Chapter 47: Unwilling Participant

The following morning, Yuurei prepared to go to the public library. After she put on a one-piece dress with short sleeves, she combed her hair in front of the mirror inside her room. She put her notes and books inside her backpack.

When she was done checking if all of her stuff was ready, she received a message on her phone. She checked it and saw it was sent by Angelie. The message just said that Angelie prepared some work sheets about the topics they would discuss. Also, it said that she was excited to help Yuurei and that they could do it.

"Wow, Onee-san did all that for me? I should do something for her in return…"

Yuurei looked up and racked her brain on what she could do for Angelie. Then, something clicked in her mind and she snapped her fingers. She ran outside of her room and knocked on the door of Akuma's room.

"Onii-chan! I'm going in!"

Yuurei opened the door and entered the room.

"Hey! Wait for me to say it's okay!"

Akuma was lying down on his bed while reading manga.

"You weren't changing your clothes or anything! And I would have shouted if I did see that."

"I'm the one who should shout if you barged in on me!"

Akuma put down the manga he was reading and sat on his bed.

"Onii-chan, I need a favor from you."

Yuurei stepped closer to Akuma and stood in front of him.

"What is it? If you need money, just ask Mom."

Akuma scratched the back of his head.

"It's not that…"

Yuurei scratched her cheek as she looked away from Akuma.

"Spit it out already."

Akuma glared at Yuurei.

"Go with me to the library!"

Yuurei pointed at her brother.

"Huh? Why would I do that?"

Akuma raised his eyebrow at Yuurei. She then knelt down on the floor and grabbed Akuma's hand.

"Please, Onii-chan! I want to do something in return for Onee-san!"

Tears started to well up on Yuurei's eyes.

"What has that got to do with me?! Go out on your own! I just started reading this new manga."

Akuma took his hand out of Yuurei's grip. He took the manga he put down on his bed and he lay back down. He then restarted reading the manga. Yuurei stood up again.

"Oh, this is how it's going to be, huh, Onii-chan?"

Yuurei looked down and glared at her brother.

"Yeah. Get out of here already."

Akuma motioned his hand for Yuurei to shoo away.

"You leave me no choice, then. I'll just have to tell Mom that I found some weird magazines inside your room."

Yuurei smirked as she looked down at him.

"I have no m-magazines! Stop lying, Yuurei!"

Akuma sat on his bed as he stared at his sister.

"It doesn't matter whether you do have them or not."

She turned around and had her back facing Akuma.

"W-what do you mean?"

"Either way, Mom will have a talk with you. Do you really want to sit down and listen to, what I imagine, will be a very long and boring lecture?"

Yuurei shook her head.

"Damn it. Fine, I'm going with you!"

"Really, Onii-chan! You're the best!"

Yuurei turned around and gave Akuma a sweet smile.

"You can't fool me with that smile, you devilish sister!"

Akuma pointed at his sister. Yuurei giggled in response.

---

After Akuma put on a shirt and baggy shorts, he went down to their living room. Yuurei was waiting for him on the sofa. The two of them then left the house after saying goodbye to their mom.

The siblings took a short train ride to the public library. It was already the beginning of summer so it was starting to get hot outside. The good thing was that the library was fully airconditioned. When they arrived, they stepped inside through the automatic sliding doors. A cold breeze hit their faces. The two smiled as they enjoyed the comforting chilly air.

Yuurei went inside and walked around to look for Angelie. Akuma was a few steps behind his sister. He brought the manga he was reading inside his room earlier. He was now reading while following behind Yuurei.

Finally, Yuurei found Angelie seated on a long table. The table was able to seat eight people, with six on each side and two on the principal seats. Angelie was sitting down on the principal seat. Sanaka was seated on her right side. Yuurei went to the vacant seat on Angelie's left side.

"Good morning, Angelie-san!"

Yuurei smiled at Angelie as she pulled out the chair to sit down and placed her bag on top of the table.

"Good morning, Yuurei-chan."

Angelie smiled back at Yuurei.

"Hi. I'm here too, Yuurei-chan!"

Sanaka smiled and waved at Yuurei. She completely ignored Sanaka, which led to Sanaka to stop waving and hang her head down.

"By the way, Angelie-san. I wanted to thank you for doing this for me, so..."

Yuurei looked at Angelie straight into her eyes.

"Hey, there's no need for that. This is our payment to you, anyway—"

"…I brought Onii-chan with me!"

Yuurei pointed at Akuma who was standing behind her, looking down and reading his manga.

"Why is he here?!"

Angelie pointed at Akuma as she glared at him.

"I got blackmailed by that sister of mine."

Akuma looked up from his manga and then stared at his sister.

"Please save me!"

Sanaka reached out her hand toward Akuma.

"Isn't it your fault that you got dragged here in the first place?"

Akuma squinted at Sanaka. He then went to the other side of the table and sat beside Sanaka.

"You're so cold-hearted! We both got dragged here against our wills! We're both victims. We should unite against our oppressors and—"

"What is this about an 'oppressor', Sanaka-san?"

Angelie put her hands together and intertwined her fingers. She rested her chin on top of her fingers and smiled at Sanaka.

"It must have just slipped out—"

"So, you were really thinking about it?"

Angelie raised her eyebrow as her face didn't flinch from smiling.

"I guess I should go back to reviewing my midterm results…"

Sanaka looked at the test papers in front of her.

"Well, that is a good decision."

Angelie then looked inside her bag that was beside her.

"This has nothing to do with me, so I'll read in peace. Don't disturb me."

Akuma hung his other arm on the back rest of the chair while his other hand held the manga in front of him.

"Oh, that is where you are wrong."

Angelie stood up from her seat and went to stand beside Akuma. She slammed Akuma's midterm test papers on top of the table in front of him.

"Hey! Why do you have those? Do you just casually carry around other people's test scores?!"

Akuma looked up at Angelie.

"You didn't take it back from me. I should have thrown away this trash! Look at all those low scores! But good thing I didn't. You're going to review this, too."

Angelie glared at Akuma.

"Don't drag me into this—"

"I'll be taking this, then."

Angelie snatched the manga Akuma was holding. She went back to her seat and sat down.

"Hey! That's mine! Give that back!"

Akuma reached out to Angelie as he remained seated.

"Once you're done with that, you'll get this back. Oh, this is a new series. I'll check this out later."

Angelie smiled while she read the back of the manga book.

---

Angelie proceeded to tutor Yuurei on the subjects she wanted to concentrate on. Akuma and Sanaka were busy reviewing their own midterm. They both tried to answer again the questions they got wrong on their respective tests. After a few hours, it was already noon.

"Angelie-san, I'm hungry… Can't we have lunch now?"

Sanaka's stomach grumbled loudly inside the quiet library.

"Yeah, I think I need a break as well, Onee-san. My brain is too tired to continue…"

Yuurei had her head rested on top of the table. She was looking at her brother.

"Ok, let's have lunch now. I think there's a family restaurant nearby."

Angelie smiled at Yuurei.

(Darn it. I brought Onii-chan with me so that Onee-san can be closer with him. I forgot the other girl was going to be here as well. By the rate things are going, they won't have any time together! I must do something!)

Yuurei was now glaring at Akuma.

"Hey, Yuurei. Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not food, okay?"

Akuma sat back as he looked at Yuurei.

---

The four of them left the public library and walked toward the family restaurant Angelie talked about. It was a popular chain of family restaurants named Justo. It was only a few steps away. Since it was lunch time, there were a bit of people inside already. Fortunately, they were still able to get a table for four. The booth seating that they were offered had two persons able to sit at each side.

As soon as Yuurei saw this, she grabbed Sanaka's arm and dragged her to the bench on one side. Sanaka was seated inside, beside the window. Yuurei sat down on the outer side.

"Go ahead. Please sit down now, Onii-chan and Onee-san."

Yuurei pointed at the vacant bench in front of her while she smiled at Akuma and Angelie.