The moment Yuyu Izumi blurted it out in shock, Kotomi Izumi's first reaction was to cover her mouth and stop her from saying another word.

After all, Kotomi had no idea how good the soundproofing in Yuyu's bedroom was.

If it wasn't good enough...

Kotomi instinctively shrank her neck, feeling a little nervous. Yuyu's bedroom wasn't far from the living room. If what Yuyu had just said reached the living room, Third Uncle and Third Aunt would be manageable—but if Yui heard it, Kotomi would have to spend quite a while coaxing her.

Although Yui was obedient, sweet, and easy to bully... ahem, easy to coax, Kotomi still felt that if it could be avoided, it was better not to let Yui hear it. She would definitely confess everything to Yui eventually—but at least for now, Kotomi didn't think it was the right time.

As for when the right time would be? She didn't have an exact answer. Maybe in the near future. Maybe much, much later.

The reason she couldn't set a timeline was simple—she didn't have absolute confidence about confessing to Yui. She couldn't guarantee that after telling her the truth, she would receive forgiveness.

Without complete assurance, Kotomi Izumi would never act recklessly. That was also why she hadn't confessed to Megumi Kato or Yui Yuigahama.

Of course, there was a special reason she hadn't confessed to Megumi Kato.

She was afraid of dying.

Ever since being "stabbed" once by little Megumi's firewood knife, Kotomi now behaved in front of her like a reformed, gentle little wife—ah, no, a virtuous and considerate little wife.

It wasn't because the little scumbag had learned her lesson.

It was because getting stabbed really hurt.

Even if no matter how sharp the firewood knife was, it still couldn't sever Kotomi's determination to build a harem.

But regardless, until she had a one hundred percent effective life-preserving strategy, Kotomi Izumi would never dare say to Megumi Kato, "Megumi, actually I have a lot of girlfriends. And there might be even more in the future."

She was afraid the knife would be in her stomach before she even finished the sentence.

Yuyu Izumi immediately saw what Kotomi was worried about. She patted her chest reassuringly.

"Sis, relax. The soundproofing in our house is pretty good. Otherwise, with Mom's personality—wanting to find an excuse to beat me up every three days—if the soundproofing were bad, the neighbors would've filed complaints ages ago."

"I see. That's a relief..."

Kotomi let out a long breath, then quickly added as if reacting to something,

"It's not that I'm feeling guilty. It's just that you don't know how to speak properly. Out of all the words you could use, you had to say I cheated? Honestly, you really don't know how to talk. You should zip your mouth shut sometimes."

Looking thoroughly exasperated, Kotomi poked Yuyu's forehead.

"Good thing you said that in the bedroom where only the two of us could hear it. If you had said that outside and someone else heard it, they'd think Kotomi Izumi was some loose woman!"

The more she spoke, the more aggrieved she sounded. If she weren't too busy lying without actual emotion—and if her acting skills in front of Yuyu were better—she might have even squeezed out a few tears.

For some reason, Yuyu couldn't help blurting out,

"Sis, I kind of feel like you really are a loose woman..."

"Ahem... 3090 Ti~" Kotomi casually mentioned.

"Sis, you're absolutely right! I apologize for my slip of the tongue! And please don't ever use 'loose woman' to describe yourself again. It's way too accurate—pfft! I mean—it's completely unsuitable for you! If we have to use idioms, then it should be virtuous and gentle, pure as jade, devastatingly beautiful!"

Good grief—Yuyu had strung together three idioms to describe Kotomi. Only the last one, devastatingly beautiful, actually fit.

If the first two were used on Kotomi, even a dog would shake its head.

Yuyu knew that perfectly well. But under the oppressive "might" of the 3090 Ti, she could only go against her conscience.

Hearing those three idioms, Kotomi finally nodded in slight satisfaction.

"Not bad. But just to be safe, I still need to explain why I have another girlfriend besides Yui."

"What's there to explain? A thousand words boil down to one phrase—shameless scumbag."

"Hm? Little Yuyu, what was that? I didn't quite catch it.

"Oh, right, I suddenly remembered something. If we're building a desktop, we definitely need a case, right? When the 40-series cards come out, I'm planning to upgrade my GPU and swap out the case too. I've already picked it—the ROG Helios case.

"I'm thinking of buying two. One for myself, and the second one..."

Kotomi deliberately stopped there and smiled meaningfully at Yuyu.

Yuyu originally wanted to loudly condemn this material bribery.

But there was nothing she could do. Not only had Kotomi brought out the 3090 Ti, now she had added an ROG Helios case.

That was ROG!

Yuyu's greatest dream was to own a full ROG setup.

Sometimes she would even dream about finally achieving it, laughing wildly in her sleep—only to wake up and remember she didn't even own a computer. No desktop. No laptop.

Faced with Kotomi's temptation, Yuyu swallowed hard.

Then she clenched her teeth.

Smack!

Yuyu slapped herself hard across the face. The force was so great that clear finger marks instantly appeared on the left side of her cheek.

It startled Kotomi.

Little sis, what are you doing? Planning to die rather than submit?

Then Yuyu declared,

"Damn it! My mouth must've been possessed by a demon just now, spouting nonsense! Bold fiend—watch me slap you into oblivion!"

Smack! 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

She slapped herself again.

Another crisp, ringing sound.

This time, finger marks clearly appeared on the right side of her face.

Yuyu's absurd operation left Kotomi dumbfounded. After a long pause, she finally patted Yuyu's head and sighed.

"Yuyu, just for those two slaps, I promise I'll make your dream of owning a computer come true."

"Deal?"

"Deal."

Just like that, Kotomi Izumi and Yuyu Izumi easily reached a sisterly agreement. On the surface, they looked intimate and full of mutual trust.

But in reality, it wouldn't be long before the two of them started fighting again.

When they argued, they fought fiercely, neither willing to yield. Yet when they made up, they were the very picture of sisterly affection.

"Sis, hurry up and explain. You already have such a good sister-in-law, so why did you cheat and find another girlfriend? If Aunt finds out you're two-timing, she'll definitely spank you," Yuyu said, both curious and concerned.

Kotomi twitched her lips and thought, You're too late. Mom already spanked me over this.

Of course, that was what she thought. She couldn't actually say it out loud. So Kotomi simply gave a nonchalant smile.

"It's just a spanking. Do you really think I'd be scared?"

"That's true. You're like a piece of overcooked meat, Sis. Even if Aunt used a rolling pin on your butt, she probably couldn't beat tears out of you."

"Next time you speak, could you at least use your brain a little and pick a nicer description for me?" Kotomi said helplessly.

She knew Yuyu didn't mean it badly. It was just that whenever her brain latched onto an idea, the first word that popped up was often the bluntest one. The meaning might be the same, but one version sounded harsher than another.

The essence of "a hundred ways to say one sentence" was simply replacing unpleasant words with pleasant ones.

The problem was that Yuyu's vocabulary wasn't very extensive. For a given meaning, she might only know the harsher expression.

"Sis, you know my vocabulary isn't great."

"Then study harder."

"Wuwuwu, Sis, you've changed. Last year you told me: 'You don't need to force yourself to study. Learning depends on fate. If you learn something, it means you have affinity with that knowledge point. Even without deliberate effort, you'll unconsciously grasp and understand it. Likewise, if you can't learn something, it means you have no affinity with it. Even if you rack your brains, you might not master it. For example, I still haven't figured out how to solve the chicken-and-rabbit-in-the-same-cage problem.'

I've always remembered that as a famous quote."

Kotomi immediately felt awkward.

She really had said that.

A whole year had passed, and Yuyu still remembered it so clearly. Kotomi could only laugh dryly and make up an excuse.

"Hehehe... three days apart and you should look at someone with new eyes. It's been at least three months since we've seen each other. Of course some of my previous statements would change."

After that, Kotomi began explaining why she was dating two girls at the same time.

"Actually, Yui is my second girlfriend. My first girlfriend is Megumi Kato."

The moment Kotomi spoke, her words left Yuyu so stunned she almost bit her tongue.

"So I have another sister-in-law named Megumi Kato? And after getting Sister-in-law Kato, you still weren't satisfied, so you dated Sister-in-law Yui behind her back? And now you're dating two girls at the same time?"

"That's more or less the situation," Kotomi nodded.

Yuyu stared at her in utter shock. Just moments ago, she had thought "three days apart and you should look at someone with new eyes" was exaggerated. Now she felt it wasn't exaggerated at all. She hadn't seen her sister for three months, and upon meeting again, not only did her sister have a girlfriend—she had more than one!

What stunned Yuyu most was that Kotomi was dating two girls simultaneously.

That was beastly!

"Sis, how did I never realize you had such a scum— ahem—such a broad-minded side?"

Look at that. Out of nervousness, Yuyu had instinctively learned how to phrase something more pleasantly.

"When it comes to feelings, I can't control them," Kotomi said calmly. "I can love one girl deeply, and at the same time love another girl deeply as well. I don't want to give up any girl I like or any beautiful girl who has feelings for me.

"When faced with a choice in love, I choose all of them. And I'm very confident in myself. No matter how many girls I fall in love with, no matter how many I date at once, I can keep everything balanced and give each of them the same amount of love.

"Yuyu, honestly, I feel like I have many hearts inside me—countless ones. Each heart corresponds to a different girl. If that's true, then it means one thing."

Kotomi deliberately paused, leaving the sentence unfinished.

Yuyu's curiosity snapped her out of her shock.

"What does it mean?"

"It means that no matter how many girls I love, my love for each of them is wholehearted," Kotomi said seriously.

"I had already prepared a rebuttal in my head, but why does your last sentence feel like a finishing move? I suddenly don't know how to argue back," Yuyu complained.

"Even if you could think of a rebuttal, you can't say it," Kotomi replied lightly. "After all~ Yuyu, you wouldn't want to say goodbye to the 3090 Ti before even meeting it, would you?"

"Damn it... that actually makes sense. Sis, I didn't say anything. The demon must've come back and taken control of my speech again. I'll give myself another slap."

For the sake of the 3090 Ti, for the sake of the Helios case, for the sake of finally owning a computer, Yuyu truly didn't hold back. She raised her hand to smack her own mouth again.

Kotomi quickly grabbed her wrist.

"Stop, stop. If you keep slapping yourself like that, I'm afraid you'll end up committing slaughter."

Sitting in Kotomi's lap, Yuyu began analyzing the love triangle between Megumi Kato, Kotomi Izumi, and Yui Yuigahama.

Finally, she asked cautiously, with a hint of anticipation,

"Sis... do Sister-in-law Kato and Sister-in-law Yui know about each other's existence?"

"Of course they know. They're classmates. Megumi sits next to me, and Yui sits in front of her," Kotomi replied casually, thinking Yuyu was just asking whether they knew each other.

"Huh?!"

Yuyu's eyes widened instantly. She turned to stare at her sister's pretty face. After a long moment, she slowly said,

"Sis, you're such a shameless scumbag... ahem, slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue. What I meant to say is—you're truly a broad-minded and loving girl."

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