Chapter 148. Seele: Is Brother Going to Live in the Girls' Dorm?
While everyone was discussing how exactly to move, Seele, who had been lowering her head in silence for a long while, suddenly walked to Xander's side and tugged lightly at the hem of his clothes.
"Brother..."
Her low voice sounded a little soft and syrupy, and Xander turned his gaze over in confusion, immediately meeting those somewhat conflicted eyes.
After pausing for a moment under Brother's gaze, Seele hesitated and made her request.
"If we have to move to St. Freya, c-can Brother live in the girls' dorm?"
As soon as she finished, she quickly added a line.
"Seele will make sure Brother doesn't affect the other girls!"
Xander: "?"
Besides the slightly dumbfounded Xander, the others also wore bewildered expressions.
"Um, why would I be living in the girls' dorm?"
His eyes still a bit blank, Xander looked at Seele and asked.
"Mmh… Seele doesn't want to be apart from Brother, but if Brother lives in the boys' dorm, Seele won't be able to go over."
"So you want me to live in your girls' dorm?"
As if making up her mind, Seele's little face looked a bit bitter, but she still nodded firmly.
"Seele will keep an eye on Brother and won't let the other girls find out!"
"... Pff~"
Bronya couldn't hold it in and laughed out loud, and then Kaguya, Elysia, and even Xander all burst into laughter.
Now it was Seele's turn to be at a loss.
"Aww, Seele really is adorable.
Come on, let Elysia-sis give you a hug~"
Elysia leaned over, hugged Seele, and nuzzled her happily.
"Elysia-sis, it's so stuffy..."
"Alright, alright."
He rescued Seele from Elysia's arms, then smiled and patted her head.
"Seele, have you considered the possibility that St. Freya Academy has a residential area specifically for special students and faculty, so we actually don't need to be separated?"
Though he held back his laughter in front of Seele, the smile at the corner of his mouth just wouldn't go away.
"Eh? I-Is it like that?!"
Seele looked up, astonished.
"I just said so, didn't I?
Seele, did you not listen?"
"Uh..."
Just now, she'd been busy thinking about how to smuggle Brother into the girls' dorm, so she hadn't paid attention to what he said afterward.
Soon, that cute little face flushed red from embarrassment.
"Besides, even if the dorms are separate, we can also rent a place off campus.
Why would Xander need to go live in the girls' dorm?"
Bronya cheerfully twisted the knife with another line for Seele.
"S-Seele will go brew tea!!!"
Scorched all over by her family's teasing gazes, Seele shouted once, then dashed into the kitchen with her head down and slammed the door shut with a bang.
"She really is adorable~"
Propping her cheek with one hand, Elysia squinted toward where Seele had disappeared.
Suddenly, she turned to Xander and, smiling, sighed.
"That child really is head-over-heels for you~"
"But of course.
I've raised Seele at my side since she was little!"
He puffed out his chest with pride.
He never turned down praise about his relationship with Seele.
"Tch.
After she turned ten, are you sure it was you looking after Seele and not the other way around?"
Seeing his smug expression, Bronya couldn't help but tear him down.
"W-What do you mean 'looking after'?
That's called mutual help.
Without me, would Seele be this lively today?!"
He forced out a retort, but Bronya snorted in disdain and started roasting him.
"By 'mutual help' do you mean dragging Seele along when you did bad things and then having her take the fall when it blew up?
Or, when you were getting punished, making Seele fake-cry to beg for mercy?"
"... No, that was all how many years ago!"
With Bronya airing his childhood misdeeds out loud, Xander blushed in embarrassment and hurriedly leaned in to whisper to her.
"Why do you have to spill everything!!"
Noticing Kaguya and Elysia's curious gazes, his scalp tingled.
"What, you don't want to admit what you did?!"
"You..."
Seeing Bronya's fearless attitude, Xander got a little mad.
Fine, fine, you want to expose my ugly past?
Then we all die together!!
He let out a cold laugh, took a step back, and looked at her.
"When you were twelve, you couldn't resist secretly playing games at night and dragged clueless Seele along.
In the end she got caught and you ran away.
Did that happen, or not?"
"I… Weren't you there too?!!"
"You were the one who pulled me to run.
Are you going to deny it?!
I still remember your exact words back then."
Seeing Bronya's discomforted expression, Xander continued in a childlike voice.
"'Auntie usually isn't too strict with Seele, so we should run first and leave Seele…'"
"Stop, stop, stop, don't say it!!"
Having her embarrassment exposed in person, Bronya couldn't keep it together either and hurried over to cover Xander's mouth.
But a somewhat fired-up Xander wasn't about to allow it, and the two tangled like that, one sentence after another recounting how the other had thrown Seele under the bus in the past.
Until Elysia came over to them, patted them both, and then pointed behind them.
Noticing Elysia struggling to hold back a smile, Xander and Bronya both felt their hearts sink.
They glanced at each other and saw bad news in the other's eyes, then stiffly turned their heads at the same time.
Seele stood quietly behind them with a tray of tea, eyes narrowed, the smile on her face looking ever so "kind."
When they turned around, Seele smiled and said,
"Brother, Bronya-sis, could you have a proper talk with Seele about the topic you were just discussing?
Seele and the other Seele are both really interested~"
"..."
"Sorry!" ×2
After making them kneel on the carpet and giving a hands-on-hips lecture, seeing that their attitude in admitting fault was good, the hidden Veliona finally cooled off and gave up on coming out to beat the two up.
Daring to bully Seele—truly tired of living.
When he saw that Seele's put-on scolding—performed for Veliona—was over, Xander stood up at once, sat down on the sofa with a smile, and reached out to pull Seele into his arms.
Seele's face only reddened slightly.
After a token light struggle twice, she stopped resisting and obediently leaned against him, even snuggling in further when she felt his hold was a bit loose.
"Alright, back to the main topic.
When are we going to St. Freya to choose our next 'home'?"
Enjoying the sensation of Seele toying with his fingers, Xander asked.
"Since it's decided, then how about tomorrow?
We'll reach out this afternoon in advance and go over tomorrow morning."
Bronya thought for a moment and responded.
Kaguya and Elysia naturally had no objections and both nodded in agreement.
"Alright, in that case let's go together tomorrow.
Also, we'd best bring one more person."
"Who?"
"Kiana or Sirin."
Resting his chin on Seele's little head, Xander spoke slowly.
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