Yusuke groaned, throwing his arms over his desk in frustration, having spent a good hour pondering over what kind of higher education he wanted to pursue.
A shadow fell over his desk. "Having trouble deciding what school you want to go to?" The voice he waited to hear every day greet him 'good morning' at breakfast made his head snap up. He nearly jumped out of his chair to see Kazuno leaning over him.
"O—oh. Kazu..." he muttered, slightly disappointed to see Ema glued to her side as usual. "And Ema."
He looked at his paper again. Completely blank.
"Uhh...sort of." Yusuke mumbled. "Yeah. I'm still thinking about my options."
"I see." Kazuno nodded, casting Ema a sidelong glance. She nudged Ema with her elbow. "Ema wanted to ask you something," she told him before slipping away, a glint in her eye. Was this another of her schemes to set him up with Ema? He had already insisted that he didn't like her. Surely, Kazuno had registered that even if he did, they were going to become stepsibling in less than a month? Yusuke sighed inwardly. Silly girl.
"So, um, Yusuke." Ema said, twizzling with a strand of her hair nervously. "I just wanted to ask...whose name should I put down in the guardian's signature box? My dad won't be home till the wedding next month, so..." she twirled her hair around her finger, shifting her thighs. Yusuke shrugged. "Put down Masa-nii's name in there. He's the oldest, and he usually acts as a guardian anyway."
"I see. Thanks!"
Ema skipped off to rejoin Kazuno, who was waiting for her at the classroom door. Kazuno waved and smiled at him. "Make sure to be ready for tomorrow's conference, Yusuke. See you at home."
When she and Ema had gone, he looked at his blank form again and sighed. The reason he hadn't put anything down yet was because he wanted to ask Kazuno what college she would be attending. His grades were trash, but he definitely wanted to try and get into the same school as her, no matter how hard he had to work.
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The next day, they were surprised as Kaname strode in through the classroom doors instead of Masaomi.
"Kaname, you're here?" Kazuno murmured. Kaname nodded, smiling widely. He greeted the teacher—like a normal person, thank goodness—and took a seat in front of Yusuke, Ema and Kazuno. "Yeah. Masa had a thing come up, so I stepped in. Why, not happy to see me?"
Kazuno shook her head. "That's not it."
The teacher cleared her throat, eyeing the four of them. "Right. Shall we begin?"
The teacher went over the form with Ema first. She wanted to go to a prestigious private school located at the outskirts of the city, and the teacher approved. When it was Kazuno's turn, Kaname took a long, hard look at Kazuno's form, arching a brow. "Ah, Imouto. Your first choice for college is the same one as Subaru's. Did you pick it because of him?" He pouted, pressing a hand to his breast dramatically in mock hurt. "I'll cry if you did." Kazuno balked, her brows lowering. "Of course not. It's a coincidence. The subject courses they offer at Meiji are really promising, that's all." She stared at her lap, puffing out her cheeks. Kaname chuckled, giving her a knowing look. "Alright. What about yours, Yusuke?" He picked up Yusuke's paper and examined it. "Dear brother, there's nothing written on here." Yusuke flinched, turning lobster red with embarrassment. "...could it be that you don't want to go to university?" Kaname pressed.
