139. Umaru Knows She Was Wrong

The next morning, Jiang Yu was roused by his alarm and got out of bed with a yawn.

No matter how early he went to sleep, getting up at this hour always left him feeling drowsy.

With that thought in mind, Jiang Yu habitually opened LINE—just as he used to open QQ or WeChat after waking up—intending to check whether he had missed any messages.

And then…

The moment he saw a message and a compressed file from an account named “Utako Kasumi,” Jiang Yu shuddered instinctively, his mind snapping fully awake.

As mentioned before, LINE displays whether the other person has read the messages you send them.

Naturally, then, the message and manuscript Utaha Kasumigaoka had sent after returning home, sometime around ten the previous evening, were still marked on her end as “unread” and “not received.”

That made Jiang Yu’s confident words from the night before seem almost like a lie.

Realizing that he was in trouble, Jiang Yu hurriedly received the offline file and sent her an apology.

…

And, just as he had expected, in the home where Utaha Kasumigaoka lived alone—a one-room apartment she had rented after becoming a writer, having persuaded her parents that it would be more convenient for her work, and located close to Fushikawa Bunko—the early-rising Utaha was preparing breakfast for herself.

Her cooking technique could already be considered fairly proficient. Although the finished product looked somewhat… disastrous, Utaha Kasumigaoka would stake the name of Utako Kasumi on the fact that it certainly did not taste bad.

As she ate breakfast, Utaha naturally took out her phone, like any ordinary young person. It was then that she noticed the message and file still marked “unread” and “not received.”

She raised an eyebrow. Strangely, rather than feeling angry and thinking, “Is he playing me?”, she was first overcome by an indescribable sense of dejection.

With a faint sigh, Utaha set down her phone and prepared to concentrate on her breakfast. The very next second, however, the screen lit up again, showing an unread message from an account named “Toso.”

“Sorry, Kasumigaoka-senpai. I went to bed a little early last night and didn’t notice your message. As for my suggestions about your work, let’s discuss them after I’ve had a chance to read through your manuscript over the next couple of days, all right?”

Naturally, Jiang Yu had woven a small lie. He would never dare blurt out something like, “I was thinking about my own work and teaching Kato programming last night, so I forgot about your new manuscript, senpai.”

Well, it seems you’ve made at least a little progress in dealing with people, Protagonist-kun.

Thanks for the compliment~

Ahem… Let us disregard those last two lines.

After seeing the message, the corners of Utaha’s lips curved slightly upward. She did not reply, merely turning off the screen.

She had no intention of letting him escape so easily from such a tiny pang of guilt. At the very least… she would wait until after school before letting him know that she did not mind, wouldn’t she?

With this rather wicked thought in mind, Utaha continued eating her “unappealing to the eye but pleasant on the palate” breakfast.

…

Back at Jiang Yu’s home, after receiving the file and sending his apology, Jiang Yu waited uneasily with his phone for a while, but saw no indication that his message had been read.

Glancing at the still-early hour, Jiang Yu nodded in realization. She probably had not gotten up yet. He put down his phone and went to the bathroom to wash up.

Once he had finished washing and prepared breakfast, Jiang Yu habitually pushed open Umaru Doma’s door and woke up the girl who treated “sleeping in every day until my brother calls me” as an absolute truth.

This time, the flaxen-haired girl reacted very slowly. Only after Jiang Yu urged her for quite some time did she rub her swollen eyes, yawn repeatedly, and struggle out of bed.

Jiang Yu studied his little sister thoughtfully, comparing her condition with his own after staying up late, and quickly reached a conclusion.

Quite obviously, because her study session with Nana Ebina the previous day had prevented her from making as much progress in her anime and games as she had expected, Umaru had chosen the latter without hesitation when faced with the options of academics and gaming.

At this rate, she must have drifted off sometime after three in the morning.

Jiang Yu pondered to himself.

What happened to our agreement?

Since gentle persuasion had failed, then don’t blame your big brother for resorting to a few forceful measures, my rebellious little sister~

Experience the fruits of your communications major—er, your studies!

While sitting at the table and eating breakfast, Jiang Yu made this decision, the corners of his lips curling into a dangerous smile.

Umaru, who had been yawning nonstop, felt a sudden chill in her heart and instinctively studied Jiang Yu’s expression across from her. Unfortunately, his face had already returned to normal.

Was it just her imagination?

Umaru frowned. It seemed that even her drowsiness had been stirred up by that sudden palpitation, leaving behind only a trace.

Well… surely that last thought had been the real illusion, right?

As she ate breakfast, only one thought circled through Umaru’s mind:

I want to sleep so badly…

Later, on the way to school, Jiang Yu watched Umaru respond half-heartedly to Nana Ebina, looking as though she might fall asleep at any moment, and his heart softened once more. In the end, the part of him that doted on his little sister defeated his duty to keep her in line.

Even if she needed to understand that she had done wrong, there was no need to send her to class looking like this, was there?

With that thought, Jiang Yu sighed, quickened his pace, and came alongside Umaru.

“How about taking the day off today, Umaru?” he suggested.

The drowsy girl jolted at his words and stared at Jiang Yu in astonishment, wondering when he had come to walk beside her. A trace of wavering appeared on her face.

Perhaps that would not be so bad…

Just as Umaru was about to surrender to the exhaustion weighing down her body, that faint sense of distance she had felt the previous Saturday resurfaced in her heart.

Could it be that she would never be able to catch up…?

Umaru bit her lip, a stubborn, unwilling expression appearing on her face. She was beginning to regret losing herself in games the previous day. Jiang Yu had said nothing, but she knew he must have seen through her.

So she shook her head and rejected her brother’s suggestion. Then Jiang Yu heard her say, “About yesterday… I’m sorry. It was my fault. Umaru won’t do it again. But I’m going to school today.”

The concern on Jiang Yu’s face turned into astonishment. After thinking for a moment, he understood what Umaru was apologizing for.

He nodded knowingly, a warm smile appearing on his face as he reached out and ruffled his sister’s hair.

“Then let’s go.”

Umaru nodded lightly. Nana Ebina, who understood nothing of what was happening, looked rather envious as she watched the girl having her head patted.

Wait a minute. Girl, is there something wrong with your priorities?