"Soyo… who's that?"
On the way to a nearby restaurant, Nibutani Shinka happened to catch the name of a Line contact displayed on Hanadasaki Ame's phone and could not help asking.
At a glance, it was obviously a girl's name. But Hanadasaki Ame had always had far more female friends than male ones, so she did not think much of it.
"My sister. My stepsister."
Hanadasaki Ame explained briefly.
"Eh? Since when did Uncle Hanada get married?"
Nibutani Shinka looked genuinely shocked.
She ran into Hanadasaki Tatsuya from time to time, but she had never noticed any sign that he was about to remarry.
Then again, he had always seemed to be doing quite well for himself—easygoing and in good spirits—so maybe it was not that surprising.
"He hasn't yet. But the matter is basically settled. I only met this Sister Soyo yesterday."
As he spoke, Hanadasaki Ame continued replying to Nagasaki Soyo's messages.
She seemed to have an unusually strong desire to chat. If he sent her two replies, she could flood him with messages in return.
Well, vacation was boring by nature. Unlike him, she did not have serious things to do, so it was easy for someone like that to sink into emptiness, but…
Yes. Troublesome woman.
He would just respond perfunctorily.
"What kind of person is she? Is she much older than you? After your parents get married, she'll probably move into your house, right?"
Nibutani Shinka pressed on curiously.
"A… very gentle and warm girl, I suppose. She has this subtle maternal glow to her. But in fact she's the same age as you. Right now she attends Tsukinomori Girls' Academy."
Hanadasaki Ame chose his words and gave what was, in his view, a fairly objective evaluation. As for her less-than-stable mental state, that was not something he could conveniently mention.
He generally did not badmouth one person in front of another.
"Tsukinomori? I've heard of it. That's one of those very traditional rich-girl schools, right? It's not exactly close to Inaba High either. Their uniform is pretty cute, though."
Nibutani Shinka said softly, though in her head she was busy considering an entirely different problem.
She had overheard people say before that some of those elite girls' schools had extremely strict rules, and that the students there ended up rebelling in private—getting into all kinds of wild things because they liked the thrill of breaking taboos!
Could Hanadasaki Ame's stepsister Soyo be that type!?
They were close in age, and if they lived together, that was way too much of a setup for something to happen!
This was not good. She would have to come over often and keep an eye on things!
"If you think the uniform is cute, then once she really moves into our house, you could try swapping uniforms with her, Shinka. I think you'd probably look pretty good in a Tsukinomori uniform too."
Hanadasaki Ame replied casually, completely unaware of the strange ideas running through Nibutani Shinka's head.
In his view, she had only just recently emerged from her chuunibyou phase and was still in the stage where she relapsed into weirdness on a regular basis. So if she occasionally seemed to be thinking bizarre thoughts, that was hardly unusual.
"Once the institute gets onto the right track, I'll be living there full-time. So later on, when you're bored, you'll only be able to go play with her instead. Remember to try to get along with her as well as you can."
He added this as though it were an afterthought.
"Living directly at the institute!? Y-you're that serious about it?"
Nibutani Shinka froze slightly.
If that happened, the amount of time she and Hanadasaki Ame spent alone together would decrease a lot, but…
it would also slightly reduce certain risks.
Misunderstanding cleared up!
Nagasaki Soyo was an older sister with principles and self-restraint. She would not be plotting to seduce her little brother!
"I thought maybe you'd start a club, pull in the members you chose, and treat it as a sort of pastime alongside studying…"
"A club is still necessary. It can serve as a transitional phase before hiring research team members as formal researchers. You can join too—just as a name on the roster."
Hanadasaki Ame had in fact already been considering using a club as the first stage for screening members.
"Mhm, yeah, definitely!"
Nibutani Shinka nodded repeatedly.
Of course, she did not plan on joining only Hanadasaki Ame's club. She intended to try other things too, make lots of friends, and彻底 cut herself free from her chuunibyou past once and for all!
Chatting as they walked, the two of them arrived at a nearby Saizeriya.
Saizeriya, with its Italian-style menu, was a chain restaurant with locations everywhere. The food was not especially amazing, but the taste was reliably consistent, which was why Hanadasaki Ame went there often.
Although he could cook, he almost never thought it worth the time.
Inside the restaurant were customers ordering and eating, as well as a number of younger students who had ordered drinks and desserts and then simply started studying there.
It was a very common sight—students using cafés and restaurants as places to study. If it were not vacation season, there would probably be even more of them. It was hardly unusual.
Hanadasaki Ame paid no attention to it. He and Nibutani Shinka picked a table and sat down, then started looking through the menu.
Once they had decided what they wanted, he pressed the little service bell on the table, and a server came over quickly.
Nibutani Shinka ordered a classic meat-sauce doria, while Hanadasaki Ame chose a combination plate of cheese chicken cutlet and hamburger steak, plus two desserts.
He liked sweets.
And he also liked meat.
Since Saizeriya mostly worked with pre-prepared dishes, the food came very quickly. Within minutes, everything they had ordered was set down in front of them, and they ate while chatting idly.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Hanadasaki Ame paused. While licking sauce from the tip of his chopsticks, he glanced around the restaurant.
"What's wrong?"
Nibutani Shinka asked in puzzlement.
"Nothing. I just thought I heard someone say something strange."
Hanadasaki Ame answered casually.
What he did not say was that he had not heard it normally at all. It was something caught by the information-gathering effect of his simulation ability.
That itself was not strange. He picked up all sorts of information every day—knowledge, intelligence, and occasionally even the random mutterings of people lost in their own fantasies.
But this time…
what he had heard just now seemed to be someone's inner voice.
He had a strong feeling that the owner of that voice was nearby—perhaps even in this very restaurant.
And what she had said was only one simple sentence:
"Cats are so cute."
Now that his simulation ability had fully matured, its information-gathering effect seemed to have been enhanced as well.
He had never heard other people's inner voices before.
People were not asleep, and the mind was constantly active—so why was it that he had only caught that one sentence, and nothing else?
While searching for the source, Hanadasaki Ame continued pondering the operating principle behind this secondary effect of the simulation ability.
Then he simply stood up and began strolling slowly through the Saizeriya, looking around.
It did not take long before a girl sitting alone in a corner caught his attention.
She wore a pale blue dress. Her smooth black hair, which fell to her waist, was tied into twin tails with bright red ribbons. Her skin was white and luminous, and she sat with perfect posture and elegance, like a young lady from a refined household.
From Hanadasaki Ame's angle, he could not see her face clearly, but he could see the magazine open in her hands. On the page was an illustration of a black cat.
Acting as though nothing were amiss, Hanadasaki Ame walked over near her and let out a casual remark.
"Cats are so cute."
Just as expected, the girl's hand stopped mid-page-turn. Then she turned to look at him.
That exquisitely lovely face—so cute it was almost unfair—carried the coldness of ancient glacial snow, but Hanadasaki Ame could still read a faint flicker of delight in her subtle expression.
Was it because she had found someone with the same taste?
Or simply because someone else had acknowledged what she liked?
Hanadasaki Ame made a quiet guess, then turned around without hesitation and went back to where Nibutani Shinka was waiting.
…
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 172)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 116)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter119)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 66
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 50
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 52
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 55
The Way the Umamusume Look at 42
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 40
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 36
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 30
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 26
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 26
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