Author s note: thanks very much to the person who left a very kind guest review on the last chapter! My first review ever!

On the long bus ride back, I tried to gather my thoughts. Was god punishing for abandoning my relaxing, normal lifestyle? In just one day I had alienated Asagi, Manami, Kirino, and Kuroneko. My best bro, my oldest friend, my sister/maybe-something-more, and my friend/ex-girlfriend/maybe-wanted-to-be-something-more. Would I have any friends left by the end of the day?

I was also racked with guilt for what I had almost done with Kuroneko. I loved Kirino, and I didn t want to do anything that would hurt her. At the same time she had said herself that we weren t a couple, so it wasn t technically cheating. The more rational part of me agreed with Kuroneko, that she d be a great girlfriend while dating Kirino would lead to terrible consequences. And the less rational part of me just wanted to get laid, and was furious that I had thrown away my chance with such a beautiful girl as Kuroneko.

As I was thinking that, my phone buzzed. It was a line message from Kirino:

[ Hey idiot, where are you? ]

Not the nicest message, but at least she was talking to me. Also, it wasn't really a question that I wanted to answer. I responded vaguely:

[ Out with a friend. I'll be home soon. What's up? ]

[ "A friend?" Don't bullshit me. I know you were with Kuroneko. ]

Well, shit. This girl knew way too much sometimes. I really, really didn't want to talk to her about what had just happened, although part of me knew I couldn't keep it a secret either.

[ Um, yeah. Can we meet somewhere to talk? ]

There was a pause, and then she answered:

[ Fine. I'll meet you at XXX park. At 5. Don't be late. ]

That didn't give me much time. I tried to ask her for more time, but the message went unread. or maybe she read it but was just ignoring me.

Still, I really didn't want to provoke her even more by showing up late. Luckily the bus was on time, and by running there from the bus stop, I just barely made it there on time.

Kirino showed up a few minutes later, while I was catching my breath. She was wearing an elegant long brown coat, perfectly suited for the autumn weather, and looked absolutely beautiful. I looked like... well, I looked like a guy who had just taken two long bus rides, then done some running, and was never well-dressed to begin with. Basically, I looked like crap.

She walked up to me and, before I could even say a word, she slapped me. Very hard, and right across the face.

"What- I"

"Shut up! Stupid!" She slapped me again, even harder this time. "Die, die, die!"

I couldn't defend myself, couldn't do anything. I just let her slap me. I almost welcomed the physical pain, since it was easier to bear than the emotional pain I was feeling.

She stopped, and began screaming at me instead. "Why did you go to her? How could you do that to me? Now, after all this, you want to go back to her?"

"No!" I tried to explain. "I wasn't going back to her! I just needed her advice. About you!"

"Liar!" She screamed. "She told me what happened! She told me that you... tried to do things with her!"

"Let me explain!" She slapped me again. "Please let me explain!"

She glared at me. "OK, explain why I shouldn't just kill you right now."

"I... lost my head for a second, OK? I really did just call her to ask for advice about you. Because I messed up with you this morning, and I didn't know how to make things right. But she asked me to come over, and I thought that would make the discussion easier to do it in person, but she had other ideas and everything got so messed up. I'm so sorry."

"So you're just blaming it all on her?"

"No! I'm also at fault here, I know. But she was the one who tried to seduce me, and I was the one who stopped her. Please believe me."

"She told me... She told me that you turned into a beast, and that you would have gone all the way with her if her sister hadn't interrupted me. She said that I shouldn't be with a man who would cheat on me like that."

Times like this call for a drastic action, right? I knelt and pressed my head to the ground, doing a dogeza bow. That was the humblest action I knew.

"I am so very, very sorry. I am just a normal guy, with normal hormones. She tried to seduce me, and I let my lust get the better of me. I deeply regret it. But luckily, her sister interrupted and I came to my sense. I think it was an act of god. She tried again to seduce me, but I turned her down. I told that that I wanted to go out with you, and asked her to stop. She got very angry at me. I think she might have told you these things to hurt you, or to break us up. Please, forgive me."

She glared down at me. 'Like she was staring at human garbage', as they say. I remained kneeling. Finally she spoke, in a softer tone.

"Hey. Lift your head up."

I did so.

"Did you really tell her that you wanted to go out with me? And... turn her down?"

I nodded.

"And you really went there to get advice about me? Not to... do stuff with her?"

I shook my head. "I swear."

"Baka." She said, but softly this time. "Just... ask ME next time, OK?"

She sat down next to me, facing me. We were both just sitting on the grass.

"So. What were you going to ask her? What did you want to know about me?"

"I wanted to ask how I should proceed in my relationship with you. And uh. How to apologize for my actions this morning."

"Hmmph. Right. You were a jerk with me then, too."

"Sorry." I had so many things to apologize for today. "Uh, maybe I've been playing too much eroge."

"Hey, don't say that! The problem is you haven't played enough! If you had, you'd know that you need to raise a girl's affection points near the maximum before you can do that sort of thing! You must reach a state of true love before doing anything physical!"

"Um, maybe so. I'm not an eroge master like you, and I don't know much about real-life girls, either. But uh, maybe you also don't know much about real life boys?"

She looked away. "That's true."

Just then, both of our phones buzzed. We had each gotten a line message from our mother, telling us that dinner was ready, strongly implying that we should be home soon. It was humiliating to be called home like that by my mom, but I was grateful for the interruption.

"We'll discuss this more at home, got it? She said firmly. Tonight. Be prepared.

"OK." I felt a sense of dread. I knew there must be some further punishment coming, I just wasn t sure what it would be.

At dinner, she wouldn't speak to me, or even look at me. That would have been normal in the old days, but it was unusual these days. My mom seemed to notice that something was wrong.

"Is something wrong, Kirino?" She asked.

"Eh. Not really." Kirino answered with no information at all.

"Are you sure? You seem angry at Kyousuke." My mom continued pressing. Dammit, mom! Leave it alone!

Now my dad spoke up: "Kyousuke! What did you do!?" Of course he took her side against me, just like always.

"Nothing! I didn't do anything wrong!"

Now Kirino spoke up. "Ha! Is that what you think?"

Mom: "So it was something between you too!"

Me: "It's none of your concern. Please leave it alone."

Dad: "Is that true? Kirino, should I force him to make amends?"

Kirino: "... No. Just leave it alone."

And then we ate in silence, until I left and escaped to my room. It was the most awkward family dinner of my entire life.

Late at night, Kirino came into my room once again. As usual, she barged in without warning. Luckily I wasn't doing anything dangerous, just trying to study and get my thoughts in order. She was wearing her usual blue pajamas- nothing fancy, but very thin and form-fitting.

"Oi, you!"

"Why don't you ever knock before coming in? Well, whatever. What do you want?"

"What do you mean, what do I want? I want you to explain yourself."

"It... like I said earlier. I went there to get advice about you. How I should apologize for this morning, and how to... advance our relationship. I thought she might be a good person to ask about that stuff, but I guess she had other ideas. I didn't realize that when I when I went to her place, so I wasn't prepared. I... got carried away. I'm sorry."

Kirino had an odd expression on her face as I said this. Her mouth kept twitching in various directions, while her eyes stayed focused on mine.

"I have... reflected... on what you said earlier" she said a pause. "You're an idiot, in many ways. But you were right about one thing. I... don't know much about real life boys. I ignore all the boys I meet in real life, and my eroge only teach me about imoutos. I still think that you were in the wrong, but I will also... accept some responsibility."

Coming from Kirino, that was incredibly humble. Normally she would just scream and hit me, or call me baka. I felt my heart warm at seeing her emotional growth, and her caring for me, although it made me feel even more guilty about what I had almost done today.

"Thank you." I said. "I really appreciate hearing you say that. Um, if I may ask... will things be OK between you and Kuroneko?"

She scowled and looked away. "I don't know. What she did today... it seems unforgivable."

"What exactly did she tell you?"

"She said that you were a 'shameless male who couldn't control his beast-like urges.' Coming from her, that s basically a confession that she tried to seduce you."

"Well, yes. I'm glad she's being honest at least. Although I don't like her calling me a beast."

"So, is that what it's like!" She raised her voice. "Boys see a naked girl, and they just instantly turn into an animal?"

"Hey, we re not quite that bad I think. But those physical feelings... it's a pretty powerful emotion. I wasn t thinking straight"

"So!?" She was almost screaming now. I really wished she would lower her voice, but I didn't dare to stop her. "Aren't my emotions also powerful!? But I still control myself!"

"You!? Control yourself!? When have you ever done that!?" I guess I was raising my voice too.

"Yeah! I do! All the time!" She poked me in the stomach. "Don t you think I also have emotions, and hormones, and physical feelings!? I want to do stuff with you, too! I... control myself! You should be able to control yourself too, even if you're a boy!"

"I know! I know I should! But... look at you! You're SO hot, and I'm just a normal teenage guy! I have to live with you, share a bathroom with you, and sleep next door to you! You even play eroge with me sometimes, or... do other stuff with me, and it's driving me crazy!"

"So!? Do something about it with me, then! Don't go running to other girls!"

"...What should I do about it?"

"Idiot! Baka! Figure it out for yourself!" She looked away and blushed.

Was she... encouraging me? In her own tsundere way? I stepped forward, next to her. She continued to look away, but didn't back away. I held her by the shoulders. She moved her face slightly closer to mine. She was so very beautiful, and I loved her so much. I placed my lips on hers.

For a few seconds we simply held our lips together, and then she went crazy. She pulled me in towards her, gripping my shoulders very hard. Her tongue went into my mouth, almost choking me. Her breasts were pressing into my chest, and her crotch was rubbing against mine, grinding against me through our clothes.

I really wasn't thinking well at this point, so it's hard to describe what happened. All I remember was that we were both pulling on each other's clothes, frantically trying to get undressed. At some point one of us knocked over a lamp, and it made a terrible crash. Neither of us stopped at all, we just continued locking our mouths together, undressing each other, hugging and groping each other like mad.

And... right then is when my life as I knew it ended.

The door slammed open, and my dad came in. The worst person in the world to see us like this.

I quickly stepped away from Kirino. "Dad, let me explain! We were just, uh..."

My dad didn't even say anything. He just charged straight at me and punched me in the face. Before I could even process what was happening, I was lying on the floor, seeing stars.

"Dad, please! Don't hurt him!" That was Kirino. She stepped in front of us, still naked.

"Shut up! What are you doing! This is... I won't allow this.. this FILTH in my house!"

My mother entered the room now. "What is going on in here! We heard you yelling and a crash but... why are you both... naked?"

Slowly I rose to my feet. It was very difficult to think right now. My heart was still pounding with emotion. and my head was still ringing from being punched, although I was in so much shock that it didn't hurt. So... I tried to solve the problem in my usual way- by charging forward. It had worked once before, when he had first discovered Kirino's eroge. Maybe it would work again here?

I held Kirino's hand and said "Mom, Dad. I'm very sorry that you saw us like this. But we are in love! We've broken no laws, hurt no-one, and we have a right to be happy. I know it's unusual, but if you can be open-minded I think you will see that-"

*BAM*

That was my dad hitting me again. And, me hitting the floor again, a second later.

"Shut up!" He yelled. "Just... shut up! I'm not going to listen that insane filth. Kirino! Got to your room and get dressed. Kyousuke! Get dressed and get the hell out of here!"

Kirino spoke up now. "Mom... please.. don't let dad hurt Kyousuke."

But my mother shook her head and answered "No. I knew you had a strange relationship but I never thought you'd take it this far. I blame myself, but I cannot accept this. Anyone who would do such a thing to his own sister is no son of mine."

"Mom, dad... please." I begged.

"Get out of here! Get out before I kill you!" My dad yelled back. I had seen him angry many times, but this was by far the angriest I'd ever seen him. He s a very large, muscular man, and he had already punched me twice, very hard. I was genuinely afraid that he really might kill me, so I grabbed my clothes and ran out as fast as I could. Kirino also ran back to her room and slammed the door shut.

I pulled on the clothes as I went out the door. I had my usual black pants, a t-shirt, a hoodie, and nothing else. No phone, no wallet, no ID, nothing at all. I ran off into the night, my face bleeding, with no idea of where to go or what to do.