Tokyo: Oreimo

Normal siblings would never go to this extent; mutual loathing is the norm.

Is it because they are a blended family?

Ruri Aragaki murmured to herself.

"Wait, blended families!"

Rather than siblings, their relationship is more like cohabitation.

Even if there is no blood relation, it is not taboo for people to like each other, and they may even develop feelings that should not exist.

"Really? So it was my elder brother who attacked Ling Nai?"

In her opinion, it was absolutely impossible for Ling Nai to take the initiative in this matter. Her friend was so naive that she had never even had any experience in dating. It must have been Ryosuke who was guiding her.

"By the way, wasn't your older brother a novelist at first? He started making 18+ games to get closer to Ling Nai, so he could be closer to his sister!"

It was as if Ruri Aragaki had suddenly figured something out.

"To lower my guard, they promised to look after Ling Nai, but they didn't actually do so?"

It turned out to be the case.

The girl felt a sudden clarity.

She was wrong from the start.

Recalling the first time she met Ryosuke at the mobile phone counter, she had the intuition that he was indeed her enemy.

However, she was easily misled by his appearance and lowered her guard because of his title as her brother.

Afterwards, he continued to discuss and exchange information about Ling Nai with the other party with a respectful attitude. He even asked the other party for help after discovering that the other party had appeared at the CM exhibition.

Looking back now, she feels she was incredibly foolish.

"Unforgivable, to lay a hand on your sister."

The girl stood up from the bed, as if she had made up her mind.

She took out the box containing the FSN game disc from the deepest part of the desk cabinet.

Ever since she got it from Ryosuke, no matter how much she mentally prepared herself, she just couldn't bring herself to start the game.

Even though she had watched and loved the adaptation of "Fate/Zero," she still felt an overwhelming sense of disgust whenever she thought about the 18+ content in it.

But things are different now; she's determined to play no matter what.

"I must protect Ling Nai and snatch her back from my brother's hands!"

"You can do it! Ruri Aragaki!"

The girl bit her lip, inserted the disc into the computer's CD drive, and pressed the game launch icon.

Chapter 115 The Gift

Gao Cheng's family.

Ryosuke was sitting at his desk, his pen having just stopped, having finished a short chapter, when he suddenly shivered for no apparent reason.

He looked up at the air conditioner in the room.

"Huh? I didn't even notice. It was on the air conditioning. No wonder I felt cold."

Ryosuke quickly switched the air conditioner to heating and got up to open the door, wanting to let some of the cold air out of the room.

As I opened the door, I heard a noise coming from the entrance downstairs; it was Takashiro Ryouno returning from outside.

The temperature at night was not as high as during the day, and the girl's face was red from the cold, especially the tip of her nose, because she had just come back from outside.

"came back?"

Ryosuke greeted her, and Ling Nai simply hummed in response, then lowered her head to change her shoes, moving a little slower than usual.

Ryosuke noticed the shopping bag she was carrying, which had the Isetan logo printed on it.

"Did you go shopping? Did you have fun today?"

"It's alright." Ling Nai changed into slippers, greeted her parents, and carried the shopping bags up the stairs. "It's just that Liuli was acting strange today. She was distracted while we were shopping."

"Really? Maybe it's because it's cold."

Ryosuke casually agreed and prepared to return to his room to continue working on his manuscript.

"and many more."

Ling Nai suddenly called out to him.

Ryosuke turned around and saw that the blonde girl's gaze was somewhat unfocused, and her lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to say something but then swallowed it back.

"what happened?"

"It's nothing." Ling Nai turned her face away. "Hasn't Xiao Yuan finished her draft yet?"

"Well, because I haven't rested enough."

"What? You're so lazy."

"In short, I will speed up the process."

Ryosuke chuckled upon hearing his sister's complaint.

After the brief conversation, the brother and sister each returned to their rooms.

...

After closing the bedroom door, Takashiro Ryou leaned against it, her gaze fixed on the shopping bag.

The red scarf lay quietly inside, the tag still attached.

She reached out and touched it, feeling the soft touch from her fingertips. She then touched the same style that was still wrapped around her neck and suddenly felt her face getting hot.

"If he dares to refuse or doesn't like it, I'll ignore him."

The harsh words I uttered in the mall during the day were now echoing in my mind again.

Ling Nai bit her lower lip.

Actually, she didn't know if Ryosuke would like this kind of gift. That guy doesn't usually wear scarves. In winter, he just wears a thick coat at most, and his neck is always exposed.

"Idiot, you're clearly so afraid of the cold."

She had just noticed that even at home, Ryosuke seemed to be shivering from the cold.

"He only cares about whether I'm dressed warmly enough, but he's so careless about himself. What an annoying guy."

Remembering Ryosuke's words of advice when he saw her before she left, she pursed her lips, muttered something, walked to the bedside, sat down, took the scarf out of the bag, and spread it out on her lap.

Because I bought it on Christmas Eve, the shop assistant also gave me a gingerbread man decoration, which was a keychain that was attached to the tag.

Ling Nai unfolded the scarf and folded it back up, then unfolded it again, repeating this several times.

She picked up the scarf and held it up to her neck, then imagined how Ryosuke would look wearing it.

That guy's neck is thicker than mine, so... it should be fine, right?

"Did I buy the wrong size?"

She muttered to herself, got out of bed, and walked around the room twice.

Or...should we go and check it out?

The moment the thought popped into her head, she ruthlessly suppressed it.

Suddenly running up to that guy's door just to compare scarf sizes, what kind of behavior is that?

And what should she say if she gets asked about it?

"Let me see how thick your neck is?"

It's embarrassing just thinking about it.

Ling Nai folded the scarf neatly and put it back in the shopping bag, then flopped onto the bed.

"I should have just given it to him earlier. He probably didn't care anyway, since he said he'd buy whatever he wanted."

.....

Ryosuke returned to his room and sat back down at his desk.

The air conditioner was already set to heating, and a gentle warm breeze blew in, dispelling the chill from before.

He turned his attention back to the manuscript.

However, after writing only two lines, light footsteps came from outside the door.

The footsteps stopped at his door, then moved away, then stopped again.

Ryosuke raised an eyebrow.

He got up, walked to the door, and suddenly flung it open.

Ling Nai was standing outside the door, already changed into her home clothes, and carrying the shopping bag she had brought with her when she came home earlier.

The girl was startled by Ryosuke's sudden appearance and instinctively took a half step back.

Why did you suddenly open the door?!

"Weren't you the one who started loitering around my door?"

"What? Who...who was walking by!" Ling Nai turned her face away, her ears turning slightly red. "I was just passing by."

"Passed by three times?"

"..."

Ling Nai bit her lip, shoved the shopping bag into Liang Jie's arms quickly and hastily, as if afraid she would change her mind.

"for you."

Ryosuke instinctively caught it and glanced down at the contents of the bag—a red scarf with a gingerbread man ornament pinned to it.

"This is....."

"A gift, wasn't that what we agreed on?" Ling Nai's voice sounded a little trembling. "As payment for helping me ease the tension between me and Liu Li, this evens things out."

Ryosuke paused for a moment, looking at the scarf in the bag, then at the blonde girl in front of him who was turning her face away and refusing to look at him.