Chapter 98 – Older Brother

With Takei's birthday only a few days away, Akari was elated to have already found a perfect birthday present for him.

All she had to do now was to wait for the date to change and to welcome the day of her boyfriend's birth together.

At the current moment though, they were both on the way home from school while talking about meaningless and trivial things.

"Did you see that guy's face when I beat him?"

"Mm, it was quite amusing."

There was a fellow male that had challenged Takei in a game of chess in order to prove to Akari that he was the better male specimen.

Surprisingly, Takei accepted the challenge since he wanted to prove to everyone that Akari was his and his alone.

A few minutes after the chess match had started, the buzzer was already going off and notified everyone that the match had finished in record time.

Takei had, unsurprisingly, won the chess match without much difficulty.

Starting all the way from his early years, Flora had trained him in all the popular types of competitive games.

That category of competitive games also included chess.

As a result, that poor boy that had challenged Takei ended up losing spectacularly.

Takei then employed good sportsmanship tactics to ensure that there were only good feelings between him and the challenger.

Retelling the story to Akari, she chuckled at Takei's childish train of thought.

Although she felt good that Takei defended his position next to her, Akari felt that he didn't need to do that since she didn't care about other people either way.

Sensing the goddess's fluctuating emotions, Takei gripped her hand even tighter to ensure that her positive mood would continue.

Akari realized Takei's intentions instantly, but she made no move to remove her hand from his grasp.

"Unfair..."

Her faint mutter barely reached Takei's ears and resulted in him smiling like an idiot.

They crossed an intersection on their way home and entered the suburb area that Takei lived in.

As they passed by a certain house, Takei noticed that there were some familiar people out in the front lawn of that house.

"Big brother!"

"Gufuu!"

A little girl dropped her doll and ran over to Takei and tackled him with surprisingly an immense amount of force.

"You're the little girl that I helped the other day, right?"

Confused at the sudden embrace from a little girl, Takei finally remembered who she was.

"Yup yup! I'm Shiori Ayase! Nice to meet you, big brother!"

Shiori nuzzled her face against Takei's chest as she began to laugh giddily.

"Mou... cheater..."

Takei could sense Akari's displeasure a mile away as she accused him of adultery.

Although, he was confused as to why Akari was feeling so possessive even though it was just a little girl.

"Ah, I'm sorry about my daughter. She seems to have gotten really attached to you."

Shiori's mother came over and apologized about Shiori being clingy with Takei.

"It's okay, I don't mind at all."

Since Takei had played with Flora's coworkers' children at one point in time, he was used to taking care of clingy kids.

Seeing her daughter extremely happy made Shiori's mother think of a splendid idea.

"Why don't you two come in?"

After hearing her mom's suggestion, Shiori's face lit up immediately.

"Please, big bro!"

Takei wasn't sure whether to accept or not, since he already had a prior appointment with Akari.

He turned back and saw Akari wryly smiling and nodded in encouragement.

Judging from her reaction, Takei assumed that she didn't want to deny a poor little girl's wish of having fun.

He mouthed the words, "Thank you," to Akari and turned back to address Shiori's mother.

"If you're okay with us, we'll gladly take you up on your offer..."

"Yayyy! Yippee!"

Once Takei gave his agreement, Shiori began to jump around happily as her wish had been granted.

They entered the house and sat on the living room couch as Shiori's mother went to the kitchen to serve them.

Takei and Akari had sat next to each other as usual, but there was an oddity this time.

Shiori had decided to sit on Takei's lap, and refused to move anywhere else.

She was singing a happy tune as she laid back carelessly on Takei's chest.

He saw this as nothing more than a little girl wanting to get spoiled by her older brother, so Takei decided not to mention it.

However, Akari saw it as something else.

It was as if a thieving cat came in to steal away her significant other.

Akari knew that she was just a little girl wanting to get doted on, but her love for Takei was slowly eroding her sense of judgement.

Deciding that she couldn't hold back any longer, Akari hooked her arm with Takei's arm and leaned in closer to him.

"..."

Takei was speechless as a result of Akari's bold action.

The finely shaped orbs were sandwiching Takei's arm and slowly turning his reasoning to mush.

It was safe to say that the stimulation was too much for a teenage male.

Shiori looked confused as to why they were so close to each other, until a lightbulb appeared above her head.

"Is this the married couple act that mommy always talks about?"

She then began to talk about how her mommy and daddy would get along throughout the day.

Somehow, their actions mirrored Takei and Akari's actions with each other so it was plain as day that Shiori's parents had a good relationship.

With such solid evidence against them, Takei and Akari could do nothing but silently agree.

"We're not married... yet."

"Oh? When's the wedding then?"

"Akari!"

Takei tried to smooth the conversation over, but was unable to do so due to his feelings. It certainly didn't help Takei that Akari was prodding him for answers about their eventual wedding.

"Just like mommy and daddy..."

Shiori looked at them with hollow eyes.

At such a statement, there was no way Takei or Akari (who were the root of the problem) could've consoled her.

---

Idiot Couple Meter: 30 -> 33%

Shiori's mom and dad are now added to the list of idiot couples. Why are there so many in this world?!

Sugar-san: I don't know, but being one doesn't sound too bad to me?

Serious-san: Do you want to try being one with me then?