Hearing what Yui Yuigahama said, Kotomi Izumi felt very happy inside, but on the surface she pretended not to be moved at all and muttered, "Nonsense. How could you not be tired?"

"I’m really not tired!"

As if anxious to prove that she truly wasn’t tired, Yui Yuigahama leaned closer, trying once again to get Kotomi to lie on her lap. Kotomi deliberately refused to let her succeed, tilting her head to the side in clear defiance. The way she adamantly refused now formed a sharp contrast to how, just a few hours ago, she had insisted on enjoying Yui’s lap pillow.

Yui tried several times to coax Kotomi into lying down again, but each attempt was easily dodged. The Queen of All Females physique’s boost to reaction speed was especially powerful at moments like this. Kotomi even found herself thinking that if she could upgrade the reaction enhancement from the Queen of All Females physique, perhaps after the upgrade she might gain something like precognition—being able to see a few seconds into the future.

The more Kotomi thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. So she began pondering how she could upgrade the Queen of All Females physique she possessed. Unfortunately, even now, let alone a method to upgrade it, she didn’t even know whether the physique could be upgraded at all.

In the past, a trivial question like this wouldn’t have been a problem. She would have just asked Kazumi, who was sometimes reliable and sometimes not. Although Kazumi was like a potato server—constantly plagued with various bugs—at least when it came to matters related to the Queen of All Females physique, Kazumi was fairly dependable and always gave the correct answer.

Sigh...

Thinking of this, Kotomi let out another sigh in her heart. The very first time she had wondered whether the Queen of All Females physique’s enhancements could be upgraded, she had subconsciously spoken aloud: "Kazumi, do you think it’s possible that the enhancements from the Queen of All Females physique can be upgraded—"

Before she could finish, it felt as though molten lead had been poured down her throat, so heavy that she couldn’t utter another sound. How could the slumbering Kazumi answer her questions as usual?

"Alright, stop messing around. I know you’re not tired anymore."

Just moments ago, Kotomi had been happily playing a game of catch-me-if-you-can with Yui. But after remembering that Kazumi was still asleep within her, she instantly lost all interest in fooling around and spoke faintly. She now felt as though she didn’t know what she wanted to do next, as if everything had suddenly become dull.

Most of the time Yui Yuigahama was rather slow on the uptake, but in moments like this she was surprisingly sensitive to changes in Kotomi’s mood. Although she didn’t know why Kotomi’s emotions had suddenly shifted, she knew that the most important thing she could do right now was to obediently follow whatever Kotomi said.

Kotomi’s request might be wrong, but if she didn’t follow it, Kotomi would definitely get angry or upset. Yui didn’t want Kotomi to be angry or unhappy, so she never bothered worrying about right or wrong. She would simply listen obediently. Whatever Kotomi said, she would do.

Yui sat quietly beside Kotomi, like a little puppy lying at her feet, carefully sensing every change in Kotomi’s mood.

Not far away, Yukino Yukinoshita, who had been pretending to read to distract herself, raised her head and glanced in their direction.

Ever since Kotomi woke up, Yukino had wanted to go over and speak to her. But the first thing Kotomi said upon waking had been directed at Yui. Even though she could understand it and knew it was perfectly normal, once she remembered that Kotomi and Yui were lovers, Yukino couldn’t help feeling an intense discomfort in her heart.

She wanted to walk over, but her legs felt weak.

She wanted to speak, but the words stuck in her throat.

In the end, she could only remain seated on the tatami, lowering her head and pretending to read. Yet she hadn’t absorbed a single word on the page.

Yukino Yukinoshita hated her own weakness.

This afternoon, while chatting with Yui, she had countless times told herself in her heart: Enough small talk. With the next sentence, I’ll confess to Yui that I like Kotomi.

But in the blink of an eye, the entire afternoon had passed. Evening was approaching. Kotomi had already woken up. And still, she hadn’t gathered the courage to confess her feelings.

Yukino knew very well why she was so weak. She wanted the love she felt for Kotomi, yet she didn’t want her friendship with Yui to shatter because of it.

Friendship and love—things that should have been able to coexist.

So why, when it came to her, did she have to choose one and abandon the other?

Yukino Yukinoshita asked herself this question in her heart. The reason was simple, and she knew it clearly.

It was merely because both she and Yui had fallen in love with Kotomi.

...

A few minutes later, Kotomi Izumi’s mood gradually returned to normal. Every time she thought of the slumbering Kazumi, her emotions would undergo a drastic shift. No matter how good her mood had been one second earlier, the next she would sink into negativity.

Fortunately, she was good at regulating her emotions and quickly brought herself back to normal.

After taking a subtle deep breath, Kotomi glanced at the cautious Yui sitting beside her and couldn’t help feeling a trace of guilt.

This silly dumpling must have thought she had made me angry just now, so now she looks so careful and at a loss, even a little self-blaming. Silly dumpling... no matter what happens, she never thinks I’m the one at fault. She’s practically like a foolish puppy.

It makes me repeatedly have this thought in my heart: forget everything else, take this silly dumpling to some small town where no one knows us, and hold a wedding with just the two of us.

Kotomi Izumi was rational most of the time, but she also had moments of impulsiveness, when she didn’t care about the consequences.

Like when thoughts like this surfaced.

As if praising a loyal good dog, and also helpless at this foolish puppy’s foolishness, Kotomi smiled with complicated emotions and reached out to gently stroke Yui’s hair.

Yui Yuigahama narrowed her eyes slightly, thoroughly enjoying the touch at this very moment.

Meanwhile, Yukino Yukinoshita could only watch from the side, envy filling her heart...

Envy and jealousy accumulated continuously within her, like water being poured into a cup. If water keeps being poured in, sooner or later the cup will overflow—or even fall to the ground and shatter into pieces.

When the day comes that the cup truly breaks, will it be in silent stillness, or will it erupt with a deafening storm of blood and chaos?

As for the future—who can say for certain?

But one thing could be guaranteed. If things continued like this, if envy and jealousy kept accumulating in Yukino’s heart, then sooner or later she would be unable to bear it. When a cup cannot hold any more water, it overflows.

When Yukino’s heart could no longer bear those emotions, the darkness buried in the deepest, most hidden corner of her soul—so hidden that even she herself had never noticed it—would erupt completely.

Yui Yuigahama.

Kotomi Izumi.

Yukino Yukinoshita.

The three of them sat in the room. On the surface, everything looked harmonious. They often chatted and laughed together.

But in reality, unseen currents had already begun to swirl silently around Kotomi.

As if...

A river of blood could break out at any moment.

It might be in the next second. It might be soon. Or it might be a very, very long time from now.

"I’m hungry. Yukino, Yui, what do you two want to eat?"

Kotomi Izumi took out her phone, preparing to order takeout. She had originally planned to visit a well-known restaurant nearby today, but after that afternoon nap she somehow felt even sleepier. So she decided to order takeout for now and go to the famous restaurant tomorrow instead.

"Whatever you want to eat, Kotomi, I’ll eat too," Yui Yuigahama said obediently.

"Could you be any less opinionated?" Yukino Yukinoshita retorted, then turned to Kotomi. "Order whatever you want. Just get me a portion as well. Though there’s one condition—no cilantro. I don’t like cilantro."

"You’ve got the nerve to criticize Yui? Your answer isn’t much different," Kotomi said with a helpless smile.

"Not at all. At least my answer includes my own personal preference—I don’t like cilantro," Yukino replied matter-of-factly.

For some reason, when Yukino spoke so confidently, Kotomi felt she looked like a cold little cat, rarely showing a tsundere side. Although that little cat’s nature was both aloof and tsundere, most of the time she hid the tsundere part very well, revealing only her cool exterior.

"Just for that sentence alone, when I place the order later, I’m going to write in the notes: ’Extra cilantro, thank you!’ If they allow additional charges, I’ll even pay more to pile on a mountain of cilantro," Kotomi said with a cheerful grin.

Unexpectedly, such a casual remark made Yukino shudder. The mere image of a dish covered entirely in cilantro made her feel like someone with trypophobia staring at a dense patch of barnacles—an immediate chill ran down her spine.

Yukino shrank her neck slightly and asked in a faint, somewhat timid voice,

"Kotomi... are you a demon? Do you really like cilantro that much? Cilantro is basically a vegetable Satan brought out of hell!"

"Satan doesn’t need to take the blame for that. I wouldn’t say I love cilantro, but I don’t dislike it either. A dish is better without it, but if it has some, I don’t mind," Kotomi replied calmly. Inside, however, she was anything but calm.

She never expected that Yukino Yukinoshita, who usually wasn’t picky at all, would also have a vegetable she refused to eat.

When she thought about how Yukino had lectured her before for being picky about not eating chopped green onions—saying, ’You can’t be picky’—

Kotomi now felt like she had finally discovered a boss’ weakness in a Souls-like game, and she was exhilarated.

You say I’m picky for not eating green onions, but aren’t you picky for not eating cilantro?!

Little Yukino, I’ve finally found your picky side, haven’t I?

Heh heh heh...

Fortunately, Kotomi’s control over her facial expressions was quite good. Otherwise, the sunny smile on her face right now would have looked like that of a sinister villain brimming with confidence, convinced she was about to crush the protagonist beneath her heel.

Hearing her answer, Yukino looked at Kotomi with a hint of admiration.

"You can actually eat cilantro? That’s amazing..."

"Heh heh~"

Whenever Kotomi sensed someone’s admiring gaze or heard praise directed at her, she couldn’t help feeling a little smug. If she had a tail, it would probably be shooting straight into the clouds right now.

But soon, Yukino changed her tone.

"If you like cilantro, you can add as much as you want to your own order. But my portion absolutely cannot have even a single leaf of it. If necessary, we’ll just order separately. You order yours, and I’ll order mine." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

As she spoke, Yukino’s expression was extremely serious, as though cilantro were her natural enemy.

"Wow, Little Yukino, are you some kind of rich lady? We can solve this by placing one order together, yet you insist on splitting it and paying the delivery fee twice? Even if restaurants with that ’Selected Restaurant’ badge waive the delivery fee, do you have any idea how those food delivery apps operate nowadays?"

"Uh... not really. I don’t order takeout very often."

"Those food delivery apps may label certain places as ’Selected Restaurants’ and show high purchase numbers, but in reality, merchants can just pay to get that badge. The reason the purchase numbers are so high is because they’ve paid the app. Naturally, the app promotes the restaurants that pay it. Lazy users who don’t want to choose just pick the ones with the badge.

"In truth, out of ten so-called ’Selected Restaurants,’ at least five rely on prepackaged meal kits. The base cost is already low, and with the platform’s traffic support, handing out a free-delivery coupon is practically nothing to them."

As Kotomi spoke about this, resentment filled her heart.

She still vividly remembered going to a restaurant some time ago and ordering braised pork rice. The server had taken a frozen prepackaged braised pork meal kit straight out of a freezer right in front of her.

The most infuriating part? The extra fried egg she had paid for was also a frozen semi-finished product!

What made her grind her teeth even more was that the bowl of braised pork rice had been ridiculously expensive.

Don’t ask. The only explanation was that the place was a so-called ’Selected Restaurant’ on some delivery app.

Ever since that day, Kotomi Izumi had started learning to make braised pork rice herself.

—

—

40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon:

Patreon.com/DaoOfHeaven