The sounds drifting from Makoto's room were unmistakable. Airi's voice, caught somewhere between sobbing and laughing, carried through the walls with embarrassing clarity.
In the hallway, Akizuki Kayoko and Akizuki Marina exchanged a look. The air between them thickened with awkwardness.
Mother and daughter shared the same unspoken thought: That girl Airi... she moved fast.
Kayoko pressed her lips together. A flush of warmth bloomed low in her belly, spreading upward without permission.
One hand drifted to the softness of her chest, the breasts that had nursed two daughters, while the other crept downward almost of its own accord.
She'd only known Akizuki Kouzou for just over a month before all this.
Accepting his proposal so quickly wasn't just because the man had been a flawless actor. Part of it, if she was honest, was her own hunger. Years of raising two girls alone had left her starving for a shoulder to lean on.
And she was, after all, a woman in her prime...
Marina's feelings ran deeper and far more tangled.
Beneath the same stirring heat her mother felt, there churned something worse: a bitter ache she couldn't name, threaded with a jealousy she refused to acknowledge.
I like him too. I've always liked him.
So why... why does Airi always get there first?
Growing up, the single year she had on Makoto meant her sister could monopolize him at school with perfect justification.
At home, Airi's bold, outgoing personality swallowed up even more of his time. Marina had always been the gentle one, the accommodating older sister.
She loved Airi, so she'd stepped aside without complaint.
But now... now Makoto was about to leave, and Airi had beaten her to it again.
Even someone as soft-hearted as Marina couldn't keep the flame of resentment from catching in her chest.
Driven by that fire, she bit down on her lip, eased her bedroom door open, and crept barefoot to Makoto's door.
She pressed her ear to the wood. Her heartbeat hammered so loud she was sure they'd hear it.
As she listened, her hands began to move on their own.
Half an hour of torment passed before she finally couldn't take it anymore. Her fingers found the door handle. She held her breath, pushed it open just a crack, and peered inside.
What she saw would be seared into her memory for the rest of her life.
Makoto had both hands wrapped around her sister's twin tails like a knight gripping the reins of a warhorse, riding hard and relentless.
The size difference between them only made the scene more staggering.
Good lord... is this Starscourge Radahn?!
At last, the warhorse named "Airi" let out one final, shuddering cry, her pace stuttering to a halt. She had nothing left. Her small backside still twitched with little aftershocks.
Marina's breathing had gone ragged, her face burning red, when Makoto's voice cut through the room without warning.
"How long are you planning to watch, Marina?"
Every muscle in her body seized. A deer in headlights.
Then she watched him turn toward her and crook one finger.
The gesture carried a pull she couldn't resist. As if possessed, Marina pushed the door open, crossed the room step by step, and sank to her knees before him.
In the next room, Kayoko, who had passed out more times than she could count, slowly regained consciousness.
The sounds from down the hall hadn't stopped. She muttered under her breath, "That girl Airi... she's really something, isn't she?"
But within seconds, she realized something was off. That voice wasn't Airi's.
It was Marina's.
Kayoko's mind short-circuited.
Kids these days... they really go all out, huh?
Another ten minutes crawled by before Airi's voice rejoined the chorus. This time, both daughters' cries wove together into an exquisite soprano duet.
They're not leaving their mother a shred of dignity, are they?!
...
The next morning, the sun hadn't yet crested the horizon.
Makoto's eyes opened right on schedule. Years of dawn training had honed his internal clock to a razor's edge.
Golden and chestnut hair spilled across his chest, tickling his skin. He turned his head. Marina and Airi lay on either side of him, nestled into the crooks of his arms, sleeping soundly.
Now this, he thought, is what life as a transmigrator is supposed to look like.
Could any other protagonist on that site pull this off?!
He was easing out of bed to dress when a small sound came from behind him.
"Mmn..."
Marina woke first. Before Makoto had arrived in this world, Kayoko had been the sole breadwinner, a single mother scraping by.
As the eldest daughter, Marina had shouldered most of the housework, and the habit of rising early had embedded itself deep.
Even so, every part of her felt like it had been taken apart and reassembled wrong. Swallowing sent a razor-blade sting down her throat, and her lower belly ached with a dull, swollen pressure.
She'd had too much last night.
Watching Makoto pull on his shirt, she spoke in a voice gone husky and raw, eyes glistening with reluctance. "Makoto... you're leaving?"
He glanced back with a smile. "It won't be long before we see each other again."
The words did nothing to ease the tightness in her chest. Last night, when Makoto had announced he was going to expose Akizuki Kouzou, she'd caught the look that passed between him and Airi.
Her sister knew something she didn't. The feeling of being left in the dark stung like vinegar in an open wound.
No more. I can't let Airi get ahead of me again.
I have to carve out a place in his heart that belongs only to me.
The decision hardened inside her. Gritting her teeth against the exhaustion wracking her body, she turned away from him under his startled gaze, arched her back higher, and whispered in a voice barely louder than a mosquito's hum:
"Do it... here..."
Some time later, Airi finally stirred from the depths of sleep.
Makoto was already gone. A pang of longing hit her immediately. She turned and found her sister still out cold beside her, looking like she hadn't recovered one bit.
A small, triumphant smile tugged at the corner of Airi's mouth.
Figured as much. Sis still can't keep up with me.
I'm the only one who can truly satisfy Makoto.
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Every 50 Powerstones = 1 Bonus Chapter