Chapter 4

Natsume Chikage came out of the bathroom and glanced at the wall clock; the hour hand had quietly slid to eleven o'clock.

His gaze fell beside the table—his sister Ruri was still hunched over the small desk, struggling to study.

But those drooping eyelids were like being pulled by invisible threads, trembling and fighting each other.

Her small head was also drooping down due to sleepiness, as if she would pillow herself on the spread-out books in the next second.

Their family had always maintained the habit of going to bed around ten-thirty.

That his sister stayed up until this time tonight, in the final analysis, was entirely Chikage's responsibility.

Just now, he had been immersed in the pages of the book, completely unaware of the passage of time.

Ruri had been well-behaved and hadn't disturbed him, just silently studying and waiting on the side.

However, she had waited too long after all, and the fatigue surged like a tide, making it hard for her to resist any longer.

Natsume Chikage said softly: "Ruri, get up first, I'm making the bed now, getting ready to sleep."

"Mm." Ruri rubbed her eyes and moved to the side in a daze.

Natsume Chikage moved the small table in the center of the room and leaned it vertically against the wall.

Then he took out two sets of bedding from the closet and placed them on the floor.

"Go to sleep, I'm going to turn off the lights."

"Mm."

Natsume Chikage walked to the light switch, noticed that Natsume Ruri was already lying in bed and covered with the quilt, and turned off the lights in the room.

Click—

The originally bright three-mat room instantly plunged into darkness.

Natsume Chikage lay in bed and could hear the rhythmic breathing of his sister, who was already fast asleep beside him.

Although his sister was already asleep, he didn't plan to sleep so quickly.

He curiously picked up 'The Boy's Sorrowful Diary'.

Suddenly.

A message popped up.

[Would you like to store it in the panel?]

[Yes/No]

Natsume Chikage thought for a moment and clicked yes.

In an instant.

This equipment disappeared instantly and appeared on the panel in his mind.

Natsume Chikage was stunned; he hadn't expected that he could directly store these special pieces of equipment in his mind.

He just didn't know if he could take them out again.

He tried it slightly and found that he really could.

Chikage also found that whether it was stored in the panel or taken out, he could use it as long as the equipment was by his side.

He felt that this was quite convenient.

At this time.

Although the night was deep.

Natsume Chikage didn't plan to be idle either.

He took out his phone, created a new document, and started typing.

He planned to write out the novel "The Devotion of Suspect X" as soon as possible during these days.

The family's financial situation after the bankruptcy was really very poor.

His sister was still young, and he was the only one in the family who could earn money.

And school was starting soon, so there would definitely be other expenses.

Not to mention the aspects of food, clothing, housing, and transportation.

Basically, money had to be spent everywhere.

If he didn't work hard, both of them would starve to death and wouldn't be able to survive in this place called Tokyo.

Since there was now an opportunity to escape their impoverished situation, he had to get his hands on money as soon as possible no matter what!

The next day.

The morning sunlight shone through the curtains and penetrated into the room.

Natsume Chikage opened his eyes in a daze; he didn't know when he had woken up.

But since he was awake now, he planned to continue typing on his phone.

He got up quietly, not wanting to wake his sister, who was still sleeping soundly on the other bed.

Natsume Ruri rubbed her eyes and muttered in a daze: "Brother, are you already awake? Ruri will go make breakfast now."

"No need to rush, work starts at ten today, it's only past seven now, it's no problem for you to sleep a bit more." Natsume Chikage hadn't expected his sister to wake up so quickly and explained.

Natsume Ruri shook her head and smiled: "It's okay, Ruri slept very well last night, I'm not sleepy anymore."

As she spoke.

She stood up and started using the cheap ingredients in the fridge to make breakfast.

Seeing this, Natsume Chikage started tidying up the bedding in the room, while moving the small table back to the center of the room, quietly typing on his phone.

Only his gaze would look at the bracelet worn on Natsume Ruri's hand from time to time, thinking about how he could reasonably get his hands on it...

Thinking this, he found an excuse.

"Ruri, it's not convenient to make breakfast wearing that bracelet, let me hold onto it for you first."

"Mm." Natsume Ruri didn't think much of it and took it off to hand to Natsume Chikage.

[Ownership of this item has not been obtained, cannot record this equipment!]

After witnessing this message, Chikage was stunned.

He actually had to obtain ownership to record this equipment?

And wasn't it bought with his own money? How did he not obtain ownership of this item?

Could it be that after he said he was giving it to his sister as a gift, he had already transferred ownership to her?

Chikage thought for a moment and felt it was very likely.

If so, the difficulty of getting this bracelet from his sister would be much harder...

After all, it was never easy to take back something that had already been given away.

But it wasn't a big problem; he could find time to buy a new one of the same style, and then find an excuse to pull a switcheroo, making her give it to him voluntarily.

Soon.

A fragrant smell floated through the room.

After eating a simple breakfast, the two of them started washing up.

After a while.

The TV in the room was playing a drama.

Natsume Ruri, lying on Chikage's lap, watched quietly.

However, not long after, a shogi advertisement popped up.

Seeing this, Natsume Ruri said with some surprise:

"Brother, there's actually a new tournament in the shogi world, recruiting shogi players from all over Japan to participate, even amateur players can join!"

"But the number of applicants is limited to 2048; once it exceeds that, registration is not allowed."

"It seems that if you win consecutively until the end, you can even have a decisive battle with the current Dragon King. If you win against the Dragon King, it's said you can even directly replace him!"

"But it costs 20,000 yen per person just to participate? You can get 10,000 for winning the first round, 20,000 for the second, and 40,000 for the third?"

"This looks good and is very attractive, but how can amateur players win against professionals? Isn't this clearly just letting other amateur players throw their money away?"

"And the Shogi Association has income from advertisements, TV broadcasts, sponsors, etc. Isn't this just a pure gimmick to make a huge profit?"

Ruri had a sharp mind and analyzed a whole bunch of things in a rush.

But after not hearing any response from her brother, her cheeks puffed up slightly, and she felt a little emotional. She couldn't help but turn her head, look up, and mutter: "Brother, you're ignoring me!"

Natsume Chikage's gaze remained fixed on his phone screen, and he said without turning his head: "I'm listening, I'm just busy."

"Then why do you keep tapping your phone? Are you chatting with someone else?"

"I'm writing a novel."

Natsume Ruri blinked.

She had heard that people who stay at home for a long time and are unemployed always fantasize about being a writer.

Although her brother had gone to work now.

But since he had only been there for a few days, it was actually basically no different from what she had just described.

Ruri knew that his academic performance was really not ideal...

It could even be said that if she and her brother took a Japanese language test at the same time, she might get a higher score than her brother.

After all, she had basically dominated the top spot at school for years.

On the other hand, her brother, who was often at the bottom of the class, actually said he wanted to write a novel?

Natsume Ruri felt deeply worried.

However, she didn't dampen her brother's confidence.

Instead, she was very supportive of her brother's writing.

Compared to always playing games at home in the past, writing was much better.

As for making money or submitting it, Ruri hadn't even thought about it; she purely felt that her brother was just writing a diary or something.

But she was still very curious about the content.

"Can Ruri take a look?"

"It'll be a while before it's finished, so let's wait until I'm done before I show you."

"Okay..."

Hearing this, Natsume Ruri continued to lie on Chikage's lap, kept watching TV, and enjoyed this moment of tranquility.