The Power of Three Donuts
The power of three donuts is no joke.
Ever since yesterday, Yohiko's attitude toward me has done a complete one-eighty. “Haru-kun.”
Just yesterday she’d drawn a firm line, insisting that as an idol she couldn’t speak with boys. Now she’s acting like a childhood friend I’ve known since kindergarten.
“Bangabanga~! Long time no see.”
“Uh… yeah?” It’s only been a day. What does she mean, long time no see?
“Haru-kun, who’s that cute girl glaring at me from the wheelchair behind you?”
At her words I turned around and met eyes with Yu Daye. Daye must have taken an instant dislike to Yohiko simply because she was human; she was staring daggers at her with pure hostility. I reached out and gently stroked her head to calm her down. Only then did she return to her usual adorable self, flashing a bright smile as she spoke.
“O-oppa… no, wait—could it be?! The legendary, super-mega-ton-class beautiful girl…!!”
“I’m Haru’s little sister. Nice to meet you. I’m Nagase Yohiko, leader of the Shining Butterfly group—also known as Red Butterfly!”
“A seductive beautiful girl who worms her way into oppa’s heart by calling herself his friend?! Is this the arrival of a new rival for the adorable little sister Yu Daye?!”
For a split second, a vein bulged on Yohiko’s forehead.
“Did you just call me… seductive?”
“Oh? Was that rude? In that case, I’ll correct myself: she’s the girl who tasted oppa’s kindness and is destined to become a prisoner of love who can’t live without him anymore!”
“…What?”
Yohiko stared at her in shock, so I stepped in to smooth things over.
“My little sister Daye reads way too many weird books, so she talks like that. Ninety percent of what she says is nonsense. Just smile and nod.”
“To dismiss ninety percent of the words spoken by Yu Daye—the precious little sister of a hopelessly siscon big brother—as nonsense?! Everything I say is one hundred percent pure truth, filled with love for oppa!”
“Haru-kun, shouldn’t you take your sister to the hospital?”
I quickly clamped my hand over Daye’s mouth before she could proudly announce something like “If it’s the gynecology department, I’m totally okay with it!” to assert her presence.
“Yohiko. What Daye says is a little strange, but her mind is perfectly normal. I’ll just accept the sentiment.”
Yohiko gave an awkward laugh. “If Haru says so~”
“Daye, now that you’ve finished greeting Yohiko, go pick out your room.”
“My room, huh~! Since I’m the girl who will one day become oppa’s most precious little sister, it would be best if you chose the room where oppa can see me the fastest! Which one should I pick?!”
When Daye asked me to choose for her, I thought for a moment.
“Hmm. Your legs aren’t great yet, so going up and down stairs would be hard. Let’s put you on the first floor.”
“Then the innocent little sister who is oppa’s property and must receive twenty-four hours of ‘care’—which is really love—will take the room right next to oppa’s!”
“Got it. I’ll move your stuff for you, so go ahead first.”
“Yes! I’ll be waiting as the adorable little sister who can absorb oppa’s love at maximum capacity without exploding!”
Today, too, I patted the head of my cute Daye as she let out a happy “Dehehehet.” I escorted her all the way to her room and came back.
In the meantime, Yohiko had spotted Hunya. Her eyes sparkled as she pointed at her.
“Haru! What is this unbelievably cute Kasif?!”
“This is Hunya, the Kasif who lives with us. Hunya, this is Yohiko, the one who lent us the house. Say hello.”
“Hunya!”
“She just said hello.”
“Hello… Hunya?! So cute!! She’s insanely cute!! Can I hug Hunya?!”
“Hunya!”
“She says no.”
“Just for a second! Can I hug her for just a tiny second?!”
“Hunyanyang!”
“She says absolutely not.”
“Come on! Ah! In that case, Hunya dear, is there anything you want?!”
At those words, Hunya’s ears perked up.
“Hunya wants a tablet!”
Yohiko’s eyes sparkled even brighter as she shouted, “Okay! I’ll buy you the latest Apple tablet!”
“The one with the best performance! Maximum storage!”
“Got it!”
“It’s a promise between humans and Hunya!?”
“Of course! In exchange… can I hug you now?”
“Hunya!”
Yohiko looked at me with eyes begging for a translation.
“Hunya says you can hug her.”
Yohiko immediately scooped Hunya into her arms.
“Kyaaaaah! Hunya dear is so incredibly cute~~!!”
She squealed while squeezing her. “Her fur is so squishy, and her hair is unbelievably soft! And her tail!”
“The tail is off-limits!”
“Huh? Why?”
“Haru bought Hunya’s tail for three donuts!!”
Yohiko shot me a questioning glare, demanding an explanation.
“She offered her tail in exchange for donuts, so I gave her some. This is the result.”
In truth, Hunya hadn’t offered her tail as a genuine reward. She was just too lazy to groom her fluffy tail herself and had dumped the responsibility on me. As proof, she still shoved her tail at me every day, saying, “Since you bought it, take responsibility and maintain it.”
“Hunya, I’ll do it for you! Do you need anything else?!”
“Hunya doesn’t want anyone but Haru touching her tail!”
“Just once!”
“No matter what you offer, if Hunya doesn’t like it, she doesn’t like it!”
“What a shame…”
Even as she said that, Yohiko kept stroking Hunya’s ears, cheeks, and head, clearly in a state of pure healing.
“Since we met like this, it must be fate. Let’s spend the whole day together and chat, Hunya dear.”
Yohiko seemed completely smitten with Hunya. She spoke to her in the gentle tone people use with cute animals.
“Hunya has to play games!”
When Yohiko suggested spending the entire day together, Hunya shook her head vigorously in strong refusal. Then she pointed at Yohiko and looked at me.
“Now Haru has to move Hunya’s stuff! In the meantime, Hunya will deal with this human! Hunya will also eat the snacks for her!”
“You’ll eat the snacks for me?! Hehe, how old are you, Miss Kasif?”
“Hunya is a proper adult! Hunya must not be treated like a child!”
“Oh, is that so~”
“You mustn’t ignore Hunya! It’s only because Haru is here that Hunya acts like this!”
“Sorry, Hunya~ As an apology, should I buy you a gaming computer too?”
“The latest computer!? With a 5080 Ti graphics card!? Including a gaming monitor and mechanical keyboard!”
“Ehh~ I don’t really know much about computers. Hunya, how much would all that cost together?”
“All together, about five million won!”
“It’s a bit expensive, but since I won’t be getting money stolen by those people anymore… okay! In exchange, you have to play with me all day today, Hunya dear?”
“Hunya has to play games later, so all day is impossible! Hunya will grant a three-hour free-use ticket!”
“A free-use ticket?! You’re seriously too cute!”
Yohiko’s mouth stretched into a wide, goofy grin from how adorable Hunya was.
“Alright~ Since I’m buying you expensive stuff, you’ll play with me again later too, right?!”
“Of course!”
Hunya really is weak to material goods, just like me. Since I can’t buy her those things, she’s getting them this way. She’s taken one step closer to the path of adulthood! As someone living with her like family, I’m genuinely happy that Hunya is becoming a little more mature.
Of course, even though Hunya is saying it’s fine right now, based on my experience the probability that she’ll later say “Hunya has to play games!” and completely ignore the promise is one hundred percent.
While Hunya and Yohiko were building their friendship, I finished moving Hunya’s luggage and headed toward Sorcia’s room.
Sorcia was taking things out of some kind of subspace and organizing them. I marveled once again at the Serena Union’s technology, which was generations ahead of humanity’s, and moved to help her. But she stopped me with a benevolent, saint-like smile.
“Oh my~ There’s no need for someone as exalted as Haru-nim to help with the chores of a lowly creature like me.”
“Still, I feel bad just standing around when you had to move everything twice because of me.”
“I appreciate the thought, but these are my personal belongings from now on. I still need time to mentally prepare. However, if Haru-nim truly wishes, right here and now I could…”
“Sorry, sorry! I’ll leave right away!”
“To think you would show such consideration to someone as insignificant as me… I don’t know where to put myself. For such a Haru-nim, I have something I prepared yesterday. It’s not much, but please accept it.”
Once again, she held out cookies. I thanked her and took them, thinking I might give them to Hunya later. But she’d probably sniff them again, say “Blood!” or something weird, and refuse to eat them. Why does she absolutely refuse to eat anything Sorcia gives her?
Is it because elves mainly eat vegetarian food while Kasifs prefer meat? I took one bite. It wasn’t bad…
Then I felt a presence behind me and turned around. Sorcia was watching me eat the cookies with an ecstatic expression. She still seemed to be mistaking me for some kind of god. Why does she keep misunderstanding?
Shaking the thought away, I arrived at Daisy’s room.
“Argh!!”
She was alone, huffing and puffing in frustration.
“What are you doing by yourself?”
“Y-y-you! Why are you barging into a girl’s room without permission?! You’re not planning to do anything weird, are you?! And you absolutely cannot take off my knee socks! No way!”
“I didn’t say anything. I just saw you worrying alone in your room, Daisy, and thought maybe I could help with something.”
“Worrying…? As if! I, the perfect royal and legendary hero, am flawless and capable of anything!”
So today she’s a legendary hero.
“Ah… right. Did you have a lot of maids attending you before?”
“I am the daughter of the great Demon King Damon, so of course I did!”
Hearing that, I looked around the room. The luggage could best be described as “thrown everywhere.” Come to think of it, even when we lived together in the apartment, she used to just pile her stuff up like a tower. I wondered if she was the type who lived without thinking and left everything to me, like Hunya. But she also had plenty of things normal girls would use—cosmetics and such—so that probably wasn’t it. She just didn’t seem to know how to organize.
Deciding to help her clean up, I pointed at one piece of furniture.
“For starters, it’d be better to put the desk over here.”
“Wait, that’s… my vanity!”
“Oh, it was a vanity…”