Chapter 493: You Can Exchange for Sister Instead
Chapter 493: You Can Exchange for Sister Instead
Mr. Himekoji was bringing Rikka home when he found Touka packing her luggage.
The ice-cold beauty was humming happily with a rare smile on her face. No wonder – she’d already heard the good news from Mr. Himekoji’s earlier call.
After enduring hardship, clear skies and the moon finally appeared. That was probably how she felt right now?
So, is she moving back?
Mr. Himekoji stepped forward eagerly to help.
For him, he’d naturally be very welcome to have the Takanashi sisters living upstairs as neighbors again.
Compared to the enthusiastically helping Mr. Himekoji, Rikka seemed rather odd. The girl froze for a moment before suddenly stepping forward without a word, pressing down firmly on the suitcase.
“Rikka?”
Mr. Himekoji asked, puzzled.
But Rikka acted as if she hadn’t heard.
Only after Touka stopped packing, stopped humming, and slowly raised her head to meet Rikka’s gaze did Rikka speak in her usual chuunibyou tone—
“Holy Mediator, is this a new mission? A new mission from the Bureau of Border Management? No, you can’t! Don’t go! An insider from the Bureau has leaked hints to me! It’s a trap! A conspiracy!”
She seemed very urgent, but her big sister, Touka, just gently shook her head, patted her sister’s head, and said,
“It isn’t a new mission. It’s a new life.”
A new life…
Hearing this, Rikka’s body trembled slightly.
She knew, no matter how reluctant she was, she couldn’t ask her sister to stay anymore.
But her mouth stubbornly continued—
“Ha! I know! You want to run away, right? You’re scared, aren’t you? Now that I’ve fully merged with the Evil Eye of the Wicked Lord, you know you can’t defeat me! Holy Mediator!”
She said such selfish things.
Only because she’d always been spoiled by her sister could she be so selfish. Of course, Takanashi Rikka knew this too.
It was a pity she couldn’t grow up and understand things faster. She hadn’t become a younger sister her sister could be proud of and take comfort in before this.
“You really scare me!”
Even as she said this, Touka’s smile was undoubtedly full of affection and nostalgia. It had been too long since she had seen her sister in her chuunibyou state. Seeing it again really felt great.
But—
“Better switch to the other one!”
Touka lightly flicked Rikka’s forehead.
It was like pushing a button to switch. Instantly, the clarity in Rikka’s pitch-black eyes was replaced by a brilliant gold.
“Sister, thank you for taking care of me all this time. I will take good care of Rikka! Please rest assured.”
Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye stated earnestly, full of gratitude, motivation, and responsibility.
“No. Although you are much more sensible and mature than Rikka…”
But Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye was ultimately born for battle. So, in many things, wasn’t she actually more naive and clueless than Rikka?
Like how she’d written in her diary something about wanting Mr. Himekoji to… get pregnant… for her…
Boys don’t get pregnant, you know.
Of course, Touka hadn’t meant to peek into her sister’s privacy. She’d just happened to see the unencrypted content on her sister’s social platform.
Hmm, she’s even started using social platforms more and more often. Should she say her sister had made great progress? Previously, she hadn’t known anything about this stuff. She hadn’t even known how to turn on the TV.
Anyway, Touka looked at the enthusiastically helping Mr. Himekoji, who was focused on folding her clothes for her, and spoke up—
“My two little sisters, I leave them in your care.”
“Leave it to me!”
The topic suddenly shifted to Mr. Himekoji. He wasn’t surprised and readily agreed without stopping his movements at all, thoroughly enjoying the soft textures of the mature lingerie belonging to an older woman.
“Th-Thank… cough! I can fold the rest myself.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Mr. Himekoji had to stop his actions, reluctant and unwilling to let go.
“Oh, here.”
Then, seeming to remember something, Touka suddenly pulled a set of keys from her pocket and shoved them into Mr. Himekoji’s hands.
“Huh?”
Mr. Himekoji was confused, but fortunately Touka explained immediately after,
“While I go to Italy to study cooking, I’ll be leaving the Takanashi home to you as well.”
“Huh? Study cooking? In Italy? The home? W-Wait! This is what you meant by entrusting to me?”
Mr. Himekoji had thought this entrusting business was just about helping Rikka study better, helping Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye integrate into school and society faster and better… things like that.
He hadn’t expected Touka to be packing her luggage not to move back, but to go abroad?
Mr. Himekoji finally understood Rikka’s earlier abnormality; it was all because she couldn’t bear to see her sister leave.
“That’s what you said, isn’t it? You said you would be responsible. You said it was your responsibility.”
“I…”
He had indeed said so, although “responsibility” hadn’t carried this meaning at the time.
But now it did, wasn’t that enough?
“I understand.”
He didn’t shirk it at all and accepted with a nod.
“S-Sister…”
Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Face blushed, stammering as if she wanted to say something, but Touka teasingly pinched her little nose, interrupting her directly. Touka glanced at Mr. Himekoji and suddenly joked,
“Oh, right, Akito-kun? If you have any dissatisfaction with my sister at all, you can exchange her anytime.”
“Exchange…?”
“Mhm. You can trade your sister for an older sister.”
“Sis!”
…
Touka left alone, carrying her suitcase, refusing her sister and Mr. Himekoji’s offer to see her off.
“Mr. Himekoji.”
“Hmm?”
“This was the first time I’ve seen Sister smiling so happily.”
“Was it?”
Actually, it was Mr. Himekoji’s first time too. After all, by design, Touka was ultimately part of the ice-cold beauty archetype.
“Thank you, Mr. Himekoji!”
“Pfft.”
Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye suddenly thanking him made Mr. Himekoji shake his head, amused.
“You’ve already thanked me several times, haven’t you?”
“No amount of thanks is enough! Because, I heard that this is one of three sentences that can make people feel the happiest. Both the person saying it, and the person hearing it!”
“Is that so?”
Mr. Himekoji couldn’t help but ask curiously,
“What are the other two then?”
“Hehe, Mr. Himekoji has to guess himself!”
Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye put her hands behind her back, tilted her head slightly, and smiled, her eyes curving like crescents.
“Tell me once you’ve guessed the answer!”
Mr. Himekoji agreed.
After that, the two of them discussed another topic regarding sharing the same body. How did Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye coexist with Rikka now?
“Competition for the role!”
Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye gave this puzzling answer to Mr. Himekoji and then promptly made her escape.
He checked her eyes. Pitch-black and clear. It was Rikka.
For no clear reason, Mr. Himekoji felt an urge to experiment. He imitated Touka’s earlier move, giving Rikka a light flick on the forehead.
He remembered that after Touka flicked last time, Rikka and Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye swapped instantly. Maybe this was the secret to the one-button switch.
“Ow! Akito! What was that for? That hurt!”
It didn’t work?
Mr. Himekoji reflected. Maybe he hadn’t got the strength right.
So, he immediately regrouped and tried again!
“Th-That hurts even more!!”
Rikka cried out pitifully. Mr. Himekoji felt a bit bad, but—
“Rikka! Endure it! For your and Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye’s future happiness!”
He had to figure out the swapping rules clearly. Otherwise, they couldn’t just have the person switch unpredictably during important moments, right?
“It hurts!”
“So painful!”
“Hurts like hell!”
A pitiful bump rose on Rikka’s forehead.
Mr. Himekoji’s experiment ultimately failed.
…
…