After the impromptu family criticism session, the Hikigaya household returned to its usual routine.

While Komachi prepared dinner, Hikigaya Hachiman first took care of the homework left by his teacher in the living room.

After that, like a true couch potato, he lay on the sofa hugging the family cat, waiting for Komachi to call him for dinner.

Once they'd finished eating, the siblings swapped roles.

Hachiman was in charge of washing the dishes in the kitchen, while Komachi lazily sprawled across the coffee table, tackling her science homework.

As for her liberal arts homework?

Did you really think that after eating a dinner cooked by the great Komachi-sama herself, just doing the dishes would be enough to call it even?

Originally, Hachiman had even volunteered to do all of Komachi's homework for her.

But Komachi rejected him, citing his consistently poor ranking in science. That had left Hachiman in a funk for quite a while.

After finishing the dishes, Hachiman sat down next to Komachi, as usual, and picked up her liberal arts homework—only to be surprised to find that today's assignment was to write an essay on the theme of youth.

Looking at the title, Hachiman immediately felt a sense of familiarity.

After all, it was because of an essay like this—one he wrote too well—that he was personally invited by Hiratsuka-sensei to join the Service Club, where he worked together with the school's famous Ice Princess, Yukinoshita Yukino, to help other students with their problems.

"Eh? It's an essay? Then I'll just do it myself..."

Having rushed home from school without paying any attention to the teacher, Komachi sighed upon realizing the assignment. She promptly got up and pulled the essay paper out of Hachiman's hands.

"You don't trust my skills?" Hachiman gave her a wounded look, clearly offended. He had, after all, once taken second place in a national essay competition.

"No, I totally trust your liberal arts abilities, Onii-chan," Komachi said with a shake of her head. "But your essays always give off this dead-fish vibe, and that just doesn't match a beautiful girl like me at all. The teacher would see through it instantly!"

...Fair enough. Komachi's reasoning left Hachiman speechless. After all, he was a dead fish—that was undeniable.

"Well, I'll head upstairs then..."

With no need to help with her liberal arts homework today, and not wanting to disturb her as she focused on science, Hachiman decided to head back to his room.

But just as he stood up, Komachi—who seemed totally focused on her textbook—suddenly reached out and grabbed his sleeve.

Hachiman: ......

"I'm not helping you with your homework today," He told her bluntly, staring at the hand clutching his clothes while she continued writing with the other.

"Don't even think about escaping!" Of course, Komachi wasn't going to let him off that easily. Even if he couldn't write her essay, she still wanted him to keep her company while she worked.

"Alright..."

Realizing she wasn't going to let him go until her homework was done, Hachiman sat back down beside her. He propped his chin on one hand and started browsing the latest online news.

Watching him beside her, Komachi smiled warmly. As she worked out a math formula on her paper, she casually asked about how things had been going for him lately.

Of course, what exactly she meant by "how things are going" was a secret known only to the siblings.

"Not much. Aside from that request Kawasaki gave me on the first day, Chiba's been unusually peaceful," Hachiman replied honestly, though omitting a few key details.

After killing a Special-class evil spirit and a General-class one in back-to-back days, it was true that the other spirits in Chiba had quieted down significantly.

"No jobs at all?" Komachi frowned, visibly disappointed. She had been hoping for more money to be deposited into her account every day.

But her disappointment was short-lived.

After all, no exorcism requests meant that everyone was safe and sound, and she didn't have to worry about her big brother getting into danger.

Besides, if Hachiman just budgeted his first payment carefully, that alone would be enough to support the two of them for the rest of their lives.

"By the way, Onii-chan, another new woman's scent appeared on you today."

As she scribbled away, Komachi suddenly dropped a bombshell—one she had clearly been preparing.

"Huh?"

"There were five different women's scents on you today. My nose picked up on every single one, you know!"

Seeing Hachiman trying to play dumb, Komachi cut straight to the chase. "Other than Hiratsuka-sensei, who are the other four?"

"They're just classmates from school!"

A cold sweat broke out on Hachiman's forehead as he rushed to explain. With so many girls at school, wasn't it natural for their scent to get on him by chance?

"You think I'm going to believe that, Onii-chan?" Komachi bared her small canine tooth with a sly smile. If he kept lying, she was going to interrogate him properly.

.

.

.

"Still not planning to tell me what happened last night?"

In Yukinoshita Yukino's apartment, her sister Haruno looked at her with a long sigh.

After failing to subdue Otani Kazuki last night and watching Yukino get taken away, Haruno had nearly lost her mind. Because it wasn't hard at all to guess what Otani Kazuki would want with her little sister.

But to her surprise, just a few minutes later, Yukino had returned—unharmed, neatly dressed—and saved both Haruno and their unconscious mother.

Shortly after that, the news of Otani Kazuki's disappearance spread...

Haruno didn't know exactly what he was, but she was sure they weren't human.

And she knew for a fact that her sister was just an ordinary girl—after all, she had always protected Yukino carefully.

Which raised the question: What exactly had happened in those few minutes between Yukino getting taken and her sudden return to rescue them?

"You already know the answer, don't you?" Yukino looked up at her sister, her expression just as helpless.

"Of course I know..." Haruno's face went blank for a moment before she gave a bitter smile.

It wasn't hard to guess what had happened: someone must have shown up and saved Yukino from Otani Kazuki. All Haruno really wanted to know was the identity of that person.

But if she put herself in Yukino's shoes, she wouldn't want to expose her savior either—not if it meant causing them trouble.

Still, understanding that didn't mean she was going to give up.

Haruno had gathered bits of information from her own contacts, and she knew that chances like this were too rare to waste.