Chapter 15 – Auntie Can’t Read the Room

“Well, that’s fine. …Hmm, so you were watching fate, huh?”

“Wanna watch it together, Sui-nee-chan?”

“Why the polite speech…? I’m more of a Universal Century fan than Another, ya know.”

Even as she said that, Sui-nee-chan sat down next to me where I was sitting on the sofa and wrapped her arm around mine. By the way, her favorite MS is the Z’gok.

“…Sui Oba-sama, you’re sitting next to Shiro-chan like it’s completely natural, aren’t you?”

Not to be outdone, Aku-nee also clung to me.

“What’s wrong with sitting next to my cute little brother? Hmm?”

“…Tch.”

“Clicking your tongue at your aunt? You’re one scary niece, I say.”

And immediately the two of them started glaring daggers at each other. And to my pathetic shame, my Arondight still hadn’t calmed down from the excitement. Being clung to by Sui-nee-chan made it rage even harder, desperately wanting to rampage, rampage, thrust in, thrust in.

“…Sorry. I’m gonna hit the bathroom real quick.”

…I really need to calm down first. If I stay like this, I’m weirdly confident I’d end up roughly having my way with both of them in the worst way.

Blood-relation wise, Aku-nee is practically a stranger, so that might still be okay (though it’s not really), but for a real nephew and aunt, the blood is just too thick.

I slowly shook off both their arms and stood up. …Before I did, I whispered into Aku-nee’s ear.

“…Aku-nee, I won’t say what for, but I’m gonna borrow a few pairs of panties from your lingerie box.”

“I didn’t think you’d come ask for permission so openly.”

“Considering what I’m about to do, I think I should at least provide this much aftercare.”

“Fufu… Sure. If you find any you like, you can even have them.”

“Thanks, that helps.”

It was a pretty messed-up conversation, but I didn’t have the mental bandwidth to care right now.

＊＊＊

“…Oba-sama, how should I put this… Don’t people say you really can’t read the room?”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

After seeing Shiro-chan off, I—Kichōdani Aku—stared at my blood-unrelated aunt with eyes full of resentment. It was so close…

This aunt who talks like the mastermind from a theatrical movie has always been like this. Always, always, always barging in without reading the atmosphere and interfering between me and Shiro-chan. If she wasn’t here, Shiro-chan would’ve been mine a long time ago.

“…No, never mind.”

“You’re as cold as ever, huh. You used to adore me, calling ‘Sui-nee-chan, Sui-nee-chan’ all the time. It makes this old lady sad.”

“We’re love rivals, after all. It’d be strange for us to be all chummy, right?”

“Well, that’s true enough.”

Sui Oba-sama stood up, opened the fridge, and helped herself to some barley tea, pouring it into whatever cup was handy and drinking. Raiding someone else’s fridge like it’s nothing…

“In the worst case, I can give up the legal wife slot to Aku-chan and settle for being the mistress, ya know? After all, for me and Byakuto to have kids, our blood is too close… How about it? An officially acknowledged mistress. I think it’s not a bad compromise. ……Byakuto did say before that he likes children, after all. Though having a child as aunt and nephew is a bit…”

Speaking in a sultry voice, the petite Oba-sama who looked even more like a little girl than Shiro-chan made that proposal.

Indeed, compared to me who is only a distant relative by blood, an aunt-nephew pair carries higher risks of genetic problems for any children. She might be taking that into consideration.

But because she brought up this compromise so suddenly, it actually made me more suspicious.

“…What’s gotten into you? I thought you were the same type as me—the heavy love kind…”

“The situation has changed in all sorts of ways, ya know.”

So said Oba-sama while playing with her short blonde hair.

“The reason I came by today is because my sister and the others called me. It seems there’s something they want to discuss.”

“A discussion?”

“The atmosphere feels pretty serious. Right now, I don’t want us relatives fighting over him and devouring each other.”

“……I’ll decide after hearing what that talk is about.”

“Fufu, I’m expecting a good reply, ya know.”

“But my possessiveness is pretty strong too. Don’t get your hopes up too much. Even if we go that route, I’m confident that unless we manage it extremely well, I’ll eventually lose it from jealousy.”

“…I thought it was a good plan, though.”

Oba-sama said, looking a little disappointed.

“First of all, why did you become so fixated on Shiro-chan, Oba-sama? You’ve always been nice to us and incidentally interfered with our romances countless times, but it’s only recently that you’ve started showing obvious romantic feelings toward him, right?”

“Does love need a reason?”

“No, when you put it that way, I can’t really argue.”

“…Well, there is a trigger, though.”

Oba-sama said that and began recounting the story of how it started.

Chapter 16 – Be Careful with What You Post on the Internet

“That was… yeah. It was on a cold snowy day… or was it a sunny day, I wonder?”

“The narration sounds like the opening of Esco◯ZERO or something, and your memory already seems shaky, which is making me anxious…”

“The weather doesn’t matter. Anyway, it was about a year ago, I think. I had just passed my college entrance exams and was feeling on top of the world.”

Sui Oba-sama spoke fluently. At least her memory around this part seems reliable.

“Since I always loved drawing, when I started university, I made an account on a certain SNS and began posting web manga there.”

“Chiikawa style?”

“Yeah, yeah. Compared to that pinnacle of web manga, mine was like the moon and a snapping turtle in terms of quality. Well, I did gain some fans, but I also attracted a certain number of antis. Then one day, one of those antis showered me with heartless words.”

When you publish something online, encountering these kinds of people is an unavoidable path. If it’s not turning into a full flame war, the safe bet is to block them and ignore. Even so, dealing with strangers who post nasty comments is exhausting.

“Well, it’s a pretty common story.”

“Right around that time, I had a falling out with a local best friend who was also aiming to be an artist. It started over whether to use AI in our works and turned into a fight about artistic differences, so I was already mentally worn out. That guy’s words really tore into my heart.”

“You should’ve requested disclosure and sued for defamation.”

“When you’re mentally cornered, you can’t think that far ahead. In the midst of all that, the one who saved me was Byakuto.”

Sui Oba-sama said in a dreamy, entranced tone.

“Shiro-chan?”

“Indeed! He comforted me when I was in pain and helped me get back up on my feet. Even now, the fact that I can continue drawing manga is all thanks to him.”

I see… So it was a similar circumstance to mine… To think he had saved not only my heart but also Sui Oba-sama’s without me knowing…

A fierce jealousy burned in my heart. Shiro-chan should belong to me alone…

“Well, that’s nothing more than the trigger. I probably would’ve fallen for him sooner or later anyway. His looks and personality are just like my sister’s in her younger days. Ever since that beast of a man stole my sister away, I’ve been carrying that frustration, but this time, I’ll definitely make him mine.”

“Please don’t call someone else’s father a ‘beastly man,’ even hypothetically.”

When I warned her, whether listening or not, Sui Oba-sama laughed “Hahaha” and casually turned on her smartphone, peering at the screen.

“…”

Then, for some reason, her face rapidly went blank.

“…? What’s wrong?”

“Another anti-comment on my manga, ya know. And it’s a pretty vicious one.”

“…What perfect timing.”

Seeing it, Sui Oba-sama’s face quickly flushed with anger.

“Hahaha… This guy is pulling double duty as an extremist conspiracy theorist, extremist Twitter feminist, extremist net right-winger, and extremist AI art hater all rolled into one. I recognize that icon. He’s famous in those circles. …I’ve caught the eye of quite a troublesome fellow.”

“Isn’t he just the scum of the internet boiled down? Well, the safe move is to block him.”

I said that. Even face-to-face, convincing someone is hard. To say nothing of telling a complete stranger to stop their trolling—not only won’t it solve anything, it’ll probably backfire. No matter how you look at it, ignoring is the way.

“…”

“What’s wrong? Do you know how to block people?”

“…Should I identify him?”

“Huh?”

Sui Oba-sama suddenly suggested something outrageous.

“This guy’s way of talking really pissed me off. I’ll doxx him, pull out all his personal info, and burn him to a crisp.”

“You should stop. There’s no point engaging with someone like this.”

“I’m stronger than when I first got hit by those anti-comments! Thanks to stalking Byakuto and my sister, I’ve picked up the skills to extract someone’s information without leaving any evidence. Whether it’s real life or online, the tricks don’t change.”

“Uwaa… That’s a really disturbing way to learn skills. Also, this is the first I’ve heard about you stalking Mom and Shiro-chan.”

“I didn’t leave any evidence, after all. …Now, it’s scary when you anger a skilled pervert, ya know~ Let’s commit arson!”

To all the good kids watching the screen. It’s better not to write bad things about other people online, okay? It doesn’t earn you a single yen, and the person you pick a fight with might turn out to be a genuine dangerous individual like this, you know?