No one disliked a sensible, well-mannered, and pretty girl.
So upon seeing Sakuragi Otome, Tachibana Kyouka affectionately beamed as if she were looking at her own daughter.
Facing her lover's 'elders', Otome was also very courteous.
She continuously served tea to Kyouka.
Seeing the women in such a harmonious and happy state, Sasaki felt that the future he envisioned was right in front of him.
Although as a reborn person, his goal might seem a bit vulgar and unsightly.
But no matter what, he was still a person, a man, and after being well-fed and content, men do tend to seek a bit of pleasure.
As for grand feats like changing the world... his cheat ability was a sturdy body, not a computer-like brain... he couldn't come up with any great inventions... so taking care of the people he cared about was enough, just like now.
"Hey! What are you standing there grinning about? Are you confused by the heat?"
Sitting at the dining table and fighting with her sister for ice cream, Yuuka, noticing the dazed guy standing by the sofa with a silly smile after putting down the luggage, held her just-bitten ice cream, walked over to Sasaki and handed it to him:
"Here, finish this quickly and move the stuff upstairs. I'm going up to pick a room first~"
Sasaki didn't show any impatience at her orders; after all, those heavy suitcases weren't something she could carry upstairs herself.
Just as he was contemplating whether to open the suitcases to see what was inside, Yuuka, already halfway up the stairs, turned her curvaceous body with foresight:
"Don't even think about opening the suitcases. If I find out, you'll be in trouble!"
'Are you implying that if I don't let you find out, it's okay to open them?'
Internally retorting, Sasaki nodded compliantly:
"Got it, got it."
Hearing the dismissive and nonchalant tone, Yuuka frowned instead.
Well...the temperament of a spoiled and unreasonable girl is the hardest to decipher.
'Because you never know which of your offhand comments might offend her.'
But Sasaki had spent enough time with her to somewhat understand her thoughts.
So, seeing her frown, he took the simplest and most effective approach.
—Stare at her legs.
Yuuka's height and long legs, inherited from Aunt Kyouka, were her proudest features, and she enjoyed showing off her assets to him.
When someone close to her focused on her strengths, it was like scratching a cat's chin—a perfect way to soothe her mood.
Therefore, noticing that Sasaki's dismissive tone was accompanied by his gaze on her legs, her frown eased, like clouds dispersing in the wind, she smirked, hummed lightly, and turned away.
Moreover, the boy noticed that after she turned, her pace up the stairs was noticeably slower...
Just like a little girl... even though she's already a college student...
Smiling at her behavior, Sasaki was about to turn his head when he caught Aunt Kyouka's gaze from the corner of his eye.
Suddenly he thought flashed through his mind, and he suppressed the urge to turn away.
After watching Yuuka's disappearing figure for five or six seconds, Sasaki reluctantly lowered his gaze and shifted his focus.
Seeing Fuyumi dazedly watching Yuuka's back, then looking somewhat lost and regretful, the complex feelings lingering in Kyouka's heart dissipated like a popped bubble.
However, the emptiness left behind replaced the previous complexity, like gum stuck to a shoe, leaving her irritated.
Knowing she needed time to calm herself, she looked at Sasaki, who hadn't turned his head yet:
"Fuyumi, just leave my luggage there. I'll stay downstairs~"
Even though Sasaki felt that living upstairs or downstairs was all the same.
Based on his previous behavior, he should have shown some confusion at Aunt Kyouka's decision and offered a few persuasive words about living together with them.
But dealing with a mature older woman requires a different approach.
Being overly aggressive isn't advisable so one must advance and retreat to leave a deeper impression.
Simply put, it's the strategy of playing hard to get.
This tactic works well for both men and women...
So Sasaki, playing the straightforward role, nodded in agreement.
"Alright then."
Saying this, he pretended not to notice the slight disappointment in Aunt Kyouka's eyes,
And turned his head towards Tachibana Koharu, who was chatting with Otome and Rinka.
"What about you, Sister Koharu? Do you want to stay upstairs or downstairs?"
"Umm~"
Taking a bite of her ice cream and thinking for a moment, the girl chose the same as she did at home.
"Upstairs, please."
"The luggage is heavy, right? Do you need help?"
Help?
Glancing at Sister Koharu's ice-cream-white, soft arms and the large, beige grapefruit she had placed on the table, Sasaki couldn't help but wonder how she intended to help.
Would she push his waist while he carried the luggage upstairs?
Shaking his head, Sasaki declined her impractical offer.
"No need, it's not that heavy."
Placing the ice cream handed to him by Yuuka on the table, hr ignored the two Tachibana sisters' looks that seemed to say he was showing off, and without changing his expression or breaking a sweat, he easily picked up the two suitcases and steadily walked up the stairs.
?!
Looking at the boy walk the stairs as if carrying two weightless plastic bags, both Tachibana Koharu and Tachibana Kyouka, who knew how heavy the suitcases were, stared wide-eyed in astonishment.
When they entered earlier, Sasaki had pulled the suitcases in, so they didn't have a direct sense of his strength.
They had just thought to themselves, "Fuyumi has grown up, he's already a man."
But seeing him effortlessly carrying the suitcases upstairs, they realized that their "man of the house" was a bit different...
Noticing the surprise in their' eyes, Otome and Rinka, who were chatting head-to-head, merely glanced towards the stairs and then continued their conversation.
Not to mention Sasaki, even Otome alone could easily lift those two suitcases.
And although Okino Rinka wasn't as strong as Sister Otome, ever since she learned that eating Sasaki's cream could make her stronger, she never wasted any.
However, in Otome's eyes, Rinka's nonchalance was due to witnessing her own strength...
"Fuyumi shouldn't be..."
After Sasaki disappeared from view, Aunt Kyouka came to her senses and looked at Otome and Rinka, who seemed completely unfazed by the scene.
"Yeah..."
After pondering for a while, using the reasons she and Fuyumi found during their leisure time, Sakuragi Otome explained to the puzzled Kyouka:
"Fuyumi had been in a daze for half a year and then... ended up in the hospital again. No matter how much sadness was in his heart, he eventually let go of it. So, after he came home, he started exercising..."
Finding an excuse for her confusion, Tachibana Kyouka didn't pay much attention to the remaining inconsistencies.
After all, things were moving in a positive direction, and doubting too much would inevitably discourage people.
However, some words of care were still necessary.
And these words could only be said when she was alone with Fuyumi...
...
Knowing that his blatant change would make Aunt Kyouka and others feel a bit unfamiliar, Sasaki didn't care much since he had the universal excuse of having experienced life and death.
After all, this wasn't a world of flying immortals...
In modern life, who would start suspecting something when their family member shows some changes...
If you say it out loud, people would only think you've read too many novels...
Carrying his suitcase to the second floor, Sasaki looked at the open door next to Otome's room and pushed the suitcase to the door.
What came into view was the beauty lying on the clean, neatly made bed, raising her arm and playing with her phone, with her flesh-colored black silk-clad long legs crossed.
.....