“What would you prefer?” I asked, smiling softly.
Yume pouted, making a conflicted expression.
“Well, I mean, that place is like a secret spot, but wouldn’t it be kinda suspicious if the two of us disappear again this year?”
“Yeah, it’ll be totally suspicious.”
“So, I guess we should stay with everyone, then...” Yume said, a somewhat disappointed look on her face.
“If you wanna have a date at the summer festival, you should just say that,” I said as I began picking the fish apart with my chopsticks.
“But we’re supposed to be family while we’re here.”
We’d already abandoned the rule that we had to act like siblings all the time—now we had a new rule that we’d act like siblings when the situation called for it. That was why even when our parents weren’t home, we’d never done things that we couldn’t tell anyone else about in the living room. Since we were on a family trip, we couldn’t exactly have a date under our current rule. That being said, what we’d done last night had been kinda risky.
“So I guess this year we’ll play it safe.”
“Yeah...”
“There are a ton of summer festivals back home anyway.”
“Yeah...”
“But...I guess I always go off on my own every year.”
Up until now she’d seemed really disappointed, but hearing this, her expression brightened. “Maybe you can ask Madoka-san to be your alibi. That way we may be able to have some alone time.”
It was obvious how happy this made her and then she looked away, embarrassed. “We’re going to pick out yukatas today, so...I’ll ask her then.”
“Okay.”
Madoka-san wasn’t exactly good at discretion, though... Was this gonna work out? But just as I was starting to get worried, I heard a voice.
“Did someone call me?”
“Whoa!”
Yume jumped as Madoka-san suddenly appeared, wrapping her arms around Yume. Oh yeah, she really likes to grab people from behind like that. Up until now, she’s always done that to me, but this year she’s only done it to Yume. Or maybe she’s being considerate to Yume and only doing it to her.
“You two having a secret discussion? Do tell. What’ve you two been talkin’ about?”
“W-Well, uh... You know, about how we’re going yukata shopping today.”
“Oh, yeah. Well, y’know, I thought it’d be good since you’re a lot more adult this year, so it’d be better if you got a new yukata.” She snickered while groping the air in front of Yume’s chest.
Yume’s face turned a bright red. A yukata’s not like a bra or a swimsuit, though. The size shouldn’t matter, right?
“Not that it really matters, though,” she snickered again. Uh...I’m starting to doubt that we can really rely on her. “Oh, right. That reminds me. I don’t think I’ve ever asked, but what cup size are you? I wanna hear every last detail.”
“Why do you like sexually harassing me like an old man?!”
I finished eating while sympathizing with what Yume had to deal with. As I did, I realized that I’d received a new message. Kawanami? Or so I thought, but it was actually Isana.
Izanami: Mizuto-kun, might I borrow you for a little?
What’s this about? It’s rare for her to be up this early, especially on break. After bringing my dishes to the sink, I replied and gave her the okay.
“I-I’m so terribly sorry to bother you while you’re visiting relatives...”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. I’ve got nothing but time,” I said as I sat on the veranda.
I would’ve preferred to sit in a room with air conditioning, but I was worried about other people hearing our conversation.
“Did you review the DM our account received?” she asked.
“Yeah, I did. It’s about time.”
The illustration account the two of us managed currently was set so that only mutual followers could send messages to us. So that was why, just in case, I made sure to follow all sorts of accounts that could become clients of ours—everything from publishers, other illustrators, and even VTubers. Now, we’d finally gotten lucky.
A fairly famous VTuber had contacted us and made a request with the deadline, compensation, and details all perfectly laid out. They wanted Isana to make an illustration for a cover video they were doing. That’s right: we had work.
Though it was a personal commission, it was still something we’d get paid for, so it counted as work. Up until now we hadn’t made anything off of her work. She’d pretty much just been drawing for fun this entire time, but now she was finally going to make her debut as a professional illustrator.
“Wh-Wh-What should I do? I don’t know what I should do!”
“Calm down. I already looked into what to do from here.”
Isana might never have imagined this happening, but I had expected this to happen sooner or later. She’d been gaining followers like crazy and the quality of her art was at the point that it was hard to believe she’d only started drawing a year ago. Of course there were still places she could improve, but she was skilled enough now to have her art used professionally. This was inevitable.
“That being said, since we’re being contacted by a single person, I’m going to use my connections to see if there’re any problems.”
“Like what kind of problems?”
“Like them not paying or being ridiculous about the corrections, or if they’re a catfish.”
“Oh, I see!”
Well, at least as far as I can tell, this VTuber is a bona fide girl, so I’m pretty sure that there’s no need to worry about the catfishing problem, but then again she could also be in love with Isana like Yoshino. Or she might think that Isana’s a guy since it’s hard to tell Isana’s gender from her username.