「Kei... is unexpectedly strict.」
Listening to Kei list her brother's faults, Kaguya's gaze toward Imouto-san grew even more doting and gentle.
At the same time, Kaguya couldn't help but fantasize about her future married life with Miyuki.
.....Fantasy.....
"Seriously! Onee-san, look at Big Brother!"
Watching Kei pout with an unhappy expression as she hugged her, Kaguya looked down at the girl in her arms with eyes full of doting affection.
"What's wrong? Who made our Kei unhappy?"
"It's Big Brother!" Pouting her lips, Kei looked up and shouted loudly, "He ate my cake again! It's too much!"
Just then.
"It's just one piece of cake." Walking out of the kitchen with a helpless expression, Miyuki looked at his sister, who was acting spoiled and clinging to Kaguya.
"I'll buy you another one after work tomorrow, okay?"
"My dear." Tucking her hair up, dressed in newlywed attire, Kaguya puffed her cheeks slightly and looked at her husband with a serious gaze. "When you do something wrong, you have to say you're sorry~"
"Exactly! Nyeh-nyeh!" Hiding behind her sister and hugging her slender waist, Kei peeked out, wrinkled her nose, and shouted at her brother, "Hurry up and listen to Onee-san and apologize to me!"
"Kei...." Miyuki sighed heartily, walked slowly over to his wife and sister, and snatched Kaguya back from his sister's grasp. Holding her tightly in his arms, he said to his sister with a completely straight face.
"Stop being so willful and go home. Don't disturb my and Kaguya's married life."
.....Reality.....
Just as Kaguya was unknowingly immersing herself in her fantasy, a cute little girl suddenly ran past her and Kei cheerfully.
Then, for some reason, the little girl's feet tripped over each other.
'Danger!' Instantly snapping out of her fantasy, Kaguya reacted immediately.
However, before she could rush forward to catch the falling girl, Kei, sitting on the other end of the bench, had already lunged forward.
Extending her arms, Kei steadily caught the little girl who was tumbling forward. She slid forward a short distance to absorb the impact.
"Are you okay?"
Kei looked up slightly, her eyes filled with concern as she looked at the little girl in her arms.
Reacting a step slower, Kaguya slowed her pace upon seeing Kei catch the girl.
Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask if everyone was alright.
"Kei-nee?" "Kei."
Two voices ringing out simultaneously—one older, one younger—immediately drew the attention of both Kaguya and Kei.
Looking back.
Appearing in Kaguya's line of sight was a black-haired girl dressed in a very cute and energetic manner... and.
'Who is that girl!?'
Looking at this 'peer' whose dress, temperament, and figure were all first-rate, and who even possessed a maturity and charm that Kaguya currently lacked, Kaguya's pupils dilated slightly.
But what surprised her even more was what happened next.
"Ayase, Utaha-senpai."
A happy, faint smile appeared on Kei's cheeks.
W-wait! What is going on here?!
With a face full of bewilderment and shock, Kaguya watched as the normally reserved and emotionally restrained Kei's eyes visibly brightened with happiness upon the appearance of these two girls.
Suddenly, a terrifying hypothesis flashed through Kaguya's gradually bewildered mind like lightning.
Could it be... the President... he... he!!!
Slowly, the light faded from Kaguya's eyes.
However, aside from Kaguya herself, the other three girls were completely unaware of her psychological turmoil.
"Ayase." The corners of her mouth curving upward, Kei carefully helped the little girl stand up alongside Aragaki Ayase, her tone carrying an undisguised happiness. "Why are you here?"
"I came to hang out with Onee-san." Ayase smiled shyly, then turned to the little girl she had helped up and asked with concern, "Are you okay?"
As soon as she finished speaking, with the help of Kei and Ayase, the little girl slowly sat down on the floor.
Because of this, everyone noticed the little scrape on the girl's knee.
"It's a little scraped." Mumbling softly after looking at the scrape, Kei was about to take out her newly bought handkerchief to bandage the little girl.
However, before she could take out the handkerchief.
A clean band-aid was handed in front of Kei by a fair, flawless hand.
"Use this instead."
"Ah, thank you, Utaha-senpai." Looking up at the beautifully smiling Utaha, Kei thanked her shyly.
She didn't want to be like this... but for some reason, she always unconsciously got shy in front of Utaha.
Normally, she would only get this easily flustered in front of her mother.
Perhaps it was because 'Utaha-senpai is Miyahito-nii's girlfriend'?
Seeing that the girls didn't need her help, Utaha, with a faint smile on her face, stood back up.
At this moment, her peripheral vision caught Kaguya standing behind Kei.
'Red eyes, black hair... red hair ribbon.' As she silently recited the keywords in her mind, a name that Miyahito had once mentioned to her slowly surfaced in Utaha's mind. Thus.
"Excuse me, are you Shinomiya-senpai?"
Hearing someone call her name, Kaguya subconsciously looked up.
However, when she saw who was calling her, she couldn't help but freeze.
"Nice to meet you." Mistaking Kaguya's stunned reaction for confusion, Utaha smiled, clasped her hands in front of her, and bowed her mature, voluptuous upper body slightly. Just like the ideal young lady everyone imagines, she spoke politely and gracefully.
"Shinomiya-senpai."
Seeing this, Kaguya, a genuine noble young lady, was stimulated by Utaha's demeanor. Like a reflex, she assumed a flawless, perfect young lady posture and returned the bow gracefully.
"Greetings, um...."
Noticing that Kaguya's words trailed off halfway, Utaha remembered she hadn't introduced herself. Blushing slightly in embarrassment, she quickly added.
"I'm sorry, I forgot to say my name. I am Kasumigaoka Utaha. Shinomiya-senpai."
"It's quite alright, Kasumigaoka....-san." Maintaining her flawless, perfect smile, Kaguya's brain spun rapidly, constantly searching her memory for the faces of all the lowerclassmen in Shuchiin Academy.
No... no... no.....
Who exactly is this girl?!