Do you like her?

"Mm..."

The first ray of morning sunlight shone through the window and fell on Firefly as she slept on the bed.

Frowning, Firefly groggily propped herself up, rubbed her puffy eyes, and looked at Lin Yuyou sleeping beside her.

Last night, Yuyou had kept her chatting in the room for ages. Only when Yuyou grew too sleepy to continue and fell fast asleep had she finally been freed.

Yuyou simply had too much energy. She had wanted to say it was time for bed, but the girl had threatened to tell Lin Yu that she liked him. With no other choice, she could only play along to keep her secret from getting out.

Seeing that Yuyou had kicked the blanket aside, she gently picked it up and covered her before quietly getting up and leaving the room.

Closing the bedroom door, Firefly headed toward the living room and noticed that Lin Yu wasn't on the couch. She remembered he wasn't working the early shift today. Had he gone out?

With that thought, Firefly walked into the living room. Only when she looked toward the balcony did she realize he was out there. Lin Yu was concentrating on painting and hadn't noticed her entering the living room.

By the time he realized, she was already behind him. "Ah!"

It gave him quite a fright, his heart leaping into his throat. Once he saw who it was, he kept soothing his poor little heart. "Oh, it's you, Firefly. You scared me to death~"

"Um, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you..." Firefly apologized for what she had done. She truly hadn't intended to frighten him. Watching Lin Yu paint, she had unconsciously become so engrossed that she completely forgot to greet him.

Lin Yu scratched his head awkwardly. "It's fine, it's fine. I was too focused to notice you, too."

"Oh, right, I still need to thank you, Firefly." As though remembering something, Lin Yu searched for something beside the easel.

"Thank me?" The sudden thanks left Firefly bewildered. She had no idea what she'd done to deserve it.

"Yeah, for these. Thanks for the paints. I really like them. You spent so much, too." As he spoke, Lin Yu took out the box of paints.

Indeed, what Firefly had given Lin Yu yesterday was an entire box of gouache paints, and a fairly expensive kind at that. That was why he had mentioned how much she'd spent.

"No, no, as long as you like them. Hehe~"

Although she had already known yesterday that Lin Yu really liked the gift, hearing him say so himself still made her happier.

"Then shall I get back to painting?"

"Mm~" Delighted, Firefly simply crouched beside him, cupping her cheeks in both hands as she watched him paint with a smile.

She didn't know what had gotten into her, either. Right now, she just wanted to watch him.

"Mm..." After a while, Lin Yu couldn't take it anymore. With a pair of big, sparkling eyes staring at him from beside him the entire time, he simply couldn't concentrate on painting.

"Um, Firefly, could you stop looking at me? I'm not really used to it."

"Ah... sorry for bothering you!" Realizing how strange her behavior was, she hurriedly apologized and prepared to get up and leave.

"I'll leave right now!"

But just as she stood, her legs went weak from crouching for too long, and she nearly fell.

"Ah!"

"Careful!" Seeing Firefly lose her balance, Lin Yu quickly reached out to catch her. But since he was sitting down, even though he caught her, the momentum still sent him toppling backward.

Firefly fell into his arms, and Lin Yu held her to keep her from getting hurt.

Lin Yu said, "Ow, ow! Firefly, are you okay?" Wincing, he rubbed his sore backside and looked at Firefly, whom he had sheltered in his arms.

"I'm fine. Lin Yu, did you hurt yourself falling?" Firefly reached past Lin Yu's waist with both hands and braced them against the floor, propping herself up. Their eyes met just like that.

"Ohoho~" An ill-timed laugh rang out. The two turned toward the sound and saw Lin Yuyou hiding behind the wall, watching them with a doting shipper's grin.

Lin Yuyou said, "You two are getting pretty adventurous this early in the morning~"

Lin Yu and Firefly said, "I'm not! Don't make things up!" They spoke the exact same words in unison.

"Tch~ What's there to be afraid of admitting? Whatever, I'm going to wash up. I won't disturb you two~" With that, Lin Yuyou immediately fled the scene.

Seeing Lin Yuyou run off, both of them breathed a sigh of relief. "Now that I think about it, I haven't washed up either. Also, um, your hand..." As she spoke, Firefly's face reddened.

"Oh! R-right!" Coming to his senses, Lin Yu hurriedly removed his hand from Firefly's waist.

After getting up off Lin Yu, Firefly held a hand out to him. "Sorry I made you fall. Let me help you up."

"Mm." Lin Yu reached out and took her hand, and Firefly pulled him up with a gentle tug.

"Then I'll go wash up."

"Okay. I was just going out to buy breakfast for you two. Is there anything you'd like?"

"I want rice noodle rolls and soup dumplings!" With a toothbrush between her teeth, Lin Yuyou popped out at another ill-timed moment.

"Okay, okay, I got it!"

"Hehe." With that, Lin Yuyou ran back into the bathroom.

Firefly shook her head. "You don't need to ask me. I'll like whatever you buy."

"Uh... okay, then I'll head out." Firefly's words left him at a loss. He truly had no idea how she could say something like that without the slightest embarrassment.

Wasn't that something only two people in an intimate relationship would say to each other?

Although Firefly had already gained some basic understanding of feelings, when it came to the things couples did together, she could be said to have no common sense whatsoever.

Still... Lin Yu looked at the hand that had just touched Firefly's waist. That felt so nice!

"I'm back!" Before long, Lin Yu returned home carrying breakfast.

"Yay! Time for breakfast!" Lin Yuyou danced with delight, hurried over to the table, and began rummaging through the bags for her portion.

"Thanks for the trouble."

"No problem. Come eat." Lin Yu invited Firefly to sit down and enjoy it with them.

"Here, I bought fried dough sticks and soy milk." Lin Yu handed her the still-warm fried dough sticks and soy milk, then took out his own portion. He had the same thing as Firefly.

Once they sat down, they began enjoying their delicious breakfast. Before long, they had polished off every last bit.

"Right, I have to go to work in a bit. I'll come back early this afternoon and take you back to school then," Lin Yu said as he cleared the table.

Lin Yuyou had to return to school today. What was supposed to be a three-day break was actually only a little over a day. There was no helping it; that was life for a senior, especially since she attended a private school.

Although she really didn't want to return to school, Lin Yuyou accepted it. "Fine."

Seeing his little sister sulking, Lin Yu patted her head and gently comforted her as her older brother. "All right, don't sulk. There's only one year left. You'll be free soon, won't you?"

"But there's still a whole year~ Still, if you'd grant me one wish when I graduate, I could put up with it~"

"You're practically hitting me in the face with those abacus beads." Lin Yu lightly chopped Lin Yuyou on the head with the edge of his hand.

Lin Yuyou mischievously stuck her tongue out. "Bleh~"

"But if you get into a good university, I could grant you one wish."

"Really? Yay!" Lin Yuyou ran around happily, looking every bit like a little child.

Lin Yu said, "Honestly, why are you acting like a little kid?"

Firefly said, "Yes, but you two really are close. Just yesterday, you were like fire and water, yet today it's as though nothing happened." As Firefly watched Lin Yuyou, envy showed in her eyes.

She had never had the chance to experience this kind of familial affection. She was an artificial human and had no parents at all. If she had to name someone, perhaps only the Empress shared any blood connection with her. After all, she had been created using the Empress's genes.

Although she didn't show it on her face, Lin Yu beside her still noticed. "Noticed" might not have been the right word; that look was practically spilling from her eyes, making it hard not to notice.

"That's because we were only messing around. But you can be bolder when you're with Yuyou from now on. You don't have to hold yourself back. Just treat her like your own little sister."

"Huh? Can I?"

"Of course."

He had noticed before that Firefly always held back around Yuyou, constantly giving way to her. It was like visiting someone else's house, finding their parents home, and suddenly becoming socially anxious.

Still, that was his fault too. It would be better to take Firefly out more often and help her meet more friends. After all, familial affection wasn't something that could simply be made up for.

All he could do was give her as much care and love as possible.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was time for Lin Yuyou to return to school. "Goodbye, Sister Firefly! I'll come play with you again during my next break!"

"Mm, I'll be waiting!" The two hugged and exchanged heartfelt words. Anyone who didn't know better might have thought they were parting forever.

"All right, all right, we're running out of time. We need to go!" Lin Yu reminded Lin Yuyou from the side that it was about time to leave.

"Okay, coming! Bye-bye, Sister Firefly~" Lin Yuyou waved goodbye to Firefly.

"Bye-bye~" Firefly waved back.

Lin Yu said, "We're heading out, then. See you in a bit."

"See you in a bit."

With that, Lin Yu took Lin Yuyou out and headed for school. On the way, Lin Yuyou still hadn't given up on the idea of bringing Sister Firefly into the family as a bride. Since she couldn't break through on Sister Firefly's side, she would start with her brother!

"Bro, do you like Sister Firefly?" As always, she opened with zero startup frames, never beating around the bush.

"That's none of your business, is it?" Lin Yu's tone was calm, as though he didn't care about Lin Yuyou's question.

Although her brother seemed unconcerned, she kept feeling that something was off. Was this really how her brother should react?

"Bro, are you hiding something from me?"

"Guess~"

"Aaaah! You can't do that!" Lin Yuyou hated people who only said half of what they meant and always made others guess what they were thinking. Could people like that just go die?!

"Hahaha!" Lin Yu laughed heartily. He couldn't have been happier to see his little sister thwarted. That was what she got for always causing trouble.

Before long, Lin Yu brought Lin Yuyou to the school gates. Only the seniors were returning today, so there weren't many people outside.

*ε=(´ο｀*))) Sigh, those poor seniors.* As a former senior himself, Lin Yu observed a moment of silence for the current crop. Hang in there. Just one year left!

"All right, bro, I'm off~" Lin Yuyou climbed off the back of the electric scooter and waved goodbye.

"Mm. Study hard, and call me or Mom and Dad if anything comes up." Lin Yu waved goodbye to Lin Yuyou as well.

"Got it~!" With that, Lin Yuyou entered the school without looking back. He watched until she had gone inside before leaving for home.

On the way home, with the wind humming past his face, Lin Yu recalled the question Yuyou had just asked.

"Bro, do you like Sister Firefly?"