I know.
I knew it a long time ago.
But I didn't expect it to come so quickly.
"Yuki-chan's cooking, it's been a long time since I had it."
Yukinoshita Haruno crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, watching with interest as the black-haired girl busily prepared dinner in the kitchen, her ample chest almost spilling out.
"If you're so free, why don't you come and help me?"
Amid the sizzling sound of frying oil, Yukinoshita Yukino, wearing an apron, spoke casually without any expectations while focusing on the tempura in the pan.
"No way."
Yukinoshita Haruno covered her mouth and laughed,
"Food tastes better when you don't cook it yourself. If I helped, it wouldn't be the same."
Haruno's response was exactly what Yukinoshita Yukino expected. She calmly placed the fried tempura on a plate and started preparing the next dish.
"If you're not going to help, then please leave, sister. Don't disturb me here."
"You were there, right? At that time."
I knew it all along, but I didn't expect my sister to test me so quickly and so directly.
Haruno's out-of-the-blue question was extremely abrupt, causing Yukinoshita Yukino to stop chopping vegetables.
After a slight pause, the sound of the knife hitting the cutting board resumed. Yukinoshita Yukino tried to stay calm and said,
"What are you talking about?"
"Eh~"
Haruno squinted at her for a while. Although Yukino's eyes were fixed on the food on the cutting board, she could clearly feel her sister's intense gaze.
Fortunately, Haruno soon looked away, seemingly letting her off the hook for now.
"By the way, I'll be staying here for a while. I have work to do here, and commuting between Tokyo and Chiba is too troublesome."
Haruno left the kitchen, her sweet voice drifting from the living room,
"And I can keep an eye on Yuki-chan, so my cute sister doesn't get tricked and run around."
Yukinoshita Yukino glanced at the spot where Haruno had been standing and quietly let out a sigh of relief.
To be honest, she was already sweating a bit.
[Looks like we're being watched closely now.]
Hayashizaki sighed in the mental channel.
[By the way, did Hikigaya take the blame for us?]
[He took the blame for you.]
Yukinoshita Yukino corrected.
[Yukino, why so distant? Aren't we in this together?]
Suddenly being called by her name so intimately by Hayashizaki, Yukinoshita Yukino's hand holding the spatula shook, almost flipping the food out of the pan.
[Hayashizaki-kun!]
The girl's cheeks turned a light shade of red, and she angrily wished she could shove the spatula into Hayashizaki's mouth.
[Don't bother me while I'm cooking!]
[Then, seriously, if you really want to avoid your sister and go out to play, I have a solution.]
[That's not to hang out, but to keep you from taking over my body! Yukinoshita Yukino paused for a moment before continuing,
[What solution?]
[Knocking your sister out and tying her up is simple and easy.]
Hayashizaki suggested,
[Even if I don't have to do it, with your current physique, it would be a breeze to subdue your sister.]]
Yukinoshita Yukino was dumbfounded, then sighed helplessly and subconsciously opened her mouth to mutter in a small voice, "It was my mistake to have expectations of you ..."
"What mistake?"
Yukinoshita Haruno poked her head out curiously, "Who is Yuki-channo talking to?"
"!"
She was startled and turned to glare at Haruno with her big, watery eyes. "Sister! Why are you here again? Didn't I tell you to wait at the dining table?"
"I just came to ask if the food is ready. Little Haruno is hungry."
The short-haired woman said innocently.
"It'll be ready soon!"
"Then I'll go."
Back at the dining table, Yukinoshita Haruno rested her chin on her hand, thoughtfully considering her sister's recent suspicious behavior.
She didn't see Yukino take out her phone, so she wasn't contacting anyone, but she was talking to herself... Oh no, could Yuki-chan have been alone for so long that she's having mental issues?
Was she talking to an imaginary friend just now?
At this moment, in a channel Yukinoshita Haruno couldn't hear, her sister was arguing fiercely with her
"imaginary friend."
[It's all your fault, we almost got caught by my sister!]
[How is this my fault? You're being unreasonable, sister.]
Hayashizaki said helplessly.
[If it weren't for your weird and unreliable suggestions, I wouldn't have acted like that just now... My sister is definitely suspicious. She's the type who won't give up until she gets what she wants. What if we get exposed?]
Yukinoshita Yukino asked worriedly.
[Isn't it possible that even if your sister suspects something, she won't think it's related to a curse? She'll just think there's something wrong with your head?]
Hearing this, the girl calmed down a bit.
Indeed, even if her sister was smart, she couldn't possibly guess what was happening to her. She'd probably just have some bad misunderstanding.
Thinking it over, there was no need to panic, but facing Yukinoshita Haruno always stirred her emotions, just like when they were kids.
Hayashizaki's comment on this was that she was used to being teased.
Of course, he wouldn't dare say this out loud, especially since Yukinoshita had already been triggered several times today. If he kept provoking her, who knows what rash actions she might take.
Draining the pond to catch all the fish is not the way; sustainable development is the right direction.
After figuring this out, Yukinoshita Yukino quickly got back on track and prepared dinner.
At the dining table, Yukinoshita Yukino was ready to deal with her sister's strange misunderstandings, but Haruno didn't mention her talking to herself at all. Instead, she brought up the construction site incident.
"Hey, Yuki-chan, did you know? The official explanation for the collapsed office building is a gas pipeline explosion, but that building didn't even have gas. They're using a reason everyone knows is fake."
Yukinoshita Haruno said while eating.
"And actually, the firefighters and police who investigated couldn't find the real cause of the collapse. Not only because of the severe damage, but they also found something very strange."
"Really... What strange thing?"
Yukinoshita Yukino perked up her ears and carefully asked.
"They found very smooth cuts on the broken concrete walls. It didn't look like an accidental collapse at all. It looked more like someone cut the building like butter with a knife."
Haruno said vividly, gesturing with her hands.
"Isn't that strange?"
She seemed to treat the incident as dinner conversation, saying with a smile,
"Honestly, I'm starting to wonder if it was done by aliens or some supernatural beings."
"...How could that be possible?"
Yukinoshita Yukino looked away without showing any emotion.
"Yeah, how could that be possible?"
Haruno nodded in agreement.
"Did this accident cause any loss to the company?"
To avoid continuing this dangerous topic, Yukino quickly changed the subject.
"No, if anything, it saved us some demolition costs. If there really are aliens, I should thank them!"
Haruno laughed.
[See, aren't you going to thank me?]
[Thank you, Mr. Alien.]
Yukinoshita Yukino rolled her eyes in her mind.
...
...
—————— ----
You can read 10 advanced chapters at my patreon.com/YeyeQiu