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Dear Ibuki’s mother and father.

I find myself in the mood to lodge a complaint with you today.

Of course, I don’t want to speak ill of the two of you—you’ve treated me like your own daughter for as long as I can remember. But since this concerns your actual daughter, Ibuki, please allow me just this one thing:

“Why didn’t you teach her any sense of shame!?”
“…Where did that come from all of a sudden?”

The panic that hit me upon waking up in the hotel and seeing Ibuki asleep in the same bed lasted only a moment. The memories of last night returned quickly, and I understood why—despite there being two beds—we’d ended up sharing just one.

But the moment I remembered why we were sharing a bed, I also recalled what had happened just before I fell asleep… no, just before I passed out. The memory very nearly sent me right back into dreamland.

To cool off, I spent close to an hour in the hotel bathroom showering and calming myself down. By the time I returned, Ibuki was already awake.

Unlike me—who couldn’t even look her in the face without remembering last night—I found Ibuki completely unfazed, acting like everything was normal. It almost made me think maybe it had all been a dream… but no, that wasn’t possible. The softness I’d felt for the first time, the warmth we’d shared—they were all still vividly fresh in my mind.

“Want me to dry your hair for you?”
“…Please.”
“Okay!”

Ibuki stood behind me, dryer in hand, with not a hint of awkwardness in her voice. Meanwhile, I was so tense that even the simple act of her touching my hair made me flinch. Why was there such a drastic difference between us? The answer was obvious: Ibuki simply didn’t have a shame reflex.

“I’ve always thought this, but your hair’s so pretty, Yukino. Smooth, silky, feels great to the touch, and it smells amazing too.”
“The smell…? We use the same stuff, don’t we?”
“Yeah, but it’s different. I don’t know… maybe it’s your natural scent mixed in? It’s definitely better than mine.”
“Don’t say weird things like that…”

Even just this kind of casual, innocent exchange—something we’d probably done a hundred times before—was enough to make my body heat up all over again. I’d just come out of the bath, and yet I felt like I was going to overheat.

Ibuki switched on the dryer and began to happily blow-dry my hair from behind. Just watching her in the mirror was enough to draw my gaze to her perfectly shaped lips. Last night, those lips had stolen my first kiss. And it hadn’t even stopped there. Ibuki had lost control and suddenly… started using her tongue… She caught me so off guard that I blacked out—and honestly, I think that was completely understandable.

Even though it had been a first for both of us, I never could’ve imagined things would get that deep right off the bat. The mood hadn’t even been particularly romantic or suggestive.

I’d always pictured my first kiss happening in a more dreamy, romantic kind of setting. So to have it happen in bed, on the very same day we started dating… That was so not how I imagined it. Besides, I’d fully intended to be the one doing the initiating—so the fact that Ibuki took the lead was a complete surprise. I never thought she’d be that assertive.

Ibuki, who had always seemed totally clueless about love and romance, doing… that…

“Your face is all red. Is the dryer too hot?”
“N-n-n-not at all?!”

Apparently, she’d seen my expression in the mirror. Ibuki turned off the hair dryer and ran her fingers through my hair while eyeing my face.

“Really? Your ears and neck are red too, though.”
“T-that’s just ‘cause I just got out of the bath, probably? Yeah. I think I got a little overheated…”

There was no way I could admit I was blushing from remembering last night’s events. All I could do was throw out a flimsy excuse.

“Anyway, what should we do once we get home? It’s Christmas today. Want to make a cake or something?”
“Sounds good! I love your cakes, Yukino.”

Every year at Christmas, I made Ibuki her favorite tart cake. Remembering that helped me steer the conversation away from dangerous territory. If we’d kept talking about last night and things got awkward, there was no telling if Ibuki might go off the rails again. I was glad I managed to divert us in time—falling back asleep at this hour would’ve risked missing our hotel checkout.

“Let’s stop by the supermarket on the way home, then. I want to pick up stuff for more than just the cake.”
“Okay! Oh, right. There’s something I wanted to ask you, Yukino.”

Just when I thought I’d finally calmed down, Ibuki suddenly paused, her expression turning unusually serious.

“W-what is it?”
“It’s nothing big or difficult, really. I just… I’d like you to appear on my stream.”
“Your stream?”

Ibuki rarely made formal requests like this, so I braced myself, half expecting something outrageous. Since we’d just been talking about dinner, I thought maybe she was about to ask me to roast a whole turkey or something. I was relieved she hadn’t—getting one of those would’ve been a huge pain.

“Yeah. I kinda want to show my fans that you really are my officially recognized wife now. Plus, I already told my viewers that if I managed to start dating you, we’d do a stream together.”
“…Well, if you already said it, then we don’t have much of a choice, do we? But next time, consult me before making promises like that.”
“Sorryyy.”

Honestly, the idea of talking in front of a stream with thousands of people watching made me nervous—I wasn’t exactly thrilled about it. But if it was just about saying hello to the people who always supported Ibuki, then maybe I could manage. And more than anything, since Ibuki had already made a promise, I couldn’t very well let her become someone who went back on her word. I had to back her up.

“Before we do it, make sure you tell me everything I need to be careful about.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got that covered! My manager made this list of tips for beginners on how to talk on stream. If you just go over that, you’ll be totally fine.”
“…Why do you even have something like that prepared?”
“Well, I promised that if I got together with you, we’d stream together. And besides, I never even considered the possibility that you’d reject me.”
“R-right…”

All I could do was give a strained smile at how casually she said it. If I’d known Ibuki had that kind of unshakable confidence, maybe I could’ve confessed to her a lot sooner. That thought made me a little frustrated with myself.

We’d grown up together from the time we were born, and yet somehow our emotional resilience was worlds apart. That difference left me feeling just a little bit disheartened.

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