After all, his own happiness had been built on his friend's suffering.
Hehe~
"Another huge scoop!"
Gagami pounced in front of Ikki in a flash, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him as though she had just found tomorrow's headline.
After hearing Luo Mio's words, Shizuku immediately turned icy, looking at Ikki with an exceedingly gentle gaze.
"Scatter, Evening Rain."
Shizuku gripped her wakizashi-shaped Device and pointed it at Stella. "Shizuku will free Brother now."
"Come to my aid, Laevateinn."
"Hey, wait! Stella, Shizuku, releasing your Devices in a place like this..."
Before he could finish, Ikki felt two forces emanating from them.
Extreme cold and extreme heat.
Ikki turned to Luo Mio and his classmates for help.
His classmates had already moved far away, watching the show.
"Miohua..."
Ikki looked at Luo Mio and saw him holding four fingers upright before his mouth. Yet the faint upward curve at the corner of his lips betrayed his delight at watching the spectacle.
Ikki slapped his forehead.
He had chosen his friends poorly.
Chapter 10: Saikyo Neine Drops By
Ikki opened Room 405.
"Hahahahaha..."
Luo Mio sat upright on the sofa, holding a bag of chips. A bottle of soda lay on its side beside him as he watched a movie.
When Luo Mio saw Ikki enter the room with a sighing expression, he greeted him.
"You're back. Did you settle it?"
"The chairman said that since it was the first day of school, he would waive the harsher punishment. But we were still punished with cleaning all the girls' restrooms in the school and confined to our rooms for a week."
Luo Mio shook his head and clicked his tongue.
Ikki looked at Luo Mio speechlessly. "Wasn't it because Miohua added fuel to the fire?"
It turned out that after Stella and Shizuku summoned their Devices, the two had clashed.
None of the teachers had expected Stella, the top-ranked freshman, and Shizuku, ranked second among the freshmen, to get into a conflict and be punished on their very first day.
Luo Mio spread his hands. "Even if I hadn't said that, do you believe Stella wouldn't have said it herself with that personality of hers?"
Ikki was momentarily speechless. Luo Mio was right.
"Don't worry. Stella and Shizuku may look like fire and water, but once they calm down and talk, they can still become friends."
"That's true, but..."
"But why did Shizuku become like that?" Ikki spoke to Luo Mio in confusion. "She used to be such a shy and well-behaved girl."
Ikki sighed and sat beside Luo Mio.
"Maybe because she understood."
"Understood?" Ikki did not understand Luo Mio's words and looked at him questioningly.
"In the Kurogane family, Ikki, you were the only one who didn't treat Shizuku differently because of her talent. Wrong was wrong, right was right. You truly acted as her older brother, caring for her and teaching her."
"But one day, you vanished and left the Kurogane family."
"Yet no one—not your parents, not your older brother, not even the other members of the family—went looking for you."
"That made Shizuku understand the position you had once held in the family. You were someone who did not exist. It made her deeply realize her own powerlessness and ignorance."
"She learned how much pain the brother she loved had suffered in private."
"And that was what drove her thoughts to change and made her grow."
"It also made her decide that she alone would give you everything: parental affection, sibling affection, friendship, and romantic love."
After Luo Mio finished speaking, he looked at Ikki. "Now do you understand Shizuku's change, Ikki?"
Ikki clenched his hands in silence.
"I never thought it was because of me..."
Luo Mio patted his shoulder.
"Come on, just accept your little sister's affection with peace of mind."
"It may not be romantic love, but isn't it a very happy thing for you to receive familial affection from a relative who loves you?"
After hearing Luo Mio's comfort, Ikki smiled.
"Yeah. Receiving familial affection from a family member who loves me really is something incredibly happy for me."
"Come to think of it, why is Shizuku so hostile toward you, Miohua?"
Remembering something, Ikki asked Luo Mio.
"Ah... that."
The corner of Luo Mio's mouth twitched slightly as he said helplessly, "Before you ran away from home, didn't you come to see me one last time?"
"Then Shizuku somehow found out, and afterward she came looking for me."
"She said I encouraged you to run away from home and wanted to abduct you or something. And when we were little, you would come to train with me from time to time, so Shizuku felt like I had stolen you away from her. That's why she held a grudge against me."
"Ha... ha..." Ikki scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.
Creak.
The sound of the door opening rang out.
"Ah, looks like Stella is back."
Hearing the sound, Luo Mio looked toward the entrance.
Ikki stood and walked to the door.
"Welcome back, Stella."
"Mm."
Stella nodded.
Luo Mio noticed the exhaustion in Stella's eyes.
"Ikki, go take a bath."
"Huh?"
"Stella just got back, so let her rest. You should have rested enough too. You smell like sweat, and you haven't bathed since the mock battle today. Go take a bath already."
Ikki scratched his head before walking into the bathroom.
Once she noticed that Ikki had entered the bathroom, Stella spoke. "They're members of the same family, so why was he treated as someone who didn't exist just because he had no talent? They even tried to stop him because of his dream."
Having grown up receiving familial love from the Vermillion royal family and affection from the people of Vermillion, Stella truly could not understand the Kurogane family's actions.
Luo Mio, who had risen to cook, fell silent for a moment after hearing Stella's words and looked toward the bathroom.
"Ikki's father, Kurogane Gen, the 'Ironblood.' He lived up to his name, 'Gen.' He upheld this nation's rules and discipline for his entire life, until his very last moment."
"He would not allow anyone to threaten the stability of the current social hierarchy. That was why he pressured Hagun Academy last year."
"And in a family like that, there was once someone who broke the family's rules and discipline."
"Samurai Ryoma, Ikki's grandfather."
"Because of Ikki's grandfather, the other members of the Kurogane main family would not allow another person like Samurai Ryoma, someone who existed outside discipline and rules, to appear in the Kurogane family. That was how Ikki's father, Kurogane Gen, came to be."
After hearing Luo Mio's words, Stella clenched her fists tightly.
"How could there be a family like that?"
Luo Mio sighed. "Those are the disgusting ideas of an old era, passed down since ancient times."
His eyes grew distant, as though he had remembered that painful home from some unknowably distant past.
Those without talent were forever drowned beneath the brilliance of those who possessed it, living in the shadows cast by their light.
In a lonely, forgotten corner.
Luo Mio closed his eyes and pulled his thoughts back, then looked at Stella.
"Stella, perhaps Shizuku can give Ikki the feeling of having a home, but that is ultimately only the home given by a relative."
"You are different. What you can give Ikki is a brand-new home, one that belongs to the two of you."
"So, do your best."
Luo Mio gave Stella an understanding smile and encouraged her.
"Miohua..."
After hearing Luo Mio's encouragement, Stella's face slowly flushed red, but her eyes brimmed with renewed energy.
Looking toward Ikki's bathroom, Luo Mio seemed to think of something. He beckoned Stella closer and whispered into her ear.
"I'll teach you..."
The more Stella listened, the redder her face became.
Then she gritted her teeth and stood up. After taking something from the wardrobe, she walked into the bathroom with a flushed face. Luo Mio had returned to Room 404 with his headphones on, standing before the stove, focused on chopping vegetables while humming a song.
Luo Mio stopped humming as he chopped vegetables, a pleased smile curling across his lips.
Not long afterward.
"Wait!? Stella?!"
"What are you doing?!"
Ikki's startled shout came from the bathroom.
Luo Mio happily continued chopping vegetables.
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang outside Room 404.
Who was it?
Luo Mio put down the kitchen knife, went to the entryway, and opened the door.
"Who is it?"
Outside stood Saikyo Neine, dressed in a kimono and carrying a bag containing bottles of alcohol. She spoke to Luo Mio in the manner of a middle-aged man.
"Yo, Little Mio, I came to visit!"
Chapter 11: The Fate of Three People
"Little Mio, I came to visit!"
Luo Mio looked at the eternally childlike kimono-clad girl at the door.
Without a second thought.
He shut the door!
Smack!
Luo Mio's hand flashed out and slammed the front door shut.
"Ding ding ding ding—!"
Before you continue