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II: Lily of the Valley
Chapter 66: Tea and Friends
We are tomodachi!

***

After noticing that the rain outside the window had stopped temporarily, Yayoi went out.

As for why she had to go out, it was because of Satoru. To be precise, it was because Satoru didn't have a change of underwear. When he was taking a shower, Yayoi suddenly remembered that the rain outside the window had stopped temporarily. Yayoi casually pulled a coat and put on her slippers. After leaving the house, she went straight to the 24-hour convenience store near her home.

Despite the strange look in the eyes of the cashier at the convenience store, Yayoi, who was born with a missing brain string, was picking through the men's underwear section, concentrating as if a market lady was selecting the cabbage that suited her best.

The men's underwear sold in the 24-hour convenience store were all boxed. Yayoi picked out a box from the shelf and a set of pajamas from the hanger. The phone in her coat pocket suddenly vibrated.

Yayoi went to the checkout counter with the clothes in her hand and pressed the answer button on her phone. She heard her brother's frightened voice coming from her phone, as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight. Because he didn't want to disturb his grandfather, he lowered his voice.

"Sister, there is a naked pervert in our house! The pervert... the pervert even entered your room!!!"

Yayoi: "..."

Yayoi, whose brain was shut down for two seconds, came to her senses, "Yuji, that's not a pervert, that's a big cat... no, it's Gojo."

Yuji felt uneasy: "...your acquaintance?"

Yayoi nodded: "Yeah, acquaintance."

Yuji was relieved when his elder sister said that he was an acquaintance. Since he was an acquaintance of his elder sister, there would be no big problem... right?

Yuji, who watched the big white cat enter his sister's room, hugged the fox, pulled the door frame, and watched the big cat lie down with only a bath towel around his waist, he was lying on his sister's bed openly.

Yuji: !!!

Fox: "..."

This was nothing, they have already slept together, well, just chatting under the quilt.

Noticing the frightened look in the little tiger's eyes, the big white cat raised his eyelids, raised his hand naturally, and reached out to take away a book on the desk beside the bed. He supported his chin with one hand and raised his long legs, lowered his eyelids, and casually turned the pages of the book a few times as if there was no one else around.

Yuji's keen eyes saw that it was a girl's comic with a love theme, and the little tiger's heart beat loudly.

His sister, did she want to fall in love?

Fox: "..."
Couldn't you just stop? Would you die if you don't act?

Suguru, who was being held by Yuji, had dull eyes, and his eyes were focused on the guy wearing only a bath towel, lying on the girl's bed openly.

His posture was really very imaginative. He had wide shoulders, narrow waist, long legs, enchanting lying posture, and that delicate face. A woman with a little more enlightenment would have been unable to control herself and pounced on him and *beep* again *beep*, but Yayoi's brain was born with a missing string, and she would stay calm. No matter how this nasty man danced, the little redhead remained calm in his arms and could not move.

Yuji took a deep breath and wailed sincerely into the phone, "Sister—"
What on earth were you doing outside?!

Satoru raised his eyes and glanced at the little tiger standing beside the door frame, who had collapsed into a paper figure. He paused strangely for a moment at the fox in his hand, and then looked away as if nothing had happened.

After looking around the room for a while, his eyes stopped and finally rested on the photo frame fastened to the table.

Satoru stretched out his hand to hold up the upside-down photo frame. The photos in the photo frame came into view. An old man, a boy, a girl and a cat.

The girl held the little boy in one hand. The boy's cherry blossom-colored hair was like the spring cherry blossoms blooming in the mountains. The old man's hand was on the girl's shoulder. His white hair was like snowflakes. At the feet of the red-haired girl lied a plump big orange cat, the photo was taken in the front yard, with the mottled tree shadows falling on the neat bluestone floor.

It seemed to be summer, the weather was very hot, and fallen leaves were scattered under the shade of the trees. The three of them were wearing thin short-sleeved shirts. The girl's exposed arms were as white as jade, her eye-catching hair was tied up, and her eyebrows were crooked with a smile.

The fingertips brushed against the face he was most familiar with when he was young. After his eyes paused on it for a few seconds, he smelled the faint smell of orange soda coming from the quilt in his nose. A smile unconsciously escaped from the corner of his mouth. He suddenly discovered, he missed the little redhead smile very much.

His eyes once again passed over the little tiger who had collapsed into a paper figure at the door. Satoru looked at the little boy in the photo frame again. The boy had the same hair color as the little guy in the photo, the color of a spring cherry. The only difference was his age.

Satoru rubbed his chin a few times, feeling that the little guy in the photo looked familiar. He couldn't help but recall the time when the little red-haired girl chased a car in Sendai. She seemed to be holding the little guy before chasing the car.

So, the little red-haired girl came to Sendai in a roundabout way.

The long eyelashes moved, creating a shallow silhouette under the eyes.

Satoru focused his eyes on the photo again and flipped the photo back and forth several times.

This photo was taken many years ago.

Therefore, this guy should be—

'This is my brother.' The small Yayoi in the memory hugged the little guy and blinked, as happy as a cat that got its favorite toy.

Thinking of this, Satoru looked at Yuji with a kinder look.

'After all, it’s our friendship that we’ve been in the police station together, brother-kun.'

Over here, Yayoi was standing at the checkout counter. Her brother's voice almost burst out of the phone screen. The cashier lady looked at her even more strangely. She looked up and down at this person who was wearing pajamas and a coat before going out. After looking up and down at the redhead who was wearing pajamas and a coat as she went out, her eyes strangely landed on the men's underwear and pajamas on the checkout counter.

Her eyes became heavy for a moment, and after relying on instinct to settle the bill for Yayoi, the cashier lady watched the redhead walk out of the convenience store carrying a plastic bag.

After the automatic door closed, the cashier lady let out a heavy sigh.

"Today's young people..." Really have fun.

So when Yayoi came back, she saw her younger brother who was slumped into a paper figure at the door, and Satoru, who was lying on her bed with only a towel around his waist, a refreshing smile, and an enchanting posture.

When Satoru saw Yayoi coming back, he propped up his chin and raised a hand with a refreshing smile, "Hey~ you came back so late, I'm almost bored to death~"

Yuji: !!!

Yuji's horrified eyes fell on his sister. Sister, sister, what was your relationship? Why were you so calm when you see a naked man lying on your bed?

Yayoi: "..."

Yayoi threw the plastic bag towards Satoru with a sullen expression.

The little tiger was confused.

The little tiger was very confused.

Yuji, who had been very good at playing sports since he was a child, went from elementary school to junior high school. One day, he got into a fight with a group of people and beat each other up. The day after he was taken out of the moral education department by his sister, he was nicknamed "Tiger of the West" for no apparent reason. Also, please note that the group fight mentioned here meant that Yuji beat up a group of others by himself.

This nickname had followed him from the first grade of junior high school to the first grade of high school this year, and had followed him for three years.

"Tiger of the West", as the name suggested, was the tiger of the west.

When he was a child, his sister also said that he looked like a little tiger. Yuji did not reject her statement. His sister liked furry animals very much, and she also sincerely liked Yuji who looked like a little tiger. But what about the "Tiger of the West"? This nickname sounded so shameful.

Yuji Itadori, the famous 'tiger' in the area at Sugisawa High School, who had been called the "Tiger of the West" for several years, was called a 'sneaky cat' for the first time.

This felt so new.

His sister who had been single for twenty-five years suddenly brought back a man. This feeling... was quite novel.

The little tiger sat obediently on the floor in his sister's room, watching Satoru put the pajamas that Yayoi had just bought on his head. With a height of 190+cm, he would definitely stand out in a crowd. It's not easy to buy clothes if you were too tall to stand out from the crowd.

There was a shortage of clothing types and sizes in the 24-hour convenience store. The clothing sold was not as complete as the specialized clothing stores. Even if Yayoi bought the largest size, the length of the pajamas was obviously not enough, and it barely covered his belly button. A section of fair skin was exposed under the hem of the clothes, and a good pair of trousers turned into cropped trousers on Satoru.

The little tiger rubbed the fox in his hand while looking at the big white cat who had dressed himself up.

By the way, the fox seemed to be very well-behaved today. He actually didn’t refuse him today! In the past, the fox in his family basically refused to be touched by others. Who dared to touch his fox's paws?

So Yuji took the opportunity to petted it a few more times.

The rainwater flowing from the weathering board fell on the window sill outside the house, and the splashing water splashed against the glass window.

The ravaged Geto the Fox had dull eyes, lifeless eyes, and a desireless expression, just like a Tibetan fox living in an alpine meadow area where resources were scarce.

He shouldn't have gone out for a walk because he couldn't sleep in the middle of the night. If he hadn't gone out for a walk, he wouldn't have met Satoru wearing only a bath towel in the corridor, and the little tiger standing in front of Satoru with a confused face. If he hadn't gone out for a walk, he wouldn't have heard the guy in front of him saying something shocking and endless, and if he had gone out for a walk, he wouldn't have been discovered by Yuji and fished out while he was sneaking away.

Because he didn’t want Satoru to find out that he had turned into a fox, if Satoru found out that he had made a cross-species transformation from a human to a fox, with this guy’s b*tchy nature, he would definitely laugh at him and look back at that time when Satoru turned into a cat. With the evil things he did to Satoru, the b*stard might just take him to the hospital for sterilization.

No, no, his dignity and ○○ must not be lost!

Considering all the consequences, Suguru tried very hard to pretend that he was a real fox, and he was very obedient and allowed Yuji to indulge himself.

Oh no, he still really wanted to hit someone... no, it's a monkey.

"Brother-kun~" Yuji who was petting Geto the Fox and Geto the Fox who was being petted suddenly heard a sound that turned around.

Speaking from his own conscience, Satoru's voice was very nice. Mellow, deep, and magnetic, like a string being plucked. It's the type that many voice-controlled girls like.

But the main premise was that he was not a demon.

"Hai?" said the little tiger with beady eyes, "What's wrong, Gojo-san?"
That’s what his sister seemed to call him just now.

"Hai, please tell me, little brother, what has Yayoi been doing in the past few years when I've been away?" The blindfold got wet, and there was nothing to cover his eyes for the time being. The man smiled with crooked eyebrows and cunning like a big cat.

'Hey, I’m so curious.'

Yuji: "..."
Have you reached the point where you could call me by name? QAQ

Wasuke had already fallen asleep. In order not to wake up grandpa, the three of them ran to Yayoi's room and squatted down. Now there were only Satoru and Yuji in the room. Yayoi went to the kitchen to make ginger tea for Satoru.

Peel, wash and slice the ginger and put it into the pot. Yayoi took out a bag of tea leaves from the kitchen cabinet above her head. She opened it and poured out enough to soak. After the water in the pot boiled, pour the tea leaves in and cover the pot.

The kitchen windows were stained with rainwater, reflecting the dark night.

On the gas stove, the transparent glass pot lid slowly emitted water vapor.

Yayoi looked at the window in a daze.

Dots of raindrops hit the glass window again. The ticking, slow sound of rain finally turned into crackling rain, and the rain poured like a ladle onto the window.

After meeting Suguru, Yayoi had a vague hunch that it would not be too far away to meet Satoru again.

Three years was actually a short time in a twenty-year life, but those three years were special to them, and it almost determined their future life and future direction.

As long as one of them was involved, the other would inevitably be involved.

Yayoi had many doubts, such as why Suguru suddenly became a curse user. Even if his attitude towards ordinary people had changed, the span of this change was too big. To roughly describe this span, it's the span from the summit of Mount Everest to the Mariana trench.

Somehow, Yayoi thought of Riko again. In the first two years, she wrote to Riko. She waited for a long time, but she still didn't get Riko's reply. Maybe Riko had forgotten her, or maybe...

The water in the pot gurgled under the lid. Yayoi turned the gas stove to a low heat, and the faint fragrance of tea gradually filled the air.

Yayoi lowered her eyelids.

The blue flame of the gas stove reflected the dark rain curtain. The slender branches extending to the windowsill trembled in the wind and rain, and the fragile leaves were crushed and scattered in the wind and rain.

There were many things that Yayoi didn't know. What was the "Star Plasma Vessel" they call, Yayoi also didn't know.

But life and death were not far away for some people.

Logically speaking, Riko was just a little girl, and death was still far away for her. She was still young and had a lot of time to waste, on the contrary, Riko was the kind of person who was closest to death.

Some people could live casually, but those who want to live seriously would have a short life.

Riko, a second-year junior high school student, was as fresh as a flower in Naha, Okinawa, trying her best to live the last part of her life.

Almost everyone had a clear understanding of their own life and death, but Yayoi's understanding of life and death was very vague. The grand death she first witnessed was someone else's and her own.

The bright clouds in the sky were like the bright red lipstick on the oiran's lips, and the enchanting red color smudged in the blue seawater.

The twisted beauty covered the entire hometown.

She was also confused when she died.

The distance between death and her was only a short distance back then.

At that time, she had lived longer than Riko, and her way of living was more hazy than Riko. She couldn't figure out what she wanted, and she had almost no desire to survive.

"The water is about to dry up."

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that when the warm breath sprayed on her ears, Yayoi realized that there was a big cat behind her.

Satoru bent over, close to her ear, tilted his head, and breathed gently into her ear.

Yayoi turned her head subconsciously, and his breath fell on her forehead.

This angle was just right to see Satoru's lips. The corners of the mouth were slightly raised. The lips were soft and slightly shiny. Below, she could see the beautiful neck line, the slightly raised Adam's apple, the slightly sunken collarbone, and the fair skin that went all the way down, extending deep into the shadows.

The unfamiliar emotion made her heart beat like a drum, it's deafening.

"Don't get so close." Yayoi shrank her neck subconsciously.

"But the water is about to evaporate." Satoru blinked, feeling aggrieved like a cat.

Yayoi: "..."

Yayoi took out the ginger shreds, poured the ginger tea into a bowl, and took a jar of honey from the cupboard to him. Satoru obviously didn't like the taste of the ginger tea, so he took a cautious sip and stuck out his tongue.

"Can I stop drinking?" kitty felt aggrieved.jpg

"No." Yayoi said firmly.

Spring was the season of influenza, and this person got caught in the rain again. Ginger tea warmed the stomach and dispelled the cold, which was just the right amount to prevent colds.

"Eh~" Satoru held his chin, his tone was coquettish, "Yayoi is so strict~"

It felt weird.

In her memory, Satoru had always called her 'little redhead', and he only called her by her name a handful of times. It felt a little weird when her own name came out of his mouth.

Satoru scooped several large spoonfuls of honey into the bowl, "Aren't you going to drink it?"

"I don't catch a cold." Yayoi said.

From birth to now, except for the time when her mother took her to the hospital to receive vaccinations when she was born, she had never been to the hospital for her own needs.

Satoru's hand holding the spoon paused for a moment, then put down the spoon and pushed the bowl in the direction of Yayoi, "It tastes weird~"

Yayoi looked at Satoru suspiciously, and the other person's expression was innocent and harmless.

"Try it." Satoru pushed the bowl in her direction again.

Yayoi picked up the bowl suspiciously, took a careful sip, and finally licked her lips.

Apart from being a bit spicy, it's also too sweet, but the sweetness was in line with Satoru's requirements.

"It's not weird." Yayoi put down the bowl and pushed the bowl towards his.

"Take another sip." Satoru blinked, his eyes extremely sincere.

Yayoi tilted her head, picked up the bowl and took another sip. The slightly spicy and sweet taste of ginger water bloomed on the tip of her tongue.

Yayoi put down the bowl and found Satoru looking at her with a smile. Fragments of light fell into his slightly narrowed pupils, and his eyes curved cunningly, like a successful big cat.

There was a feeling that she was being tricked by the big cat. When Satoru moved the bowl back to her, Yayoi realized that she was really being tricked by the cat.

Satoru scooped spoonfuls of ginger tea in the bowl, licking the white porcelain spoon with his tongue, his back straight and his movements were slow.

The rain outside the window began to pour heavily again, and the warm orange lights reflected the glass windows.

The temperature on her face suddenly heated up.

The little tiger, who was quietly watching with the fox in his arms, understood the atmosphere without any knowledge, and it has grown to the point where they could share a bowl. He really felt that his sister was about to fall in love.

The cat's process of drinking ginger tea seemed to be extremely long. When he finally finished drinking it, the three of them faced another huge problem.

'It’s getting late, it’s time to go to bed.'

Yuji originally wanted to go to his room and spend the night, the living room was cold, but his sister choked him halfway.

"Sister?" Yuji looked confused.

"You can't sleep in the same room with him." Yayoi looked extremely serious.

"Why?" Yuji was shocked. The little tiger with high emotional intelligence immediately felt that he shouldn't ask this question. Could it be that his sister wanted to...

Geto the Fox: !!!

Shocked the fox for a hundred years.

Geto the Fox said in his heart, 'D*mn it, your brother can’t sleep in the same room with him? Do you want to sleep in the same room with him? I didn’t expect you to be such a little redhead! Is that Satoru going to be out of single tonight?'

"He likes boys." Super serious.

Yuji: ???

Yuji: "..." Sister, was there something wrong with you?

Geto the Fox: "..."

At this time, Suguru spent his life trying not to laugh.

Yuji's voice trembled, "Sister, it's inappropriate for you to sleep in the same room with him..."

"It doesn't matter, he likes boys." Yayoi was super serious, "And we have slept together before, so there is nothing wrong with it."
And it was more than once.

Yuji: "..."

Although he didn't quite understand it, the 'we slept together' in his sister's words was definitely not the usual understanding of 'we slept together', and it's just a matter of just chatting under the quilt.

Suguru's whole body was shaking, as if he was having a Parkinson's attack: "..." hahahahahahahaha—

"Hey, what are Yayoi and brother-kun whispering about?" Satoru came over and found Yuji looking at him with eyes full of... sympathy?

"Brother-kun?"

"It's okay." Yuji looked sympathetic, "Oh, by the way, Gojo-san, my name is Yuji."

"Oh, Yuji." Gojo the Cat smiled.

Yuji felt that Gojo-san was very familiar, but he didn't give off a bad impression, so he shouldn't do bad things... right? Even if he wanted to do it, his sister's fists wouldn't stop him. According to the campus rumors at Sugisawa High School, his sister was also the top student in West Middle School back then.

"Sister, is it really okay?" Yuji was still a little worried.

"No problem." Yayoi said decisively, "We are tomodachi." (friend)
A friend I hadn't seen for a long time.

Yuji: "..." I feel more sympathy for Gojo-san.

Satoru: "..."

***

· Genuine translation can be found only in OchatimesBlogspotCom, FanFictionNet, and Wattpad

• Omake •

Brother Suguru: Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha— [Parkinson laugh.jpg]



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