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Satoru was exhausted but extremely satisfied with his day.

For the first time since he arrived in Munich, he decided to have a day away from the city. With the help of Miho, he managed to sign up for a tour in English to one of the most amazing castles in the entire world—Neuschwanstein Castle.

But it was not the castle's name, which was hard to pronounce, that tired the boy out. It was the fact that he had to get up right at sunrise, walk all the way up the mountain to reach the wondrous building, explore it for a few hours, and then walk back down to the bus to return to the city.

He could feel his legs giving out as he tried to climb the last of the stairs to the third floor. Never before had he felt so blessed to see the door of his sister’s apartment.

“I’m back,” he wheezed out.

“Welcome home,” his sister answered, but when she turned around to see him and noticed the state he was in, she started chuckling. “You were always more of a nerd, but you gotta work a bit on your stamina too, little bro.”

“Don’t—” Satoru still tried to catch his breath. “Just don’t.”

“Okay, okay~” she gave up. For now. “How did you like it, though? The castle, I mean.”

Before answering, the teen walked over to the armchair and plopped down next to his sister. “It was incredible.” Despite his tiredness, his eyes held a lot of vigor, gleaming with excitement. “It was so different from any structure we have in Japan—not that I don’t like our architecture! But seeing something so unique… I felt like I was in a fantasy world.”

“It feels different to be here, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah… Is that why you keep coming back?” His serious tone surprised even him, but he still wanted to follow up. “You finished college, right? You could come back. Mom and Dad never got a clear answer from you about when you’ll come back. They still think you just want to fool around a bit more and then return.”

Miho tensed up, staying quiet for a while, ruffling her hair awkwardly.

“Uh. I don’t really know myself,” she started. “You know me, I’m spontaneous. On one hand, I could see myself staying here. On the other, maybe there are other places that would fit me better.”

“So you don’t even consider Japan anymore?”

“No, it’s not like that!” she quickly denied. “But it does feel like if I stay there for too long, I’ll never find the courage to leave and explore again.”

“I see,” was all Satoru muttered before they both sat in silence.

“Aaah! Whatever! Why are you being so serious? I won’t let you get tired again if it ends up creating tense situations like this one!” Miho started to playfully ruffle his hair—maybe a bit rougher than just playfully.

“Ow, ow! Okay, I won’t do that again, just stop!”

“Ha ha! You’re so weak!”

“By the way,” he ran a hand through his hair, trying to fix it after his sister’s attack, “where is Silke?”

“In the bathroom, I think?” Miho put a finger to her cheek. “Now that I think about it, she’s been there for a while… Can you check on your object of affection while I order us some pizza? I crave pizza.”

“Wh—She’s not the object of my affection!”

Satoru quickly got up and turned around so his reddened cheeks wouldn’t give his sister more ammunition and walked toward the bathroom door.

Two short knocks should be enough. “Silke, you okay? Miho is going to order pizza.”

For a moment, the black-haired boy could hear faint, muffled noises but couldn’t make anything out, so he tried again. “Silke?”

“I’m sinking!” the girl finally shouted out in English.

Sinking..? Like… drowning!?

“I’m coming to help you!” Without thinking, he opened the door wide.

Apparently, the girl had forgotten to lock it, or maybe she hadn’t felt the need before when the only male in the apartment was out.

It was a huge mistake.

Silke was definitely not drowning. Quite the contrary—she was standing there, confused, wrapped in a pink towel.

“I’m sorry!” A panicked Satoru shouted before running out of the bathroom.

Everything was over. All the progress he had made in his relationship with Silke was down the drain.

“The heck is wrong with you two?” Miho stood with her hands on her hips.

A few minutes had passed since the bathroom incident. Silke was locked in her room, Satoru was lying on the couch in a fetal position, and Miho stood in the middle of it all, confused by how two hormonal teenagers were acting.

“Ugh, we’re not gonna leave it like that,” she muttered. “I’m going for Silke, and we will resolve whatever happened while I was getting us food!”

With that announcement, she stepped into the corridor and, just a moment later, returned with the blonde girl by her side, who clearly looked uncomfortable judging by her shaky movement.

Satoru didn’t have time to psychoanalyze her posture because he knew he had to apologize. It was a true miracle that he hadn’t walked in on her without a towel. Quickly, he dropped down to his knees and bowed down in a dogeza pose.

“I am so terribly sorry! Entschuldigung!”

To add more drama, he slammed his head against the floor.

“It is okay, Toru. Accident,” Silke responded, yet her voice was still shaking a bit.

“Okay, can someone explain what exactly happened?”

Still in the same regretful position, Satoru answered his sister. “She said that she was sinking in English, so I panicked, thinking she was drowning in the bathtub or something, and entered while… she was in… just in a towel…”

The last few words barely left his mouth.

Once Miho registered the situation from his perspective, she started chattering in German so quickly that Satoru couldn’t catch a single word.

“I see,” she finally said in her native language after the blonde girl answered her. Then she turned around to her still bowing brother. “Don’t be so dramatic—get up. Simple misunderstanding. She wanted to say she was thinking in English, but her accent often makes the ‘th’ sound more like ‘s.’ Don’t worry, it’s all explained now. She’s not mad or anything.”

“Uuh, again, sorry, Silke,” Satoru mumbled quietly, now standing but barely looking up, afraid to see his flatmate’s face turned into a scowl or disgust. He really didn’t want to create the stereotype of a perverted Japanese nerd.

Instead, he was met with a small, shy smile from the girl. “Alles gut!”

The black-haired boy had no idea how his sister had presented the situation to Silke, but he was extremely grateful for her help.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

“Our pizza! Come on, let’s get the table ready. I’m starving!”