"Using me as an example?"
It had to be said, everything was still within Sogo Doma's calculations. Although the death omen star above his head was flashing wildly, before it could take form, Rumi Tsurumi spoke up to save him. "What do you mean?"
"Don't listen to this guy..." Yukino Yukinoshita had nearly lost her mind, but the moment Rumi Tsurumi spoke, her reason returned. "Doma, enough already. Tsurumi's still a 'little' girl..."
The second miss did not say the rest, but she placed particular emphasis on the word "little."
"Well..." Sogo Doma merely said, "Yukinoshita, you really do worry too much. Little Sister Tsurumi might already have been corru—cough, cough... I mean, she's studied under Katsura Kotaro for so long. How can you treat her as an 'ordinary child'?"
"Uh..." A trace of pride rose in Rumi Tsurumi's heart, yet she said, "As expected of the senior brother Mr. Katsura can't stop talking about..."
"Stop right there!" Sogo Doma said again. "If you keep slandering me like that..."
"It's not slander..."
"Then it's spreading rumors?"
"It's not spreading rumors either..." Faced with the completely unmovable Sogo Doma, Rumi Tsurumi said, "I just believe in Mr. Katsura..."
"Hah?" Sogo Doma was so irritated that he laughed. "Just because of Katsura Kotaro, you can turn a blind eye to the truth? I told you, I've never studied under that guy..."
"Um..." But before he could finish, Rumi Tsurumi said, "What I mean by believing is that since Mr. Katsura said you're my senior brother, then even if you aren't now, you will be someday..."
"Heh..." Sogo Doma laughed again. "Although I can more or less guess why you'd say that, I still have to say, you think too highly of Katsura Kotaro..."
"That's because you've never experienced Mr. Katsura's persistence..."
"Persistence?"