She showed up with a ribbon in her hair and a laptop bag she didn’t even unzip. Because apparently, his laptop would do.

Now Yumeko Jabami is sitting beside him in the library, hovering over his shoulder, watching him log into his own Wi-Fi like she owns the building.

“Okay,” Michael says slowly, “what exactly are we doing again?”

“Finding out who your sister’s been messaging,” Yumeko replies, cheerful, like she’s talking about picking a movie.

He freezes. “Why?”

She smiles. Not wide. Not fake. Just… softly obsessed.

“Because she hasn’t replied to me in three days,” she says. “And I think it’s adorable that she thinks I will be nervous because of that.”

Michael stares. “You want me to break into her Instagram.”

She shrugs.

“You’re her brother. That’s practically family admin access, isn’t it?”

He blinks twice. Slowly. “Do you even like her? Or are you just stalking her out of academic curiosity?”

Yumeko tilts her head, hair falling to one side. “None of your business.”

Then she turns back to the screen.

“Besides… it’s not stalking if it’s love.”

Michael exhales. Loudly. “It’s not love. It’s illegal.”

She laughs — the soft, rich kind that makes your skin feel warm and wrong all at once.

“That’s what makes it fun."