Chapter 200: The Inevitable Relapse (Rui's Desperate Bid for Freedom)

I cannot take it anymore. I am a prisoner in my own home, a strategic asset in a war I never enlisted in. My "Protection Detail" (Rina, Haruka, and Aiwa) is so effective that I have not had five minutes of genuine, unsupervised alone time in over a week. My phone is constantly being "casually" glanced at. My every conversation is monitored for "suspicious keywords." My snack intake is being micromanaged by three competing factions.

I am suffocating under a mountain of weaponized kindness, analytical scrutiny, and forbidden sibling affection.

Rina is now actively sleeping in my room. Not in my bed, thank god. She dragged her futon in from her own room and laid it out on my floor, claiming she is "protecting me from bad dreams" and "potential nighttime incursions by blonde rivals." It is an uncrossable line, a blatant, horrifying violation of every known law of sibling decency. But she claims it is for my "safety," and my parents (who are home, and whom Rina has somehow convinced I am suffering from severe stress and sleepwalking) actually support it. "It is sweet that Rina is looking after you so much, Rui," my mom said, completely oblivious.

My room, my last sanctuary, is gone. I am sharing it with my possessive, love-struck, secretly-a-cosplay-goddess sister. This is not a romantic comedy anymore. This is a horror movie.

I am desperate. I am miserable. I am completely, utterly isolated. The chaos was bad, but this new, hyper-controlled, 24/7 surveillance state is worse. The constant, simmering tension, the unspoken jealousies, the forced proximity to Rina, the guilt over Aiwa, the confusion over Haruka… it is all too much.

I need an escape. I need to talk to the one person who seems to exist outside (and yet, somehow, inside) this entire ridiculous framework. The one person who, despite being the cause of all this, is also the only one I can be completely, disastrously honest with.

I need to see Izumi.

I execute my most daring escape plan yet. It involves faking a sudden, violent, and highly questionable bout of food poisoning (which I blame on Kenji's "experimental" expired-yogurt-and-Pocky smoothie from the day before). Rina, in her "perfect nurse" mode, is momentarily distracted by her frantic search for peptic-bismuth and a thermometer.

While she is busy boiling water for a "soothing barley tea," I make my move. I grab my wallet and keys, lock myself in the bathroom, and climb out the tiny, frosted-glass window, dropping inelegantly into the bushes two feet below. It is the most unheroic, pathetic escape in the history of mankind, but I am free.

I run. I do not stop running until I am at the train station. I send a single, desperate text to Izumi.

Me: EMERGENCY. ESCAPED. NEED ASYLUM. CYBERCAFE. NOW.

Her reply is instantaneous. Izumi: On my way, Sir Rui. Do not make any sudden moves. The Goddess Guard is probably tracking your scent.

I make it to the cybercafe, a trembling, paranoid wreck. I secure my usual corner booth and try to catch my breath, my heart pounding from the adrenaline of my Great Escape.

A few minutes later, she slides into the booth opposite me, not even bothering with the game login this time. She is wearing her usual casual-cool attire and holding two steaming cups of coffee. She places one in front of me.

"You look like hell," she observes cheerfully, taking a sip of her own. "Rough morning?"

"Rina… is sleeping… in my room," I pant, my voice shaky. "On a futon. To 'protect' me. From you."

Izumi just stares at me for a long, silent moment. Then she bursts out laughing. A loud, genuine, unrestrained laugh that makes several other patrons look over in annoyance. "She what?!" she gasps, wiping a tear from her eye. "A protective sleepover? That is… next-level. Your sister is a strategic genius of terrifying proportions."

"It is not funny!" I wail, my voice cracking. "It is a nightmare! I am a prisoner in my own home! And it is all your fault!"

"My fault?" she asks, feigning innocence. "All I did was send a helpful, informative selfie. And maybe kiss you. Twice."

"You blew up my life!" I accuse, though there is no real heat in it. I am just… tired. "You did it on purpose! You said so! To 'motivate' them!"

"And look!" she says, grinning. "It is working! They are motivated! They are focused! They are actively competing! My plan is a resounding success."

"Your plan is making me insane!" I groan, burying my face in my hands. "I am surrounded. I cannot breathe. I cannot think. I am just… trapped."

My desperation, my genuine misery, seems to finally break through her wall of amused trolling. Her smile fades, replaced by that rare, soft expression of genuine concern.

"Hey," she says quietly, reaching across the table and gently touching my arm. "I am sorry, Rui. I was just trying to… shake things first. I did not mean to get you locked in a sibling prison."

"It is not just Rina," I sigh, venting all my frustrations. "It is Haruka, analyzing my every move like I am a bug. It is Aiwa, looking at me with those sad, hopeful, 'childhood promise' eyes. It is all of them. I am just… I am drowning, Izumi."

Izumi is quiet for a long moment, just watching me. "Yeah," she says finally, her voice soft. "You really are." She takes a sip of her coffee, her expression thoughtful. "This… this situation requires a more… drastic solution."

"Like what?" I ask, desperate. "Moving to Peru? Faking my own amnesia?"

"Tempting," she admits. "But no. Something more direct." She looks at me, her eyes sparkling with a new, dangerous, and incredibly reckless idea. "You know, my apartment is really quiet. And secure. And Rina definitely does not have a key."

My heart stops. "What are you suggesting?"

"I am suggesting," she says, a slow, wicked smile spreading across her face, "that you do not go home tonight. I am suggesting you crash on my absurdly large, very comfortable sofa. A strategic, overnight, off-site retreat. Think of it as… defecting to the enemy camp. For a little while."

It is the single most insane, most reckless, most dangerous idea I have ever heard in my life. Going to her apartment. Staying the night. After she kissed me. After she sent that selfie. If Rina finds out… she will not just be "violently organizing." She will be "violently dismembering."

But… a night of peace? A night of silence? A night where no one is watching me, analyzing me, or sleeping on my floor?

It is the most appealing, most beautiful, most dangerously seductive offer in the world.

"Okay," I hear myself say, my voice sounding distant. "Okay. Let's do it."

Izumi's smile turns triumphant. "Excellent. Operation: Harem Defector is a go."