6 My mighty wealth cannot buy thee? (2)

Yuuto sent a fleeting glance at the back of the warm, motherly Ayumi.

"What are you cooking, Aya-nee? " Yuuto asked as he followed her into the wide and expansive kitchen, clear of any weird smells.

Ayumi turned back with surprise as she saw Yuuto follow her, yet a moment later her lips formed a smile.

"Hm? It's a surprise! " Ayumi pleasantly smiled as she waved her finger at Yuuto. Then she turned back and checked the rice cooker.

Yuuto snickered as usual and glanced at her with amazing patience and inquisitiveness, he watched on as she swiftly moved here and there and cooked various things as if he was watching an interesting serial.

"Huh?...you haven't left yet, Yu-chan? " Ayumi asked with surprise as she saw Yuuto calmly reclining on a wall, and gazing at her with indescribable emotions.

Yuuto didn't answer, but instead, he smiled and closed in on her as slow as he could. His legs throbbed with pain as a result of his excessive exercise but he didn't care as usual.

Yuuto had a devious plan to fluster the meek Ayumi.

"Say, Aya-nee…what should our relationship be called for now? "

Yuuto said smoothly as he put his hands behind Ayumi's back and pulled her into his embrace, while Ayumi had a shocked expression on her face as she was pulled into his embrace.

"…go away, you're smelly. "

Ayumi winced as she put both of her hands in front of her chest and tried to softly push him away. Which wasn't possible as Yuuto snickered and forcefully embraced her.

Ayumi blushed as she slid her face to the right on Yuuto's shoulder in order to hide her face. The sweaty and horrid smell coming from Yuuto's body made her whimper.

Honestly, she was just like this one way or another. She didn't like things that smelled musky or even smelled peculiarly for the matter!

"I-I don't know…lover…? "

As this time there were no hands to protect Ayumi's 'assets, so her bountiful breasts freely swung and meshed along with Yuuto's body.

Feeling the two squishy and succulent breasts hit his upper chest, Yuuto's eyes turned relaxed as he lifted his hands on Ayumi's shoulder instead of her hips.

"Well, teasings aside, what's our relationship right now, Aya-nee? "

Yuuto said as he released her from his embrace and glanced at her in the eyes, calmly.

Ayumi smiled and without warning, leaned in on him and pecked him on the cheeks.

Ignoring his astonished and flustered expression and even his previous question, Ayumi arduously caressed his cheeks and pinched his nose.

"Yu-chan looks so cute when he acts mature!️" Ayumi chuckled and returned back to cooking.

Yuuto frowned and nodded at her with a negative meaning plastered all over his face.

"So you're saying that I'm still a kid, Aya-nee? That I'm too 'immature' for your tastes? " Yuuto looked at his arms and hid his hurt feewees.

No matter how much it was his fault in the future for being so deadbeat and unmanly, he was still somewhat angry on Ayumi for absolutely no reason.

It hurt, and Yuuto hated that. But somehow, it paradoxically didn't as in his mind, all of this had a risk of happening, because let's face it, who likes an overly-emotional man?

"No…why are you thinking like that, Yu-chan? "

"My Yu-chan is the best in everything – he's cool, he's kind, he's dependable, he's exciting, he's mature and immature at the same time and he's also about to be a great father in the future! "

Ayumi turned back and said with a faint and exquisite smile as if she was placating a crying child. The light that came from the ceiling shone on her smile and created a warm, motherly aura.

Yuuto clearly knew the reason she was like this; it was due to the protective bubble of her upbringing and family shielding her from the 'other' men that prevented her from thinking that he was weak in even one of those things she listed.

Because if you only ate vanilla ice-cream for your whole life, you'd definitely think that vanilla is the best and that the chocolate is bitter, and the other flavors are smelly etcetera.

Yuuto knew better than everyone else, that the moment another man intervened between them before he could better himself, this entire unrealistic relationship would be doomed.

Yuuto clicked his lips in disappointment, but he showed a smile on his face as he looked at her as if she was an angel.

"I like it soo much when you look at me like that, Yu-chan~. "

Ayumi didn't turn back and didn't need to to see the gaze directed at her, simply because she could feel the emotions that were being dumped on her from her behind.

For a while, Yuuto sat on a stool in the kitchen and looked at her dryly without reason, but after a seeing that she had quite the problem multitasking with cooking he stepped in.

"I see that you're having trouble chopping vegetables and cooking at the same time, may I help you Aya-nee? "

Before she could even look at him, Yuuto swished right past her like the wind and picked up the meat cleaver with a smile, to which after seeing, Ayumi giggled.

"Ah…okay. But I wasn't chopping anything though… "

Ayumi laughed and took the meat cleaver held amateurish-ly in Yuuto's hands, and replaced it with a meat mallet.

"Hehe, you weren't looking at what I was cooking, but at me, right? "

"Uh…yeaah…" Yuuto coughed towards the reaction of Ayumi and looked at the sturdy meat mallet in his hands.

His eyes widened as he realized…

"Yup! I'm making veal scallopine for you today! " Ayumi said as she moved a whiteboard filled with pounds of veal in front of Yuuto and giggled charmingly.

Yuuto's lips formed a simple, yet meaningful smile. He…liked to eat scallopine, and it was an amazement that she knew that even though he picked that habit like a week ago.

"Thanks, neechan… " Yuuto sighed.

"Eh, don't be so formal. Have I ever thanked you when you did things for me? "

"…that's true… "

"So, don't thank me! And if you ever feel like saying something like that, just say that you love me, and I'll be satisfied! ️"

Ayumi blushed as she looked at Yuuto from the edges of her eyes.

Yuuto smirked and nodded his head.

"Sure. Then, I love you Aya-nee. "

"…M-me too! "

"Well… "

After a while, Yuuto looked in confusion at the whiteboard laid in front of him, around it, pieces of squashed meat were littered around like blood.

He didn't get it. He smashed the mallet once and this happened…

"Umn…Aya-nee? "

Like a child that did something wrong, Yuuto pulled Ayumi's dress with his clean hand with a guilty expression.

"Hmm…?"

"I...I uh… "

"Wh-"

"Oof, this is why I don't take you along with me when I cook… "

Ayumi put her hands on her forehead and blew air out of her mouth with a pout. After a while, she moved her hands towards the mallet and tried to take it away, but her hand was promptly removed from the mallet by Yuuto.

"Umm, I can do this! Just tell me how to and I'll do it perfectly! "

" Are you sure, can you do it? "

"Of course! "

"Okay. "

"Basics: Lay some plastic wrap on your cutting board, both under and over the meat, before you start pounding. Leave out this step and the meaty splatter will have the kitchen even more littered with meat than it is right now. "

"Cut the meats into flat pieces of the same weight; tear off a piece of plastic wrap double the size of the cutting board, lay the piece on your board so that one side edge of the board lines up with one side edge of the plastic wrap. Your board should be completely covered with the remaining length of plastic laid across your counter; wrap the meat and start pounding! "

"Did you understand that, Yu-chan? "

"I did, I'm not an idiot! "

…

Yuuto pounded the meat one last time and laid it aside on the table, while Ayumi patted his head with a warm and soft expression.

"You did great Yu-chan!️"

Yuuto calmly caught a tool and sat on it with a heavy sigh.

"Aya-nee, it feels as if my life is being drained away from me… "

Yuuto looked at the ceiling and massaged his throbbing manho— wait, throbbing forehead, not throbbing manhood.

Seeing his sweaty and hardworking self, Ayumi felt a throbbing feeling in her heart as she blushed and once again, kissed Yuuto's cheek without warning.

"W-what? " Yuuto gulped as he touched the cheek where he was kissed.

"Ehehe. As expected, the hardworking Yu-chan feels the manliest to me! "

Ayumi giggled and tightly grasped both of his hands, and coddled them with a caress.

"Well, that's…great. " Yuuto chuckled as the warmth from Ayumi's hands invaded his own.

"I have a question to ask, Yu-chan. "

The atmosphere suddenly turned serious as Ayumi, who was standing, leaned on Yuuto's shoulders and rubbed her face along with Yuuto's.

Yuuto felt the serious atmosphere and closed the lips that were about to spill an enthusiastically formed joke.

"Can we…officially begin dating? You know…announce our love to the world and…? "

Ayumi stopped rubbing her cheeks along with Yuuto's and glanced at him with the edge of her eyes and with a strange luster in her face.

Yuuto felt a rare sense of urgency in his heart as he spoke whatever came to mind.

"I'm afraid I can't… "

Yuuto nodded in disagreement.

Ayumi sucked in a large breath of air as she felt a strange feeling attack her mind, it felt as if…she was being abandoned.

"Why? You don't…love me as you said back then? "

While pressing down on the throbbing pain in her chest, Ayumi drew closer towards him.

"Yu-chan, did you plan on just playing around with your elder sister's pure love and then discard me after you were done? Just like an empty drink can, after you've finished drinking it, you're going to throw me away? So mean! Inhumane! "

"Wait, that's wrong, I didn't have that meaning! "

Yuuto showed a troubled expression on his face.

"I didn't say that with any particularly weird intentions."

"Well…Yu-chan. Before you tell me the reason, please answer one of my questions first… "

Ayumi snuggled on top of him desperately like a puppy, which made Yuuto tremble from the weight…

"What exactly do you think of me, Yu-chan? "

Yuuto clicked his lips together and looked at the beautiful Ayumi.

Long jet-black hair in addition to her pretty features. While slender, her chest was pretty big. Her figure can be said to be pretty good. Giving off a clean and elegant impression, she managed to capture the everyone's attention.

An appearance that makes everyone think she is —which she truly is — amiable.

She gives off the impression like that of a pure lady worthy of her name. A lady that broke the heart of many in the past.

"Me? I think of you as a sister; a lady; a woman; a beautiful woman; a wife; a friend; a best friend; a girl-friend; the best girl. "

Before she could even blush, Yuuto smirked and asked with an immovable voice.

"Then, what do you think of me, Aya-nee? "

And before Yuuto could even finish licking the saliva on his lips, Ayumi answered with a whimper.

"Yu-chan, is the person I love the most in this world, and someone I want beside me for my entire life. "

"... Um, thank you. "

"It seems like you don't believe me? Even though I really think that way?"

"I'm happy due to Aya-nee's feelings. "

Yuuto smiled lovingly at Ayumi and rubbed her hair, to which she softly purred like a kitten.

…

"But…why did you disagree then?... "

Ayumi this time sighed and happily rubbed her face again with his

Yuuto closed his eyes as he simultaneously closed his heart the same moment.

"Don't get me wrong, Aya-nee. I don't care about social standards, morals or ethics the people of this world I have, because I have my own version of three. "

"But…"

"Let's look at this from the view of the other people staying in this world. "

"If we announce that we're dating, the entire world will jump on us like hyenas. The media will say — Kazuya Group's sole heir and heiress commit incest. I don't know, let's forget that the media even exists for a while, let's look at this from the perspective of our family."

"I don't like them, but I know that everything I have currently – even you – can be stripped away at will. My grandparents are both cabinet ministers, what do you think will happen after it's announced that we are dating? Hell, even my father is running for a seat in the National Diet, what do you think will happen to his so-called prestige and honor? "

Yuuto sighed as he massaged his head.

"Humans are willing to do anything for the person they love. Love makes people blind and drives them mad. "

"They may even be willing to make an enemy of the world for their beloved one. "

"Even if we are going against the world, I believe love is the only thing that can carry us through"

The girl muttered earnestly while looking at Yuuto.

"Going against, the world?"

"Yes, I believe that there will be lots of hardships waiting for us in the future. It's sad, but I can't imagine a future filled with understanding and blessings from our family…"

Showing a bittersweet smile, the girl whispered.

Obstacles are a part of romances, that Yuuto agrees but his entire, gigantic, Titan-like family?...

"Still, I can make an enemy of our family and of the world if it's for the sake of love. I'm prepared for that. Which is why I'm asking you…will you join me together on this path? Will you love me too.?"

The girl held out her hand gently. Her hand, her slim fingers touched Yuuto's. Yet he noticed a disturbing feeling, as her fingers…

"I won't regret it if I'm together with you."

Yuuto grasped the hand she held out tightly.

He really wanted to say that he was prepared for it.

He loved her.

He loved her more than anyone else.

But…

"I…I uh…"

"Yu-chan, something like escaping from my love is utterly impossible, so please give up quickly! "

Knowing the reason why Yuuto was hesitating for, Ayumi giggled. And the instant she giggled the entire atmosphere turned back to the healthy, and florid atmosphere it was before.

After a while of useless chatter, Ayumi left Yuuto's shoulder and went back in front of the stove, where she did various things which…uh…frankly Yuuto didn't know what she was doing, but it's cooking, not Naruto that it'd be that easy to understand!

Naruto is gay, never read that. But the more retarded and depraved things were it's hellspawn — fanfiction…

Gay, BL, vore, poop — everything forbidden by God was in those fanfics and God forbid, you stumbled onto them and were corrupted into a man of dead dreams and eternal corruption.

All in one, never read them, they're cancer. Do not.

Yuuto shook his head and once again stuck to Ayumi like glue by following her around the expansive kitchen.

Ayumi smiled.

"Well, since we both have nothing to do; why not banter? " Ayumi asked as she did…uh…cooking?

"Sure, I'm bored anyway. "

…

"Why must something like growing up exist? I mean, why does the period of teenage exist? "

"It would be fine if something like that was destroyed."

Ayumi said nonchalantly as she dropped salt into a pot filled with soup.

"Why is teenage-dom making an enemy out you, Aya-nee?"

"It's an obstruction for me. Yu-chan won't openly give me his love."

"…so how is that connected to teenage-dom? "

"There are children who, after a certain age, try to separate from their mother, right? To increase the distance between them for a reason like embarrassment… ?"

"But even then, there are many more reasons; boys always tend to shy away and close their hearts to their elder sisters once they grow up, then they stop acting cute or spoiled…sounds familiar? "

"…yikes… "

"Well, shall we talk about nostalgic stories?"

Ayumi looked back with a reminiscent and nostalgic expression as she smiled and moved to the spot where Yuuto was sitting.

Yuuto nodded and looked at the ceiling for a bit in order to calm his eyes down.

"Remember the name that Aayaden, Takeshi and you gave me back when I was still a child...?"

"Yamato…Aya-nee? " Yuuto snickered as he remembered his childhood.

"Indeed, back then, I didn't really know the meaning of that name, and due to it always sounding weird coming out of you three's mouths my classmates ostracized me for it. "

"That name has also given me a lot of difficulties. Though I have been made fun of due to the name, it was thanks to Yu-chan that I began liking my name more. "

Ayumi said as she giggled and tasted the fragrant soup she was making.

"Me…?" Yuuto said as he felt that he should be killed for not remembering such facts…

"Yes, you did tell me that... "

She then followed with:

"Did you know this? That the Dianthus means pure or sweet love in the flower language? Both fits you perfectly. As the name reveals the person, you are indeed just like the very thing itself. I think that it's a name that suits you"

The same words that he told her in the past. To be frank, being able to remember and repeat that with absolute clarity is amazing in a way…

Yuuto clicked his lips, he still had some memories of it somehow. Although they were nothing but faint and fleeting…

Oh…he remembered, he was one day watching a documentary on television about a bunch of flowers when he was sick and when he first saw it, he just had to tell it to Ayumi.

"Thanks to Yu-chan's words, I started liking the nickname people used to call me by. "

The smiling Ayumi is very cute.

Well. She deserves that name from her very soul.

"Ooh, I remembered another one, Yu-chan! "

"When I was a child, I was bad at getting along with people, and always just followed Yu-chan when we were playing. Other children and you had also big age gaps, so there was nobody else who could be your playmate. In our world, there was only me and Yu-chan. "

"Those days, I really had few friends, and Yu-chan was the only important person I felt I could talk to without being bound by matter such as etiquette. And there was…something that happened that summer in second grade. When Yu-chan tripped and got hurt and couldn't walk, I carried you like a princess… "

"…wait a second, don't expose me!!!! "

"Fufufufu. Seems like I was able to make you remember that. That's right when you got hurt, and couldn't move and cried, I held you in a princess carry and brought you home. At that time, I said to you… "

The girl back then was…different than how she is right now.

Back then when she protectively pulled him in a princess carry, Yuuto's pain was gone and he felt as if he was free from all burdens…

"For me, Yu-chan is a prince, so I'll always protect you, okay? "

"Those words still remain inside me as one of my precious memories. If Yu-chan is my prince I'm his princess! "

"P-please stop! Please stop exposing my past!!"

"I still have more!"

"Ah… go ahead… "

"Back during fifth grade in elementary school, it was in spring, the season of cherry blossoms. We were viewing the cherry-blossoms together, and then Yu-chan had said to me."

Yuuto's eyes went wide in astonishment as he immediately realized what she was talking about.

"Aya-nee is really cute. To me, Aya-nee is a more adorable and rare flower than these cherry blossoms."

"After that, Yu-chan suddenly brought his face closer towards me."

"I love you... because Aya-nee is my Elder sister, I won't give you to anyone else."

"Kyaa~ you certainly knew how to make girls happy back then! "

Ayumi happily screamed with her hands on her cheeks while Yuuto suddenly felt like hanging himself with a rope or even better, read Naruto fanfics in order to get brain cancer.

The latter sounds too devastating and uncomfortable to bear with, so he'll just stuff noodles in his throat and reincarnate in another world with a dating sim.

…

"Remember about that hobby you used to have back in childhood, Yu-chan? "

Ayumi said as she glanced at him from the side.

Hobby? Yuuto couldn't remember it, however…

"No? "

"Really, you should go and check with a psychologist… "

"Maybe I should…secretly funding activism again Naruto fanfics certainly toil people's brains… "

"Did you say something? Anyway, remember that back in elementary school, you used to raise a bunch of cute little duck babies along with some chickens after collab-ing with Aayaden? "

Ayumi had a reminiscent expression on her face, yet that didn't last as it turned into one that of sadness and empathy.

"Then they all died horrible deaths with their necks and bodies shredded into cheddar. Because apparently, raccoons and wild cats are rampant in rural Japan. " Yuuto added with a nonchalant gaze as he drank a glass of water in one gulp.

The water tasted like nothing but nothing. It wasn't even nothing, but instead fluid emptiness.

Ayumi sighed and shook her head.

"You sound like you're trying really hard to hide the pain, Yu-chan. I remember that that day you cried until you suffered from a migraine, even Aayaden wasn't exempt from it as he suffered from a fever. "

"I'm not sad, Aya-nee. It's just that I'm wondering about the glass like the empty fragility of life… "

"Be optimistic! "

"I can't, sorry. But even then, I'm not sad about them passing, because everyone will eventually die in the end. Me, you, everyone… "

"I see, so you aren't sad then?! '

Ayumi looked at him with an angry gaze as she closed in on him.

"Then, what about 'her'?! You aren't sad over her death?! "

Ayumi's eyebrows shuddered as she held back the tears trying to escape from her eyes.

Yuuto flinched as he remembered the person Ayumi was hinting at, his expression turned serious as he shrugged and looked at Ayumi with an emotionless gaze.

"I'm not. "

Yuuto stood up and wiped the tears off of Ayumi's face, while she did nothing but put both of her hands on her shoulders and assume a defensive stance.

"Because you see, I never was sad over her death in the first place, because she never used to really talk with me much and always ignored me. "

"B-but…"

"The thing is, that I hate and am angry over the effects her death brought into life, especially yours. "

"Remember the immaculate and wonderful paintings you used to draw back in the day?

"I used to really love them. I never paid attention to the fact if they were the ones that you threw away because they felt imperfect to you, or if they were the ones that you deemed as perfect; I loved all of them because they were special and different. "

"Then what happened? She died and you lost yourself after that. "

Yuuto licked his dry lips as he looked at the quiet and distant Ayumi.

Yuuto gritted his teeth as he lifted Ayumi's right hand and uncovered her pinky finger.

The top of it was horrendously sliced off.

…

…

"If I could draw pictures after that incident, they'd be dubbed as the world's plainest pictures. And while they'd cause a lot of dispute, they'd ultimately sell for very high prices."

Ayumi giggled.

"But of course that too was 'a thing that could have happened, but now never will' Nothing more."

"My thought is, that over a really long period of time, people's level of artistic talent, eventually bloom into its peak on its own. I was destined to lose that chance to bloom into perfection the very day that accident happened. But even then a few drops of my talent remained."

"I used to be very proficient in the art. I could copy scenes in front of me and express it into various different forms like it was nothing. "

"I could just look at a painting, a scenery, and just plainly understand how to draw it to its very core. "

"Yet after the summer morning the accident happened, I swore to never pick up the brush again until I regained my former talent. I felt that the next time I would pick the brush, everything will fall into place like it was before. "

"But in that winter night when I was fifteen, I again picked up the brush in haste. At a time I absolutely shouldn't be going anywhere a drawing. And as a result of that single impulse, I lost my talent. The single, talent that made me different from everyone else. "

"Whenever I tried to draw anything the next time, it would be filled with extreme confusion; the colors were imperfect, the lines were misaligned. "

"I no longer have the ability and sense for the lines and colors I had back then. "

"Attempting to draw at the time of imperfection and trouble only put me in the state of 'unable to draw' forever. "

"I hate myself and my state of being. I'm…miserable, but I find solace in drowning myself in love. I find the same sense of happiness and state of being as I did back when I was 'able' to draw. "

Ayumi smiled at him.

"I have a rather weird question, Yu-chan… "

"Go ahead, ask. "

"Back way before that accident, my teachers told me to draw more, and put more attention into it than anything I did before in my life because they were afraid that I will never again be able to go back into that state when I grow up. "

"They told me that I'd be immortal, ageless and admonished with fame, was it true back then? If I drew and drew countless pictures, would I be happier than I am right now? "

Ayumi desperately shook Yuuto's arm and begged for an answer, it was almost as if she was dying inside and begging to hear a no. It was as if she was searching for an answer other than a 'yes' in order to not let her disappointment and regret devour her mind.

Yuuto felt a coldness bite his heart as he looked at Ayumi, and caressed her pale, pastel cheeks.

"Fame, huh? "

"Just like how money is meaningless after you die, fame is meaningless too."

"Because even if I am eternal, in the heart and minds of others in a world without me; that's nothing to be glad about. "

"You won't be able to look back on the fame you've earned after you're in the grave, nor will you be able to earn satisfaction from them. "

"Because simply, after death, everything and everyone ceases to be and blinks out of reality; they stop existing. "

"The lesson is – never try anything because everything is horrible and doesn't amount to anything. The end. "