Chapter 25j: Gloating

"Admit it, you were about to wimp out!"

As has become the pattern for the last two weeks, I goad her the moment she brings it up.

"I was not! It's only a hole in my earlobes, you know? Not childbirth!"

Sometimes, this little sister of mine gets really stubborn. She fixates on things for weeks on end, and unlike the usual subject of Nii-san's well-being, I was the victim of her fixation this time.

Well, fair enough, I kind of deserve it.

"Oh, so you weren't scared at all?"

I completely understand why she didn't have her ears done before. No family wants to run around with a little girl kicking up a fuss, no matter how cute and adorable that fussing might be.

Now she's staring at me, angrily. She was totally scared. I get that Timothy has taken his hobby to extremes, but she ended up outright ignoring him after asking about them drinking blood.

Crap, I'm almost laughing again.

"That's not the point! I didn't want to do it yet!"

"So why didn't you just say so? I am sure mom would have gone there with you for your birthday, or maybe next year..."

She gives me a push, and I fall back in the chair with a laugh as I eye those ears of her. Her first pair of studs. Nothing special, but... I'm not sure why, but she looks like trouble with those in.

"Cassandra said you cried when you had yours."

No, no she didn't. And no, I didn't either. Timothy was a bit scary, but I was actually quite excited to get my ears pierced way back when.

"Liar. She said no such thing!"

"She did too!"

Ah, Setty. I was your age once. I know you just want to get under my skin now. I move to stand up from the bed.

"Let's go, then."

"Huh, where?"

"To Pin & Play. Let's go ask Cassandra what she said..."

Her eyes almost seem to fall out; they are opened that wide in shock.

"Uh uh, no. You don't have to. She and that guy are probably really busy..."

I laugh. Ah. Messing with her is just too much fun!

"That's fine. We'll just look at their jewelry a bit. And maybe some of Cassandra's art; she's got a huge book of them, did you know?"

Seeing her face isn't even necessary anymore. She's just too invested in maintaining that 'face' of hers and not being caught embarrassing herself.

I wonder if her brother is this easy to manipulate; those Japanese thoughts about honor and the sort are really, really useful.

And fun!