All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

After Kotomi Izumi sent that message, Ayani Kika fell silent for a long time. Just as Kotomi’s eyelids began to droop and she was on the verge of falling asleep, a ding-dong notification sound rang out once more.

”Does she have clairvoyance or something? Did she deliberately wait to reply until I was about to fall asleep before sending her message...?”

Kotomi muttered resentfully under her breath. Her two pale, delicate feet swayed cutely in the air, as if expressing her dissatisfaction.

Though she grumbled softly, her hands were far more honest. She picked up her phone and opened Ayani Kika’s message.

Ayani Kika: [You’re very clever. I really didn’t know where to download stickers on LINE or how to send them. In that regard, I’m like a girl who time-traveled from Shōwa 52—I know nothing about electronic devices. This smartphone I’m using was a birthday gift from my younger brother. I’ve used it for a while now, but there are still many features I haven’t figured out.]

[I must say, technology develops incredibly fast. I hadn’t even learned how to use a pager before they were already eliminated.]

[However, I just learned how to download and send stickers. I searched for instructions in the browser and followed the steps one by one to open the right menus. It turned out to be quite simple.]

[(Smiling kitten sticker)]

Reading Ayani Kika’s messages, Kotomi could not help laughing.

Although the message itself was simply her calmly describing how terrible she was with electronics and how she had spent quite a while searching in her browser before finally learning how to download and send stickers, in Kotomi’s eyes, every line carried an indescribable cuteness.

Especially that final smiling kitten sticker. It was as if it were silently saying to her: ”Look, I learned how to send stickers!”

It felt like a little elementary school girl coming home and, in an overly calm tone, telling her mother everything she had learned at school that day. The tone might be steady, but deep down she was clearly hoping to show off just a little, secretly caring very much about whether she would receive praise.

If her parents praised her, she would remain happy for several days. But if they brushed it off carelessly, letting it go in one ear and out the other, she would stay upset for days instead.

That was exactly the feeling Ayani Kika was giving Kotomi right now. It made Kotomi mischievously wonder—what if she said nothing at all? What if she deliberately waited a long time before replying and then responded with nothing more than a single ”Oh”?

What kind of expression would Ayani Kika have then?

Just imagining it made Kotomi’s heart itch with excitement. She almost wanted to put the idea into practice immediately.

Of course, after thinking it over, she decided to abandon the plan.

The idea was tempting. She genuinely wanted to try it. But while her heart was eager, her mental energy was not.

Kotomi could not help yawning again. It seemed that those five hours of self-reliance had indeed had some effect. At the very least, she finally felt sleepy. Right now, all she wanted was to fall asleep as quickly as possible.

Just as she rubbed her eyes, planning to reply casually and then tell Ayani Kika she was going to bed, several more messages suddenly arrived.

Ayani Kika: [Although I’m still trapped in insomnia, I think you should be feeling sleepy by now. In twenty-five minutes, it will be six in the morning. You should go to sleep soon. Good night~]

[Now that I think about it, you’ve been in Kyoto for quite a few days, yet the two of us have only communicated through text messages and LINE. Compared to chatting through a smartphone, I prefer sitting face-to-face and talking in person.]

[So if, after you wake up naturally, you find yourself with both the time and the interest, would you come to Gion to see me?]

[Although I suppose you may not have either the time or the interest. Hehe~ After all, there are so many beautiful girls around you. Even if I am the number one oiran of Gion, I don’t have one hundred percent confidence that I can win your heart.]

[(If you’re too sleepy, you don’t need to reply right away. You can respond after you wake up naturally.)]

After reading the messages, Kotomi first could not help muttering:

”Does she really have clairvoyance? Not only can she ignore distance and see everything I’m doing, but she can even read my thoughts?”

Then, when she saw the final message Ayani Kika had sent, the corners of her lips curved into a faint smile.

”I didn’t expect her to be this considerate...”

Kotomi originally intended to accept her kindness, get some sleep first, and reply after waking up.

However, before closing the chat window, she glanced once more at Ayani Kika’s gray default profile picture—the one automatically assigned upon registration. A faint itch stirred in her heart. Unable to resist, she tapped rapidly on the keyboard and sent two messages.

Kotomi Izumi: [Thank you. Good night!]

[Also, if you don’t particularly like that default profile picture, you might consider choosing an image you like and setting it as your LINE avatar. Every time I chat with you and see that default picture, it feels like I’m talking to a robot.]

A short while later, Kotomi plugged in her phone to charge and placed it aside, preparing to sleep.

Ding-dong.

The notification sounded again.

Kotomi instinctively opened her eyes and glanced at the screen. Ayani Kika had sent another message.

Ayani Kika: [That profile picture... can it be changed? I always thought that after registering, the app would automatically assign each user a unique avatar. I was even wondering why, compared to yours, the one the app gave me looked so plain.]

Sleepiness was already sweeping over her. Yet after reading that message, just before drifting off, Kotomi could not help teasing softly with a hint of amusement:

”What? She doesn’t even know you can change your profile picture? Is she really some girl who time-traveled from the Shōwa era? Hmm... maybe she came from the Taishō era instead.”

Before she could finish speaking, the heavy tide of drowsiness pulled her under. Kotomi did not even manage to send a reply before closing her eyes and drifting into dreams.

However, one thing had already settled firmly in her heart.

After waking up, she would find some excuse to go alone to Gion and see Ayani Kika.

...

Chiba City.

Night.

Hibiki Naegi and Seiko Kirigiri, who almost always slept together, had been sleeping in separate rooms these past few days. At least during this short holiday, each night they had returned to their own rooms.

During the day, however, they still spoke normally. Occasionally, they would even laugh at something the other said. On the surface, the atmosphere between them could not have seemed more normal.

And that was precisely where the problem lay.

Because the relationship between Hibiki Naegi and Seiko Kirigiri was anything but normal. Logically speaking, the atmosphere between them should not have felt so ordinary.

Yet now that it did feel ordinary, it only meant that something between them had gone wrong.

Both Hibiki Naegi and Seiko Kirigiri were fully aware of this.

Ever since that argument over the phone when Hibiki had been in Kyoto, all the disagreements and contradictions they had accumulated in the past seemed to have erupted completely once that fuse was lit.

Although they had tacitly agreed not to bring up that argument again, just as fireworks leave behind the smell of gunpowder long after they explode, the relationship between Hibiki Naegi and Seiko Kirigiri had still not returned to what it once was.

Hibiki, who had already felt lost about her feelings toward Seiko, became even more confused after Eiren Kanagawa came to Chiba.

Eiren Kanagawa’s thoughtfulness, care, cheerfulness, and her ability to always provide the most professional art theory and guidance in painting made Hibiki gradually develop a sense of dependence on her more than once. And along with that dependence came a bewilderment, like standing at a crossroads.

That time at Sydney Café... if it could even be called a date, planted a faint longing deep inside Hibiki’s heart.

A longing to spend more time with Eiren Kanagawa.

Even if they were simply sitting in a car doing nothing, Hibiki still wished that the time she spent with Eiren could stretch just a little longer. And a little longer still.

”Mm... I fell asleep? What time is it?”

Hibiki Naegi, who had been asleep with her head resting on her desk, suddenly stirred awake in a daze. She remembered that after dinner, she had stayed in her bedroom practicing sketching.

Once she started practicing, she would quickly sink into deep concentration.

Perhaps that was the only pitifully small talent she possessed on the path of art. And yet she insisted on using that meager bit of talent to compete with geniuses of extraordinary ability on the narrow, single-plank bridge called art.

Repeatedly practicing the areas she was weakest in and keeping her attention in a state of intense focus, Hibiki gradually found that even the sound of pencil scraping against paper seemed to disappear, leaving only silence.

In that state, she once again lost track of time. It was not until her fingers began to ache from holding the pencil in the same position for too long that she slowly came back to her senses. Only then did she notice that the part of her finger pressed against the pencil had turned slightly red and swollen.

Fortunately, years of practice had left calluses on her hands, so it did not hurt too badly. A rinse with cool water and a simple wash would ease it considerably.

Hibiki set the pencil aside and gently rotated her wrist. Intensive training for the art entrance exams was about to begin soon. The last thing she wanted was to injure her hand beforehand.

A faint scent of pencil still lingered between her fingers. She could not quite describe it. It simply smelled like pencil—unpleasant enough.

After loosening her wrist, she did not rush to wash her hands. Instead, she remained seated, studying the sketch she had just completed to see where it could be improved.

She did not notice that the clock on her desk had already pointed to midnight.

Perhaps because she had stared at the same subject for too long and grown fatigued, or perhaps because it was already deep into the night and drowsiness rose naturally, Hibiki unknowingly fell asleep right there in her chair, leaning over the desk.

Until just now.

She sat there blankly for several seconds. As her mind gradually cleared, she noticed the red-and-blue plaid half-length padded coat draped around her shoulders, as well as the room lights dimmed to leave only a small night lamp that would not disturb sleep.

There was no need to think about it. Seiko Kirigiri must have done all of this while she was asleep. Seiko had always cared for her in such a quiet and meticulous way.

At that thought, Hibiki instinctively wrapped the coat tighter around herself. While feeling its warmth, a trace of guilt also spread through her chest.

She slowly stood up, intending to go downstairs for a glass of cold water before heading to bed.

Shuffling down the stairs in her slippers, she reached the first floor and noticed a faint glow from the living room, along with the television turned down to the lowest volume.

When she stepped inside, she saw Seiko Kirigiri sitting on the sofa, staring blankly at the television program. Her loungewear hung loosely at the collar, her upper body leaning slightly forward, as if completely unguarded. Then again, this was their own home.

The vacant look in Seiko’s eyes made it seem less like she was watching the variety show on screen and more like she was simply staring at the television in a daze.

Seiko noticed Hibiki and turned her head to look at her.

Though she was already in high school, Seiko still appeared somewhat youthful, yet at the same time dignified and beautiful.

”You’re awake?” Seiko asked in a calm voice.

Hibiki nodded. She opened her mouth, wondering what she should say.

”Um... well... thank you for putting this coat on me.”

As she spoke, Hibiki tugged at the plaid padded coat around her shoulders.

”If you hadn’t covered me with this, with the weather like this, I definitely would have caught a cold after sleeping.”

”It’s nothing. Just a small favor,” Seiko replied. There was a stiffness in her tone that had never been there before.

Hibiki scratched her hair, unsure how to respond.

At that moment, Seiko suddenly spoke again.

”Sister.”

”Hm?”

”I’m speaking hypothetically. If one day, a woman appeared who was far more outstanding than me, who shared many common topics with you in art, and who could help you in your artistic pursuits... would you fall in love with her?”

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