Volume 7 Chapter 2

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A lovey-dovey bondage session?!

Part 1:

“…I won’t give up because ofthis! Even if countless hardships stand in my way, someday, I willmake Onii-chan look only at me! A-After all, I love Onii-chan themost in the entire world!!!”

“O-Ohh…!”

I watched the climax of the storyunfold with excitement and tension. Unconsciously, I even made a fistwith my hand, leaning forward.

“Onii-chan! Let’s go take a bathtogether!”

It was the very first important scene,where after being enveloped by jealousy induced because of amisunderstanding, the little sister barges in while her older brotheris taking a bath. It was perfectly represented, with both stellaranimation and a great job done by voice actors.

“T-This is amazing, Suzuka. Everysingle aspect of it is of such high quality! There’s no way thatthis won’t be a godly adaption!”

“……………I see.”

I shook the shoulders of Suzuka, whowas sitting next to me. She didn’t show any interest in responding.But as her number one fan, I was too focused on the anime to pay anyattention to her. In the booth across from us, behind a wall ofsoundproof glass, Minazuki-san had finished the recording. Shenoticed our gazes upon her as she turned around. And with a brightsmile, she made a V sign with her fingers.

It was a few days after Suzuka hadbrought her friends over. We were on the way to a certain indoorstudio in order to watch the recording for Suzuka’s anime. Ofcourse, this anime was none other than the adaption of “The storyabout a little sister who loves her big brother way too much tocope.” In the fall of last year, planning for the anime hadstarted, and it was decided that the voice recording would start thisyear in spring.

“Sensei Sensei! How was Sakura’sacting?!”

We were inside the breakroom, andMinazuki-san came running towards us as soon as her job had finishedfor the day. Just a short while ago, she had won the role for thelittle sister heroine Yuuka. The happiness she had showed at thattime couldn’t be expressed in words, and even now, she looked likeshe was having the time of her life during recording.

“It was very well done. I’m reallyglad that I came here to watch.”

“Yaaay! Sakura couldn’t be happierto hear that from Sensei!”

When I responded with my honestfeelings, Minazuki-san jumped up and down in joy.

…Minazuki-san really is amazing. Heracting for Yuuka was on point, and I could clearly see why she wassuch a massively popular voice actress. As for the anime itself, theart style was wonderful, the acting of the other voice actors wasalso amazing, and when I once more realized just how high the qualityof this adaption was…

“Fufufu, like this, Sakura can callSensei ‘Onii-chan’ as much as she wants!” With a teasing smile,Minazuki-san shoved her face into mine.

“Uuu… Well, that was the promise…”I replied with a bitter smile.

Minazuki-san loves the fictional Yuukaso much that she started seeing herself as her, thinking of me as theolder brother, and even started calling me ‘Onii-chan’.

…Well, although I would really likeher to not do that so much, she begged me for the right to call methat if she got the role of Yuuka—

…And of course, she got the role.

It feels really weird to be called’Onii-chan’ by her, not to mention that Suzuka’s mood seems toget worse every time she does it, but a promise is a promise.

I knew just how hard Minazuki-sanworked to arrive at where she was now, and I couldn’t exactlyrefuse her after seeing her splendid acting. So I had mentallyprepared myself ahead of time. However…

“Fufu, Sakura was just joking. Shewill call Sensei ‘Sensei’ just like always.”

“…Eh? W-Why? You were so adamantabout it.”

Minazuki-san startled me when she saidthat, and I couldn’t hide my surprise.

“Hmm… Sakura still doesn’tbelieve that she has become Sensei’s little sister. That’s whyshe will take Yuuka-chan’s role and study even more about what itmeans to be a little sister. And as for that, she will call Sensei’Onii-chan’ when the time comes.”

Hearing her response, I could only letout an uncertain “O-Okay…?” in response.

…I don’t really know what she meansby that, but it sounds like something she’d say, anyway…

That being said, her motivation was sostrong that I once more felt great respect for what she was doing.

“So instead!”

“Eh? H-Hey?!”

While I was in the middle of beingemotionally moved, Minazuki-san suddenly clung to my arm. Herwell-endowed breasts were pressing directly against it, and I startedpanicking from the sudden assault of softness.

“W-What are you doing?!”

“In order to become a real littlesister, Sakura wants some direct acting guidance!”

…A-Acting guidance?! What’s thatsupposed to mean?!

“Since Sensei is the originalcreator, you have to tell Sakura where her acting is still lacking!For example, in that one hugging scene, Sakura still feels like she’slacking something. What else should Sakura do at times like these?”

While saying that, she was pressing herweapons of mass destruction against my arm, throwing my mindoff-kilter.

“E-E-E-E-E-Even if you ask me that!M-Minazuki-san’s acting was spot-on, so there was nothing I couldcomplain about…!”

“That’s not true! There must becountless things that Sakura was lacking in. Don’t hold back!Please colour Sakura however you see fit! …Ah, but if it’ssomething perverted, then Sakura doesn’t have any experienceeither….”

Why would she suddenly arrive at thatconclusion?! Uuu… since it’s Minazuki-san, I don’t know ifshe’s serious of if she’s just teasing me. Whatever it is, I haveto do something, fast. If not, I’ll have to face Suzuka’swrath—

Or at least, that’s what I thought,but…

“………”

“………………S-Suzuka-san?”

“…For some reason, Suzuka-chandoesn’t really seem to be into it today.”

With Minazuki-san still clinging to me,I glanced at Suzuka. When I did, I found her just staring up at thesky, spacing out. Normally, she would scold me and say something like”W-What are you doing Onii-chan!” whenever something like thishappened.

“Sensei, Sensei, what happened withSuzuka-chan?”

To be honest, that’s what I wanted toknow.

…For some reason, Suzuka has beenacting really weird these past few days. It’s like she’s constantlyspacing out, or she’s always lost in thought… Or I think that sheis, but out of the blue, she suddenly glares at me with tears in hereyes. I’m always wondering if I’ve done something, but nothingcomes to mind. At first I thought that she was mad because of theincident when her friends came over to play, but she doesn’t lookmad at all… Rather, she looks depressed, but when I ask her aboutit, I get shot down immediately with an “It’s nothing.”

“I even don’t know myself. This isthe first time I’ve seen her like this…”

“Hmmm, is she worried aboutsomething? Suzuka-chan, Suzuka-chan, what happened?”

Even when Minazuki-san called out toher, there was no response. At first, Minazuki-san stared at Suzuka,confused, but she suddenly started grinning as she turned to look atme.

“Sakura doesn’t know what’swrong, but this is definitely a chance!”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“Whatever Sakura does to Sensei,Suzuka won’t get mad! So with that being said, Sakura is asking forSensei’s guidance on love acting!”

“You suddenly became thiscalculating?!”

“Sakura will do anything in order tobecome Sensei’s real little sister!”

Saying that with a grin, she hugged mewith her entire body.

This is pretty bad, isn’t it?! Nomatter how much I struggled and complained, she just ignored it withand said “This is for Sakura’s acting after all~”. On thecontrary, maybe because she was still tense from the recordingsession, she was even more energetic and only clung to me even moretightly.

“……?”

That moment, as if she had finallynoticed the rukus that Minazuki-san and I were making, Suzuka lookedat us in realization. She followed this up with a sigh and returnedto her senses.

“P-P-P-P-P-Please let go of Onii-chanalready!”

She suddenly jumped between me andMinazuki-san.

“Kya!” Minazuki-san let out ashriek.

But, judging from her face, you couldclearly tell that she was just acting. Suzuka for her part didn’tlook like she was acting at all, and spread her arms out whilestanding in front of me, as if she wanted to protect me.

“W-W-What… are you doing…?!”

Though her actions were the same asalways, she seemed different.

…How do I say it? It’s like she’soverreacting, or she’s being oversensitive.

“H-Hey, what’s wrong with youtoday, Suzuka?” I asked

“Huh?!”

When I called out to her, Suzuka seemedto have snapped out of it.

“I-I’m sorry. I took it a bit toofar…” She said, taking a deep breath.

…But she immediately turned around toglare at me.

“O-Onii-chan, why are you letting herdo this to you?” She suddenly asked.

That just now was Minazuki-san actingon her own volition as usual, and even though she should’veunderstood that, she still directed her anger at me.

“You know, I tried my best toresist…”

“I-It wasn’t nearly enough! Youshould at least dislocate your shoulder to escape from her grasp!”

“Do you think I’m a ninja?! Asif I could do that!”

“…Ah? D-Don’t tell me, did youenjoy what Minazuki-san did?”

“Wha! Is that so, Sensei!?”

“No, it’s not!!!”

You’ve got the wrong idea! That’s90% not true! And the other 10% is because I’m a boy, so forgive mefor that much!

“W-Wait a moment…? If that’s thecase, then does that mean that Sakura-san is Onii-chan’s?!”

…Mhm? W-What? Why are you suddenlyglaring at me?

“That’s right! Sakura is Sensei’sfuture little sister!”

“Again, don’t just bring up moreunnecessary information!”

“…I-It seems like I was wrong…Haaaaah~”

And Suzuka for her part was weirdlysatisfied… What is this, really…?

“S-Sakura-san, don’t just cling toOnii-chan like that.”

“Ehhh? But Sensei will be Sakura’sfuture Onii-chan, so isn’t it fine?”

“D-Don’t just say that so lightly!And there won’t be any future like that!”

“Ah, but who will be the older sisterthen?”

“You’re still talking about that?!And don’t just move the conversation in weird directions! AndSakura is older, so we don’t even have to think about that!”

“Anyways, in order to improveSakura’s acting, she has to cling to Sensei like that!”

“Are you not listening to me?! And ifyou really need it, I will give you whatever acting guidance youneed! After all, I am Onii-chan’s little sister!”

“………”

Somehow, they had started fightingwithin a matter of seconds…

Trying to avoid becoming a casualty, Iescaped their grasp and headed towards the back of the break room,leaving them alone.

“Really…” I gazed at the two ofthem as I left.

…All this excitement that I had forthe anime is completely gone now…

To be honest, there’s something thatI’m wondering about. Though Suzuka’s weird attitude is also aconcern of mine right now, there’s something even more concerningthat I’m constantly wracking my brain about. This was of course the’rumour’ that I had heard about from Nikaido-san. The rumour thatSuzuka and I had a weird relationship—she said that such a rumourwas going around the school. Of course, I knew very well why thatrumour had come into existence, but I couldn’t just let it sit likethat. As for how to get rid of it, that was what I was trying tofigure out this past while.

…But, ahhh for crying out loud, whydidn’t I realize it sooner…? I should’ve known that it wouldcome to this. If siblings started acting lovey-dovey at school, itwould be natural for other people to get the wrong idea. But we can’ttell them about the research… and they might not believe us even ifwe did tell them… Ahhh, what should I do?!

I don’t care what people think aboutme. They can go ahead and bully me or whatever they want. But I don’twant Suzuka to suffer. As her older brother, I would never forgivemyself if anything like that happened.

“But… you know.”

I wasn’t able to come up with astrategy, and could only sigh in defeat.

“Oh, what might be wrong, my comrade?Are you not satisfied with the adaptation so far?”

In that moment, someone sat down in theseat in front of me. When I looked up to see who it was, I saw theexecutive director of the anime, and the older brother ofMinazuki-san: Sakurada Itsuki-san.

“Ah, no, that’s not it. On thecontrary, the anime has been wonderful so far. I can’t wait to seethe finished product.”

When I responded with that,Sakurada-san pushed up his glasses and said “I’m happy to hearthat. I’m giving it my best for my comrade’s novel, after all.”He seemed satisfied. “Sakura-tan’s acting was on point, and shewas completely engrossed in it. When she said ‘Onii-chan’, I wasjust…! I have to get a recording of that for myself!”

“What is this executive director evendoing?!” I retorted, while Sakurada-san continued speaking like hewas in a trance.

“No no, as a fellow older brother,you should understand, right? This feeling of wanting to recordeverything your cute little sister does or says…! So how about weclosely watch our respective little sisters while they’re talkingover there!” Sakurada-san said as he took out his smartphone. Hebegan to film Minazuki-san.

…T-This is person is the same asever. Minazuki-san really has it rough… Really, he’s such abother. As a totally normal older brother, I cannot understand hisfeelings at all. Not one bit. Yeah.

“…What’s with that difficultexpression on your face?”

“Eh?”

Before I had realized it, Sakurada-sanwas suddenly looking at me with a serious expression.

“Don’t just ‘Eh?’ me. Youshowed me that expression, so of course I’d ask you about it. Ifit’s not about the anime, then maybe you’re worried aboutsomething else?”

After he said that with such a seriousface, I swallowed my words. It’s true that this problem might betoo big for me, but I can’t just tell somebody else—

…Wait a second? Asking someone elsefor advice… I had never thought of doing that. If you can’t comeup with an answer on your own, it’s completely rational to asksomeone else. But, the people around me who I could ask foradvice—Mai, Double Peace-sensei, and Shinozaki-san’s facessuddenly came to mind. But no matter how much I try to reconcile it,I shouldn’t ask them… At least not for this problem.

…But what about Sakurada-san? He alsohas a little sister, and he’s in the same position as me. Not tomention that he’s fairly close to me age-wise, so he might actuallybe able to help me…

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Ah, well, actually…”

Having thought that far, my mouth justopened on its own and I told him about the problem. After all, I wassick of having to think about everything on my own.

“Hmm… a rumour about you and yourlittle sister at your school…”

“W-Well, we are also to blame for it…But there’s absolutely no truth to this rumour. I don’t reallycare about myself, but I have to do something for Suzuka…”

After I explained the situation,Sakurada-san was lost in thought with a serious expression on hisface.

“I see, I’ve grasped the basicproblem behind your worries.”

“Ohh, so you understand!”

Hearing him say this, I really feltrelieved.

…H-He might really be able to helpme! Though he has his weird points, he still is a grown-up man, afterall!

—Or that’s what I thought.

“…W-What’s up with that? I’m soenvious!!!”

“…………Huh?”

W-What did he just say?

“You’re going to the same school asyour little sister, and a rumour is going around about yourrelationship with your little sister?! Of course I would be enviousabout that! …Shit, just what I would expect from the greatestlittle-sister-lover Towano Chikai…!”

“Um…”

“Ahhh, I also want rumours to spreadabout me and Sakura-tan…! My respect for you has grown tenfold!”

“N-No, that’s not the problemhere…”

“Ohh, right! The part about it thatyou’re worried about? …Um, you want to know how to make therumour even more intense?!”

“No! The complete opposite! Did youeven listen to me?!”

“There’s absolutely no need for youto ask me for advice! You just have to do it like in your own novel,that’s all! I don’t see any reason to be worried at all!”

“Ah, I see, you didn’t listen atall! For Christ’s sake!”

…What have I been thinking? Askingthis person for advice about anything little-sister-related is atotal waste of time…!

What a sad reality. I have basically noone who I can ask for advice.

“Oh? Why do you suddenly look sodown? Ahh, you don’t have to hold back. As someone who alsoidolizes his little sister, let’s go down the forbidden pathtogether!”

I didn’t have any energy left torespond to the heated-up Sakurada-san. But, while he was busy pattingme on the shoulder with a grin…

“…What are you announcing in such aloud voice?”

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiya!?”

Luckily, Sakura-san appeared behind hisback, with a dark aura around her. Of course, her expression was thatof a forced smile. She was as scary as always.

“Going full idiot-mode in a placelike this…!”

“Y-Y-Y-You’re wrong, Sakura-tan!I-I was just saying that for the sake of my comrade here…!”

“Don’t sully Sensei’s name! Heactually is a worthy older brother! Will you stop pestering himalready?!”

“B-But! Sakura-tan!!!”

“…What are you doing here withDirector-san?”

In the meantime, Suzuka also arrivedwith an exhausted expression on her face. In response, I could onlywordlessly shake my head. I couldn’t tell her, and I didn’t wantto tell her either.

In the end, I still didn’t know whatto do, and the only thing left to cheer me up was the thought thatthe anime adaptation was going well so far.

Part 2:

“There’s a lot to consider, I see…T-There’s no deeper meaning to it, but I would like the same phoneas Onii-chan. H-He can just teach me if I don’t understand anythingthat way…”

After leaving the recording studiobehind us, we didn’t head home immediately, but took a detour to asmartphone shop. The reason: Suzuka wanted to get a new phone.

Saying that it would be a waste to getrid of a working phone, Suzuka has been using the same old flip phonefor years. Lately, though, the battery has been running out tooquickly, so I used that opportunity to convince her to get a new one.

That’s why we had taken this detouron the way home, but…

“Onii-chan, are you listening?”

“Eh? Ah, yeah, sorry. What was that?”

While Suzuka was busy looking aroundthe store, all I could think about was the rumour that had been goingaround the school.

“Really, pull yourself together a bitmore, Onii-chan. I just said that I wanted the same model of phone asOnii-chan…!”

“Ahh, that’s right… Let’s see,since mine is already pretty old too, getting the exact same modelwould be kind of a waste. How about this one? It’s the same make,but it’s got the latest upgrades.”

“I-I see… But that’s prettyexpensive. Aside from making calls and writing emails, there’s aren’tmany other uses for them, so this older model that’s on sale shouldsuffice.”

“…With your royalties, shouldn’tyou be able to afford the latest model without a problem…?”

“I won’t waste any of it.”

Suzuka spat out these words like theywere a knife at my neck, and I could only muster a scared “Y-Yes!”in response.

As always, my little sister, who’sresponsible for all of our household finances, really pays attentionto this sort of thing. While Suzuka went back to checking out themany phones on display, I once more focused my mind on the rumour.

…It doesn’t matter how much I wrackmy head about it, I won’t just come up with an ingenious idea outof the blue…

If only I could use that lie that I’dtold Nikaido-san about having a girl that I like—or even better, agirlfriend, then I could blow away those rumours with ease. But Idon’t have a girlfriend like that, and I don’t think that I couldkeep up the act, even if I asked someone else for help. I do have Maias a potential candidate… but considering how air-headed she is,she would probably be found out immediately. And now that I thinkabout it, even if I had a girlfriend, people might call me out andsay that I’m cheating on my girlfriend with my little sister. Iguess that I have no way of getting rid of this rumour by myself.

While I was starting to fall intodespair, I realized something.

…If I can’t make it disappearcompletely right now, then I can just try to tone down the rumour asbest as I can. After all, a rumour only stays active for as long asit’s interesting. If I stop the flow of information and stop addingfuel to the fire, then people will forget about it faster.

“…That’s right, that’s what Ihave to do.” I nodded to myself when I found my solution.

I just have to get rid of the reasonbehind the rumour immediately. And speaking of that—

Click

“Uwaaa?! W-What?”

I heard a metallic click in front ofme, in response to which I hurriedly glanced up.

“…S-Suzuka? What are you doing?”

What greeted me was the sight of Suzukaholding a smartphone with a flushed face.

“W-What, you ask…? I just took apicture. It’s practice in order to get used to this smartphone.”

A-Ahh, I see… So that’s what itwas.

It seems that while I was lost inthought, Suzuka had decided on a phone.

“Don’t scare me like that… And ifyou’re really going to practice taking photos, wouldn’t there bemore photogenic things to take photos of?”

“N-No, I wanted to take a photo ofOnii-chan anyway… F-Firstly, to make it my wallpaper..”

“Wallpaper? A picture of me?”

“Ah…! N-No, this is…! That’sright! It’s just for research! The heroine in the novel also wantsto get a new smartphone, so that’s why this is perfect!”

…That’s right, she had depicted theheroine as having a similar phone as hers…

“A-Anyways, we’ve finished ourbusiness, so let’s go home, Onii-chan!”

“Ah, hey.”

Suzuka grabbed my hand and pulled meout of the shop towards our home. As we made our way there, Suzukacontinued to make me pose in various locations, making sure to takeperfect photos every time. And it wasn’t just that…

“H-Hey, isn’t it fine already?”

“I-I still need more! This is all formy research! Ehehehe…!” Suzuka said as we huddled together for aselfie. She seemed nervous for some reason.

Even when I told her that it shouldhave been more than enough pictures already…

“T-That’s not true. On thecontrary, this is far from enough!”

“Far from enough…? You…”

“That’s right…! I’ve beenthinking this for a while, but our research has been lacking ingeneral! We have to do even more lovey-dovey research than before!”

“Ehh?! W-Why?! You said that you weremaking good progress with your next volume, right?”

“That’s… a difference inopinion!”

No no no?! I won’t be satisfied ifyou just dismiss it like that, you know?!

“U-Uhm, I was thinking a lot… And Irealized that I can’t keep going on like this. At this rate,Onii-chan will be taken away from—n-no forget about that! I thinkthat I’m still lacking, and I don’t want to disappoint thereaders like this!”

The normally relaxed and cool Suzukawas currently panicking, trying her hardest to force out her wordswhile furiously gesticulating withher hands.

“But, I don’t think that thereaders have lost any interest in your novel at all…”

“T-That’s not right! I can feel theimpending danger!” screamed Suzuka with flushed cheeks and tears inher eyes.

U-Uh… I don’t really get it, butSuzuka seems to be confident that she’s right. I mean, she is thereal Towano Chikai, so she should know it better than anyone. Iunderstand that much, and I can see why she wants to increase thequality of her novel, so I want to help her as much as I can.

…But, you know…

I can’t forget about that rumour. Andspeaking of said rumour, this is the perfect opportunity for me tobring it up.

“I understand. If that’s the case,then I will help you out as much as I can.”

“Really?!” …T-Thank you verymuch…! W-We’ve been flirting for so long, but I’m lookingforward to it! Ehehehe…!”

“Well, I really wish you’d keep iteasy on me in that regard… But, since it’s for your novel, Ican’t help it. I’ll prepare myself.”

“I-Is that so! Ehe… Ehehe,ehehehehehe.”

“However.”

“Eh?”

“Concerning the lovey-dovey researchat school, I think that we should stop it!”

Part 3:

Onii-chan looked like he had made uphis mind, as he made a fist with his hand as he continued.

“The reason why this rumour has beengoing around school is because we’ve been doing that lovey-doveyresearching. If we were to stop that, then that rumour woulddisappear sooner or later. This is the only choice we have, don’tyou think?!”

Though Onii-chan said that with anupbeat tone, I could only stare at him blankly, with all the colourdraining from my face.

“…………………………………………………………………Eh?”Unable to process the situation, I could only let out a dumbfoundedsound. “Eh… Ehh…? Ehhhhh? S-Stop our research… at school…?”

“It should be fine, right? If it’soutside school, I’ll help you out with whatever research you want.”

N-No, wait… but that’s… He wantsus to stop being lovey-dovey at school…? D-Don’t tell me, theperson Onii-chan likes is at our school…? And he doesn’t want tobe seen being lovey-dovey with me…?!

“W-W-W-W-W-W-What is the meaning ofthis, Onii-chan?!”

When I finally understood the meaningof Onii-chan’s words, I found myself fiercely hemming him in.

W-What are you saying, Onii-chan?! Thisresearch is exactly for the purpose of showing the person thatOnii-chan li—is interested in how close we are! At the same time, Ican show Onii-chan my charm! Flirting at school is an essential partof the plan, you know! I-I swore to myself that I wouldn’t give up,I swore that I would become even more lovey-dovey with Onii-chan, andnow he’s going to deny me that…! As if I could remain calm aboutthis!

“I-I mean, doing this at school wouldbe bad in a lot of ways, right…?”

“How exactly?! It’s a necessarylocation for our research! Being seen by someone else is exactly whatit makes it so special and valuable…!”

“P-Please enact those situations inyour imagination. Whatever you say, I cannot allow this rumour togain any more traction, and I will try my best to stop it fromspreading.”

Weirdly enough, even when I brought upmy research, Onii-chan remained unmoved, and stayed grounded in hisstance.

S-So he really is being influenced bythe girl he li—he is interested in…!?! N-No, at times like these,I have to think about this rationally. This is the one time in mylife where I have to use every brain cell at my disposal. In order tonot lose Onii-chan to another girl, in order to definitively marryOnii-chan in the future, this is my most important battle…!

But in that moment, a certain word thatOnii-chan had said struck a nerve.

“…Rumour? What do you mean?”

That’s right, those words feltweirdly out of place for me, and I asked Onii-chan about them.

“Ahh, you might not have realized ityet—well, it’s not like I realized it, either. There’s a weirdrumour going around the school. Uhm, it’s about us siblings, youknow… having an abnormal relationship…” Onii-chan grimaced withslightly flushed cheeks.

When I heard that, my body startedshaking. From happiness, of course.

W-What’s with this rumour…? Thisis… the best thing ever!!! B-Basically, it looks like Onii-chan andI are going out! We are lovers! A married couple! Soulmates! Sothat’s how we look to everyone else at school?! I-I had no idea…!Something… Something wonderful like this was happening behind myback…?! Just what I would expect from Onii-chan’s high school!All of the students are excellent!

…Ehehehe, ehehehehehehehehe. What isthis? Just because of one rumour, it feels like my plan has suddenlybecome a great success. If we were to become even more lovey-dovey,we might as well turn this into an established fact…! Ehe, ehehehe,ehehehehehe…!

“We can’t just ignore that rumour,right?”

Though I had entered the world of myfantasies because of my happiness, Onii-chan’s voice called me backto reality.

…T-This isn’t good! This flow ofevents…!

“Is that so~? I-I don’t really mindit at all~?”

‘Or rather, I’m actually reallythankful for it~?’—is something I really would have liked to add,but that would have been too much.

“I mean, your heart’s pretty strongafter all, and you might not care about this rumour very much, but…”

“T-That’s exactly right. That’swhy there should be no problem at all…!”

“No, I can’t ignore it. I don’tcare if I turn out to be wrong about it, but I won’t ignore thefact that you might suffer from this rumour. I cannot allow otherstudents to look at you with weird eyes…!”

“Eh…?”

‘N-No, that is actually exactly whatI am hoping for’—is what I wanted to say in order to convincehim, but I can’t. After all, I can clearly see how worriedOnii-chan is.

…Ahhh, those serious eyes… I caneven see myself reflected in them… I could feel those kind feelingsfrom Onii-chan radiating towards me, and I could feel tears startingto build up in my eyes. Onii-chan was looking straight at me. Helooked so unbelievably cool that I felt like falling down to my kneesand proposing with “Please marry me!”

…W-What should I do about this?Onii-chan is worried about me, and he wants to stop our research atschool just for my sake. However, I cannot allow that to happen. Whydid I even transfer schools if not for this? Not to mention thatstopping now would give the girl that Onii-chan li—is interested inbasically a free pass to get him.

“P-Please understand this, Suzuka.It’s fine. We can do that research outside of school.”

T-This is very bad…! I-I have to finda way to not hurt Onii-chan’s goodwill without stopping that rumourfrom spreading…! But, is there really any way to do that? No, Ijust have to figure it out no matter what. Onii-chan’s and mylovey-dovey colored highschool life is on the line here! And evenmore than that, our glorious future is on the line!

“……!”

I concentrated like I never had before,and my brain started working at lightning speed. I don’t get thisserious even when I’m fantasizing.

“Ah…!!!”

And finally, I found it. The perfectplan to achieve the most effective result! Am I a genius orsomething?!

“I understand, Onii-chan…”

“I-Is that so, you understand… I’mglad.”

After hearing my words, Onii-chanlooked relieved from the bottom of his heart. But I wasn’t quitedone yet. I confidently continued.

“…Basically, it’s fine as long aspeople don’t get the wrong idea, right?”

Part 4:

“…………”

While I was walking towards school thefollowing day, I felt a bit awkward. That reason was of courseSuzuka, who was walking next to me. Yesterday when we were talkingabout the rumour going around school, Suzuka said that the researchwould no longer come across as suspicious to the other students. Evenwhen I asked what she meant, she just shrugged it off with “You’llunderstand tomorrow!” and such, so even when it was the day inquestion, I had no clue what she was going to do. And, probablybecause of that, Suzuka was also acting weird. Although she seemedrather excited, she kept her distance from me.

…I don’t think that she’s in abad mood, but I can’t just ask her outright… Maybe she decided tocompletely give up on doing research at school?

Now that I think about it, she wouldalways start clinging to my arm by this point, but…

“What’s wrong, Onii-chan?”

Today, she doesn’t look like she’splanning on doing that at all. She was just walking normally next tome.

…This feels a bit lonely… —Wait, what am I thinking?! She’s just doing what I asked herto do! Yeah!

Trying to force those weird thoughtsout of my head, I once again directed my thoughts to the rumour.Suzuka’s words from yesterday had left me curious, but I’m gladthat I managed to satisfy her at the least.

“Ah, good morning, Suzuka. You’re abit late today.”

We were now relatively close to theschool, and coincidentally, we happened across Nikaido-san. Thoughshe glanced at me for a second, we weren’t doing anything dubious,so she greeted me with a normal “Nagami-senpai too, good morning.”

“Good morning Kaede. Yes, you areright, it took me a bit longer to get out of the house.”

She’s telling the truth. For whateverreason, Suzuka’s preparations this morning had taken more time thanusual. This is really weird, since Suzuka isn’t the type to belate.

“Ahh, good morning Kaede andSuzu-chan.”

When the three of us started walkingnext to each other, we also met up with one more friend of Suzuka’s,Shiina-san.

…Now that I think about it, she callsSuzuka “Suzu-chan.”

She has this grown-up attitude, andyou might even think that they’re siblings —is what I wasthinking when it happened.

“…Wha?!”

I suddenly felt a soft sensation on myarm, and I turned around to identify the source.

“Ehehehehe…”

When I did, Suzuka had slightly flushedcheeks with a teasing smile as he clung to my arm, trying to wrapherself around it.

“W-What…?!”

Probably having heard my suddenoutburst, Nikaido-san turned around in surprise, while Shiina-sanreacted with a calm “What’s wrong?”

In that moment, Suzuka let go of my armbefore the other two saw her, and acted like nothing had happened.

“What’s wrong, Nagami-senpai?”

“N-No, uhm…”

…T-That’s what I want to know?!

When I glanced over at Suzuka, she hada face like nothing had happened. In the meantime, Nikaido-san andShiina-san only looked at me in confusion before they turned aroundand resumed walking.

“…!”

Of course, the very next moment, Suzukaonce more clung to my arm.

“…Y-You, what are doing?!” Iasked Suzuka in a quiet voice so that the other two couldn’t hearus.

“…O-Of course it’s research. Thenormal lovey-dovey events… However, we will do it in such a waythat nobody will realise it…!”

W-What did you say…?! I thought wewere going to stop doing the research at school…?!

While I was lost in confusion, Suzukasuddenly brought her face closer to mine and softly blew into my ear.

“Uhyaaa?!”

I couldn’t hold back that shriek, andin response the other two turned around again. Of course, in themeantime Suzuka had already returned her normal position.

“…What’s wrong with you, Senpai?Why did you suddenly scream like that?”

“Ufufufu, Suzu-chan’s older brotheris such a jokester.”

Nikaido-san was making fun of me, andShiina-san only smiled at me.

…S-Suzuka, you…! Blowing into myears… what are you thinking?!

After making sure that the other twohad turned around once more, Suzuka talked to me in a quiet voice.

“…I-I told you, this is forresearch. Yesterday, I said that it’s fine if they don’t see usafter all…!”

Apparently that action just now wasembarrassing even for her, because she averted her eyes and lookeddown with a red face.

“…So this is…?”

“…T-That’s right. If you’reworried about the rumour, then we just have to do our research whenno one can see us…! The name for this research is ‘Hiddenlovey-dovey operation’…!”

H-Hidden lovey-dovey operation?!

“…W-With this, we can belovey-dovey while still being at school, and it feels like aforbidden relationship, so it makes my heart pound faster—no,excuse me…! This is all to achieve a higher quality in mywriting…!”

With those words, she wore a triumphantlook on her face, her cheeks still red.

…No, but… that’s… Ehh?

I was so troubled by that plan that Ididn’t know how to respond at all. But it was even more troublesomesince I understood exactly where she was coming from.

…But, is this really possible?!

“W-What are you acting all shockedfor? Like this, we can dispel Onii-chan’s worries. And also, I willbe able to direct Onii-chan’s attention towards me so that he willeventually forget about the person he li—is interested in…!”

“My attention… to what?”

“Ah?! I-It’s nothing…! A-Anyways,we will do our research like this, so there shouldn’t be any reasonfor Onii-chan to complain, right?!”

After finishing her statement, Suzukaonce more clung to me. Though it might not be much, I could feel hersoftness on my arm as evidence that she’s grown, making mestraighten my back in surprise. I almost let out another shriek, butI barely managed to hold myself back.

…T-That was close…! The other twowould have turned around again…! But wait, doesn’t this mean…?

From what I understand, Suzuka plans todo this lovey-dovey stuff whenever nobody is looking at us. And thatwill surely happen out of the blue like right now. Fair enough. Afterall, you never know when you will get a chance, and she wouldn’thave the time to tell me “Here we go!” upfront.

…So basically, I will be the victimof spontaneous research, and I have to make sure that I don’t letout a shriek like just now…?!

When I realized that, I hurriedlyturned over to look at Suzuka.

“Ehehehehehehehehehehehehe…”

However, Suzuka was now completely inresearch mode, and she just let out a weird laugh, completelyignoring my stare.

Hey! You’re the crucial part of thisplan! What are we going to do if you space out?! And, isn’t thehurdle for this research a bit too high?! This research is even moreextreme than before, and you think that we would be able to hide thisfrom being seen?!

“I see. Suzuka, what do you thinkabout Kotomi’s story?”

In that moment, Nikaido-san, who was inthe middle of talking with Shiina-san, suddenly turned around. In thesame second, Suzuka hurriedly separated from me, and I took a stepaway.

“Dowa?!”

“…You seem to be excited for somereason, Nagami-senpai,” Nikaido-san said, to which I responded witha bitter smile.

…Damn it, that was way too close…!

“Oh? Suzu-chan, your face is a bitred. Are you okay?”

“Y-Yes, everything is okay. Thanksfor worrying about me, Kotomi.”

Apparently she couldn’t erase herexpression fully in time either.

Are we really going to continue thisall the time during school?— I thought, but I realized thatSuzuka was glancing at me, letting out a small giggle.

…Uuu… she’s totally going tocontinue this… Ahh, for crying out loud! I’ll do it, okay?! I’myour stand-in, so I’ll help you as best as I can! And I can achievethat by making sure that no one sees us!

“…………”

While I was gazing up at the sky inresignation, Nikaido-san glared at me with a suspicious gaze.

…And here we are.

A lot of things happened after that,and I’ll spare you the details, but there’s one thing that I wantto make clear.

………I-I’m so tired…!

My only saving grace, and I neverthought that I would say this, was class. After all, Suzuka couldn’tdo anything during that time. But she more than made up for it duringbreaks. She would occasionally come over to our classroom, call outfor me, and be lovey-dovey…

The contents of said acting wereescalating by the second, and instead of hugging my arm, she startedhugging me from behind, putting her hands around my neck, or tellingme to hug her myself… Trying to hide all of that really was hard.There was one time that I had to hide us hugging by turning my backto the other students.

“…Suzuka having such a smallstature is really a saving grace,” I said then, only to be glaredat by the person in question. Really, having to be on guard for thestalking Mai and Suzuka’s clingy friends was quite a lot oftrouble. Especially since one of them was Nikaido-san…

That’s why I was close to collapsingwhen it was finally time for lunch break.

…Even if it’s Suzuka-sama we’retalking about, she’ll surely be satisfied with this, right?

“N-Now then, I think we can move onto the next stage.”

Lunch break.

Like always, I went to eat lunchtogether with Suzuka, so I made my way towards the lounge. And themoment I arrived, Suzuka blurted out those words.

“T-The next stage…?”

It sounded really bad already, but Ihad no other option than to ask her about it.

“I think that we are hiding ourlovey-dovey actions—I-I mean, our research pretty skillfully, butthere’s another situation I really want to try out.”

“Another situation?”

“It’s not all that different. It’smore like we’ll act the same, but with an extra condition…!”She said that and started rummaging around inside of her bag.

“T-This is it,” She finally saidand stopped rummaging.

While I looked on, she pulled out theobject, and it finally entered my line of sight.

“Bfuuuu?!” Upon seeing it, I almostchoked.

“W-Why do you have handcuffs withyou…?!”

This is the most random item in such arandom place! Why… did she bring those to school…?!

“C-Calm down, Onii-chan. This is justa prop for our research.”

What kind of research requires these?!

Seeing my shocked reaction, Suzuka’sface turned red.

“If we put these on, we cannotseparate even by force. This means that we can be as close as wewant, and we won’t have to hide it in an emergency. So that’s whywe’re going to continue our hidden lovey-dovey operation withthese.”

“…You’re intentionally raisingthe bar, you know?”

“T-That’s right. That’s exactlywhat I’m aiming for. On top of trying not to be seen by anyoneelse, we have this additional hurdle, which should result in evenmore lovey-dovey events.”

…Seriously.

“You’re not really wrong aboutthat, but why handcuffs…?”

“T-To write an even better novel, Ineed to get even better data from my research. And in order toachieve that, I will need more realism.”

Hmm… I’m not completely satisfied,but if the real Towano Chikai says so, I can’t argue with her aboutit. After all, Suzuka continues to make every volume more interestingthan the last, so there’s not much I can say…

“…A-Also, since you’ll be at adistance where you want to get away but can’t, Onii-chan will haveno other option but to be aware of me…! Just like my head is alwaysfull of Onii-chan, Onii-chan’s brain will only be full of me…!”

“But, Suzuka?”

“Hyaaa?! W-W-W-What is it?!”

“What if, in a one-in-a-millionchance, someone were to see us using these handcuffs…?”

“W-We just have to be even morecareful! A-And also, we will only be using them during this lunchbreak, so something this simple shouldn’t be too hard! A-Any morethan that, and I wouldn’t be able to bear it either!” Suzukasaid. In response, I crossed my arms and started thinking.

…Hm… If it’s just during lunchbreak, it might work out…?

It won’t be any longer than an hour,and it’ll be over as soon as we’re done eating. And since Suzukais so serious about this, she probably wouldn’t be satisfied if Isimply said no. She’d demand some kind of explanation.

…I guess it can’t be helped. As afan of her novel, as her stand-in, and as her older brother, I can’tdecline my little sister’s wish.

“T-Thank you very much! T-T-T-Then,let’s hurry…!”

When I accepted, Suzuka’s face turneda vivid red, and her hands were shaking furiously as she put thehandcuffs around her wrist and mine. With a metallic clack, we werenow connected. Having become aware of that fact, embarrassment filledmy body, and I could feel my own cheeks getting hotter.

“T-This…! This really feels likewe’re doing something that we shouldn’t…!”

“D-D-D-D-Doing something like thiswith Onii-chan at school…!”

“C-C-C-C-Calm down Suzuka…! We haveto hide this..!”

“I—I belong to Onii-chan…! Ourdestinies are intertwined…!”

“S-Suzuka-san?! Return to yoursenses! This isn’t the time to space out!”

While I called out to Suzuka, I triedto calm myself down, too.

…This is even worse than I hadimagined. We’re siblings, and we’re tying each other up withhandcuffs during lunch break. There’s no way we could talk our wayout of this if we got caught. At all costs, we definitely have tokeep this a secret…!

In order to hide the handcuffs, webrought our bodies as close to each other as possible and put ahandkerchief on top of them in case someone suddenly approached.

“…T-This is even more exciting thanI thought it would be. W-Well, that’s exactly what makes it so goodfor research, though… Ehehehehehe…”

Suzuka’s emotional strength really ison a different level than mine. To think that she would be able tokeep the research in mind at a time like this…

That being said, I also started to calmdown, bit by bit. Hiding it like this should be fine after all.

“But why you even have thesehandcuffs…?”

“D-Double Peace-san left them at ourhouse. They aren’t mine.”

Well, that’s what I had expected.That girl really loves to bring cosplay costumes and othereroge-related things to our house, after all. Though she always saysthat she’s just careless, she probably leaves them there onpurpose. Though I don’t know why.

“…Haah, well, whatever. Let’sjust eat our bento then. It would seem weird if we just sat here.”

“T-That’s right.”

Taking out our bentos (which were madeby Suzuka, of course), we put them on the table. If we were to justspend our lunch break like this, surely nothing bad would happen. Andif I took my time eating, Suzuka wouldn’t think of doing anythingbad.

—And just when I went to open the lidof my bento.

“Ahh, it’s Yuu and Suzuka-san. Thisseat seems to be open, so I’ll be taking it.”

“Eh? M-Mai?”

Suddenly, Mai came walking towards us,planted her butt on the seat opposite from mine, and put down aplastic bottle filled with milk tea and a sandwich wrapped in plasticpaper from the convenience store on the table. This is how shesometimes eats lunch with me. Normally, like a proper stalker, shewould just sit a few seats away from me, constantly staring at mewhile I was eating lunch. She’s been doing that since our firstyear, even after Suzuka transferred here, and she hasn’t changedher ways at all.

…No, sometimes I feel like she’sbeen eating with us more often? Whatever her reason is, I didn’treally have the time to think about it right now.

“…H-Himuro-san, and with timinglike this…!” Suzuka muttered.

Yes, just as Suzuka said, Mai couldn’thave had worse timing. If she finds out about the handcuffs, shewould without a doubt cause enough trouble to forcefully get us inthe worst kind of trouble. We have to keep this a secret from her nomatter what…!

“What’s wrong with you two? Are younot going to eat?” Mai asked while unwrapping her sandwich. BothSuzuka and I twitched in shock.

…T-This isn’t good. W-We can’tallow ourselves to act weirdly right now or she’ll get suspiciousof us!

“N-No, we were about to starteating,” said Suzuka as she picked up her chopsticks with her righthand.

Seeing that, I also opened the lid ofmy bento box, and was about to pick up my chopsticks with my freeleft… hand…?

“Huh? Why do you have the chopsticksin your left hand, Yuu? Your right hand is your dominant one, right?”

Listening to Mai’s statement thatonly a true stalker could make, I froze up.

…That’s riiiiiiiiight! I totallyforgot about thaaaaaaaaaat!!!

Now that my right hand is connected toSuzuka’s left one, I have no other option but to use my left hand!

“Ah…”

Suzuka’s expression showed that shehad also realized it.

—W-What should we do?! H-How can wecover this up…?!

“Ah, well, that’s… I know! I-Iwrote too much on my manuscript, so my hand hurts today…!”

“Ehhh?! I-Isn’t that pretty bad?!Wait, don’t you type your novels up on your PC? Why does only yourright hand hurt if you were using a keyboard?”

“T-That’s… I just felt likewriting it by hand yesterday! Well~ I was so focused that I finishedwriting 10.000 pages~! I got pretty bad Tenosynovitisbecauseof it!”

Uuuu…what a bad excuse…!

“I-Isthat so? I see, so Towano Chikai writes by hand at times…! Alright,I’ll try that method when I get home today! Though my deadline ispretty close, I’ll consider it part of the challenge!”

Butto my surprise, Mai actually believed me like an idiot?! T-There’vegotta be limits to how air-headed you can be…! But just this once,I’m thankful for it!

“Ah,then, since you’re having trouble eating with your left hand—”Saying that, Mai stole the chopsticks from my hand, and…

“I-I-I-I-Ican’t help it, so I’ll be so kind as to feed you myself! H-Here,open wide!”

Pickingup a side dish from my lunch, she held out her hand towards me.

“H-H-H-Himuro-san?!W-What are you—?!”

“L-LikeI said, I will feed Yuu since he’s having problems with his lefthand! Now, open wide!” She urged me again.

Ofcourse, I opened my mouth to decline her offer, but Mai used thatopportunity to stuff the food into my mouth.

“Mugu?!………Y-You…!”

“Ehehehe~How is it? Is it delicious?”

Mailooked awfully cute while holding a hand to her slightly flushedcheeks, so I could only nod in silence… I think that my face alsoturned a bit red.

“T-Thankyou—Ouch?!”

Inthat moment, I felt a sharp pain on my thigh, and when I looked overat the most likely source, Suzuka was glaring at me.

“Y-Youseem to be quite happy, even though this is supposed to be research,Onii-chan…!”

“N-No,it’s not like that, but…!”

“Himuro-san,I’m sorry, but as his little sister, I will be the one to take upthat duty!”

Suzukaused her own chopsticks to pick up some food, and pushed it towardsmy mouth, but…

“…W-Wait!If you do that, it really will look like we’re lovey-dovey!Wouldn’t that completely defeat the purpose of this…?!”

“Ah?!B-But, allowing Himuro-san to be lovey-dovey instead is also…!”

“…I-Iknow! Ahh, Mai, uhm, I’m happy that you want to help me, but Idon’t want to bother you, so I’ll try to eat with my left hand.”

“Eh?I-It’s not like you have to hold back or anything, you know? I-I’myour number one fan after all, right?! S-Something like this shouldbe totally normal, right?!”

“N-No,this is just the result of me overdoing it. It’s also importantdata for me to do experience this for myself.”

Ireally had no idea what sort of nonsense I was saying, but Mai seemedto be satisfied. She replied with “If that’s Towano Chikai’sway of doing it, then I can’t help it,” and returned mychopsticks.

…Shereally is a good girl. If only she weren’t a stalker…

“O-Onii-chan,is it really fine for you to eat without any help?”

WhileSuzuka said that with an apologetic tone, I started eating my lunch.And, just when I thought that we had averted the crisis…

“Ah.”

Maihad just opened her bottle, but she lost grip on the lid, and it fellto the ground. It rolled across the ground away from Mai and stoppedbehind my back.

“SorryYuu, but can you pick that up for me?”

Havingno other choice, I stretched out my hand towards the lid, but…

Rattle!

Thatmoment that sound rang out, my body stopped moving.

“Hm?What was that sound? It looked like Suzuka-san’s body moved for asecond?”

…N-NowI’ve done it… I moved without thinking…!

Stillwith my hand stretched out, I froze up. But it was already too late.If I were to return back to my original position now, Mai woulddefinitely think that something’s up.

“What’swrong, Yuu? You froze up in a weird position.”

…I-Idon’t have the time to space out like this…!

Ata loss for what I should do, I helplessly looked at Suzuka. When Idid, Suzuka seemed to understand my nonverbal communication, and shereturned a slight nod.

“Huh?Why is Suzuka-san suddenly sitting on Yuu’s seat?”

“T-There’sno deeper meaning to it! I just wanted to change seats that’s all…!Isn’t that right, Onii-chan?!”

“Y-Yeah.I also felt that way!”

Inorder to give me more space to work with, Suzuka took a seat on thechair that I had been occupying a second ago.

Buteven so, I couldn’t quite reach it. Even though it was just a bit…!Come on, sudden growth spurt of my arms, don’t fail me now…!

“…Suzuka-san,why is your body leaning sideways like that?”

“I-Ijust felt like stretching for a bit!”

ApparentlySuzuka was trying to give me those few extra centimeters I need inorder to reach the lid.

But,because I suddenly straightened my posture back to normal—

“Kya…?!”

Losingher balance while also being pulled by my arm, I could see Suzukafalling towards me.

“Careful!”

ThoughI tried my best to support her body, we both fell into the floor.Thankfully I managed to catch Suzuka with my arms, so she didn’thit the floor as hard as I did.

“H-Hey,are you two okay?!”

Maijumped up in surprise and came towards us.

Yeah,we’re okay— iswhat I was about to answer when I realized.

…T-Thisisn’t good! She’ll be able to see the handcuffs…!

ThoughI tried to move my right hand, it wouldn’t move at all. I glanceddown to look, and my right hand and Suzuka’s left hand were bothhidden between our bodies, luckily hidden from view from everyonearound us.

…T-ThankGod. Suzuka probably took that position in the heat of the moment.

Realizingthat we had narrowly averted such grave danger, I let out a sigh ofrelief. And finally, I realized that my right hand was holding ontosomething soft and spongy.

…Hmm?What’s this? My right hand should be between our bodies—

“O-Onii-chan…!”

Inthe next moment, I heard Suzuka’s teary voice, which sent a shiverdown my spine. When I looked down, I saw Suzuka glaring at me withtears in her eyes and with her face as red a cherry.

…Wait?Don’t tell me, this soft feeling is… her breast?

“Uuuu…Uuuuu…!!!”

Suzukatried her best to hold back a scream, and I was assaulted withfeelings of both guilt and embarrassment.

“Kyaa?!W-What are you doing, Yuu?!”

Tryingto hide my shame, I quickly helped Suzuka get up and hurriedlygrabbed the bento boxes.

“W-W-W-We’llbe excusing ourselves!”

Sayingthat, we ran away from that place, leaving Mai behind.

“…Haaah…Haaah… that was horrible…”

Afterreaching a place inside the school building without any peoplearound, I put my hands on my thighs, taking deep breaths.

“M-Mybreast… was touched… by Onii-chan…! Uuuu…!”

Suzukaslid down to the floor while resting her back on the wall. Of course,those accursed handcuffs were still connecting both of our hands.

“SorrySuzuka… I-I didn’t do that on purpose…!”

“I-Iknow! That was an accident we couldn’t avoid, and I know, but…!”

Yes,logical thinking doesn’t matter here. The fact that I groped mylittle sister’s chest doesn’t change.

Ahhh,shit… I want to die right now…!

“Anyway,I’m sorry!”

“P-Pleasedon’t apologize any more…! It makes me remember what justhappened…!”

Becauseof my words, a wave of red washed over Suzuka’s face.

“L-Let’sjust forget about it…! That was just an accident, so we both shouldforget about it…!”

“You’reright!” “Yes, I’m right!” The both of us exchanged thesewords with red faces.

And,after taking some deep breaths, I finally felt myself calming down.

“Haaah…even if this is research, handcuffs are a bit over-the-top, youknow?”

WhenI lifted my right hand a little, the handcuffs made a metallic sound.

“T-That’sright… Though it certainly isn’t bad as far as research isconcerned, the impact is stronger than I had anticipated. It wouldprobably be best to halt this research.”

Weirdlyenough, Suzuka also agreed with me.

…Well,I can’t blame her after what just happened… But let’s not thinkabout that anymore. “We’ll do this research at home then,” shewhispered at the end of that.

“A-Andalso… Um… there is another big problem right now…”

WhileI was thinking that, Suzuka started fidgeting.

“Whatbig problem?”

“U-Um…like I said…! T-The bathroom…!”

…………Ah.I-I see, so she was fidgeting because of that… T-That really is abig problem!

“T-Then,hurry up and go. I’ll take off the handcuffs, so give me the keys.”

“Y-Yes,they are right—”

Suzukaput a hand into her bag.

“Oh,Suzuka and Nagami-senpai? What are you doing in a place like this?”

“……!””……!”

Avoice suddenly called out to us, and we both twitched in surprise.Because of this, Suzuka’s hand hit my own—

“Ahhhh?!”

Andjust like that, the key to the handcuffs gracefully flew out of thewindow and down into the flowerbed below.

“Ah!What’s wrong?”

Ofcourse, both of us were leaning out the window, watching thisunfortunate event happen, but those words called us back to reality.Of course, we quickly hid the handcuffs behind our backs.

“Kaedeand Kotomi?! W-What are you doing in a place like this?!”

Standingthere were Nikaido-san and Shiina-san. Both of them looked surprisedand were staring at Suzuka.

“Wewere just heading to the clubroom building.”

…Oh,right, I totally forgot about that.

“Sowhat about Suzu-chan and Onii-san? You look like you’re panickingabout something.”

“N-No?!T-T-T-T-That certainly isn’t the case?! R-Right, Onii-chan?!”

“Y-Yeah,you’re right. W-We were just strolling around a bit?!”

“…You’respending lunch break together and not doing anything special at all?”Nikaido-san looked at me with eyes full of disbelief.

“W-Wewere talking about what we should make for dinner today. S-Sincethere are a lot of things that Onii-chan likes and dislikes, I haveto ask him beforehand if he is okay with it! Right, Onii-chan?”

“Y-Yeah.I know~ I’m really sorry for bothering you this much~”

Thoughmy acting was awful, I had no other choice but to play along withSuzuka. By the way, I’m not really that picky about food, sinceSuzuka had always told me that I should eat everything on my plate.

“Fufufufu,you two really are close.”

“…………”

ThoughShiina-san giggled with one hand on her cheek, Nikaido-san onlycontinued to glare at me.

“R-Ratherthan that,” I said, “don’t you two have a meeting or somethinglike that? Shouldn’t you hurry to that? Lunch break is going to endpretty soon.”

“Ah,that’s right. Come on, let’s go, Kaede.”

“…………Yeah.”

Likethat, we had managed to get ourselves out of yet another predicament.Somehow. Though Nikaido-san continued to glare at me with asuspicious gaze, I didn’t have the leisure to care about that. Whenboth of them rounded a corner and disappeared completely, both Suzukaand I let out a sigh of relief.

“…Wait,this isn’t the time to be relaxing like this!”

“T-That’sright! We have to hurry up and get the key to the handcuffs…!”

Bothof us quickly got up and started running towards the flower bed. Weran down the stairs, through a hallway with no one around, and aftermaking sure that nobody was looking, we started searching through theflowerbed for the key.

“Ahhh!Where did it go?!”

“Uuuu…W-We have to hurry…!”

However,we couldn’t find it. The only things that we could find wereflowers of various colours.

“Auuuuu…!”

Andin the meantime, Suzuka’s fidgeting grew more intense. She seemedto be close to her limit, and tears were starting to form in thecorners of her eyes.

“I-Ifit’s come to this, it might be better to… uhm… finish yourtoilet business first…”

“B-Butmy hands are still connected to Onii-chan’s…!”

Yes,that’s exactly the problem right now. Now that we’re connected bythese handcuffs, we can’t separate far enough for her to be able tocalmly finish her business. Not to mention that I can’t forceSuzuka into the men’s toilet. If, in a one-in-a-million chance, aboy came by and saw Suzuka, I don’t even know what would happen.The only thing I knew for sure was that I couldn’t allow Suzuka’simage to be sullied in any way.

Then…what about somewhere in the shadows, in the grass where no one cansee her…?

“I-Iwould rather bite my tongue and die…!”

—Suzukareplied after I made such a suggestion, glaring at me with tears inher eyes.

…Well,that makes sense, I guess. And there’s no way that I could actuallyforce Suzka to do something like that… So, the only option leftis…!

“……”

“……”

Wewere wrapped in an awkward silence. Of course, we both knew the onlyoption left.

“Ahhh…Suzuka.”

Thatbeing said, we couldn’t keep quiet forever, so I decided to takeone for team.

“O-Onii-chan…!”

However,maybe sensing what I was about to say, Suzuka opened her mouth.

“I-Ihave the request of a lifetime…!”

………And.

“Well,I knew that it would come to this…!”

“Nomatter what, don’t ever look inside, okay…?! A-And, until I saythat it’s okay, you have to completely cover your ears…!”

Thatmust have been the fifth time she had said that as her bright redface peeked through the opened door. I only gave a half-assed “Iknow…”, as I pushed some paper into my ears, cutting off thesound as best as I could.

—AndI don’t think that there’s any need to explain where our currentlocation was.

…Itwas the girl’s toilet… And I was crouching in front of it. Ahhh,I want to die…! What was I doing here…? No, you don’t need toyell at me. I know. We couldn’t get the handcuffs off, and sincethat she couldn’t hold it in anymore, we only had this option left…But this is way too harsh!

Thechain on the handcuffs was way too short, so I basically had to pushmy arm into the stall. There was no chance of hiding quickly enoughif anyone were to enter. I really felt like a total pervert.

…Well,we really didn’t have any other way, so there’s no use grumblingabout it.

So,as her older brother, I swallowed my almost nonexistent pride, allfor Suzuka’s sake.

AndI don’t regret that decision.

…Butthings still are tough…

“Ugh…”

SinceI couldn’t do anything in this situation, I decided to keep waryand watch the entrance of the toilet, standing by in case anyone wereto enter. Luckily, we were pretty far from the classrooms, and onlythe chemistry preparation room and materials room were close to here,so the chance that anyone besides Suzuka would use this toilet wasrather slim.

…Still,whatever the odds of it happening, in the worst case scenario my lifewould be over the instant anyone were to come in here.

That’swhy I had no other chance but to pray that Suzuka finishes herbusiness as fast as she could.

“……………?!”

Then,I heard a certain sound.

…Ihave earplugs in, but this sounds like… water? Wait wait waitwait?! D-D-D-D-Don’t tell me that’s…?! …Yeah, it could onlybe one thing in this situation. There’s no mistake, this is—

“~~~~~~~~~!!!”

Isomehow managed to hold back my voice from leaking out.

…W-What the hell am I imagining?! I thought that you wanted to protect Suzuka’s dignity, so what the hell was that abouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutttttt?!

Itightly shut my eyes, and tried my hardest to focus my thoughts onsomething else.

Isn’tthere something?! Anything?! …I know! Let’s think about thechants from SukaMaga! Remember them!

“…… ‘Purple lighting that pierces the darkness… Punish thosewho have stained the heavens! [Judgement Thunder]!’ … ‘You, whoshall not walk on the heathens, return to nothingness! [BanishDeath]!’ … ‘The one who banishes logic and reason, fall intothe sky! [Gravity Lapse]!’……”

Tryingmy best to focus on my own thoughts, I recited quotes that I likedfrom SukaMaga. While trying to drown out that water sound, I alsomuttered them out loud. And just when I had finally run out ofmaterial to quote…

“…Nnnn?Huh…?”

Iraised my head and looked towards the sink. Drops of water werefalling from the faucet…

“Sothat’s what it was!”

Havingfound the source of the sound, I subconsciously spoke out loud.

“Uwaaa?!”

Andsuddenly, I felt something tap my shoulder. I felt my heart stop.

“…O-Onii-chan,calm down. It’s me, Suzuka.”

However,when I turned around, I saw Suzuka. Apparently she had finished herbusiness, and had left the stall without me realizing it.

“…It’syou…! Thank God…! In a lot of ways…!”

“…I-Itroubled you so much with this…! I’m so sorry…!”

“Ahhh,it’s fine, it’s fine… Let’s just hurry up and leave, andsearch for the keys again… Lunch break will be over soon,” Isaid, as I pulled the makeshift tissue earplugs out of my ears.

Suzukanodded in response, and we were about to step out of the bathroomwhen it happened.

“…You’reright~” “I know, right?”

Bothof us froze.

…D-DidI just hear voices? Two girls… and it sounds like they’re comingcloser…?!

“O-Onii-chan…!”

Itseemed that my ears hadn’t failed me, because Suzuka was alsostarting to panic. She suddenly grabbed my hand tightly, and I feltthe sweat on her hand.

“…Havingto clean up the materials room, huh?” “Right~? What bad luck.”

Thistime I heard them clearly! And they’re definitely coming this way!…T-This is bad! Their destination surely is the girls toilet!They’re about to come in, aren’t they?! I-I have to hidesomewhere!

Well,in this situation, there’s actually only one place to hide, butsince this was a rather unimaginable predicament for a boy like me, Ihesitated.

“…Onii-chan!”

ButSuzuka reacted faster than me. She pushed me into the stall andlocked the door. At the same time, the girls entered.

“………!”

“Pssst…Stay quiet, please!”

Insidethe small stall, Suzuka and I were looking at each other, with ourbodies as close as they could get. With a red face, Suzuka put herhand over my mouth, and I could only nod in response.

…Uwaaaa!I’m being forcefully kept quiet like this in a girl’s bathroomstall by my little sister. What kind of pervert am I…?!

T-Thisis where Suzuka just —Iforcefully stopped my thoughts mid-way. And this shouldn’t beanything weird, since Suzuka and I live under the same roof, but Istill couldn’t help but be conscious of it.

“Huh?What was that sound?” “It seems like someone was in herealready.”

Fromacross the door, I could hear the girls holding a conversation abouttoilet ghosts or whatever, but I didn’t bother paying anyattention.

…Ahhh,will you hurry up and leave already…! T-This is bad in a lot ofways…! I-In a whole lot of ways! I won’t be able to stand thissituation for much longer…!

Apparently,it wasn’t just me who felt that way, since Suzuka’s face right infront of me was so red that it was close to exploding. Tears werestarting to form in her eyes… P-Please put up with it for just alittle longer, Suzuka…!

Finally,after a few minutes—which felt like a whole hour—the girlsfinally left, and we safely managed to escape.

“P-P-P-P-Pleaseforget about that…! Or rather, erase it from your memories…! I-Iwill have to remember it though for my research…!” Suzuka saidwith a shaking voice while hurrying down the hallway. Just as she hadsaid, I decided to lock those memories away in a folder labelled’Dark past’, and vowed to never look through them again.

…Really,I don’t want to remember that again.

Bythe way, immediately after that, we found the keys to the handcuffs.They were sitting out in a really obvious open patch of the flowerbed. Humans really fail at the most basic of things when they’reunder pressure.

Part5:

“…I-I’mso tired…”

Allof the classes for the day had ended, and I had just gotten out ofthe last period, homeroom. I rested my head on my desk.

…Whata horrible day, really…

“Whyare you so tired? Is it because you didn’t eat anything duringlunch?” While saying this, Mai came over to me, but I didn’t feellike responding to her in the slightest. “W-Well, you have to takecare of your body, okay? I’m gonna go ahead, since my deadline isright around the corner. I’ll have you help me with my researchnext time, okay?”

Aftermaking her selfish demands, Mai left the classroom. I sighed, liftedup my tired body, and stepped out of the classroom as well.

“Ah,Onii-chan.”

WhenI did, I encountered Suzuka. It seems she came here to meet me.

“I’msorry, but can you go home alone for today?” She asked.

“Youcame all the way here just to tell me that? An email would’ve beenenough… Well, I have work today, so I don’t mind. Are you takinga detour somewhere?”

“No,that’s not it. I’m going to watch the theater club.”

“Theaterclub?”

“Yes,actually, Kotomi is a member of the theater club, so she asked me ifI wanted to come watch her.”

“Ohh,I see. Do you have any interest in that?”

“No,not necessarily—rather I’m interested in the costumes. Especiallythe ones made for men.”

“…F-Formen…? D-Don’t tell me; you have that kind of hobby…?”

“Wha—?!Y-You’re wrong! It’s not that! It’s just for my research!”

“Research?”I asked, and Suzuka continued.

“Sincewe’re not allowed to openly flirt with each other, I thought that Icould wear male clothes! That way, even if we were spotted, theywouldn’t realize that it’s me! It’s perfect!”

“Youreally don’t care what other people think about me, do you?!”

You’resaying that it would be fine if other students saw me beinglovey-dovey with another dude?! Are you a demon?! I would take a lotof mental damage from that!

“A-Anyway,I might come up with a new idea for my research, so I’m going to gocheck out the theater club! I’ll be back before curfew!” Leavingthose words behind, she turned on her heels and walked away.

…Anew idea for her research, huh…? She’s still going even after allthat happened during lunch break…? My little sister really is atough one.

“Well,whatever. It’s fine for her to spend the afternoon with herfriends.”

Sayingthat like I actually had friends of my own, I went on my way alone,which hadn’t been the case for quite a long time. But the moment Istepped out of the school building, someone called out to me.

“Nagami-senpai!Can I spare a bit of your time?”

Itwas Nikaido-san. As always, she had a rather dignified posture, andshe looked straight at me.

…W-Whatis it?

SinceI didn’t have any reason to decline, I nodded in response andfollowed her to the back side of the school building.

…W-Whyis she leading me to a place where no one can see us…?

“IfI may be blunt, I have something that I want to talk about.”

“W-Whatmight that be?”

WhenI unconsciously responded in formal language…

“…Nagami-senpai,there really isn’t anything impure going on between you and Suzuka,is there?”

Sheasked me the same question as before.

“Itold you that it’s not like that. I said that I had a person Ilike, which was why I would never lay a finger on my little sister.You were satisfied with that the other day.”

“…It’strue that I was satisfied at first, but my doubts haven’tdisappeared.”

“W-Whatkind of basis do you have for accusing me?”

“Intuition,mostly.”

…That’slike completely subjective, though!

“ThoughI have no proof for it, I grew up by following the way of the sword,so I have a sort of sense for those sorts of presences. But it’snot just that. You two were definitely acting suspicious on the wayto school this morning and during lunch break.”

Ugh…I can’t deny that… We were definitely acting weird.

“Andalso, when Suzuka is close to Nagami-senpai, she seems almost like adifferent person. Normally, she looks like a prideful knight to me,but when she’s around you, it looks like she can’t calm down forsome reason.”

“Uhm…well, how do I put it… We’re family, so she lets down her guardaround me? Isn’t that something normal? And why are you evendoubting me this much without any proof?”

“…That’sright. What piqued my interest the most was that I heard thatNagami-senpai was an otaku.”

Otaku…?Didn’t she bring that up before as well…?

“Uhm,I don’t really understand every single detail, but is theresomething wrong with being an otaku?”

“Otakushave the tendency to get lost in their indecent desires… A-And I’veheard that they often fantasize about their little sisters. That’swhy I think that my doubt is reasonable.”

“E-Eh?No…? What in the world do you think otaku culture is about?”

“……Wickedthings. Suspicious, indecent things. Harmful… things…”

ThoughI was a bit irritated by her speaking ill about something that I haddevoted my life to, namely writing light novels, this wasn’t thetime to get angry at her.

…Sobecause she has the wrong image of otakus, she projected that imageonto me?

“Nowlisten, otakus aren’t the monsters that you make them out to be.That’s nothing more than personal bias.”

“…However,that is my cognition. And that will not sway,” Nikaido-san said.She showed me a bitter expression for some reason.

But,when I was about to respond and try to convince her otherwise…

“Iwill take my leave here for today. Just know that I am worried aboutSuzuka because I am her friend. And I would like Nagami-senpai tohelp alleviate those fears.”

“Ah,hey?”

Withoutshowing any signs of stopping, Nikaido-san just left me behind,saying “If you would excuse me,” as she walked away.

“…What’sup with that?”

Aftershe left me alone, I wracked my brain on what to do. SeeingNikaido-san worry for Suzuka’s sake makes me really happy, ofcourse, but I want her doubts to be cleared up as soon as possible.However, her doubts are apparently connected to me being an otaku, soI have no idea how to achieve that. Maybe I should get even closer toSuzuka? Or maybe I should show Nikaido-san that I’m not actually anotaku at all?

“No,that’s probably impossible. It’s true after all.”

…Imean, I could just ignore her. She’s just doubting us due to sillyreasons.

“ButI don’t want her friendship with Suzuka to suffer as a result ofit…”

…Andalso, that rumour still remains a problem. Even if we keep up ourhidden flirting research, it’s of no use if Nikaido-san, a personclose to Suzuka, still doubts us. As long as there’s anything stillsmouldering, this fire will never go out.

“Still…how can I clear up this misunderstanding?”

Nomatter how hard I pondered this question, I couldn’t come up withan answer. I decided to leave and head to my part-time job.

“Nnn~?Nagamin doesn’t seem so energetic today~”

Esaka-sangreeted me with her usual lax attitude, but since I was stilldistracted by the incident with Nikaido-san, I didn’t pay muchattention to her.

“…Whatcan be done to clear up a bias against otaku culture…?”

Evenwhile sitting at the register, I had my arms crossed, and was deep inthought.

“Hmm…”

Ithappened while I was spacing out.

“U-Um,this please…”

Abook suddenly appeared in front of me, and I realized that a customerwas standing in front of me.

…Oh,oops. I shouldn’t trouble the shop with my attitude…!

Thinkingthat, I raised my head.

“Ah?”

Butin that moment, my eyes opened wide.

“Nikaido-san…?”

“Eh?Ah, Nagami-senpai?!”

Afterall, the person standing there was Nikaido-san, and when she realizedthat it was me, she dropped the book on the table out of shock.

“……Eh?”

Andwhen I saw the cover of that book, all the words that I wanted to saywere immediately taken from me.

T-Thisis— the sixth volumeof Enryuu Homura-sensei’s “Sky Magicka Guardian?!”

“Ah,t-t-t-t-t-this is not what you think…!”

ThoughNikaido-san hurriedly tried to hide the book, it was already toolate. When I looked up at her, she had tears in her eyes, and all herprior dignity had vanished from her bright-red face.