Chapter 347

The Eightieth: Erika in a Pout

“Oh, asking such questions.”

The way her sister looked her up and down with a playful expression made Erika feel extremely uncomfortable, while seeing this usually lively younger sister with an unusually shy look, Momoka giggled.

“What’s wrong? Got someone you like? It can’t be helped, after all, Erika has reached that age.”

“What’s this, talking like you know me well?” Maintaining her usual stubborn demeanor, Erika pouted but still revealed the reason.

“Um… how should I say it? Lei, Wuki, and Lily seem to have that sweet love feeling, so I also thought about finding…”

“That’s not the main reason, is it?”

As sisters, Momoka could see right through her sister’s lie: the small gesture when she touches two fingers together and looks away. Familiarity with this gesture was evident.

When Momoka spoke, Erika instantly fell silent. Admittedly, since the beginning of the chapter, she had inexplicably started overthinking things. At the root of it…

The red-masked Spider appeared before her imagination, making her face turn even darker.

‘Who would be unfortunate enough to marry someone as troublesome as you?’

‘How could you say that? I clearly have someone who likes me!’

‘Oh, who is that? Some non-existent virtual character? ‘

Ah! All thanks to that变态Spider Timons for saying those weird things, now making me think about it too!

I’m not some love-struck fool like Rei!

“Achoo!” Rei sneezed, straightened her displaced glasses, wondering if it was because she had caught a cold due to wearing too little clothing.

“But if you’re talking about a perfect man,” She finally responded, thinking for a moment and giving Erika a conclusion.

“There isn’t such a person anywhere.”

“What? How can that be?”

“No one is perfect; people always have flaws. ” She said, reaching for the water cup beside them to impart life experiences to her sister. “If you’re really going to like someone, then tolerance is necessary. Thus, there’s no perfect person, only your ability to embrace their imperfections along with their strengths.”

“How, could this be? My little sister actually has someone on her mind?”

If that’s the case, I hope it’s someone to keep you this happy every day.

“What do you mean, talking like I’m just a stupid log?” Pouting further, Erika felt her gaze involuntarily drift toward someone.

Come to think of it, is this why Rei has feelings for anyone?

“But then again, there’s a kind of love call heart-pounding attraction, where nothing makes sense.”

“Heart-pounding? That’s impossible, that only happens on TV. There can’t be such things in real life.”

Despite her words, Erika’s heart was actually quite troubled, lost in her thoughts to the point of grabbing the wrong water bottle.

In short, all due to Timons! Causing me to care about these things, better to pay more attention to my work than falling in love—

“Too hot!”

Intending to fill her sister’s cup, Erika accidentally burned herself. The sudden heat made her let go of the kettle!

“Nya—!”

Swiftly, Momoka leaned aside, narrowly escaping getting scalded. But distracted Erika wasn’t as lucky. The boiling water splashed over the table and her hands, causing her to cry out from the burning sensation.

“Erika!”

“What happened?”

An incident happened in an instant; Momoka’s cry alerted everyone around. Panicking, Erika grabbed a cloth to mop up the spill, but the burning water burned her hand through the fabric anyway.

“So hot—Why is it boiling water? Who spilled it, today…”

Realizing what happened, Erika felt embarrassed and recalled the previous scene.

Oh God, I must have overturned the kettle… Why am I so clumsy? Ah! So hot, my hand hurts!

“Erika, are you okay?”

Seeing her friend repeatedly blowing cool air on her hand, Lei hurriedly raised her hand, noting the burn marks on her once smooth skin.

“So painful…” Looking at her reddened palms, it’s obvious she was seriously burned.

“Don’t worry about that now, let’s get some medicine.” Wuki decided quickly, but Lily nearly bumped into someone behind her in her rush to fetch treatment.

“What happened?” Just arriving, Ash held a colorful parfait, although too preoccupied to eat it.

“Occurred an accident.” Holding her hand, Erika replied shyly, unwilling to show others her mistake, even though it was her own fault.

Strange, Ash noticed the unusual timid behavior from Erika compared to usual, then abruptly grabbed her hand and raised it toward himself.

“Oh dear, that’s certainly not good.”

“Well…. Well, it was an accident…”

Seeing him kneading her hand, Erika felt a peculiar emotion, especially given they weren’t close apart from her father. Particularly when he did it so seriously, cheeks blushing like apples, she wanted to pull away desperately.

This woman already had issues with me; now her sister does something like this. She’ll surely find a way to create trouble. I don’t want any openings for her.

Glancing subtly at Momoka, Ash’s intention was unknown, but Erika noticed his shifted gaze instantly, transforming her shyness into annoyance.

Long used to being compared to her sister, Erika grew envious of Momoka’s fame as a idol. Even affected into becoming the Desert Beast, she became sensitive to such matters. In this unusual situation, Ash’s actions stepped on a mine.

What’s this, I’m injured here yet he still looks at Momoka-senpai, I know she’s prettier and more capable than me. But I have pride…

This owner doesn’t seem concerned! He treats me like just another employee?

At this moment, a flame ignited by Timons’ mocking words started flaring up under Ash’s unintentional provocation.

“What, lack of care, Erika? You should learn from your sister’s response.”

Hearing this, Erika’s mood worsened significantly.

“Hmph!”

Ah… This straight-laced, rigid man, like TV robots. I used to ponder about him on this topic! Truly foolish. Who would fall for this jerk! Rei, how can you like such a guy!

Saying one needs to bear a person’s vices when in love, easily listing faults for him… How can one endure!

Not that enamored with Ash unlike Rei, yet Erika felt a touch of envy.

Both held different thoughts, mismatched yet intertwined subtly.

“Enough already, it’s my fault! I’m just a careless oaf, hmph!” Growing dissatisfaction turned into reality, frustration mounting as Erika frowned trying to pull back her hand.

“No need, this fixes it.”

Ash suddenly knelt, lowering his head to pop open a capsule in his pocket with his teeth.

Then, holding her hand amid the crowd, he drew her close, kissing her hand tenderly.

“—”

“—”