Chapter 394: How many little sisters do you actually have? (Patreon)

The collaboration talks went smoothly — after all, Eriri and Izumi Sagiri had known each other, in a sense, for quite a while already. Eriri made a concession on the communication front, agreeing that the two of them could talk over video call.

There was one thing, however, she would never agree to.

"Why can't you let me see your panties? We're both girls, aren't we!"

"No means no!" Even through the screen, Eriri could feel the sheer hunger in Izumi Sagiri's gaze. She thought to herself: no wonder — she really is that first generation's daughter. Her appetite for this stuff is every bit as strong.

"Besides, are you pretending Jhin doesn't exist? There's no way I'm flashing my underwear at you with him standing right there!"

"Then let's hurry up and switch to a private call!"

"Still no!"

"You're so cute, and yet you won't even let me see your panties."

It really was Izumi Sagiri in full 'Eromanga Sensei' mode — her behavior had completely shifted into that of a lecherous old man sexually harassing a high school girl.

Jhin cut off her deviant antics, stifling a laugh. "Sagiri, there's something else I need to talk to you about."

"Ah... Onii-chan, wh-what is it?" Snapping back to her normal self, she instantly felt mortified about what she'd just been doing, her small hands clutching tight at the collar of her shirt.

"Kazuki told me you're living alone in a rented apartment right now, right?"

"Yes."

"I'm planning to bring you over to live with me."

"Eh!?" Izumi Sagiri let out a startled cry. She hadn't heard anything about this from Kazuki.

Jhin explained patiently. "I don't feel right about you living alone out there. And on top of that, at my place you won't have to deal with any of the day-to-day chores — you can just focus on your drawing. If you don't like being disturbed, there's a fairly quiet basement area too, though I'm not exactly hoping you'll choose to stay down there."

Jhin's proposal thrilled her. She'd heard from Kazuki about how amazing her little brother's cooking was, but she'd never once had the chance to try it — and now, no laundry, no cleaning, just staying in her room and drawing all day? It was practically the life she'd always dreamed of!

She answered excitedly, "Onii-chan! I want to live in the basement!"

Listening to their conversation, Eriri couldn't help a thought surfacing unbidden in her mind: heh heh heh, from now on you're going to be my personal drawing tool.

"All right then, go pack your things. I'll come pick you up tonight. I'll have Kazuki handle the checkout with your landlord."

"Mm!" Izumi Sagiri hung up the video call in a flash, then pulled off the cartoon mask she always wore, revealing a young but exquisitely delicate face.

She dove headfirst into a messy pile of clothes, flinging the ones she needed to pack behind her one after another. "Lace-up panties, cutout panties, lace panties — ah! I actually bought this style too? Well... better bring it along just in case, all of this counts as important reference material."

From spending so long cooped up at home, she had almost no stamina left; just tidying up her luggage a little left her out of breath, her silver hair damp with sweat and sticking to her forehead.

Izumi Sagiri unzipped her tracksuit and looked down to find the front of her shirt soaked through with sweat, the pink, sexy underwear beneath it showing through. Steam practically shot up from the top of her head, and she let out an adorable, strangled noise before bolting into the bathroom. "How could I forget to change out of these clothes!"

Good thing I caught it in time. If Onii-chan found out, he'd definitely think I'm some kind of pervy girl.

After ending the call and stepping out of the break room, Jhin found all three girls in the shop, so he told them that his adoptive little sister would be coming to live at the café.

"Jhin-nii, just how many little sisters do you even have?" Chisato's eyes were full of resentment.

"That depends on whether Kazuki's picked up any more little sisters out there."

Big Sis, didn't you tell me to work hard!? Then why are you adding another adoptive little sister for Jhin-nii to worry about!

Chisato's lips were pouted so far out you could've hung an oil jug off them. Jhin could only pat her head to console her. "Don't sulk. Let's watch a movie together tonight."

"Eh? Aren't we going to throw a welcome party for your little sister?"

"She's pretty shy. After she gets here, she'll probably spend most of her time in the basement doing her own thing."

"Whoa, so mysterious. Mind telling us what she does?"

"Well... she's a manga artist."

"Same profession as that Sawamura girl from before, then." Chisato still hadn't forgotten about that unnamed manga of hers.

"Anyway, even with her here, nothing about our day-to-day life is going to change. Just keep doing your jobs like usual."

"Got it! Jhin-nii, I'm going to go get tonight's movie ready!"

The moment she finished speaking, Chisato dashed out of the shop like a shot, straight for the apartment that had basically become a film storage depot by now.

Jhin lowered the hand he'd just raised and let out a helpless sigh. "I hadn't even gotten to telling her to stop bringing home those romance movies..."

"Chisato's taste in romance movies... is quite unique." The corner of Takina Inoue's mouth twitched slightly. She'd been dragged along to pick out movies with Chisato plenty of times lately, and her partner's taste really left a lot to be desired — mostly the kind of 'debt of gratitude' romance flicks where you could guess the ending just from the title.

After tagging along a few times, Takina Inoue had decided she was done with that genre of movie for good. She simply couldn't wrap her head around this thing called romantic love — and she'd even started vaguely sensing that Chisato's notion of 'repaying a debt' ran far deeper than any ordinary emotion, which struck her as rather strange.

By the time Chisato came back to the café with a huge bag of her personally 'curated' movies, Jhin had already left to go pick Sagiri up.

Kurumi caught a glimpse of a movie poking half out of the bag — titled 'The One Who Saved Me and...' — and immediately let out a sigh of utter disappointment. Shaking her head, she retreated into the break room. "Watch whatever you want tonight, I'm sitting this one out."

"Takina, Takina, come help me pick which one we're watching tonight."

"Ah... okay." Takina Inoue's eyes went dim and lifeless as she let Chisato drag her into yet another round of movie curation.

...

Outside an ordinary rented apartment, Jhin rang the doorbell of the unit listed under the name 'Takeda.' A gruff voice called out from inside. "Who's there?"

"It's me, Jhin!"

There was a flurry of movement inside, and the door slowly opened. A cute silver-haired creature wearing a cartoon mask poked her head out and greeted him in her soft, gentle voice. "Onii-chan... y-you're here."

Jhin stared at the cartoon mask, amused. "Guess I still can't see my little sister's real face yet, huh. Got everything packed?"

"N-no, it's not that..." Izumi Sagiri explained to him in a small voice. "I... I'm just a little shy. Give me a bit more time and I'll be able to take the mask off."

"It's fine, no need to rush. We've got a long time to spend together from now on. Let's get used to each other slowly."

"Mm-hmm." She nodded forcefully, then added a little bashfully, "Onii-chan, I... I've got quite a lot of luggage. Would it be too much trouble to ask you to come in and help me carry it?"