Aponia: Prayer.jpg
Kevin glanced at the conversation in the upper-right corner of his screen and was about to reply when he caught sight of his supervisor out of the corner of his eye. He immediately switched back to his code.
"Ahem. I have good news and bad news. Which would you all like to hear first?"
The supervisor cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention.
Kevin: ...
When his subordinates didn't seem very enthusiastic, the supervisor coughed twice and knocked on the wall beside him.
"The good news is that a major company has approached us about working together. If we land this project, everyone's salary will definitely double this year."
"As for the bad news... The proposal came from Bronya, the lead producer at Reson Studio. She's known throughout the industry for being extremely picky, so we'll probably have to revise our plans again and again."
Bronya?
Kevin blurted out, "Bronya the useless duck, the one who always gets knocked out in the quarterfinals and occasionally in the round of sixteen?"
Oh, by the way, that was Elysia's assessment in the group chat. But Elysia said it was something An Yu used to gripe about, so Kevin had just remembered it. It had a nice ring to it.
Supervisor: ...
The supervisor gave Kevin a complicated look. He hadn't expected the kid to have such a sharp tongue.
Kevin quickly schooled his expression, said nothing, and went back to work.
"Everyone, get ready. If we pull off this project, our company will rise along with it, and we won't have to worry about finding partners in the future."
After the supervisor left, Kevin suddenly remembered something and quickly looked up the members of Bronya's team.
Sure enough, An Yu's name was right there.
He switched back to the group chat. The others still hadn't come up with a solution, and things had only gotten more chaotic after Mobius and Vill-V joined in.
Kevin: "It looks like I'll be working with Reson Studio soon. I might get a chance to meet An Yu and try to talk to him for you."
Elysia: "Wow... Kevin, you really are as reliable as ever."
Aponia: "Her relationship with her younger brother has run into trouble because of her bad friends, yet she still chooses to trust those friends and let them interfere in family matters instead of explaining things herself?"
Aponia: Prayer.jpg
Sakura: Prayer.jpg
The two women, both long-time workers and not particularly eccentric, prayed at the same time.
Elysia: ...
P.S. I had a blast in the Elysian Realm. After Ai Hoshino pulled out the Great Wilderness Imprisoning Heavenly Finger, nobody survived.
It brought back memories of when the Herrscher of Human: Ego ruled the Elysian Realm.
The Abyss was a blast, too. 927—I never expected that.
Volume One: Chapter 11: Is This a Failure of Sisterhood or Brotherhood?!
Aponia had a point. Though Elysia didn't understand why, in Aponia's version of events, she was the one being looked after.
She swung her legs off the bed and stood up. Her body still felt a little weak, and she didn't have any slippers on. The icy floor felt awful under her feet. If only she'd gone back to bed last night.
She marched into the living room, but hesitated along the way. Should she be gentle or firm? Or should she just go limp and throw herself at him, begging for forgiveness? Those were all tricks of her trade, after all.
But...
"What are you doing?"
"Playing a game."
An Yu looked up, baffled by whatever had gotten into Elysia this time.
What else was there to do at home besides play games? Do chores? No way. He wasn't about to be such a sucker.
"...Why are you sulking by yourself, Xiao Yu? Is playing games how you deal with it?"
Elysia sniffled and hurried over. She saw that An Yu was playing a simple stress-relief game, with no competitive element at all.
An Yu lowered his eyes back to the screen. "I booked an appointment with a counselor for this afternoon. It's in about three hours. I'll take you after we eat, so don't go wandering off."
He sounded calm, as if nothing had happened.
"Xiao Yu?"
Elysia sat neatly beside him with her legs together. If she wanted to mend things between them, they'd have to switch roles for a few days... Though she didn't mind being the younger sister.
"What is it?"
An Yu kept slicing fruit on the screen. It wasn't the official version, of course, but a knockoff that was purely for stress relief and didn't come with a bunch of random minigames.
He'd cracked it himself. It was surprisingly relaxing sometimes. He wasn't using it to make money, and, out of principle, he hadn't even shared it with his friends.
"I'm sorry... I should've told you about this sooner."
"No need."
He didn't even look up. There was no point. What had happened had happened. There was no need to apologize afterward; it wouldn't help.
"Can't you at least look at me?"
Elysia suddenly felt wronged. Now she looked like the immature one, even though she'd paid for both their tuition with the money she made streaming back in college.
"...What you should do now is go back to your room, put on your slippers, and chat with your friends—or get on with that strange job of yours. Just kill some time until a little after one this afternoon. Then I'll take you to the hospital to get your head checked."
An Yu sounded perfectly calm.
That only made Elysia sadder. One group chat, and it was as if they were about to cut ties as brother and sister.
Boys really were heartless. He wasn't giving her the slightest chance to make things right.
Elysia stood up, puffing her cheeks. "Isn't there anything you've been hiding from me?"
Why was he acting as if she'd committed some terrible crime just because of a group chat? She'd been perfectly happy in college.
And an apology was supposed to go both ways. Xiao Yu wasn't even trying to meet her halfway.
An Yu raised his eyes and gave a quiet laugh. "I guess there is. It's fine. What happened before is in the past. Don't think too much about it, Sis."
Waaah! T﹏T
Elysia's composure crumbled instantly. She suspected An Yu was lying, but they knew each other inside out. They also knew exactly how to make the other one crack.
"I'm sorry, Xiao Yu~"
She cautiously tugged at his sleeve. Xiao Yu must've been really mad to start poking at her sore spots.
"I said there's no need!" An Yu's voice finally rose.
"Who you make friends with is your business. I have my own friends, too. I don't mind you calling them family; that's just who you are. I've always known that."
It was just that, after being reborn, everything had gone too smoothly for him. He'd begun to believe in the dreamlike illusion that everything in his life was perfect.
Now he was simply back in reality. There was nothing wrong with that. People were supposed to have boundaries. Most of the time, the person who didn't know how to respect them was the one nobody liked.
Elysia sniffled softly and touched her cold-hearted little brother's cheek.
"When we eat noodles, will you still give me your fried egg?"
An Yu: ...
"And when we have spicy crayfish, will you still peel them for me?"
An Yu: ...
"When we eat watermelon, can I still take a bite of the sweetest part of yours?"
An Yu was starting to lose it. Those things had never mattered before, but hearing her say them now made him feel like such a sucker.
"Elysia, go torment your future boyfriend, okay? What kind of little brother is there to bully?"
Come to think of it, his life had been so dreamlike, yet he'd never dated anyone. Had Elysia messed him up so badly that he'd ended up with unrealistic expectations about romance?
An Yu clutched his head, suspecting Elysia was deliberately aiming for his weak spot.
"But we've always been like this!"
"I—!"
Heh. Hehehe!
An Yu suddenly covered his face and laughed. "Elysia, if we keep arguing, I'm going to want to kill you."
Sigh. It was better to play that hack-and-slash game. He remembered the second level of the minigame; he still hadn't tried it yet.
But there was no way he could play now.
"Then explain it."
"What's this 'Loving Family' thing? I'm not mad. Take your time and tell me."
After laughing to himself for a while, An Yu leaned back on the couch, finally letting it go.
"They were my college roommates."
An Yu challenged her. "Thirteen people? Did they rotate every year?"
That didn't sound like someone who was over it...
"I rented a place off campus," Elysia explained.
An Yu: ...
"Why didn't you live in the dorms?"
"Because of work. Living in the dorms wasn't very convenient, and there happened to be a big villa available. It was cheap, but there were lots of tenants."
An Yu was silent for a long while. There were so many things wrong with that answer that he didn't know where to start.
"Elysia! Who gave you permission to rent a place like that?"
"Eden was there, too, and everyone was really nice. That year, the snow blocked the roads, and our New Year's Eve dinner was a lot of fun."
At the thought, Elysia smiled without meaning to, dimples appearing on her fair cheeks.
Everyone had been so nice. All thirteen of them. Even Kalpas, who was the most tight-lipped, had always thought of others. Back then, Elysia had thought everyone in the world was like that.
She only realized how wrong she'd been after graduating.
"And then you became a family."
An Yu folded his arms. He wasn't angry anymore. After all, he'd already gotten the reaction he'd been looking for.
Elysia: ...
Somehow, the conversation had circled right back to the same question. She wiped away what little of her tears remained, then stood on the couch and looked down at him.
"Then why didn't you look at my phone before? Why didn't you care about who I spent time with? Why is your need to control me so low?"
"I never hid anything from you before. Why didn't you ask me about it?"
"And I'm the older sister, aren't I? I know everything about you, but you don't even know who my friends are. Be honest with yourself—is this a failure of sisterhood or brotherhood?"
Volume One: Chapter 12: Elysia Can't Tell!
An Yu didn't argue with Elysia. It was too stupid. When everyone was happy, a silly, pointless argument like this could bring them closer. Bickering was a way of strengthening a relationship, but he wasn't happy right now.
At exactly one in the afternoon, An Yu headed downstairs, his eyes lowered as he opened the ride-hailing app.
"Why aren't you taking your motorcycle?"
Elysia leaned over, her eyes full of anticipation.
It was so much faster, and being squeezed into a small space together might help mend their relationship. After all, when they were pressed close together, even the most stubborn person couldn't resist.
An Yu glanced at Elysia. "Because someone would fidget and start shouting, and I've already ended up in the hospital once because of it."
Elysia grumbled unhappily. She was annoyed, but she didn't know how to argue back.
She snatched An Yu's phone and opened the chat history. The only person he'd pinned was her, but he hadn't marked anyone as a special contact.
"Why aren't I marked as a special contact?"
She immediately pressed him.
"I did mark you as one this morning."
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