The red-haired boy gasped with a flushed face and tried to wiggle his way out – to no avail.

”Your stance on the topic is adorable, but, honestly – that won’t do, you pure-hearted younger brother of my friend…”

Zoemi declared pinning Grazio to the ground.

”Your sister asked me to help you train, and she did not specify the limits of said training so I will add this training session as a bonus.”

He added with a wicked grin, causing the red-haired boy’s eyes to widen.

”W-wait…! Hold on…! What do you mean…?!”

Grazio gasped but Zoemi’s lips already turned into a duckface.

”Now, give me a big smooch mister tsundere! Mmmm!”

”GYAAAAAH! NOOOOO!”

Grazio’s first reaction was to struggle – although honestly, if he actually wanted to run away, or at least dodge, since it wasn’t a combat situation Zoemi actually left him PLENTY of room to wiggle and turn around.

But interestingly enough, except for being vocal about it, Grazio was staying still in a submissive position while watching Zoemi’s face approach him.

I have one word for you, kid – evil.

|Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!|

Ludier’s shadow sighed while Zoemi was internally laughing maniacally, playing a game of chicken with Grazio.

…but only from his own perspective…

Because he was honestly too dense to notice that for one of them, getting kissed like that wasn’t actually problematic at all.

More like getting an unexpected reward, actually.

—–

”W-wait – hold on! No! Not like that! I don’t want Gazio to be the first one to kiss Zoe!”

”You idiot – your head is steaming! What are you doing – you are going to get us noticed!”

Ehmi gasped, all her previous excitement gone and replaced by actual anxiety- she was getting so worried that Burushi’s observation wasn’t an overreaction – there really was steam coming out of the other girl’s head – or more specifically, from her crimson hair that actually heated up.

—-

”Nnn~ Nnn? H-huh?!”

Zoemi obnoxiously pouted lips were approaching and Grazio actually started raising his head to meet them – but then in the corner of his eyes he caught some movement, and once he glanced to the side he noticed a cloud of steam coming from behind the bushes…

”!!!!”

Which he recognized immediately and acted accordingly.

”N-NOOO! BIG SISTER EHMI! SAVE ME!”

Although he didn’t feel a particular need of being ‘rescued’ from the situation he felt that he shouldn’t use Zoemi’s denseness for his profit – so he began struggling again and called out…

”YES! Big sister to the rescue!”

”EEEEHHHH?!”

And as if she was summoned out of the thin air, none other than the crimson-haired Ehmi jumped out from the bushes, to the sound of Burushi gasping in disbelief, and dived between the two boys.

She landed in such a way that she lodged herself between the two of them – her back covered Grazio’s face and the pristine belly, exposed because of the jump and shifting of her cozy housewear, pushed itself against Zoemi…

*chuu*

…’s lips…

”Ahyan~!”

”…”

The crimson-haired girl let out a lewd sound and looked up at the frozen black-haired boy.

”‘S-sup? I need some training too, if you don’t mind…! C-can I still join?”

Ehmi smiled awkwardly and waved her hand at Zoemi as her eyes were wildly moving around as she tried to think of some possible explanation for her sudden appearance.

”Of course, you can! Here. Lesson one – throw your opponent off by doing something unexpected!”

”?!?!?”

….made the black-haired boy firmly grab the older girl’s torso and take a deep breath…

”EH?! Whoa, wait! Hold on! Not in public, Burushi is watching us too!”

Ehmi panicked and tried to stop him but it was already too late.

”KYAAH!?”

While firmly holding her in his grasp Zoemi pressed his lips against her soft abdomen and…

”PPFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFffffffffffffffffffffFFFFFFFFFfffFFFFFFFFF…!”

”MUNYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA, SH-SHTOPH YYTH…! NYAHAHAHAHA…!”

Blew all the air from his lungs and made a loud farting noise, causing the crimson-haired girl to lose it from laughter…

”Nyahaha… ahaha… nyahaha… haa….”

Even though Zoemi already leaned back and wasn’t even breathing at any part of Ehmi, the crimson-haired girl still needed a minute to calm down from the vicious attack she wasn’t ready for.

|She was keeping an eye on her little brother and intervened before things went south for him, huh. Having siblings must be so nice…|

The black-haired boy wasn’t even mad about the girl’s sudden appearance – he was shocked because he was actually caught off guard which seemed outrageous considering that Ehmi’s unique shadow was basically covering the sky.

But to Zoemi’s defense – he was really focused on what he thought was getting back at the guy who wronged him, so it should be excused.

…also – his sentinels hidden within his shadow knew about the crimson-haired girl’s presence, but since she wasn’t doing anything suspicious other than just observing their master from behind a cover, they stayed silent…

”Nyahahaa… should I count that as you being interested…?”

”…?”

Ehmi calmed down her breath and asked with a flushed face, earning herself only a raised brow from the black-haired boy.

”I thought the entire thing with me representing the Victureo family in this tournament is to help you out and NOT force you to marry anyone.”

Zoemi responded with a shrug before he glanced back.

”Burushi…”

”This yaoi fangirl has dragged me here! This wasn’t my idea!”

He called out to the other girl, who was still trying to hie despite compromising her position moments earlier – and caused her to jump out and declare in a panicked voice, before she ran back to the mansion, not wanting to face the possible consequences…

|…hold up – what did she mean by that?|

Zoemi furrowed his brows in confusion.

Oh, so you also don’t know what yaoi is? Interesting!

|No, I know – but what did she mean by that though?|

Ludier’s shadow snickered with interest, assuming that there finally was something that confused his host, but the black-haired boy merely shrugged his shoulders and showcased just how dense he really was.

Male or female, the only person who could break through that thick skull of his at that point was only Miriette – and even she had done that after literally YEARS of struggle.

”Shister… Could you get off of me…? Actually, could BOTH of you get off of me already?!”

Grazio’s muffled voice came from underneath Ehmi.

”Whoops… yeah, sure.”

”Ah! R-right…! Thank you…”

Zoemi flinched and stood up before offering a helping hand to the suddenly bashful Ehmi…