No Game No Life - Volume 11 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

HORIZONTAL THINKING

LATERAL APPROACH

Day Eight—Nighttime.

Steph climbed up a long stone staircase that seemed to stretch into the starry sky.

She was wearing the Eastern Union’s ungainly festival attire—a yukata and wooden sandals, the latter of which clacked noisily as she clumsily ascended the stairs.

Eventually, she made it to the top, although not without tripping several times on the way.

The sight before her was enough to take her breath away.

It had been a garden bursting with flowers only hours before.

Foeniculum had likely painted over the space—now numerous lights and crowds of people dotted the landscape, which had become an expansive, lively city bustling with civilization.

The Eastern Union held three great festivals each year.

When Werebeast unified as a single country, the individual festivals run by various clans and tribes gradually combined until eventually only three remained.

One of the three was a summer festival held in the nation’s capital, Kannagari.

Steph gazed in awe as one of the world’s most famous festivals played out before her very eyes: the Star Festival…

She marveled at the countless paper lanterns illuminating every corner of Kannagari.

The palanquin slowly parading through the main square, in particular, caught her eye—it was like a moving treasure hall.

Food stands featuring a variety of delicious Eastern Union cuisine lined the road to the shrine. Some booths featured games, which were teeming with children who gathered to play them.

Most spectacular of all, however, were the fireworks that lit up the night sky in a shade of crimson.

Incandescent shards of light created by the Eastern Union’s artisan-grade gunpowder technology blossomed like flowers in the heavens…

The incredible scene was greater than what Steph had heard about, let alone imagined. She exhaled a deep sigh.

 Even in the tumultuous world of Disboard, where racial tensions ran high, this festival was touted as one of the most beautiful in the land.

Steph had always longed to visit it ever since she was small.

In fact, now that the Eastern Union was part of the Commonwealth of Elkia, she intended to take advantage of her governmental powers and stop by Kannagari during the festivities—she’d already made the proper travel arrangements. And there she was, face-to-face with that very festival, even if it was something fabricated with Fairy magic.

…There she was indeed, and yet—

“I shouldn’t be thinking about the festival!! How am I supposed to enjoy myself knowing that the fate of Elkia is on the line?! We don’t have time to lounge around!!”

The sight would usually have Steph starry-eyed, but she still couldn’t get over the news she’d been hit with the night before.

According to Sora, Elkia—and multiple races—were at risk of being wiped off the face of Disboard.

Despite these circumstances—

“Chill out, Steph. We dunno for sure how much trouble the world is in yet.”

Several more pairs of wooden sandals could be heard approaching the panicked Steph from behind, clacking up the stone path with each step.

Hearing Sora’s nonchalant comment, Steph gritted her teeth and caught her breath. “…I—I suppose that’s true. That’s why we’re here, to stop it, and—”

“Affirmative: Calculating based on available evidence and elapsed time. Chances that Elkia has already met its destruction estimated at fifty-two-point-three percent.”

“It sounds to me that the party outside is just about over. Then shall we not enjoy the party here?”

“Noooooo!! Somebody, please let me out of here!! I need to help my country!! Oh, the Immanity!!”

The group’s harsh prognosis had Steph wailing and slamming her forehead on the stone path.

 There really was no time for them to lounge around.

Steph wondered if she should find the quickest way out of there and go save Elkia.

She knew that she wouldn’t serve much of a purpose in this game—or any games, really. As sad as it may be, Steph knew where she stood in the hierarchy of gaming prowess.

If she was going to be of any help to Sora and the others, it wasn’t by winning games but by governing her country.

Maybe she could slow down Elkia’s fall and buy the group some time?

In which case, wouldn’t it be more prudent for her to couple up with someone and get out of here?

Fortunately—just as Sora said—four of the group’s members could easily escape this space.

However, what stopped them from doing so was that their fifth member wouldn’t be able to make it out alone.

Nevertheless, if only two people escaped, that would still leave three behind—which should be enough to keep the love documentary stream going, shouldn’t it?

Elkia—Immanity’s sole surviving nation—was facing an existential crisis. This was not the time for a young lady to be concerned with romance or her own personal shortcomings.

She needed to fall in love with somebody, even if she had to Aschente her way into doing it!!

Committing internally to this desperate determination, Steph turned and faced the group.

“Wow, talk about pulling out all the stops. This is awesome.”

“…B-Brother… D-don’t, let go of…my h-hand…okay…?”

“ ”

When she saw Sora and Shiro—no, Sora, to be precise—she froze in place and gasped.

He was also wearing an Eastern Union yukata and holding hands with his younger sister.

Being out of his typical sloppy attire made him look more dignified than usual.

His slender body was by no means burly, but Steph got a glimpse of his hard chest peeking through his robe…

It made her realize: Oh… Sora really is a grown man…

 Ba-dum…

Steph felt her chest tighten as a quiet voice whispered to her from within the confines of her mind:

 Maybe it’s time to be more honest with yourself.

You need to become a couple with Sora to get out of here.

You have to couple up with him to save your country.

That is your duty, Stephanie Dola.

It’s the perfect excuse to get with him—you know this, don’t you?

It doesn’t matter if your romance was manufactured; this little spark is the real thing—

“Now’s not the time to be catching feelings!! You have to get out of here, Stephanie Dola!! These are personal feelings—and false ones at that!!”

She was either trying to bring herself out of her trance or perhaps dig up an escape route. Steph’s forehead continued to chip away at the stone path.

“Proposal: Lady Dol’s SAN confirmed as critically low. Recommending proper rest as quickly as possible. Suggested course of action—pair up with Irregular Number and remove her from the game. Strongly recommended. A brilliant idea. Gute idee.”

“Master, allow me to make a suggestion as well. We should eliminate as many obstacles as we can ahead of time—namely by removing little Dora and that scrap metal from this space.  ”

The two ladies tried to throw each other under the bus when Steph realized something.

Th-that’s it, she thought. I don’t need to pair up with Sora—Jibril or Emir-Eins will work just fine.

Regardless of what the two were after, Steph knew she could couple up with one of them and escape.

“ ”

The moment she set eyes on them, however, she found herself captivated anew.

A beautiful angel and a lovely doll, each dressed in a colorful yukata…

The thin fabric emphasized their allure in a way that could only be described as otherworldly.

And Steph knew—the feeling of their skin hidden beneath that same thin sheet of fabric.

Despite their mere daylong romance—a forced romance, at that—the passion she’d felt had been seared into her memories.

 Ba-dum…

Ah… Who should I get together with…?

If I pick one person, then I need to stifle my feelings for the others. I can’t—

“What are you thinking?! This space is influencing your feelings—not to mention this whole Oh, whoever will I pick?   attitude!! Get ahold of yourself, Stephanie Dola!! Argh!! Romancing so many different people just makes you a trashy woman who’ll throw herself at anyone!!”

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!

Shiro watched pityingly as Steph slammed her head into the stone walkway.

“…Brother…we should, probably…let Steph get some…rest…,” she whispered.

“Sorry, but no can do. Steph is one of the most important members we’ll need for this love game. She’s also the most normal of us all right now, depending on how you look at it. She’ll be fine—besides, it’s all for comic relief.”

 Steph was just her usual old self when she slammed her head on the ground, Sora asserted.

That showed the heightened level of trust he placed in her. Oddly enough, the rest of the group agreed with him.

As the festivities continued, Jibril shot the sky a look. “…And? When will we receive an explanation as to why you remodeled the garden after the Star Festival?” she asked, then added in a huff, “Not to mention these outfits.”

She didn’t need to wait for an answer: This was the setting for today’s game.

The fact that Foeniculum went to these lengths meant that this one wouldn’t be as easy as the previous three.

Emir-Eins joined Jibril in cautiously squinting at the sky, when—

“Bwa-ha-ha—HA-HA-HAAA!! Check it out!! They used to call me a bottom-of-the-barrel streamer, but look at ’em now! They’re all waiting for the show to start, like a buncha simpletons!! No more shit-talking my channel, ’cause soon enough, I’m gonna be a   superstar streamer!! You ignorant plebes are gonna be prostrating yourselves as you worship me through your screen!! Get on your knees, bitches! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-haaa!! GYAAA-HA-HAAA!!”

—Foeniculum finally made her appearance: rolling around, laughing in front of a screen.

…She appeared exuberant over the rate her daily viewership was increasing.

Sora glanced at the screen, where he noticed what appeared to be a comment section, and called out to her:

“Uh… I don’t speak Fairy, so I’m not sure what they’re saying, but—”

“Whazzat?! You got somethin’ so important to say that it’s worth interrupting my yay-me time?!”

“It’s just the comments; they’re coming in so fast—you sure they can’t hear you right now?”

“Hey, guuuuuuys!   It’s everyone’s favorite super-shitty streamer, Foeniculum heeere!   Gosh, Sora, you can’t go calling our precious viewers simpletons; that’s a big no-no!! Save the word ‘ignorant’ for the queen of ignorance—moi!! Oh no, viewers! Your boots look so dirty—I better lick them clean!! Lick, lick, lick, lick— Gahhh!! The stream’s totally buried in hate!! It’s going up in flames!!” She pivoted to pandering to her viewers practically at the speed of light. “Whoa, what the—?! Where’s all this backlash coming from?! We haven’t even started yet!! Somebody get a fire extinguisher!! I know—we’re starting this puppy five minutes early today!! That’ll calm ’em down!!”

The group shared the same thought: Turn off your mic already…

Jibril’s question—along with Steph, who continued to bash her skull against the pavement—went unheeded, and the eighth stream kicked off in disarray……

“Heeey!   It’s Channel Foeniculum comin’ atcha with our next stream!! Today is episode eight of A Space That Only Couples Can Leave!! And it’s brought to you live by yours truly—”

The group was used to Foeniculum’s fake emcee voice by this point.

She acted as peppy as possible to try shifting the tone of the chat, but it was no use.

“Hold up; did you guys bring those from the waiting room chat log?! I’m gonna block whoever’s posting those screenshots!! What the—?! Are those clips of me?! I only said that, like, two minutes ago!! How’d you get that video edited so quickly?! Y’all have way too much free time on your hands!!!”

Foeniculum shrieked at the screen as it was inundated with angry commenters.

But this was the obvious outcome. No matter where you are or who you’re dealing with, the more you try sweeping your mistakes under the rug, the angrier the internet mob will get.

“Um, uhhh… A-anyway!! I may be the shittiest streamer on the Linkernet, b-but I’ve got an awesome show for you today!! We’re changing things up a bit this time!!”

There is one way to quell the fury of the masses, however: bring them something even more sensational. And that was:

“Feast your eyes!! Today’s game will take place at—ta-daaa!! That’s right, the Star Festival!! Not only that, but the gamer duo Blank will be helping with the stream!!”

“…’Sup…”

“Greetings, my Fairy audience!! Allow me to introduce myself!! I’m the executive producer for today’s game—the elder brother half of Blank: Sora, virgin, age eighteen!! I love seeing the dumbass looks on people’s faces after I pull one over on ’em—that happens to be my hobby and my greatest talent!! I’m forever single, ready to forever mingle.  ”

“Yaaay!! Now that’s what I call an introduction!   Let’s give ’em a round of applause!!”

“Whaaat?!”

The intro went exactly as Foeniculum intended.

Not only her viewers’ jaws, but the collective jaws of Steph, Jibril, and Emir-Eins dropped.

Yessss, that’s it—that’s the kind of faces I like to see, Sora thought, soaking it all up.

 No point in hiding it any longer.

What sort of game were they to play with a stage of this scale…?

Sora and Shiro had the answer to Jibril’s original question the entire time.

It was a scheme the two had proposed to Foeniculum that morning!!

“The siblings paid for today’s stage using everyone’s tips—that’s a total of one hundred and thirty-four million points!! Let’s give ’em an even bigger round of applause for their big hearts and big wallets!!”

“Wh-whaaaat?! What is she saying—? AGHHH!! All our points are gone!!”

Foeniculum’s commentary sent a panicked Steph scrambling to check the group’s tablet. She started shrieking once more.

 Again, no point in hiding this, either.

The Star Festival, their outfits, the crowd, the booths—anything and everything.

None of it was Foeniculum’s doing.

It was created the same way Steph had built a well and a kitchen for the group.

Sora used their tips to buy all this!

Their savings were literally down to zero… They didn’t even have enough for dinner that night, but regardless—

“Now, I bet y’all are asking yourselves the same question: What could they possibly have in mind to put all this together? Well, I’ve got your answer!! Get ready for the details of today’s games!!”

The chat was all ears at Foeniculum’s different surprise announcements.

And they weren’t alone, as Steph and the others waited in silence for the Fairy’s explanation.

Then, following a tantalizing ten-second-long drumroll…

“I present to you, the first-ever…Two-Hour No-Loving Summer Festival!!”

A succession of particularly large fireworks went off as she made her declaration.

Everyone—save for Sora, Shiro, and Foeniculum—wondered what this meant, though the Fairy moved right along, theatrically continuing her explanation against lively festival music.

“The rules are simple!! Our five contestants will spend two hours at the Star Festival—that’s it!!”

It should be mentioned that every firework that accented Foeniculum’s commentary cost a whopping ten thousand points.

Sora, meanwhile, was dying to see the face Steph was going to make once she went over the receipts.

“However!! The contestants aren’t allowed to fall in love with anyone during this two-hour period!!”

As Foeniculum spoke, Sora and the others found watch-like devices materializing on each of their right arms.

“All five of them will be wearing spark sensors on their wrists! A single spark of love is all it takes for the needle to go past the line, and then they’re out! They’ll immediately be subjected to a penalty!!”

She went on to describe the penalty game the contestants would face.

“What kind of penalty, you ask? They’ll be forfeiting control of their bodies to me for ninety seconds!! Oh, I obviously won’t be able to harm them in any way—don’t hafta worry about that, thanks to the Covenants and all.  ”

Basically, if they felt even the faintest romantic spark, Foeniculum would take control of their bodies, and—

“And!! If any of our contestants manages to go two hours without feeling a spark for another player, they win! There can be more than one winner, and they’ll all get rewards! Also—whoever felt the most sparks and the second-most sparks will receive our usual prize: They’ll be coupled up for a day!! Them’s the rules!!”

With that, Foeniculum finished her explanation, but—

? Is that it?

—Sora could tell through the screen that the viewers were left scratching their heads.

So contestants would be penalized for any sparks of love by having their bodies controlled by Foeniculum for ninety seconds. Okay, being unable to move your own body is quite a punishment in itself—who knows what she’d have them do.

Still—you couldn’t help but wonder if that was all there was to this game.

At least, the viewers must have felt that way.

“…………”

Steph, Jibril, and Emir-Eins, on the other hand, didn’t share that sentiment.

Sora and Shiro had devised this game—the group knew there was more to it.

Jibril and Emir-Eins smiled, undeterred. They believed in their master.

Steph, meanwhile, glowered at Sora and Shiro. She knew full well that they were absolutely up to no good.

Sora saw their expressions and, grinning ear to ear, answered their gazes silently:

Thanks, guys. Thanks for believing in me. That’s right: There’s way more to this than meets the eye.

“Anyhoo!! We’ll get started in five minutes! I’ll be taking comments until then!   …Hey!! What’s with you guys?! We get it already; you heard what I said in the waiting room, so let’s move past that— Yes, yes, of course I’ll get on the floor and grovel for you.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Steph caught Foeniculum on her hands and knees begging for mercy, then shot Sora a reproachful look.

“…I believe you have some explaining to do?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah… About Werebeast yukatas—they’re the same as in my world. You know how I said they don’t wear underwear with them? That’s a lie. They’ve always worn underwear with yukatas. Still do, even today.”

“Whaaaat?! W-wait, I’m going to go get changed— No, that’s not what I’m talking about!!” Steph squeezed her thighs together and blushed, then shook her head furiously. “I’m asking why you’re teaming up with Foeniculum to host the stream!!”

“What’s there to ask? Foeniculum’s on our side—so we need to work together.” And by that, he meant: “We gotta reach five billion points. All I did was provide her with the system to do just that.”

Yes—Foeniculum was playing this game with them, not against them.

To win the game, they both needed five billion points—that basically changed everything.

 At first, Sora thought the objective of their game was to have the contestants fall in love with each other, that the whole point was romance…something completely foreign to him. He had no idea how he would ever agree to such terms. Therefore, as embarrassing as it was, Sora deduced that this game was some sort of punishment for losing a different game, and then he sank into despair— However…

 If love wasn’t their objective, but rather a means to an end—that turned everything on its head.

In other words, if the objective was to accrue a massive amount of souls in the form of tips, then they needed a method to earn tips from their viewers, the Fairies—and that method was…love!

It was the only explanation as to why Sora would even agree to a game like this in the first place—the reason being—!!

“I know jack shit about love and romance!! This is me we’re talking about here, the supreme king of all virgins— However!! If our goal is to rake in the dough—perhaps by means of a little cunning and trickery—well, I’m kinda a specialist in that department!!”

Sora laid out his logic for Steph, who appeared to agree.

“…I see now,” she replied with a nod. “I guess there’s not much to be said about you spending one million three hundred and forty thousand points without asking any of us. These are just your usual shenanigans. The only thing I have to say is that if we’re allowed to throw our money away, then I’d like to buy a bath as soon as we get back to our rooms.”

“Damn straight. Love to be surrounded by people who understand me.  ”

“But you’ve left out the most important detail, Sora.”

“Oh? Was there something else I forgot to explain?”

“I’m talking about the entire point of this game!! She said it was the No-Loving Summer Festival!! What does that even mean?!”

For once, Steph appeared to actually notice that Sora had glossed over this crucial aspect.

“Elkia—nay, most of the races—is on the brink of extinction!! Now’s not the time for silly games!! How are we supposed to feel sparks of love in this situation anyway?!”

 Says the girl who was bashing her head against the pavement over her own love life…

Shiro, Jibril, and Emir-Eins cringed at Steph.

“You don’t have to,” Sora replied apathetically. “Foeniculum’s gonna reward us if we manage not to feel any sparks—then we’ll get five free questions. You know how much info I can get outta her with that many, right? So all we gotta do is make it through the next two hours.”

“Oh… H-huh? I—I guess you’re right…”

…Two hours without feeling any sparks.

A nigh impossible feat for Steph in her current state, although she didn’t seem to realize it in the moment.

Jibril and Emir-Eins, however, did pick up on this, which was why they knew: Sora had zero intention of seeing nobody feel a spark… Thus:

“Listen, there’s nothing to worry about. We’ll earn our money back in no time.”

Steph was the only one who failed to follow his logic. That’s when:

“Allll righty, then! Time to get this show on the road, people!!”

And just like that, five minutes had passed. Foeniculum announced the start of the game, and the group was simultaneously capsulized within bubbles before they all disappeared with a single poof.

“Oh… Come to think of it, she never said anything about us starting at the same spot…”

 As soon as Foeniculum declared the game had begun, Steph was teleported somewhere else in the vicinity.

After managing to get her wits about her rather quickly, Steph slowly walked down the busy road, lost in thought.

…Sora made it sound so simple—are we really just going to spend two hours here…?

This was a game designed by Sora and Shiro—Steph knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.

Steph did everything she could to keep her mind off the festival and any thoughts that would make her feel a spark of love.

 The Star Festival, one of Disboard’s grandest events, was in full swing.

The spectacle was more than enough to thrill Steph, but the smells alone were achingly enticing.

The festival route was lined with booths dishing out the best eats the Eastern Union had to offer…

Though it was all fabricated by Sora and Shiro using Fairy soul tips, the food was without a doubt the real thing, and it was just waiting for her to eat it. Steph did everything in her power to resist the exceedingly tempting aroma.

 She had no idea what would set off the spark sensor strapped to her wrist!!

For all she knew, showing signs of excitement or even licking her lips at the delicious smells could be considered out of bounds!

It’s always this way with those two… This is pretty much torture…! she thought.

No! This is for my country! I’ll withstand anything they throw at me, even actual torture!!

Yes—Elkia, and all of Immanity, was on the line.

Steph couldn’t possibly feel an inkling of passion in such circumstances!

She just needed to mindlessly stroll around for two hours.

This is for Elkia—it’s the only way I can help my country now!!

Steph committed to her plan with an iron will, however—

“…Puff~~!  ”

“Eek?!”

—out of nowhere, she felt a light puff of air hit her ear. Her iron will shattered into a million pieces.

“H-hey—what was that for, Jibril?!”

Steph spun around to lash out at Jibril.

However, the Flügel seemed more confused than apologetic.

“Oh…? I can tell your heart rate increased, but it seems like it wasn’t enough to set off your sensor. It seems the definition of love in this game is strictly emotional. In that case… Hmm, how shall I go about setting off sparks for you…? This may prove difficult.”

Jibril smiled as she shared her intent to make Steph fall in love.

“Do you realize what you’re saying?! Shouldn’t we try to make it through this game without feeling any sparks?! We’ll be able to ask five more questions if we—”

“Oh no, little Dora. We won’t be able to do that—there are two reasons for this.”

A confused Steph tried to argue her point, but Jibril held up two fingers and made her rebuttal.

“One: Master explained that the purpose of this game is to raise tips. If we were to spend the entire two hours without feeling any sparks, we would never be able to recoup our spent tips.”

 Th-that’s true, but…

“Two: It is impossible for you, little Dora, to spend two hours without feeling a single spark. Simply seeing me, let alone Master, in a yukata has you excited. The only way you could make it through this game without feeling anything…is if you were unconscious.”

Without giving Steph a chance to speak, Jibril calmly continued.

“In other words—while I lack the insight to fully understand Master’s intricate plan, one thing is more than obvious: You will be the one who feels the most sparks and therefore will come in last.”

Y-you think it’s obvious…?

“Well, perhaps not so much obvious as it is…most definite? Inevitable? …I can’t quite come up with an adequate word to phrase it… Let’s go with a predetermined fact as immutable as history itself.”

J-Jibril of all people doesn’t have a word to describe it…?!

Steph nearly fainted from disbelief. “However,” Jibril added, her expression doleful, “if such is the nature of this game, then that will make things rather hard to navigate—don’t you think?”

“…Wh-what do you mean by navigate?”

“Everyone is after the same thing—ensure that they and Master feel the most sparks during this game so that the two of them become a couple for a day. This will prove fundamentally impossible.”

“Is that what you’re worried about?!”

Actually, Jibril had a point. Following her logic, if Steph really was determined to come in last place—that meant the only possible couple would be Steph and somebody else…!!

“Therefore, the rest of us will have to resort to plan B—make somebody else come in second-to-last place.   In other words, I’ll force you and one other person out of the battle for Master’s heart.  ”

…So the navigating Jibril spoke of was—

“I’m going to see to it that you and that junk pile find love at every corner—it’s the optimal interpretation of Master’s intent behind this game. What do you think?  ”

This was Jibril’s reasoning—namely:

 She’s going to hit on me for the next two hours.

With an elegant bow, Jibril formally declared war on Steph, who subsequently felt a distinct chill run down her spine.

 This is bad.

Steph was certain that Jibril’s assessment was true.

Had she known that Jibril was the one blowing into her ear before, she most definitely would have felt a spark—enough even to be considered out of bounds! Steph was in the worst position possible for this game!

What’s more—Steph could tell Jibril was gleefully mulling over how to get her heart pounding, and the sheer anticipation for what that would entail sent Steph’s spark sensor a mere hairbreadth away from out of bounds!!

Oh no, oh, no, no, no!! This is bad!!

Even if Jibril’s intuition was correct, and these were Sora and Shiro’s true intentions, Steph knew she couldn’t allow herself to feel any sparks during the game!

If she did, and thus lost her ability to ask Foeniculum a question—that was essentially weighing the fate of Elkia against her own romantic feelings, with the latter side tipping the scale!

I absolutely cannot allow that to happen !!

She needed some way to escape Jibril’s clutches.

But how…?

Jibril couldn’t use magic in the Spratul, yet she had once proved to be nearly as physically capable as the Werebeasts during a previous game where she couldn’t use magic. Steph knew that even with the cover of the festivalgoers, it wouldn’t take long for Jibril to weed her out—she knew she couldn’t escape.

Then my only option is…to make Jibril feel a spark!!

There was another rule to the No-Loving game.

Any players marked as out would lose their bodily autonomy to Foeniculum for ninety seconds!!

And those ninety seconds might be enough for Steph to potentially escape Jibril!

All she’d need to do was hide somewhere for two hours !!

However, Jibril saw right through Steph’s scheme. The next words out of the Flügel’s mouth sent Steph into a downward spiral.

“Dora, there’s nothing you can do to get me excited. Accept your fate.  ”

Steph was screwed—but what got to her even more was how Jibril denied having any feelings for her.

The shock brought tears to Steph’s eyes, but then—

“Good news: Irregular Number’s plan will fail. Why? Because this unit shall obstruct her.”

—her eyes once again filled with hope the moment Emir-Eins gallantly swooped in to protect her.

Yes, that’s right! Jibril is going to try to hook me up with Emir-Eins!! And Emir-Eins won’t stand idly by and let that happen!!

That puts Emir-Eins and me on the same team—I knew I could count on her!!

But it didn’t take long before she was hit by the all-too-obvious reality of the situation.

True, while Emir-Eins was Jibril’s enemy…it didn’t necessarily put her on the same side as Steph, for you see—

“Declaration: Irregular Number’s plan is to become a couple with Master. Her twisted desire is to become his side squeeze—somebody Master will call when he wishes to engage in sexual intercourse and then kick out of bed once he’s finished. This unit will stop both parties from engaging in such relations.”

 ,

 …What?

Both Steph and Jibril stared at Emir-Eins, mouths agape, when—

“Bzzzt!! Jibril and Stephanie!! Yer out!!”

—Foeniculum’s announcement echoed through the festival.

“It’s worth noting that Stephanie was out the moment Emir-Eins strutted onto the scene.   I just let things marinade a bit till they got nice and juicy. How’d ya like them host skills?!”

Hearing this, Steph and Jibril both scrambled to check their sensors, only to find the needle was past the point of no return.

“AHHH! I lost my chance to ask a question!! N-no, this by no means indicates that I’ve chosen Emir-Eins over Elkia—! Wait, Jibril, is it true what Emir-Eins said about you?!”

“N-not at all!! I—I—I just couldn’t help but picture it… Why you…lunking heap of scrap iron—!!”

“Affirmative: Irregular Number’s deduction matches this unit’s. The objective of this game is to pair another player with Lady Dol—her conclusion, however, is incorrect. It is you, Irregular Number, who will hook up with Lady Dol.”

Emir-Eins was on neither Steph’s nor Jibril’s side, as she intended to make the two fall in love. She scoffed, knowing that she herself didn’t need to be the target of any sparks.

 She could merely use Sora to make them feel sparks.

And thus…an emotionless sneer appeared on Emir-Eins’s face when a livid Jibril and a distraught Steph realized they’d fallen for her trick. But never mind all that.

“Now—it’s time to give our contestants their punishment!!”

As soon as Foeniculum announced this, Jibril and Steph froze.

 ……

They found themselves unable to even bat an eye.

Emir-Eins waited cautiously for Foeniculum to say something next.

She still didn’t understand Sora and Shiro’s intent behind the punishment gimmick.

What she did know was that it was likely the game’s true purpose.

 They would lose their bodily autonomy to Foeniculum for ninety seconds.

It was unclear what purpose this brief punishment served.

Foeniculum gave them their answer—not to the three of them directly, but to her viewers.

And that was:

“You—the viewers—will get to decide what I’ll have Jibril and Stephanie do for thirty seconds! We’ll collect the comments that receive the most tips!! You have sixty seconds to send in your suggestions!! We don’t have much time, so get to typin’!!!!”

 ?

The three girls were at a loss.

The next instant, however, Jibril and Emir-Eins gasped in astonishment upon realizing what this meant.

They had agreed to let Foeniculum control their bodies for ninety seconds.

So the question remained: What was she going to do with them?

The answer: Foeniculum was going to sell their bodily autonomy to the highest bidder!!

This was what Sora meant by getting their investment back in no time!!

The three ladies figured this out the moment they heard the endless stream of ka-chings as the comment section exploded.

Then it happened the moment the sixty-second storm of paid comments came to an end.

“ ?!”

Emir-Eins barely managed to visually confirm Jibril flying toward her with unbelievable swiftness.

She couldn’t react in time, nor was she able to put up a fight as Jibril pinned her to the ground, salaciously licking her chops and grinning seductively. Emir-Eins felt the warmth of Jibril’s skin and cursed her faulty machinery.

 I’ve made a fatal error in judgment. I was negligent with my calculations.

It was downright shameful for an Ex Machina to take this long to react to a situation.

She succeeded in making Jibril and Steph feel a spark, then ascertained the details of the penalty game—this was when she should have made her escape!!

There was nothing the viewers—the Fairies—would have Jibril and Steph do other than try to excite Emir-Eins!!

The Fairies had requested to keep Emir-Eins from escaping.

Irregular Number was forced upon this unit—do the Fairies actually believe this will have any effect? she wondered.

“Report: Fairy tactics are futile. Odds of this unit feeling any romantic sparks for Irregular Number are irrefutably: zero.”

They may have taken advantage of her lackluster processing speeds and truncated her path to safety, but Emir-Eins remained steadfast that their plans were futile. However:

“…Ohhh? Then how did you end up on the ground…?”

Steph approached Emir-Eins and sweetly whispered this into her ear.

……?

How? Because Irregular Number pushed this unit to the ground.

Emir-Eins was confused by her question, so Steph—or rather, the Fairies controlling Steph—elaborated for her.

“The Covenants prevent any nonconsensual harmful acts—so don’t you find it strange that Jibril was able to force you onto the ground?  ”

“ ”

A moment later, Emir-Eins almost shut down upon confirming her fears.

…Could it be that…in this space that increases romantic feelings as time passes, Irregular Number’s actions were unconsciously translating into positive feelings—?

“Negative: Rejection: Rebuttal: Assertion denied. Hypothesis: This unit failed to detect impending harm. Therefore, this unit did not reject being pinned. Nothing more. This unit has yet to show a reaction. This unit’s love is her master’s and her master’s alone. Inevitability: This unit is her master’s object to do with whatever he— Snap.”

However, all of Emir-Eins’s rebuttals and emotions—

“Bzzzzt!! There you have it!! Just like you guys predicted, Emir-Eins is out!!”

—had been anticipated. Everything went according to the viewers’ requests.

Foeniculum made this clear with her announcement…and not only Emir-Eins, but the now-liberated Steph and Jibril shuddered in unison, utterly speechless.

Emir-Eins came to realize she’d had Jibril on her mind.

Moreover, all her romantic sparks for Sora caused her to nearly self-destruct.

It took less than a minute for the Fairies to come up with such an incredible strategy, and once again—

“Now it’s Emir-Eins’s turn!! You have sixty seconds to send in your requests!!”

—Foeniculum was asking them for another clever scheme.

“H-hey, Jibril?! Let go of me!!”

“Dora… Please, calm yourself…”

 It was more than evident that the viewers would pin Emir-Eins on the other two next and definitely set off sparks. Realizing this, Steph decided to use the viewers’ sixty-second submission period to escape as quickly as she could—but she was stopped by Jibril, who was as calm as could be.

“You and I, along with that pile of junk, have already been out once. We’ve all lost our chance to ask Foeniculum a question already—it’s too late for us to escape. Doing so would be meaningless.”

Well…she was right.

Granted, Steph wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear that from the person who robbed her of any chance to ask Foeniculum a question.

“This is exactly what my masters had in mind for this game—they want us to excite each other as much as we can in order to earn tips. In which case, I intend to do exactly that. Running away is not an option.” Jibril was resolute in her decision; she went on to add, “Furthermore: me, running away out of fear of falling in love with that garbage heap over there? Utterly asinine—it will never happen.”

Asinine, Jibril said. She wasn’t even going to toy with the idea.

Thus, Jibril spent the next sixty seconds facing off with a frozen Emir-Eins until the viewers’ requests came in.

Tensions were high—the earth seemed to shake as if Heavenly Smites and Apokryphens might be fired off at any moment.

 Jibril was ready for whatever Emir-Eins was going to hit her with.

She refused to feel a single spark, instead preparing to set off sparks of her own as she spread her wings and braced herself.

“You can do whatever you want, Jibril!! Why do I have to stay and watch?!”

“No, I mustn’t let you go.”

Steph once again attempted to flee, but Jibril gripped her hand firmly.

“Forcing that scrap metal and me into a couple is the worst possible outcome—a heinous atrocity worse than fleeing. I need you to come in last, little Dora.”

“If you really believed she couldn’t make you feel anything, then you wouldn’t need me here as insurance!! Let go of me!! I don’t want my emotions to be toyed with any further!!” Steph hollered—but then a new thought struck her.

Huh…? Doesn’t that mean…Jibril would prefer to be a couple with me over Emir-Eins—?

“Bzzzzt!! I’m not sure why exactly, but that’s a second out for Steph!!”

“I knew this would happen!! SOMEBODY GET ME OUT OF HEEERE!!”

Thus, the Ex Machina and the Flügel—sworn enemies who once rent the heavens and the earth to decimate each other—fought over the heart of a single Immanity girl.

Anyone who knew their history believed this was all but inconceivable. But it was indeed happening, as the numerous spectators and relentless flow of tips attested to. A trembling Foeniculum merely watched stone-faced as the scene unfolded before her…

 ………

“If all we gotta do is get the viewers to tip us, then it’s simple. We just need to let them participate.”

This conversation happened earlier that morning.

Sora called Foeniculum into his room and laid out his plan.

“We’ll make an interactive game. Viewers contribute tips in order to affect what happens to the players. For example: Whoever pays the biggest tip gets to choose what the players do.”

“Hrm… I just feel like we’ll end up alienating our casual viewers for the big spenders.”

“Right, so we’ll make a system where the casual viewers can band together and put up a fight against the heavy spenders.”

In order to do this—

“Make the requests tippable, then go with whichever request receives the most tips. That way, a group of one hundred viewers can send in ten thousand points each to beat a single viewer who sends in a million.”

This would allow the highest-backed request to receive the most soul points and come out on top.

In order for the most desirable scenario to play out, the viewers needed to amass as many tips as they could. The best way to get more tips was to find like-minded people and get them to watch the stream.

Then the viewers would flood the stream with all their friends, which would ultimately bring in more subscribers.

More subscribers meant more tips.

 This was all it took.

It was a system set up to reap five billion soul points as quickly as possible.

Sora wrapped up his explanation without sparing a second thought to Foeniculum’s astonished reaction:

“Fairies know way more about love than other races, so we’re gonna crowdsource some of their ideas. Who better to spice up the drama than the experts themselves?”

 ………

 Things went exactly as Sora predicted.

Foeniculum watched in real time as her channel’s subscribers shot through the roof.

Sora and the others recovered their spent points instantaneously; tips came flying in before reaching unprecedented numbers.

No surprise there… The viewers had the chance to control an Ex Machina and a Flügel—and not just any Flügel, but Jibril herself.

The opportunity was worth more than its weight in their souls!

Not to mention that the viewers could get the pair to flirt or put the moves on each other, maybe even have them actually become lovers.

The Fairies engaged in heated debates over what to have the contestants do; they split into multiple factions that inundated the chat with a deluge of paid requests. It quickly devolved into an all-out tip war.

Foeniculum was past the point of excitement. She shuddered at the scene.

Not because of the twisted grin on Sora’s face when he’d explained his plan—it was actually the opposite.

 Devising the dastardly plan came as easily to him as breathing.

Like the laws of nature that dictate the flow of water.

She shuddered because he detailed this plan to her void of any emotion—like he was talking about the weather!!

I knew it! These guys are my cash cow!! I’m so glad I took this risk!!

Having said that…

Why does Sora insist that he’s clueless when it comes to love? Foeniculum wondered.

Everything that unfolded before her was, according to Sora, merely the beginning…

Just a small event to build up some hype, he’d said. We haven’t even gotten to the main event yet!

Foeniculum turned her attention to a monitor that showed Sora and Shiro and flashed a devilish grin.

So: What is a summer festival in the first place…?

Are they held to ask God for world peace and a good harvest?

Or are they memorials for giving thanks to your ancestors?

Sure, those might be accurate festival origins.

But as far as Sora was concerned, they didn’t answer the question.

A festival is an event for couples to dress up in yukata, holding hands and hanging all over each other!!

Or it’s for those “more than friends but not quite dating” type of schmucks! You know, couples in training! It’s an event tailor-made for normies who love to flaunt their social lives—nothing more, nothing less!

Sora refused to entertain any other opinions on the subject.

How else would you justify getting halfway trampled by a friggin’ mob to pay eight hundred yen or whatever rip-off festival prices just to eat shitty street food and cotton candy? What reason is there to play some rinky-dink shooting game just to hit targets that’ll never fall over like part of some off-brand, county-fair-tier, con artist gig? There’s only one reason—and it’s all so that couples can get their kicks canoodling in public!!

It goes without saying that Sora—a lifelong bachelor—always hated summer festivals.

In fact, he couldn’t find a single reason not to hate them—a summer festival was a microcosm of socioeconomic inequality akin to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. He felt it needed to be labeled as the terrible evil it was.

There was one day, however, when Shiro asked him to take her to a festival.

It happened two years prior… Sora was still sixteen, and Shiro was nine at the time; he’d never forget it.

They’d already committed to skipping school and shutting themselves in their home.

Nevertheless, Shiro said she wanted to go out—to a summer festival, of all things. Where there were crowds.

Though she refused to say why she wanted to go, Sora could tell that she really wanted to see a festival.

Holding his sister’s hand, Sora mustered up the courage to go to the local festival for the first time in who knew how long.

…And then they got split up.

Jostled around by the surging crowd, Sora let go of his sister’s tiny hand for only a second, then lost sight of her.

He ran through the festival grounds—trembling as tears ran down his cheeks—in search of Shiro among the throngs of people.

Even though Sora wanted to curl up into a ball on the spot, he knew Shiro was probably crying, so he kept up his frantic search.

…He eventually found her after the festival had ended, huddled alone in a corner.

She’d hidden away in the shadows with her knees curled up to her chest, quivering and stifling sobs.

Sora scrambled over to her to embrace her, but she just continued crying in his arms.

“…There’s…no more, fireworks…” was all she said.

Sora tried everything he could to cheer her up: We can see fireworks whenever we want, wherever we want.

But Shiro just kept on crying…and crying and crying……

 ………

And thus, two years ago, Sora’s dislike of festivals had evolved into hatred.

He never imagined he’d ever visit another summer festival…

 The siblings stared down at the Star Festival from atop a small hill, where they could get a panoramic view of the entire event.

Sora wanted to make sure he and Shiro wouldn’t get separated this time, so he had Foeniculum teleport them to a far-off vantage point.

They watched the summer festival game while seated atop a fallen tree, each holding a caramelized apple they’d bought with the overflow tips.

Yes—they were bystanders.

“Bzzzzt!! That’s Stephanie’s fourteenth out!! And that’s out number eight for Jibril!!”

With every bzzzt Foeniculum set off, the siblings’ smartphone was hit with a new influx of tips.

Sora grinned; he could tell their romance event was going viral.

That’s right: Sora and Shiro weren’t actually on the festival grounds.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record: Sora knew absolutely nothing about love, let alone games involving love.

If he wasn’t going to serve a purpose on the stream, he might as well work behind the scenes.

Besides, he’d never start any game without Shiro by his side.

Not to mention that crowd; what would happen if he got separated from her in there? He didn’t even want to think about it.

Thus, when he laid out his plan for Foeniculum, he made sure to have her drop the two of them off atop a hill.

All they needed to do was wait for the game to end before they’d get a massive payday, along with the chance to ask two questions.

Granted, the whole question-and-answer outcome was nothing more than a way for him to wrangle Steph into participating…

Nevertheless, the two siblings were sitting on that log, watching the festival from afar when Sora was hit with a random thought.

He turned to Shiro—who wasn’t in her usual position atop his lap but seated next to him—and asked her a question.

“Hey, Shiro. I was just thinking: Why’d you suggest a summer festival?”

While Sora was the one who came up with the idea for this game, it was his sister who chose the setting.

You see, the only knowledge Sora had regarding love and romance came from manga and visual novels.

He’d considered a wide variety of settings—a pool, a camp, a theme park—but they all lacked a certain oomph needed to get the viewers really hyped up. Shiro proposed a summer festival.

From Sora’s perspective, an event like that would only serve to make her cry.

I would’ve guessed she’d find this traumatic, Sora thought. Shiro replied softly, looking down at the ground.

“I wanted…to see…fireworks…with you, Brother…”

 BOOM.

A firework could be seen going off in the distance, just as they had throughout the night.

For only an instant, Shiro’s face was illuminated by their ephemeral glow, causing Sora to remember…

…She said the same thing two years ago, and she’d been crying that time.

It’s not like fireworks weren’t everywhere back home… They could even see them from the balcony of their bedroom prison—

“…Brother…why did you…hate, festivals…again?”

“Hmm? I feel like I’ve told you before, but it’s because festivals are only for couples.”

“…Mm… That’s right…”

Another round of fireworks lit up the sky.

“…Do you think…these fireworks are…pretty…?” Shiro asked, though she had her eyes closed the entire time and wasn’t actually watching the fireworks herself.

“Yeah, sort of, I guess… But I still don’t get how they’re any different from fireworks you see anywhere else.”

Even Sora had feelings. He thought fireworks were pretty, just like anyone else did. He simply couldn’t see the difference between watching them from his balcony or through a computer screen.

Without knowing why Shiro was looking down, Sora started laying it on especially thick to try getting her to watch them with him.

“You know why people think festival fireworks are the best? I’ll tell ya why: Because couples aren’t actually watching the fireworks!! They’re at the festival for fireworks, but what they’re really lookin’ at is each other!!”

That’s precisely why people enjoy festivals. In other words!

“No matter how much they try to rip you off at a summer festival—actually, that probably plays into it as well… At the end of the day, couples just wanna gaze into each other’s eyes and do the usual spiel: She’ll say, The fireworks sure are pretty, and he’ll say back, Not as pretty as you, then she’ll be like, Aw, you’re so sweet! I love you  , then he’ll be like, I love you, too, baby!! If we loners had any sort of legislative pull, I’d pass a shoot-on-sight decree for any nasty couple PDA—that’d be something!! Screw ’em; they can all burn in hell!!”

“…Um, Brother… You’re the king…of Elkia…”

“Hrm?! You raise a good point!! Holy shit, I know exactly what I’m gonna do as soon as I get back on the throne!!”

The sound of festival drums mixed with the fireworks bursting high in the sky.

Despite the noise, a strange silence enveloped the siblings. Sora was unable to see Shiro’s expression; she was still facing the ground.

Her voice hoarse, she said to him:

“…Are all fireworks…like these?”

Then, out of nowhere, Shiro grasped Sora’s hand. Her grip was surprisingly tight.

He could feel her slightly trembling—this was when Sora took his first proper look at the night sky.

“ ”

His eyes widened. Even the stars that glistened in the heavens took a back seat to the nightscape that was peppered with colorful, gorgeous streaks of falling light.

 Did the Eastern Union have more advanced fireworks than his own world…?

For some reason, the fireworks he saw that night far outranked any he had seen before. Sora’s breath caught in his throat at the sight—

“…The fireworks…sure, are…pretty.”

“Yeah, they are. They’ve got nothing on you, though.”

“…I love you…Brother…”

“Yup, your brother loves you, too, Shiro. A whole lot.”

“…I wanted to…ask this…two years ago…”

 Now I see…

Sora felt ashamed at how shallow he was.

He realized: Summer festivals could be enjoyed by more than just couples.

He could tell there was unparalleled value in the fireworks when he watched them together with his sister.

Thoroughly convinced of this, Sora dropped his gaze, but what he saw was—

“…Yeah… This is what…I wanted to, ask you…”

—Shiro’s face, close enough for Sora to feel her breath.

Her eyes glistened with the flashes of fireworks.

Sora could feel the warmth of her cheeks through the darkness.

He could see her quivering lips open slightly as the words escaped them.

His sister’s voice was so small and faint that it was almost fleeting—and yet despite the cacophony of distant booms that took a moment to reach them, he was surprised to find he could hear her quite clearly.

He was about to find out the true reason Shiro had wanted to go to a festival two years ago.

This was a question she wanted to ask him while they watched fireworks together:

“…Brother—why can’t you and I…be more, than this…?”

 ,

He knew better than anyone else that Shiro was gorgeous…or at least, he thought he did.

But seeing her like this: in her yukata, illuminated by the glow of fireworks in the sky as her lips seemed to beckon him…

Sora thought, She’s more beautiful than anything I could ever imagine—no festival in any world could ever hold a candle to her.

In that instant, Sora felt his heart stop.

And then—

“Bzzzzt!! Finally!! Sora, yerrrr out!!!!”

—there came a sudden announcement. The next thing to stop functioning was Sora’s brain.

“Ya did good, Shiro!! Just leave the rest to us Fairies!!”

……,

…………Huh?

Wait a sec—what’s going on here…?

After a brief moment when his brain ceased to function, a panicked Sora looked around until his gaze at last landed on the spark sensor on his right arm—the needle on the watch was indeed past its mark.

He looked to his sister. She was neither trembling nor were her cheeks red.

She was her usual emotionless self, minus the slight grin. It was an evil grin—a traitorous grin.

“…Sorry, Brother… But it’s your fault for getting tricked… Right?”

“ ?!”

The words left her lips like a mask falling from her face.

Sora couldn’t actually move his face due to his impending punishment, but he knew what’d happened:

 She tricked me !!

Everything up until that moment—everything—had been an act!!

Sora set up this game to keep himself out of the fray, but that wasn’t the case for Shiro!!

Foeniculum was likely in on it. Together they’d planned this stage, Shiro’s earlier behavior, and this question—everything!!

Did they make me feel a spark just so I’d get penalized…?!

But—why would they do that?!

The viewers have only thirty seconds to control me! What are they gonna do with just thirty seconds?!

Sora had no idea what point there was in subjugating him to the Fairies.

Unable to come up with a single plausible answer, he sank into doubt and confusion.

Onlookers would have no way of knowing what Sora was thinking from his frozen expression.

But Shiro knew exactly what was on his mind.

She knew within an instant that he’d realized she and Foeniculum had teamed up to trick him.

However—once she confirmed he’d misunderstood one thing and become suspicious of another, Shiro chuckled softly.

First, the misunderstanding: that everything Shiro had said was an act.

…It was no act; she was literally trembling from nerves. That was real.

She had been terrified to the point that she could’ve burst into tears and run away at any moment.

That’s right—this game Sora planned out, this summer festival…

Shiro even colluded with Foeniculum to get her brother and her together, alone.

She set the stage and the mood—all to make Sora feel a spark!

However—that was all she did.

What if he didn’t feel a spark even after everything Shiro had done…?

What if after spending a week together in a space that amplifies feelings of love—he still didn’t feel anything?

 This gamble could prove that Sora lacked even an iota of love and affection for his sister.

Shiro didn’t think she’d be able to recover if that happened…

Hence why this was the biggest gamble she’d ever made.

But considering what she stood to find out, it was worth the risk!!

Her brother would never resolve the suspicions plaguing him in that moment.

Namely: Why had this happened to him?

It would be more than evident to everyone but him.

“Okaaaay, everyone!! It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for!! Today’s main event!!”

Yes—this was the real goal of the summer festival!!

So this is the main part of your plan, Brother—how clever.

Tricking others into fighting among themselves—your skills as an agitator, a con artist, and a gamer are second to none.

But just as you’ve made abundantly clear, all things related to love fly right over your head.

When it comes to this game—A Space That Only Couples Can Leave—you’re a complete amateur!

Indeed—her brother was the heart and soul of this game.

Shiro, not to mention Steph and Emir-Eins, knew this.

The same went for Jibril. It was blatantly obvious that the girls had their eyes set on Sora—and Sora alone—from the get-go.

The only person who failed to pick up on this was Sora himself—so much that he even tried to keep himself out of the festivities.

In a situation like this, where the viewers are able to affect the turn of events, the Fairies had just one collective goal.

That’s right:

“You know what to do, bitches!! Send in your request to get Sora’s love life in motion!! We’re the race of love—with our powers combined, we’ll show these fools what that word truly means!! C’mon, drop them tips!! WA-HA-HAAAAA!!”

Drag the main character off the sidelines and throw him back into the game!!

The moment that would receive the most tips for this summer festival—it was none other than when Sora felt his first spark of love.

In other words: the viewers’ chance to make Sora realize his feelings for Shiro— This very moment!!

 There were sixty seconds left until the Fairies’ request for Sora was chosen.

That minute felt like an eternity to Shiro.

…She wondered: Would they really be able to make that happen…?

 I love my brother more than anyone else in the world.

I can say with confidence that I love him more than anybody else loves him.

I think my brother feels the same way. I hope he does. I just think he doesn’t know it yet; that’s what I want to believe.

And I want to believe his sensor was set off by his love for me, even if it was only momentarily.

But still… It’s hard to tell how much he really felt that way.

I’m so scared. I’m ready to just run away from here.

But Shiro kept herself rooted to the spot, no matter what.

Foeniculum told me to leave the rest to her. She’s going to pull this off.

Fairies know more about love than any of the other races in this world—and one of them told me this was going to work!

Her brother trusted Foeniculum; he trusted her enough to put their fates in her hands—so Shiro was going to trust her, too!!

…I’ve done…my part…, Shiro thought.

Show me what you’re going to do next—show me something incredible.

Something that in a mere thirty seconds would make her brother realize his love for her, acknowledge Shiro as the object of his affections.

If there’s really a way to make it happen—then show me.

Show me the abstruse, unknowable masterstroke that will win his love, a move so complicated it makes chess look like child’s play.

Give me an unmatched, unparalleled answer that I’d never see coming—give it to me!!

“Shiro… There’s something I need to confess to you.”

His sixty seconds had passed, and Sora—no.

Sora, under the control of the viewers, turned straight to Shiro and announced:

“I…like Loli girls.”

Yeah, I know. And?

He proclaimed a well-established fact about himself but nonetheless continued with grandiosity.

“Yes, I get off on cute Loli girls. And you’re the reason I do!! You see, I’ve been romantically attracted to you—and then, as my sexual attraction to you grew, one thing led to another, and I started fapping exclusively to Loli content!! …You asked earlier if we could ever be more than this, right?”

He took Shiro’s hand and looked straight into her eyes with utmost sincerity—and yelled:

“There’s absolutely no reason we couldn’t. Now, Shiro, it’s time for us to truly become one. It’s time to unite…physically!!”

“What the hell?! That’s a big friggin’ red card for every single one of you nasty little shits!! You gotta be out of your damn minds to pull some crap like this!!”

Foeniculum was livid. She couldn’t believe her viewers went with such a dirty joke.

As for Shiro—overcome with emotion, she could do nothing but shudder.

This is what the Fairies, the race of love, had him do? Talk about a god-tier move!!

You see, in terms of 2D characters, her brother was a complete and utter lolicon.

The average age of his favorite Loli characters was 12.344, 48.8 percent of whom were also little-sister characters.

And the notion that this preference of his was Shiro’s doing—it was completely unprovable!!

True, he’d been physically forced to say those things just now. That wasn’t how he actually felt. But now that he’d said it, he’d forever be plagued by the question of whether he’d ever seen his sister in a sexual light!!

This was because—albeit for a second—he’d undeniably felt a spark of love for her!!

 The Fairies… What a formidable race… This was the perfect check.

Shiro was only a few moves away from a checkmate, and there was nothing her brother could do to escape it.

Ultimate props, viewers.

All Shiro had to do was act less like his sister and more like a girlfriend.

That would inevitably cause her brother to see her in a new light…

Shiro’s mind was going a mile a minute—however, she’d soon come to the painful realization of her own terrible oversight.

 From the perspective of the Fairies, the world’s experts on love and romance, Shiro was no different from Sora on the subject. A complete amateur.

To think she could ever utilize the Fairies—beings categorically superior when it came to the game of love—to suit her own means was hubris to the fullest extent.

And thus—despite this rational conclusion, all Shiro managed to say was:

“…………………………………Bwuh?”

Her cheeks as red as her caramelized apple, she could produce merely a single sound.

Just as her racing thoughts came to a stop and her head nearly burst clean off her shoulders—

“Bzzzzt!! There goes Shiro, down for the count!! Looks like we’re still in this, folks!! Sure, Sora doesn’t know his own feelings…but the same goes for Shiro!! All right, here’s where it gets interesting!! Now hit me with some requests for Shiro!!”

—Foeniculum could be heard walking her chat room through Shiro’s punishment.

But it all sounded so far away… Those words never even reached her…

 ……

 …

…The game continued after that point—as far as Shiro could tell, at least.

The viewers had Steph, Jibril, and Emir-Eins meet up with Shiro and her brother.

The two siblings were still sitting at one out each. With both present, though, the viewers were able to give a wider array of requests to the other three contestants—particularly in ways that added to Steph’s number of outs. The Fairies grew even more engaged with the game, and their tips ballooned far beyond Sora’s wildest imagination—or so Shiro would learn later.

…She wouldn’t actually find out how things went until the following day.

Shiro had no memory of anything past the moment when her brain shut down.

All she could remember—and just barely at that—was what her brother had said to her.

It played over and over again in her mind in an endless loop.

“I’ve been romantically attracted to you,” he said………

Day Ten—Morning.

Two days had passed since the end of the summer festival event.

Sora left his room with the grimmest of expressions as he lamented to himself.

The summer festival game was a complete flop…

Yes… In just two hours, the gang had managed to raise up to 1,400,000,000 in tips.

Per Foeniculum—the channel’s subscribers had increased phenomenally, just as Sora had intended.

More than nine hundred and seventy thousand viewers had tuned in to the last stream, and the amount they spent on the program went up with these numbers.

Even during their highlight reel shown the night before, the group managed to make another two hundred million.

Sora checked his smartphone—the current number of points shown was over 1,600,000,000…

The five billion soul points that seemed so far away—the amount they needed to buy a key—was within reach.

Just as Sora planned—nay, this was above and beyond.

…But those unexpected results came with an equally unexpected price…

To start off, the results of the summer festival game caught Sora by surprise.

Namely—the number of outs each player racked up.

Sora: 1

Shiro: 1

Steph: 32

Jibril: 18

Emir-Eins: 18

The worst player came as no surprise. But Sora had no way of knowing Jibril and Emir-Eins would tie for second.

In other words, to fulfill the rules of the wager, the two players who felt the most sparks turned into three. Therefore, two couples were born from this game. And they were:

 Steph × Jibril and Steph × Emir-Eins.

…Steph was two-timing the both of them…

The following day was—and this is putting it as lightly as possible—a living hell.

Jibril and Emir-Eins soon discovered that Steph, of all people, had been cheating on both of them, thus trapping all three in a love triangle… Sora—who retreated to his room with Shiro and spent the rest of the day trembling beneath his covers and weeping—never learned the exact details of what happened between the three sides of that triangle. He did, however, notice the suffocating hostility in the air, so palpable that it seeped through his bedroom door.

Were it not for the Ten Covenants, the human race might have perished in the aftermath of this romantic tryst of epic proportions.

Sora only learned of the fallout the next morning.

He didn’t even need to ask. What he saw that morning told him more than enough to get the gist of what transpired.

“Hee-hee, hey, Stephanie. There’s something on my mind. Care to lend me an ear?”

…Steph was speaking to a reflection of herself in a mirror.

“When Jibril and Emir-Eins asked you who you really liked…you went and told them that you liked them both… Oh, I know, I know. You were forced to have those feelings. No need to think about it too much—yes, that’s right. But look at yourself—you look like a girl in love.”

She then slammed her fist into the mirror.

“That’s why I’m telling you to wipe that stupid look off your face!! Don’t give me that Oh, but there’s no logic to love crap!! You’re failing to think critically!! Thanks but no thanks!! Stephanie, do you mean to tell me you’re a trashy woman?!”

Even though a day had gone by, and she was back to her usual self, Steph couldn’t get past what she’d felt while under the influence of Fairy magic. She was at her wit’s end, fighting with her own reflection in the mirror.

Meanwhile…

“Then, how about we play a game where we wager each other’s lives?”

“Concern: Irregular Number is Master’s property. Estimating Irregular Number will not be able to wager her life without Master’s permission. Whatever shall we do?”

“…That does pose an issue. Oh, Master. Perfect timing. We’d like to play a little game where we bet the right to kill one another. Do you mind giving me permission to participate?  ”

“Apology: This unit’s victory will result in destruction of Master’s property. Please forgive me. But do not worry. Both parties have agreed to administer a quick and painless death… It won’t hurt, I promise.”

 Murderous intent is, by definition, the intent to kill.

Death was the premise of their wager—it was their nonchalant premise—it was no longer a matter of intent.

The two living weapons calmly made the appropriate motions to hold an all-out death match.

Sora reconfirmed his diagnosis: The summer festival game was an utter flop.

It had thrown the group into more chaos than he could have imagined… Even this, however, was nothing more than unforeseen repercussions.

This shouldn’t have been too much of an issue, considering the game’s results were similarly unexpected.

The game’s second failure—this was something he couldn’t get over.

It was why he maintained the entire thing was a massive failure as opposed to just a regular one.

Namely…

“…H-hey, Shiro… D-do you think you can help me calm these two down?”

Sora turned to his room and called out for his sister. Her head could be seen poking out from the doorway.

“…?!”

However, she gave a small jolt and retreated to her room, visibly frightened.

 That’s right: Ever since the end of the summer festival, Sora and Shiro had yet to exchange even a single word.

This was a gargantuan problem—so much that it made everything else seem trivial.

The reason it was happening was all too obvious…

During the game, Sora told Shiro that he was romantically attracted to her—and sexually attracted, too.

Immediately afterward, she was thrown into a stupor that continued even after the game had ended, and she’d shut herself away in her room. Not only that, she and her brother were no longer sleeping in the same bed. Sora had spent the past two nights sleeping on the floor.

And of course she felt that way.

All this time, the person who’d treated her like a sister actually saw her in a lewd, sexual light.

The notion was more than shocking; it was straight-up psychological horror material.

It didn’t help that Sora was so pathetically disgusting. Traumatized failed to do whatever Shiro was feeling justice.

It should have been plainly obvious that the Fairies made him say all that—and that there was no truth behind it.

And yet no matter how many times Sora told himself this, he would ask:

 How can I be sure?

He knew he couldn’t lie to Shiro. He wouldn’t allow himself to do that.

So he needed to be absolutely sure that he’d never seen Shiro that way.

 Then why the hell did she set off your spark sensor?!

Thus, a conflicted Sora determined that the summer festival game was a complete and utter failure.

But still—!!

He gritted his teeth and looked up. He needed to find a way to soldier through this conflict before it broke him.

This was his failure; he had done all the planning for the summer festival. His oversight was the direct cause for the entire group’s distress.

His failure was why Shiro was so traumatized—he couldn’t afford to let himself fold to the pressure while she suffered!

First, he needed to apologize. They’d talk it out once things calmed down.

Even if he failed to earn her forgiveness, and it cost him everything, he couldn’t bear for things to continue like this!!

“Listen, Shiro. We need to talk. I—”

His mind made up, prepared for the worst, a stone-faced Sora approached his little sister to apologize.

Her shoulders twitched, her cheeks flushed bright red, and tears filled her eyes—then she screamed at the top of her lungs.

“ ?! N-no… Stop… Don’t come, any closer…!!”

 …………

“Mornin’, folks!! The love-triangle stream was a hit!! We’ll hit five billion soul points in no time flat at this rate, gweh-heh-heh-hehhh… So!! For tonight’s stream, I wanna hear whatcha think about— Wait, Sora, you’re not actually feeling down about the whole summer fest thing, are ya?”

An enthusiastic Foeniculum poofed into the house, only to find Sora lying on the floor like a corpse.

“…N-no… Brother… That’s not, what…I meant…!” A teary eyed Shiro said from afar; she couldn’t bring herself to get near Sora.

“I know—I’ll just swear on the Ten Covenants to never love again!!” Steph announced. “It doesn’t matter what the game is—I’ll lose no matter what we play!! That will rid me of these evil thoughts!!”

“What’s this…? Did little Dora just come up with a brilliant idea?”

“Affirmative: Mental destruction over physical destruction. Irregular Number can also wager her consciousness. Wow.”

At last, the three ladies slowly devised a fruitful method for self-sabotage, then spiraled further into mayhem.

“Sooo…about the game for the, uh, tenth day. You guys think you can swing it—? Yeahhh… That looks like a hard no,” Foeniculum said quietly as she eyed the group, to which Sora responded with corpse-like silence.

STFU. IDGAF about this game anymore……

He’d lost his bond with Shiro.

In a life that amounted to a long chain of failures, this was the one thing he never wanted to lose.

I can’t recover from this. Why should I? I don’t even want to open my eyes… My own breathing and heartbeat are starting to annoy me, too. Why are they still functioning? They’re just wasting this planet’s precious oxygen… Stupid organs… Where do they get off, thinking they’re competent enough to keep me going?

Ugh—I just wanna curl up and die.

At least I’ll serve a purpose providing nutrients for the soil…

In spite of Sora’s doom and gloom…

“…Righto! I guess we’re takin’ the day off!! Have a good one!”

…Foeniculum offered a cheery comment and appeared to shoot Shiro a grin. “Won’t be much of a stream if the participants have a nervous breakdown. Luckily, we’ve made a ton of tips these past two days. Go ahead and buy something nice for yourselves. You guys deserve it. Maybe some good food. Let’s recharge and get back in the game!!”

No one was in any place to notice the slight chuckle Foeniculum let slip…

And with that—the game approached its tenth day.

It was the first day the group had to themselves, and they decided to spend it on their own terms.

Sora took Shiro back to their room, where he wrapped himself up in his blanket and parked himself in a corner by the door.

“Sob… Sh-Shirooo, please… Forgive your big brotherrr…”

Voice quavering, Sora repeatedly apologized to Shiro from beneath his blanket. Shiro, on the other hand—

“……”

—didn’t answer him or even move. She just froze.

She stood on the opposite side of the room, by the window—where she frantically thought in silence…

Calm down… Logical thinking is your greatest asset…

You spent two days mulling over what’s happened to you, and you’ve got nothing to show for it.

But if you calmly and logically lay out the events, you should be able to figure something out.

That’s right; everything is going according to plan. This is all a part of the plan !!

As planned, she’d successfully made her brother see her as a lover.

As planned, he was now unable to shake his confusion.

Then what Shiro had to do next was not stand in place, trembling!

She needed to follow through with the plan: act like a lover and not a sister!

That was all that’s left for them to become a couple—it’s how Shiro would bring Sora into checkmate!!

Ah…isn’t logic incredible?

1 + 1 is always 2. It’ll never be 3 or 4, no matter what your emotions try to tell you.

Logic never betrays you. It’s always objective and points you in the right direction…!

“Sob… Shirooo, please, don’t hate your big brother…”

Therefore—logically speaking—it was clear what she needed to tell her weeping brother.

 Me? Hate you, Brother? Inconceivable.

That inconceivable misjudgment is what’s causing you so much pain.

I need to tell you how I really feel in order to clear up your ridiculous misunderstanding.

I love you more than anyone else in the world—I love you as a member of the opposite sex!

Guided by her logic, Shiro finally spoke.

“…Brother, you’re…wrong. I’d never…hate you… I…”

 However…

Shiro’s throat tightened up; she couldn’t get any more words out past that.

…What’s going on? Why can’t I say any more than this?!

“Wahhh, I knew it! I knewww you hated me! Dammiiiit, just kill me nowww!!”

“…N-no— Brother, that’s not… A-ah—!”

Noticing that his sister couldn’t physically bring herself to say she loved him, Sora finally asked to put an end to things.

He began slamming his head against the wall, but Shiro still couldn’t find it in her to speak to him or approach him.

She frantically racked her confused brain to figure out what was going on with herself.

Indeed, you can always count on reason to remain truthful.

The only problem is: Reason can’t possibly produce a correct answer without a correct premise.

 What’s happening to me?

No longer able to put this problem off, Shiro once again turned to logic for an answer: What is happening to me, why is it happening, and when did it start?

First: When did this start? The answer was obvious.

The moment Sora was forced to say he saw Shiro as a girlfriend—and as an object of sexual desire.

So—what happened then? Also obvious.

Her heart rate and body temperature increased. She struggled to breathe, and her body started trembling.

From there, her thoughts came to a hard stop—so much that she couldn’t remember anything that happened from that moment on.

So—why did this happen? I…don’t know.

Everything had gone according to plan—or so she’d thought. But the fact of the matter was: Shiro’s symptoms started the instant her brother confessed to her, and they weren’t getting any better.

Rather, they were getting worse—and quickly.

 She couldn’t even look at her brother anymore.

Her heart was pounding like a hammer on a nail. Her face felt hot. Her breathing was ragged.

But she still managed to sleep that night. Not in the same bed as her brother, but all that exhaustion made her pass out cold. She hoped that she’d be over these feelings come morning.

But when she awoke, the first thing that met her eye was the same thing as always.

The same sight as every morning for the past eight years—but there was something clearly different about it this time.

It was her brother’s face. The moment she saw him, she almost lost consciousness again. She stopped breathing.

Even now, when he tried coming closer, her body temperature skyrocketed, and she wanted to run away.

Just being in the same room as him felt like a knife was being held to her throat. She was frozen in place and trembling. She couldn’t move.

So back to the top—what was going on with her body?

I have…no…clue…!

This was a problem that logic and reason couldn’t help her solve.

Unable to figure out anything, Shiro started crying—and conversely, Sora’s sobbing stopped on a dime.

“Shiro, I’m sorry. But I—”

A determined Sora stood up and approached his sister, his expression utterly serious.

“…Eep?! N-no… Brother… Stay away, from me!!”

Shiro was terrified of her heart rate increasing any further.

She reached a breaking point, then screamed and tried to escape through the window into the garden.

But the moment she put her hand on the window—and pictured herself leaving her brother—

“…No… Brother… Don’t leave me…!”

“What?! I’d never abandon you! Hold up—what do you even want me to do?!”

The mere thought of leaving his side was frightening enough to make her burst into tears.

 I don’t know anymore.

She didn’t know what was happening to her or what she wanted to do.

Everything was so hazy. All she could do was cry…until out of nowhere, she noticed her reflection in the window, and a new thought found its way into her head.

 Who the heck is that?

She didn’t recognize her own face reflected back at her.

But at the same time, it wasn’t totally unfamiliar—she knew that face pretty well.

She’d seen it recently—very recently… Whose face was this?

With her photographic memory, Shiro was able to instantaneously produce an answer.

 Her face looked like Steph’s.

Steph, when she was looking in the mirror earlier. She’d called herself a girl in love, and this was the face she’d been making.

But that only raised further questions.

 The face of a girl in love…? How does that change anything?

Of course she was in love. She’d always loved her brother. From the moment they met—maybe from the moment she was born—long before that, even.

So if that was the case, then who was this person staring back at her in the mirror? No, wait… That’s not it.

 This was never me.

Who was I up until now?

Now even more confused, Shiro struggled with further doubts—but the logical part of her brain never stopped working.

It was objective, uninterested, and merciless, and soon it delivered a new hypothesis: one that definitively explained what was causing her confusion.

And that was—what she felt in that moment was none other than love.

Could it be that all this time…I’ve never—

 been in love before…?

“Oooooh, that’s what I like to see!! Things are starting to get spicy!!”

Foeniculum, meanwhile, was secretly continuing the stream.

She and her viewers watched, their shared excitement reaching its climax.

 Take a day off? At a time like this?! You’re outta your damn minds!!

We only need a few more days until we’re at five billion—heck, if this game really pops off, we might even get there tonight!!

I mean, gawd, just look at this delicious turn of events—you bet your ass I’m gonna capture this on camera!!

Sorry, you two, but nothing that happens here is private!!

That’s right—Foeniculum knew exactly where things were heading the moment she saw Shiro back in the living room.

The Fairy licked her chops as she nonchalantly and secretly captured every second of the drama, and thought things over…

Shiro figured she’d awaken her brother’s romantic feelings for her.

Unfortunately for Shiro, that was way too naive.

As the race created by the god of love, the Fairies know everything when it comes to (other people’s) romantic entanglements, and it was as clear as day that Shiro was the one who’d never seen her brother as a potential love interest!

…Foeniculum didn’t know their history, obviously. She’d only been acquainted with the pair for a short ten days.

Despite this, Foeniculum—along with her viewers—was fully convinced about Shiro.

I’m 100 percent certain that while she’s probably toyed with the idea of being more than just siblings—

—she’s absolutely, positively, never seen Sora as a lover!!

Maybe it was because she was still so young or because of how close they were.

Whatever the reason, what Shiro asked her brother during the summer festival game to get him to feel a spark of love—her trump-card question:

“…Brother—why can’t you and I…be more, than this…?”

That told Foeniculum everything she needed to know.

Shiro didn’t say the word “girlfriend”—she couldn’t!!

She’d probably never entertained the idea before—maybe never even imagined it.

Foeniculum and her viewers picked up on this from Shiro’s single question. Hence, why they had Sora say the lines he did.

You see, their goal was to have Sora view Shiro as a potential girlfriend—something they accomplished the moment Sora’s sensor pinged him as out. With that said and done—why toy with him any further?

 They needed Shiro to view Sora as a potential boyfriend.

Why? Because it would make things way more entertaining!!

The most exciting part of a romance isn’t when the characters get together in books, movies, or real life.

It’s the process of bringing them together—when they feel those first sparks, when their affection wavers, and then when it comes to fruition!

Shiro’s feelings were a flame with eight years of buildup—a flame far too large for such a young girl—that was now wavering.

Just as Foeniculum and her viewers had intended, Shiro was navigating her first-ever romantic feelings.

They’d predicted everything perfectly up until this point; the Fairies had played their god-tier move just as Shiro desired. They were glued to their screens—for even a Fairy couldn’t tell where Shiro’s love would take her.

Blissfully unaware of these expectations that had been so fecklessly placed upon her—

“…Brother… I just…lost my cool, for a second… I’m fine now…”

“Y-yeah… I—I guess you kinda did totally lose it back there…but that’s my fault—”

“…I’m…tired… Let’s, take a bath…”

“Oh— Oookay!! Never mind that you actually want to take a bath for once—or that stone-cold look on your face; I’m just happy you’re inviting me to do anything!! Let’s go!!”

—Shiro was back on her feet.

After extending a monotone invitation, she grabbed her brother’s hand and headed to the bath.

“Hooo boy… Yeahhh, I probably shouldn’t record them in the bath without their permission…”

Foeniculum was conflicted.

She was recording the two in secret, which already put her in a moral gray zone.

Should she stop the stream? Foeniculum took a moment to think it over, and—

“I—I know! I’m gonna switch to audio only from here on out!! If things take a saucy turn in the bath, I’ll halt the stream, barge in, and stop ’em—that should be enough for us to keep going!!”

It was a tightrope decision. Should she act a moment too late, a full ban was totally within the realm of possibility.

I can’t back out now; my pride as a Fairy is on the line here!!

Giving in to her urges—not to mention the tips this would bring—Foeniculum decided to continue her stream.

“Aaah!! That hits the spot! Nothing like a bath after ten unwashed days!! Eh, Shiro?!”

“…Yeah, I guess…”

“We gotta thank Steph later! People need to keep clean, after all!!”

“…Yeah, I guess…”

Two days earlier—right before the summer festival—Steph had purchased a bath just as she said she would.

Shiro could hear her brother through the bath’s partition. He sounded unnaturally enthusiastic as he washed himself off in the shower.

Shiro sat in the bath alone, barely paying any attention to her brother as she became lost in thought.

 Is this love? How ridiculous.

This couldn’t possibly be love.

It was just—more confusion.

True, Shiro needed to figure out the root cause of her inner turmoil.

But she could save that for later. First, she had to follow through on her plan—bring her brother into checkmate. That was all.

For now, she’d use her powers of reasoning to shut out any disruptive emotions.

Plus…she’d already figured out how to force her brother into checkmate.

All she needed to do was embrace him while they were naked and say, I love you in a romantic way, Brother. He couldn’t claim that he’d never felt the same before; victory was all but in her sights—!!

“…Want to…join me…?”

“Huh? No way; you’re the one who’s always saying no underage nudity.”

I only say that ’cause I never want to go in the bath…

And now she was basically telling him to get his butt in there.

Shiro kept her impatience at bay—

“…It’s fine. I have, a towel on… You can just…wear one, too…”

“Aha. Nothing wrong with that, then. Don’t mind if I do.”

—and watched as Sora got up and approached the tub.

Needless to say—Shiro wasn’t wearing a towel. That was a giant lie.

The steam rising from the hot bath was really thick. What’s more, Shiro was submerged in the water.

Her brother wouldn’t be able to notice her lack of a towel until he was sitting right next to her.

By the time he figured out she was naked, she’d have hugged and kissed him and told him how she felt. Game, set, and match!!

 She watched as a figure showed itself from behind the partition.

Ba-dum. Her heart pounded in her chest, but she nonetheless waited, her powers of reasoning stifling any unnecessary emotions.

With every step her brother took closer to the bath, his silhouette grew clearer and clearer.

Shiro felt her temperature rise and her mind begin to go blank, but yet again, her reasoning powers took the reins. She waited some more. Finally, Sora was close enough for Shiro to make out his face—and in that very instant…

“ A-actually!! Wait!!!!”

…Shiro heard the shackles of her reasoning being sundered apart as she jumped out of the bath and covered Sora’s eyes with her hands.

“Gaaaah?! What’s going on?! Now what’d I do?!”

 Nope, nope, nope!! Can’t do it!!

Confessing to your crush in the nude?! No way—I could never!!

I’d have to be out of my mind—or at the very least, a straight-up pervert to do that!!

Shiro’s sense of reason—which was now in shambles—posed a new question to her:

 Why?

Haven’t you been naked around him before?

Didn’t you kiss him—albeit under the pretense of air circulation—during your game with Jibril?

This is nothing new…so why the hesitation now?

Shiro’s emotions, meanwhile, gave her sense of reason a giant middle finger.

I…don’t know why, but…I just…can’t!!

That was when reality sank in, dealing a fatal blow to her intensifying mental chaos.

She’d just pushed her brother onto the ground, buck naked, and had her hands over his eyes.

She could feel his warmth through her rear as she sat on him—her course of action led to a situation far more embarrassing than she could’ve predicted.

“B-Brother—y-you, big friggin’…perv!!”

“You’re the one who pushed me and covered my eyes, but I’m the perv?!”

Barely able to maintain consciousness at this point, Shiro mustered up everything she had to yell at him again.

“I—I just, can’t…! Brother…get away, from me!”

“S-sure thing! I’ll get away from you ASAP!! I’m not sure how you expect me to move while you’re sitting on me, but I’ll figure it out!!”

 Wait a sec.

The moment Sora moved away from her, he’d see…Shiro…naked—!!

“…Actually…don’t, move!! C-close your eyes, and…go back, to the shower!”

“I kinda need to move to get back to the shower, but okay, I get the picture!!”

Sora covered his eyes while he blindly made his way back to the shower area behind the partition. Shiro watched and thought…

 I have no idea what I’m feeling.

She was utterly clueless as to what was going on with her.

But as always, the logical part of her brain answered in its usual merciless fashion.

And rationally speaking, that answer was crystal clear.

 This…must be what love really feels like…

It was why it never bothered her when her brother saw her in the nude before.

It was why she could kiss him before, and she could say she loved him without a second thought.

 All because she’d never seen her brother as a potential lover…

Will he be grossed out if I kiss him or if he sees me naked?

If I’m pushy with him, will he think I’m weird? If I disappoint him, will he hate me?

These interactions came easily to siblings…hence why such thoughts and anxieties had never occurred to her before.

Yeah—I must’ve known for a while now…

This was love. She was experiencing her first love.

 I know that. I know it! But—

Whenever I saw my brother, I always calmed down.

Whenever he patted me on the head, it made any bad feelings go away.

Just burying my face into his chest was enough to make me fall asleep no matter where we were.

Just hearing his voice was enough to make me feel happy.

—But look at me now.

Whenever I see him, I worry if he hates me. My heart won’t stop pounding when he touches me.

Whenever I hear his voice, I’m afraid of what he’ll think about the way I feel.

Is this what it means to be in love?

This, of all things—?!

…If this, is love… If this is, what…being lovers means, then—I don’t need it! I don’t want that!! I don’t want us to be…lovers!!

Her emotions were screaming inside of her, but her logical side—responded rationally.

 Okay. So what are you going to do?

I’ll just…keep being his, little sister!! I don’t…need all this…emotional baggage!

 Really? Are you sure being his sister is enough for you?

Let’s think this through—let’s assume you can go back to being his little sister after learning what love feels like.

Then what? What happens when he gets a girlfriend? Will you be happy for him as a little sister?

…Nooo… No way!! I’d, hate that—!!

She pictured her brother smiling and walking hand in hand with anybody else but her.

I can’t take that. Never.

Just imagining it was enough to bring tears to her eyes. She felt the blood drain from her face and her legs go weak.

If that’s what’s going to happen…

…then I may as well destroy everything !!

…Ugh… Anybody would hate…a girl like this…

She couldn’t be his girlfriend, but she also couldn’t go back to being his little sister.

I can’t…do any of this…!

“Hic… Urgh… Wahhh… Ahhh…!”

Shiro finally began wailing like the child she was.

But then she felt a tight embrace…

“I’m sorry, Shiro. I’ll be honest; I have no idea how you feel right now.”

She could hear the strength and warmth in his voice as he suddenly hugged her.

“I know it’s my fault. But I don’t know how it’s affecting you. So I know I can’t just go and tell you to calm down. One thing’s for sure, though—I can’t bear to watch you cry all by yourself while I sit here and do nothing.”

—No, Brother… This isn’t your fault…

“So just tell me what you need. I’ll do anything. Doesn’t matter if you want to yell at me or hit me. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you feel better. I’ll change however you want me to if you’ll just forgive me. So please—don’t go crying all on your lonesome.”

It’s not your fault… So why are you being so nice to me…?

Why are you being so nice to a girl who’s acting this irrational?

My chest hurts. I can hardly breathe. I’m scared. This would be easier if you just got mad at me……

His words only served to fuel her anxiety and confusion.

She opened her eyes in search of an answer—but through her tears, she…realized something.

It hit her suddenly—or calmly. She couldn’t quite tell either way.

…Hey. Brother… I’m naked…y’know…

Huh…? You’re hugging me while I’m naked, and that’s your reaction?

You’re not even blushing or…anything…?

Even though I’m so messed up? Th-that kind of—kind of…

…pisses me the hell off…

The next instant, Shiro felt the static clogging her mind dissipate.

You know what…? You’re right, Brother…

The reason I’m feeling this bad.

The reason I’m so anxious.

Why I’m scared.

Why I’m crying.

“…Yeah… This is allll your fault, Brother.  ”

As Shiro spoke, she started tapping her smartphone; she’d almost unconsciously brought the device into the bath with her.

And a split second later—everything in view was obliterated, the scene now unrecognizable.