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Minamoto Teru didn’t really care about others, especially about supernaturals. But his family was a different story. His younger siblings were very dear to him. They were his whole world, and he cared about them deeply.
And that was his recent bother. His younger brother started acting a bit differently. He was smiling a lot and humming while cooking things. Sure, Kou was generally one of the most positive people he knew, but that amount of smiling was weird even for him. The additional, small box with snacks was also suspicious. He knew his brother and this wasn’t his usual behaviour. He could spot that. Kou was also a bit unfocused as if he was far away and not really here. His thoughts were probably somewhere else, next to the answer that Teru wanted to find.
Did his little brother start dating?
That would be a logical explanation if Kou wasn’t so oblivious to all types of courting. And Teru knew no girl would be the first to confess bluntly enough for Kou to not write it off as friendship declaration. Not that Teru knew a lot about girls. But his point still stood. The girls in school seemed very similar to each other, at least in his eyes.
Maybe Kou was finally growing up and he was the one who asked out that one girl from Aoi’s class? Yashiro Nene, right? But that would mean trouble in the near future and Teru didn’t want that for his brother. The girl was way too friendly with supernaturals and previously seemed to have a crush on Teru. What if his brother was just a second choice to her? He shouldn’t judge her, but he was just worried.
The theory of Kou going out with Yashiro was quickly rejected. She was still in her class when Teru’s brother was eating his lunch with someone. Not with his friends, because he heard them complaining about how since Kou got a crush, they’re not the one getting to steal his cooking and that Kou was even cooking something extra for that special someone. So it wasn’t Yashiro or one of Kou’s closer friends.
Who was it? How could Teru get that information?
The problem was that even Kou’s friends weren’t aware of who this mysterious crush was. Was Teru above trying to stalk his brother to figure this out? What if he destroys his chances with someone? He should trust his brother to choose someone suitable, who wouldn’t bring him shame.
Did Kou not trust his older brother? Or maybe the partner was just too shy to meet his family so soon? But if they went to the same school, why was it such a problem? They probably already knew Teru. He was the school's Student Council President! Maybe that person didn’t like him? Or coming back to the shy theory, the school's Student Council President seemed too scary to him?
Suddenly Kou was more interested in handcrafts. Why was he making a keychain recently? Who was it for? And why next was a matching one? Was it for his partner? It seemed like the only option, because he wasn’t making a third one for the second of his friends.
Maybe spotting that keychain would be a hint to who that is? But what if Kou was just making it because of something else? New friendship? Teru’s younger brother was so friendly, he still wondered how he didn’t have a whole bunch of friends.
And why in the next few days Aoi started to be so shy with his bag so suddenly? He was hiding it from Teru and he grew curious. But when he checked, it seemed like the boy was prepared and hid whatever that was.
The only change that was definitely for the better and didn’t bother Teru as much at the beginning was Kou’s grades getting better. He first thought about his brother just getting a bit more time to study or getting help from friends, but when he started going out so eagerly to learn, it got suspicious as well. Was his partner a good student? That could be helpful. Both as a trace and good for Kou, especially that his grades only went up.
So why that someone was scared to meet Teru? Why was everything so suspicious?
Answers for all Teru’s questions came suddenly, when he came home earlier after one of his errands. He heard two voices in Kou’s room. That was his chance to subtly check who that person was. But why was the other voice familiar? At least Teru now knew that his younger brother was dating a boy. That’s fine with him as long as that boy won’t try to hurt Kou.
He quietly went to Kou’s room and slowly opened the door. He went pale. Inside Kou’s room was Aoi. And he was actively kissing Teru’s younger brother. Teru didn’t know what to do. Should he stop this? Make them acknowledge his presence?
“I’m taking this as a yes,” Aoi said, focused on Kou, visibly pleased with himself. So Teru could guess that they just got together. At least he didn’t interrupt a bit earlier. But maybe that would be better? Aoi was in love with Akane-san, right? What suddenly happened? When did that happen? Teru almost didn’t catch how Aoi goes pale. So he noticed Teru.
“I just wanted to ask if you want some juice,” said Teru, trying to justify himself, while watching how his younger brother goes bright red.
“Teru-nii, I was going to tell you everything, I swear. We just… We’re together now” said Kou, avoiding eye contact with Teru. And Teru was weak to his family. He wasn’t going to intervene unless something bad happened. He could see how stressed his brother was, because of being caught.
“It’s fine. Unless Aoi decides to hurt your feelings, I’m not going to make problems for him. So I’m hoping he’ll be on his top behaviour from now on and treat you even better than he was treating Akane-san,” Teru threatened cheerfully, watching as Aoi goes even paler.
“Yes. I will”