end, that's all she could come up with.

"That's quite a vague answer. If what I'm showing feels shallow for you then you must be expecting something unconventional from me. I'm sure you're not looking for a gentleman...

Then, it must be that, huh?"

"That what?"

"Someone just like you, Kazuha-nee."

Everyone has their own tastes. Mine was diverse though. But this woman must be like that. She's looking for someone who can match everything about herself. All the negatives and the

positives.

"I don't understand." Kazuha-nee frowned.

Looking at her expression, she's trying her hardest to understand it. She fell into an

introspection.

"That's normal. We often don't understand ourselves completely even if we claim we do.

That's why our partners fill in the blanks for that. Take me and my girls, they understand me

better than myself."

Well, there's no better example at hand. Only myself.

Kazuha-nee remained silent. She heard me but she's also still looking inside herself.

A while later, she pulled on my collar, bringing my face closer to her. "Yes. You may be right, Ruki-kun. My expectation for you is to match me. No. On second

thought, it's the way around. Last time, I fell into the temptation you and Hina-chan cast on

me... I want to match that, Ruki-kun. Can you try resisting me?"

.

This... It sounded alright but at the same time, I couldn't help but feel that something went wrong with her thought process.

How did she arrive at having her own expectation for herself to match me? Besides, aren't we talking about my agreement with Ogawa? Just how did we arrive here?

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