Interlude 2: Pictures.

''...Shouldn't you change your phone now?''

''?''

''Hasn't it been four... almost five years now? Since you brought that one, I mean.''

Indeed, it had been that long since smartphones were introduced to this world. Looking at Lyra, who still familiarly tapped on the same phone I'd brought with her years ago, I couldn't help but remark.

She must have changed the case and screen protection for it several times by this point.

It wasn't like the phone didn't work well, nor did it become terribly outdated or anything. Perhaps, since the inventor was someone with little greed, or maybe planned obsolescence wasn't yet a thing, the first-generation phones still held their spots well.

''Mhm...''

Still, my little sister was a big little sister now. She was seventeen, a prime, proper lady. Considering that her admission was on the horizon, too, wouldn't it be nice if she got a better, more fashionable phone?

But when I explained that to her, what I got back was a firm shake of the head,

''This is what I brought with you.'' She shyly replied... almost.

''I can buy another one with you as well, no?'' I reasoned, feeling my heart warming. ''Let's choose a new one this weekend. I heard there are quite a few electronic centers near the palace these days.''

''...''

Facing my flawless logic, Lyra took a pause, looking somewhat melancholic. Was she always this... sentimental?

She fiddled with her phone for a while, then sighed, ''There are pictures... lots of them.''

''You often take them, yeah. But you can just transfer the data to the new device, right? They must be providing services like that.''

I hadn't paid much attention until now, but... by any chance, is my little sister a tech illiterate? That sounded cute. I might want to tease her later...

In the end, after a while, Lyra sighed once more and reluctantly agreed to my request.

''By the way, what kind of pictures did you take all these years? Can I see them?''

''Sure.''

My sweet little sister quickly agreed, handing me her phone.

''Let me see yours, too.''

''Hm? Okay. I didn't pay much attention to these things though...''

I replied absentmindedly, my mind wholly taken by the curiosity toward Lyra's pictures. As if enjoying a manga from its very first chapter, I set the sorting to 'Old to new,' and began to scroll.

The very first one the little Lyra took... was a picture of mine.

''...''

Actually, there were quite a lot of my pictures. Like... seventy percent of them were. The rest were scenery ones and some group pics.

Should I be glad that I didn't look bad in any of them?

But that aside, scrolling through pictures like this seriously got me tangled in nostalgia.

''Oh, this was your thirteenth birthday, right?''

''Mhm.''

''And this was my birthday...''

''Mhm.''

''Ah, we used to have orchids in our garden as well! How nostalgic...''

''...''

Or so I babbled on and on, but at some point, I didn't hear Lyra's blunt yet affirmative 'mhm' anymore. An unsettling premonition set in as I turned to the side.

There she was, frozen with a dark expression on her face, her void-like eyes fixed on the screen.

'Dark' might not even be the right word. Cold, sharp, furious... they all fit.

''What are you looking at...''

I trailed off, following her gaze.

Let's just say... it was quite an inappropriate picture.

''...Who did this to you?''

''A-Ah, no, you see, this is just a play... or something? Like, it wasn't really... I didn't really—''

I screwed up.

Rather, someone screwed me up.

It was a single picture of me from the shoulders up. I was lying on a bed, visibly naked, with numerous lewd marks tainting my skin alongside faint drops of sweat.

I was flushed red, very possibly moaning with my mouth open. Eyes tearing—no, I was crying, brows tensed, seeming extremely pitiful even by my own standards.

And yet, to add to that cruelty, someone's thumb was forcefully inserted between my lips, palm close to the cheek.

I could guess the culprit.

The only one with this kind of niche fetish was Penelope, not to mention she was probably the only one mean enough to take this with my phone.

Damn you, Penelope...!

''G-Give it back for a sec!''

Panicked, with the terrible thoughts that there might be more disastrous ones lurking, I snatched the phone back... I tried to. Lyra wouldn't budge.

''Lyra, I-I taught you not to pry into people's private lives, didn't I?! Why are you like this...?!''

''Didn't you let me see them myself? It's your fault for being careless.''

''Are you seriously trying to gaslight me...??''

After struggling a bit more, I finally took back my phone.

...Lyra might have let me have it, but let's not dwell too much on that.

But it was a blessing that I struggled. It turned out that there were many more inappropriate pictures of me inside my own phone, most taken by that perverted idiot.

Was she deliberately trolling me? How could she make it so obvious that it was she who took them?

Revenge... I definitely have to take revenge!

''A-Ahem, let's both turn a blind eye to that mishap...''

''Why do you need to turn a blind eye? Wasn't that you who got bullied?''

''B-Bullied??''

''Isn't it? You're a bottom in bed.''

''Where did you learn such things?? Spit it out...!!''

In the end, we went to several electronic centers and got Lyra a new phone.