Chapter 49: House Rules

One million.

Yukina stared at the densely packed zeros on the screen.

Her eyeballs rolled in circles.

She felt as if she were about to be sucked into a whirlpool.

So much money.

Wasn’t this way too much?

She had never seen this much money in her whole life.

Even the gold coins in the game might not have been this many.

Where on earth had this money come from?

It couldn’t be…

“Leave your sister’s matter to me.”

That sentence Mashiro had said before they parted surfaced in her mind again.

Had all this money been transferred over by Mashiro?

It should be… it could only be.

Otherwise, how could her sister’s bank account suddenly have this much extra money?

It could only be that Mashiro had used her cash ability.

But… this is still too much.

For a split second, she had indeed been moved by Mashiro’s effort.

But after that, all that remained in her heart was unease and fear.

Do I… really have the right to receive this much money?

She had only done some trivial little things.

Or rather… she had only been making up for mistakes she herself had committed.

Was that really worth Mashiro paying this much?

And also…

Where did this money even come from?

She had already analyzed it before.

At this stage, Mashiro was only an empty-shell heiress.

She did not have this much financial power at all.

She could not suddenly put together one million.

What exactly had she done, to put this sum together in such a short time?

She hadn’t really gone and robbed a bank, had she?

But even if she robbed a bank, it wouldn’t be this fast.

The more Yukina thought, the more chaotic her mind became.

She thought through many events that might happen in the game.

But she still could not find an answer.

…So heavy.

Those densely packed zeros on the screen were like stone after stone.

They pressed heavily on the bottom of Yukina’s heart.

They made it a little hard for her to breathe.

But… our family really does need this money.

As long as they had this money, the family would be able to repay the debt.

Her sister would be able to get free.

She would no longer have to work from dawn till dark, used like livestock by that black-hearted company.

…Sister.

Yukina lifted her eyes.

She looked toward her sister.

Yuna was holding her arms.

Her tail lashed anxiously behind her.

A shallow vertical crease was squeezed between her brows.

Why was her sister’s reaction this intense?

“This… isn’t this a good thing?”

By the time her mind reached this point, she had already spoken the words without noticing.

“A good thing?”

After Sister Yuna heard it, she looked as if she had been stabbed by something.

Her expression became serious:

“How could it be a good thing? This is one million. A full one million. Transferred just like that, without even a memo. It can only be a trap someone set, or some new kind of fraud, money laundering, dirty stuff like that. We absolutely cannot let our guard down.”

She stretched out her tail and poked Yukina’s pink-haired head.

“Didn’t Sister teach you when you were little? Things that don’t belong to you, you absolutely must not touch them at random. Don’t go after small gains. Going after big gains is no good either. Otherwise, you’ll definitely suffer for it later.”

As she spoke, her sister seemed to think of something.

Her expression darkened a little.

“I-I know.”

Yukina rubbed the forehead that had been poked.

She obediently nodded her head.

This was still the first time she had seen her sister lecture her.

Even in the original owner’s memories, this kind of situation was rare.

It seemed her sister was truly uneasy.

Still, she could understand.

She had thought too shallowly just now.

If an ordinary person suddenly received one million of unknown origin, how could it possibly be “yay, let’s use it to pay off the debt”?

What they should feel more was fear.

Fear of being pulled into some dangerous deal.

Worry that someday in the middle of the night someone would come knock on their door, just like in the movies.

Our home was already teetering.

It could not withstand the influence of any outside force.

“…Something from the past? Impossible.”

Yuna bit her nail.

She muttered.

Her face grew paler and paler.

“I don’t care about myself. But if these people’s target… is Yukina…”

Her voice grew lower and lower.

In the end it was as if something had caught in her throat.

She paused for a moment, then said:

“Should we… call the police?”

“No!”

Yukina almost shouted it out as a conditioned reflex.

The voice echoed in the empty living room.

It startled them both.

The air instantly fell into silence.

Yuna froze for a moment.

She turned her head toward her violently reacting little sister and asked:

“Why?”

“B-because…”

Yukina opened her mouth.

She did not know how to explain.

Both hands helplessly pinched the corners of her pajamas.

Mashiro’s matter… she absolutely could not tell her sister.

If her sister knew the things she had done with Mashiro, she would definitely explode on the spot.

She would immediately pick up a knife and go after Mashiro.

Even if she hid those things, she still would not be able to explain why two people who were only ordinary classmates would suddenly carry out a one-million transaction.

It was way too abnormal.

When that time came, her sister would definitely run to the school to question Mashiro in order to get things clear, and turn everything upside down.

But if she said nothing now, her sister was going to call the police.

When that time came, if the police found something, learned that Mashiro’s money was of unknown origin, and locked her in prison, it would be a complete Bad End.

It’s over, it’s over. What do I do. I can’t speak now, and I can’t not speak either…

Yukina hemmed and hawed and could not get the words out.

She was like a student who had not done homework and had been called to the podium by the teacher.

Her fingers clutched her hem, at a loss.

“Yukina.”

Her sister’s eyes changed.

She seemed to have noticed something.

She actively shifted her position and drew a little closer to her little sister.

“You wouldn’t happen to… know where this money came from, would you?”

She stretched out the tip of her tail.

She lightly held up her little sister’s chin.

She turned her averted head back a little.

“I-I don’t know.”

Yukina still did not dare look at her sister’s eyes.

She was so guilty she was trembling.

“Really?”

“Re…ally…”

“Little Yukina, lying is no good.”

“I-I’m not…”

“Really not?”

“…Really.”

“Fine then. I’ll call the police right now.”

Sister Yuna opened her phone.

Her fingers openly tap. tap. tap. poked three numbers on it.

She was about to press the call key.

“No!”

Yukina immediately panicked.

She hurriedly lunged to snatch the phone.

But she had only taken one step.

“Wah?!”

Her leg was immediately tripped by something.

It was slippery.

It was as flexible as a snake.

Her whole person lost balance.

She fell forward.

She landed unerringly across Sister Yuna’s laid-flat thigh.

She struggled.

She had just wanted to push her body up when a palm’s downward-pressing weight suddenly came from her back.

The force was not large, but it was enough to press her back down.

“Si-Sister?”

Yukina’s heart trembled.

Right now she could not turn her head.

She could only feel her sister’s breath brushing across the back of her neck again and again.

Those few ice-cold fingers on her back, through the thin pajamas, pressed against her skin.

They were trembling lightly.

“Lately Little Yukina has gotten so well-behaved. I thought you had finally grown up.”

Her sister’s voice was different from usual.

It was as if it had been soaked in cold water.

It carried a disappointment that was hard to bear.

“I didn’t think you would actually learn to lie to Sister, and even get mixed up in something this dangerous.”

Her fingers followed the shallow dip of her back.

They touched down section by section.

It was as if she were counting the bones on her back.

At last they stopped at the base of her tail.

“—!”

Yukina’s waist jerked hard.

It was as if she had been shocked.

A tingling, numbing feeling exploded from the root of her tail.

It crashed all the way up her spine to the back of her head.

Even her toes curled.

That place was too strange.

Her sister was only pressing lightly, and her whole body could not muster any strength.

Was that a succubus’s weak point?

That was way too unfair…

She still wanted to struggle.

But both her ankles were tightly bound together by her sister’s tail.

Her hands could not reach anything either.

She could only twist weakly like a fish on a chopping block.

“…Ah.”

A whimper like a kitten leaked from the corner of her mouth.

Her sister’s hand did not stop.

It touched upward little by little along the thin, soft tail.

Warm finger pads brushed over the tailbone.

They lightly pinched the tiny black heart at the very tip of the tail.

They kneaded it again and again.

“Th-that place… you can’t touch it…”

Yukina’s trailing voice went soft.

Her body trembled several times in a row.

Her breathing became rapid.

“It’s all because this sister of yours is incompetent. I spoiled my little sister too much usually, that’s why I made a mistake like this.”

Her sister spoke.

Her voice was like announcing a house rule that could not be refuted:

“Now… it’s time to punish the bad child who likes to lie.”

She let go of Yukina’s tail.

She slowly raised her hand.

An adult-sized palm hung in midair.

It was aimed straight at that small, soft curve that had lifted slightly from lying prone, trembling again and again.

Beneath the pure cotton fabric, a warm touch could be felt even across the air.