Volume 5 Chapter 1

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Onward to new content that hasn’t been butchered in the anime!

How to raise a cute heroine

Part 1:

“……..”

“…………….”

It was a certainday in the middle of December, and I was in my room. I, Nagami Yuu,was nervously gazing at my smartphone. Next to me was my littlesister Suzuka, also with a serious expression on her face.

What were wedoing, you may ask? We were waiting for a call from the editorialdepartment. However, this time it wasn’t from the Sumeragi FantasyPublishing for Suzuka, but from the NJ Publishing editorialdepartment, where I had sent my newest novel for the light novelcontest.

Ring ring ringring ring

“O-Onii-chan,it’s here!”

“I-I-I-Iknow!!”

As that soundrang out, Suzuka started to panic as I answered the call. Suzukaleaned in closer to me so that she could listen in. I almost bit mytongue as I answered, but managed to hold it together. The content ofthe call went something like this.

「Hello,might you be Nagami Yuu-san? I am from NJ Publishing. I am callingbecause of the results of the light novel contest. Sadly, it wasn’tquite enough this round. It was quite close, you know? I tried mybest to push it through. Ah, the reason it didn’t make it? Well,one of the judges said that the heroine’s depiction was a bitlacking. To be frank, she wasn’t cute enough. And that was somethingthat I had felt too. The heroine not being cute is a fatal problem,after all. Although it didn’t quite work out this time, I hope thatyou will give it your best the next time too. We will be waiting foryour newest work—」

For a while, Ispaced out with the phone to my ear, but when I finally understoodwhat had happened I collapsed to the floor.

“…Ifailed…And I was so close…”

As I put it intowords, I felt even more depressed.

…Ughhh, why…why do I have to suffer like this…! I’ve wanted to become alightnovel author for such a long time. This was the first time I had madeit until the last round….! Just one more step and I would’ve madeit—how cruel! I wanna cry!

As I was writhingaround on the floor….

“O-Onii-chan,pull yourself together!” After keeping quiet for a bit, Suzukaraised her voice.

Normally, Suzukawas super collected, but seeing me in this state made her panic a bitit seems. “Since I made Onii-chan my stand-in, I’m also veryinterested in the result…” she had said, which is why she waswaiting with me to hear the result. Maybe that’s why she washesitating to speak to me right now.

“Uhm…Although it really is a shame, please cheer up!”

“I know… butthis time, it was a lot of damage…”

Normally, I wouldcheer myself up with a “Next time, I’ll definitely win for sure!”but in this situation, I just couldn’t be optimistic.

…Ah, just whenI thought that I had gotten one step closer to catching up withSuzuka…!

That was the mainreason I usually used to come to terms with my failures. My littlesister Suzuka is actually the super popular light novel writer TowanoChikai. Because of certain circumstances, I became her stand-in.However, it was still my dream to become a light novel writer too, sofirst I had to catch up with her no matter what.

…That was theonly thing I wanted… but it still turned out like this…

“I-It’s fine,Onii-chan. It’s true that you didn’t win this time, but you managedto get into the final round, right? At this rate, you will surely winwith your next novel!” She said as she made a fist with her hand.

Although it hurta bit to be cheered up by my (self-proclaimed) rival, she still wasright about that.

“Y-You’reright….”

“Yes, believeme. So please cheer up, Onii-chan!”

Thanks toSuzuka’s words, I started to feel a bit better. I know that justcrying about it won’t change anything. And just as she had said, thiswas the first time I made it to the final round. As long as I keepwriting novels like I’ve done until now, I will win eventually.

“Yeah, thatmakes sense. Sorry for being so down just now. You really cheered meup. Thank you, Suzuka.” I said as I stood up.

“N-No, Iunderstand your feelings. I just didn’t want to see Onii-chan beingdown like that. T-There’s no a special meaning behind it oranything, though,” She quickly averted her face as her cheeksturned red.

Well, I do keepshowing her my bad side, such as when I told her that I like littlesisters.

…Though in theend there was a different reason for that, and I’m glad that shedidn’t hate me for it.

“Well, youknow. It’s just like you said. In the end, I will debut eventually ifI keep going like this! Ha ha ha!”

“…Pleasedon’t just assume that on your own.”

“Sorry…”

Suzuka glared atme like I really was a good-for-nothing big brother.

…I can’t helpit. The relationship between Suzuka and I has always been like this.

“For now…”I took a deep breath, “I guess I have to start from zero—”

“You have toreflect on why you lost the contest, you know?”

Hey, I thoughtyou wanted to cheer me up?! It might’ve sounded like I had forgottenabout it, but I didn’t, okay? I was just about to say it too…

“I know! Theyclearly told me that, after all! But even if you say that thedepiction of the heroine is too weak…”

What should I doabout that, really? And just remembering how they told me that theheroine wasn’t cute makes me want to cry again.

…I reallythought she was cute, you know…?

“The depictionof the heroine, huh…” Suzuka muttered, lost in thought.

I also crossed myarms, trying to think of something to improve about her character,but nothing came to mind.

“Well, there’sno other choice but to continue thinking about it. It might even bethat I manage to clear up the problem with my heroine and win in thenext contest.”

Of course, itwon’t be all that easy. But, for now, I have to look forward or it’dbe the same as giving up.

“………”

While I wasthinking that, Suzuka still looked like she was thinking aboutsomething.

..What is shethinking about? Ah, don’t tell me, the super popular light novelauthor Towano Chikai might come up with some advice for me?

Well, receivingadvice from my little sister who, even though she knew nothing of theotaku world, still managed to land a big hit like that still feels abit frustrating… But I don’t care about that anymore!

I have acceptedthat Suzuka’s novel really is interesting to read, so if she were togive me some advice, I might even get on my knees and bow down toher.

What of pride? Ifit gets me one step closer to my dream, I will do anything! I don’thave any pride as her big brother anyway! Although saying that outloud makes me want to cry!

“…Heroine.”

While I keptthinking all these idiotic things, it still didn’t look like Suzukawould return to reality anytime soon. That’s why I was about to raisemy voice when…

“Ehehehehehehe…Isn’t this a chance…?”

“Eh? S-Suzuka?”

Seeing how herexpression suddenly change, I was taken aback. Her face startedgetting red and she started to let out a weird laugh. Since I becameher stand-in, I’ve seen her have that reaction from time to time.When she acts like this, it’s generally because she’s thought ofa way to collect some data… But what is it this time?

“H-Hey, Suzuka?What happened?”

“Ehehehe,ehe…? …Ha?! W-W-W-W-What is it, Onii-chan?!”

“That’s whatI’m supposed to say!”

“Y-You’rewrong, okay?! It’s not like I’m seeing this as another chance toflirt with Onii-chan or anything?!”

“Flirt?”

“R-R-R-Ratherthan that!” Her face was bright red as she continued, “Do youhave any idea how you can improve the heroine?”

“Not right now,no… I really have to give it some thought.”

Hearing my reply,Suzuka let out a small sigh of relief as she muttered “Is that so…I’m glad.”

Why are you gladabout that?

“O-Onii-chan.”

“W-What is it?”

Seeing her glanceat me with an expectant gaze, I froze up.

“It’s about theimprovement of your heroine… I will help you.”

Being completelytaken aback by her unexpected words, I could only go “Eh?” inresponse.

I mean… well…Eeeh?

“Help you say?What do you mean by that….?”

“Like I said,to make sure that Onii-chan can create a cute heroine, I will helpyou out!” She said as she quickly averted her gaze.

W-What does shemean by that…? Up until now, Suzuka never helped me with my ownnovel, right? So why all of a sudden…?

“W-What’s withthat so suddenly?”

“W-What do youmean?”

“How are youplanning to help me?”

“T-This is aperfect chance after all — no, not that! That’s, uhm… no! Uhm!”

After a fewseconds of her fiddling with her hands, she glared at me andcontinued.

“T-That’sright. This is just me returning a favour!” She said. Her words andattitude didn’t match up at all.

“R-Returning afavour?!

I really don’tknow what you mean by that, but I’m getting shivers because of thatintimidating aura you said it with, you know?!

“T-That’sright. Don’t misunderstand. This is just me repaying you for all thetimes that you helped me out with my research. There’s no otherreason.”

“Ahh, so that’show you meant it,” I finally understood.

…I see. Thatmakes sense.

“But that wasjust me fulfilling my job as your stand-in, so it’s not somethingyou’d have to thank me for, right?”

“I-It’s fine.After all, the two of us are one author, so of course I’d helpOnii-chan out if he’s troubled. So how about it? Will you let me helpyou?”

“If it’s likethat, I’ll gladly accept your help.”

Actually, gettinghelp from Towano Chikai… isn’t that pretty amazing? If Mai orAkino-san found out about it, they’d be really jealous. Although theystill think that I’m Towano Chikai, so it doesn’t really matter.

“But how areyou going to help me? I don’t meant to be rude, but I still have towrite the novel on my own from scratch.”

Although I’mreally glad that she’s willing to help, there are still some thingsthat I have to do on my own.

“That’sobvious. I didn’t plan on saying anything about the content of thenovel, anyway. I want Onii-chan to win the grand prize with his ownstrength.”

…If I win, I’llstop being her stand-in, though. Just how serious can you be aboutpromises?

“And Onii-chanalways helped me out without saying anything about the content of myown novel, too. I’m just doing the exact same thing.”

“So you’resaying—”

“Of course, I’mtalking about researching.”

Yep, that’s whatI expected. So basically, our positions had merely changed.

“Listen,” Shecleared her throat once before she continued, “In my opinion, wehave to strengthen your image of a cute heroine so that you canproperly write one.”

“So that’s whatwe’ll do research on, huh? So what image do you have in mind?”

“T-That’s…Onii-chan’s perfect… girl.”

“Eh?” Withher saying ‘perfect girl’ so of the blue, I could feel my cheeksgetting hotter.

Even Suzuka isfiddling with her hands as she’s sitting here… this is reallyembarrassing…

“Projectingyour ideal girl onto the heroine makes the character even more cute!T-That’s why you will have to tell me your ideal girl!”

“I-I see? Soit’s that? Is that how you always manage to write these characters?”

“No, in my caseI just write my desires right into it — no, that’s not it! I-I am agirl after all! There’s no way I would have a favourite type of girl!Or rather, I’ve told you countless times that I’m possessed whilewriting that novel!”

“T-T-T-T-That’sright?!” Being confronted with her menacing look, my whole bodystarted shaking.

What kind ofidiotic things am I asking! If she weren’t possessed, she wouldn’thave been able to write a little sister novel with a crazy title like‘The story about a little sister that loves her big brother way toomuch to cope.’

“I-I’m notasking this because I’m interested or anything. It would be better toknow it for your research, is all. If it’s not a character that theauthor himself thinks is cute, then there’s no way that the readerswould think so. You have to transmit your own feelings.”

“You might beright about that…” I muttered — but why is she wiping sweat offher forehead like she was panicking? It’s winter right now.

“F-For now,Onii-chan has to tell me the specific type of girl he likes. That isthe most important thing to make our research a success. That’s theopinion of Towano Chikai anyway.”

“So how wealways did it, huh.”

“Y-Yes. So thistime, I will try to be Onii-chan’s ideal type of girl, so pleasetell me.”

“Be my idealtype of girl…”

Until now I’vejust been swept along by the flow of the conversation, but I wasslowly starting to panic. Mostly because these words came out of themouth of my little sister Suzuka. If she tells me something like”I’ll become Onii-chan’s ideal type of girl,” then it doesn’tmatter if she’s just acting out a role; it still sounds… bad.

Suzuka seemed tomisunderstand my silence and repeated her words once more in adifferent way.

“P-Please makeme your light novel heroine, Onii-chan!” She had flushed cheeks asshe looked straight at me.

Being told thatby a beautiful girl like her (although she’s my little sister), myheart skipped a beat. To think that she would go this far just torepay a favour…! It should be pretty embarrassing for her already,so how serious can she be! To be fair, she is the student councilpresident of the school she’s attending, and she’s doing most of thehousework too, so I should feel bad making her help me with my novelresearch. But seeing how far she was willing to go for me, I couldn’texactly decline —

“I-I’mlooking forward to working with you,” Before I realized it, I boweddown while responding.

“Ah, pleaselift up your head. It was my idea from the start, after all.”

“No no, youagreed to help me without any benefit to yourself, so it should beobvious for me to bow down. Really, thank you so much, Suzuka…..!”

“I-It reallytroubles me if you go that far… And I did propose the idea whilethinking about how I would benefit too…”

“Eh? Benefit inwhat way?”

“N-N-Nothing atall! S-Since that’s decided, I will be helping you out, Onii-chan!”

“Y-Yeah.”

…Still, I neverthought that she would actually help me out with my own novel.

“ C-Cough So, before we start our research, there is something that I need toknow from you.”

“Something youneed to know from me?” As I titled my head….

“S-Since thiswill be research for finding your ideal type of girl, I need to knowyour preferences beforehand,” She said as she averted her gaze.

“M-Mypreferences, huh?”

“T-That’sright. What kind of girl do you like? Do you like girls with shorthair? Or more on the longer side? Should she be younger or older thanyou? What about her personality? Do you like them more cheerful oradult-like? W-W-W-W-What about her breasts—?!”

“Wait waitwait! Calm down, Suzuka!”

For some reason,she started bombarding me with questions. Why is she so serious aboutall of this?!

“I-I am calm.This information is very important for me so that I can act out myrole better. And there’s no other reason other than that!”

“I know that!But still, please calm down for once!” I tried calming her down asshe still looked like she would overheat any second.

…Is it just me,or is she more serious about this research than any other we’ve donebefore?

“So, what isit? What are Onii-chan’s preferences and favourite type of girl?”

“Even if youask me that… To be honest, I don’t know that stuff myself…”

“W-What do youmean by that? This is about Onii-chan himself, right?”

She’s completelyright about that, but even I don’t have a clear image of my idealgirl. I never seriously had thought about it, after all. Instead oftrying to get a girlfriend, I was always busy with my lightnovels….

“But thereshould be at least something, right? Like, let’s see… a girlyounger than you with long hair, small body and a modest chest…!”

“Why are youbeing so oddly specific?! No, I really don’t know! The only thingsthat come to my mind are ‘A cute girl’ or ‘A kind of girl that fallsin love with me’!”

“It’s notsurprising to me that your heroine’s depiction was insufficient ifyour image of her is on that level…”

Stab! Itfelt like my chest was pierced by her words.

I would reallylike to say something back to her, but I can’t find anything thatwould make sense!

“Haah… Itcan’t be helped, then. It seems like we have to find out Onii-chan’spreferences first,” She said with a displeased expression.

“S-Sorry…I’ve never really given it any thought. I guess I’ll have to dosome work before you can help me—”

“What are yousaying, Onii-chan? Of course I will be helping you with that too!Fufufu, I feel very motivated all of a sudden…!”

“Ehhhh?”Seeing Suzuka make a fist, I was bewildered.

What part of theconversation we had would make her motivated like that…?

“For now, wehave to find some sort of starting point, I suppose,” Saying that,Suzuka started looking around the room.

Her gaze stoppedat my bookshelf that was filled with light novels.

“…That’sright. Let’s look for a recurring character type inside your lightnovels. We’ll perform a thorough analysis. Ah, but we’ll leave outthe little sister characters.”

“Eh? Why?”

“Because mymain goal is to make you see me as a girl instead of a little sister— no, not that! O-Onii-chan likes little sisters after all, soyou’ll just say you like a character because she’s a little sister!”

I couldn’t getany words out.

Dammit… it’sbeen like this since she found out that I like little sisters, and itmakes me want to cry. But, well, I can’t help it, I guess. Herattitude seems to have changed for the better after she found out, sonow she’s at least not throwing me disgusted glances anymore whenshe’s looking at my light novel bookshelf.

But I would belying if I said that she wasn’t right. And to be fair, my favouritecharacter is ‘Yuuka’ from her novel; a little sister. Still, there’sno way that I could just say “The little sister you wrote is thecutest character ever!” I would literally die from embarrassment.

“Okay, I gotit. Then… this and this…”

Obeying herorders, I brought out the light novels where I thought that thecharacters besides the little sisters were cute too.

“Hmm… Thereare a lot of different types, I see. It seems to be difficult to finda common point of reference,” She muttered as she skimmed throughthe pages.

“Well yeah.Wouldn’t it be fine to just look at the characters where I thought‘Oh, she’s cute’ or something?”

I mean, be it atypical battle-type novel or a slice-of-life, the characters actdifferently anyway, so the impression might be different just becauseof that.

“Muu… Itseems like our information is limited if we just use light novels. Itcan’t be helped… A-Although I’m not exactly a big fan of it, wehave to look into those obscene eroge too!”

“Haaaa?!”

“Why are yousurprised, Onii-chan? This is necessary, after all!” She glared atme as her cheeks started to get red.

“I-I knowbut…! Why even my eroge…!”

“It is anothermedium where a lot of different types of female characters appear,right? Therefore, it might be useful too! L-L-Like I said, I can’texactly be happy about it, but these ‘eroge’… uhm, show the mostwhat kind of s-s-s-s-s-sexual fetishes a person has! That’s whatDouble Peace-san said!”

You’re clearlynot wrong that you use them for that but still! Dammit… to be told that by Suzuka… Double Peace-senseireally has been a bad influence on her!

By the way,Double Peace-sensei is the person who’s drawing the illustrations forSuzuka’s novel. Her full name is Ahegao Double Peace-sensei, butcalling her that in public is pretty bad, so I decided to go with theshort version.

“I-I’ll justsay this upfront: It’s useless to hide them from me. I know that youuse a different notebook PC for your games, after all!” She said asshe looked towards my closet.

Just a littlewhile ago, Sakura had stayed over at our house, and the circumstancesended up with me having to completely lay bare all my ero collectionin front of my little sisters. Trying to hide it now would indeed bea wasted effort.

“Ugh… okay.This is all for our research…!”

I took thenotebook PC out of the closet with reluctant movements.

This erogecharacter is pretty nice ! —There’s no way I can say something like that in the presence of mylittle sister…! Just imagining it makes me want to die. But this isall so that I can win the grand prize of the contest…! And I doubtthat we’ll play far enough to get to the erotic scenes…!

Asshe was peeking over my shoulder, I showed her the characters Ithought were cute inside the game. Excluding the little sisters ofcourse. Saying that a particular little sister character is cute orhas good erotic scenes to my blood-related little sister would bepure torture.

“…………………………….Isee, so Onii-chan likes these types of women,” She calmly mutterednext to me… But her voice sounded really scary.

“U-Uhm,Suzuka-san?”

“Allof them have big breasts, Onii-chan. But they are a big unnatural,don’t you think?”

“T-That’sbecause this an eroge after all…”

“Forcrying out loud! So it’s all about the breasts…! If you don’t haveany, then…!”

“Nono! Eroge illustrators always draw them to make them look bigger! Itonly looks that way!”

“?!S-So, if I were to enter the world of eroge, my breasts would alsolook big in comparison…?!”

What’sup with that conclusion?!

“No,if you don’t have any breasts at all, you’ll be drawn even more flatthan you are any— Ouch?!” As I commented on her conclusion, shepinched me with all her might.

“Onii-chanyou idiot…!” She looked away from me with a pissed-off expressionon her face.

…Thathurt… but that really was my fault, I suppose. I’ve been thinkinga lot about this recently, but it really does seem like she’sconcerned about the size of her breasts. Even though she’s got agreat style and looks really cute. Haaah, how troublesome it is tohave such a perfect little sister.

“Hmpf,it’s fine. Show me the next character.”

“U-Understood.”

Inthe next scene I showed her, there was a childhood friend waking upthe protagonist.

“Wai—!Her underwear is completely visible though…!”

Thiswould be the typical scene where she was standing on top of the bed,kicking the protagonist to wake him up, but since she was wearing askirt, you could clearly see her panties.

Intoday’s light novels, fanservice scenes like these aren’t exactlyrare, but Suzuka still glared at the screen with eyes full ofdisgust. But just when I thought that she would be scolding me…

“S-So,Onii-chan likes stuff like this?” She had a serious look on herface as she gazed at the screen.

“N-No,it’s not like I necessarily like it or anything…”

“Thisis a fanservice scene for boys, right? I’m slowly starting to get thehang of all of this.”

Ohhh,it looks like Suzuka is beginning to understand the otaku culturemore and more.

…Butthis isn’t the time to be happy about that. Although the protagonistin the eroge is voicing his displeasure about being woken up, he’sactually pretty happy about it. The heroine’s tsundere personality isalso very evident, and he could catch a glimpse of her panties too.

“Asalways, Onii-chan is such an erotic devil…”

“Ireally wish you’d stop reading my mind for once…”

“It’sOnii-chan’s fault for being so easy to read.”

Ihave no comeback for that… But any male would totally understandme, right? Right?!

“…………..”At first she was glaring at me, but now she’s once more looking atthe screen without saying anything.

“WhenI wake up Onii-chan, would it be better to wake you up like this?”

Herwords had too much of an impact on me, making me swallow my breath.

“ CoughCough ?!W-What are you saying?!”

“I-I don’t mean it in a weird way! IfOnii-chan really likes this kind of thing, I thought that as yourassistant I might try it out, that’s all!”

Of course I know there’s no ulterior motive,but I’ll happily decline!!

If she really were to wake me up every morninglike that, I feel like a very dangerous door would be opened!

After that, I continued to show her thedifferent characters, and before I realized it, she was writing stuffinto her memo notebook with a difficult expression on her face.

“So, taking all of the characters I’ve seeninto account, the type of girl that Onii-chan likes the most is—”For some reason, she stopped mid-sentence as her face flushed brightred.

“Even though they can barely hold back theirlove for their beloved one, they can’t be honest with themselves…it feels like that was the most prominent type…!”

“Ah, so basically a tsundere.”

…Mhm, yeah, it’s not like I hate them. Thestronger the ‘tsun’ part, the bigger the ‘dere’ for the protagonist.

“Isn’t that wonderful… Ehehehe” Althoughshe had a smile on her face for a bit, her cold gaze immediatelyreturned as she continued, “Other important points were… that thebreasts were almost always big…”

………U-Uhm.

I-I-I-I-I can’t help it, can I?! I-Isn’t itobvious that boys like big breasts? It’s not like it’s an out ifyours are small, right?!

“For crying out loud… Onii-chan really is atroublesome person…!” She looked at me with blank eyes.

…She’s clearly mad. What should I do? What ifshe says “I can’t help such an indecent Onii-chan like you.”….?!

As I was still trying to figure out how tosolve the situation, Suzuka’s cheeks flushed as she continued.

“This is why Onii-chan is so… Well, itseems like I now have a good understanding of Onii-chan’spreferences… s-so, let’s go on a date tomorrow!” She suddenlythrew a bomb into the conversation.

“D-Date?! W-What’s up with that sosuddenly?!”

“D-Don’t misunderstand me! This is justpotential research! A date is the perfect chance to show theheroine’s cuteness, don’t you think?! That’s why I think it’snecessary to go on a date for research purposes! Don’t you agree?!”

“Y-Yeah!” I happened to get swept alongwith the conversation because of her enthusiasm.

…It might be because she threw the word‘date’ into the conversation so suddenly, but my heartbeat happenedto accelerate immensely.

“A-And even if I say ‘date,’ the plan wasto buy Christmas presents for our Christmas party, right? So we’llget a bit flirty, do our research, and everything will be good,”She said as she averted her gaze.

Now that she says it, we did plan to preparefor our winter training camp and the Christmas party by buying somethings tomorrow. I remember now.

The training camp was something that Mai wasplanning for all the creators; basically something similar to what wedid during summer vacation. But since it’s winter now, we’ll be goingto the north. And since the camp overlaps with Christmas, we’ll becelebrating with a Christmas party too while we’re at it. That’s whywe had planned to buy some presents as well—

“I see. So that’s what you had in mind.”

“T-That’s right. It’s not like I wanted to goon a date with Onii-chan or anything, but I have to help you out nowthat I promised.” She still didn’t look at me.

Even though she’s got her own novel to worryabout, she still comes with me on this date research that she’sclearly not very fond of… My little sister really is a great girl.She’s even with me, even though I’m basically a siscon. I can’t bethankful enough for her.

“…I get it. Then, although I feel bad aboutit, please come with me tomorrow for my research. I’m really sorry tomake you go through all of this. I’m always troubling you… Thankyou so much, Suzuka,” That’s why I honestly told her my feelings.

“Uuuuhh… if you honestly thank me likethat… my conscience will start to hurt… Although I’m happy thatit worked out like I wanted it to, I still feel bad now…” Suzukamuttered with a difficult expression on her face.

…Huh? I wonder if she really has some problemwith going on a date with me as the type of girl that I prefer themost? No, it would be weird if she didn’t have any misgivings aboutthat.

Anyway, that’s how we decided to do on a dateto strengthen the depiction of the heroine in my own novel.

Part 2:

The afternoon of the following day. I wasstanding in front of the clock at Yotsuba park, waiting for Suzuka.Normally it would’ve been fine to leave the house together, butSuzuka said that that wouldn’t have felt very date-like, so shewanted us to leave at different times.

“…Waiting like this reminds me of our dateduring our summer vacation…” I muttered as I looked at the sky.

Back then, Mai was still doubting that I reallywas Towano Chikai, so Suzuka and I had gone on a date to make her seehow lovey-dovey I was with my little sister. This time though, it’sfor my own research. Still, meeting outside in this cold is reallyrough. Every time I felt the winter breeze, my body shivered.Wouldn’t it have been much better to meet up inside?

“Mhm… Meeting up inside during this coldweather is a must.”

As I was making a mental note about it…

“S-Sorry for making you wait!”

Hearing Suzuka’s voice, I turned around… but,

“…Eh? Who?” Seeing the person standingthere, that answer slipped out.

Why? Because that person was wearing her hairin a twin-tails style, her breasts were weirdly big and she waswearing a mini-skirt and knee socks combo. With an embarrassedexpression, she gazed up at me. Because she looked so cute, my heartskipped a beat.

…But, huh? That’s weird. I had turned aroundthinking that I heard Suzuka’s voice, but all I see is this girlstanding in front of me.

As I looked around for Suzuka with a hugequestion mark over my head, the girl opened her mouth.

“W-What happened? D-Do these clothes lookweird on me?” She said, and her way of speaking reminded me ofsomeone.

…Don’t tell me, this girl is…?

“A-Are you….Suzuka?”

“W-What are you saying, Onii-chan? Thatshould be obvious,” She said in a displeased tone. I realized witha start that this was indeed Suzuka, but I was still a bit lost.

“Uhm… Why do you look like this?”

For now, I’ll ask her the most importantquestion.

“T-This is for our research. Since I’m aimingto become Onii-chan’s perfect type of girl, I prepared somethingdifferent for today,” She gave me a straight forward answer.

…I see. So that’s what this is about. That’sgood and all but—

“But… why a twin-tails hairstyle and thischoice of clothes…..?”

“B-Because many of Onii-chan’s favouritecharacters had a hairstyle like this… and I prepared these clotheswith the image I had in mind from the ‘eroge’ games…!” Sheanswered as she pulled down her skirt in embarrassment.

So she’s going this far for my research…Still, there is one thing I’m curious about. The thing is—would itbe okay to ask her about it in broad daylight?! It feels like openingPandora’s box, but I really can’t ignore it.

“Ahh, uhm, you know, Suzuka.”

“W-What is it, Onii-chan? Do these clothesnot fit me after all?”

“N-No, I think they really fit you and youlook really cute, but….”

“C-C-C-C-C-Cu—?!”

Seeing Suzuka blush to her hears made even mefeel embarrassed about it.

B-But, I can’t help it! My little sister lookscute no matter what kind of clothes she’s wearing! No, it’s not aboutthat anyway, there’s something other than her clothes!

“Uhm, so…”

“W-W-W-W-What is it?! I-Is there somethingelse you might want to praise—”

“How did your breasts end up like that?”

“………………………………………………….Now,let’s start our research, shall we.”

Hey!! At least try to change the topic a bitmore smoothly!

“What kind of things are you asking a girl inbroad daylight, Onii-chan! T-This is sexual harassment! P-Pervert!We’ll take this to court!”

“C-Calm down! It’s true that it might’ve beena weird question, but still! You can’t really blame me, can you?!They really are weird!”

“So you mean to tell me that it looks weirdif I have big breasts?!”

Why did you have to make it worse, me! Uhm…I’m not trying to say that she’s flat-chested or anything but shedefinitely has more than she had yesterday, right?!

“O-Onii-chan is so mean……! Even thoughyou clearly knew, you still asked me…!” She glared at me with apouting expression.

“S-So…..you used ‘them’, huh?”

“…………” Instead of answering, herlips were slightly trembling.

So basically, since I like big breasts, she’sjust trying to fit my tastes…?

“Uhm… Well, thank you? For going so farjust for me.”

“I-I only did it for Onii-chan’s research.And, please stop talking about my breasts. F-For today, I will be abig-breasted girl. I have the so-called ‘huge breasts’ attributetoday! So please treat me well!” Being scolded like that, I noddeda few times.

Suzuka and huge breasts, huh… It reallydoesn’t fit her image, but I’m thankful that she’s going so far forthe research. I was a bit surprised at first, but I can’t ignore theeffort she put in… Suzuka has huge breasts… Suzuka has hugebreasts…!

“I-Iwill be acting accordingly. Cough Ahh, my shoulders feel so heavy. Probably because my breasts are sobig~”

“Isn’t that a bit over the top?” I retortedwithout thinking.

“W-What do you mean! Himuro-san and DoublePeace-san say stuff like that from time to time, you know?! I amincredibly envious because of that!”

“You really were envious of them… Rather,girls really talk about stuff like that with other girls, huh…”

Although they might have problematicpersonalities, they never say stuff like that in front of me.

By the way, this Himuro-san is actually myclassmate Himuro Mai that keeps stalking me, thinking that I amTowano Chikai. I think her stalker-like tendencies show what I meanby “problematic personalties.”

“Uuuuuu… that doesn’t matter right now!Like I said, I am acting as Onii-chan’s perfect girl today, so let’sstart our date research immediately!”

“Ah, hey!” As Suzuka started dashing offwith a red face, I hurriedly chased after her.

“Really, Onii-chan has no delicacy atall…!”

Hearing her mutter that under hear breath, Ionce more tried to see Suzuka as a normal big-breasted girl.

Though in that moment I realized something:What if Suzuka was actually just a normal girl like that? As I askedmyself that question, I immediately arrived at an answer.

…Of course, she’d go from a super cute beautyto a super mega ultra cute beauty. Easy as that.

“By the way, about the concept behind ourdate today,” Suzuka raised her voice just as we were about to leavethe park. “Today, I am… a big-breasted girl that can barely keepher feelings in check for Onii-chan, so please treat me like that aswell,” She once more put emphasis on the ‘big-breasted’ part.

“That’s what I’ve been planing to do but…”

“But… what?”

“Shouldn’t you be doing something about that‘Onii-chan’ of yours? Calling me like that would completely destroyyour image of being a normal girl.”

“Ah.” Hearing my complaint, her face wentbright red in an instant.

If the heroine called the protagonist‘Onii-chan’, that would basically make her another little sister,which we clearly tried to leave out for our research.

“T-That’s right. T-Then… Then…? Whatshould I be calling you then?”

Why do you have such a shocked expression onyour face? Something other than Onii-chan, huh? Hmmmm, for now…what have the other people around me been calling me?

Nagamin, Sensei, Teacher, Comrade… it feelslike none of them really fit.

“That’s right… Since we’re on a date,shouldn’t we just call each other by our first names? That would bethe most natural thing, I think.”

“F-First names?! S-So…Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Yu!” With a red face, she repeatedly stuttereda short “Yu.”

…Can you not play around with my first name?

“Y-Yu———-Yuu.”

“Yeah. That’s the best choice.”

“……..Onii-chan.”

“Hey… Adding an ‘Onii-chan’ after it kindadefeats the purpose.”

“Y-You’re wrong! It’s just… Onii-chan isreally only Onii-chan to me…”

“I know. But this is for our research, so Ireally think you should do something about it.”

“I-I’m well aware of that! Please let mepractice for a bit!” She repeated my first name several times tocalm herself down.

Why is she having so much trouble calling me bymy first name?

“ Cough !Then, here I go… Uhm, the weather is pretty nice, isn’t it… Yuu?”

“T-That’s right,” Suzuka’s tension seemedto be starting to affect me, also.

Actually it’s pretty cloudy today, but I did mybest to hold back that retort, or else she might get mad at me again.

“The spring birds are chirping veryenergetically, aren’t they, Yuu?”

“They clearly aren’t though?!”

“I-Isn’t it fine? That was just an example.”

“It’s still weird to hold a conversation withexample sentences!”

“Really, you have to be nitpicky abouteverything, Yuu……..Onii-chan.”

You’re adding the Onii-chan again!

“Ahhh, I can’t do it….Onii-chan really isonly Onii-chan to me, so I can’t stop myself from calling Onii-chanOnii-chan…..!”

Seeing Suzuka in despair like that was a prettyrare scene to behold.

“I know, I know. I guess we’ll leave it likethis. I would feel bad forcing you, anyway.”

“I’m sorry… B-But, you still have to treatme like a normal girl okay?! O-Only because of our research though!”

You’re really asking the impossible of me asalways… but since this is all for my sake, I’m not in the positionto say anything back. I don’t know if I’ll manage to succeed, but Iguess I’ll have to try to help Suzuka start calling me ‘Yuu’instead of ‘Onii-chan’.

As I was thinking that, our destination enteredour sight. It’s the same shopping mall we went to last time, though.Since our goal was to go shopping today anyway, we had to choose afitting place. But we can still make it date-like, even though it’sjust shopping.

“Onii-chan, did you give any thought aboutwhat we’re going to do today other than shopping?”

“Hmm?”

“I mean, our goal was to go shopping for theChristmas party gifts, but I also think that it would be a good ideato buy each other some presents right now.”

“Buying each other a gift, huh? That’ssomething that lovers would do, isn’t it…?”

“O-Our goal is to flirt after all!”Withthese words, she suddenly grabbed my arm.

Her sweet smell entered my nostrils and a softfeeling attacked my arm.

…Well, I know that particular feeling isfake, but I still can’t stop my heart from beating faster.

“I-I know. T-Then, I’ll be counting on you.”

“Y-Yes.”

With both of us feeling nervous, we entered theshopping mall.

…But still, if I managed to go on a date likethis with a tsundere, I would probably ascend to heaven. Especiallyif she were clinging to my arm like this. And if she were my perfecttype of girl, I wouldn’t need anything else in life. With thisfeeling, I have to write the next heroine for my novel! I can dothis!

With these thoughts, we arrived at the shoppingarea.

“So, what kind of store will we check outfirst?”

“Let me think… What would be a goodpresent…” I pondered as I looked around at the different stores.

“Um, how about we go look at a Westernclothes shop?”

“I’m fine with it, but do you have someclothes that you would like in particular?” I asked, trying tocoerce a gift idea out of her.

Sinceshe’s a girl, I’m sure that she wants some new clothes— iswhat I thought.

“N-No, uhm….I just want to be told that I’mcute by the person that I like… Ah, but you’re wrong, okay?! Thatwas just my opinion as your perfect girl, okay?! It’s not like I’mwishing for it myself or anything, okay?!” She started fiddlingwith her hands, her face bright red.

I know very well that she herself didn’t meanit, but that one phrase had quite an impact on me.

…Dammit, why is she able to act every roleout so perfectly…! It’s like this every time we do any sort ofresearch. This time too, her acting is clearly not half-baked. Eventhese words just now sounded extremely real.

“Y-Yeah, that makes sense. I’ve alwayswanted to pick out some clothes with a cute girl… Okay, then let’ssearch for some clothes first.”

As I said that, Suzuka responded with a “Yes,”with a happy smile on her face.

And, like this, we entered a shop for both maleand female clothes.

“N-Now, Onii-chan, what kind of clothes doyou think would fit me…? I-It’s not like I’m looking forward tothis or anything! I-I just want to get some reference for my ownnovel as well!” She used a perfect tsundere phrase as if it werenothing.

“H-Hmm…”

This isn’t good… I have absolutely no idea!What should I do? I’m really not all that familiar with that kind ofstuff, even when it comes to my own clothes…

“Umm…………….how about this?”

I couldn’t exactly say ‘I don’t know’ to herafter seeing her expectant gaze. And since this is my own research, Ican’t just leave everything to her. That’s why I pointed to somerandom clothes that caught my attention, but…

“It’s not bad, but it looks a bit childish,”She said with a worried tone as she looked at the one piece with aflower pattern that I had pointed out.

“Onii-chan, today I’m not your little sisterbut a normal girl, you know?”

Yousay that, but you’re still calling me Onii-chan……— Iweakly retorted inside my mind.

But now that she says so, it does look a bitchildish. Since I still see her as my little sister right now, I keeppicking stuff that actually fits her. Though I still feel like thoseclothes really fit her — hey, don’t glare at me! It makes it seemlike you really can read my mind!

“Umm, then…”

Trying to fix her mood, I was about to pick outanother piece of clothing but in that moment…

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

From the shadow of a shelf came a person, andwe happened to bump into each other. Said person was an older woman,and she also lowered her head with an “I’m also sorry.”

She was a nice person, so it ended withoutincident, but for one moment my eyes were glued to a certain part ofher body.

…Huge.

Maybe it was because of her clothing, but herwobbling chest area really pulled my eyes towards it. It’s not like Iwas checking her out with an erotic gaze, but this is a naturalreaction for any male so please cut me some slack.

As the woman disappeared out of my sight, Ionce more resumed my search for some clothing but—

“….Onii-chan? What were you looking at justnow?”

Hearing a freezingly cold voice from behind myback, I tensed up. As I turned around, Suzuka was glaring at me withcrossed arms… She had realized where I was looking in that shortperiod of time?!

“W-Well, it’s not like my eyes were glued tothem or anything. They just happened to enter my sight.”

“No, you were practically staring at herchest area. Let’s hear the reason for that.”

As if I could honestly say ‘Because they werehuge!’ now?!

“L-Let’s just return to our research, okay? Ihave to search for some fitting clothes for you after all!”

“Yes. But before that, I will listen to yourreason. The reason that you looked at another girl during our date,not to mention at her breasts.”

…Come on, that was a completely naturalreaction as a man, so can’t you forgive me for once…! And, you’realso big-breasted right now, so you shouldn’t be scolding me—

“Ah.”

In that moment, I realized something. It wasn’tsomething that could save me from this situation, but my instinctswere telling me to say it.

“What is it? Are you finally ready to give mea satisfactory explanation?”

“Y-You’re wrong. That just now was… Ithought that it might be useful for our research!”

“And how does looking at a woman’s chest turninto research! J-J-J-J-Just how much of a perverted erotic devil areyou, Onii-chan—”

“It’s not that! Right now you’re also abig-breasted woman, right?! It occurred to me that I have to look forclothes that fit you right now!”

“Eh?” Hearing my words, her movementsstopped.

And, as if she remembered something, she lookeddown towards her own chest.

“C-Clothes that would fit my bigbreasts…?!” She touched her (fake) breasts.

Seeing that from the sidelines would turn itinto quite the scene, but Suzuka didn’t realize that at all.

“I-I-I-I didn’t think about that at all…!Good idea, Onii-chan…!”

Normally, I could be going to court for sexualharassment for that phrase. Luckily, it seems like I managed tosatisfy Suzuka. I couldn’t believe it.

“T-That’s right…..! S-So, what kind ofclothes do you think would fit a big-breasted woman like me?!” Hereyes started shining.

…I didn’t expect that answer at all. Thatbeing said, her mood will surely change quickly if I don’t find someclothes for her.

“U-Uhm….! Oh yeah! How about this one!”Luckily, there was a piece of fitting clothing pretty close to us soI took that in my hand.

It was a turtleneck sweater, that reallyemphasizes the bodyline….the perfect piece of clothing for abig-breasted woman……I hope!

“I-I see! I remember Himuro-san wearingsomething similar to this. At the time I was really jealous, butright now, it will surely fit me!”

…So she really was jealous. It felt like Ihad uncovered a bit of the darkness inside Suzuka’s heart.

“I’ll immediately try it on!” Grabbing thesweater, she walked towards the changing room.

I also came with her, waiting in front of saidchanging room until I heard the curtains open again.

“H-How is it?”

Just as I thought, the sweater reallyemphasized her breasts, forcing me to stare at them. Not to mentionher embarrassed face was also incredibly cute.

“Ahh, it really suits you…”

“I-I-I-I-Is that so……! Ehehe……..!”

I just wanted to complement her, but seeing herreaction made me feel a bit embarrassed too…..

Suzuka for her part stood in front of themirror, taking several poses. It seems that she likes it.

“Fu fufufu, just what I would expect fromclothes for big breasts…! If I didn’t have any breasts, I wouldn’tbe able to wear this—”

It happened in that moment.

With a weird sound, Suzuka’s big breastsdisappeared.

No, rather than disappeared, they seemed tohave moved.

“S-Suzuka. Suzuka…..”

“What is it, Onii-chan? Don’t tell me… areyou entranced by my marvellous breasts?”

Seeing her saying that while embarrassed didindeed make my heart beat faster, but this isn’t the time to besaying that —

“Umm, your breasts………they’redropping.”

“Excuse me? What are you sayingOnii-cha——” As she put her hands on her breasts, her smiledisappeared immediately and she froze up.

Taptap tap ,she patted her chest, but there was only a hollow sound in response.And when she looked down to see where the sound was coming from—

“Ah……..Hauuuuuuuuu…………!” Herface went bright red and she crouched down right on the spot.

“Ugh……..Just when I’d finally foundsomething…….!”

After that, Suzuka had changed into herprevious clothes, although she seemed a bit depressed. Having gottenrid of her (fake) big breasts, she was now the usual Suzuka.

“T-That was an accident after all. Let’s justforget about it and continue our research.”

“But….Onii-chan saw me likethat…..Ughh…..!”

It seems like Suzuka has quite the complexabout her breasts, and she received quite a lot of damage from that.

“I-It’s okay. A girl’s cuteness isn’tdetermined by the size of her breasts, after all,” I said, seeingthe black aura emanating from Suzuka.

“B-But Onii-chan likes them on the biggerside, right?” She asked with tears in her eyes.

Although I gritted my teeth at that questionfor a moment, I answered in an even tone.

“It’s true that they might have a biggerimpact on boys… But we’re not only looking at them, you know? If wereally think that a girl is cute, it doesn’t matter if she has bigbreasts or not. That’s why you don’t have to feel down so much. Evenif you’re not big-breasted, you’re doing a great job in your role asthe heroine,” Those were my honest feelings.

Although seeing a big-breasted Suzuka made myheart skip a beat, that doesn’t change the fact that she is plentycute without them already.

“O-Onii-chan…..!” Hearing that, Suzukalifted up her head as her face went red like crazy.

…Here, see. You’re plenty beautiful already.

“F-For now, let’s forget about that and I’llpick out some clothes that fit you right now!”

“Y-Yes…..! I’m looking forward to it,Onii-chan….!” It seemed like her mood finally improved, and sheshowed me a big smile.

Even while I was saying that, I already hadsomething in mind. As Suzuka was changing into that sweater before,it had piqued my interest.

Maybethis’ll fit her even better~ iswhat I had thought.

“How about this one? I’m sure that it’ll fityou perfectly,” I said as I pointed towards a mannequin that waswearing a white blouse and a black jumper skirt. Some black stockingscompleted the mannequin’s outfit.

“Ah, this….” Her eyes opened wide, makingit look like she was surprised.

“Well, judging from my fashion sense, itmight not be the best idea to trust me……”

“T-That’s not true….Uhm, is it okay if I gochange immediately?”

As I nodded once, Suzuka dashed off towards thechanging room again. And after a short amount of time, the curtainsopened.

“………..Ah.”

“H-How is it, Onii-chan….?”

Suzuka looked a dozen times cuter than usual,completely robbing me of my ability to speak.

“…What is it? Say something, please.”

“A-Ah, sorry….! I was just a bitcaptivated…..!”

“Eh?!”

Woah, what am I saying to my little sister!N-No, today, she’s just another normal girl….! But, these wordsjust came out of my mouth completely naturally, without me thinkingabout acting at all…..!

“U-Umm….it really fits you. Though it makesme a bit anxious since I was the one who chose it….”

“There’s no need for that… I also thoughtthat these clothes looked really cute and I would’ve loved to getthem anyway…” She gently patted the clothes she was wearing. “Andfor Onii-chan to choose exactly them… for my sake…! I couldn’t beany happier…!” With a red face, she gently smiled at me.

Seeing her smile, I felt my own cheeks gettinghotter too.

…This is just for our research. I’m wellaware of that. But still — seeing her like this, I couldn’t stop myheart from beating like crazy. Making a girl happy like this, not tomention a cute girl like Suzuka…..of course my heart wouldn’t beable to take it…

Thinking that, I gazed at Suzuka, who wasgrinning happily as she looked at her clothes.

Part 3:

“Ehehehe, we went and bought it…”

After that, Suzuka bought her new clothes.Although I had wanted to buy it for her as a present…

“N-No, this doesn’t have anything to do withthe Christmas party, it’s something I want to buy with my ownmoney. T-These are the first clothes that Onii-chan picked out for meafter all.”

Really… Suzuka is so good at acting sometimesthat it’s almost terrifying.

“Ah, I didn’t choose any clothes forOnii-chan,” Having left the store behind us, she said so.

“It’s fine, really. It was plenty of dataalready for me. Let’s just go to another store instead.”

At first she pouted a bit, but she then nodded,saying “Yes.”

Taking the bag with Suzuka’s new clothes, westarted walking… Now, where should we go to next? We still have tobuy presents for the Christmas party—

“Oh?” The perfect store entered my sight.

“Suzuka, let’s check this store out.”

“An accessory store, huh. That seems like agood idea, yes.”

Having received permission from Suzuka, wewalked towards the store. We might be able to find some niceaccessories here, and we might get a good date-like atmosphere out ofthis… It seems like I’m also learning.

“Wow, they really have a lot of stuff inhere. Pendants and broaches… even necklaces,” I said as I lookedaround inside the store.

There were quite a few females in here, so Iwas sure that I could find something for Suzuka.

“I wonder if Suzuka is interested—”

In something like that — is what I wasabout to say, but when I turned around, Suzuka was staring at aspecific object.

….That’s…a ring?

“….Haaah,” Suzuka let out a sigh as shekept staring at it.

Normally, she doesn’t wear this kind ofbling, but I guess she’s still interested in it. She’s a girl afterall.

“Do you want that ring?”

“Hya?!”

As I raised my voice, Suzuka let out a weirdvoice and stiffened up.

“I-It’s not like I would like an engagementring from Onii-chan or anything?!”

“Y-You—! Engagement ring?!”

It looked like she didn’t mean to say that,because she started panicking even more.

“Y-Y-Y-You’re wrong! I was just saying thatin my role as the heroine! T-There’s no way that I would actuallywant an engagement ring from Onii-chan…..!”

“I-I know, so calm down already!”

As if there would be a world where a littlesister would want an engagement ring from her big brother! I was justa bit surprised because she said ‘Onii-chan’ is all!

“…F-Fu. B-Basically, I-I am just acting outmy role as a girl that loves you so much that she can barely copewith it but she can’t be honest about it. Since it would be thegirl’s dream to receive an engagement ring from her loved one, Ihappened to say that out loud! There’s no other reason!”

“I-I get it already.”

“How about a matching pair of rings?!… Mhmthat would be very interesting indeed…!” With these words, shereturned to her act and kept gazing at the ring.

I see, that reaction would make sense if shereally was acting it out… But still, a pair of rings, huh. Having amatching pair of rings would really make them seem like engagementrings…

“And since we wanted to buy presents,wouldn’t this be the best idea ever…!” She glanced at me with anexpectant gaze.

Well, I guess she’s right that we wanted to buypresents for the Christmas party, but…..

“But didn’t Mai say that we’re going toexchange the presents randomly?”

“Hah?!” As I said that, it seemed likeSuzuka remembered something and her face changed into a more seriouslook. “T-That’s right. If we buy that, somebody else might get thering and have a matching pair with Onii-chan…?!”

“Who said we’re going to buy a pair?! Andalso, I think that the possibility of me getting a ring is very slimto begin with…”

“N-No! T-That’s still way toodangerous……!” She panicked.

Her acting really is on point as always.

“Well, buying a matching pair of rings wouldreally be a bit over the top… I mean, we’re here only for researchafter all, so let’s not.”

“Muuu……” Suzuka glared at the rings.

But, she didn’t show any intention at all tolook way… She really wants them that much, huh.

“Ah, then, how about you try one on?”

“Eh?”

“I mean, buying it would be impossible, butyou can at least put the ring on once to try it out. You seem to havetaken quite the liking to it.”

As I said that, her eyes opened wide, only forher to nod with a bright red face.

We called an employee over, who checked thesize of Suzuka’s finger and went to bring a ring that would fit.

“O-Onii-chan, s-since it’s come to this, willyou put it on for me…?”

“Eh? M-Me?”

“D-Don’t misunderstand me! It’s only forour research! Umm, at times like this, I think that the boy shouldput it on the girl… that’s what I think as the heroine…!”

S-So she meant it like that…..

Nodding, I took the ring. Suzuka presented herleft hand, but what finger should I put it on? The ring finger,right? But, that finger should be reserved for her real marriage…Is it really fine when we’re just doing this for research?

In that moment when I was hesitating…

“Ahh, what the hell are you doing?!”

Just when I thought that I heard a loud voice,two familiar faces appeared in front of us. A red-haired beauty and ablonde-haired beauty—

“Mai and Double Peace-sensei?! W-Why are youhere?!”

“We came here to buy supplies for ourtraining camp! And rather than that, Yuu! What are YOU doing here?!Together with this beauty that I’ve never seen before…! And withthat ring…!”

“You’re misunderstanding!”

“Just what I would expect from Sensei, desu!Your sexual desire really is endless! Sensei really is a top-notchfiend, desu!”

“Can you not say such things about me inbroad daylight?!” Having to explain myself in front of theseproblematic two, I started to panic.

To think that those two had to run into usright at this moment…!

“And who is that beauty next to you!? Everytime you leave your number one fan behind and go play with anothergirl…..!”

“I’m clearly not?! And that doesn’t haveanything to do with you being my number one fan, right?!”

“H-Himuro-san, please calm down. It’s me,Nagami Suzuka!” As Mai started crying, Suzuka stepped in front ofher.

“…Eh? S-Suzuka-san? W-Why? Your hairstyleis completely different from usual…”

“Oh, so it really was Imouto-san, desu. But,why did you change your look? Not to mention be all lovey-dovey withSensei?”

“We weren’t lovey-dovey at all!” — BothSuzuka’s voice and mine overlapped.

“This is just, uhm, research!”

“I knew that you took Suzuka-san with you onyour research before… but aren’t you taking it a bit too far withthe rings?! Don’t tell me— you finally sank your poisonous fangsinto her…..!”

Hearing her assumption, I happened to blurt out”As if I would!” but in that moment, Suzuka pulled on my sleevewith an “O-Onii-chan….!”

…T-This isn’t good. Right now, we’reperforming research for my own novel… what if they found thatout…?! Worst case, they could find out that I’m not actually thereal Towano Chikai. It seems like I have no other choice but to coverit up with all my might. Of course, my pride as a human being willgreatly suffer because of this, but I don’t have any other optionavailable…!

“W-Well, it really is research, you know? Ijust thought that there might be a scene where the big brother putsan engagement ring on the little sister’s finger, so I wanted togather some data for that. That’s why I had Suzuka come with me toact that out…”

“I thought so! So you really forcedSuzuka-san! There’s gotta be limits to your research, right?! At thisrate, I could report you to the police, you know?! A case of a youngman sinking his poisonous fangs into his little sister… somethinglike that!”

“What’s with that weird case name?! And I’mreally not doing anything like that, so could you please refrain fromcalling the police?!”

“Really, my respect for Sensei is onlygrowing, desu. So when are you going to do your research withImouto-san on your next erotic scene? Please don’t refrain frominviting me either, desu!”

“There will never be any plans for that!Don’t just decide on that on your own!”

But it seems like I managed to cover up thereal goal of the research… with a certain number of sacrificesthough. Thinking that I did a good job, I looked to Suzuka, but…

“You didn’t have to deny it that forcefully,you idiot of an Onii-chan…”

Why are you glaring at me with that poutingexpression? I do think that I did a good job here for your sake.

“But what a coincidence to meet you here,desu! Let’s buy the essentials for our training camp together. Andwhile we’re at it, you can tell us about your research in moredetail, right, desu?”

“A-Are you serious….?”

“Yes, that’s a good idea. No matter what kindof little sister novel you’re writing, you’re flirting withSuzuka-san way too much! You really should pay more attention to theother girls around you! This is a good opportunity for me, so I’llgladly talk you out of it!”

I’m really not going down the little sisterroute though… But I couldn’t just say that out loud right now.

“Fu fu fu. You can’t run away now, can you,Sensei?”

“Yes… That being said, I guess our researchis over, Suzuka.”

“I know that we can’t help it but still…Muuuu…..!” Although she seemed to be complaining, she nodded atmy words.

I wonder if I was just being a bother likealways… Either way, I can tell that this is going to be dangerous…my experiences during these past months is basically screaming thatinto my face.

“Now then, let’s change the location. Maybewe’ll also take a quick break where we’ll be able to listen toall that Yuu has to tell us.”

With Mai’s words, our group left the accessorystore behind us. Merely imagining what was about to come, I let out asigh.

In that moment…..

“Ah.” I stopped my feet as I rememberedsomething.

“What’s wrong, Yuu?”

“Ah, sorry. There’s something I have to dofirst, so go on without me. I’ll catch up with you all soon.”

Without waiting for her answer, I separatedfrom the girls.

“You don’t have to hide it from us if you’regoing to buy eroge, Sensei. We don’t mind, desu!”

“As a girl, you really should, though!”Retorting with that, I walked away.

What I remembered just now — Suzuka’sbirthday, which is the 26 th of December, right afterChristmas.

A long time ago, we had always prepared a hugebirthday party for her every year, but after our relationship took aturn for the worse, it got awkward and we stopped. But this year willbe different. Although our relationship hasn’t changed all toomuch, since I became her stand-in she’s warmed up towards me.That’s why I definitely have to make her happy on her birthday.

“That’s my duty as her big brother!”

Muttering that to no one in particular, Iheaded towards the place I had in mind.