Chapter 414: Isn't It Fine?.jpg (Patreon)

Ryo wept and sniffled, trying every trick she could think of to win Nijika's forgiveness. Jhin sat beside them with a bag of sunflower seeds, enjoying the show. Ikuyo Kita badly wanted to step in and plead on Ryo's behalf, but her small hand under the table had been quietly caught in his.

She had no choice but to tamp down her delight and scoot her chair a little toward him, keeping a distance that looked neither too close nor too cold.

After watching for a moment and seeing that nobody's attention was on them, she quietly leaned her shoulder against his arm and asked as casually as she could, "What's that snack in your hand?"

"Sunflower seeds. Back in my hometown we call them melon seeds. Want to try?"

"Melon... seeds?" Kita popped one straight into her mouth and chewed. A strange look immediately crossed her cute face. "The taste is kind of weird..."

"Kita... you're supposed to remove the shell before you eat them."

"Eh?! W-why didn't you say so earlier..." Her face turned red, and she jumped up and ran to the restroom to spit the seeds out and rinse her mouth.

No wonder it tasted so strange. Jhin definitely kept quiet on purpose to watch me make a fool of myself!

Kita stomped back, fuming, and shot him a glare so bewitching it hardly counted as one. Then she noticed he had carefully shelled a pile of seeds for her and set the kernels in his palm. Embarrassed, she sat down and obediently started eating.

"How is it?"

"Mm... not bad. How is this even made?"

"No idea, I'm afraid. There are lots of flavors, and each one is made differently."

She had just finished the last of the kernels in Jhin's hand when Hitori Gotoh, who had fainted from embarrassment, finally stirred awake. She sat up, long lashes fluttering over big eyes still clouded with drowsiness, as if she had just gotten out of bed in the morning.

Seeing his girlfriend in that state, Jhin felt a playful urge. He walked around the table, crouched beside her, and asked in a low voice, "Bocchi-chan, want to sleep a little longer?"

"Yes." Hitori Gotoh answered without a second's thought. Then she narrowed her eyes, lazily wrapped both arms around his neck, and said in a sweet, clingy voice, "Jhin~ Pat my head, pleeease~"

"Okay." He raised a hand and gently stroked her pink hair, soft as fine silk, and a contented little hum rose from her throat.

Wait, no!

As the head pats felt better and better, Hitori Gotoh's mind slowly cleared. It hit her that she was at STARRY, which was no place to act spoiled.

She lifted her head and saw everyone smiling at her. With a wail, she buried her face in her boyfriend's chest like an ostrich. "Uwaah!!"

Though a mouthful of couple's "dog food" had just been shoved down her throat, Seika Ijichi still spoke up to comfort her. "Bocchi-chan, it's fine. There are no outsiders here, and we're used to it by now. Just think of it as courage training."

"Exactly, exactly. Don't you think it's kind of youthful?" PA-san chimed in from the side, barely holding back her laughter, because she honestly thought Hitori Gotoh was adorable right now.

One eye peeked out from Jhin's embrace as she asked timidly, "Does it really feel youthful?"

"Mm-hm, super youthful. If having a boyfriend doesn't count as youth, then what does that make the rest of us single people?" Nijika had barely finished when Ryo muttered something like "losing dog" beside her, and got hit with a lightning-fast chop for it.

I'm not a losing dog. At the very least, I married Jhin in a dream. Even if it was only a dream.

Nijika knew she did have feelings for him, but that was as far as it went. She could never steal someone else's love, and watching Hitori Gotoh and Jhin be happy together like this from the sidelines...

Wasn't that fine, too?

It was as if she were confirming something to herself. The thought sent a ripple across the lake of her heart, which quickly settled back into calm.

If anyone in the room understood Nijika best, it was Seika Ijichi. Her little sister's brief moment of distraction did not escape her notice. She suspected that Nijika liked Jhin too, and decided to ask her about it properly after work.

After some coaxing from everyone, Hitori Gotoh finally dropped the ostrich act and came out of Jhin's arms, though one of her hands was still laced with his.

Jhin chatted with them for a while about the upcoming competition. Then Seika Ijichi kicked the two of them out with the excuse, "You're too dazzling. Take Bocchi-chan and go on your date already."

Dating on royal decree, he used his personal terminal to contact Ikuyo Kita and told her to hurry up and find an excuse to slip out, since the three of them were going on a date. He didn't wait long before she came hurrying out of STARRY's front door.

Seeing that her bandmates had mostly gone, Ryo got up and left too. She remembered that the music store had a batch of new bass albums on the shelves, so now was a good time to go take a look.

…

That evening, Nijika was tying on her kitchen apron and chopping vegetables. Seika Ijichi, in her panda pajamas, sat on the sofa flipping through TV channels absentmindedly. Several times she had wanted to ask her sister whether she'd fallen for Jhin, but she had no idea where to begin.

"Hey, sis, stop switching channels all the time. It's noisy. If you don't want to watch, just turn it off!"

"Ah, y-yeah. Got it."

Seika Ijichi pressed the red power button on the remote. At the same time she took a deep breath and asked, in a slightly unsteady voice, "Nijika, do you like Jhin?"

The rhythmic chopping in the kitchen, smooth as music, stopped as if someone had pressed pause, then resumed. The hitch was unmistakable.

Nijika's voice drifted out, casual and even a little amused. "Where did that joke come from all of a sudden? Anyway, don't say that in front of Bocchi-chan. Ryo saying things like that now and then already worries me enough. I'm afraid she'll scare her."

Now that the words were out, Seika Ijichi couldn't pass it off as a joke. As her older sister, she had to find out what Nijika really thought. "I'm not joking."

The chopping in the kitchen stopped completely. Nijika called out, irritated, "I told you, a topic like that..."

"Nijika!" Seika Ijichi's sudden, raised voice stuffed the rest of her sister's words back into her mouth. She asked again, solemn and serious, "Do you like Jhin?"

After a long silence, Nijika finally answered in a faint voice. "I just like him a little. As for love or whatever... Bocchi-chan is his girlfriend. How could I be the other woman?"

"Haah. If you really like him, then don't hesitate. Guys like that aren't easy to find. If he were just a little more of a playboy, I honestly wouldn't mind accepting him as a brother-in-law."

Nijika came out of the kitchen with a frown. "Are you drunk? Why are you talking such nonsense?"

But her sister's eyes were clear, and her expression was earnest. "There are only two of us left in this family, and I have no plans to ever get married. So I want you to be happy."