The evening breeze felt wonderful on her face; it slipped through the window and crept quietly into the room.
Downstairs, Sen Getsusa, who had just come home, was busy sorting ingredients in the kitchen.
By now she had shed that cumbersome kimono for a black tank top and skimpy shorts—her full figure shown off to perfection—bare feet padding across the floor as she held a head of lettuce she'd just rinsed.
During the fight earlier, all the fruit Aria had given her, along with the groceries she'd bought for dinner, had been smashed. Now she'd have to see what was left in the fridge and get creative… (´へ`)
Unaware of the commotion upstairs, the girl quietly prepared dinner.
Izumi Sagiri, in pink pajamas, stood on the sofa draped with a sheet.
She pressed the heels of her hands together, fingers flared like a flower's calyx, aiming at Chitose Murase, who was holding a cup.
"Ka-me-ha-me~Haaaa!!"
"Boom-boom-boom-boom—BOOM!"
Chitose Murase: …Is she an idiot?
"Well? Well? That's the Kamehameha—you could at least dodge!"
Chitose calmly sipped her coffee; the bitter bloom exploded on her tongue. "No need. I'm Demon King Piccolo—you can't kill me."
"Hah! So you want to be the green bean who spits eggs from his mouth…" Sagiri looked revolted. "Didn't know you were so wild inside."
Chitose: …"Then how about the Afterimage Fist? Or the Thunder Shock Surprise?" The silver-haired girl waved an excited hand. "Hit you with Thunder Shock, then seal you and Sister Tsukisa inside a rice cooker with the Evil Containment Wave!"
"And you'd become the first martial artist in history to starve to death from lack of life skills," Chitose said, straightening her obi with perfect calm.
"A helpless martial artist is adorable—come on!" The aqua-eyed girl rolled her eyes. "Can't you play along? Are all novelists this uptight?"
"Technically, I'm not a novelist yet."
"But you're almost finished, right?"
Seeing no cooperation coming, Sagiri flopped cross-legged onto the sofa. Beside her lay a manga volume.
Dragon Ball! A Passionate Masterwork by the Mysterious Maiden! Breakthrough! One Million Copies! A Gift from Tsukihime! shouted the cover, showing a boy firing a blast with a green dragon overhead.
Chitose set her cup down and glanced at the comic Sagiri had been mimicking. "Hard to believe… Sister Tsukisa's manga sold a million copies in six months. They're already calling her 'Lady Tsukihime'—does a breakup really spark inspiration?"
Sagiri pouted. "If breaking up is what it takes, I'd rather stay single. You don't live with her, so it's easy to talk."
Annoyed, she peeked at the closed door, then whispered, "That night she came back from the café she acted weird—bought tons of meat, fruit, vegetables… You know her constitution, right?"
Chitose nodded. "A porcelain doll who collapses holding three phones."
Sagiri clapped. "Exactly! She can't even lift my drawing board, yet that day she carried seven or eight bags of veggies and beef. How?"
"And at night I pass her room and hear stuff like 'Damn master—I'll Afterimage-Fist you to death' in her sleep…"
"Is her head broken from drawing too much?"
She tapped her temple with a slender finger.
Chitose chuckled. "Unlikely—probably just idea-block."
She knew painting was Sen Getsusa's hobby, mostly oils and watercolors.
To suddenly draw a manga, publish it, and break a million in six months… it was a mystery.
Still, given Dragon Ball's quality, Chitose wouldn't be shocked if it hit two or three million later. At first she'd bought it only because Sen was the author; now she bought it for Dragon Ball itself.
A writer of battle fiction, she found the characters so alive she almost believed Sen had met them.
"So it's not her head… Oh! Could it be Tojo Aoi—"
Chitose cut in sharply. "Don't mention that woman in front of Sister Tsukisa. She doesn't deserve it."
Sagiri asked curiously, "Green Bean, why did that woman leave Sister Tsukisa?"
Chitose: Call me Green Bean again and see what happens!
"Just the usual rot of noble families and their fortunes."
Chitose Murase shot Izumi Sagiri a glare and idly twirled her spoon in the coffee cup. "Just the Tojo Family's Tojo Heavy Industries alone is an enormous empire. I never thought their relationship would last, but Sister Yuesha never wanted to hear that. Though… she must have braced herself long ago."
Click.
The bedroom door was nudged open.
A placid Sen Getsusa carried dinner in, hooking the door shut with her foot.
"Come on, eat up. Tonight's a feast."
She seemed not to have heard the conversation.
The three sat at the table. Mid-meal, Chitose Murase jabbed at a news item on her phone, eyes rounding in shock.
"Isn't that the uncle who always drove 'that person' around?"
"What 'that person'—you mean that idiot Tojo Aoi!"
Izumi Sagiri puffed her cheeks, forgetting Chitose's warning moments earlier. "'No reason, just want to break up'—how dare she hurt my beloved big sister—"
"It's been months. Let's not talk about her. Be good and eat."
Sen Getsusa smiled serenely, the teardrop mole beneath her eye lifting with the expression, plainly ready to end the topic.
"It's fine—those tycoons are all like that! Big Sister Tsukisa still has me!"
Patting her neat clothes, Izumi Sagiri declared, "She must've done something awful, or why else would she suddenly die in a luxury car?"
"Sagiri! Don't speak of the dead that way."
Chitose Murase frowned in reproof, just in time to catch Sagiri's sweeping hand gesture.
Unconsciously—she swore it was unconscious—she darted a glance at Sen Getsusa's cup size… C? D? An even later letter?!
Idiot, idiot! This is no time for that!
"Hmph!" Sagiri scorned the photo of Tamura Tatsuya on the screen.
Sen Getsusa opened her own phone and saw the same headline.
She knew Tamura Tatsuya.
Ever since she and Tojo Aoi began meeting "privately," the driver had ferried Aoi and kept their secret—at least, in a conglomerate like the Tojo Family, two girls needed someone to keep things quiet.
Of course, in a conglomerate that size, no one could keep a secret forever.
But back then, Sen Getsusa hadn't cared.
Revenge? A warning, killing the Tojo Family's chauffeur?
Or aimed at Aoi herself?
Was Aoi in danger?
"…No trace of a second person at the scene."
"…Death by mechanical asphyxiation."
"…No collision damage to the Rolls-Royce."
"…Investigation underway."
"Should I call and ask?"
Noticing Sen Getsusa's worry, Chitose Murase ventured.
"What for? That phony short-hair will be fine."
Stuffed and content, Izumi Sagiri flopped onto the carpet, pale-pink socks half off, toes waggling at them. "Big Sister?"
Sen Getsusa's hand hovered over her phone, then shook her head. She rose and slipped out: "No call. We've broken up, haven't we? You two finish; I'll tidy the kitchen."
The door closed; the remaining pair exchanged looks.
"Sagiri!" Chitose puffed her cheeks. "I told you—no mentioning Tojo Aoi!"
"If even we avoid the topic, doesn't that prove it'll stay a wound in Big Sister's heart forever?"
Izumi Sagiri stared earnestly at Chitose Murase. "I don't know what secrets Tojo Aoi has, but I can't forgive her—yet Big Sister doesn't need pity."
"She's a genius manga artist!"
"The beautiful, mysterious Princess Tsukihime!"
"Bigger than my head—"
Chitose Murase barked, eyes bulging: "Put your hands down this instant!"
"O-okay…" Sagiri meekly retracted her small hands, palms circling imaginary orbs.
---------------------------------
Hope you enjoy this fanfiction if you do and would like to read the next 30 chapters in advance, pls do check out my Patreon.
patreon.com/TLScarlet
Also don't forget to give me a Power Stone if you do like this fiction. Your support really motivates me to continue doing my best in translating, Thanks!!