All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

After answering Mrs. Yuigahama’s question, Kotomi Izumi went upstairs with Yui Yuigahama.

Mrs. Yuigahama remained standing alone in the first-floor hallway, thinking about what Kotomi had just said. After staring blankly for a moment, she gave a few awkward, dry laughs and tugged at the corner of her mouth.

”Oh, so Kotomi only wanted to take Yuka out for yakiniku. She wasn’t asking me on a date. Haha... Well, of course. Kotomi has always doted on Yuka like a real little sister. Now that she knows Yuka likes yakiniku, of course she’d want to take her out for some.

So that’s what she meant by going out for yakiniku together next time. No, I should say that was obviously what she meant from the very beginning. I’m just a shameless old woman who carelessly misunderstood Kotomi’s words.

Right. This makes much more sense. No matter how you look at it, the age gap between Kotomi and me is far too large. She only just turned sixteen, while I’m already in my thirties. And Kotomi is dating my eldest daughter, Yui. How could she possibly fall for an old woman like me?

Maybe the confession she made to me that night really was nothing more than something she said in her sleep.”

After Mrs. Yuigahama finished muttering to herself with a self-deprecating smile, disappointment surged through her heart like a tide. At that moment, she could not help remembering that night again, when Kotomi had mistakenly thought she was already asleep and confessed her feelings to her.

Mrs. Yuigahama knew perfectly well that when she heard Kotomi’s confession, she had felt not only shock, but also an unfamiliar thrill stirring within her.

More than once, Mrs. Yuigahama had asked herself: If Kotomi confessed to me the very next second, and I accepted her confession and became her lover, what would our life together be like afterward?

Mrs. Yuigahama had tried hard to imagine it. As an illustrator, her imagination should have been quite good. Yet whenever she tried to picture a life in which she became Kotomi’s lover, she found herself unable to envision any concrete scene at all. Everything was shrouded in haze. Would their future be happy or miserable? She had no idea.

Mrs. Yuigahama also understood very clearly that if she wanted to seriously face Kotomi’s confession, she first had to confront two unavoidable problems.

Kotomi was currently dating her daughter, Yui Yuigahama. If Kotomi confessed to her and she accepted, then Kotomi would have to break up with Yui afterward.

Even if they temporarily kept it from Yui, the truth could never remain hidden forever. If she truly wanted to build a future with Kotomi, then one day Yui would inevitably discover that her own mother and her girlfriend, Kotomi, had become lovers. Worse still, Yui might learn that the reason Kotomi had broken up with her in the first place was so she could be together with her moth—

er.

If things really developed to that point, Mrs. Yuigahama feared that after being struck by both heartbreak and the truth, Yui might actually lose her mind.

Whenever she thought this far, Mrs. Yuigahama felt terribly lost. As a mother, she wanted both of her daughters to find happiness. As a woman, she also yearned for happiness herself. If an opportunity to obtain happiness appeared before her, she wanted to reach out and seize it too!

But as though fate eternally delighted in playing cruel jokes, Mrs. Yuigahama never could have imagined that the happiness meant for her would also belong to her own daughter.

Mrs. Yuigahama often even found herself wishing that Kotomi and Yui were merely ordinary friends and had never started dating.

”Sigh...”

Mrs. Yuigahama sighed again. She was not normally someone who liked to sigh. In fact, she often taught Yui and Yuka not to sigh so easily whenever they encountered difficulties, because sighing would blow away their good luck.

Yet unexpectedly, she had become the one who sighed all the time.

Mrs. Yuigahama checked the time on her phone. Yuka should be getting hungry soon, so she decided to make lunch first.

While chopping vegetables in the kitchen, another question occurred to Mrs. Yuigahama.

Kotomi was the precious biological daughter of her friend Akina!

If she really did become Kotomi’s lover and even went so far as to marry her, then how was she supposed to interact with Akina afterward? As her friend? Or as her ”daughter-in-law”?

If she interacted with Akina as her ”daughter-in-law,” wouldn’t that mean she would have to start calling Akina her mother-in-law?!

Besides, forget marriage for the moment. Even if they were only dating, would Akina accept it if she learned that she and Kotomi were together?

When Tomoka Yuigahama thought this far, she could not help giving a bitter laugh before mocking herself.

”Do I even need to think about that? Of course she wouldn’t accept it. Who could possibly accept some old woman wantonly ravaging her precious eldest daughter???”

After muttering that to herself, Mrs. Yuigahama let out another few self-deprecating laughs.

After Kotomi Izumi and Yui Yuigahama went upstairs, Yuka, who had only just woken up and was still wearing pajamas printed with little bears, rubbed her bleary eyes as she pushed open her bedroom door and walked out.

Yuka, who had still looked half asleep a second ago, froze when she saw Kotomi Izumi. Then a delighted smile visibly spread across her adorable, chubby little face, and she pounced toward Kotomi like a kitten.

”Penguin Onee-chan!!!”

After Yuka rushed over and hugged Kotomi’s leg, she nimbly scrambled up onto Kotomi’s back with a whoosh, clinging tightly to her like a koala.

”Yuka, why did you wake up so late today?”

Kotomi supported Yuka’s little bottom with both arms so she would not lose her grip and fall, then asked her curiously.

Kotomi remembered that Yuka was not the type who liked sleeping in. It was already almost one in the afternoon, yet Yuka had only just gotten up. There had to be some reason for it.

”Because...”

Yuka smiled sheepishly. In front of Kotomi, she had always maintained the image of a well-behaved little girl. Now that Kotomi had caught her sleeping in, Yuka felt embarrassed despite still being so young.

Rather, Yuka, who was currently in kindergarten, had reached the first stage of life when a person became especially concerned about saving face.

The second stage of life when people became especially concerned about saving face was adolescence.

”Because she took my phone last night to watch Pretty Cure. She accidentally got hooked and kept watching episode after episode. She refused to give my phone back and stayed up all the way until eleven. She usually goes to bed at nine, so after suddenly staying up until eleven last night, it’s no wonder she slept until now.”

While Yuka was still squirming awkwardly, too embarrassed to tell Kotomi why she had slept in, her wonderful big sister, Yui Yuigahama, mercilessly exposed her instead.

”Onee-chan!!” Yuka shouted at her sister, her face turning red.

”Hehe~” Yui Yuigahama gave a rare mischievous laugh.

”All right, don’t tease Yuka. Sometimes I stay up really late watching Pretty Cure too. Once you get hooked, it’s perfectly normal to finish one episode and immediately want to watch another. But Yuka, you can’t stay up that late again from now on, okay?”

Kotomi spoke up for Yuka. Afterward, she did not forget to reach out and gently pinch Yui’s cheek, saying in a deliberately scolding tone,

”All you know how to do is bully Yuka. Exposing her like that... Doesn’t our Yuka need to save face too?”

”Exactly! Onee-chan is the worst! She bullies me all day long!”

The moment Penguin Onee-chan took her side, Yuka hugged Kotomi even tighter, and her voice immediately became several degrees more confident.

”Yuka, you’re hiding behind someone stronger and spouting complete nonsense! Put your hand over your heart and ask yourself. When have I ever bullied you all day long?”

”You’re bullying me right now!”

”You—”

Yui Yuigahama immediately became so exasperated by Yuka that she seemed unable to speak. She stammered for a long while without managing to form a complete sentence.

Seeing this, Yuka lay against Kotomi’s back and laughed triumphantly.

However, rather than truly being angry, Yui was more shocked and delighted.

Yuka had always been obedient and considerate before, but ever since Kotomi began doting on her more and more, Yuka had gradually started becoming mischievous.

For example, right now Yuka was actually bickering with her again and refusing to back down, just like she had when she was younger.

Watching Yuka gradually return to the mischievous personality she had possessed as a smaller child, Yui Yuigahama felt no disappointment or displeasure. Instead, her heart overflowed with pleasant surprise.

Children who were too sensible were often the ones who made people’s hearts ache the most. Yuka was normally exactly that kind of child.

Although ”sensible” was a word people used to praise children, when a child was too sensible—especially once you knew why that child had been forced to become so mature—it was impossible not to feel heartbroken for them.

It was not only Yui Yuigahama. Even Kotomi Izumi could now see that both Yuka’s tone and her expressions were gradually gaining the liveliness and innocence that belonged to a child.

Kotomi froze for a moment. Then a gentle smile curved across her lips as she thought,

Thank goodness. Yuka’s personality is finally becoming a little more like that of an ordinary child. Some people spend their lives drawing strength from a happy childhood, while others need an entire lifetime to heal from theirs. I hope Yuka can be like any ordinary child and have a happy childhood, growing up safe and sound without worries, and then go on to have a wonderful life. She doesn’t need to be too sensible. As long as she’s happy every day and knows how to care about her family, that’s enough.

Yuka, who was waiting for her sister to say something in rebuttal so she could continue arguing with her, suddenly realized that neither her biological sister nor Penguin Onee-chan was saying anything anymore. Instead, both of them were looking at her with expressions that seemed caught somewhere between wanting to cry and wanting to smile.

Yuka, who was still in kindergarten, was instantly dumbfounded. Even though she was very smart and far more sensible than other children her age, her little mind still could not understand why her sister and Penguin Onee-chan were looking at her that way.

A child was still a child, after all. Faced with something she did not understand, Yuka grew somewhat embarrassed. She opened her mouth as though she wanted to ask them about it, but ultimately gave up. For once, she voluntarily climbed down from Kotomi and pretended nothing had happened as she said,

”I’m so hungry. I really want to eat! Onee-chan, Penguin Onee-chan, let’s go downstairs and have lunch together!”

Compared with Yui Yuigahama, who still had not recovered from her daze, Kotomi reacted quickly. She crouched down halfway, stroked Yuka’s hair, and said with a soft laugh,

”Yuka, go downstairs and eat by yourself. Your sister and I have already finished lunch.”

”Okay.” Yuka obediently nodded, then steadied herself against the wall and slowly made her way downstairs one step at a time on her short little legs.

Kotomi remained standing on the staircase, watching Yuka. Only after Yuka had made it safely all the way downstairs did Kotomi finally withdraw her gaze in relief.

”Come on. Let’s go inside,” Kotomi said to Yui with a smile.

”Mm, okay...” Yui Yuigahama nodded with a blush and replied quietly.

Clearly, Yui had been the one who had proactively asked Kotomi to stay earlier, yet now Kotomi had become the proactive one instead.

However, given Kotomi’s roughly eighty-percent chance of being the top, Yui would probably end up becoming the proactive one again soon enough.

After entering Yui’s bedroom, Kotomi familiarly sat down on Yui’s bed, stretched comfortably, and sighed with emotion.

”Yui, did you see what Yuka was like just now? She was just like an ordinary child. So innocent, with a little bit of willfulness. Even over something trivial, she’d still want to argue and debate with you for a while. Yet compared with ordinary children, she’s still remarkably sensible.

To tell you the truth, when I first met Yuka, I really felt terrible for her because she was far too sensible. I still remember the first time I bought her takoyaki. She told me she really liked bonito flakes.

But I later learned that she didn’t especially like bonito flakes at all. The reason she said she liked bonito flakes was because she knew a serving of takoyaki wasn’t cheap. She wanted to use liking bonito flakes and shredded nori as an excuse to give the takoyaki to you and your mom.”

”That’s right. Yuka always thought she was hiding it really well, but Mom and I figured out long ago that she doesn’t actually like bonito flakes or shredded nori. She only said that because she wanted to give the takoyaki to Mom and me. Yuka might be young, but she can be stubborn about certain things too. Mom and I knew she’d be embarrassed if we called her out directly, so we’d often pretend we didn’t like takoyaki.

Whenever Mom and I said we didn’t like takoyaki, Yuka would eat it while using that little brain of hers to wonder: Takoyaki tastes so good, so why don’t Mom and Onee-chan like it?”

As she reached this point, Yui Yuigahama could not help smiling before continuing,

”Every time Mom and I said we didn’t like takoyaki, Yuka would eat it while wondering with that little brain of hers: Takoyaki is so delicious. Why don’t Mom and Onee-chan like eating it?”

Yui Yuigahama gazed tenderly at the photograph on her desk. It was a family photo of herself, Yuka, and their mother that had been taken outside their house at the beginning of the year.

Back then, to take the photo properly, Yui Yuigahama had spent ages figuring out how to use the countdown timer for her phone’s automatic camera function.

”It would be wonderful if Yuka’s personality really could return to how cheerful and lively she was when she was little. I don’t need her to be especially sensible at her age. Being just a little sensible is enough.”

Yui Yuigahama slowly spoke while looking at the photograph of herself, Yuka, and their mother.

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