After finishing the meal, Nanako was responsible for cleaning up the subsequent bowls, while Nakano Mayu heated a cup of tea for herself and her senior sister in the living room, sat on the corridor outside the floor-to-ceiling window, and sipped it slowly.
Perhaps because of the bonus of cooking skill level 2, he felt that the tea he made today tasted better than usual.
He took a sip of the hot tea, looked at the dusk sky, patted his bulging belly with satisfaction, and then turned to look at the senior sister who was kneeling on the cushion next to him, sipping the tea.
Under his gaze, the senior sister lowered her head slightly as he expected and said: "Why...how do you burp~"
"Hahahahaha..."
"Woo..."
The burp that happened to come out while he was watching made the senior sister whimper and look at the floor with shameless eyes, as if if there was a hole in the ground now, she could get into it and live right away...
"It's too...too late, I...I'm leaving first..."
Haneda Kiyonatsu put down the tea cup in his hand, hurriedly walked to the living room, picked up his schoolbag and walked out.
Nakano Mayu looked at his senior figure preparing to leave, but did not continue to persuade her to stay.
But halfway through, the senior sister suddenly thought of something and took out a slightly bulging envelope from her schoolbag. After hesitating for a moment, she turned around and came back: "Here...this is for you..."
Nakano Mayu took the envelope and shook it strangely. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "What is this? My prostitution money?"
"Woo..."
The girl blushed slightly and said softly: "It's to pay you back, just...just one million yen..."
Hearing this, he opened the envelope and took a look.
The thick stack of 10,000 yen bills still smelled of new ink, as if they had just been taken out.
"Where did you get so much money?" He frowned slightly and asked the senior sister with a nonchalant look on his face.
After asking, he seemed to suddenly remember something, shook the money and asked: "This year's scholarship?"
"Um..."
"You don't owe me any money, what is this for?"
"Mom said... said that what happened last time must have caused you a lot of trouble, and you should have helped us pay for the previous debt, so at least that money..." The girl put her hands on each other. Intertwined in front of lower abdomen.
"That money was originally a gambling debt. I had a friendly exchange with the person who lent the loan, and he also felt that the money should not be counted. Just go back and talk to Haneda-san about it..." Nakano Mayu spoke. , put the banknotes back into the envelope.
Although money is indeed tempting, this is a scholarship for this little quail. If you take this kind of money, your conscience will really rot...
"No..."
"And isn't this money a scholarship? You are going to take the college entrance examination next year. Have you decided which school to go to?" Seeing the girl's stubborn expression, he directly changed the subject and asked.
"I...want to take the test on Keiying...is it okay?" The girl said confidently, halfway through, she looked up at him again as if asking for advice.
"Keio Gijuku? It's definitely possible..."
Nakano Mayu looked at the girl's rosy face and the rare look of confidence on her delicate face with almost invisible pores, and felt relieved.
If this guy could come out of Keio, he could easily support himself even if he works as an ordinary clerk...
"Thank you... thank you..."
"Then if you want to take the Keying exam, you have to buy a lot of Keying-related test questions from previous years, as well as tutorial books and various test papers. This is a lot of money..."
"Well..."
Seeing that the girl was still hesitating, he raised his hand and pinched the girl's soft face and pulled it away.
"Okay, go back quickly and explain to Haneda-san what I just said. She will understand... Nothing is more important now than your high school entrance examination next year. I believe she should think so too..."
Because of the posture problem, Nakano Mayu patted the girl's slender waist, stuffed the envelope into her schoolbag, and then pushed it out: "Go back quickly, Haneda-san will be worried if it is later..."
"Well..."
But unexpectedly, the girl was pushed by her without saying a word, and suddenly she started to shed tears...
The girl's tears were crystal clear, falling on the back of his hand like pearls.
"Um?"
When Nakano Mayu, who was still sitting leisurely on the ground, saw this, he stood up immediately: "What's wrong? Did I hurt you?"
He looked at his palms with some doubts. Although the skill attributes in various aspects have increased rapidly recently, it should not be to the point where he cannot control his power?
"No...it's not..."
The girl kept wiping away the tear lines on her face with her two small hands, while retorting anxiously.
She looks pitiful and lovable.
"Then why are you crying all of a sudden?"
Nakano Mayu is most afraid of seeing the girls close to him cry...
Especially the pitiful crying face of his senior sister always made him feel an inexplicable feeling of guilt.
He quickly raised his hand to wipe away the tears from the corner of the girl's eyes, and then asked the senior sister in a rare and gentle tone: "What exactly is going on?"
"..." The senior sister didn't answer, still crying silently.
Seeing this, Nakano Mayu had no choice but to take the girl into his arms, pat her somewhat thin shoulders, and softly comfort her.
After a while, the girl's crying slowly stopped. There were two conspicuous tear marks on her originally fair face. Her red and swollen eyelids still had two teardrops hanging on them. It looked like I had seen her. pity.
He also took a tissue at the right time and personally wiped away the tears on the senior sister's face.
"Tell me, why do you suddenly cry like I'm going to die?" He asked with a smile on his face while wiping away his tears.
"I...I don't know either..."
The girl was still sobbing a little, but she seemed to have calmed down. There was still some confusion in her big moist eyes, and she raised her little head in his arms and looked at him:
"Just now... I suddenly felt very happy. This feeling of happiness... appeared in me... It didn't feel like reality... and then... then I couldn't stop crying..."
The meaning of what the girl said was a bit messy, but it made Nakano Mayu, a man who has always been as strong as iron physically and mentally, feel a slight soreness on the tip of his nose.
"Idiot, what did we just say make you cry..." He raised his cheeks and looked at the ceiling.
"It's just...it's..."
The girl squeezed into his arms again, seeming to be more courageous than usual, and no longer stuttering when speaking: "I just feel that my mother can do easy work every day, and she doesn't have to worry about the family's debt, and then... When someone other than my mother cares about Qingxia, I suddenly feel...so happy..."
When the girl in his arms spoke, her little face was pressed against his chest, so she sounded a little loud.
There seemed to be infinite determination in the soft voice.
Nakano Mayu felt his waist being held tightly by the girl.
Although the strength doesn't feel very strong to him, it may be the maximum strength that the senior sister, who is usually weak, can use...
"Senior sister..."
"Um?"
"You are really an idiot..."
"Oh...Ma...Mayou too..."
