The arrival.

"Took you long enough!" The first thing we saw after disembarking was a tiny (still taller than me) silver-haired girl complaining. "I have been waiting for you since yesterday?"

"That sounds like a 'you problem'. Also, can't you just honestly say that you're happy to see us here? You don't have to be a tsundere all the time!" I took off my bag and kept it on the ground.

"Hmm... You want me to say that, don't you?" She raised her shoulders.

"Sure… but it's not like you-"

"I'm happy to see you two.~"

"Oh." She actually said it but was extremely smug about it.

"Especially Luha!" The next thing you'd know she was cheek to cheek with the little girl. Not the type of greetings a girl would give a girl, rather a greeting a cat mom would give her cat.

I couldn't tell if she treated Luha like a sister or a niece. Yuuno acting as an aunt would be more appropriate, right? They were like 18 years apart and all.

She was practically ancient compared to Luha. It wouldn't be all that surprising if she had a child as old as Luha had she continued to live in our previous life.

But then again I was the one who killed her and I doubt anyone would be capable of loving someone like her.

If she heard me say that out loud, she would actually murder me in cold blood.

'Sucks to be her I guess.'

"Let's get our stuff." Ignoring their kinship, I headed over to the side of the bus where all the luggage was stored, and the staff had already lined it up outside separating it by possession. Of course, there was the dumb mutt who was there too, wagging his tail excitedly. "Oh, it's set here already."

A gust of wind flew by me and half the luggage disappeared from the front of my eyes.

"Let's go already." The next thing I knew Yuu-chan started dragging off Luha and her luggage.

'Jeez. How excited is she?'

"Wait for me." I, being the one left out, took the mutt's leash in one hand and my luggage in another.

Our starting position was a bus stop in the middle of some fields and the destination- our dorms. Luha and I followed Yuuno while the others followed guides off into separate directions.

We walked around among the rice fields which reflected the golden sky and air that filled up the lungs as soon as you even tried to take a breathe in.

Luha eventually sat down on her luggage that Yuuno lugged around. It wasn't Luha's attempt to inconvenience Yuuno. It was just that she was sure that Yuuno felt nothing from the extra baggage.

The walk was long. Longer than I'd expected. Luggage in one hand, leash in another. The stupid dog got excited by everything and started pulling me to a side. It was honestly more exhausting to keep the dog in check than actually walking down the road.

By the time we arrived, the sun had almost descended beyond the mountains.

||A dorm(noun)- A building in the close frame of the academic premises.||

Shattered expectations.

"We're here!" Yuu-chan stretched her back out.

"What do you mean? This is just the middle of the field." I complained. It was quite literally a house in the middle of a tomato field.

"Yep yep… Oh! Here are your landlords." She started waving her hand. "JiiJii! The new kids are here!"

An old man, barely strong enough to walk with a stick put his hand up and waved back. Slowly but surely he made his way up to us.

His half-opened eyes gauged us up and down. Typical Asian old dude.

"Come on in." He said. His voice wasn't as grumpy as it was just straight-up tired. Even living would be hard with that ancient body of his.

[Don't get deceived by his looks...] Yuu-chan turned around somewhat critically before going back to her excited self.

'Well, that was weird.'

I looked at her like she was insane and she looked away. There was nothing to be deceived about, this man was weaker than even I was.

We followed behind and entered the small house in the middle of the field. Contrary to the outside appearance, the interior was modern and the house itself was deceivingly large.

"Are the kids here?" An old woman came walking out of the kitchen. Her stride resembled that of a penguin. Her body resembled a penguin's too. "Oh, they are!"

[Greet her. She's the nice one.]

"Good evening... umm..."

"Just call me Obaa-chan."

[That's her actual name. Don't question it.]

"Obaa-chan."

Luha and I bowed.

"Hahaha... it's nice to have new faces around here. The number is a little less than last year's but the kids are still nice to see."

[Dad pulled some strings to make this place exclusive to us.]

I figured as much.

"Oh, you brought a little doggy too! What's his name?"

"Uhh, it's Clintarou." I introduced and the mutt barked.

"That's a well... unique name... guess the house will be livelier now!" She totally copped out when she heard the name. Blame my parents not me!

"Hehehe." I chuckled dryly. Conversations with older strangers weren't my strong suit. To add to that, her personality was a bit overwhelming.

"Oh dear! I must have taken too much of your time. You two must be tired. Please go rest upstairs. Yuuno-chan will guide you, won't she?"

"Nhnn Baa-chan." Yuuno nodded.

And thus we went upstairs. There were two rooms and a bathroom. The floor was glossy and wooden, and Clintarou got up the flooring just fine without slipping. The side of the staircase joined a railing sort of thing that overlooked the first floor where the living room and kitchen was.

The old folk's bathroom and bedroom was a combined unit on the first floor. Or at least that was what I saw through the curtains.

Yuuno put the luggage down in the space between the two sliding doors that lead to the two rooms.

"Soooo... Luha-chan, who do you wanna stay with?" Yuu-chan asked and Luha immediately started fidgeting.

"You alright?" I patted her back.

"Uhh.. ah yes! I wanna stay withhh.... mmm. No." She looked nervous. Extremely so. It was like she had a meth addiction she wanted to hide really bad.

[I used the stalking skill on her and she's not addicted to anything.] Yuuno said almost as if she read my mind.

I grabbed her pinky.

[Do you reckon it's a bad sleeping habit or something?]

[Kids are insecure about that aren't they?]

[We should leave her be for a bit... maybe she just needs some time to open up to us.]

[I agree.]

'It almost feels like we are raising her.'

"Do you perhaps want to stay alone?" Yuu-chan asked.

"Can I?" Her eyes brightened up.

"I mean, you can if you want to. I was just expecting you to stay with me."

"It's not like I don't want to but… I'm a little embarrassed by my habits?"

[See?]

[Parenting gods.]

"Habits?"

"I'd rather not say."

[You tried too hard.]

[Let's just let it happen naturally.]

"Okay, then, I'll stay with Mao-kun." Yuuno claimed boldly. Honestly, I didn't mind much. We've been stuck together since birth. There was nothing left of her that I didn't know already. "You can stay with Clintarou."

Luha happily nodded her head before getting nervous again.

"Are you two fine with that?" She fidgeted.

"Yep… I mean I've been in the same room as this guy for 8 years now. A couple more wouldn't change much."

"I see… then I'll gladly take you up on that offer." She nodded. "Umm, can you help me unpack?"

"Sure."

I wonder if she thought deep down that we were way older than her. That was the way she treated us at least.

Anyhow, after that little chat, we helped Luha unpack. Her bags were relatively empty. She took to a futon out of the cupboard right after finishing. Evidently, travelling all day took a toll on her as well.

We went into our room after tucking her in and setting up a place for Clintarou.

Our room was small but not too small. Just enough to house two people. There was a study desk, a sliding cupboard, a book shelf, an ancient TV that looked like it came out in the 2020s, and a large window that overlooked the field. The window was opposite the door and the furniture was on either side.

The floor was worn down tatami but not to the point that looking at it made you disgusted. Just a few stains here and there.

This was also the room Yuuno lived in for a year.

"Shall we set your stuff up then?" She laid my suitcase down and started unpacking stuff. It was almost as if I weren't to intervene she would do the whole thing by herself. She was extremely quick too, almost like she didn't want me to intervene.

The room cleaning which she always skipped out on back at home was being done almost flawlessly. Half of the bag had already been unpacked. And the spaces where she arranged them were already empty waiting to be filled.

What was I seeing here?

"Why are you being so docile? Usually, you would've thrown a tantrum for hours before even considering staying in a room let alone clean and set everything up for me."

"What-so-ever do you mean?" She hid her face while pretending to work harder.

"Don't give me that crap. You're even helping me unpack. It's almost as if… as if you're actually a nice person."

"Don't push it… I can still turn your face inside out." She gave me a full view of her palm. "And as for your answer, I'm nice in general. So you don't have to worry abou-"

"What do you really need? Spit it before I deny your reques-"

"Can you please help me study??"