Come on, let's go help Mikoto-san!

After we finished looking around the aquarium, we walked out of the building.　 There was a small plaza around the building.

The sky was clear and cloudless, with the harbor and the ocean stretching out before us.

Rei-san stretched comfortably, and I looked away.

I couldn't help but gaze at Rei-san's chest.

Perhaps she noticed this, too, because she looked at me teasingly, saying, "You don't have to be shy."

And then she says to me, as if she has a good idea.

"Why don't we take a picture? We'll take a picture of the two of us with the aquarium in the background."

It's supposed to be a commemorative photo.

But for that to happen, we would need someone else to take the picture.

Rei-san happened to pass by and approached a girl.

She was probably in middle school.

She was a quiet-looking girl with three braids, and when Rei-san asked her to take a picture, she readily agreed to do so.

She stood next to me, giggled, and took my arm in hers.

Then she forcefully crossed her arms.

“Re-Rei-san."

"What?"

Rei-san's eyes sparkle mischievously.

Rei-san was hugging my arms.

When she does this, her soft parts are right against my arm.

I was embarrassed, but I didn't want to keep the person taking the pictures waiting too long.

We had our picture taken as we were.

Rei looked happy, I blushed with embarrassment, and the girl who took our picture looked at us as if she was smiling.

"Now we finally made it to the aquarium, didn't we?"

"I'm glad we kept our promise."

This time there was no accident like Kotone's interference, and our date was proceeding peacefully.

Rei-san said in a cheerful voice.　

"We had fun, didn't we? Let's go there next time!"

Rei-san pointed to a ship floating in the harbor.

It was a retired Antarctic observation ship, the interior of which is now a museum.

It is a famous tourist attraction in this port, and I agreed.

"But before that..."

"Before that?"

"Don't make me say it."

Rei-san said a little shyly.

Apparently, she wanted to go to the restroom.

I nodded in haste.

Rei-san went to the restroom in a nearby building.

And then Rei-san left.

I took out a paperback mystery book and waited for her to come back.

But no matter how long it took, Rei-san did not come back.

I wondered what was wrong.

I tried calling her on the phone, but the line was disconnected.

I was getting more and more worried.

It was probably naive of me to think that she would be okay while she was in the bathroom.

Kotone Tomi, Rei's younger sister, is after Rei.

In the past, she even tried to get some delinquents to go after Rei.

It could happen again.

My cell phone vibrates.

I looked quickly to see if it was Rei-san, but it was Kaho calling.

When I picked up, Kaho panicked and started to ramble on.

"Haruto! There's trouble!”

"What happened?"

“A few minutes ago, someone from the Tomi residence called the house ... Haruto and said they were going to bring Rei-san back to the Tomi residence."

I almost dropped the phone.

Why is this happening now?

Rei-san's belongings had been sent to my apartment a long time ago, and hadn't they already agreed that my father would be Rei-san's guardian?

Is this Kotone's plan or did the heads of the Tomi family now have a reason to bring Rei-san back?

In any case, I had to get together with Rei-san as soon as possible and find out what was going on.

But I was one step too late.

A large black car stopped on the opposite side of the road.

Then, men in black seized the silver-haired girl, held her, and brought her into the car.

"Rei-san!"

Hearing my shout, Rei-san turned around.

Her eyes widened and she shook her head sadly.

"Don't come! Haruto-kun...!"

Rei-san's sad voice was no longer heard there.

Her slender body was pushed into the car, and soon the car drove away.

A girl in a sailor uniform appears in front of my stunned face.

The girl laughed merrily.

"You see, as I suspected, Senpai and my sister are not destined to be together."

In front of me was Kotone Tomi.

"Oh no, don't look so scared. I didn't take my sister away from you."

"Then..."

“Those are the employees of the Tomi Group. They're scary people who do dirty work, and even I can't make use of them."

"Then..."

"It's Grandfather's will."

Kotone said firmly.

Rei-san and Kotone's grandfather would be Soichiro Tomi.

He was the chairman of the giant nationwide company, the Tomi Group, which is headquartered in our town.

Kotone smiled thinly.

“If it were the case, I would have liked to hurt my sister with my own hands. But it would be amusing just to be separated from Senpai without being able to do what sister wanted."

"Do you want to make me angry, Tomi-san?"

"Yes. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see the face of someone my sister loves stained with despair."

For a moment, I was tempted to do something about this Kotone right here and now, but I decided against it.

If I did that, I would be just like Kotone.

Besides, it would not bring Rei-san back.

he most effective counterattack against Kotone would be to get Rei-san back and release her into a state of freedom as she wished.

With a victorious look on her face, Kotone said, "Good day to you, Senpai. We may never see each other again." and walked away.

My cell phone remained connected.

I was about to tell Kaho that I was hanging up the phone, but before I knew it, the person on the other end of the line had changed.

"Haruto-kun? Can you hear me?"

“Amane-nee-san?”

"Yes."

I explained the situation.

Hearing that Rei-san had been taken away, Amane-nee-san briefly murmured, "Yes."

Then she said, "It was your great-uncle Tomi who took her away."

I was surprised.

How did she know that?

Amane-nee-san said in a relaxed voice on the other end of the line.

“I am familiar with the Tomi family's situation. If it was the Tomi family that took her, they would not have harmed Mikoto-san immediately. But I don't know how long that will be the case. ...Haruto, is Mikoto-san important to you?"

"Yes."

"More than me?"

When she asked me that, I was at a loss for a response.

She is my cousin, but she has been my family for a long time.

Therefore, I am at a loss to answer the question, "Which is more important, Rei-san or Amane-nee-san?"

Such a comparison is impossible.

But Amane-nee-san chuckled.

"It's okay. I'm sure you care more about Mikoto-san than me. Then, let's go save her."

"Save Rei-san? But how?"

"We're going to get into the Tomi' residence. We are also members of a branch of the Tomi family, after all."

I was absolutely stunned, but after a while, I began to feel that it was not impossible.

If Amane-nee-san and I work together to overcome difficulties, we have always been able to manage things.

This time, too, since she was so confident, she must have some kind of strategy.

She spoke confidently over the phone.

"Come on, let's go solve the Tomi problem. That's why I came back to Japan!"