Hoshino Rin didn't know when she had fallen asleep. When she opened her eyes, the outside world through the living room's French windows was already bright.
She sat up in a daze and looked around. She didn't see the figure of her brother, Hoshino Gen.
The living room was empty and quiet, without a single sound. For no reason, Hoshino Rin suddenly felt a bit scared. She tightened the blanket around herself and tentatively called out, "Oni-chan?"
"In the kitchen," came the reply from the kitchen.
Hoshino Rin immediately felt relieved. She put down the blanket, put on her cartoon shark slippers and ran "tap-tap-tap" to the kitchen. Then she saw Hoshino Gen, dressed in a white shirt, standing in front of the induction cooker. The cooker was on, and there seemed to be something simmering in the pot on it. Hoshino Gen himself was holding his mobile phone in his left hand and quickly tapping on the screen with his fingers.
"Are you cooking?" Hoshino Rin was a bit surprised. She had no idea that Hoshino Gen even had cooking skills.
"Yeah, I don't really feel like going out today," Hoshino Gen replied casually.
Hoshino Rin glanced at his right hand, which was wrapped in white gauze and hanging limply at his side. Then a cute smile appeared on her face. "Your hand is still injured. Let me do it instead."
"What are you cooking?" Hoshino Rin didn't seem to give Hoshino Gen a chance to refuse. She took a few steps and reached Hoshino Gen's side. She pushed her little butt and squeezed her brother away from the induction cooker.
Hoshino Gen complied readily and left the cooking area decisively while answering, "There's meat broth in the pot."
"Meat broth? Isn't it too greasy in the morning?" Hoshino Rin wrinkled her little nose. This kind of breakfast was clearly not to her liking. Curiously, she reached out and lifted the lid of the stew pot. A large cloud of steam came out. Then Hoshino Rin saw the almost unsightly hodgepodge in the pot.
The rolling light red broth gave off a fishy smell. A lot of unappetizing foam was attached to the sides of the pot. Pieces of meat of different sizes and strange shapes were vaguely visible, but what was even more eye-catching were those vegetables like boiled cabbage and tomatoes that had already been boiled to a mush...
Hoshino Rin calmly turned off the induction cooker. Well, she'd throw the pot away along with its contents later.
Sitting at the table in the dining area outside, Hoshino Gen heard the sound of the induction cooker being turned off and looked up a bit strangely. "Is it already cooked?"
"Brother, have you never cooked before?"
"…What's wrong?" Let's not talk about this life. In this life, he usually ate at the school cafeteria or in restaurants outside. In his previous life, whether following his master traveling all over the place or later traveling alone, he didn't even have a fixed home, so how could he cook?
"What do you mean 'what's wrong'! If you ate what you cooked, you'd definitely get sick! Oni-chan, please, don't go into the kitchen again, okay?"
Probably realizing something, Hoshino Gen silently lowered his head and continued typing with one hand on his mobile phone. The private message he sent last night had already received a reply, and now he was communicating with the other person.
Hoshino Rin pouted and muttered something like "Ignoring me again, so rude" and left the kitchen to wash up.
...
"Are you really willing to spend ten thousand yen on such a strange game?"
"Yes."
"Although I think you'll definitely regret it if you buy it, I won't refuse since there's money to be made. But there are some things I'd better make clear."
"Please do."
"This game is super creepy. It's not just what I said in the post. After I posted last night, I opened the game a few more times and found another problem. When the favorability reaches sixty and something scary happens, every time you restart the computer and then enter the game, the favorability drops more and more. Chika's expression will also become colder and colder, and at the same time, it's harder to increase the favorability. My favorability has dropped to ten now, and no matter how I interact, I can't increase it anymore. Even if I uninstall the game and reinstall it, it's still the same."
"I think this game might be a virus written by some bored programmer. Are you really going to buy it?"
"Yes."
"Alright then. I hope you won't regret it..."
...
After paying ten thousand yen online, Hoshino Gen successfully got the game files of "Red Skirt".
At this time, Hoshino Rin, who had finished washing up, came back. She found her mother's apron in the kitchen and put it on. Then she turned around and asked Hoshino Gen in a soft voice, "Brother, what would you like to eat? Do you still want to drink the meat broth? Let me tell you first, I'm not really confident about stews either."
"Then just make what you're good at."
"Okay~"
Hoshino Gen checked the directory of the game files. After making sure that these were really just some data files, he uploaded them to the computer in his bedroom. He planned to go back to his room to check out what was going on with this game after finishing breakfast.
The breakfast made by Hoshino Rin was served quickly. Fried eggs, bacon, ham, toast, fruit salad... and a cup of hot milk.
These were all foods that didn't require much cooking skills but were quite suitable for breakfast. But then again, Hoshino Rin wasn't a particularly good cook either. At most, she had learned a few cooking skills for the shooting effect when she was on some shows. But at least the fried eggs on the plate looked quite decent.
All of this breakfast was prepared for Hoshino Gen. As for Hoshino Rin herself, she only had whole wheat bread, fruit salad, and a cup of skim milk.
Hoshino Gen took a look but didn't make any comments. One reason was that he didn't like to interfere in other people's affairs, and another was that he was already used to Hoshino Rin's diet that seemed like she was starving herself.
Hoshino Rin propped her cheeks up with her hands and looked at Hoshino Gen, who was quickly devouring the food across the table, with a smile. "How is it? How's the taste?"
Although the taste of these things didn't really have much to do with the cook's skills, Hoshino Gen wasn't stingy with his praise for the person who had made the food. "It's great. Much better than the school cafeteria."
"Hehe~" Hoshino Rin was a bit smug and also started to eat her own breakfast.
Hoshino Rin cleaned up the mess after breakfast. Because Hoshino Gen's hand was injured, although the so-called cleaning up was just putting the dishes into the dishwasher.
Hoshino Gen had originally planned to go back to his room to install "Red Skirt" immediately after eating. But looking at Hoshino Rin's delicate figure busy in the kitchen, he suddenly became a bit worried that the game might really be related to the supernatural. What if it was true? If something unexpected happened, what if it affected the innocent Hoshino Rin?
Considering this, Hoshino Gen called out in the direction of the kitchen, "Are you going out today?"
Hoshino Rin was humming a pleasant melody softly and didn't seem to pay attention to what Hoshino Gen had asked.
Just when Hoshino Gen thought that the other person hadn't heard clearly, Hoshino Rin suddenly said, "Oni-chan, who are you talking to? Is there anyone named 'you' in our family?"
Hoshino Gen was a bit speechless for a moment, then he changed his words decisively, "Rin, are you going out today?"
"Hehe~" Hoshino Rin laughed happily, probably proud of her "superior skills in bringing people closer".
She tapped her chin with her finger and tilted her little head to think. "It seems there's no work today... Ah, right. There's a show to record in the evening. I'll probably have to go out around dusk."
After saying that, she looked at Hoshino Gen strangely. "Brother, why did you ask that?"
"Nothing, just asking casually." Hoshino Gen got the answer he wanted and got up and left the dining room. Hoshino Rin blinked her eyes with different colors and stared at Hoshino Gen's departing figure. Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind.
In the past, Hoshino Gen had never even talked to her, let alone asked her if she was going out. Today was so unusual, so there must be a purpose!
Asking her if she was going out probably had only two possible purposes. One was to ask her to help with something outside when she went out, like buying things and bringing them back. The other was to hope that she would go out so that there would be only him at home.
Hoshino Rin thought that the latter possibility was more likely. Not to mention Hoshino Gen's personality, even if it was the former, he should at least explain after getting her exact time to go out. How could he just turn around and leave after asking?
So following this train of thought and thinking a bit more, Hoshino Rin quickly thought of the fact that Hoshino Gen had spent ten thousand yen to buy the game files from someone else last night.
Thinking about how Hoshino Gen had been quickly tapping on the screen with his thumb on his mobile phone this morning, it was obvious that he was typing. And using the mobile phone to type at such a high frequency usually only meant chatting in a normal situation. As far as Hoshino Rin knew, this brother didn't even seem to use Line. So the most likely possibility was that her brother had contacted the person who posted the message and successfully bought the game files!
Asking her when she was going out was to play that game when there was only one person at home!