Tokyo: Oreimo

Chapter 218: Is this number before or after the change? (Chapter closed)

Ryosuke was woken up by his alarm clock.

At 7 o'clock sharp, my phone started buzzing on the bedside table.

He rolled over, reached out and turned off the alarm, and stared blankly at the ceiling for almost half a minute, as was his habit.

I slept very soundly last night.

When I finally woke up, my consciousness seemed to slowly rise from a pool of warm water, my whole body enveloped in a lazy, warm feeling.

He sat up, rubbed the back of his neck, and his gaze habitually swept over the bed sheet.

Then it paused.

Near the pillow, another long golden hair appeared.

Ryosuke picked up the strand of hair and looked at it in the morning light that was seeping in through the gap in the curtains.

Same location as yesterday morning, roughly the same length, same color.

Is it Ling Nai's hair again?

He put the hair on the bedside table, next to the one from yesterday.

Two golden strands of hair lay quietly in the morning light.

Ryosuke stared at them for a few seconds.

I can understand yesterday's one.

In the evening, Ling Nai pounced on her and bit and punched her. It was perfectly normal for a few strands of hair to get on her clothes. It was also reasonable for them to fall from her clothes onto the sheets while she was sleeping.

But what's going on with this one today?

He changed the sheets yesterday.

To be precise, after finding the hair yesterday morning, he made a point of taking the sheets off the bed and putting them in the washing machine before leaving the house. When he got home in the evening, Mieko had already put the washed and dried sheets back on the bed.

Moreover, he remembered very clearly that yesterday, apart from breakfast and dinner, he had almost no close contact with Ling Nai.

Academic tutoring has also been suspended.

Where did this hair come from?

Ryosuke sat on the edge of the bed, his bare feet on the floor, lost in thought for a moment.

It couldn't possibly be Ling Nai who ran into his room in the middle of the night.

He dismissed the idea as soon as it came to mind.

That guy wouldn't even look at him yesterday. He practically buried his head in his bowl while eating breakfast, and when he came home from school, he announced that his tutoring was suspended. It was obvious that he was avoiding him.

They're too busy hiding to come here in the middle of the night.

Moreover, given Ling Nai's personality, if she really wanted to enter his room in the middle of the night, she would definitely not do so silently.

If the game gets too intense and I can't sleep, even if I go to his room, it's just to vent.

If I try to wake him up, I'll definitely slap him.

Moreover, he had been locking the door before going to bed these past two days to prevent this from happening.

Ryosuke shook his head, attributing the hair to "not cleaning it properly yesterday."

The hair had probably fallen under the pillow before the sheets were washed, and Mieko didn't notice it when she changed the sheets, so it ended up on the new sheets.

Yes, that makes sense.

He got up to wash up and didn't think about it anymore.

When I changed my clothes and went downstairs, Mieko was frying salmon in the kitchen. The oil sizzled in the pan, and the salty and savory aroma wafted over from the stove, mingling with the steam from the miso soup.

Takashiro Isao was already sitting at the dining table, with black coffee and an open newspaper in front of him, in almost the exact same posture as yesterday morning.

"Good morning, Father."

"Oh, Ryosuke, good morning."

Ryosuke sat down at the table, picked up his chopsticks, and stuffed a thick omelet into his mouth.

He had just taken two bites when he heard footsteps coming from the other end of the stairs.

The footsteps were hurried, as if they were jogging down the stairs, but they suddenly slowed down when they reached the last few steps, turning into a deliberately leisurely pace.

Ling Nai appeared at the restaurant entrance.

She was wearing her school uniform neatly, and her long golden hair was tied in a ponytail, looking much more energetic than yesterday when her hair was disheveled.

But those dark circles under my eyes haven't faded at all; in fact, they're even worse than yesterday.

Ryosuke looked at her, his brows furrowing slightly.

This guy must have stayed up all night again last night.

"morning."

He greeted them.

".....morning."

Ling Nai's response was still very short, her voice even softer than yesterday, and her gaze lingered on his face for less than half a second before moving away.

She walked to the dining table with her head down and sat down in the same spot as yesterday.

Ryosuke noticed that her hand holding the chopsticks was trembling again.

It wasn't the slight trembling I felt yesterday; it was a trembling so strong it was visible to the naked eye, a gentle shaking that spread from my fingertips to my wrist.

"Ling Nai, your hands are shaking. Didn't you sleep well again last night?"

Mieko's voice came from the kitchen, filled with undisguised worry.

"No, I slept quite well."

Ling stuffed the thick omelet into her mouth and mumbled a response.

Ryosuke glanced at her.

Did you sleep well? Look at those dark circles under your eyes!

"Could it be that he had another nightmare?"

Mieko came over with pickled vegetables, reached out and touched Ling Nai's forehead. After confirming that she didn't have a fever, the worry on her face turned into helplessness.

"You child, you've been having nightmares for two days in a row. How about we go to the shrine to pray this weekend?"

"Need not."

Ling Nai shook her head slightly, and her ponytail swayed along with it.

"That's right, it's okay, just go to bed early tonight."

After she finished speaking, she noticed that Ryosuke was looking at her, and the chopsticks she picked up to pick up the salmon almost pierced the fish meat.

They have no self-control; it's a school day, yet they stayed up so late the night before.

However, this was perfectly normal for Ling Nai, and Ryosuke couldn't change a person's lifestyle habits.

If you're going to release a game again, pick a holiday time so at least this guy can get enough sleep.

However, Ling Nai's behavior this time still seemed quite strange to him.

There was no aggressive behavior resulting from breaching defenses.

Whether it's FSN or Clannad, this guy will always come after the most frustrating parts of the game.

The plot of Steins;Gate is also quite impactful in this regard.

Even as a creator, Ryosuke often experiences emotional ups and downs while writing scripts, so there's no reason why his younger sister could remain indifferent.

This doesn't fit her 'persona'.

Logically speaking, given the length of playtime, the story should have progressed to a more depressing part by now.

Is this guy holding back something big? Maybe I should just give him a good shove on his way to school?

Ryosuke couldn't help but twitch his lips.

If that's the case, you need to be careful lately. The injury on your shoulder hasn't fully healed yet, and you don't want to aggravate it.

With that thought in mind, he ate the last piece of tamagoyaki on his plate.

But Ling Nai finished her rice even faster than yesterday, put down her chopsticks, grabbed her schoolbag, and walked out.

"I'm finished eating, I'm heading out now."

"Eh? Not with Ryosuke today either?"

"I also made plans with Ruri today, so I'll be going now."

Ryosuke watched her figure disappear into the entrance hall.

This guy didn't even straighten the wrinkles in his school uniform skirt or tie his shoelaces properly before dragging himself out the door.

......

Ling Nai was walking to school, but she couldn't calm her mind at all.

My mind is filled with thoughts of this morning.

To be precise, it was the incident that almost exposed me this morning.

She remembers clearly that she was awakened by Ryosuke turning over.

The moment I opened my eyes, the sunlight from outside had already seeped in through the edge of the curtains, illuminating the room with a hazy, dim light.

Her face was pressed against Ryosuke's chest, her arms were wrapped around his waist, and one of her legs was draped over his leg at some point, making her cling to him like a koala.

She almost had a cardiac arrest at that moment.

If Ryosuke hadn't simply turned over and fallen asleep again, she felt she probably would have died on the spot.

Then, using the most delicate touch she had ever taken in her life, she slowly pulled herself out of his embrace.

First, pull your legs back, then remove the hand that was on his waist, and finally, like defusing a bomb, pry open his hand that was gripping the hem of his pajamas, finger by finger.

The whole process lasted nearly two minutes.