178: Should I Call Him Brother-in-law or Not? (2)

Maki: "..."

Takashi gave an awkward, strategic cough. "Ahem, misstep, misstep. That won't happen again."

Three minutes later, he died again.

"Wait, why can't I chain combos here? Did they change the key settings?"

"Nope. Where's my Wind Summon? Let me check real quick."

"Oh, you need to aerate. How do you aerate again?"

"Damn, why is Xiahou Yuan so hard to beat? And why do his minions keep respawning? Let me look up a guide."

"Nice, got the Ice Sword. Woohoo, let's go."

"Wait, why did Cao Cao heal halfway through the fight? That's cheating!"

…

Forty-five minutes later, Takashi and Maki finally beat the last boss, Cao Cao. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "We're pretty awesome, huh?"

Maki gave him a sidelong glance. "What happened to that one-coin speedrun?"

Takashi's Zhuge Liang died 22 times during the final fight against Cao Cao.

It was purely brute-forced with game coins.

"No way a game like this could be one-coined. Totally impossible."

Takashi wore an expression like 'what are you talking about?'

Maki rolled her eyes.

"What's that look for? Let's go 1v1 in King of Fighters. Loser has to do whatever the winner says for the day."

"You dare challenge a Shijo? Takashi, I've got to admit—you've got guts."

Maki flipped her ponytail coolly, eyeing Takashi with contempt.

Takashi taunted, "What? Scared?"

"Scared?"

Maki looked like she'd just heard a joke, her lips curling into a scornful smile.

"Takashi, it's time for you to experience true despair."

"How many floors can a bag of rice be carried up?"

"…?"

Clearly unfamiliar with Naruto or the meme, Maki looked at him, confused.

"Nothing. Let's go."

"Prepare to die, Takashi."

"You're the one who's going down."

They sat down at the King of Fighters '97 cabinet and both pulled out their phones to look up combo guides.

One minute later, the area was echoing with the sounds of their shouts.

"Eat my Thunder Fist!"

"Fan Dance!"

"Eight Wine Cups!"

"Orochi!"

"Feel the brilliance of sunlight!"

"That's just sunburn, isn't it?"

"No no no, that's the 'brilliance of sunlight.' Even the gods would call it that."

…

After a fierce (noob vs. noob) battle, Takashi barely won with a sliver of HP.

"Well? Admit defeat?"

Takashi looked smugly at Maki, his nose practically pointing at the ceiling.

"Despicable! Shameless!"

Maki turned her head away in indignation.

Forget the fact it was her first time playing the game—what really got her mad was that Watanabe Takashi, that sneaky bastard, couldn't beat her fair and square. 

He used a dirty trick and poked her waist unexpectedly, making her flinch from being ticklish and mess up her combo, which let him counter and win.

"How is that despicable? You just didn't expect it. Besides, no matter what you say, I still won."

Takashi looked not the slightest bit ashamed—quite the opposite, in fact.

In his mind, what he did was nothing. Someone once hacked Facebook by bribing the janitor to cut the power every two hours.

"I'm going to buy drinks."

"I'm not satisfied. Let's go again."

"What's this? The future heart of the nation, the Shijo heiress, is backing out of her own words? Say it ain't so~"

Maki couldn't stand that smug, mocking tone. She smacked the arcade machine and snapped, "Fine, go buy them."

Yelling that, she stormed off.

"I want the glutinous lemon tea from KoYuki~!" Takashi called after her.

"Phew, that was close. Almost lost in the gutter."

Good grades were one thing, but Takashi hadn't expected Maki to be naturally gifted at games too.

Even on her first try, she played better than him.

"I can't play this one anymore. Need a new game."

Even if Maki invited him to play again, Takashi had made up his mind—this one was off-limits.

He started scanning the arcade aimlessly for what to try next when suddenly, his gaze locked onto someone.

'Why is she here?'

Takashi stood up and walked toward the person.

…

"Drink up, drink up—let it drown you."

Carrying the glutinous lemon tea back, Maki entered the arcade and instantly spotted her annoying little brother furiously smashing buttons at a machine.

'That little brat!'

Already fuming, Maki's anger flared even more at the sight. Her face darkened as she walked over.

Shijo Mikado was completely unaware of the danger approaching, eyes glued to the screen as he went full tryhard mode.

He was just about to break the arcade's 19-win streak when—whap!—someone smacked the back of his head.

He fumbled, made a mistake, and his opponent seized the chance with a full combo to end him, snapping the streak.

"Who the hell—"

Shijo Mikado shot up from his seat, furious, and turned around.

Only to see his sister staring him down coldly.

"Sis."

"What do you think you're doing?"

Maki crossed her arms, smirking icily.

"Are you trying to hit me now too?"

"Sis, what are you saying? I'd never do that."

Shijo Mikado grinned awkwardly.

Maki gave a satisfied snort. "What are you doing here?"

"I…"

"You weren't following me, were you?"

Before Shijo Mikado could answer, Maki narrowed her eyes sharply.

"No, definitely not." Shijo Mikado shook his head like crazy.

But Maki had already reached out, grabbed his ear, and gave it a painful twist.

"Ow, ow, sis—take it easy!"

"Tell the truth or else."

Shijo Mikado's eyes darted around. "I just happened to be here, and ran into you by chance."

"By chance?"

Maki snorted again.

"You think I'm stupid?"

"Have you ever come to an arcade?"

"And Tokyo's so huge—what are the odds you just happened to bump into me?"

"Mikado, are you growing bold now? Lying to me, are you?"

She knew her brother too well.

Just the slightest flicker in his eyes and she could tell if he was lying.

"I'm sorry, sis, I was wrong."

"I was just really curious what brother-in-law looks like, so I followed you. I just didn't want you getting tricked."

Brother-in-law…

Hearing her brother call Watanabe Takashi "brother-in-law," Maki blushed just a little.

"He's not your brother-in-law yet."

Here we go again.

That classic tsundere behavior of hers.

Shijo Mikado groaned inwardly but decided it was best to play along. "Okay, okay, he's not."

"But~"

Just as he finished, Maki added, "It's not like there's no chance he could be your brother-in-law in the future."

"If you really want to call him that now… I guess I won't stop you."

Shijo Mikado said helplessly, "So should I call him 'brother-in-law' or not? Sis, can you give me a straight answer? Don't keep changing your attitude."

Maki glared at him in embarrassment and anger. 

"Don't you have any opinions of your own? Your mouth's on your face, not mine. It's not like I can control it!"

Got it.

Call him brother-in-law.

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