Chapter 98

And there, Yuki and Koyoru were left alone.

Yuki suddenly turned his gaze to Koyoru, who had been silent all along, only to find her averting her eyes slightly downward.

"Sorry, I'll go call Mizuho now."

"Ah, no, um... don't... I'll, I'll go home too..."

"Don't say that, please play with Mizuho."

It felt wrong to let her leave after she had come all this way.

Leaving Koyoru to wait and relax, Yuki turned the doorknob of Mizuho's room again, and this time, surprisingly, the door opened easily.

He had expected her to be firmly planted in front of the door, but when he entered the room, Mizuho was sitting at her desk, behaving properly.

"Come out, the monster is gone."

But Mizuho didn't even turn around, still clinging to the desk.

For some reason, her desk was strewn with textbooks and problem sets.

"What? What's going on?"

"Mizuho is studying. Don't bother me."

"It's fine if you don't do it now."

"Why? You were always nagging about studying."

Mizuho probably thought she could get away with it by saying she was studying, but upon closer inspection, she was just doodling in her notebook.

When Yuki tried to drag her away, she clung to the desk and wouldn't budge, so he gave up and left the room.

Back in the living room, Koyoru stood awkwardly, so Yuki encouraged her to sit on the sofa and sat down next to her.

"She's not usually like this. Maybe she's nervous because you're here."

But as he thought about it, this was how she usually acted.

Still, her resistance was stronger than usual.

"Do you want some ice cream? It's a bit melted, but..."

He took the ice cream out of the bag and lined it up on the table, asking, "Which one do you want?" Koyoru was hesitant again, but Yuki insisted, and they started eating the ice cream together.

Koyoru was quite, or rather, very quiet. She just quietly nibbled on the soft-serve ice cream.

Since Yuki usually dealt with noisy people, this change in behavior threw him off a bit.

"What's my sister like at school? Is she doing well?"

So Yuki tried to start a conversation.

He had been curious about this for a while, but Mizuho would only lie if he asked her directly, so this was a good opportunity.

Koyoru, taken aback by the sudden question, shrank back but then paused her ice cream to say,

"Um, at school? Um, Nari is, well, like a princess."

"A princess?"

"Ah, um, well... everyone calls her Sleeping Beauty."

Yuki tilted his head at the sudden mysterious term.

Mizuho wasn't usually sleepy, and if anything, she stayed up late.

So was she sleeping in class? But that didn't seem quite right either.

"Nari often sleeps and looks unwell, so it's hard to talk to her. Everyone tries not to wake her up."

"So that's why they call her Sleeping Beauty..."

Even after hearing the explanation, Yuki still wasn't quite satisfied.

Mizuho did tend to get sick easily and often caught colds, but most of it was her own fault, like wearing too little and then falling asleep, or not drying her hair properly.

This might have contributed to the image of her being frail.

"Also, she's good at drawing and often draws during class."

"But she shouldn't be skipping class."

"But the other day, when her math test was returned, she dropped her answer sheet, and I picked it up for her. I accidentally saw her score. Even though she wasn't paying attention in class, she got 92 points."

"Was that on purpose?"

"Huh?"

The suspicion that she had dropped it on purpose to show off her score.

In the previous test, Mizuho had achieved the miraculous feat of scoring 92 in math alone.

She had shown it to Yuki as soon as she got home, but it was probably due to Rion, who had been watching her study closely.

However, her scores in other subjects were all below average, just barely avoiding failing.

"Do you want to see? The other tests she tried to hide."

"What is that?"

At that moment, Yuki sensed a faint presence near the entrance to the living room and turned to see a figure quickly hide.

He immediately stood up and approached, and before Mizuho could close the door, he stuck his arm in.

"Why do you always run away?"

"...Yuki, you seemed to be having quite a good time talking."

"You should come out and talk too."

"What were you talking about?"

"Nothing much..."

Mizuho watched Yuki's reaction closely.

Despite hiding, she seemed quite interested, so Yuki decided to ask about the truth of the earlier conversation.

"Mizuho, they say you're Sleeping Beauty at school."

"Don't say it with a smirk."

"Why are you so sleepy? Is it because you stay up late?"

"No way!"

Then what was it?

It was unclear if Mizuho even realized she was called that.

Mizuho clenched her fists and shook them, saying, "You're just causing trouble..."

"Your monster sister is a monster. An enemy."

"That's not true at all. She's a normal, quiet girl."

"You're already under their spell. Their charm."

"Stop saying nonsense and come here. It's a chance to become friends."

Despite the grand title of Sleeping Beauty, it was clear that Mizuho was isolated.

Probably, she had been pretending to sleep, and everyone had misunderstood and started treating her as a princess.

Fortunately, Koyoru seemed to be friendly towards Mizuho, and this was a rare opportunity to make a friend in the same class.

"What's so bad about it? Just act like you usually do. Pretend it's Eri."

"That's impossible."

That was harsh.

Was she saying she acted in a way that Eri would dislike?

"Then how about I carry you?"

"I can walk myself! What do you mean by carrying me? I'm not a child!"

After initially suggesting it, she now seemed to be lashing out.

Mizuho, having made up her mind, turned around with a pout.

She then tried to walk to the bathroom in a suspicious manner, like a failed model walk, so Yuki pulled her arm and led her back to the living room.

Koyoru, who had been sitting on the sofa, stood up and bowed deeply when she saw Mizuho.

The grand appearance of Sleeping Beauty is included in the first volume of the book edition.

You can buy it if you want.