A slap on my left cheek was the one that woke me up that night. Trying to prevent myself from cursing, I opened my eyes. It was Kirino. I can't help but simply gave a sigh. Is there a need to slap me like that just to woke me up?

"What are you-"

"Sssshhhh!"

Kirino placed a finger against her lips and I took a moment before gazing at the clock on my desk. It's ten minutes past midnight. Instinctively, I placed a hand to my forehead. We already had that "Life Consultation" around eleven before. If she still need something more, she just need to say it instead of waking me up in the middle of the night like this.

"What do you want?" I whispered to her.

Kirino stepped down from my bed and crossed her arms, whispering in return : "My room, now."

She took no time to listen to my answer and quickly dashed off to her room, leaving me unable to say what I'm about to say. That I want to ask her if we can save that for tomorrow. I gave a small groan. If I leave her just like this, she'd definitely wake me up with something even more painful than before. It seemed like I have no choice so I just made my way to my room.

"You're late!"

That was the first response I got when I entered her room. She was sitting on her bed, hugging one of her plushie as she puffed her cheeks when she looked at me. Giving a small sigh, I rubbed the back of my head. Judging from everything, I was not the one at fault. She was the one who said that she need nothing more during our "Life Consultation" before so I just went to sleep and a few minutes ago she was the one who woke me up by slapping my cheek.

If I say that to her, I'd end up with her throwing all of the pillows in her bed to me. So I suppose it'd be much better to me if I stay shut.

"Sorry."

"Never mind that. Sit."

I took my seat upon the carpet in her room.

"Aniki..."

"Hmm?"

"That Rin.. you said that he was an old friend of ours, right?"

"Yeah, why is it?"

In an instant, Kirino pulled her legs up, hugged her knees, and stuffed her face into the plushie.

". . . . . . Kirino?"

She remained silent. And obviously, I can't help but becoming curious. I got up and now on my knees with my eyebrow arched.

"O-Oi, Kirino!"

"Shut up!"

Before I manage to react, she already threw the plushie at my face. When I got that plushie off, she was already reaching for the rest of the pillows in her bed and without giving me the proper time to escape, started hurling all of those pillows towards me.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

Without thinking, I made my way towards the door and headed out of the room. Don't tell me she woke up in the middle of the night just she wanted to do something like that?

I waited for a few seconds. No sound came from Kirino's room. It seemed that she decided to leave it just like that, without telling me anything. Somehow, I feel that all of my efforts to wake up in the middle of the night and came to her room became a waste.

I then gazed at the supposed-to-be vacant room in front of Kirino's room. In the door the sign "Rin's Room" already attached. Right, that room was supposed to be vacant, but because Rin's staying here, Mother and Father told him to stay in that room. When Manami used to play here a lot, she'd sleep in that room too because it's already impossible for myself and Manami to sleep together.

I remained silent as I gazed at that door. Rin wouldn't be awake this time of night. But when I was about to make my way to my room, the door swung open and Rin was the one standing there, with the usual childish smile upon his lips.

"Still awake, Kyo?"

"Rin..."

"Quite noisy there. Were you trying to do something obscene to your little sister?"

"The hell I'm doing that!"

"Take it easy~ I'm just kidding~"

With a nonchalant wave of hand, Rin simply chuckled. His joke tend to get out of the place sometimes, but he never meant something bad by saying something like that. He's purely trying to joke around. I know that from the time I spent together with him when we were smaller. At that time, we're best friends, after all.

"A-Anyway... you're not going to sleep, Rin?"

"What, me? Nah, I'm suffering from insomnia. It'd be a little later than this before I manage to get myself to sleep."

"I-Is that so...?"

Honestly, I don't really know what to say. After that "Rin-whispered-something-to-Kirino" earlier, I was barely able to talk to Rin. Rin, in the other place, acted like nothing happened. During dinner, he was still as cheerful and carefree as usual, answering all the questions given by Mother and Father to him with relative ease. He'd sometime mention me, but he said nothing about Kirino. Mother mentioned Kirino and myself too once in a while, but during dinner, Kirino said nothing, simply responding with gestures and stuff.

It's making the whole thing awkward for me, him, and Kirino. Especially me. Now knowing that something happened between my best friend and my little sister, there's no way I wouldn't stick my nose into that.

"O-Oi, Rin.."

"Kyo."

"Huh?"

"Mind accompanyin' me for a bit?"

Without thinking, I responded with a nod to his question and made my way into his room. His room was as big as mine, with a single bed and a small bed along with a bookshelf. There's a closet too, but it hasn't been filled much. He mentioned that all of the necessary stuff would come tomorrow afternoon, after all.

Rin took his seat upon the bed so I just took my seat on the chair in front of his desk. There was an awkward silence between us, so I decided to start the conversation.

"Oi, Rin-"

"Kyo..."

"W-What?"

"Do you have anyone you're fond of at the moment?"

I remained silent at his question, but two girls definitely appear on the back of my head.

The first one was Manami. It's true that we've spent a lot of time during our childhood and I got to know her after Rin moved to Germany too after all. But just like the thing that I already said to Kirino. Manami was trying to be nice and all, but I definitely know that the weird feeling is just wrong for the two of us. I don't want to ruin my friendship with Manami because of something like that. Not that I'm not trying... but I have my own reasons.

The second one was Kuroneko. It's true that I got to know her after I accompany Kirino to Akihabara and all. And now knowing that she enrolled in my school and became my Kouhai, I can't help but getting to know her even better than before. I promised to help her a lot too. But she's still a friend of mine, just like Manami. I got to know her because of Kirino too, in a way. I have my respect for her and she must be the same too. But honestly, I still don't know of what to think about her.

"N-Nah... no one in particular, I think."

Rin held back a small chuckle. I know that, but I said nothing about it.

"Kyo.. you should definitely look for one, you know. With you as you are now, I'm actually surprised that you seemed to be not really popular with women."

"Mind your own business."

As I clenched my teeth, Rin simply chuckled. Shaking his head once, Rin then gave a nonchalant wave of hand.

"Sorry, sorry. Didn't meant to make it sound like I'm teasing you or anything."

But you ARE teasing me!

"Anyway... Kyo, do you like playing games?"

Why did he change the subject all of the sudden?

"Y-Yeah, a bit I suppose." I said to him.

"What kind of game do you like?"

"I ehh..." I can't possibly tell her that all the game I've been playing were the eroge Kirino told me to play with.

"Do you like galge?"

"Galge?"

"Gal game. Bishoujo game, you know? The visual-novel kind of game where you're supposed to take a route so you'd end up with the girl that you like."

It sounds like an eroge. Except for the ero part.

"Do you like it, Kyo?"

"N-Nah.. I'm not really sure about that..."

"Hmm... how about eroge?"

I stiffened up instinctively, before replying with the most normal tone of voice I could give.

"Eroge?"

"Erotic game. Something like galge, but more explicit and they also contain erotic features."

It actually surprised me that Rin know about something like that.

"I don't think I've played one before..." There's no way I could tell him I already played a lot of those because Kirino told me to, anyway.

Rin remained silent after hearing that answer from me. His expression remains the same but I know he's thinking about something.

"Kyo... do you like watching anime?"

"A-Anime?"

"Yup. Something like Magical Meruru or Maschera or something like that."

Magical Meruru, something that Kirino would definitely watch. Maschera, something that Kuroneko would definitely watch too. His knowledge in things like that actually surprised me for a second. But I tried to act as normal as possible. It wouldn't be good if I attract any suspicion coming from Rin.

"I don't think I've seen one too before..."

"Probably you should start seeing one soon. I would recommend Maschera. Teen complex stuff doesn't sound that bad, right?"

For a moment, I didn't get why Rin suddenly suggested me to do something like watching Maschera. But one thought hit the back of my mind a few seconds after that. On our way back home, we met Kuroneko along the way. Obviously I introduced Rin to her and she introduced herself back in return, just like any normal greeting. I actually thought that the "Living in the Household of Darkness" stuff that Kureneko said to him was just a joke, Rin laughed about that too, but now if I connect that to what's happening now...

"Rin.. why would you suggest me watching something like Maschera?"

Rin chuckled. "Not telling you~"

Why did you even mention it from the start?

I took a moment to regain my calm before releasing a sigh. That one side of Rin never changes too. When he's not sharing something, he'd definitely tease about it. That's how he is all this time.

"Listen, Rin.. if you're not going to tell me, why did you even mention it from the very start?"

"No reason. I'm just telling you to watch Maschera. But really, Kyo... if you're sharper, you'd definitely understand why I told you to watch Maschera from the very start..."

I can't help but arching my eyebrow before finally releasing a sigh. If he's not going to tell me, he shouldn't be beating around the bush like that. It's just making things even more harder to understand.

"A character like me... it's supposed to be as a tsundere, isn't it? Don't you think so, Araragi-kun?"

"Tsundere, my arse! And who the hell are you calling Araragi-kun?"

Rin laughed all that off, much to my annoyance. But I can't really complain about that. That's how he always is, after all.

"Rin, can I ask you something?"

"Anything, Kyo. Don't be hesitant to ask."

"The thing that you whispered to Kirino earlier, before we had dinner... what was it about?"