I really don't want to be reborn.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Kyosuke carried a bag of snacks back home. His gentle and calm smile vanished instantly, replaced by lingering fear: "What the hell was that look Auntie gave her son-in-law just now?"

Is there any possibility between him and Honoka Kousaka?

impossible!

How could that be!

Guoguo is just a child at heart; he only has this kind of liking for children, not that kind of liking.

Some people might misunderstand him as Kyosuke Kousaka as a sister complex, but no one would ever think he's a perverted lolicon!

Extremely positive values!

It's even straighter than the Chinese character "正"!

Well, of course, it's impossible with someone like Honoka. Right now, there's only one person who has any hope.

That guy is probably struggling to come up with an outline today. After all, compared to his own genre of novels, Kasumigaoka Utaha's romance novels need more unexpected plot twists.

Hmm, seeing that girl's pitiful, worried look in the literature club office made me want to sneak into her dream and slowly peruse its pages.

Facing the rising sun, my mood is like butterflies fluttering under my eyelids.

It trembled slightly.

I couldn't help but close my eyes nervously.

……

When he got home, the pot was still steaming slightly. He ladled out the millet porridge that was now edible and poured some green apple sauce on top of the wagashi. As the mixed flavors blended in his mouth, Kyosuke felt a simple happiness.

And then, taking a sip of delicious porridge, happiness almost fills the entire room.

He felt that barring any unforeseen circumstances, he would have been very happy all day.

You see, happiness isn't actually that difficult to achieve.

After breakfast, Kyosuke started his busy day.

The fifth volume of the novel tells the story of how the four main characters, after resolving the crisis in the starting village, set off for the first major city nearby—Bichon City.

On the way, the male protagonist experiences a crisis of trust with his three female companions, especially the emotionless, long-haired swordswoman. The crisis stems from a bowl of shark fin soup.

"I don't understand the way you just ate."

This voice was a hundred times colder than the Demon King's army of filthy followers.

It is as captivating as the cold winds of the Arctic and as alluring as the aurora borealis.

"Although I can't explain it very well, I really hate the way you make shark fin sauce."

The girl named Dugu bit her lip tightly, her pupils blazing with unquenchable rage.

"I thought... you were like me, a member of the spicy food party."

After saying this coldly, she turned and left.

A calm, collected, and adventurous young female swordswoman, as icy as snow.

A lonely female swordswoman, just like me.

They make unwarranted expectations, impose their own ideals, assume they are the same kind of people, and then arbitrarily become disappointed.

"Don't go! How about... some more wasabi?"

Kyosuke was engrossed in writing. When you truly immerse yourself in writing, truly immerse yourself in the story you've created, and painstakingly refine every detail, time really does seem to pass faster.

Several hours have passed in the blink of an eye.

My distant thoughts seem to drift out of the computer, about to float to a very, very far place, where a large flower drum is being gently struck.

"Bang bang—"

He forced himself to open his eyes and listened for a while before he could tell that someone was knocking on the door.

"Wait a minute! Seriously, isn't there a doorbell..."

Kyosuke got up and opened the door, only to find that the person standing there was not anyone he knew, but a girl his age from next door.

"Doma-kun...is there something you need?"

"Um... Kousaka-kun, something's broken, I was wondering if you could help me fix it?"

To be honest, Kyosuke always thought that the brother and sister next door weren't blood-related siblings.

As the older brother, Taihei Doma cannot be described as mediocre, but compared to his sister—in terms of appearance—he is far inferior.

To be honest, even the two siblings in the Kousaka family aren't this different!

Kyosuke was amazed. Whenever he saw Doma Umaru, he was always amazed by this girl's perfection.

Her long, flaxen hair swayed in the wind, and her lovely, delicate face was always adorned with a gentle smile. This girl was a student at Arayada High School. Her neighbors all said that she was dignified and beautiful, had perfect grades, and excelled in sports.

but……

It's really amazing.

Such an outstanding girl, yet she couldn't arouse any boy's desire to pursue her; at least, Kyosuke Kousaka never had any such thoughts.

To paraphrase Kasumigaoka Utaha, you might see a cute cat and want to hug and kiss it, but you wouldn't want to sleep with it.

The girl in front of him gave him that feeling, but the analogy wasn't of a cat, but rather—

Hamster?

After entering the Doma family's room, Kyosuke felt like he was hallucinating, as if he heard many people shouting things like "Is there Wi-Fi? Is there Wi-Fi?", which were completely meaningless.

"This is Hamjiro."

A hamster moved.

"This is just Hamsaburo."

The other hamster moved.

Kyosuke opened his mouth slightly: "Then... what about Taro?"

Dalang is selling sesame seed cakes in Qinghe County!

"Hamtaro... Yay... Um, this is my older brother."

Mr. Taihei Doma, you've really worked hard!

Umaru was too embarrassed to say that she was Hamtaro or something, but remembering the important matter, she pointed with a mournful face at the pile of ceramic shards that had been swept up: "I accidentally broke my brother's things, could you help me with some tape, I'll fix it."

Is it a bobblehead cat?

"Hmm... I'm definitely going to get a lot of flak this time..."

He glanced at the child's distressed expression and immediately thought of Kirino's tearful face after breaking her classmate's doll when she was little. He laughed and said, "I happen to know how to do this a little bit. Leave it to me."

Kyosuke sat down and began to carefully repair the ceramic object, his earnest expression resembling that of someone applying screen protectors under a pedestrian bridge.

Xiaomai watched him from the side, thought of her brother, and chuckled softly.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Yes, that's right. My recommendation slot was suspended because of the pornography issue.

I'll be relying on you all this week.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Not knowing everything, just understanding a little bit of everything.

Logically speaking, a bobblehead cat that's broken like that is actually very difficult to repair.

Even if someone could fix it, they would definitely be an expert, not an ordinary high school student like Kyosuke Kosaka who is still in high school. Very few high school students get involved in this industry.

So when he finished fixing it, Doma was both excited and a little surprised: "That's amazing! Kousaka-kun, is your family in the ceramics business? Is this a family heirloom?"

"The only thing passed down from our ancestors is..."

Kyosuke was about to retort, but then remembered that he wasn't very familiar with this perfect beauty, so he swallowed the rest of his impolite words: "My family doesn't make ceramics. As for me, I only know a little bit."

Doma Umaru smiled and said, "Thank you very much, thank you so much."

"Is your cat head alright? I've never seen the original, so I just used a random model to piece it together. Will Mr. Doma notice?"

Remembering her brother's temper tantrums, Umaru forced a smile: "It's...it's pretty good, that's already quite good..."

Kyosuke said goodbye and was about to leave when he suddenly noticed a lot of things in the girl's room that seemed a bit out of place—wait! What's that little pink thing?

Meruru?

"Stardust Witch Meruru... Doma-kun, you still like watching this?"

Umaru's expression changed slightly. She wanted to distance herself by saying that her brother was watching Meruru, but then she thought that it would be even more embarrassing for an adult like her brother to be watching Meruru.

That's so shameful, it's utterly disgraceful!

"Mmm, mmm..."

Kyosuke wasn't particularly surprised; instead, he seemed thoughtful: "My sister also really likes watching this. Ah, you've met that Gokou Ruri who came here before, right?"

"Ah."

"She also likes to watch things about fallen celestial beasts—"

He picked up a box from the table with a strange expression: "This is it... To be honest, this is the first time I've ever seen someone watch both of these anime at the same time. I heard that the viewers of these two anime are like oil and water."

Umaru snatched the DVD case from his hand with a whoosh and chuckled dryly, "No, it's not that exaggerated, is it?"

That's an exaggeration! Looking at both of these at the same time is like eating a thousand-year-old durian in a toilet that hasn't been cleaned for a month! Do you think that's an exaggeration?

"Huh, there are so many game discs?"

He looked up at the flustered and nervous girl and smiled, saying, "Don't be nervous. My sister and I are actually both homebodies. We watch anime and play games. You don't need to be so nervous."

"I'm not nervous!"

"If you're not nervous, let go. You're about to crush your Hamjiro and Hamsaburo..."

Doma was relieved. You see, it's actually very inconvenient for girls to stay at home. She wouldn't dare bring it up at school. Even when she went out to play games, she had to wear a baseball cap, afraid of being recognized by her classmates.

The two sat together again and started talking about anime, then games. Umaru seemed to have found a kindred spirit, and the more they talked, the happier they became. In the end, they even started playing games.

It wasn't a visual novel game, but a fighting game. As he played, Kyosuke Kousaka thought to himself, "This guy is just like my sister. He's a homebody at home, but very well-behaved outside—so neither of them are true homebodies."