All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

After Arisu Sakayanagi went downstairs to take a bath, Aimi Izumi returned to her bedroom. Before leaving Kotomi Izumi's room, she lingered by the door, poking half her body out and pitifully said:

"Onee-chan, I want to sleep with you tonight~ And what if I have nightmares?"

"My dear little sister... if you have nightmares, having me by your side won't help. If some kind of monster or ghost really shows up, I'd be more scared than you," Kotomi Izumi said, shrinking her neck as if she were timid.

Seeing that Kotomi completely ignored her implied meaning—no, not ignored but deliberately pretended not to understand—Aimi puffed out her cheeks in frustration and pouted:

"Hmph, you're such a scaredy-cat!"

With that, she slammed the door shut and stormed off.

One minute later, Aimi quietly reopened the door again, her posture awkward as she said: "Um... I made you some hot milk. It's on the kitchen table. Remember to bring it up and drink it later. After that, go to bed early."

"Love you~" Kotomi mimicked the gestures of a magical girl, forming a small heart with her hands.

Aimi's face flushed even redder. How could anyone resist Kotomi's heart gesture?

She really wanted to throw herself into Kotomi's arms and act like a spoiled child.

"Hmph, d-don't think such a childish gesture will make me happy!"

Aimi closed the door and left with a red face. Meanwhile, Kotomi's eyes curled into crescent moons as she sat on the bed, smiling as if waiting for something.

Thud!

"Ahhh!"

As expected, not long after, Kotomi heard the sound of Aimi tripping over her own feet.

"Aimi, do you need help?" Kotomi called from behind the door.

"No!" Aimi shouted back in embarrassment, rubbing her sore bottom before hurrying back to her room.

Kotomi plugged her phone, which was completely out of battery, into the charger and then went downstairs to retrieve the hot milk Aimi had made for her.

Even though she was already in high school, Kotomi still had the habit of drinking a cup of milk before bed. However, because she often lazed in bed playing on her phone, she would forget to make it herself.

Over time, it became a habit for Aimi to prepare a cup of hot milk for Kotomi every night before bed.

Before heading to the kitchen, Kotomi stopped by the bathroom door. Hearing the sound of the shower running, she knocked and asked:

"Arisu, need any help?"

Even while bathing, Arisu was highly attuned to Kotomi's voice. Kotomi had expected to repeat herself several times to be heard over the water, but to her surprise, as soon as she spoke, Arisu turned off the shower and chuckled softly:

"No need. I've already washed my hair and body. Hehe, but being cared for by little Kotomi feels so nice~ I should've taken my time earlier. Then I could've pretended to need help and asked you to come in and wash me. Maybe even splash you with water to soak your clothes so you'd have to bathe with me."

Who openly shares their schemes like that? Kotomi thought helplessly.

But it was precisely because of Arisu's frequent bluntness that Kotomi never developed much guard against her, chalking it up to friends joking around.

The only issue was that Arisu joked a bit too frequently.

"Then I won't come in to help."

"Little Kotomi, look to your left," Arisu suddenly said.

Standing by the bathroom door, Kotomi, not sure what Arisu was up to, still turned her head to look left as instructed.

To Kotomi's left stood a medium-sized rack holding four storage baskets for clothes. The black one belonged to Kaneyoshi Izumi, the white one to Akina Izumi, the gray one to Aimi Izumi, and the blue one to Kotomi Izumi.

Within Kotomi's blue storage basket were the clothes Arisu had taken off. Beside the rack was her cane.

There lay pajamas, sleep pants, and...

Two pieces of purple... intimate apparel.

Both the upper and lower pieces were a matching set of purple lingerie—one of Kotomi's favorite colors.

Kotomi froze for a moment, then her face quickly flushed red and grew hot, visible to the naked eye. She hurriedly diverted her gaze from the purple "intimate apparel" and looked toward the nearby mirror. Through the mirror, Kotomi finally realized just how red her face had become!

If Arisu saw her like this, she'd definitely tease her! Kotomi thought to herself as she rushed to the sink, turning on the cold water and splashing her face.

"Let me guess," Arisu's playful voice rang out. "Hmm, Kotomi's face must be adorably red from embarrassment right now. To avoid me seeing, you're probably frantically washing it with cold water. Don't forget to dry off afterward!"

"N-No, I'm not!" Kotomi shouted, her voice trembling from excessive nervousness and embarrassment, droplets of water still clinging to her face.

"Hehe, if you like it, Kotomi, I can pretend not to know. You can secretly take it while I'm bathing, and you can do whatever you want with it~ But if you take it, you'll have to lend me a set of 'intimate apparel' in return. After all, I came straight to your house after school without preparing a change of clothes. Right now, this is all I've got."

Arisu's teasing tone grew more mischievous from inside the bathroom.

"Idiot Arisu!"

Kotomi, her face red as a tomato, shouted back before bolting to the kitchen, grabbing her hot milk, and rushing back to her bedroom.

Sitting on her bed, she habitually sipped her hot milk while browsing manga or anime on her phone.

During the time she was downstairs, her phone had charged up to 15%. Compared to when she first bought it, the charging speed had noticeably slowed.

"Looks like when picking a new phone, I need to add fast-charging to the list of requirements. But it seems like fast charging isn't entirely about the phone itself; it also depends on the charger and cable. Oh well, I'll check for compatible accessories at the store tomorrow."

After saying this, Kotomi pressed the power button and waited for her phone to turn on.

Over the past few days, she had done plenty of research on different phone brands. Compared to a few years ago when she bought her last phone, the speed of technological upgrades was astonishing.

Back then, "cutting-edge tech" was enough to carry an entire product launch. Slapping those words onto a release not only generated buzz but also boosted stock prices.

As for whether the "cutting-edge tech" was practical, valuable, or stable? Few cared. As long as it sounded impressive and made the company look good, that was enough.

Things hadn't changed much. Nowadays, the smartphone market was even more competitive. If a phone manufacturer didn't include "cutting-edge tech" in their promotions, they'd be embarrassed to call it a new release.

In the past, only a few dared to tout "cutting-edge tech" in their marketing. Now, every phone ad Kotomi saw featured it prominently. Sometimes, for variety, they'd replace it with another term like "next-gen technology."

But Kotomi didn't care about those flashy descriptions—she didn't even understand most of them.

All she wanted was a phone with lots of memory, a large and strong screen, preferably in 4K. If not 4K, then at least 2K.

Once her phone turned on, Kotomi hadn't even unlocked it before a barrage of message notifications flooded in.

Ding, ding, ding...

The sound was incessant.

When it finally quieted down, Kotomi glanced at the sender. The name didn't surprise her—it was Iroha Isshiki.

For Kotomi, it was nothing new to receive a flood of messages from Iroha Isshiki. This little devil texted like her keyboard was on rent, typing endlessly.

Kotomi even suspected that Aimi's habit of breaking up a single sentence into multiple messages was something she learned from Iroha.

The first message Iroha had sent read:

[Senpai, good afternoon!]

That message was sent while Kotomi was at school, sketching. Unfortunately, her phone had already run out of battery at the time.

After returning home, she had been too focused on dinner to charge her phone until just now.

Kotomi scrolled through the messages.

[Senpai, why aren't you replying? Did your phone get confiscated by the teacher?]

[Hehehe, who would've thought the number one student in Tokyo would get their phone taken away for playing during class?]

How did she even know Kotomi ranked first in Tokyo? Oh, right—she and Aimi were classmates. After the midterm results were announced, Aimi probably bragged to Iroha.

Kotomi continued reading.

[Senpai, can you hear me? Did you receive my love-filled texts?]

[Senpai~ Can you reply to me, please? Are you really going to ignore this poor kouhai who finished her homework early and is now bored at home?]

[Two hours have passed, and you still haven't replied… Don't tell me you've gotten a boyfriend!]

[If that's true, then my messages must've interrupted your time with your lover. Gomen nasai! My phone is about to die; I'll shut up now!]

After reading all of Iroha's texts, Kotomi couldn't help but tug at the corners of her mouth. She had only missed them because her phone battery had died, but Iroha had managed to concoct an entire dramatic scenario in her mind.

"Iroha's imagination is truly world-class," Kotomi muttered with a sigh. She then typed out a reply.

[Ah, sorry about that. My phone died at school, and I didn't have time to charge it until now. I just saw your messages. What's up?]

It was already 9:30 PM. Kotomi wondered if Iroha was still awake.

Considering it was Friday night and tomorrow was the weekend, Iroha would probably pull an all-nighter. Kotomi, however, wasn't one to stay up late.

[Ah! Senpai, you finally replied! I felt like I was waiting for a century in the endless river of time! I think I now understand those romance novel characters who wait patiently for love to bloom!]

[What kind of romance novels are you even reading...? Anyway, what did you want to talk about?]

[Can't I text you without a reason?]

[That's not what I meant.]

[Hehe, I was just a little bored at home. I finished all my homework before the end of school today, and now I don't know what to do.]

[If Aimi hears that, she'll probably tear you apart. She's stressing over her homework right now.]

[That sounds like something Aimi would actually do...]

Iroha sent the message with an amused tone. Shortly after, she added another.

[But Senpai, when you didn't reply to my texts, I was so scared you'd gotten a boyfriend and were doing all sorts of… close activities behind my back! The thought of it filled me with pain, sorrow, and bittersweet joy!]

Pain, sorrow, and bittersweet joy... What kind of expression is that?

Kotomi mentally calculated the age gap between her and Iroha. It wasn't significant, but talking to her always made Kotomi feel like there was a generational divide she couldn't bridge.

What a little devil.

[I didn't! My phone just died.]

[Did you forget to charge it last night?]

[I've had this phone for years, and the battery's worn out. Even if I fully charge it in the morning, it's dead by the time school ends.]

[Oh, I see. My phone's the same. Since last July, its battery drains super fast, even when I don't use it much. Phones are like bras—they're just consumables.]

[True.]

Kotomi couldn't help but agree with that analogy.

[Senpai, let's go buy new phones this weekend!]

Iroha's sudden topic shift was typical of her.

[Go phone shopping together? Sure, how about tomorrow?]

[Oh ho ho~! Tomorrow already? Senpai, you're so eager! Are you that excited to see me? My, Senpai, how lewd. If there were a store open tonight, would you insist on meeting me now?]

[Don't overthink it. I was already planning to buy a phone tomorrow. Since you're getting one too, we might as well go together.]

[Aw, and here I thought you couldn't wait to see me...]

Iroha paired this with a pouty emoji.

[See you tomorrow, then. I know a great store in Chiba City—]

Before Kotomi could finish typing, her phone showed an incoming call.

It was Iroha.

Kotomi tilted her head in confusion but answered. "Iroha, why the sudden call? Something wrong?"

"Ah! Senpai! About buying phones tomorrow—I want to go to Yokohama!"

Now Kotomi was thoroughly confused.

"Yokohama? Did I hear that right?"

"Yup! I want to go to Yokohama to buy a phone!"

"Why Yokohama? Chiba City has plenty of good stores. I even have two 1,000-yen discount coupons!" Kotomi asked, baffled.

While traveling to Yokohama by train wasn't too far, Kotomi wasn't keen on going out of town on the weekend. Besides, it was just phone shopping—why not go somewhere closer?

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