"Alright, kids, lights out." Mom interrupted Lem and me playing with Cene.

"Aww, but we just stawted playing, moooom!" Cene complained.

"He already forgot how to say R, huh?" I got up to dust myself off, "Welp, little bro, I guess we ought to call it a night."

"Oh no, you guys can go to sleep at your usual time." Mom assured us, "But Cene's bedtime is half 10, so he has to sleep now."

"I wanna keep playing with Lem, though!" Cene threw a little tantrum.

"Hey, why the fuss? You have it good, little man." Lem laid flat on the floor, "Us students barely get a wink of sleep at all from all the studying, so you ought to enjoy having someone remind you to get a good night's sleep."

"You sleep through all of our classes though..." I grumbled.

"Cause my sleep schedule's screwed!"

Again, he's lying to make himself sound more diligent... Well, it's at least a half-truth this time, cause students in Simpleton really do tend to sleep late. Hell, whenever I've got a huge project due, I'll often just pull an all-nighter to get it done in time. Meil insists on helping me, but I always turn him down. After all, if he's gonna do it for me, then what's the point of me even going to university in the first place? Ah, Cene's still kinda grumpy.

"Mn." He tugged on my sleeve.

"What's up, little bro?"

"Sleep with me." He asked-no, demanded, "Just like befolre."

"So he only occasionally remembers what I taught him." Lem chuckled, "Well, you guys sleep tight. I'm not sleepy yet, so I'll..."

"Mn." Cene grabbed his sleeve as well.

"Oh dear..." Mom worried.

"Little man?" Lem glanced back.

"Cene, please don't..." I sighed.

Inevitably, he said the two words I feared most - "You too". Now look, I don't mind going to sleep earlier if it means keeping my baby brother company during the night. I loved watching over him all the time when he was still a baby, and it definitely made his nights calmer, but with this prick of an upperclassman? Hell to the no.

"Cene, Lem said he isn't tired yet." I tried desperately to signal for him to play along.

"Yaaaawn~!" Lem playfully exaggerated the motion.

"Stop yawning, you damned idiot!" I punched him in the arm, "You said you were fine just a second ago!"

"Ehh, even I have to agree, Lemmy. Lune should have already finished preparing your room, so I think it'd be best to sleep there tonight."

"He can sit next to us!" Cene begged, "And go to his room when he feels sleepy!"

"Hey, you said it right this time." Lem patted him on the head, "But man, that'd really make me feel like a creep."

"So don't do it." I glared at him.

"But the little man needs me." He wandered about as if troubled by the world's biggest dilemma, "What to do, what to do..."

In the end, I had no choice. I hate spending even a second of the day more with this ass, but it's for Cene's sake, so I had to just grit my teeth and live with it. Moving over to Cene's room, mom had stopped me along the way to warn me one last time.

"Nelly, that boy..." She urged, "If he tries anything while you're asleep..."

"Nah, he's not like that." I laughed, albeit a bit embarrassed, "Lem's just a friend."

"Well, they say boys and girls can't be friends." She explained, "In any case, at least let me say this as a worried mother..."

"...Sigh, well okay." I chuckled.

I get it, her daughter brought over an older boy of a roughly similar age, so she'll obviously be worried about this situation. Again, after Kiria and Kevin got together, he probably doesn't intend to get heartbroken ever again in his life. He knows I'm Meil's girl, not to mention that he's, y'know, never shown interest in me for as long as we've known each other. So then, mother, say whatever warning you wanted to say! Something like "beat him up" or "shout for your father or me to come help you"...

"If he tries anything while you're asleep..." Mom handed me a small square packaging of a ring-like candy, "Make sure to give him this first."

"I... huh?" I cocked my head back, "The hell's that gonna do?"

"Don't give me that attitude!" Mom looked shocked, "It is extremely effective, now don't make your mother worry anymore!"

Sheesh, okay. What's her deal? Guess I'll keep this in my pocket for now. Well, in any case, after I was finally granted passage into my own little brother's room, I saw a rather ugly sight of Lem lulling Cene to sleep.

"And so, the bandit killed them all~" He finished, "Ah, what took you so long?"

"What the hell are you singing to my impressionable baby brother?"

"It's the lullaby my dad sang for me when I was his age." He replied warmly before smugly patting the other side of the bed, "Now come on, I'll sing it for you."

"Ah, I never planned to sleep in the bed." I revealed as I brought another chair next to him, "Same as you, I'll go to my own room when he falls asleep."

"Nooo~" Cene whimpered, "Don't leave!"

"You're really bad at being an older sister." Lem grimaced.

"Not listening~!" I cupped my ears and swung around in my seat, "Lalalala! You're not gonna rile me up with those provocations~!"

"Heheh... Huh?" Lem spotted something near my butt.

"Eyes up here, you pervert."

"Eh? N-No, but..." He pointed down to the piece of candy sticking out of my pocket, "Is that... what I think it is?"

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***

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Is that what you think it is? Oh right, he has a sweet tooth, I forgot. No wonder he's drooling just at the sight of it. Still, could a simple candy wrapper be enough to excite him this much?

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Yeah, what of it?" I thought to tease him a bit, seeing as he's been doing nothing but embarrass me for a while now.

"Gulp... A-Ah, I mean-! No, I'm just a bit surprised you even have that, that's all!" He hastily tried to compose himself, though his face was bright Red.

Hehe, I got you now, Lem! Look at you, you so badly want this random piece of candy, but your own pride and ego is forbidding you from just outright asking for it! Haha, you're as bright as a tomato!

"So what if I do? Actually Lem, given your track record, I'm surprised you don't have one at all times."

"Eh, track record? No, I've never..." He hid his face away before asking, "B-Besides, you only carry those things around when you're expecting something to happen, don't you?"

No, you idiot. You don't carry candy around at all, it's not that difficult to understand. Seriously, just how fried is his brain right now? I don't think he even realizes he's being toyed with at this point...

"Nah, what the hell am I thinking?" He chuckled self-deprecatingly, "You probably just got that for Meil, didn't you?"

Okay, he's definitely gobsmacked. Seriously, his mind's totally gone off the wazoo. He actually thinks I'm gonna keep a candy to bring to Meil for an entire month? Is he so stupid that he doesn't understand the concept of expiration dates?

"No, you dummy." I flicked him on the head, "Meil's not here right now."

"S-So then...?" He gulped once more, both Eyes wide open as he anxiously asked, "Who?"

"Well it's certainly not for Cene." I pointed to the sound asleep tyke snuggled up in bed.

"Oh Gods, I hope not!" He shivered for some reason.

Whoa, what happened to that whole cool and generous older guy act he was pulling on Cene the entire day? There's having a sweet tooth, and then there's this crazed state he's in. At this point, I'm starting to wonder if he really saw what this is.

"Want it?" I pulled it out with a giggle.

"Ack, it really is that!" He jolted, almost falling back from his chair, "Nel, what the hell does this mean!?"

"Bahahahahaha! Why the hell are you so flustered?" I laughed in his face, "Come on, loosen up, will you?"

"N-Nel." He grabbed me by the shoulders, "Are you feeling okay?"

"Eh?" I yelped, "I-I'm fine?"

"So... Can I take this to mean that..." He asked as if walking on eggshells, "This is for me?"

"Well yeah, that was the plan." I tried backing off, "Also, your face is too close."

"Huh? O-Oh, right! Cene's still here after all!" He spoke with a tad raised voice, "R-Right, we ought to go to your room first. Or actually, my room's further from your parents, so...!"

Whoa, he really sounds happy. Ecstatic even, like I just gave him the best gift in the world. Wait, so this piece of candy can actually be shared? And he's worried about waking Cene up, so is it like the loud crunchy type? Either way, I'm not gonna go into the same room as him, regardless of whose it is, just to share a damned piece of candy.

"Gods, you kids still haven't fallen a...!" Dad opened the door angrily before stopping dead in his tracks, "Sleep?"

"...A-Ah!" Lem hid the piece of candy he was holding in his pants, "N-No, this isn't-!"

"Lemuel..." Dad donned a bone-chilling smile, "What was that you were about to give to my daughter just now?"

It IS just a piece of candy, right? At this point, I'm getting kind of nervous. Hm? This is...? Damn, the packaging must've come loose a bit, so the candy juices must've gone on my fingers. I know it's just candy, but it still feels kind of weird and slimy.

"Eugh, my hands are all sticky now." I tried brushing them off to no avail as the two men stared at me dumbfounded, "Lem, watch out. Your crotch might be a bit sticky too now that you did that."

"Did what!?" Dad shouted, "You damned prick, get your ass outside this fucking instant!"

"Wait, sir! We didn't do anything... Eep!" Lem cried out as dad pulled him out of the room by the ear, "S-Sir, please listen to me! This is all just a big misunderstandin-AAAAGH!"

Well... That was mortifying. I've never seen dad so livid in my entire life. This is a first, but at least it wasn't directed at me. Still, I feel really bad for Lem, did I actually frame him or something? Still, dad's really overreacting over a stupid piece of candy.

"Sis, why was dad anglry at Lem?" Cene apparently woke up during the commotion, "Was it because of the cone dome?"

"...Hm?"

"Yeah, the cone dome. That thing you gave him." He explained, "Don't tell anyone, but I found a bunch in mom and dad's woom. Mom didn't let me eat them when I showed her though, and shouted "That's not candy, that's a cone dome!" "

"Cone dome, in other words... condom?" I asked with a mortified expression on my face.

"Yeah, that!" He smiled, "She said it just like that!"

S-So basically... that thing mom gave me, and in turn... the thing I offered to Lem was... Ohhhhhh Goooooods noooooooo....!!! Well no wonder he was so flustered, then! He must've thought I was-! Eugh, kill me now!

"Wait, but if that's the case, then right now, dad's...!" I looked outside the window to see Lem getting brutally beaten up by my dad.

"Ack, I'm serious! She gave it to me!" Lem protested, "Ow, dude, come on-Unf!"

"Quit lying, you damned brat! Now get up, I Healed you, so stop pretending you can't!" Dad lifted him up forcefully before issuing another flurry of punches and slaps, "Because of this, now neither one of us are getting any sleep tonight! Again, get up! We're not stopping 'til the Sun rises, sicko!"

Waking up everyone in both the Saints' house and ours, it took the restraint of uncle Ed, Issei as well as grandpa Sigmund to peel him off of poor Lem. That's around the time I finally gained the courage to bashfully explain the entire situation and finally calmed dad down. Uwah, what a way to start our cohabitation! I so wanna disappear...!