Ren, completely absorbed in his training, hadn't noticed the little spy observing him from the shadows until she shuffled directly into his line of sight. Seeing her crestfallen, utterly deflated expression—so pitiful it looped back to adorable—he couldn't help but laugh.
"When did you get here?" he asked.
The little girl's shoulders slumped further. "J-just now…"
If she'd known this would happen, she never would have proposed the bet. She'd dug her own grave. But how was she supposed to know Ren was this kind of monster?
She blinked her large, ruby eyes, deploying the ultimate weapon: full-blown, heart-melting cuteness. "Ren, Ren… I really give up! We don't have to spar tonight, okay? You're the older brother, I'm the little sister! I admit it!"
She surrendered unconditionally. If Ren could crack a training post, her delicate flesh-and-bone frame would be pulverized. Actually, being the younger sister didn't seem so terrible now, did it?
The concentrated dose of adorable pleading was a critical hit. Ren internally muttered AWSL (a phrase from a past life meaning "Ah, I'm dead" from cuteness overload). He grinned, poked her soft cheek, and arched an eyebrow. "Heh. Scared now? Weren't you brimming with confidence this morning?"
"I'm scared! I'm so scared!" When the fist is mightier, one must bow. Kurenai didn't even dare to bat his poking finger away. "So… can we just call off the spar tonight?"
"Hmm, of course…" The word "yes" was on the tip of his tongue, ready to tumble out. But Ren forcefully clamped his mouth shut.
Logically, this was perfect. Kurenai's unilateral surrender preserved his hierarchical dominance without risk. He'd be the unchallenged older brother. Case closed.
But… he noticed a glaring omission.
The system hadn't made a sound.
Where was the mission completion notification?
Kurenai Yuhi—no, according to the system, 'Ochiai Rumi'—had just surrendered. Why wasn't the mission marked complete?
Could this type of bug not be exploited?
A flicker of alarm shot through him. 'System,' he called out mentally. 'Didn't Kurenai… I mean, Ochiai Rumi just concede? Where's the reward?'
[Ding! Mission not completed. Reward will be issued only upon Host's defeat of challenger Ochiai Rumi.]
'What the…? Subduing the enemy without fighting is the highest form of victory! You're not giving a bonus for a flawless win, fine, but you're not even counting it as a completion?!' Ren cursed internally. The system's logic was infuriatingly rigid.
[Ding! Please fulfill mission parameters to receive reward.]
The mental exchange was instantaneous. Kurenai was still looking up at him, a hopeful, anxious plea in her eyes. She really didn't want to spend the evening in tears.
But Ren had gone quiet again. Why was he being so difficult?!
"…" There was no alternative. The system demanded a literal, physical defeat. If the glitch wouldn't allow a surrender shortcut, then Kurenai would have to endure a little… for the greater good of his power progression. "Of course…" he said, drawing out the pause for dramatic effect, "…not!"
"Huh?" Kurenai's eyes went perfectly round, a comedic mix of disbelief, shock, and utter confusion plastered on her face.
Her cuteness offensive… had failed?
This defied all known laws of the universe!
"What do you mean, 'huh'? Cuteness has its limits." He tapped her forehead lightly, adopting a stern, mentor-like expression. "A wager is a wager. Surrender is not an option; the contest must proceed. Furthermore…"
He infused his voice with gravitas. "This is training for your willpower. Your first instinct upon facing a stronger opponent was to retreat. That is not the mindset of a kunoichi! You must learn to face challenges head-on, even in defeat!"
For the sake of the system reward… what was a little temporary suffering for Kurenai? It was character-building! It was for her own good!
Really.
You couldn't just quit at the first sign of difficulty. You had to struggle! To strive!
"…" Kurenai felt tears of frustration prickle at her eyes. His logic was watertight!
But she had the strongest suspicion that Ren was just seizing this chance to cement his 'older brother' superiority—this was pure, unadulterated revenge!!
She was furious, but utterly weaponless against his sound reasoning.
She could only stomp her foot, whirl around, and flounce off to sulk in a corner.
"My foolish little sister," Ren called after her retreating back, his mood now exceedingly sunny. He slipped into a playful, mock-epic tone from a memory he couldn't quite place. "If you wish to surpass me… then set sail! I leave everything to… Ptooey! I mean, if you wish to surpass me, then work hard! Strive! You will understand my… dedicated guidance… one day."
Kurenai would come to appreciate his "painstaking efforts" eventually. Yes, that was definitely it.
Shinku Yūhi, who had just finished preparing dinner and come to call the children, overheard this final monologue and froze in the doorway. "…"
He decided, once and for all, to permanently retract any statements about Ren's "maturity beyond his years."
Moreover, why was the kid lapsing back into these incomprehensible performance pieces? He truly could not fathom the inner workings of the modern child's mind.
After dinner.
The spar commenced as decreed.
Backyard. Dusk painted the sky in hues of orange and purple.
Ren and Kurenai faced each other across the packed earth. One radiated calm, assured confidence. The other… also radiated a strange, renewed confidence.
'Does she have some hidden card?' Ren's heart sank slightly. He dared not be careless. The girl had been a bundle of nerves all afternoon. This sudden reversal was suspicious. Eleven parts wrong out of ten. The threat to his Family Hierarchy Status was re-emerging!
'Hmph, hmph! I won't be crying for long!' Kurenai thought to herself, a secret plan fully formed. She wouldn't let Ren's fist make her sob. She just had to surrender fast enough. Ren's punch couldn't hit her if she yielded first!
Shinku, acting as both witness and referee, stood to the side. "Are both combatants ready?" He looked between them. "Then… begin!"
Shunshin!
With a soft puff of displaced air, his figure blurred and vanished from the immediate arena, leaving the two children alone.
"I won't let you make me cry!" Kurenai declared with exaggerated seriousness and launched her "attack."
"…" Ren, taking no chances where his fraternal title was concerned, settled into a cautious, ready stance.
The courtyard was compact. Kurenai jogged toward him. About halfway, she "seemed" to catch her foot on an imaginary irregularity in the perfectly flat dirt.
"Oof!" she exclaimed theatrically, and her small body pitched forward, landing on the ground with a soft thump.
She "laboriously" lifted her head, fixing Ren—who stood a bemused two meters away—with a look of utmost, grave respect. "Such… such powerful Earth Release! Ren, you're too strong! You've already mastered a high-level Earth ninjutsu to trip me! I am no match for you! I surrender!"
Hehehe! Her internal monologue cheered. Surrender declared right in front of the referee! Now Ren can't possibly punch me. If he tries, Father will stop him. Mission accomplished! I am a tactical genius!
Ren: "…"
Shinku, from the sidelines: "…"
Ah. So that was the source of her confidence. She'd engineered a flawless, zero-contact surrender.
Her acting was painfully over-the-top, and her excuse was utterly ridiculous… but it was undeniably clever for a six-year-old.
"Oh, you…" Shinku didn't know whether to laugh or sigh, but he couldn't deny it was adorably cunning. He flashed to the center of the yard. "Contest concluded! Kurenai Yūhi has been defeated by Ren's… formidable tactical prowess. I declare Ren the victor of this wager. Henceforth, Ren is the older brother, and Kurenai is the younger sister."
Kurenhi stopped pretending immediately, springing up from the dirt with a triumphant little jump. "Yay!" Her primary objective—avoiding physical pain—had been achieved.
"…" Ren, meanwhile, was processing the system's response.
[Ding! Mission: 'Defeat the challenger Ochiai Rumi' completed. Reward distributing…]
As Shinku's words settled, the notification chimed. A stream of information—not just words, but experiential knowledge—flowed into Ren's consciousness. It was the complete operational memory for Bakudō #1: Sai (Restraint): the specific spiritual pressure manipulation, the incantation (and the principles behind skipping it), the hand seal, the method of release, the underlying theory of binding. It was as if he'd practiced it a thousand times in another life. In the Bleach world, he would now be considered proficient in this basic kido.
'So, surrendering this afternoon didn't work, but this theatrical surrender just now did,' Ren analyzed, his mind racing. 'What's the determining variable? Timing? The formal presence of a referee? Or the fact that a "defeat" was officially declared and recognized?'
The system's completion criteria were a puzzle he needed to solve. It was fundamental to farming future rewards efficiently.
Kurenai had proposed the bet for "tonight." Afternoon surrender: failure. Evening surrender with a referee's official call: success. Was it time-bound? Or was the referee's formal adjudication the key trigger?
He'd have to experiment carefully in the future. For now, he had his reward, and his status as 'onii-chan' was legally, spiritually, and system-recognized. It was a good night.