In Tokyo: They are heavily dependent on me

Chapter 81. Spying

On her way back to the ramen shop from school, Kaoru kept thinking about the two requests made by the principal.

First, the first one.

The Kendo club should hold club activities every week; this is very simple, just going through the motions is enough.

In comparison, the second requirement is significantly more difficult.

Aim for at least a bronze medal at the upcoming Kendo tournament in the Kanto region next month.

Given his learning speed, achieving such results... is definitely achievable with hard work.

Kaoru made up her mind in her heart.

Starting next week, I will practice my musical instrument for at least two hours and kendo for at least two hours every day!

When he got home, he parked and locked his bicycle. The ramen for today was sold out, and there were no other customers in the shop. Aozora Asuka and her sister Hoshino Rin were cleaning.

"I'm back."

"Welcome back, brother."

A dialogue resembling a sitcom came to mind.

Kaoru put her schoolbag on the shoe cabinet and changed into indoor shoes. Suddenly, Rin leaned her face closer.

"Brother, you've been coming home very late every day this week..."

"So, what are you busy with?"

The questioning tone made Kaoru's movement of raising her waist slow down by half a beat.

"I was practicing instruments in the brass band... and then I went to the kendo club, so I got back so late."

"Oh...is that so?"

Rin was filled with disbelief, but her expression remained calm.

"Speaking of which, it's almost the end of the month again. How are the sales figures for this month?"

Xun took off her shirt, and in the air-conditioned room, she felt the cold touch of sweat evaporating from her back.

Feeling a bit cold, he found the air conditioner remote and turned up the temperature.

"It's double that of last month... Why is my brother suddenly asking this? Is he trying to change the subject?"

Rin became even more certain that her brother was hiding something from her, and stared at his face with a 'stare-' expression.

"I wasn't trying to change the subject, I was just a little curious... prices have actually doubled, it seems like renovating the ramen shop was the right decision."

"Is my brother dating another girl?"

Rin's expressionless words made Kaoru's heart skip a beat for a second.

Somewhat stiffly, she shifted her gaze to Rin's face.

"Dating... What's wrong? Why did Rin suddenly bring this up?"

"I just want to—"

My younger sister suddenly walked over.

Under Kaoru's bewildered gaze, Rin reached out and embraced his right arm.

"I'm your sister, right? I have the right to know this. Are you planning to keep this from me? You're keeping something this important from your sister... Didn't you say I'm the most important person to you? If that's the case, then tell me the truth."

Rin suddenly smiled.

That smile concealed a dangerous aura that was difficult for others to detect.

"If my brother is seeing other women, as his sister, I want to meet her. So, please tell me, brother."

Rin suddenly started acting cute, hugging his right hand and shaking her body, her tone becoming very sweet.

Aoko glanced at the two people behaving intimately beside him, then continued cleaning without saying a word.

Feeling the soft touch on her arm, Xun scratched her face, suddenly wishing this moment could last longer.

A younger sister is absolutely amazing!

"Your elder brother doesn't have a girlfriend yet. If he does in the future, he will definitely bring her back for you to meet."

There were other people in the ramen shop. Kaoru calmed herself down and tried not to think about those strange things.

"Oh... alright, since you've said so, I'll believe you."

Rin loosened her grip on her right hand, sniffed Kaoru's scent, and frowned deeply.

"Brother...you smell like sweat, go take a shower."

"I'm so tired, I'll take a shower after dinner."

"Absolutely not! I'll go prepare hot water for my brother; he needs to shower now!"

Without giving Kaoru a chance to refuse, Rin strode up the stairs and went upstairs.

She had barely stepped upstairs when Qingkong had already swept the floor clean and started wiping the table.

Xun silently watched her retreating figure, then suddenly remembered that tomorrow was the end of the month.

Let's settle this month's salary.

Kaoru found her commute records and overtime records... Aozora had only been at the ramen shop for about half a month, and her total salary... including overtime, should have exceeded 150,000 yen.

This salary and benefits are very rare for ordinary ramen shop employees in Japan.

"Aozora-chan, this is your income for this month."

Kaoru put the money into an envelope, put it away, and handed it to Aoko, who was wiping the table.

The other person looked at him hesitantly and asked, "What is this?"

"Of course, it's your salary."

"Eh?"

Looking at the envelope he handed over, Qingkong was stunned, unable to believe that he had received his monthly salary before the month was even over.

These things...don't they usually wait until the end of next month? And often it doesn't even happen...

"I'll leave the money here, remember to take it back, I'm going upstairs to take a shower."

Kaoru put the envelope away and then went upstairs.

The hot water is ready.

He had just entered the bathroom when, a second later, the door to the room was opened from the outside.

Rin knelt down by the bed and tightly clutched the sweat-smelling shirt that she had taken off and tossed aside.

He brought his face close, buried it in his cheek, and took a deep breath—

"This is... my brother's scent."

After taking a few deep breaths, she put the shirt back in its original place.

Rin sat on the edge of the bed, reached into her shirt pocket, and took out her smartphone.

The password was simple: it was her birthday next month, and her brother had said it would never change.

Upon entering the system, she first went to the photo album and began browsing through the photos she had recently taken.

The photos that didn't catch her attention were all very ordinary.

She was still worried and tried to find some clues in the photos.

However... the final result was unexpected.

There isn't a single photo of him with someone of the opposite sex in the album.

And there was nothing else that made her suspicious.

Could it be... that what my brother said is true?

However, she didn't believe her intuition could be wrong.

She had a deep, uncanny premonition.

My brother... is definitely doing something he doesn't want anyone to know about.

What exactly is it...?

Still unwilling to give up, Rin continued searching for clues on her phone.

Soon, she went into LINE and started looking for her contact.

That woman...didn't my brother add her on LINE?

No... absolutely impossible.

Could it be somewhere else?

So she opened her call log.

She soon discovered something was amiss.

It was a call from an unfamiliar number.

There was no note, but there were several call records.

Could it be that—

She silently wrote down the phone number. The sounds from the bathroom stopped at that moment; her brother was about to come out.

Just as Rin was about to leave quietly.

The phone screen in front of me suddenly lit up.

It's an unread message from LINE.