“Anyway, do you think you can copy what I did?” Shuya stiffly changed the subject to something safer. “But actually eat the yang, not spit it out.”

“I’m going to eat it? Didn’t you say it tastes bad?”

“It tastes bad for me, but I have a hunch it’ll be fine for you. And yes you’re going to eat it, almost like how you absorb nature energy. The difference is nature energy must go into your dantians and then be circulated through your meridians before they are properly absorbed into the body. We’re skipping that entirely. You must grab with your yin, you must eat with your yin, and you must think of your yin as the stomach that digests the yang.”

“Okay…” Little Sister bobbed her head and then added, “So that’s how I absorb the wood and water elements… I didn’t realize…”

“I’m not surprised you don’t know. That pu— Light probably didn’t want to make things too complicated. Especially when this world of yours bends to your will. Why explain concepts when you can simply do what you want by willing it? But it’s difficult to do that with yin, so a little explanation is needed. Though having your world do the brunt of the work… is quite useful. Might as well take advantage of it while we can.”

“I see… my world is really amazing, huh? I’ll definitely do my best not to waste something so spectacular!”

“Exactly! Now you try eating some yang.”

Little Sister reached out, remembering to ‘feel’ with her yin. She now understood why Shuya had insisted on all that tickling and being tickled. Before then, she would not have understood the difference and tried to eat the yang like the wood and water element. But now she recognized the yin in herself and a little bit about how it functioned.

She attempted to grab the yang, only to see most of it slip through her fingers. Disgruntled, she tried again. In the end, she could only grab a tiny portion of yang compared to Shuya.

Hearing Little Sister make disappointed grunts at the results of her efforts, Shuya explained, “Even if you could grab more, your yin wouldn’t be able to absorb it. It’s too small right now, so what you’ve got is the perfect portion for what you can handle.”

“…I guess it’s alright then.” She responded, frowning slightly in annoyance and then mentally scolded herself. Mr. Light had been right, it wasn’t good to be given everything without effort. Her world spoiled her, but now she needed to work to get what she wanted and even a little setback made her cross.

Unlike with Shuya, the tiny bit of yang in her hand didn’t struggle, but passively rested in her hand. After focusing again, she cautiously put the yang in her mouth, still a little worried about the taste.

“Oh!” Little Sister blinked in surprise. “You said it was tough but it melted right away, and it’s not bland at all. It’s sweet and a little spicy.”

“See? I told you not to worry. It didn’t even struggle when you held it.” Shuya rolled her eyes and made a face, muttering, “I guess that’s love for you…”

“Love?”

“It’s all about harmony, right? I don’t like your Mr. Light, so my yin isn’t in harmony with his yang. It’s why he tastes so nasty to me. But for you… he loves you… and I suppose you love him too, most unfortunate… that’s why—”

Little Sister reached out and grabbed Shuya’s sleeve suddenly.

“The… the Light loves me?”

“Eh? Yes? Isn’t it obvious?”

“Oh… oh!” She let go of Shuya and held her checks with both hands, blushing. “I had no idea!”

Shuya stared at her like she was stupid.

“Would that punk spend so much time and effort on you if he didn’t love you?”

Little Sister now covered her face with her hands, muffling her words. “He said he came because I called him, I never thought—”

“Little Sister, even if you called for him, he wasn’t obligated to show up. He could have stayed outside. And how could he have heard your call in the first place if he wasn’t listening very carefully for it?”

“Gah!” Her blush had started to work it’s way down to her neck. “What am I to do when he comes back, Big Sis? All this time, he’s loved me and I’ve been treating him like… like a friend!”

“…it’s fine by me if you just keep treating him as a friend. Just do that for all eternity while you’re at it.”

This caused Little Sister to lower her hands and give Shuya a pouting glare.

“…oh, alright! Fine! I’ll tell you what to do.”

“En!”

“Kiss him.”

“K-kiss..?”

“Yep, just kiss that pu—fellow,” She tapped her mouth and smirked, “right on his lips.”

“But… but he’s very hot you see so.. I think that might hurt.”

Shuya raised an eyebrow. “That’s just his stupidly overpowered yang producing all that heat. But you literally ate his leftover yang just a moment ago, right? It didn’t hurt, did it?”

“It didn’t!” She paused. “Is the yang in the air really Mr. Light's? It's not hot like he is...”

"Only because it's his leftovers. And it actually IS warm, but your little yin spirit is just used to being smothered so you never noticed. Anyway, the only reason he's hurt you before is because you let him in your ignorance. Instead of rejecting his heat, absorb it. Just like you did with his leftovers. You do that and kissing him won't hurt. You might find you really like it. But,” Shuya cautioned. “I don’t advise doing any more than that until your yin is stronger.”

“I can do more? Like what?”

Shuya blinked and then laughed. "If you haven't figured it out later, I promise I'll explain it to you. But for now, just stick with kissing."

——

As Mr. Light had warned, he did not visit for a long while. Little Sister was sad, but also grateful for getting to spend time with her new friend. She spent a long time talking to Shuya, eating yang and absorbing water and wood. At some point she remembered the poison and decided to show it to Shuya.

When Shuya saw the poisonous lake for the first time, she squealed and ran away from it immediately. Little Sister had to run to catch up to her.

“Ash and fire!” Shuya sputtered, shaking badly. “What was that stuff?”

“It’s the poison that makes me forget.”

“Makes you forget!? Little Sister, it’s doing more than that!”

“It is?”

Shuya opened her mouth as if to explain and then stopped, thinking better of it. Since Little Sister’s world bent to her will, the less she knew about what exactly this poison did, the better.

“…sorry, just pretend I didn’t say anything.”

“Er, ok? But why?”

“You just… you really shouldn’t get near that stuff, understand? It’s really, really dangerous. Let’s just leave it at that.”

“Oh don’t worry, I know! That’s why I’ve been getting rid of it. Then I can remember everything again!”

“..you’ve… you’ve been handling that stuff???”

“Not by myself,” Little Sister assured her. “Mister Light is always there to help me. I borrow some of his warmth, you see, and that makes it so I can push the stuff out.”

Shuya stared at her blankly for a moment. She then raised her long sleeve and used it to swipe away the sweat on her forehead. “…well… I suppose leaving it there isn’t an option either… but seriously…”

She finally cleared her throat and gave a strained chuckle. “Using his heat, huh? You were close to figuring out the yin and yang all on your own already, even without my help. But as for that poison, there's no way I can help get rid of it. My Master probably could have, but not me.. sorry for being useless Little Sister."

“You're not useless!” Little Sister rebutted earnestly. “I can just wait for him to get back. And what you've been teaching me isn't the same as what I was doing to get rid of that poison. I wasn't absorbing his yang or heat, just passing it along---"

The older woman snapped her fingers. “Wait... wait...! I wonder if...”

“What?”

"All this leftover yang is still his yang. It's just passive. Uh. It's the difference between being asleep and awake. Maybe... maybe we can 'wake' this passive yang up and then you can just... do the same thing with it that you did with him."

“Really?! That would be great if we could get it to work!”

With that, they did several experiments, away from the lake at Shuya's insistence, to try and imitate what the Little Sister and Mr. Light had been doing. Passive yang, it turned out, was not easily motivated. It was stubbornly lazy, floating about without a care in the world unless Shuya grabbed it. In the end, Little Sister jokingly tried to tickle it to "wake it up". She didn't think it was going to work and was very surprised when it did.

After many failures, they got something close enough to the original that they thought it might work. Little Sister immediately went about getting rid of the poison with this new (imitation) method, while Shuya stood off a distance and watching nervously.

When it worked without anyone coming to harm, they both celebrated. They sang and danced; ate apples and drank water. Then Little Sister felt tired and took a small nap with Shuya watching over her.

When she woke up, Shuya was gone. The world was filled with light and noticeable warmth once again. Mister Light had returned. She immediately sat up, excited.

“Mister Light!” She cried out happily, seeing his familiar form sitting nearby. His head was turned away, looking off in another direction with an air of being perplexed. When she called out to him, he jumped as if a little startled.

His ever serene face turned to face her, showing not the slightest surprise, and he greeted her calmly, “Good morning.”

Moving over to him, she grinned. “I’m glad you’re back, it feels like you’ve been gone forever. I really missed you.”

He leaned away ever so slightly, rapidly blinking.

“Ah, oh… is that so? You missed me?”

“Of course!” She frowned, eyebrows furrowed. “Why wouldn’t I? Did you not miss me?”

“I missed you.” His fingers moved nervously. “Of course I missed you. I just thought… ah, well, I suppose you did get upset the last time I left so… yes, naturally you would be missing me this time… naturally…”

He’d begun muttering to himself nonsensically, still slightly distracted. She couldn’t tell what he was feeling, but it seemed like he wasn’t quite happy.

She scrunched her nose slightly in disappointment and then raised herself up just enough so that they were eye level. Shuya had said Mr. Light loved her, but his reaction had been odd. Strengthening her resolve, she concentrated on what she needed to do next.

There was an awkwardly long pause as she did so.

“What are you—” Mister Light began to ask, and then stiffened when she leaned forward and kissed him.

When she finally stopped, she giggled happily and whispered, “Sweet and a little spicy…”

Mr. Light didn’t move at all, staying rooted in his spot. She waved a hand in front of his face, but he still didn’t move. Puzzled, she tilted her head and kissed him again. This time it burned a little because she hadn’t prepared properly.

The second kiss seemed to bring him to himself.

“Y-you—!” He sputtered in astonishment. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Kissing you.”

“No, that’s obvious… I mean… why?! You know touching me hurts you!”

She plopped back down and brought her knees up to her chin and pouted.

“I thought you loved me so I kissed you. And it only hurt a little the second time..” She explained in a grumble and then glanced up at him. “Did you not like it?”

His mouth opened and closed several times before he finally stood up and took several steps away from her. Hands behind his back, he began to pace in a circle, occasionally glancing up at her as if to say something before stopping. If this had been in response to anything else, she would have laughed at him. Instead she just continued pouting.

Finally he walked back over and sat down.

“It’s true that I do love you…”

Hearing this, she stopped pouting.

“…but you shouldn’t have kissed me just for that.”

“What, why?!”

“It’s… it’s really not safe… and besides that, you view me as a friend, don’t you? You shouldn’t kiss friends, even if they like you. It should go both ways.”

Furious, she shot up and pointed down at him.

“Do you think I’m stupid AND weak?! Oooooh! See if I ever kiss you again! Meanie! Knucklehead! Shuya was right! Who’d want to kiss a stinky ol’ grandpa like you anyway! You’re just tough and bland!” With those scathing words, she stomped away in a huff.

Mr. Light was so stunned at being insulted, he didn’t move at first.

“W-wait!” He stood up and starting running after her. “What do you mean a g-grandpa? I’m no one’s grandpa—not yet anyway! And I’m tough and bland?! Since when! And who’s Shuya???”

Seeing her retreating form, he hastily hurried to catch up to her.

“I don’t see why I should tell a punk like you anything. Humph!”

“Punk—!”

He was starting to breath heavily. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t catch up to her. At first he was confused but then he remembered that the world bent to her desires. He couldn’t catch up because she didn’t want him too.

“Hey, slow down! I’m sorry! I’m sorry, please don’t run away! Come back—!”

He stumbled, his elegant appearance crumbling as he started tripping over himself. A nearby tree seemed to maliciously reach out a branch and smack him in the face as he tumbled, stuffing his mouth full of leaves so he couldn’t talk.

As he spat out leaf and bits of branch, he realized she’d gotten away. He stood there, looking bedraggled and worse for wear.

If she didn’t want to be found, there was no way he could find her. Shoulders slumping slightly, he turned around and went back the way he came.

The world didn’t fight him on the way back. He sat down heavily in the exact same spot he’d originally been at when she’d woken up. It happened that it was near the pond, tree, and that stupid little twig she’d somehow brought back—supposedly—from the outside.

“She might be mad, but I’m still here so she definitely doesn’t hate me enough to kick me out.” He said to no one in particular, trying to reassure himself.

After several minutes of silence, he started talking to himself again.

“I know I’ve been gone a while but, seriously, what happened? All she’s been doing lately is rebelling against me! I miss her sweet, docile behavior from before… Even if she was dumb as a toddler, at least it was easy to work with her!”

As he was talking, he noticed the twig; which had grown some and now had a respectable branch with several leaves growing on it. He pointed at it accusingly. “This is all your fault. Ever since she brought you back from who-knows-where, all she’s done is argue and fight with me!”

He meant that as a joke, but he paused. There’d been too much going on outside for him to devote the time he should have to this mysteriously acquired twig. But now that he thought about it more seriously, the exact moment she’d become aggressive had been when she’d claimed to go outside. He eyed the twig suspiciously.