"I love you, Carrot..."

Carrot smiled and pulled the one next to him into an embrace.

"I love you too..."

Tira gasped, as Carrot leaned closer to the one he was holding.

"...Marron..."

They kissed.

Tira collapsed to her knees.

On one hand, it wasn't Chocolat or another woman she'd just lost Carrot 
to.

On the other hand, it didn't matter. She'd still lost Carrot.

'He loves Marron...'

His brother. Her instincts were to be disgusted by how wrong this was, to 
ask how Carrot could sink so low.

But this obviously wasn't another one of Carrot's attempts to get some. 
The look on his face was one she'd never seen when he was off chasing 
girls.

He really loved Marron.

Tears sprang to Tira's eyes. But before they could fall, she heard a 
choked sob, then the sound of running footsteps.

'Oneesama!'

Tira picked herself up and took off after her sister's retreating form.

She managed to catch up with her in a secluded area of the woods. After a 
pause to catch her breath, she looked over to see Chocolat collapsed 
against a rock, sobbing into her arms.

"Oneesama..."

All the times Chocolat had planned to seduce Carrot, thrown herself at him 
while ripping her clothes off, talked about him as if they were lovers...

All the times Tira had gotten upset.

They didn't matter anymore. They'd both lost.

And Tira realized that underneath all the shameless displays of 
"Darliiiiing, take me now!!!", her sister's feelings for Carrot were as 
real as her own.

Tira blinked back tears as she remembered how they used to fight over 
Carrot. It was so stupid now.

'If I'd known Marron would win out over us both...'

Sighing, she walked over to Chocolat and knelt beside her in the dirt.

"Oneesama?"

"Go away."

"Oneesama, I...I'm sorry you had to find out that way, the way I did...I'm 
sorry..."

"I feel so stupid. Throwing myself at Darling like that...no wonder he got 
so uncomfortable!" Chocolat sniffled. "He doesn't like girls...could've 
fooled me with all his skirt-chasing!" she sobbed.

"I know...guess he was afraid what'd happen if we knew he was gay," Tira 
said.

"He loves Marron. I should've seen it all along. Marron's always 
protecting him and idolizes the hell out of him...and Marron's so freakin' 
MODEST, he'd never take off his robes and say 'niisan, let's do the wild 
thing!'. No wonder..."

"Yeah...for all his girl-chasing, Carrot always did strike me as pretty 
modest...even when he was asking random women for dates, he would blush...
underneath all that shameless perversion of his..." Tira sighed. "It all 
makes sense now."

"Darling was just trying to overcompensate by acting like such an idiot," 
Chocolat muttered. "The bastard...how could you spend years lying to us 
like that, you jerk?!" she screamed. "I hate you, Carrot Glacé! I hope you 
have a nice time making out with your brother!"

"Oneesama..." Tira's arms wrapped around her sister's trembling form. 
Chocolat collapsed against Tira, clutching the fabric of her coat and 
crying bitterly.

"I love him...I would've given my life for him..." Tira held Chocolat 
closer, gently running her fingers through her hair.

"I know," she said. "I feel the same way..." Chocolat blinked.

"T-Tira?" Tira blushed slightly.

"Yeah...I...love Carrot."

"I figured as much...you were just smart enough to be quiet about your 
feelings," Chocolat said.

"Oneesama, you don't know how much I envied you. Even if I got annoyed and 
tried to pry you off Carrot...at least you were able to express those 
feelings...I was always afraid Carrot would pick you in the end," Tira 
said quietly.

"Heh. I always thought that he'd end up with you...it's always the quiet 
girl who gets the guy," Chocolat said, sniffling.

"In this case, it was the quiet boy..." Tira sighed.

"I can't believe I never considered our biggest rival for Carrot's 
affections was on our own team," Chocolat said.