Ownership!

Natsume Chikage emerged from the bathroom and glanced at the wall clock. The hour hand had silently crept toward eleven.

His gaze fell beside the table—his younger sister, Ruri, was still hunched over the small desk, forcing herself to study.

Yet her lowered eyelids trembled and fought each other as though tugged by invisible threads.

Her little head drooped lower and lower with sleepiness, as if she would collapse onto the open book the very next second.

Their household had always kept to a bedtime of around ten-thirty.

In the end, Ruri staying up this late tonight was entirely Chikage's fault.

He had been so absorbed in the pages earlier that he had completely lost track of time.

Ruri, on the other hand, had obediently refrained from disturbing him. She had simply studied quietly beside him and waited.

But she had waited too long in the end, and weariness washed over her like a tide, leaving her unable to resist any longer.

Natsume Chikage softly said, "Ruri, get up for now. I'll make the beds, and then we'll go to sleep."

"Mm." Ruri rubbed her eyes and drowsily shuffled aside.

Natsume Chikage moved the small table from the center of the room and stood it upright against the wall.

Then he took two sets of bedding from the closet and laid them on the floor.

"Go to sleep. I'm about to turn off the lights."

"Mm."

Natsume Chikage walked over to the light switch. Seeing that Natsume Ruri had already lain down and tucked herself beneath the blanket, he turned off the room's light.

Click—

The once brightly lit three-tatami room instantly sank into darkness.

Lying on his bedding, Natsume Chikage could hear his sister's steady breathing as she slept soundly beside him.

Though his sister was already asleep, he had no intention of going to bed so soon.

Curiously, he picked up Young Boy's Pain Diary.

All of a sudden.

A message popped up.

[Would you like to store it in the panel?]

[Yes/No]

After thinking for a moment, Natsume Chikage tapped yes.

In an instant.

The equipment vanished and appeared on the panel in his mind.

Natsume Chikage froze. He had not expected that he could directly store these special pieces of equipment in his mind.

He just did not know whether he could take them back out.

He gave it a brief try and found that he actually could.

Chikage also discovered that whether the equipment was stored in the panel or taken out, he could use it as long as it was near him.

He thought that was quite convenient.

At this time.

Though it was already late at night.

Natsume Chikage had no intention of idling around.

He took out his phone, created a new document, and began writing.

Over the next few days, he intended to finish writing the novel The Devotion of Suspect X as quickly as possible.

After the bankruptcy, their family's financial situation had become truly terrible.

His sister was still young, and he was the only person in the household who could earn money.

And school would be starting again soon, which would definitely bring more expenses.

That was not even counting food, clothing, housing, and transportation.

Money was needed for practically everything.

If he did not work harder, the two of them would starve to death and be unable to survive in a place like Tokyo.

Now that he had a chance to escape poverty, no matter what, he had to get his hands on money as soon as possible!

The next day.

Morning sunlight filtered through the curtains and into the room.

Natsume Chikage groggily opened his eyes. He did not know when he had woken up.

But since he was awake now, he planned to continue writing on his phone.

He quietly got up, not wanting to wake his sister, who was sleeping peacefully on the other bedding.

Natsume Ruri rubbed her eyes and mumbled sleepily, "Big brother, you're already awake? Ruri will go make breakfast now."

"No need to rush. Work doesn't start until ten today, and it's only a little past seven. It wouldn't hurt to sleep a bit longer," Natsume Chikage explained, not expecting his sister to wake up so quickly.

Natsume Ruri shook her head with a smile. "It's fine. Ruri slept very well last night, so I'm not sleepy anymore."

As she spoke.

She stood up, took some cheap ingredients from the refrigerator, and began making breakfast.

Seeing this, Natsume Chikage began putting away the bedding. At the same time, he moved the small table back to the center of the room and quietly wrote on his phone.

But from time to time, his gaze drifted to the bracelet on Natsume Ruri's wrist as he wondered how he could reasonably get it from her...

With that in mind, he came up with an excuse.

"Ruri, won't that bracelet get in the way while you're making breakfast? Let big brother hold it for you first."

"Mm." Natsume Ruri gave it no further thought and took it off, handing it directly to Natsume Chikage.

[You have not obtained ownership of this item. Unable to store this equipment!]

Seeing the message, Chikage stared in astonishment.

He actually had to obtain ownership before he could store the equipment?

And hadn't he been the one who paid for it? How did he not have ownership of the item?

Could it be that, when he had said he was giving it to his sister as a gift, he had already transferred ownership to her?

After considering it, Chikage felt that was very possible.

If that was the case, getting his sister's bracelet would become considerably more difficult...

After all, taking back something he had already given away would look bad no matter how he went about it.

Still, it was not a major problem. He could find time to buy another identical bracelet, then use some excuse to swap them and get her to give this one to him willingly.

Before long.

A delicious aroma filled the room.

After a simple breakfast, the two of them began washing up.

Some time later.

A drama was playing on the television in the room.

Natsume Ruri lay quietly on Chikage's lap as she watched.

However, before long, a shogi advertisement appeared.

Natsume Ruri was somewhat surprised when she saw it.

"Big brother, a new shogi tournament has actually been launched! They're recruiting players from all across Japan, and even amateur players can enter!"

"But registration is limited to 2,048 people. Once that number is exceeded, no more entries are allowed."

"It seems that if you keep winning until the end, you can even challenge the current Dragon King! They say that if you beat the Dragon King too, you can replace him directly!"

"But it costs 20,000 yen per person to enter? You get 10,000 for winning the first match, 20,000 for the second, and 40,000 for the third?"

"It looks pretty good and very appealing, but how could amateur players beat professionals? Isn't this obviously just getting other amateur players to throw money away?"

"And with the shogi association's advertisements, television broadcasts, sponsors, and all that revenue, isn't this just a gimmick to make a huge profit?"

Ruri was quick-witted, and she rattled off a whole string of analysis.

But when she heard no response at all from her brother, her cheeks puffed out slightly. A little upset, she could not help turning her head and looking up at him as she muttered, "Big brother, you're ignoring me!"

Natsume Chikage's gaze remained fixed on his phone screen. Without even turning his head, he said, "I heard you. I'm just busy."

"Then why do you keep tapping on your phone? Are you chatting with someone else?"

"I'm writing a novel."

Natsume Ruri blinked.

She had heard that people who stayed at home for too long after losing their jobs would always imagine themselves to be writers.

Though her brother was working now.

He had only been at it for a few days, so he was not really much different from what she had just described.

Ruri knew that his grades were truly not very good...

It could even be said that if she and her brother took the same Japanese exam, she might score higher than him.

After all, she had practically held first place at school year after year.

Meanwhile, her brother, who was often at the bottom of the class, was saying he wanted to write a novel?

Natsume Ruri was deeply worried.

But she did not undermine her brother's confidence.

Instead, she was very supportive of his writing.

Compared with how he used to stay home and play games all the time, writing was better in any case.

As for earning money by submitting his work, Ruri had not even considered it. She simply thought her brother was writing something like a diary.

Still, she was very curious about its contents.

"Can Ruri take a look?"

"It'll still be a while before it's finished. Wait until it's done, then I'll let you read it."

"Okay..."

At that, Natsume Ruri continued lying on Chikage's lap, watching television and enjoying this moment of peace.