How can I let go of the matter of saving my stepsister?

"Well, it is."

With her eyes flickering, Qiong bit her lower lip for a moment, a hint of guilt flashing across her face.

But soon, that trace of guilt disappeared without a trace, replaced by the girl's shyness, so that Sato Yu could not even notice the change in her expression at that moment.

"When did it happen? Did you feel any pain?"

"It was in the afternoon. I felt nothing, almost no pain. I even found blood after I finished cooking... Anyway, I quickly cleaned it up with toilet paper and just as I was about to flush it in the toilet, my brother came in."

"I was wrong. It's time to realize that our Qiong is a grown-up girl. I should consider your privacy."

"Since you bought the little cake, I forgive you."

"Hey, it seems I'm a prophet. I know I'm going to make a mistake when I come back tonight."

"Hey? Bro, where are you going?"

"I haven't prepared anything at home. I'm going to go out and buy some supplies and a few bags of brown sugar."

"Come back soon, I can take this opportunity to heat up the food."

This is like a conversation between a husband and wife.

After talking with Qiong, Sato You went out and thought about it for a while. He secretly complained in his heart, but when he thought that Qiong was really growing up and becoming a big girl, and he was accompanying her through this process, the cold wind was still blowing, but a warm smile appeared on his face.

At the same time, in the warm room, Qiong covered his trembling heart and exhaled heavily, as if he had just survived some catastrophe.

"Brother, I..."

The girl looked pale and clenched her fists tightly, with veins bulging on the back of her skinny hands.

Volume 55: Chapter Chapter . The Second Phone Call

"Has your first period come? In the blink of an eye, Qiong has reached this age."

"Well, so I would like to ask for your opinion as a professional, Ms. Mita."

In the past, when Sato Yu heard that other women had their periods, she never cared. Sometimes she even felt that women who used their periods as an "excuse" to not do things were annoying.

But when it comes to his step-sister, Qiong, Sato Yu becomes nagging and extremely worried, thinking only about how to properly take care of her and help her get through this relatively fragile time.

Apart from sanitary napkins and brown sugar, what else should he buy and what should he pay attention to? As a man, he naturally had no experience in this area, so he thought of asking the women around him for advice.

If I call Sugino Miki and Mochizuki Nanae, I will definitely get a reply, but I am just a colleague with them, and I always feel it is presumptuous to bother Sato Yu with such matters.

After much deliberation, he finally called the professional female nurse, Ms. Chiharu Mieda.

That was the nurse who had just woken up in Tokyo, awakened his system, and was struggling and hesitating whether to give up the light novel industry which was bound to be a smooth road and enter the animation industry. She called him while he was wandering blindly on the street and gave him a wake-up call.

To this day, Sato Yu still remembers the kindness this woman showed him in helping him to better understand his own inner self.

As for other things, although he had never met this female nurse in person after becoming the substitute, relying on his past memories, Sato You could still recall that she had a beautiful appearance, a gentle temperament, and a kind heart, especially her crying face which was extremely beautiful and touching.

"Well, besides brown sugar and sanitary napkins, you need to pay attention to keeping warm, hygiene, and nutrition. I'll email you a shopping list later. I believe Sato-kun can take good care of her, and Qiong can take good care of herself. Apart from that, the most important thing is whether she will have dysmenorrhea."

"Qiong said she wasn't in any pain, so I think she's fine."

"That's hard to say. Qiong is a kid who always lies, especially to you guys."

When discussing the details on the phone and mentioning whether or not Sora had forced herself, Chiharu Oda seemed to be speaking from the heart, and came to the conclusion that Sora was a "habitual liar", which was not a very good conclusion, but it was heartbreaking.

Long-term hospitalization and the burden on family members made Qiong gradually sensitive. Whenever something happened, she would always think about how not to cause trouble to her parents and her brother. Over time, the girl's deception skills were honed to perfection and she could easily deceive them.

Even when it hurts, he pretends it doesn't hurt, and pretends that nothing is wrong. This is indeed Qiong's usual style.

but......

"Shangqiong shouldn't lie about such a small matter."

“That’s true, but from a medical point of view, most girls’ menarche occurs after the age of thirteen. Some girls’ menarche occurs earlier because they have better nutrition and better health.

But Qiong...she was ill and had always been frail and weak. She was not sure whether her condition would worsen after leaving the hospital. It was quite abnormal for her to experience her first menstruation at this time.

If possible, it would be best to take her to the hospital for examination. Even if there is no problem in this regard, the tumor in her brain should be..."

Modern medicine in this world cannot save Qiong's life, but medical treatment is essential if she wants to prolong her life.

If you persist, maybe you will be able to wait for medical advances to find a way to completely eradicate cancer in your body, which would be a miracle.

It was because they believed in this and stubbornly clung to that illusory hope that the Sato family never gave up.

As for Chiharu Oda, even though she has been a nurse taking care of these children with serious illnesses, most of whom are destined to die, she still holds on to this hope in her heart and still hopes that Sato Yu can find a way to send Kyon back to the hospital.

Understanding her thoughts, Sato Yu expressed his plan.

"I will be getting paid soon, and I will take Qiong to the hospital for another physical examination. As for hospitalization, I can't raise enough funds at the moment, so I can only wait until later."

Animation is a rubbish industry, and the salary of an original artist is not even as good as the minimum daily wage of a convenience store hourly worker. Sato Yu roughly calculated his salary, and because he draws quite a lot of cards, his monthly salary this month is just over 90,000 yen.

This is the original artist. Even though he works overtime and paints so hard, his monthly income is only a little over 120,000 yuan. This is already the highest salary among the original artists. Others draw less and their salaries are much lower than his.

Once Qiong is admitted to the hospital, she will have to pay for hospitalization, professional medical care, imported targeted drugs, expert diagnosis fees, and occasional examinations and minor surgeries...

Adding up all these factors together, in Neon, where medical insurance is not perfect unlike in his previous life, the minimum monthly fee is more than 300,000 yen, which is simply not affordable for Sato Yu today.

In fact, given his current situation where he has no relatives, it would be difficult for him to raise the money even if he borrowed.

This is the real dilemma facing him, and it cannot be changed by his will.

"I understand. You've been working really hard during this period, Sato-kun."

"With Qiong constantly comforting me, I can bear it."

"Qiong must be very happy to be able to accompany you and comfort you. Perhaps this time is exactly what she expected and is also the happiest time for her."

"I will do my best to prolong this time."

"Sure enough, Sato-kun is very handsome."

Sighing and expressing emotions, the voice coming from the microphone was noticeably softer and gentler, one could even say it was entangled with some special feelings, and was surprisingly a bit sticky.

Not being able to be as meticulous as a hair, Sato You failed to notice these things keenly. He just sighed, smiled bitterly, and shook his head, saying that he had not done enough.

Hearing this, knowing that it was not an expression of humility, Oden Chiharu could only laugh helplessly. Then, before the call was about to end and she was about to hang up, she couldn't help but mention it.

"I've seen Sato-kun's animation. It's very beautiful and full of emotion. It really moved me."

"Uh, ah, thank you, it was Qiong who told you..."

"No, Qiong might have wanted to keep that picture and the love letter given by her brother to herself, so she didn't tell me about it over the phone. I only found out about it after other kids told me after watching the anime gossip.

Although the animation is not excellent as a whole, your pictures, Sato-kun, are as bright as the morning star in the dark night. Even I, an amateur among amateurs, can tell how great the pictures are and how great your original paintings are, Sato-kun.

He was only nineteen years old. How much effort did he put in, how much painful experience did he go through, and how much strong emotion did he pour into it to be able to paint that kind of picture?

It's not for the scene, it's just for Sato-kun, for Qiong, and for the relationship between you siblings. When I saw that scene, I couldn't help but be moved to tears.

Sato-kun is working hard for Qiong, I know this very well, so——"

"Come on, big brother who makes animations."

Just like last time, Chiharu Oda cheered for Sato Yu on the phone.

Moreover, after a brief silence, she said with tears in her eyes:

"Come on, HERO that belongs only to Qiong."

/ / / /

Volume 56: Chapter Chapter . Determination

After shopping for sanitary napkins, brown sugar, cute hot water bottles and some spare medicines according to the list of necessary items provided by Chiharu Oda, Sato You ran home quickly.

"Welcome back!"

As soon as he entered the door, Qiong made up for the welcome she had lacked before.

The meaning of working all day and spending a lot of energy on painting lies here, at this moment.

Just listening to the joyful welcome, no matter how cold the wind was on the way back, it could not affect Sato You. He only felt a warm current originating from his heart, which warmed his whole body in an instant.

"Well, I'm back!"

"Let me see. You bought a lot of things, all good brands. A bag of brown sugar from this brand is several times more expensive than other brands. You also bought hot water bottles and these medicines. There's no need to waste them like this."

She is a virtuous and good housewife who hates extravagance and waste. While Sato You was changing his shoes, she took the bag and looked inside. Qiong pouted and muttered to herself, "Sato You is a prodigal son..." Ahem, brother.

Qiong is always frugal in places where she shouldn't be frugal. If the positions were reversed, and now Sato Yu was not buying things for her, but picking out the best clothes and shopping for himself, Qiong would probably be very happy, applauding and encouraging him to be better to herself.

Knowing this girl's "bad temper", Sato Yu raised his hand to hook her small nose and said lovingly:

"I just like spending money on the cutest girl in the world, what's wrong with that?"

"Even if you praise me, it won't make me calm down. I'm not a girl who can be easily appeased."

Having said that, Qiong's usually pale face turned a charming cherry pink, and it was obvious that she was enjoying it and was happy. It was also fortunate that the girl didn't have a dog's tail, otherwise she wouldn't be so stubborn. I'm afraid her tail would have turned into a propeller and flew into the sky.

In the end, perhaps because she was too happy about Sato Yu's words, she did not forget to warn him.

"It's fine if you say such jokes to me, but brother, please don't talk to other women in such a frivolous way."

"I know. I won't annoy them."

"It's not annoying, it will make them more... Never mind, brother, you're just an idiot anyway, go wash your hands, and let's eat!"

Qiong seemed to want to say something, but ended up sighing helplessly. She pushed Sato You and drove him into the bathroom.

Listening to the sound of running water, Qiong raised her hand again and rummaged through the menstrual products prepared for her in the bag. A look of guilt immediately spread across her face, along with the lingering sadness in her eyes.

So, when Sato Yu came out after washing her hands, Qiong was rubbing her eyes, and she put down her hands, her smile was still as bright as usual.

"I'm starting" ×2

Dinner was an appetizing pork cutlet rice bowl and miso soup. After the routine thanks for the selfless contribution of the food, Sato Yu started eating.

The pork chop is juicy and delicious, and the aroma is overflowing when you bite it, which, as always, shows the good cooking skills of the little chef Qiong. And the miso soup...

"By the way, isn't the miso soup a little bland today? Not enough salt?"

The light soup with the relatively greasy and salty pork chop rice is not bad, Sato You just mentioned it casually, but he didn't expect that Qiong was stunned immediately and made a big reaction beyond his expectations.

"Eh... has it faded?"

His face suddenly changed, and his voice sounded dry as he spoke.

Sato Yuu smiled and said:

"Yes, it's a little salty, but not very salty."

It seems that the chef is extremely demanding on the quality of his food. After saying that, he noticed that Qiong's expression was not right, as if he took this matter too seriously and blamed himself for not being able to cook a good meal. Sato You hurriedly spoke up to make amends.

"Haha, cooking is like this sometimes, just bring the seasoning box over and add the seasoning."

"Well, I'll go get it now."

After hearing this, Qiong immediately ran to the kitchen, then came back, scooped a spoonful of soup from the soup and tasted it. Qiong narrowed her eyes slightly, held the spoon in her hand and reached into the salt box but never lifted it up, nor added water to the bowl, but asked Sato You.

"Brother, how much more do you think is needed?"

"About a spoonful."

"Yeah, one spoonful then."

Obediently, Qiong immediately added a spoonful of salt to the bowl and stirred it evenly. Now the saltiness was finally just right.

only......

After taking a sip of the delicious miso soup, Sato Yu looked at Qiong at the table opposite him, whose expression changed. She was still chatting and laughing with him, but seemed to have forgotten about the message on her phone. However, he vaguely felt that something was wrong.

Before he could delve deeper, Qiong's questions followed, interrupting his train of thought.

"By the way, why did you suddenly buy a cake and come back? Brother, you're not going to get into trouble again outside, so you must be trying to please me in advance."

"No, I just bought it to satisfy my lovely Qiong's cravings and also to celebrate."

"celebrate?"

"Just in the next few days, I can come back home to paint and accompany Qiong every day. Don't complain that you only have eyes for the original painting and can't take care of other things. I will be more focused when I paint."

"Huh? Oh, oh, okay."

Sato You originally thought that being able to go home and paint was great news for Qiong. He also imagined Qiong jumping for joy and even imagined the scene where Qiong would rush over to him with joy and slap him on the face.

His imagination was so beautiful, but the reality was so different and completely contrary to his idea. When Qiong heard the "good news" for the first time, he was not overly happy. Instead, his face froze and he responded in a daze.