Reze

Iroha Isshiki intentionally leaned closer to Izumi Kotomi. Noticing the slight blush on Kotomi's cheeks, Iroha gave a mischievous smile and teased, "Senpai, where are you looking?"

Kotomi immediately shifted her gaze back to the computer screen, trying to act composed. Not only did she want to avoid Iroha's teasing, but... Aimi was pinching her arm quite hard!

Ouch... okay, okay, I'm not looking anymore! Please let go, Aimi! Kotomi thought, though she didn't say it out loud. Thankfully, once Aimi saw that Kotomi had redirected her focus to the screen, she released her grip.

Even though it had hurt, as the "culprit," Aimi felt guilty afterward and gently massaged the spot she had pinched, trying to soothe the discomfort. It felt like the classic approach of giving someone a "stick" and then immediately offering a "carrot" afterward.

Kotomi could only smile helplessly at her sister's mixed signals. She sighed and refocused on the sketch she was working on.

Despite initially opening the drawing program to satisfy Aimi and Iroha's curiosity, Kotomi wasn't the type to draw half-heartedly. She decided to work on a character design.

The character she was currently sketching was an important female character from Chainsaw Man—Reze.

Reze, a black-haired, green-eyed café worker who often had a subtle blush on her face, was a character with a lot of depth. Around her neck was a pull cord that, when pulled, transformed her into the Bomb Devil. In her devil form, Reze's head took on the shape of a torpedo, and her apron was made of bomb fuses, embodying a blend of beauty and destruction.

Reze was one of Kotomi's favorite characters when she read Chainsaw Man in her previous life.

Finishing the last stroke of her sketch, Kotomi put down the stylus and stretched her wrist.

On the computer screen, Reze's rough sketch had taken form. It still needed refining, but the character design was essentially done. Kotomi decided not to include Reze's Bomb Devil form for now, as it would take more time. She planned to work on that later in the evening.

"Alright, I'm done with the rough sketch," Kotomi said, taking a sip of water from her cup.

"Wow, she's beautiful! Does she have a name? Her smile looks so mysterious, like there's a deep story behind her. She seems like such a sunny, cheerful girl," Iroha said, gazing at the screen with admiration.

"Her name is Reze," Kotomi responded, looking at her own work with a satisfied smile. It seemed that her drawing skills were improving with practice.

As she looked at Reze's sketch, Kotomi couldn't help but recall a specific scene in Chainsaw Man.

In an alley across from a café, Reze is killed by Makima and the Angel Devil. In her final moments, she looks at Denji's back and says, "Denji-kun, actually, I never went to school either."

Kotomi couldn't wait to see how the manga readers in this world would react to that scene.

"Reze?" Iroha repeated softly, committing the name to memory. "That's such a nice name. Senpai, you're really good at coming up with names, huh?"

"Haha, it's nothing special," Kotomi replied with a modest chuckle.

"If you ever become a mom one day, Senpai, I bet you'll come up with really great names for your kids," Iroha said, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

Naming children, huh?

Kotomi had thought about it before. If she had a child someday, she hoped for a daughter. And even though she didn't know how many children she might have, she had already decided on her first daughter's name—Izumi Ayumu.

Yeah, that's a really nice name, isn't it?

But wasn't it a bit too early to be thinking about baby names when she was still single?

Just as Kotomi saved the sketch of Reze, she heard her mother, Izumi Akina, calling them downstairs for dinner.

Since Iroha was over as a guest, dinner was much more elaborate than usual.

After they finished eating, Iroha didn't linger. She politely said her goodbyes and got ready to leave.

Naturally, Aimi insisted on walking Iroha out, and Kotomi followed as well.

"See you at school tomorrow, Aimi," Iroha said, waving as she stepped outside.

"Bye."

Just as Iroha was about to turn and leave, she seemed to remember something and came back. She turned to Kotomi with a bright smile and said, "Senpai, can I get your contact info? Your phone number, email, and your Twitter handle?"

"Oh, sure." Kotomi didn't hesitate and shared her contact details with Iroha.

Watching this, Aimi couldn't help but feel a bit sour. It was as if she had just eaten a whole bowl of lemons. Up until now, Aimi didn't even know her sister had a Twitter account! In fact, she hadn't even known Kotomi was on social media.

What's the big deal? I didn't need to know anyway... Aimi thought to herself, sulking.

"Got it, Senpai. Let's keep in touch!" Iroha said with a satisfied grin after saving Kotomi's details.

"Don't bother my sister too much! She's very busy!" Aimi huffed, almost as if she were staking her claim and warning Iroha.

But Iroha just smiled cheekily, flashing her pearly white teeth. "Don't worry~ I won't bother her. Though, who knows? Maybe we'll meet up in private sometime."

"Private meetups?!" Aimi's sense of crisis escalated immediately.

"Yep, like a little date~ Just kidding! See you later, Senpai, Aimi!" Iroha teased, waving before she turned and walked away.

After Iroha's figure disappeared into the distance, Kotomi chuckled softly. "Aimi, your friend is really fun."

But Aimi, blushing furiously, pouted and retorted, "You better not be thinking anything about her, Onee-chan!"

Kotomi blinked in surprise at Aimi's unexpectedly possessive tone, quickly realizing the misunderstanding. She hurried to explain, "No, no, that's not what I meant! I was just saying that Iroha has a really interesting personality."

"Hmph! Don't think I didn't notice—your eyes were practically glued to her earlier!" Aimi grumbled, puffing her cheeks in frustration. Clearly, she was still upset.

"Um... well, you know how I like writing and drawing, right? The characters in my novels and manga are all beautiful girls. So, I was just... gathering inspiration! You see, if a creator goes too long without inspiration, they run the risk of experiencing writer's block. And that's a very serious problem!" Kotomi reasoned, desperately coming up with an excuse.

Wow, I'm a genius at coming up with reasons! Truly a conversational mastermind, Kotomi congratulated herself internally.

But Aimi wasn't satisfied. "Why do you need to look at her? Am I not good enough? Am I not cute enough? Just look at me!" Aimi demanded, her eyes wide and accusatory.

Kotomi almost let out the words, I'd like to look more... but her survival instincts kicked in, preventing her from saying something so dangerous. After all, she had school the next day and didn't want to end up bedridden from Aimi's wrath.

Gently patting Aimi on the head, Kotomi smiled and tried to placate her. "I'm sorry, Aimi. You're right, I wasn't paying attention. My adorable little sister, how can I make it up to you? I don't want you to be upset—it makes me feel bad too."

Hearing Kotomi's apology, Aimi looked up at her, her lips trembling as she spoke softly, shyly, "Onee-chan, come closer..."

Kotomi, unsure of what Aimi wanted, stepped closer.

"Closer."

Kotomi took another step forward until they were just inches apart. Aimi's cheeks were burning red, and she slowly raised her arms, her voice barely a whisper:

"—Hug me."