Ch.131Chapter 131

I got scolded by the professor in front of my friends. This was all Ouro’s fault. I wasn’t being jealous, but she caused this by accusing me of being jealous.

On top of that, since I had the professor’s attention first, she demanded I give up my turn. If that’s not jealousy, what is?

After bickering back and forth, we ended up with our heads pressed together, pulling each other’s hair and groaning until we got scolded like this. We were standing with our backs against the wall, both hands raised above our heads.

It hurt, and getting scolded in front of friends felt awful. Nothing about this was good.

Ouro stood beside me with a prim expression, staring straight ahead. The professor approached us and gently took our raised hands.

She lowered our hands, suggesting we could put them down now. Though she only lowered one arm each, it seemed like we were allowed to lower both. Since she didn’t say anything when we lowered them together, that seemed right.

I nodded. Feeling slightly embarrassed about being scolded in front of everyone, I pouted and turned my head slightly.

I hadn’t wanted to show this side of myself, but somehow it ended up this way. I could blame it all on Ouro.

Ouro must have been thinking the same thing because she protested before the professor could say anything. She even pointed at me for good measure.

“Ourr doesn’t understand the concept of taking turns and tried to monopolize the professor.”

She just learned about taking turns from riding a carousel and now she’s acting like she knows everything. I snorted in disbelief and shook my head.

I shrugged my shoulders as if to say she was strange, and Ouro stared at me intently.

I threw her own words back at her.

“That’s what we call jealousy.”

It was exactly what Ouro had said to me earlier. She had accused me of being jealous of her, and I was simply returning the comment. I was just saying the same thing, so I wasn’t at fault at all.

If she didn’t like it, she shouldn’t have said it in the first place.

“I said it’s not jealousy.”

“You said it was jealousy.”

When I mimicked her tone exactly, Ouro didn’t like that either and pointed at me.

“Stop copying me.”

“Stop copying me.”

“You—”

Ouro didn’t finish her sentence. Instead, she grabbed my hair just like before. With my hair in her grip, I couldn’t just stand there.

Since we looked the same anyway, it’s not like my arms were any shorter than hers. So I could grab her hair and pull just as hard.

Just like before, we ended up with our heads pressed together, growling at each other while gripping each other’s hair. This time I was determined not to let go and held on tight, but the professor grabbed my hand.

She must have grabbed Ouro’s hand too, because our grips released simultaneously. Our hands and heads were free from their restraint.

With my head feeling lighter, I looked toward the professor. She had her hand on her forehead and was shaking her head, sighing for good measure.

“Ourr, Ouro. You were just standing with your hands up, and the moment I let you down, you start fighting again?”

“But…”

“You shouldn’t act like this in front of your friends.”

Ouro was about to say something but stopped. She pouted and then slumped her shoulders. Seeing her sulking made me snicker.

But I wasn’t completely safe either, as the professor pinched and wiggled my cheek.

“You too, Ourr. You shouldn’t treat Ouro like that. Right? You’re the older sister. The older sister.”

“Owww, I undewstand…”

I didn’t care about anything else, but being called the older sister and having my higher position acknowledged suddenly made me feel more generous.

Right, as the older sister, I could afford to be the bigger person.

I liked hearing it, but Ouro apparently didn’t.

“Professor, that’s…”

“I was wrong! I’ll apologize! Here, let’s shake hands!”

I extended my hand toward Ouro as she was about to protest again. My right cheek stung, but I could overlook that.

With friends around, was there really a need to argue about who was first? As long as it was publicly clear who ranked higher, that was enough.

As I stood there with a grin, hand extended, the professor finally smiled with satisfaction.

“Come on, Ouro, you need to get along.”

“Professor…”

Ouro seemed to want to say something, but she was apparently mindful of the professor and hesitated, mumbling without taking action. She made a displeased face but eventually took my hand.

So this is what it feels like to hold a hand the same size as mine.

After gently holding it, I shook it lightly. I shook it slightly up and down, and Ouro tilted her head, looking like she didn’t understand the meaning of this gesture.

I let go first. Ouro also let go, but she looked somewhat dissatisfied.

“We’ve made up.”

“Good job. Ouro, you handled that well too.”

“Yes.”

Ouro immediately agreed with the professor’s words. It was different from how she responded to me. I didn’t understand why she was always so respectful only to the professor.

My lips jutted out. I wasn’t trying to be petty, but this seemed a bit much. I glared at Ouro with narrowed eyes. Ouro looked confused.

“Alright, you can go sit down now.”

“Yes.”

The punishment ended once we apologized and made up. I realized we shouldn’t act like this in front of others anymore. I made a new resolution.

It was just the beginning of the second semester, and we were already like this. I felt a bit troubled, but decided to go sit down for now. I’d worry about the rest later.

When I pulled out my chair and sat down, Sera, Aria, and Karen were sitting in a row across from us. They probably couldn’t easily decide on seats while Ouro and I were standing with our hands up.

I looked at them with an awkward smile, and only then did the quiet girls burst into laughter and start talking.

“So that’s how Ourr and Ouro fight. It’s super cute.”

At Sera’s comment, Aria nodded, and Karen reacted enthusiastically.

“It’s like a really cute way of fighting, right? I thought it would be fierce since you’re Demon Gods, but it feels like watching adorable animals.”

“It’s like red pandas facing off and then grabbing each other’s heads to fight.”

“Yes! Red pandas!”

Red pandas. I think I saw them at the amusement park before, but they didn’t fight like that. I had been fiercely pulling hair, so it felt odd to be called cute.

Even if how I perceived things might be different from how they appeared.

As I stared with a blank expression, Sera gently extended her hand.

“Our Ourr, I’ll give you something tasty.”

“Huh?”

“Here, it’s a snack I bought during my summer trip. Try it.”

In her hand was a chocolate snack. Judging by the quantity, it seemed like she had bought something nice. I opened my eyes wide and politely extended both hands to receive the box.

“What’s that?”

“She says it’s a snack.”

“Snack.”

Ouro, sitting next to me, looked satisfied at the word “snack.”

I figured that just because she had come to like the professor didn’t mean she disliked food, so it was a natural reaction.

“Thank you, Sera.”

“No problem. Later when we hang out, I’ll take you there and buy you something delicious.”

“Thank you.”

I grinned. Sera’s words made me feel really good. It’s nice to be able to eat delicious things, but the implication that we’d hang out together again in the future made me feel even better.

As I examined the box, I held one side firmly and opened it. Inside were individually wrapped snacks. After staring at them, I pushed the box to the center of the table.

“Let’s eat together. Sera goes first.”

“Tsk.”

Ouro reached out her hand to eat first. I slapped her hand away and handed one to Sera first. Sera laughed tremendously.

I offered the snack for her to eat, but the snack seemed to become secondary. She was so amused just watching Ouro and me that she held her stomach laughing, then wiped away tears before finally taking the snack.

“Having Ouro and Ourr together is definitely lethal.”

“…Lethal?”

“She says you’re lethal.”

I answered Ouro’s question with a brief comment. Not understanding even after the explanation, she tilted her head side to side before shaking it.

“I’m not lethal.”

“She says you are.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

As we started bickering again, Karen smiled wryly and waved her hand.

“If you keep fighting, won’t the professor get really angry?”

At those words, I pressed my lips tightly shut. Ouro did the same and glanced at me. The atmosphere suggested she might curse me with her eyes, so I glared back at her the same way.

Trying not to fight by keeping our hands still, we somehow ended up in a staring contest. We stared at each other with wide eyes. Keeping my head still while staring made my eyes hurt, so I tried to endure by tilting my head left and right like a cobra while maintaining eye contact.

“……”

“……”

“Ourr, Ouro.”

After glaring at each other intensely, we immediately turned our gaze away at the professor’s single call. Then we quietly pretended to eat snacks.

I opened the wrapper and munched while keeping an eye on the professor.

“…Eat a lot.”

Sera chuckled as if finding it all very amusing.