I really don't want to be reborn.

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Subtly, she slowly lowered her head.

The shadow cast by her bangs obscured the natural and innocent look she always maintained on her face, revealing an unhappiness—an expression rarely seen on her face.

Kyosuke Kosaka placed his hand on her head, feeling the fluffy texture of the hat, and said meaningfully, "It seems Ran has something bothering her too. Don't be shy now, you can ask me for advice."

He smiled nostalgically: "After all, I often give my not-so-frank sister life advice, I'm quite skilled at it."

They walked out of the clothing store.

The group of high school student council members seemed to have gotten to know each other, and they discussed where to go next, gradually parting ways with Kyosuke Kousaka, the lubricant.

The girl beside him, who had been silent all along, suddenly sighed: "Brother, sometimes you are really cunning, too cunning. I don't even dare to tell you the truth."

Kyosuke Kosaka didn't deny his cunning, but stopped to straighten her scarf: "Cunning is nothing more than saying what others want to hear. At the station on a rainy day, some people are waiting for the sun to shine, some are waiting for the rain to stop, and some are waiting for someone to pick them up. I'm just selling umbrellas at the station."

Xiao Lan chuckled softly, then raised her face. It was the first time he had ever seen such a complex expression on this girl's face.

"envious……"

"What are you envious of?"

She seemed to have let go of something, her tone lightened, and she transformed from a nimble squirrel into a docile rabbit.

"I'm so envious of Kirino. Every photoshoot revolves around her, and everyone praises her the most. I envy her cuteness and beauty. I feel like I'm not that cute..."

Kyosuke was taken aback: "How could you think that? Objectively speaking, you are much more attractive than her—at least you have a much better temper."

Xiaolan waved her hand decisively: "No, no, my parents often describe my temper as gloomy."

She sighed quietly: "You have no idea what it feels like to be outdone by someone every time, right? You have absolutely no idea where you went wrong."

"Ah, you can gloat about that. Kirino is completely outmatched by others in America right now."

She laughed out loud: "I'm gloating."

"It's okay, that guy won't know anyway."

Kyosuke Kosaka breathed a sigh of relief: "You've got some confidence in yourself, Ran. You should know from the way everyone looked at you before that you're actually very charming."

"Ok!"

The girl nodded emphatically, then suddenly lowered her head again: "I'm envious... I've always been envious, and what I envy even more is that Kirino has such a wonderful older brother."

Kosaka smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment."

She crept closer, her big, bright eyes blinking, her eyelashes fluttering with delight: "She just happened to go to America, so could I snatch my brother away from Kirino?"

"..."

A torrential rain fell from those eyes, and fish thrashed and swirled within them.

She coveted the ocean filled with stars in his eyes.

...This child seems to have revealed some extraordinary nature.

She mimicked the fake smile from the movies, like a staged climax, and whispered in his ear, "Oni-chan!"

Kousaka Kyousuke's whole body stiffened.

"Pfft!"

Wow, Ran looks incredibly cute in this devilish pose! Kousaka Kyosuke, striking a cool pose, holds up three fingers: "Say it three more times."

Xiao Lan refused to accept this. She pushed his back forward and slowly closed her eyes.

"If you have too much, it won't be worth much."

…………

Around 3 p.m., Kyosuke stretched as he came out of Mr. Pan's shop.

"Is this Inspector Pan?"

Xiaolan took out a panda plush toy with a ferocious expression from the bag, puzzled: "This is anything but cute, why did you buy it?"

“A friend’s little sister actually likes this quite a bit, so I guess you could call it a gift.”

(It's not Yukinoshita! It's not Yukinoshita!)

They discussed what pandas were like, whether they tasted good, and then stopped in front of a claw machine not far from the toy store.

Claw machines are everywhere in Chiba, and Disneyland has them too. Kyosuke Kosaka wasn't interested in them, so he stopped here because there was someone unexpected here.

This is a very ordinary claw machine. The machine, which is about three square meters in size, contains various cute Disney-themed plush toys. You can insert coins and control the claw to grab your favorite toys.

Of course, due to the malicious intent of the merchants, they often cannot be caught.

In Kyosuke Kosaka's memory, the one who was really good at this was the Doma hamster, while the one playing the claw machine was a squirrel with pigtails, its pigtails shaking violently.

Oh my, who is this silly guy?

He stood there watching the guy make a fool of himself. He watched as she manipulated the grip, staring intently for a long time, then cautiously sensed that the time was ripe and suddenly pressed down.

The grabber descended, catching a large white cat-like toy, and then wobbled upwards.

"Success!"

The girl gasped softly, looking quite pleased—but just as it rose halfway up, the wobbly doll fell.

"Mmm~"

The twin-tailed monster took a deep breath, looking undeterred, stomped its feet in protest, and tossed in a few more coins.

Then, she failed again.

She flipped a coin again, but failed again.

They continued, and of course, failed again.

This guy seems to have reached the limit of his patience; he keeps failing, his body is trembling, and it seems like he has a vibrator installed.

Kyosuke Kosaka was looking forward to the moment she would explode, so he gestured for Ran to be quiet and stood quietly behind her watching her act foolishly.

The twin tails are not satisfied.

Failure is not scary, as long as you still have a coin left.

If we give up now, what's the point of all the coins and effort we put in before?

How is this any different from those timid and hesitant gamblers?

Dare to meet me on the rooftop?

She kept inserting coins, trying to move this wretched machine with her perseverance.

This is positive and educational.

Kyosuke Kosaka was filled with awe at this scene; he felt that he had seen a completely new side of this person.

Yes, that's foolish—no! That's perseverance, tenacity, and willpower!

Come on!

I'm silently supporting you from behind!

I'll offer you emotional support!

Then it's up to you how you do it—and then...

Then she ran out of money.

"Ah ah ah ah ah!"

A girl's angry shout rang out. The girl calmed herself down, patted the button, and felt like crying at the thought that two-thirds of her money from a month's work had suddenly disappeared.

She muttered to herself, "I'm out of money..."

A mocking, gleeful voice drifted from behind: "If you don't have money, go rob someone!"

"That's not good, is it? That's not right."

Kyosuke Kosaka said righteously, "Hey, Setsuna, why are you doing this? Why do you have to use human values to restrain you squirrels? You stole my rice jar, but I didn't kill you, right?"

"Who's the squirrel? Who would steal someone else's rice jar!"

"I just put a mousetrap..."

Ogiso Setsuna turned around speechlessly: "When did Kousaka arrive?"

"Well, I've been watching you here ever since you started scratching your head in frustration, for about half an hour now."

"You just watched me play the claw machine for half an hour?"

Setsuna squinted at him: "Kousaka, could you be any more boring?"

"I just realized that watching someone talk to themselves while playing the claw machine is actually quite boring."

Ogiso Setsuna was hurt, but she immediately recovered and even flashed a perfect smile when she saw the strange girl next to him: "This little girl is from Kousaka..."

Without hesitation, he replied, "One more!"

Ran looked at him in surprise, then nodded emphatically to Ogiso Setsuna: "Yes!"

"Wow, this child looks so adorable..."

Yes, Xiaolan's "hmm" sounded like a child's, and she smiled with a smile as bright as an orchid, making him unable to resist patting her head.

She wasn't wearing a hat, so I could directly touch her cool, soft short hair.

The little girl wore a warm and reassuring expression.

Yukina's eyes darted around, and she raised her hand for her head to be patted: "It looks so comfortable, pat my head too!"

He refused: "You're not my sister..."

Kogiso, utterly shameless, blurted out, "Onii-chan~"

"..."

"Oniichan, Oniichan, Oniichan—see, isn't this pretty simple? Come on, let's touch it?"

Silently, Kyosuke Kousaka stretched out her hands and used her own twin tails to strangle the guy's neck.