While Hoshino Gen was sleeping soundly, a scream followed by crying woke him up with a start.
Hoshino Gen reflexively got out of bed and rushed out of the door. Then he saw Hoshino Rin sitting on the sofa, crying loudly and wiping her tears.
It only took an instant to understand the situation. After his drowsiness subsided a bit, Hoshino Gen immediately grasped what was going on.
Well, it was quite normal. A sixteen-year-old girl had been killed countless times in her dream repeatedly. It was understandable that she broke down and cried hysterically after waking up.
Making sure that nothing unexpected had happened, Hoshino Gen sighed and was about to go back to his room to put on earplugs and continue sleeping. However, perhaps the sound of him opening the door was a bit loud, which caught the attention of Hoshino Rin who was crying on the sofa.
The girl lifted her pretty face smeared with tears, looking like a pear flower bathed in rain, and looked at Hoshino Gen. Then, pitifully and with a heavy nasal voice, she called out, "Oni-chan..."
Her two little hands kept wiping the teardrops rolling down like broken pearls, and her delicate shoulders were twitching.
Hoshino Gen's turning motion froze on the spot.
"Oni-chan" - brother.
The last time he was called "brother" in this way seemed to be thirteen years ago. When his parents got divorced and his mother was taking his sister onto the plane, three-year-old Rin, lying on his mother's shoulder, struggled desperately and also cried out "Oni-chan" to him like this.
At that time, he just calmly watched the little girl who had accompanied him for three years and had hardly left his side disappear from his sight in the midst of crying.
After meeting again after more than ten years, the chubby little girl back then had turned into a graceful and stunningly beautiful young girl that one couldn't take one's eyes off.
But the girl had never called him "Oni-chan" like this. Even the times she called him "Nissan" could be counted on one hand within this year.
For some reason, his drowsiness disappeared completely.
Hoshino Gen silently walked to Hoshino Rin and sat down beside her, his voice calm as he asked, "Did you have a nightmare?"
Ignoring his crying sister and choosing to continue sleeping was surely not something a normal brother should do, right? So it seemed only natural for him to come over, "find out" the reason and comfort her a little?
However, to Hoshino Gen's surprise, the girl who was choking back sobs and wiping her tears actually shook her head in response to his question.
The uncontrollable sobbing made it impossible for her to speak, and it seemed that she could never finish wiping her tears. Moreover, probably because she had cried too hard, she even hiccupped while crying halfway through. Although she looked both pitiful and cute, Hoshino Gen found it a bit amusing.
So under Hoshino Gen's gaze, Hoshino Rin cried for over ten minutes before finally managing to calm down a little, though she still couldn't help but sob from time to time.
Hoshino Gen held back his laughter and took a piece of paper from the coffee table and handed it to her, saying, "Wipe your face. Your nose is running."
"!" Hoshino Rin quickly took the paper and wiped her nose. After all, she was an idol. Crying and hiccupping were bad enough, how could she let others see her with a runny nose.
She wiped her nose in a flustered manner and then looked up at Hoshino Gen. Her eye sockets and cheeks were all red, looking so aggrieved that she was really adorable.
"Are you feeling better?" Hoshino Gen asked with a smile.
Hoshino Rin nodded embarrassedly, "Sorry for waking you up..."
"It's okay. It was just a nightmare. It's not your fault."
After saying that, Hoshino Gen propped himself up on the sofa and stood up, seemingly planning to go back to his room just like that.
"O... Oni-chan..."
Hoshino Rin called out to him in a low voice.
"..."
"Was... that not a dream?" Hoshino Rin said with her head down.
"Why do you say that?" Hoshino Gen turned around, his voice gentle.
"I remember everything. I went into your room and saw a strange knife. I don't know why I pulled the knife out and even touched the blade with my hand. I got my finger cut and then passed out. In that strange place, I was constantly killed by a black shadow, then resurrected and killed again... It kept repeating until finally you showed up and saved me... I remember all of it."
When Hoshino Rin said these words, her light and soft voice trembled slightly. With her head down, others couldn't see her face, but one could imagine that her expression must be one of fear, because her hands unconsciously hugged her shoulders tightly due to fear.
"Oh, you had such a dream. It was indeed a bit strange. But no matter how real a dream is, it's just a dream. Don't confuse it with reality. Were you so tired from the concert during the day that you got confused? Have a good rest." Hoshino Gen took a step towards his room, but unfortunately, he still couldn't leave.
Because his left hand was grasped by a cold little hand.
"Then... why is your right hand injured?"
"I just accidentally got stabbed by a knife." Hoshino Gen pulled his hand out with a gentle tug.
He went back to his room, closed the door, and locked it.
Hoshino Rin, who was sitting alone on the living room sofa, raised her head a little. Although her eye sockets were still red, her beautiful heterochromatic eyes were fixed tightly on the closed door of Hoshino Gen's room, shining brightly in a rather startling way.
Perhaps the filter of the dream finally took effect, or maybe the intense curiosity overcame the fear.
Hoshino Rin sniffed, and her spirit was more excited than ever before!
She had been completely wrong before. This brother was not an ordinary, dull and introverted boy. Instead, he was a mysterious and wonderful treasure!
Hoshino Rin recalled the last scene that happened in the "dream", and a devilish smile suddenly appeared on her pretty face.
"... You were way too handsome, Oni-chan~"
...
"Knock, knock, knock..."
It was about half an hour after Hoshino Gen went back to his room that his door was knocked on. Since there were only him and his sister Hoshino Rin in the house at present, it was obvious who the person knocking on the door was.
Hoshino Gen had always suffered from severe insomnia. Except when he was extremely tired, he usually had trouble falling asleep. So even though half an hour had passed since he went back to his room, he had just been lying on the bed, staring blankly.
Hearing the knock on the door, he smacked his lips, feeling a bit annoyed by this sister.
He got out of bed and opened the door. Outside the door, Hoshino Rin had already changed into a thin blue-and-white nightdress, hugging a pillow in her arms, her little head slightly drooping, looking pitiful.
"Sorry, brother. I'm still a bit scared to be alone..."
Hoshino Gen sighed and then put on that polite smile again, saying, "The fear caused by a nightmare is similar to that from watching a horror movie. If you want to relieve it, I recommend you play games for a while or watch a comedy to shift your attention and relax your mind at the same time. When you're really sleepy from playing, you can basically fall asleep right away. When your body and mind are fully rested, the fear will gradually disappear."
"But... but I'm already very sleepy and tired now."
"Then just go to sleep directly."
"Alone... I'm scared."
The smile on Hoshino Gen's face was a bit hard to maintain. He asked tentatively, "So?"
"I want to sleep on the floor in your room. Is that okay?" Hoshino Rin lifted her little face, her heterochromatic eyes looking watery, like a wounded fawn at the end of its rope asking a hunter for help.
If she showed this expression to her crazy fans, believe that no matter what request she made, it would surely be agreed to immediately.
"No." Hoshino Gen was not someone who didn't know how to refuse. He hated others entering his room and couldn't stand others spending the night in his room.
Hoshino Rin blinked blankly, "Huh?"
She really hadn't expected to be rejected so firmly.
Of course, although he refused, Hoshino Gen could understand it to some extent. Hoshino Rin was just a sixteen-year-old girl. After experiencing such a thing, it was normal for her to be so scared that she didn't dare to sleep alone. It was even very likely that it would cause her mental trauma and psychological shadows.
Even for himself, after encountering a ghost for the first time back then, wasn't he also so scared that he couldn't fall asleep all night long.
The feeling of fear lingering in one's heart was really unpleasant.
So after rejecting his sister's request, Hoshino Gen immediately added, "Sleeping on the floor is bad for your health. Go sleep on the sofa in the living room. I can wait until you fall asleep and then leave."