Faced with Kanzaki Saku's inquiry, although she knew clearly that her brother had already seen everything, Sagiri still shifted sideways rapidly to block the screen.
"It's nothing! Commercial illustrations! Practice pieces!" She spoke at a rapid-fire speed. "Brother, get out quickly, I need to change my clothes!"
"Change clothes?" Kanzaki Saku looked at the tissues in her hand. "Change using tissues?"
Sagiri instantly hid the tissues behind her back, continuing to speak loudly: "Th-This is for wiping the screen! The screen is dirty!"
Kanzaki Saku looked at her appearance and found it both amusing and a little cute.
"Oh—" He dragged out the syllable, cooperating by not exposing her. "Then Sagiri, continue wiping the screen. However..."
"Actually, the drawing is quite nice."
Sagiri, however, was frightened by this sentence. She felt her brother was speaking ironically, so she explained incoherently.
"N-No! Brother, you misunderstood! Th-These are all client commissions! Yes! Drawings commissioned by clients! I'm just completing my work!"
"Client commissions? But, the layout of this room, and the books on that bookshelf, look very similar to our home." Kanzaki Saku pointed out the degree of similarity between Sagiri's drawing and their home.
"This is called art comes from life!" Sagiri was still struggling, but her voice already lacked confidence.
Kanzaki Saku took a step forward; the distance between the two was now very close.
"Is that so?" He said softly, reaching out his hand.
Sagiri thought he was going to hit her and closed her eyes in fright.
But Kanzaki Saku's hand reached past her and picked up the pressure-sensitive pen on the desk.
"Sagiri, I remember you saying that you borrowed Mom's pen name and drew normal illustrations, right?"
Sagiri opened her eyes, tears already swirling in her sockets. She bit her lip, nodded, then immediately shook her head, not knowing what she was doing herself.
Kanzaki Saku saw his sister looking so scared she was about to cry, and the thought of pranking her dissipated; it wouldn't be fun if he teased her until she cried.
He put down the pressure-sensitive pen. He wasn't angry or disappointed as Sagiri had anticipated; instead, he reached out and gently rubbed the top of her soft hair.
"What are you so scared for? I didn't say I was going to scold you."
Sagiri looked up at him with wet eyes, not daring to speak.
Kanzaki Saku sighed, pulled over the chair beside the desk to sit down, and signaled for Sagiri to sit as well. Sagiri had no choice but to slowly inch over to the bedside and sit down.
"During puberty, becoming curious about the opposite sex's body is a very normal thing," Kanzaki Saku began to comfort Sagiri.
"You just chose to use the method of painting to express and explore this curiosity. From a certain perspective, this is much healthier than some more impulsive methods."
"Although the content is relatively adult-oriented, making money, after all, is nothing to be ashamed of." Kanzaki Saku even smiled.
"Using your own skills to legally earn money, support yourself, and even subsidize the household expenses, there is nothing shameful about this. It's much better than those who reach out to their families for money while doing nothing all day."
Kanzaki Saku could say this to Sagiri with righteous confidence because he was also practicing what he preached by earning money physically.
Sagiri hadn't expected her own brother to be so open-minded. She had originally thought that exposing what she did to her brother would make him despise her, hate her, or even distance himself from her; this moved Sagiri immensely.
"Bro-Brother, do you really not think I'm weird? Don't you think, I'm very... lewd?" She asked, sobbing.
"Weird? Quite the opposite, I think you are very talented. Although I don't understand painting very well, I can tell you draw very well. As for the content, the scope of artistic creation is originally very broad. Besides..."
He looked at Sagiri, his eyes holding tolerance: "My sister is just working seriously. Right?"
"Wuu... Brother!" Sagiri couldn't hold it back anymore. She threw herself from the bedside, diving headfirst into Kanzaki Saku's embrace, buried her face in his chest, and began to cry loudly.
Kanzaki Saku gently patted her back, allowing her to rub tears and snot onto his clothes, his face still wearing that good-brother smile.
When Sagiri had mostly finished crying and it gradually turned into quiet sobbing, Kanzaki Saku spoke again:
"Alright, if you cry anymore, your eyes will swell up. I originally came in to ask you to help prepare dinner."
"Ah! S-Sorry!" Sagiri only then remembered that dinner hadn't been made yet. She scrambled up from Kanzaki Saku's embrace in a panic, wiping her face hurriedly, but ended up making it messier the more she wiped.
Kanzaki Saku handed her a clean tissue and stood up: "Go wash your face, then come downstairs to help. Having drawn for so long, you should be hungry too."
"Mn!" Sagiri nodded vigorously, feeling a heavy stone fall from her heart; her whole being felt lighter. Her brother didn't despise her, didn't treat her as a pervert, and even understood and affirmed her.
How could there be such a good brother in the world!
Watching Sagiri's back as she regained her spirit and ran toward the bathroom, Kanzaki Saku also turned to walk out of the room. When he reached the door, he stopped, his hand resting on the door handle, and looked back at Sagiri, who was washing her face.
"By the way, Sagiri."
"Mn?" Sagiri lifted her wet face from the towel.
Kanzaki Saku's expression was very natural, even carrying a hint of encouragement: "If you draw this kind of... hmm, pictures that need human body references in the future, and feel that relying on imagination isn't precise enough..."
He paused, and under the gaze of Sagiri's gradually widening eyes, said with a smile: "I can be your model, you know. After all, artists need to observe real human body structures and dynamics; working behind closed doors is never good."
Sagiri simply couldn't believe what she was hearing; she was completely unaware of the water dripping from her chin.
R-Really?! Brother is willing to be her model?! For her "artistic creation"?!
Kanzaki Saku looked at her petrified state, his smile deepening as he added considerately: "Of course, this depends on your needs. No rush, take your time to consider."
He opened the door, half his body already out, then as if remembering something, he turned his head sideways and added a sentence.
"Right, also..."
He blinked, his gaze pointedly sweeping over the clearly depleted tissue box on the table.
"The stock of tissues at home seems to be running low; use them sparingly, Sagiri."
The door was gently pulled shut.
In the room, Izumi Sagiri maintained a stiff standing posture, water droplets dripping from her face.
A few seconds later, her whole person seemed to have been steamed cooked, emitting heat; she slowly slid down to sit on the floor, burying her burning face into the towel that still had water stains.
"Wuu... Brother is a big dummy!!!"
The shamed and annoyed scream was muffled in the towel, but the accelerated heartbeat and the secret joy of being indulged were audible only to herself.
Outside the door, listening to the movement faintly coming from inside, the corners of Kanzaki Saku's mouth curled up into a pleasant arc.
Teaching his cute sister to correctly recognize the body and desires is also one of a brother's duties, after all.
_____
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