A Delicate Tension
"W-W-What... What do you mean by that?!" I gasped, quickly covering my trembling mouth. Showing panic at Shine's words would basically be admitting she was right.
Shine rested her chin on her hands, watching my flustered reaction. The bright smile slowly spreading across her face was as radiant as sunshine, fitting her name perfectly.
"Am I wrong?" Shine asked playfully, sending a rush of heat straight to my face.
I buried my face in my hands and shook my head. "It's not that..."
"If it's not that, then...?"
My head hung low. I could feel the burning heat of my cheeks against my palms. Peeking through the slight gap between my fingers, Shine's mischievous face came into view.
Biting my lip, I mumbled, "Stop teasing me..."
"Do I look like I'm teasing?" Shine let out a soft chuckle and reached out. Her hand approached slowly. I watched it with trembling eyes.
"Sorry! There was a bit of a backup with the orders~" Amy's voice suddenly rang out. Shine and I jumped, spinning around like children caught red-handed.
Amy stood there with an awkward smile, holding our food trays.
"It's fine!" I blurted out, hurriedly taking the tray she handed over. On it sat a mouthwatering pork cutlet, golden and perfectly fried.
"I thought I saw Victor earlier. Where did he go?"
"Victor left first," Shine answered.
Amy sighed, looking a bit disappointed. "And here I wanted to consult him about today's operation..."
"An operation?"
"It's nothing major. Just a quick trip to meet someone."
Their conversation didn't register in my mind at all. I spent a long time mindlessly slicing the pork cutlet with my knife and fork. The steaming hot cutlet slowly began to cool.
Conversely, the heat on my face showed no signs of fading. Underneath the table, completely hidden from Amy's sight, I felt Shine move.
While Shine chatted and laughed with Amy, her hand had found its way onto my thigh.
Slowly, teasingly, her fingers traced light patterns that completely shattered my focus. Everywhere her fingertips brushed felt as hot as a brand.
"Sh-Shine!" I hissed under my breath, but she only shot me another playful smirk.
I stabbed a piece of cutlet with my fork and stuffed it into my mouth. I couldn't even taste it because of the ticklish sensation. No, it wasn't just ticklish—it was something else. A strange, subtle tingling that stirred an unfamiliar sensation deep inside me.
"Jeff, are you feeling alright?" Even while talking to Shine, Amy didn't fail to keep an eye on me. She seemed puzzled by my unusually slow eating pace.
I shook my head at Amy's question and stuffed the rest of the cutlet into my mouth. With my cheeks puffed out like a squirrel, I glared at Shine.
Only then did Shine finally withdraw her hand and begin devouring her own food at a rapid pace.
Once we finished, we returned our trays and left the cafeteria.
"You two can head back on your own, right?"
"Yeah," Shine replied.
"Huh?" I squeaked, startled by Amy's sudden question as we neared the lounge outside the cafeteria.
"Didn't you hear me earlier? I explained that I have to go out on a quick operation."
I had heard her voice, but Shine's touch had completely ruined my concentration. I gave an awkward laugh and nodded. "When will you be back...?"
"Probably this evening?"
I let out a quiet sigh of relief. If I had to spend the night alone with Shine while she was looking at me with those strange eyes, there was no telling what might happen.
"You're going with Victor, right?"
"Yep."
"Just the two of you?"
"That's right. It's easier to move in a small group."
Only then did I nod. Connecting Victor's reaction from earlier with Amy's explanation now, the reason behind his good mood became crystal clear.
Victor liked Amy. But Amy seemed completely oblivious to his feelings.
For someone as sharp as Amy to not notice, just how deeply had Victor buried his emotions? And what about Shine, who had picked up on it instantly?
I looked at Shine with trembling eyes. Noticing my gaze, she let out a soft chuckle and stepped closer.
"Let's go, Jeff."
Shine naturally linked her arm with mine and pulled me along. Panicking, I reached out toward Amy, but she only waved back cheerfully.
"Be good and don't cause any trouble~"
"Okay," Shine replied.
"A-Amy!"
"Rain will be dropping by later, so make sure to listen to her!"
"Amy!"
I reached out desperately, but Amy just waved with both hands. Her figure grew distant. I was dragged away by Shine.
"Um... Shine."
"Yeah?"
I managed to find my footing and started walking in step with her, but Shine refused to let go of my arm.
"Could you let go of my arm?"
"Why?"
"What do you mean why..."
"We always do this, don't we?"
I nodded at her words. She was right. We always walked around arm-in-arm. We held hands, and sometimes I was even the one to hug her first. Nothing had physically changed. It was just that a subtle shift had occurred in my heart.
Back in our room, Shine pulled me into her lap as she watched TV. A stream of boring shows flickered across the screen.
Whenever I tried to squirm out of her grasp from the sheer awkwardness, Shine only held me tighter.
"Shine... I think this is a bit wrong."
"What is?"
"Well..."
"Yes?"
"We're family..."
"And?"
Where was I even supposed to start? I stammered for a moment before hanging my head. In the end, there was nothing I could do. The most I could manage was slightly turning my head away whenever Shine nuzzled her cheek against mine.
After being held in her arms for who knows how long, I began to doze off.
"Are you sleepy, Jeff?" Shine's voice whispered right in my ear, making me flinch and shake my head rapidly. "No! I'm not!"
Perhaps startled by my sudden movement, Shine's grip loosened slightly. Seizing the opportunity, I squirmed with all my might and slipped out of her embrace.
"Ah." Shine's disappointed sigh drifted through the air.
The moment I broke free, I bolted straight toward Baeksi. If I hid among the mountain of plushies, Shine surely wouldn't be able to get close.
I buried myself in Baeksi's massive embrace and glared at Shine. She only chuckled at my antics and didn't try to approach.
"This is wrong."
"What is?"
"Just... everything about it is wrong."
"But we've always done this."
Once again, I was left speechless. She was right. Shine and I had always behaved like this. To suddenly point out things we had always done as weird... perhaps we had already crossed that line long ago. That was what I thought.
If so, I had to at least prevent things from progressing any further. I burrowed deeper into the mountain of plushies.
"Jeff! Shine!" Just as I was peeking out from the plushies to keep an eye on Shine, Rain arrived, exactly as Amy had said she would.
Clutching an armful of items to her chest, she ran over to the table with an excited look on her face.
"Shine! Look at this!"
What Rain dumped onto the table was a pile of manga. Curiously, I poked my head out just enough to catch a glimpse of the covers.
The cover featured two innocent-looking, beautiful girls. The art style was reminiscent of a classic shoujo manga, but something about it was off.
One girl was wrapped in plant vines, while the other looked down at her. It was undoubtedly a beautiful drawing, but it carried an inexplicable, unsettling vibe.
Shine, who had been watching TV, was instantly captivated by the manga Rain had brought. I had never seen her focus so intently on anything before.
I crawled out of the plushies and slowly approached the two.
"Hi, Rain..." I greeted her softly. Rain nodded and held out a book to me. "You want to read too, Jeff?"
I took the manga she handed me. Manga... I used to read so much of it in the past.
I checked the title of the volume Rain had given me. Before You Turn Crimson. Was it a romance manga? The title felt strangely ominous.
I flipped through the pages to scan the content, only to freeze in sheer horror. The story inside was terrifyingly intense.
I immediately hid the book behind my back. Fortunately, this particular volume seemed to be a self-contained one-shot. After confirming there weren't any other copies with the same title, I crept over to the giant teddy bear, Baeksi. Cold sweat dripped down my spine.
Seeing that Shine was completely engrossed in her own book, I quickly stuffed the manga behind Baeksi's back.
"Hey, Rain."
"Yeah?"
"Where did you get these?"
"I bought them outside!" Rain replied with a proud, confident grin.
Aside from the one I had just hidden, most of them were indeed ordinary romance manga. Well, except for the fact that both the protagonist and the love interest were female.
A faint blush had bloomed on Shine's cheeks as she held the manga.
"Rain..."
"Yeah?"
Shine, who had been reading silently, suddenly called out. Her voice was strangely low.
"Do you have anything... more like this?"
"Like what...?"
"Yeah. More. A bit more..." Shine murmured softly, closing the book. She set the manga down on the table.
"Something more... intense." A subtle smile played on her lips. Her eyes locked onto me. Feeling overwhelmed by her gaze, I quickly hid behind Rain's back.
"Intense? Like an action battle manga with superpowers?"
"No, not that kind."
"Hmm..." Rain didn't seem to understand what Shine meant. I let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Although the manga Rain had brought weren't typical straight romances, most of them were lighthearted stories that only offered a sweet, fluttering feeling.
"Sorry. I don't really get what you're looking for, Shine."
I swallowed hard, watching Shine. She was still young. It was an immense blessing for me that she hadn't yet learned the vocabulary to explicitly describe what she wanted.
Shine pouted in disappointment. "Oh well..."
After flipping through a few more of Rain's manga, Shine seemed to lose interest and turned her attention back to the TV. Rain, on the other hand, remained completely absorbed in her reading.
I picked up the manga Shine had set down. The plot itself was nothing special, just a run-of-the-mill story. Yet, the delicate tension of the characters walking a tightrope of emotions was surprisingly engaging.
"This is... actually pretty good." Rain and I lost ourselves in the manga, reading together until Amy finally returned.