"I'm back."
Taking the elevator to the twelfth floor of the apartment building, Hoshino Gen passed the verification of fingerprint and iris and successfully pushed open the door of his apartment.
The apartment was quite large, covering at least over 350 square meters. The decoration was luxurious and modern, truly a mansion worthy of its name.
"Welcome back—"
A light, soft and sweet voice came from the living room, though it sounded like the owner of the voice was rather listless.
Hoshino Gen changed his shoes at the entrance and carried his schoolbag into the living room.
The living room of the Hoshino family was spacious and bright. The floor-to-ceiling windows were composed of 270-degree surround glass, with an excellent view and perfect lighting.
The last rays of the setting sun shone through the glass into the room, enveloping a slender figure curled up on the sofa.
The girl's wet hair hung over her shoulders. She was wearing a loose T-shirt and shorts, clearly having just taken a shower.
She was petite with fair skin, peach-blossom eyes, willow-leaf eyebrows, and small pink lips. She possessed the innate conditions that countless women dreamed of and combined them perfectly, creating a look so beautiful that even Hoshino Gen, who had met many people, had to admit that his younger sister was indeed the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, including in his past life.
Hoshino Ringo pouted, holding a game controller in her hand, and her heterochromatic eyes, just like Hoshino Gen's, were fixed firmly on the large TV that almost occupied half of the wall.
Hoshino Gen glanced at the screen. Unsurprisingly, it was a game screen. Judging from the art style, it seemed to be a certain 3A adventure game that he had already cleared.
Oh, his younger sister, who was an idol, was also an e-sports girl. This point seemed to have been added intact to her idol persona by the agency. After all, nowadays, otaku fans really liked this kind of thing.
Hoshino Gen was just passing through the living room and didn't intend to stop. It was the only way to get back to his room.
However, at this time, Hoshino Ringo's character in the game was killed by a boss. It was as if she just noticed her brother at this moment. She cast a glance at him and then showed a sweet, standard idol-like smile, which was really charming.
"You're back. Grandfather called this afternoon and said that an elder in the UK passed away. Mom has gone back to the UK. I made some vegetable salad for dinner and have already eaten. There's another portion in the fridge. You can have it if you like."
"Got it." Hoshino Gen only paused for a moment. After hearing his sister's words, he went straight back to his room. The relationship between him and Hoshino Ringo, apart from the blood connection in terms of the body, was barely better than that of strangers in terms of emotion.
After all, they had been separated since they were three years old. Generally, children wouldn't remember things that happened before they were three. Although their parents got back together and they lived together again a year ago, by that time, Hoshino Ringo was already an idol. She was often not at home, and even the time she spent in Tokyo wasn't much.
They had very little time to get along. Even when they were both on holiday at home occasionally, they hardly said a few words.
Watching Hoshino Gen's back disappear behind the closed door of his room, Hoshino Ringo then withdrew her gaze. She looked back at the game screen, but her eyes seemed a bit distracted.
Regarding Hoshino Gen as her brother, her feelings were actually rather complicated and subtle.
She had lived with her mother in the UK since she was very young and had known since childhood that she had a brother in another country. It would be a lie to say that she hadn't had any fantasies about that brother she had only heard of before.
In her imagination, her brother must be a handsome, gentle and outstanding perfect teenager. But after actually meeting him... Well, at least her first impression was quite satisfactory. She felt that Hoshino Gen's figure overlapped with her fantasy. After all, not to mention anything else, his appearance was really outstanding.
However, after getting along for a while, Hoshino Ringo was rather disappointed. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with Hoshino Gen or that there was anything she disliked about him. She just simply thought that this brother was too ordinary.
Since her grandfather's family was also a prominent family in London, the playmates around her since childhood were basically outstanding children from the upper class. In Hoshino Ringo's opinion, Hoshino Gen, not to mention compared with her friends, even among ordinary people, was one of the most ordinary ones, aside from his good looks inherited from his parents.
His athletic ability was average, his grades were below average, and he didn't have any special skills. Ignoring his family background and appearance, he was just an ordinary boy who was taciturn and introverted.
To be honest, Hoshino Ringo didn't have any complaints about her brother, but she really couldn't get close to him.
With a slight sigh, Hoshino Ringo pressed the game controller and went to fight the boss again.
"Roar—!!"
The huge and terrifying monster on the TV roared, as if it was going to crush the whole world. Compared with it, the game character controlled by Hoshino Ringo could only huddle in the corner of the arena, afraid of being accidentally touched by the monster and losing all her health points.
...
The sun finally set.
Hoshino Gen's room was dim. He was sitting on the carpet in front of the low table, holding a wolf-hair brush in his right hand, the tip of which was soaked in wet red ink.
As he gently pressed his arm down, the soft tip of the brush touched the yellow paper on the low table.
With a slight movement of his wrist, red marks were left on the yellow paper.
The brush moved like a swimming dragon, and as soon as the brush stopped, the talisman was completed. It took only a short two breaths from starting to finish.
In the dim room, a flash of light appeared on the talisman paper and then disappeared in an instant.
Hoshino Gen let out a long breath, put down the brush, and threw the drawn talisman into the pile of talisman papers beside him.
He lay down weakly on the carpet, staring at the ceiling in a daze.
"Alone, it's still impossible after all..." Hoshino Gen muttered to himself with his arm covering his eyes.
However, he lay there for five hours. When he opened his eyes again in a daze, Hoshino Gen propped himself up on the carpet. Perhaps he had consumed too much energy drawing talismans before. He fell asleep as soon as he lay down.
Rubbing his eyes, Hoshino Gen picked up his phone and saw that it was already past eleven o'clock at night. He was really hungry now as his stomach was empty. Come to think of it, he hadn't eaten dinner yet.
Shaking his head vigorously to drive away the sleepiness, Hoshino Gen got up and opened the door.
The living room was not lit. Besides the moonlight flowing into the room through the glass, the only light source was the ridiculously large TV screen.
Just like before Hoshino Gen went back to his room, Hoshino Ringo was still curled up on the sofa playing games. But Hoshino Gen couldn't help feeling that, for some reason, Hoshino Ringo looked a bit aggrieved at this moment with her arms around her knees and holding the controller in her hands. Looking closely, her eyes were red, as if she was about to cry.
He looked at the TV screen with some confusion and was a bit surprised. If he remembered correctly, wasn't this the boss that Hoshino Ringo was fighting against before he went back to his room?
The corner of his lip twitched slightly. Hoshino Gen rarely took the initiative to speak to Hoshino Ringo: "You... aren't you going to bed?"
Hoshino Ringo didn't look at him, and the buttons on the game controller were being pressed rapidly.
A few seconds later, the game screen turned black and white.
Under the moonlight, a crystal-clear teardrop rolled down the girl's fair and delicate cheek. Hoshino Gen was sure that he hadn't seen it wrong. This girl was really crying.
"..." Hoshino Gen hesitated for a moment and then spoke again: "Do you need any help?"
Hoshino Ringo wiped her tears and shook her head without saying a word.
Hoshino Gen shrugged and walked straight across the living room to the entrance, changed into a pair of sports shoes and went out. Ignoring his crying sister and going out to find food on his own wasn't something a normal brother would do. But since his sister clearly indicated that she didn't need him to meddle, it was okay for him to go out to find food.