The Refreshed Lottery

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Early in the morning, it was not an alarm that woke up Haru and Sora; it was Suzuka's shrilly, mortified shriek.

***

The time was 6.28 AM. Kasugano Household had begun breakfast—what an awkward breakfast it was!

Other than Haru, who had a calm expression, the rest were eating their portion with rosy hue smeared on their cheeks. Sora had glazed eyes as her mind ventured somewhere unknown; she automatically fed herself with mechanical movements.

On the other hand, Suzuka was trying and failing to look calm; the rosy blush on her face and ears destroyed the façade that she wanted to portray.

This strange atmosphere was because they woke up in the same mattress in Haru's room.

When Sora and Suzuka woke up, they had yet to regain their full awareness, so they reacted strongly. Suzuka was the most vocal of the two sisters; she shrieked in mortification when her mind finally registered that her hard pillow was actually Haru's chest and that she had drooled in her sleep. Meanwhile, Sora was oddly silent with glazed eyes, but if you ask Haru about his opinion, he was wary of Sora's imagination.

Last night, everyone had a sleepover in Haru's room. When Haru asked their reason, he received the answer as follows:

"Uuu~ I-I'm scared to sleep alone because Onii-chan has said that supernatural is real! What if an evil magician breaks into our home?! What if ghosts and monsters invade our place?! Onii-chan, this is absolutely your fault! Take responsibility like a real man and let me sleep with you!"

"I'm not scared, really! I don't care about evil mages, ghosts, and monsters! I miss sleeping together with you! Haru, you have no problems if I sleep here tonight, right?"

You could guess who said which.

Be that as it may, Haru agreed to let them sleep in his room, after which Haru brought the spare mattress because one mattress wasn't enough to accommodate all of them.

When they slept, Sora and Suzuka confiscated his arms and used his body as their pillow. Although Haru felt happy because of their close distance, he found that it wasn't as pleasant as how it depicted in stories; it wasn't only hot but also uncomfortable!

It was Haru's first time sleeping together with someone else, two in this case. Because of his past experience as an orphan loner, he had a hard time adapting to this new situation. The assimilated memory of Haruka didn't help him either; Haruka had stopped sleeping with them years ago. Haru was on his own last night!

Soon, the breakfast, filled with a strange tension, ended.

"All right, I'll escort you today, Suzuka," Haru said.

"Y-y-yesh!"

Suzuka unintentionally bit her tongue as she replied in high tension.

Haru wryly smiled at such Suzuka before turning his head to Sora. "Sora, can I leave the dishes to you?"

Sora blinked her eyes and then regained her awareness. She looked at Haru for a short time before wordlessly nodding her head.

"Thanks." After thanking Sora, Haru returned to his room to prepare himself.

After seeing Haru off, Suzuka sighed deeply in exhaustion, though her blush had yet to fade. Her mind was still in chaos from the shock of what happened when they woke up. She also felt mortification because she'd drooled on Haru in her sleep.

Remembering her involuntary mistake, Suzuka wanted to crawl into a hole to hide her shame and embarrassment! It was too much for her!

"Get a grip, Suzuka! Last night, you slept with Onii-chan! You should be happy about that! Let's forget everything else! You have never done anything shameful! Yup. Nothing happened! Now, smile! A new, wonderful day awaits you!" Suzuka slapped her cheeks and motivated herself.

After regaining her mental balance, Suzuka turned her head to Sora and immediately gave her stepsister a deadpan. 'This degenerate pervert is hopeless,' she lamented in her head.

It wasn't like Suzuka couldn't empathize with Sora, but it seemed like Sora had gone to the deep end. She didn't want to know what her closet pervert of a stepsister imagined in her rotten mind! She didn't need to know what kind of fantasy a shameless girl like Sora fantasized in her mind! It's safer for her that way, thank you very much!

After that, Suzuka went to the living room to get her school bag before waiting for Haru, and thankfully, she didn't need to wait for a long time.

Haru soon entered the living room, ready to escort her to her school. Then, Haru and Suzuka left their apartment, heading for Hakuo Academy together.

***

Four days passed by leisurely since Sora and Suzuka began sleeping with Haru.

The night after that night, they joined Haru in his bed again. Granted, Haru didn't stop them. Then, the night after that, and finally last night, the same thing repeated.

After four consecutive nights of sleeping together, Haru had adapted to his new routine; he had even come to enjoy Sora's and Suzuka's warm and soft figures. The same thing happened with Sora and Suzuka. In fact, those two seemed eager to sleep together with him.

All that aside, let's focus on the present; Haru finally finished writing the first volume of his plagiarized work. As he sat on his swivel, he stretched his stiff body and made several popping sounds. After that, he looked at his desktop clock and found that the time was 10.12 AM. There was still an hour or so before lunch.

"Now that I finished writing the first volume, I need to print it. I guess I can do it now."

Haru transferred the document file to his flash drive and then prepared himself for going out.

A short time later, he walked out of his room in a plain white shirt and dark-colored jeans combo. He only carried his flip phone, wallet, and flash drive in his pocket.

When Haru found the living room and the kitchen empty, he went to Sora's bedroom; he wanted to tell her of his plan.

"Sora, are you there?" Haru called for her after knocking her door.

Haru heard sounds from Sora's room and soon saw the door got opened from inside. He then saw Sora with a blushing face. He looked at her with a strange gaze but held his opinion; he had a hunch that Sora had been releasing her stress before he unintentionally interrupted her.

"What do you want?" Sora glumly asked, but her red face ruined her attempt to look menacing.

Haru replied with a casual tone and a calm face. "I am going out. Don't worry. I'll return at lunchtime."

Both of Sora's blush and frosty look faded after hearing Haru's reply. "Where?" She asked.

"I'm going to print out then sent my novel to a publishing company."

"Ah," Sora made an expression as if she remembered something, "I forgot that you're writing a novel."

Haru formed a wry smile after hearing that.

"So, it's finished?" Sora asked, changing the topic abruptly.

"Well, yeah. Do you want to read it? I can give you a copy later."

"If you don't mind," Sora said as if she was reluctant to accept the offer, but her expectant eyes betrayed her real feeling.

Haru's wry smile deepened at Sora's inability to be honest with herself. Well, he didn't mind it; he thought it was a bit cute. A Tsundere that didn't go physical was adorable, after all.

"Okay. I'm off."

"Be careful on your way!"

After saying his farewell, Haru left his apartment to visit a nearby bookstore that offered printing and photocopy services. He had his novel and the letter for the publishing company printed out. He also made several copies for Sora, Suzuka, and an extra for his own use. He then went to a nearby post office to send his novels to the publishing house that he'd chosen. It was Dangoki Bunko, the parody of Dengeki Bunko of this world.

Haru returned to his apartment to have lunch with Sora after his business finished.

The menu for today's lunch was rice, Salted Salmon, Sweet-sour Pork, Egg Rolls, Sausages, and pickled veggies. Sora then washed the dishes without being told; she started doing it since they started sleeping together.

Haru could see that Sora was trying to be more considerate lately, and so he thanked her for her consideration; he didn't tease her because he didn't want her to regress to her old lazy self.

After Sora finished her chores, Haru gave her a copy of his plagiarized work; he told her that he would ask for her opinion later before retreating to his room to continue writing the next volume.

And so, a few hours passed after Haru retreated into his room. The time was 2.53 PM.

Haru had made a plan to go to Hakuo Academy to pick Suzuka up at 3.30 PM. There were more than 30 minutes left before the time. He stopped after achieving the one-fourth mark of the second volume. Although he could continue, he decided to take a break because the cooldown of his Mysterious Lottery ability had come to an end.

It was time to try it out again!

"I have a feeling that I will get something good!" Haru said out of the blue. He felt like he was confident with his luck because of his Plot Armor. After all, one of Plot Armor's effect was amplifying his good luck.

Haru used his Mysterious Lottery ability without hesitation. A notification screen soon popped up in his field of vision. He then dismissed it and accessed his Item Box. Within Item Box, he saw his prize, but he became perplexed by the appearance of the random Lottery's prize; it looked like a green-colored seed.

Haru used his Appraisal ability on the unknown green seed and became dumbfounded. 'H-holy shit! Wow! Just wow! I don't know what to think!'