An Excessive Idea / Who Gets to Decide?

"That's just my sister's hobby!"

Lin glanced at Ying in surprise, then looked away guiltily.

Ever since she lied to Rin that the ears were just for decoration, Sakura has continued to lie, saying that she just really likes the headdress.

Although Ling was surprised, she accepted the explanation. After all, there are so many people in the world with quirky hobbies, so it wouldn't make a difference if her older sister were one more.

"Your sister works for the Firemoth, and you know nothing about what she does. She even has the characteristics of Flame-Chaser, and you say that's her hobby... Please, are you trying to fool an idiot?" She looked at the speechless Bell with disdain, arms crossed.

This girl's logical thinking is actually quite good. Although it's just very simple reasoning, it's much better than Rin, who is so biased towards her older sister that she doesn't even have basic thinking skills.

When it came to her sister's affairs, Ling stood firm, even taking a step forward and flashing a fierce look. "So what if it is? Aren't we being protected by the Fire Moths right now?"

"It was clearly the Moths that caused the sinking of the Mu Continent, and those horned, long-eared monsters that went out of control and slaughtered humans, and your sister was the same!"

"No way..."

"That's not true at all."

An unexpected voice interrupted their conversation.

They turned their heads at the same time, only to be blinded by the brilliance.

The light was so dazzling that it instantly aroused a sense of shame in humans.

"Th—what is that?" One of the girls stared in shock at the figure slowly walking out, her body trembling uncontrollably.

A person wearing a Spider-Man mask walks out of the shadows. If it were just a mask, it wouldn't be so frightening. Compared to the rest of the person's body, the mask is actually the most normal part.

He was shirtless, with a red cloak around his neck and severely shrunken leggings on his lower body, with red underwear over them.

The shock they felt in that instant could hardly be described as perverted.

This man, who seems to have stepped out of a film specifically catering to certain fetishes, is steadily walking towards them.

"The Fire-Chasing Moths have been hindering the development of our World Serpent, and their Flame-Chaser frequently thwart our plans." The masked man spoke in a sinister tone, his terrifying gaze piercing through the mask and landing on several girls, as if his tongue were licking their skin, sending chills down the spine. "You delicate little things, are you connected to the Fire-Chasing Moths? Looks like we'll have some wild game to enjoy today, hehehe..."

"No, it wasn't us, it was her!"

"I don't care about any of that!"

The masked man lunged at them from five steps away, a terrifying sight that terrified them so much they screamed.

"Bang!"

But just half a second later, the man's masked face made intimate contact with the sole of a flying foot, and he was sent flying as if he had been hit by a train, crashing through the wall and getting half of his body stuck inside, motionless.

"Rin! Are you alright!" Sakura, wearing a hood, shook Rin's shoulder with concern. She glanced at the man whose body was still half outside the wall.

Did he overdo it? His acting was so convincing, it almost turned into...

"N-nothing... Sister? You're back!" Rin stared blankly at the man, then hugged Sakura with overflowing joy.

"Hmm." Sakura patted her back, then coldly said to the three female students who were too scared to move, "I'm Rin's older sister. I didn't scare you, did I? That person is a fugitive I'm chasing. He's been acting strangely lately. It's better to go home early after school."

"Oh... oh... okay, we'll go home now..."

The three of them ran faster than the last, and they were afraid to walk alone at night anytime soon. It's estimated that the psychological trauma left by the masked pervert will last for a long time.

"Did you guys see clearly that she has ears?"

"Her face was covered by a hat... but I think she looks so cool."

"Yeah... he kicked that pervert away with one kick..."

Soon, they disappeared without a trace. Sakura's beast ears picked up their conversation, and she was relieved, knowing that they probably wouldn't bother Rin anymore.

"Sister, why are you back so early? Is it because you're chasing that person?" Rin's big, blinking eyes made Sakura feel guilty. She realized that Rin must have missed her sister a lot because she hadn't seen her for a long time. But because of her identity as Flame-Chaser, she was afraid of seeing Rin too often.

"Oh, it's not him..." Sakura suddenly realized something. She turned her head and saw the masked man struggling to pull his head out, his face covered in blood, shaking a few times, and then...

"Smack."

He fell to the ground.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Excessive Ideas

"Brother Lin, are you feeling better?"

"I'm fine."

Although he was still a little dizzy, Lin was basically able to walk normally. He gently pushed away Ying, who was supporting him, and took off the ice pack from his head.

Faced with Sakura's apologetic gaze, he simply sighed softly.

Ling looked at Ying with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. "Sister, you were actually working for Moth Chaser behind my back from the beginning, weren't you? The place we went to that time was Moth Chaser's base, and Brother Lin is also a member of Moth Chaser."

This is an undeniable fact, but there's nothing to deny about it.

"Brother Lin, were you already a member of the Fire Moth when you were paralyzed?" Ling recalled the unusual situation when they first met, and with the information she already had, the strange things were no longer strange.

"Um."

"So you all conspired to lie to me all along..."

Tears welled up in Ling's eyes, which made Ying panic a little, but Lin calmly said to her, "Please understand your sister. Her job is dangerous, and she doesn't want you to know."

"Oh..."

Sakura was surprised that Rin accepted the matter so quickly; she thought she would be questioned by Rin for a long time.

She still treats Rin like a little child who needs all her care, but Rin has actually grown up and is more sensible than most of her peers.

As the older sister, Sakura only saw that her younger sister needed her protection and care, but she didn't realize that what her younger sister needed more was her trust and the truth.

Because she knew more, Ling was even more unwilling to let her sister hide anything from her.

"And you, sister, are actually Flame-Chaser, right?"

Finally, the most crucial question was asked. Sakura had a bad feeling when she saw that scene today, and now Rin was confronting her with tears in her eyes but with an unusually firm tone. For a moment, she didn't know what to say.

"My sister didn't have this so-called hobby before she left home to work, how could she suddenly like wearing this kind of headdress?" After the filter shattered, Rin, who wouldn't have suspected anything before, was now being questioned again. She wiped away her tears and stared intently at the bewildered Sakura. "So, you were lying to me too, weren't you?"

The atmosphere at home that once made Sakura feel safe and comfortable has now left her feeling lost. Should she tell the truth?

But when she thought about how those people looked at her with strange eyes, how they cursed her with resentment before they died, and how those three female students had just called the Flame-Chaser a monster without hesitation, Sakura couldn't say anything.

Her reason told her that Ling couldn't possibly be like those people.

Even if there was only a one percent chance, Sakura couldn't imagine Rin showing her a look of hatred.

Just as Sakura froze, Lin suddenly spoke up in a nonchalant tone, "Yes, that was a lie."

It's over.

Sakura glanced at Rin in the most inconspicuous way possible, her heart racing even before the brink of life and death.

She couldn't stop sighing, not daring to look Ling in the eye, afraid that she would be exposed and run away.

"Elder sister..."

Unexpectedly, Lin abruptly changed the subject, putting his arm around Ying's shoulder and casually adding—

"That's not her hobby, it's mine."

"..."

The room fell silent suddenly, and in an instant, the expressions on Ling and Ying's faces changed in a fascinating way.

Lin subtly gave Ying a look, signaling her to cooperate, but she seemed lost in thought and didn't notice Lin's look at all. Helpless, Lin had to take matters into his own hands.

"Wait! I... I already guessed a little bit..." Rin couldn't describe her current feelings; she was a little excited, but also a little complicated. Her gaze was fixed on Lin's hand, which was intimately embracing Sakura. She swallowed hard, as if to bolster her courage, and said loudly, "But even if it's you... your interests... can't be all the same—"

"Because I really want to be the most realistic fox-eared girl, only by treating the headdress as real and truly believing that I am a fox-eared girl, and never taking it off whether I am sleeping, taking a bath, or eating, can I be considered the best role-playing."

"Ring, I don't know if you have studied the knowledge about phantom limbs. If you keep hypnotizing yourself that you have a pair of fox ears, you will eventually be able to feel that you have grown fox ears, and even feel them."

Ling stared dumbfounded at Lin's rambling nonsense, yet what he said seemed to make perfect sense.

Could these ears represent the emotions and interests of my sisters?

"You agree, right, Sakura?"

Lin tightened his grip on Ying, finally bringing her back to her senses. Ying blushed and let out a soft "hmm" like a mosquito bite.

Ling looked as if the sky had fallen.

The matter of the ears was finally glossed over by Lin's smooth-talking yet logically sound nonsense.

This would be the best outcome for Sakura; she could tell Rin the truth, including her past as an assassin for Forget-me-not. But... not now. She wasn't ready, and Rin wasn't ready either.

However, after this incident, Lin and Ying encountered even bigger trouble.

"Tick-tock".

The sound of dripping water from the faucet was particularly loud in the slightly crowded bathroom. Every drop of water that fell on the damp floor tiles was like a thunderclap in one's ear, making one's body tremble uncontrollably.

The pink-haired girl's long, silky hair floated on the surface of the bathtub. Beneath the clear water was her slender and beautiful body, which was fully visible. She had submerged her body from the neck down in the tub, and her left arm covered her beautiful chest. Her face was flushed, whether from the bath or something else, and in the hazy steam of the bathroom, she looked shy and demure, unlike her usual self.

The animal-eared creature shook the water droplets off its fur. Facing the wall, she counted the number of water droplets sliding down the reflective tiles with a bewildered look in her eyes, and couldn't help but glance at the figure sitting outside the bathtub with its back to her.

Lin expressionlessly lifted the bath tub and poured it over his head.

"Since we're a couple, we should definitely take a bath together!" Rin said excitedly to the two who were stunned, while wiping the blood flowing from her nose.

Lin had already considered quitting at that time, but Ying thought that if you're going to act, you have to go all the way to avoid making Ling suspicious again, so the final situation was this awkward scene.

"I'm sorry, Lin." Sakura apologized to Lin, who was facing the bathroom door. "I..."

"Shhh."

Lin suddenly turned around and made a shushing gesture to her. This unexpected turn of events made her heart race. Although she certainly couldn't see anything, she still felt incredibly shy.

But Lin was doing something else. He made a gesture for Sakura to listen carefully. Sakura paused for a moment, then her animal ears perked up. What she heard was... breathing from outside the bathroom door.

Her eyes widened.

Is Ling eavesdropping?

What should I do? Could Ling have heard what I just said?

At that moment, Lin did something unexpected.

He got up and walked quickly to Sakura, then reached out his finger and pinched the tip of Sakura's animal ear.

Sakura couldn't help but groan when her super-sensitive ears, brimming with nerves, were suddenly pinched.

"Hmm~"

After doing all this, Lin sat back down on the bath stool without changing his expression.

Sakura covered her ears, her breathing a little heavy, and looked at Lin's back, which was no different from before. She noticed that the breathing outside the door had stopped, which meant that Rin was gone.

Lin seemed to have just done something very ordinary, and he didn't care at all. But this attitude made Ying feel a bitter taste in her mouth for some reason.

Wait, what is she thinking?

Sakura was startled by the strange emotions that had arisen within her.

How could she think that...? That's a bit too much.

She laughed self-deprecatingly, looking at her own face on the calm surface of the bathtub, then slowly sank to the surface, blowing bubbles.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Who Can Decide Whom?

After taking a shower, it was time for bed. As Lin expected, he and Sakura slept in the same room. He even stepped into Sakura's bedroom as soon as he heard Rin say that couples should sleep in the same room.

The two had come to visit Ling, but due to a series of twists and turns, they ended up doing a whole bunch of things that were not part of their plan.

The good news is that Rin is fine, and she's growing up too healthily... to the point that it seems a bit off-track.

"I'll sleep on the floor," Lin said coldly, then covered himself with the blanket and went to sleep on the floor.

For those who don't get along with Lin, Lin can take over their bed; for those who do get along with Lin, Lin can rightfully take over their bed. But when the relationship is neither good nor bad, Lin won't go looking for trouble.

Simply keep your distance.

He closed his eyes, wanting to end this somewhat torturous day.

A soft rustling sound rang out after he closed his eyes, "Lin... I'm very sorry about what happened today, and I'm also very grateful to you for helping me so much."

"..."

"Thank you for keeping it from Ling. I still don't know how to face her with my true self. I'm such a bad and weak older sister..."

Sakura's words were full of self-mockery.