The next morning.

The morning light had barely crept into the room when Saya awoke with a start. For a moment, she lay motionless, her senses sharpened, not knowing what had disturbed her.

After a few minutes of silence, she finally shed the sheets and walked down the hallway leading to the bathroom as her vast boobs heaved in her pajamas that barely contained them.

But nothing could have prepared her for what she saw in the bathroom.

Touya stood with his back to her, toweling his hair dry after a shower. His muscles, sculpted to perfection, moved in a way that caught her gaze, fragmenting her thoughts.

Gulp!

When had she begun to notice him like this... like this...? Her pulse quickened as she blinked at the dangerously mesmerizing sight.

Touya glanced over his shoulder, his gaze meeting hers with a flash of amusement.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to trap me in a compromising position."

Saya's face lit up. Before her brain could react adequately, she threw the shampoo container at that infuriating pretty boy's head.

She spun on her heels, growling. "As if, you idiot big brother."

Touya looked at the shampoo bottle in his hand, and a smile bloomed on his face. He liked to melt the tsundere side of his little sister slowly and wouldn't stop until he got to see the more vulnerable side she had.

It had been over a week since Touya woke up in this world, and the apocalypse had yet to arrive. This granted him enough breathing room to prepare for the trials that awaited him and establish stable bonds with his cute Saya, his beautiful mother, and, of course, the swordswoman Saeko.

In the quiet of his room, Touya sighed and rested his hands on the cover of the tome on his lap. The God's Grimoire yielded its power to his touch as it opened to the page sought.

Descriptions and illustrations danced across the ancient page in strange but achingly familiar handwriting and drawings. His eyes stopped on one description in particular:

[Second Page: Storage]

[Description: A limited space exempt from the time's passage, capable of holding objects up to a million square meters. Inside, the age's corrosion cannot touch the stored products or objects, preserving them just as they were placed]

Boxes adorned the margins of each slot, brimming with food to sustain the body during the coming apocalypse.

Recently, he had secretly ventured through stores and warehouses, gathering food against the coming famine. With time standing still in the shelter of the Storage, even sweet fruit and fresh bread would await him just as he had placed them. There was no need to worry about them being corroded.

Survival tools such as weapons, along with bullet cartridges, shared space on the white page. Everything he needed was on this second page of the Grimoire.

Touya's fingers flipped through the Grimoire to the first page. In them, he saw something that he had grown accustomed to in these last few days.

[Owner of God's Grimoire: Touya Kobu (Takagi)]

[Power Rank: Superhuman

Threshold Level: Your power is at the threshold of human strength and capabilities]

[Strength: E-]

[Vitality: E-]

[Agility: F-]

[Energy: F]

[Abilities]

None

[Equipment]

None

...

The statistics in the Grimoire's pages looked like something out of the fantasy novels Touya adored. However, the powers were measured with suggestive letters instead of numbers, as in the systems.

From what Touya had deduced, the power started at F-, the lowest of the low, and then went up a rung to F, which represented an average human. The F was about as strong as Touya's mother and the wonderful Saeko.

A Stat rated E- meant that Touya had strength at the human's threshold capabilities.

Adding up his four talents: Strength, Vitality, Agility, and Energy, the Grimoire classified Touya as Superhuman Rank Threshold Level.

"After the E- should follow E, E, D-, and so on, right?"

Thanks to the "Strength Ambrosia" Touya had taken, his Strength and Vitality had risen to E-, a rung above his other two Stats.

"But... it makes me uncomfortable that I can't discover what lies beyond this page."

Touya frowned as the damn thing wouldn't let itself turn the page by the fifth page. He tried everything: pulling, turning corners. Nothing.

"Too weak still, I guess." He sighed, frustrated.

He'd love to know how to get his Stat up to find out what the hell was on the fifth Grimoire's page and the others that looked sealed.

So far, he and his mother have trained together daily. Well, if he was honest, Yuriko had learned most of it in their last few practice sessions with daggers. Touya had already left her behind in both agility and weapons proficiency.

However, he was stuck.

If he kept this up, when would he be strong enough to figure out the secrets of that damned book?

"Hah~"

Knock! Knock!

A soft knock shook the silence of Touya's room.

"Touya, may I come in?"

His sister's voice slipped through the door, as familiar now as the deepening intimacy between them. With a flicker of will, Touya banished the Grimoire into space.

"Come in."

She slipped inside, wrapped in a pink and white nightgown that clung lovingly to her voluptuous curves. Her breasts bounced with each step as she walked on her slender bare feet, drawing Touya's gaze. Her pink hair billowed behind her in a tumble of shimmering waves.

Without meeting his eyes, she settled in beside him. Her delicate eyebrows furrowed while she looked down at her hands.

Touya studied his sister's expression intently. He had no idea why she had decided to visit him unannounced late at night, but that hint of a blush intrigued him.

"Everything okay?"

When she gave him no explanation, he reached out to lift her chin. At his touch, she blushed but didn't look away. Her orange eyes sparkled with something other than the usual mixture of affection and exasperation she directed at him. However, he shook his head with a wry gesture at the thought of how she would feel.

Although their relationship was deepening unexpectedly over the past few days due to his constant teasing and reaching out, neither dared to take that final step to break the sibling barrier.

"Something bothering you, little sis?"

Saya snorted and looked away with feigned indifference. "Not at all."

"Come on, I know you better than that." Touya slid his arm around Saya's neck and whispered in her ear. "Let go, or I'll have to resort to tickling you."

His breath caressed her neck. Her skin flushed redder under his touch.

"It's nothing." Saya refused to meet his eyes. "Why don't you ask Saeko what's bothering her? You've been spending a lot of time together lately."

Touya arched an eyebrow, catching the tone of not-so-hidden jealousy.

'So that was it.'

Lately, he had managed to talk to that purple-haired beauty every day.

After hours of practice with wooden swords, Saeko entertained herself by talking to Touya as the sunset painted the sky. In her company, time flowed imperceptibly. Laughter and comfortable silences flowed on their own.

He liked to have a good time with her.

If his tsundere sister wanted to pout, he would have to get the truth out of her. He leaned toward her with a smile and bright eyes.

"What's matter, Saya? Can't you stand it when I get close to another girl?"

Saya blushed and pushed him. "Don't be stupid! Like I care who you hang out with!"

Laughing, Touya grabbed her wrists and pulled her against him. "Come on, no need to get violent. If you really don't care, why are you here sulking in the middle of the night?"

"I'm not sulking!" She half-struggled, more nervous than trying to break free. "I just wanted to check if you were studying for once, instead of wasting time with your creepy wooden sword."

"I see, and you're not the least bit envious of Saeko?"

Touya stroked Saya's cheek, enjoying the warmth of her skin. Caressing her was one of his favorite pastimes, but even more so was bringing out her tsundere side to get her to admit how much she cared for him.

Saya snorted and shook her head, pink hair tickling his nose."Don't get your hopes up. Like I'm going to get jealous of a purple-haired weirdo."

Touya merely laughed. To him, her acting was as transparent as glass, but he'd let her keep up appearances if it made her feel better.

Touya grabbed her by the wrists and yanked her suddenly onto the bed. Saya squealed in surprise, cheeks flushed as she found herself lying next to him. She pushed his chest.

"Hey, what are you doing?! Let me go, asshole!"

"In a minute." He muttered, keeping his grip gentle but firm.

Joking was all very well, but he didn't want Saya to leave. And, if he was honest with himself, having her soft body attached to his, the warmth of her skin, made him reluctant to end their time together so quickly.

'Hah~ Having someone cuddled feels good. I see... I've always hoped to have emotional contact with someone. Being a lonely boy all his life brought its own problems.

Saya was still squirming without much enthusiasm but soon stopped struggling. Though she would never admit it, the security of Touya's embrace was comforting. His scent and presence had been familiar to her since this new side of her brother had appeared.

As if sensing her surrender, Touya's arm relaxed into a loose embrace. His fingers traced down her back as he whispered:

"Better?"

A mixture of affection and exasperation welled up in Saya's chest.

"Sometimes, I don't know why I put up with you." She murmured with her face buried in his chest.

"Because you know I'd come after you if you tried to escape." Then he added in a more serious tone. "And because I'll take care of you. Always."

Saya kept silent but curled her fingers into his shirt. Despite never having said it, their bond was something she never wanted to lose. And as long as he was with her, as he always did, she could

bear even the company of that purple-haired girl.

At least this time.

With a soft chuckle, Touya snuggled her more comfortably against his chest. "Goodnight, Saya."

Muttering a reply, Saya let her eyes close.

That way, snuggled in Touya's warmth, she could believe things would go well between them. And with that comforting thought, she drifted off to sleep, not thinking that the apocalypse was just around the corner.

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