Following Yui Yuigahama and Yuka back to the Dango Cake Shop, Yui unlocked the door with her key. She didn't flip the sign to "Open," though—she was just there to tidy up the kitchen for her mom, turn off all the lights, and then head ho with Yuka.
That made Kotomi Izumi the shop's last custor of the day.
Business at the Dango Cake Shop had been pretty good lately. Most days, there were few leftover sweets, and they even had several custom cake orders. Custom birthday cakes didn't bring in huge money, but they were priced higher than ready-made cakes, which ant extra profit. However, without molds, making custom cakes was more troubleso.
Originally, the shop didn't take custom orders at all—after all, most of the ti Mrs. Yuigahama was the only one baking and making sweets. Adding a custom cake on top of regular work could easily beco overwhelming if the schedule wasn't handled perfectly.
Still, earning more was worth the extra effort.
Parents sacrifice everything for their children. With Yuka about to start school—six years of elentary, three of middle school, three of high school, plus university tuition—these would be no small expenses.
Mrs. Yuigahama wanted both her daughters to change their fate through education. She often told them that only by getting into a good university could they choose the life they wanted. No matter how tiring or hard it was, she alone shouldered the family's finances.
Kotomi, however, knew that Mrs. Yuigahama hadn't gone ho early today to rest. How? Because earlier, she'd received a LINE ssage from her—with an illustration draft attached, labeled: [Commorative illustration draft for the release of Volu 1 (first version)]. Get full chapters from n̷o̷v̷e̷l̷f̷i̷r̷e̷
That's when Kotomi realized she'd closed the shop early not to rest, but to rush an illustration deadline.
In Japan, when a light novel volu is released, illustrators who are close to the author often draw celebratory art to post on Twitter. This also applies when a work gets an audio drama, manga, or ani adaptation.
Kotomi took one look at the draft and imdiately thought Mrs. Yuigahama's art style was perfectly aligned with her own tastes. The subject—Asuna in white silk pajamas—captured every detail, from the texture of her beautiful feet to the shy expression on her face. Even in line art form, Kotomi could already imagine the blush on Asuna's cheeks in the finished version.
Kotomi hadn't known Mrs. Yuigahama planned to draw a congratulatory illustration for her, so she'd given no input or requests. The fact that this piece was entirely the illustrator's own idea—and still matched her tastes so perfectly—sent her XP system into overdrive.
She swallowed hard. In that mont, Kotomi decided: from now on, every light novel she wrote would have its illustrations done by Mrs. Yuigahama.
With Yui and Yuka right beside her, Kotomi decided not to reply imdiately—if Yui happened to see, there'd be no way to explain it.
Besides, Kotomi had promised Mrs. Yuigahama to keep her work as an illustrator a secret from her daughters. A promise had to be kept.
Putting her phone away, Kotomi picked out a Baumkuchen and five sugar-glazed donuts.
The shop also had a six-piece donut gift box, where custors could mix flavors, but Kotomi only liked two: sugar-glazed and maple syrup-glazed. Classic, simple flavors. The rest didn't interest her at all.
"Kotomi, you should try different donut flavors—like tiramisu, blueberry shell, strawberry shell, matcha cheese, mocha cookie, crazy mocha, matcha mochi, crazy chocolate, or chocolate rainbow. Since you don't like chocolate, there's also strawberry rainbow. Oh, and this one—I made it based on Hello Kitty: the pink kitty donut."
As Yui Yuigahama packed donuts into the box, she enthusiastically listed the flavors.
"Haha, I'll try them another ti," Kotomi replied with a small smile, politely refusing.
Aside from the chocolate flavors, most of the ones Yui nad sounded good to Kotomi. But she wasn't interested—her loyalty was firmly with sugar-glazed donuts.
"Alright then," Yui said, a little disappointed. She'd always wanted Kotomi to try sothing new.
Once the cake and donuts were packed, Kotomi claid she had no small change and that her phone was dead. She pulled a ¥10,000 bill from her pocket.
"Keep the change," she said casually.
"No way, I have to give you the change!"
Six donuts and one Baumkuchen ca to just over ¥4,900. There was no way Yui could keep the rest without feeling guilty.
Kotomi was about to use her usual trick—pretending to scold Yui into accepting the money—but this ti, the dumpling stood her ground. Her tone was pitiful, but she didn't budge:
"Even if you scold , hit , or yell at , I'm still giving you your change."
Kotomi sighed in defeat, waving her hand but throwing in a sharp warning:
"Fine, but if you dare include the money for the takoyaki in my change, I'll make you regret it!"
Yui pursed her lips. Does she have mind-reading powers? How else could Kotomi guess her plan?
And hearing that last line made Yui's face turn red—not only because Kotomi had seen through her, but because the warning itself left her mind wandering.
Before they had an official relationship, Kotomi knew to stop while ahead when flirting. Seeing Yui blush, she decided to let the little lamb go.
Yui, cheeks still flushed, went to the counter to get the change. Afraid of making a mistake, she grabbed the calculator and double-checked. Sure enough—she had miscalculated earlier.
The correct change was ¥5,090, but her first calculation had been ¥6,700.
That gap was… embarrassing. Even though she'd made great progress in her studies under Kotomi's guidance, Yui had one glaring weakness: her calculation skills.
She could now solve big math problems with clearer logic, but her actual solving speed was still slow—especially because of calculations. Others might get it right in one go; Yui would check and re-check two or three tis before writing the answer.
Kotomi had long since noticed this flaw. It reminded her of her second life in elentary school, when her math teacher often assigned oral arithtic drills—and sotis an entire A4 sheet as a test. Too many mistakes, and parents would be called.
Maybe I should buy Yui an oral arithtic workbook? Kotomi thought half-jokingly. But she knew it wasn't that Yui couldn't do math—she was just naturally a beat slower and so cautious at tis that she seed like a gentle little lamb.
Being slow at calculations wasn't the end of the world—Yui Yuigahama's scores on the last two exams had been solid. She hadn't lost points from running out of ti due to slow arithtic.
Yuka had chosen to sit far away, worried she might accidentally interrupt her sister and Penguin Onee-chan. She kept her presence quiet, but her big, round eyes never left them.
Seeing her sister so submissive before Kotomi Izumi—like a loyal little wife—made Yuka anxious.
Her sister wasn't just non-dominant; Yuka suspected that if Kotomi told her to, she'd drop to the floor like a puppy, roll over to expose her pale tummy, and let Kotomi pet her.
At this rate, wouldn't Penguin Onee-chan just marry her sister?
A taphorical lightning bolt struck Yuka's mind. No way! Penguin Onee-chan can't marry into the Yuigahama family! That would ruin everything.
Could she count on her sister? Probably not. Which ant her only hope was to have Mom marry Penguin Onee-chan instead. Yuka's little brain spun with ideas.
After all, in her mind, both her sister and her mom liked Penguin Onee-chan—which was why she still hadn't figured out whether Penguin Onee-chan would beco her sister-in-law or her new mom.
At the counter, after Yui handed Kotomi her change, Kotomi knew she still had to close up the shop, so she didn't linger and turned to leave.
"Bye-bye, Yuka."
Kotomi waved toward the little girl sitting far away, wondering why she didn't just take a closer seat.
"Bye, Penguin Onee-chan!" Yuka waved her chubby little hand enthusiastically. Still in her baby-fat stage, she was at peak cuteness.
Once Kotomi was gone, Yuka couldn't sit still. She tried poking her sister's arm, but her height wasn't enough, so she settled for poking her leg to make her look down.
"Do you want to go ho now, Yuka? Sorry, just wait a little longer until I finish closing up. Tonight we won't cook—what do you want for dinner? We can pick sothing up on the way."
"Whatever you and Mom want, I'll eat," Yuka replied, sneaking a glance at the takoyaki. She wanted to eat it hot, but she also wanted to share it with Mom.
Yui noticed the look in her eyes and chuckled. "Think back—last ti you offered takoyaki to Mom, did she eat it?"
"Um…" Yuka thought hard, then shook her head. "No."
"Exactly. Mom doesn't like takoyaki. If you wait until we get ho, it'll be cold. You should eat it now while it's hot," Yui said. She knew Yuka's habit—if told directly to eat, she wouldn't. She'd insist on asking Mom first.
Better to guide her step by step into just eating it herself.
"Really?" Yuka asked again.
"Of course. Eat it before it gets cold—otherwise, you'll waste Penguin Onee-chan's kind gesture. If she knew, she'd be sad. Do you want to make Penguin Onee-chan sad?"
"No! I'll eat now!" Yuka decided and dug in.
...
On her way ho, Kotomi pulled a sugar-glazed donut from the box, took a big bite, and smiled in pure bliss.
"Mm—Dango Cake Shop's sugar-glazed donuts are so good! If I married Yui, I could eat these every day."
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