Chapter 3

If Yuto were given the chance to strangle past him, he would happily take it. He couldn’t believe he agreed to let Rin tutor him. How could he be so stupid? Tutoring meant she would be in his house, getting close to his family.

Thank God his parents weren’t around. Unfortunately, his sisters were haunting the halls. He’d have to escort Rin in as quickly as possible before either of them had a chance to meet her.

Yuto smirked. At least he had managed to come up with the perfect plan to break up with Rin. He looked at the deliberately placed dirty magazine poking out from under his bed. Once Rin saw that magazine, she’d feel disgusted and beg to break up.

Sure, he’d be labelled a pervert. Rumours might spread throughout the school, but he was prepared for the consequences. It was worth it to finally break up with her.

He glanced out his open window. It wasn’t raining, but it looked like the conditions were deteriorating. The forecast did warn of the potential of a typhoon. He hoped Rin would suddenly get a change of heart and cancel the plans.

At that moment, the doorbell rang.

Yuto rushed to the door. He had to get there before either of his sisters did.

He opened the door, and a strong gust of wind blew, catching Rin’s hair like a shoujo manga protagonist.

“I brought some gifts for you and your family.”

She glanced around.

“Umm, where are your parents?”

Yuto sighed. “I ask myself that all the time. I think they are somewhere in Europe at the moment. They travel for work.”

“So does that mean we are alone?” she asked, her face reddening.

“Unfortunately not,” Yuto replied without even the slightest bit of concern for the implications such a statement could imply. He had a bigger problem to worry about. The two faces that were peeking around the corner of the living room doorframe.

“Why don’t you two introduce yourself?”

The two girls burst into the hallway.

“My little bro is havin’ a girl over? Look at how much ya have grown,” the taller girl proudly remarked, holding an empty beer can in her hand. Her long black hair covered the intoxicated redness of her face.

This was Rei, Yuto’s somewhat loud and irresponsible older sister. She worked as an editor for a writing company. How she managed to hold onto the job despite always sleeping in was a mystery to Yuto. He felt sorry for the authors under her.

The other girl, the shorter one, gave a thumbs-up. “Good job, brother,” she said with a deadpan expression. Her shoulder-length black hair covered her left eye, making her expressions even harder to decode. This was Noa, his younger sister. Unlike Rei, she was actually extremely quiet and responsible.

Rin bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. I am Rin, Yuto’s girlfriend.”

Yuto’s sisters both clapped.

“Oh, as I mentioned, I brought some snacks if you would like some,” she held out the plastic bag.

Noa graciously accepted Rin's gifts whilst Rei placed her arm around Yuto and whispered in his ear. “She’s a keeper.”

Yuto felt his cheeks warm up. This was precisely why he wanted to avoid Rin meeting his sisters. Not because of general embarrassment. He was desensitised to them by now. It was because he knew she would instantly hit it off with them, making it all the harder to break up with her.

“Well, we should probably begin our study session,” Yuto quickly interjected to try to redirect the conversation.

“Oh rearing to be alone already, ya much more of a man than I thought,” Rei laughed, patting him on the back.

Noa once again gave a thumbs up. “Good job, brother.”

“I hate you both!”

Rin burst out laughing.

“Sorry,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye. “I just thought how wonderful your relationship is. I wish I had siblings, like yours.”

Noa slowly approached Rin and wrapped her arms around her waist. “Once you marry big brother, you’ll be my older sister.”

Don’t give her any ideas! Yuto mentally screamed at Noa.

Rin’s face reddened.

“That would be nice,” she mumbled.

Yuto couldn’t stand any more of this. He grabbed Rin’s hand and led her to his room. He opened the door and was hit by the chilly blast of the typhoon picking up from his still-opened window. He jogged over and closed it before shifting his gaze to his bed, where he expected to see a not-so-well-hidden erotic magazine.

He blinked several times.

Where did the dirty magazine go?!?!

Yuto couldn’t have known that the same gust of wind that hit when opening the front door also blew around his room and carried the magazine outside his open window.

“So this is your room?” Rin mused, glancing around.

“It is what it is,” he shrugged, still glancing around, expecting to see the magazine.

She wandered over to his desk and picked up a photo of Yuto from when he was younger.

She spun around with a smile, still holding the photo.

“You look awfully cute in this.”

Yuto could feel his cheeks warming up.

“Please put that away!” He shrieked.

“Aww, but you are so cute.”

“We are here to study!” he squealed, flustered.

“Alright then.” She set it down and slowly paced to the centre of the room, where there was a low table set up. She sat down, and Yuto reluctantly joined her. The two of them got to work solving problems. As much as he hated to admit it, Rin was an excellent teacher.

The two worked on problems for several hours, occasionally interrupted by Noa bringing snacks and drinks. Well, that was the excuse anyway. The way she clung to Rin each time suggested to Yuto that she had ulterior motives.

“I should probably look at going. It’s getting quite late, and the storm is picking up,” Rin commented, casting a gaze to the increasingly wild weather outside.

They headed back towards the front door.

“Hey! Ya ain’t thinkin’ of leavin’ in this weather, are ya?” Rei asked, finally getting up off the couch and joining them.

“I wanted to go before the weather got worse,” Rin replied, avoiding making eye contact with her.

“It’s too wild out there! I can’t believe Yuto would let ya go.” She gave Yuto a disapproving look. Noa came running from the lounge room just to add a nod.

“What else am I supposed to do?”

“Why don’t ya stay over tonight?”

Noa began nodding harder. “You should stay.”

Wait what? Rei, Noa, what the fuck do you two think you are doing?

“Would that be alright?” Rin asked, twiddling her fingers, keeping her gaze locked with the floor.

“Sure, give me ya parents’ number, and I’ll give ‘em a call,” She put her arm around Rin. “We can’t have ya going out in this kinda weather.”

❤︎ --- ୨୧ --- ❤︎

End of Chapter 3