I've already said this isn't a life simulator!

"Oh? You didn't tell me about this beforehand?"

"I should have rested for the rest of the time anyway."

"Haha... Looks like I was being nosy. Have fun! Let me know if you need anything!"

The other party quickly hung up the call.

"……Ugh."

Sakura stared at the disconnected call, then looked blankly toward another room for a while before finally letting out a sigh.

buzz-

A soft notification sound came from the terminal; it was the special notification sound Sakura had set for her sister. Opening the terminal, she indeed found a message Rin had sent her.

■■Month 3rd 0:04

Bell: Is your sister asleep?

Sakura: Not yet, I'm about to go to sleep. But Rin, why aren't you asleep yet?

Ling: Hehe, of course I miss my older sister!

Sakura: Really? Don't worry, I'll be back in the next few days.

Ling: Is Nozomi's business trip over yet?

Sakura: Mm.

Ling: So... how's the progress? I always see you two going on business trips together, so why haven't you made any progress?

Ling: What about the method I gave to my sister? Did it work? The book said it was very useful! But my sister is a bit slow, and she's become even slower after meeting Wang-gege. I don't know if she'll know how to use it.

Ling: But you're so beautiful, sister. I bet Wang-gege is already head over heels for you, right? He's just too shy to confess. If you just give him a little push, he'll confess to you!

Ling: The book says that girls become stupid after falling in love. Will my sister become stupid? But don't worry, let me and Wang-gege take care of her together!

Rin: ...Sister? Are you asleep?

However, Sakura's face was actually flushed red at that moment, whether from embarrassment or anger at her younger sister, it was hard to tell.

■■Month 3rd 0:12

Sakura: Shut up! Go to sleep!

Sakura: And please read less of those weird and strange books in the future! They made me so embarrassed I almost died!

Ling: Huh? Sister, you really did it? What about Brother Wang? How did he respond? Did he agree?

cherry:…………

Sakura: I told him I wanted to go to the amusement park with him, and he agreed.

bell:…………

Bell: Sister is so timid... How lame.

Sakura: Go to sleep! Otherwise, I'll sell all your weird books when I get back!

Sakura sent the message with a mix of embarrassment and annoyance. She then turned off the terminal, placed the long sword wrapped in a cloth under her pillow, and lay on the bed staring blankly at the pure white ceiling.

"Amusement park...?"

Sakura placed her hand on her chest, feeling her breathing and heartbeat gradually become steady, and murmured to herself.

"Perhaps...it's an opportunity..."

Gradually, I drifted off to sleep.

...communications from an unknown source...

"Hello? Al, it's me. [Sword] is still the same as before, but he's going to go out with [Sheath] during his break."

"Yes, I also learned about this from [Sheath]. Let them go, and it would be best to help them along the way to make their lives more comfortable."

"Al, I don't quite understand why you're putting restrictions on [the Blade]. Is it because he's not loyal enough?"

"Of course not. There's something lingering in his heart that we need to find a way to erase. At the very least, we need to replace it with one of our own or someone we can control. Otherwise, a [knife] that we can't fully control is too dangerous, especially when that [knife] is particularly sharp... Haven't you noticed that even though the amount of [drug] the [knife] has been ingesting keeps increasing, many of our related methods haven't been effective against him?"

"So that's why you added the [sheath]... But can it really replace it?"

"Of course, time will wash everything away. Feelings that develop from long-term companionship will gradually settle down. With a well-prepared environment and a little push, the feelings we expect will eventually sprout—this trip of the [sword] and [sheath] is the best proof of that."

“I see. I hope this method will succeed… By the way, Al, the matter you asked me to investigate has yielded some results. There was indeed a major incident in North America, the one that caused huge casualties. It shouldn’t be the natural disaster that those old liar politicians were talking about, but some kind of more illogical danger.”

"That's normal. Those smug people love to lie and deceive their own people. I look forward to the day they deceive themselves too."

"Also, it seems they've formed a separate organization to deal with the kind of danger I mentioned earlier. Perhaps we should get involved too. I have a feeling that this organization will become crucial in the future."

“Sure, I trust your judgment. And after we've cleaned up another batch of those guys, we're stronger now, and it's time to gain some influence... Hey, why don't we just send Knife over? I think there should be some of those guys in there. Once Knife finds out about them, something interesting will definitely happen.”

"Don't be too greedy, Al. Although the salami slicing tactic is very useful, [Knife] may know about that [island]. It is a place that must never be exposed to the outside world, nor is it a place we can touch. Otherwise, we will only suffer crazy retaliation from [those guys], which we cannot withstand... at least not now."

"I will. At the very least, you'll remind me, won't you?"

“I won’t save you every time… Oh, right, there’s one more thing.”

"Ok?"

"【Knife】 needs two tickets to the Eden concert. Go get them for him. He needs them for his date with 【Sheath】, the one on the night of the 15th of this month."

"Huh? That Eden concert? And it's the 15th of this month? It's already the 2nd... no, the 3rd! All the tickets are sold out long ago, where am I supposed to get any?!"

"I'm not going to worry about that, after all, you said you wanted to make them more comfortable."

"I remember you have one, right? Give it to him first, and I'll figure out how to get another one."

"No, because I want to go myself."

"I (swearing)..."

Chapter Twelve is giving us sweet moments! They're giving us sweet moments!

Time always slips away unnoticed, and before you know it, it's time to go on a trip.

"Sister, are you really going like this?"

Ling looked at her older sister, then put her hands on her hips, seemingly somewhat dissatisfied.

"W-what's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Hearing her sister say that, Sakura subconsciously wondered if there was something wrong with her outfit, and quickly looked down at herself.

Wearing a beige off-shoulder dress with a pink belt tied into a bow at the back, the slightly loose dress accentuated the girl's slender waist. Considering the place she was going to and the monk's somewhat shy feelings, the girl added a pair of safety shorts and changed into sandals. She placed her sun hat and shoulder bag on the chair next to her, which she would take with her when she left.

The only problem was that the brown shoulder bag was bulging and looked like it was stuffed full of things—and Ling remembered that even in this situation, her older sister still managed to shove a candy box into it.

Sakura felt that she was dressed up well enough. After all, although she usually spent some time on her clothes, she was never as picky as she was today.

"No, sister, absolutely not!"

Ling shook her head and said in a lecturing tone.

"You haven't put on makeup yet! They say a woman dresses up for the man she loves, and it's such an important day for a first date, how can you not wear makeup? But you don't usually buy cosmetics, which is terrible. But thankfully, I'm here for you... Ouch, ouch, ouch..."

"If you read those trashy books again, I'll cut your allowance!"

"I didn't read any of those rubbish books!"

Rin loudly retorted, removing Sakura's hands from her head.

I learned all of this from the internet, so naturally I didn't read those "random books"!

"And you should buy some cosmetics, sister, so you can make yourself look prettier... here you go."

Ling pouted and complained slightly, then took a small gift box out of her bag, opened it, and handed it to her older sister.

"bell?"

"This is lip balm. You don't like wearing lipstick, so you should at least have some lip balm, right? I bought the cherry blossom flavor. I think you'll like it."

"...Thank you, Rin."

Sakura was slightly surprised, but then happily accepted it and gently patted Rin's head.

Then he asked a question that made Rin freeze in shock.

"How much does this lip balm cost?"

"Ah...ahaha...well..."

Ling guiltily looked away.

"And the design of this lip balm seems a bit off..."

"this and that……"

Ling felt the hand on her head gradually changing from "stroking" to "grabbing", and it was getting stronger and stronger.

"Ring, this is actually a lipstick, isn't it?"

Sakura said softly.

"Although I don't buy cosmetics often, I can still tell the difference between lip balm and lipstick."

"........."

The bell fell silent.

"...Ring, I don't mean to blame you, I just hope you don't spend too much money on these kinds of things."

Sakura patted Rin's head again and said softly.

“It’s not that I’m forbidding you from buying these things, but I hope you can be moderate and at least not excessively pursue those expensive things… Even though our family is already quite wealthy, we should still be frugal.”

"……Um."

“Good boy, and... thank you very much, Rin.”

Sakura said with a smile.

“I like this gift very much.”

buzz-

A notification sound came from the terminal, indicating that the people who were supposed to pick them up had arrived.