Chapter 74: Refreshing

The bedroom light was turned off, and the field of vision was immediately consumed by darkness.

This time, Yukina hadn’t brought her pillow.

Ephnel and Yukina lay on their sides in the small single bed, back to back, sharing the narrow pillow that originally belonged to Ephnel.

Because of this, their proximity became extremely close.

‘If we’re too far apart, it will seem overly distant and deliberate, but if we’re too close, it will become disastrous in more ways than one, so I must painstakingly maintain this delicate distance.’

But she could feel Yukina’s body heat from behind her.

Ephnel was being held again.

She lay rigidly on her side with her back to Yukina, her body so stiff she dared not move an inch.

This time, Yukina made no move to cross any lines, which put Ephnel’s mind at ease, but even so, her heart continued to pound wildly and audibly.

Ephnel found it increasingly difficult to fall asleep.

“Onee-chan…”

Yukina’s soft voice suddenly came from just behind her.

“What is it? Can’t sleep?”

“Mmm…”

Ephnel noticed a trace of ambiguous hesitation in Yukina’s voice.

She turned slightly to the side and asked, “Are you not feeling well?”

“That’s not it…”

“Then…”

“Onee-chan, can I call you Naoko?”

“Hm?”

Ephnel was slightly taken aback.

Yukina repeated herself, “Naoko… Can… Can I call you that?”

“Why suddenly use that name…” Ephnel asked.

Naoko was the alias Ephnel used at school.

“Well… your original name isn’t really suitable anymore… and didn’t Auntie just say you should change your name? So if we just change one character (Naoto 直人 → Naoko 直子), this one is obviously better to use, right?”

“Mmm…”

Ephnel paused for a moment.

Indeed, her mother, Yanase Kaoru, had mentioned it during their chat earlier, but she hadn’t taken it to heart or given it much thought.

“I… I also want to call you by your name, just like other people do with each other, Onee-chan…” Yukina said softly.

“Other people…?”

“Yes, you call me Yukina, and I’ll call you Naoko. Is… that okay?”

A brief silence fell upon the air.

“Yukina… do you not like calling me Onee-chan?”

Ephnel lowered her voice and curled up her body.

She couldn’t quite grasp the meaning behind Yukina’s words and, before her thoughts could settle, she suddenly blurted out the question.

“That’s not it at all.”

With the rustle of fabric, Yukina sat up.

Ephnel could faintly feel a gaze on her back.

“Of course I don’t dislike it, Onee-chan… It’s just… I… If I keep calling you Onee-chan like that, to you, will you never see me as anything other than a little sister?”

“Eh?”

Ephnel froze for a moment, then turned over, looking at Yukina’s blurry silhouette through the dark night.

For a moment, she found herself completely unable to comprehend Yukina’s words.

“You are my little sister… You always have been, and I will never leave you.”

“Always?”

“Yes. Always, forever, you are my little sister.”

Ephnel answered earnestly, but after her words fell, she received no response from Yukina for a long time.

An unknown feeling began to stir restlessly in her heart.

Ephnel pressed her lips together and called out softly, “Yukina…?”

“Just… just a little sister? You dummy, Onee-chan…”

What answered her was Yukina’s low murmur.

“That’s too cruel… Onee-chan… Onee-chan, you’ve always been by my side, so why could you let me do such excessive things to you without saying a word, why could you watch me fall for you and remain so indifferent… I can finally touch you, and it feels like we’re back in our childhood, seeing you right here by my side makes me so happy… But…”

A warm, soft sensation, along with a gentle, cautious weight, pressed down on her body.

Ephnel felt strands of hair and a light fragrance brush against the tip of her nose.

As if possessed, Yukina propped herself up with her hands and moved right before Ephnel’s eyes, directly above her body.

She whispered, “Onee… I’m not satisfied with just being your little sister… Can you hear my heartbeat?”

Yukina took Ephnel’s hand and placed it on her own chest.

The sudden softness stunned Ephnel for a second.

“Eh, eh!!??”

Reacting with a delay, Ephnel immediately snatched her hand back as if she’d received an electric shock and raised her gaze.

“Yu-Yukina…”

“I’m sorry… Onee-chan… Even though saying it will hurt both me and you, I can’t stop myself from reaching out… Onee-chan, I love you…”

Yukina said.

Ephnel was stupefied.

She had yet to process Yukina’s ambiguous words when she was shocked to discover a short, choked sob hidden within Yukina’s voice.

“These feelings are fermenting every moment of every day, and I… I refuse… I refuse to just stand behind you, I refuse a future like that…”

“Yu-Yukina…?”

She reached out a hand, wanting to gently caress Yukina’s cheek.

But Yukina deftly slipped past her raised arm and suddenly leaned down.

“Naoko… You are Naoko…”

Yukina’s voice was extremely soft, like a whispered murmur.

In the pitch-black darkness, Ephnel only felt a slight weight settle upon her body.

In that instant, her hands were seized by a pair of slender, soft hands, twisted above her head, and met the wooden headboard with a dull thud.

“Yu-Yukina!?”

The sudden physical contact made Ephnel’s heart skip a beat.

The Azure Pendant before her eyes swayed, then slowly pressed down.

Dark strands of hair flowed across her cheeks, a shadow enlarged before her eyes, and a warm breath wafted over.

“Yukina… Mmph!???”

Warm, sweet, and carrying the faint, tea-like fragrance of mouthwash, a cool sensation pressed firmly against her lips, clumsily yet forcefully, sealing her voice shut.

Ephnel’s eyes flew open, but she couldn’t see a thing.

The sudden kiss left Ephnel frozen.

‘Was I just forcibly kissed?’

‘By Yukina?’

Ephnel completely forgot to push Yukina away, simply accepting her lips with a wooden numbness.

“I’m sorry… Naoko…”

Yukina clumsily pressed her lips against Ephnel’s, only letting go after a good while.

“I know that saying some things will hurt me, and will hurt you too… But… if I don’t say them, I’ll probably regret it for the rest of my life…”

“I love you, I love you so much… The love that words can express isn’t even a ten-thousandth of the love I have for you…”

“My feelings for you… are the kind of love that wants to date you, to marry you, to hold your hand until death, to spend the rest of my life with you… So…”

“I’m sorry…”

“I know we’re not supposed to, I know… we can’t be together… But… Naoko, if it’s you…”

“…You’ll forgive me, right?”

The night wind rustled bleakly outside, sending ripples across the curtains.

Embers of moonlight slipped through the gap in the curtains, tracing the two figures’ silhouettes before they silently faded away again, leaving only soft, moist breaths and the faint sound of licking.

“Mmm…”

Yukina’s warm breath caressed her, entering her nose like a hand gripping Ephnel’s heart tightly.

Her violently beating heart, instead, felt like a balloon squeezed out of shape, swelling with a sharp pain.

Ephnel’s eyes were wide open, having forgotten to resist, allowing the person on top of her to slowly capture her lips and invade the space between her teeth.

Yukina’s confession still lingered by her ear.

Ephnel remained dazed, letting Yukina kiss her, her thoughts a tangled mess.

She truly never knew Yukina harbored such feelings for her.

“Yu-Yukina…”

Using almost the last of her strength and reason, Ephnel broke free from Yukina’s seal.

“D-Don’t do this!”

Sensing Ephnel’s resistance, Yukina said nothing, merely stopping her actions.

Ephnel grew flustered and quickly pulled her hands free, placing them over the disheveled front of her pajamas.

A pang of pain shot through her wrist.

Yukina’s strength was astonishingly great, a power amplified by the Order, and it had left a deep mark on Ephnel’s wrist.

“I’m sorry… I hurt you…”

From the darkness came Yukina’s voice, a soft and wet pant.

Ephnel opened her mouth, the taste of Yukina still lingering on the tip of her tongue.

She was at a loss for words.

She had no idea how to face the scene before her; something like this was something Ephnel had truly never imagined.

The air between them grew heavy, making it difficult to breathe.

Neither of them moved.

This silence was maintained for a long time before Ephnel finally spoke softly.

“What you said, were you serious?”

“Mmm…”

Yukina’s voice seemed so far away, yet so very near.

“Then… Onee-chan, do you love me?”