Volume 8 Chapter 3

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You shall not run away from collectingdata!

‘Actually, I really love Onii-chan,you know?’

“How was that?! This right here! Thisscene! Sakura became a real little sister! This might be the firsttime Sakura has let out such a soulful voice!”

“…It really was wonderful. Thoughit feels a bit frustrating, I can feel all the emotions of the littlesister perfectly. N-Naturally, I don’t have any feelings like that,though!”

“I thought about attacking theanimation company responsible if the anime turned out like crap, butthe quality is amazing! Well,that’s to be expected since it’s Towano Chikai’s novel we’retalking about!”

“The animations are crazy good, desu!This is the first time that the characters I’ve designed will beanimated like this, so it feels really weird! There will be even moreperverted scenes later, right?”

Summer break had started, and it wasafternoon, a few days in.

A loud and noisy group of girls’voices filled the living room. Everyone’s gaze was glued to the TVscreen, and that was to be expected, since the anime for TowanoChikai’s novel, ‘The Story About a Little Sister That Loves HerBig Brother Way Too Much to Cope,’ was playing.

As an aside, this wasn’t the actualpublic broadcast for the anime, but the company had sent us a discwith the pilot episode—the so-called ‘Shirobako’. If you werewondering why we were watching the episode in our living room of allplaces, it was because Minazuki-san had called us on the very day thedisc had arrived, saying “We might as well watch it together!” Itdidn’t sound like a bad idea, and since the original creator Suzukahad agreed, we decided to hold a viewing session today.

Those participating included Suzuka andI; the voice actress for the main heroine, Minazuki-san; theillustrator responsible for the illustrations of the source material,Double Peace-sensei; and Mai, who had somehow gotten wind of it. Wealso invited the Kanzaka sisters, but since they were quite busy withtheir own light novel work, they couldn’t join us.

Anyway, all that aside, everyone wasnow sitting in front of the TV, enjoying the world of ‘Littlesisters’. The quality was good enough to make the diehard fan, Mai,happy, and I had to agree with her assessment. Double Peace-senseihad also given her seal of approval on the character design. Thevoice actors, including Minazuki-san, all did a very good job. Hence,it was a satisfying adaption. No doubt it would turn out to be agodly anime.

I was already looking forward to thereactions of the viewers once the anime broadcasted, and I realizedthat the people at the anime company weren’t over-exaggerating whenthey said that they’d make it award-winning. Therefore, as a fellowfan of the source material, I was naturally more than delighted tosee it turn out as such a masterpiece—-Or that’s how it shouldhave been…

“………”

Actually, while the girls wereenthusiastically watching the screen, I was standing a bit furtheraway, and I just gazed at the screen, absentminded.

…I mean, it’s not like I’mdissatisfied with the anime itself. No really, not at all. It’sperfectly done, no doubt, and that’s what I felt from the bottom ofmy heart as I kept watching.

Then why was it that I couldn’t focuson this miracle happening in front of me? Naturally, I was alreadyaware of the reason for that.

It was something that happened a fewdays ago.

Taking all the information andreferences I had gotten from the boy-meets-girl meeting during ourparty, I rewrote my romcom and sent it to Sakaki-san. Shortlyafterwards, I got a call from said Sakaki-san, and this was theconversation that ensued.

“ Well, the boy-meets-girl elementwas implemented pretty cleanly, I guess? It has a bigger impact thanbefore, and it leads the story in an actual direction, as well.”

“R-Really! Then, with this, maybe…”

“ With this, you’ve passed thefirst hurdle, I think.”

“T-The first hurdle?”

“ Of course? Though it’s abother, really, we have to make something that will actually sell,you see.”

“I feel like I can hear your personalfeelings in there…”

“ Eating salt every day can bepretty tough, you know?”

“I was better off not knowing that!”

“ Anyway, to help me so that I caneat some cooked rice once in a while, we have to be thorough withthis. The next part should be the romcom part, I guess.”

“The romcom part, is it? …But thatisn’t a part of the plot, so I’d have to write it out…”

“ Writing and reading are both abother. Also, the events have to be fun, and unrelated to the actualplot.”

“I-I see…”

“ Like a swimsuit peek or apanchira or whatever. It’s gotta have some impact to get thereaders more invested so that they enjoy what they’re reading.Since people nowadays are so shameful and outrageous, that’s justwhat you need, yeah.”

“Weirdly enough, that makes perfectsense when you put it like that! But the romcom events in the middle,huh…?”

“ Yeah, the one that totally getsyou hooked. So, work hard and think about that for now. I feel likeyou’re getting better, so have at it, tiger.”

“S-Seriously?! You really think so?!”

“ Yeah. A bit more, and you’ll beclose to publishing it, I think? For the most part.”

“Publish it?! I-I understand! I’lleven think about it while I sleep!”

“ Go right ahead~. I’m going totake a nap as well. Oh right, did you know? If you sleep all thetime, you don’t have to pay for other stuff during that time. Forexample when you’re hungry, and—”

…From then onward, the conversationdrifted in a different direction, so I doubt that it’s reallynecessary to bring that up now, but yeah, that’s how it went down.

“…………Heh.”

That rather disgraceful sound leakedout of my mouth.

Not good, not good… I’ll startgrinning just by thinking about it…

I quickly stiffened my expressionagain, but my grin immediately broke my masquerade once more.

…I can’t help it, you know? Aprofessional editor, Sakaki-san, told me that I was getting better…!Directly! In real time! With this level of progress, she said that Imight be able to publish my novel soon! As if I could hold back mygrin! I’m slowly but steadily heading towards my dream of becominga professional author!

“…Fu, fufufu… hehehe…”

As you can see, my head was full withthoughts of my novel again, and I was unable to focus on Suzuka’sanime. However, in that moment, I finally managed to relax a bit.

After all, nothing has been written instone yet. This is just me gradually coming closer to my end goal,nothing more. Just as Sakaki-san said, I had just cleared the firsthurdle, and there are more to clear before I’ll be able to fulfillmy dream.

The TV screen was showing a scene wherethe fictional little sister, Yuuka, voiced by Minazuki-san, wastrying to be patted on the head by her older brother Ryou. While thegirls were intently watching, I was still lost in my thoughts.

The crux of romcoms… the romcomscenes… Those have to have an impact, and they’re there to keepthe reader interested… That’s what I have been struggling withever since that phone call I got from Sakaki-san. As enthusiasticallyas ever, I had written a huge number of romcom scenes and sent themover to her, but—

“ They’re all rejected. Also,reading them is a pain, so don’t just sent me so many in hopes thatone might be good.”

She got a bit angry at me about it.

I reflected on that, and decided togive it a bit more thought, but it wasn’t quite working out for me,which is why I was troubled like this. But in that moment…

“…Onii-chan, you’re spacing outagain.”

Suzuka had separated from the group ofgirls, and was now sitting next to me, which caused my body tostiffen up.

“You’re thinking about your novelagain, right?”

She didn’t necessarily look mad, andit looked like she had given up on scolding me. I felt a bit badabout it, because I hadn’t paid much attention to the adaptation ofSuzuka’s novel.

“You’ve been acting weird thesepast few days… S-So how is it?”

“H-How is what?”

“You probably were just toldsomething again by your editor, and now you’re constantly thinkingabout that, aren’t you? You managed to get past that boy-meets-girlproblem a while ago, so I’m assuming that it’s somethingdifferent now?”

H-How sharp can you be…? Why are youso completely correct…?

“Onii-chan really is Onii-chan. Idon’t know what you’re having trouble about, but if you don’tknow what to do about it, i-i-it seems like we might need to collectsome data together—”

Suzuka didn’t wait for my reply. Shejust continued on her own.

But for some reason, when the words’Collect data’ came up, I found myself tensing up.

“N-No, it’s not that. I was justthinking about plans for summer break. Like, I want to do somethingthat we’ve never done before.”

I thus tried to cover it up by sayingthat, not even realizing what I was saying. Even though there was noneed to hide it!

“Plans for summer break, huh?”

Suzuka herself seemed a bit taken abackby the sudden change in topic, and she looked up at me blankly. Shefinally seemed to realize something, though, “…Ah!” she said,following it up with a loose “Ehehehe…” laugh.

…W-What?

“I-Isn’t this the perfect chance…?!A summer break together with Onii-chan! Just the two of us…!”

“S-Suzuka?”

“A grown-up trip somewhere! I wasworried about how I was going to bring that up, but this is the bestopportunity! It seems like Onii-chan doesn’t have any plans yet,and if it’s not because of his novel, he should have no reason todecline!”

She turned her back turned towards me,and started muttering something to herself. Since she was talking soquickly, I wasn’t able to pick up anything. Hence, all I could dowas sit there and wait until she finally calmed down.

“O-Onii-chan! I-I-I have an idea forsummer break!”

After a short pause, Suzuka spun aroundtowards me and brought her body forward. I leaned back a bit out ofsurprise, and Suzuka opened her mouth, but everything that came outwas just mindless stuttering like “Umm…!” and “You see…!”.

And just when she looked like she hadmade up her mind—

“Ah, Yuu, the training camp is prettysoon, so you’d better have all your stuff ready.”

We suddenly heard that voice from aperson who hadn’t been part of the conversation before. Both Suzukaand I let out an “Eh?” and turned towards the source.

It turned out to be Mai, who wassitting backwards on the couch to face us. The anime screening wasalready over, but that wasn’t the problem right now…

“Did I just hear something about atraining camp or something…?”

“Yeah. Why are you looking soperplexed?”

“Umm, I didn’t hear anything abouta training camp…?”

“Huh? I’m talking about a summertraining camp as creators. Did you already forget that we did onelast year?”

No, I still remember. Last year, we hadgone to Mai’s private beach together, which even had a privateresidence. Of course, a lot of problems had occurred then, but thatwasn’t the matter at hand.

“Don’t tell me that we’re doingthe same thing again as last year…”

“Huh? Of course we are. It’salready been decided that we’ll be doing that every year.”

“When was that decided?!”

…I replied out of reflex, but I don’thave any memory of such a decision being made, you know! I searchedthrough my memories… Nope, nothing there!

“We just decided on it.”

“I don’t have any memory ofparticipating in this discussion?!”

“W-What about it?! What’s so wrongwith it?! A gathering of content creators shouldn’t be a bad thing!It’s not like this is skin off your back!”

…Unlike whomever made this suddendecision, I still remember what happened last year!

“Now now, Sensei. Just relax, desu.Going on a trip together is very fun indeed. You still haven’tdecided on your plans for this summer, right?”

Ugh… So she heard us just now…

“Sensei! Sensei! Sakura really wantsto go on a trip with everyone! She was really frustrated that shecouldn’t come with you last year, so this year she’ll definitelybe joining!”

Now Minazuki-san was also voicing herinterest.

…Oh right, we weren’t exactly onfriendly terms with Minazuki-san around that time last year. So whatshould I do? The main purpose of a training camp (although I had abad feeling about this) was to improve as a group, so there wasn’treally any reason for me to decline. It didn’t sound like a badidea to be able to enjoy some time at the beach with everyone, and Icould even ask Suzuka to collect some data with me. But I can’t.I’m way too lost in thought about my own novel right now.So much so that I can’t even focus on Suzuka’s anime right infront of me. There’s no time for me to go to a training camp rightnow.

“T-Training camp?! If we did that, mygrown-up adult trip with Onii-chan will…! N-No, we can’t! That’sjust too sudden…!”

Suzuka shared my mindset, and she shookher head. Now that she’s against it, I have my reason to not tagalong as well.

“You said that it’s a trainingcamp, but what exactly are we doing there? If we don’t have acommon goal, then we’ll just end up playing around, right?”

I tried pushing the conversation backtowards the ‘Let’s not go’ direction, but…

“W-We have a goal this time around!We have to settle the score from the romcom contest back then!”

I froze up the second Mai said thewords ‘Romcom Contest’.

“Do you mean that romcomcontest…?”

“Yeah. We never reached asatisfactory conclusion back then, right? I wanted to gather everyoneto finally put an end to this.”

“A-And what kind of contest are wetalking about?”

“O-Onii-chan?”

When I suddenly asked that question,Suzuka looked at me with a perplexed look on her face. But I wasn’tparticularly paying any attention to that at all.

…I-I feel like this is going in acertain direction… Maybe…!

“Like that boy-meets-girl contestbefore?”

“No. We didn’t even decide on thewinner back then, so we’re planning on doing it with specificromcom events—”

“I’m in! Please let me join!”

“Ehhhhhhhh?! O-O-O-Onii-chan?!”

I jumped up and loudly declared myintent to go. In response, Suzuka’s eyes opened wide. Mai, DoublePeace-sensei, and Minazuki-san were all a bit surprised at my suddenassent. However, there was only one thing going on inside my mind.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!God! God of light novels, thank you so much! This is a chance! It’sa perfect chance…!

Just right now, I had been troubled byexactly that, as well as how to increase the impact of differentscenes. I might get some new references by seeing another fierceromcom battle between Mai and the others, you know?! Of course I’dwant to participate! Maybe the gods above have finally acknowledgedmy love for light novels!

“S-So when is that training camp!? Imean, we can go just right now! I don’t really mind!”

“W-What are you suddenly so excitedfor?! And right now is impossible. I have to call the people who ownthe private beach anyway…”

“We can go camping as well orwhatever! Sleeping outdoors is perfectly fine with me!”

“Ehhh?! A-Aren’t you acting a bitweird right now, Yuu?! I mean, I don’t mind doing any of that withYuu, but… Give me some time to prepare! A few days should be good,so I’ll contact you later.”

When I heard that, I could feel myselfgetting impatient.

But I can’t panic here. Instead, Ihave to fully prepare myself to absorb everything they come up with!

“Sakura doesn’t really know whatjust happened, but if it means that she can go on a camping trip witheveryone, then she’s happy!”

“Fu fu fu, Sensei sure is motivatedall of a sudden, desu! No doubt that this year’s camp will be evenmore exciting than last year! It seems like I’ll have to preparelots of cosplay outfits and other things!”

Minazuki-san and Double Peace-senseiseemed delighted about being able to go. Well then, please help mecome up with some interesting romcom scenes!

“O-Onii-chan…”

While everyone else was acting excited,I could hear Suzuka’s detached voice next to me. When I looked downat her, her body was slightly shaking as she glared up at me.

…I’ll be honest. I wasn’t in myright senses then. That’s why I had no idea what Suzuka was upsetabout, even though it should have been obvious. And not just that…

“Suzuka, let’s enjoy the trainingcamp this year as well!”

After I said that, there was no savingme anymore. Naturally, after everyone went home, I reaped what Isowed, if you catch my drift…

*

I was really mad.

Of course I was. Who wouldn’t get madafter something like that? Of course, Onii-chan wouldn’t know aboutmy intentions behind inviting him on this trip with just the two ofus, so blaming him for it isn’t something I could do. However, thevery fact that he just blindly agreed to this training camp witheveryone else and didn’t ask me for permissionor anything like that is against the rules! W-We are two people asone author…! You can even say that we’re two souls that aredeeply connected!

That was why I lectured Onii-chan backthen after everyone went home. When Onii-chan realized hiswrongdoings, he apologized immediately. But he wouldn’t back downfrom his desire to go to that training camp. After I heard the reasonbehind it, all of my anger left me. Namely—

It was for his own novel again.

Thanks to the (unfortunate for me)boy-meets-girl contest back then, Onii-chan seemed to have gotten hiseditor to accept his proposal, but now he’s having trouble writingthe essential romcom events. Himuro-san and the others must havetheir fair share of knowledge about those, since their jobs kind ofrevolve around them, so he thought that he would use their ideas ashis own.

Haaaah… What hasty thinking.

I was amazed. As well as fed up, to acertain degree. But when I saw Onii-chan being close to tears becausehe was so serious, he looked so lovable that I just…! He’swishing with his whole being to become a light novel author. Seeingthat, I can’t help but think that he’s too cute for his own good!How can I be mad at you?! There’s nothing I can do besides cheeryou on!

Hence, I did scold him, yes, but I alsoquickly agreed to join this training camp.

That being said,

It’s true that my anger towardsOnii-chan had vanished. However, another gloomy feeling came in itsplace. The cause of it was the fact that I would lose my chance to goon a grown-up trip together with Onii-chan—That was just onereason, however. The other thing that makes me feel this way is theidea of collecting data together with Onii-chan.

…Why does Onii-chan keep backing awaywhen it’s about collecting data? Doesn’t it make sense to collectdata with me together for his novel, especially when he’s sotroubled like this?!

But when I indirectly pointed that out,he said something like “Y-You see, there are steps to gatheringdata that we have to decide on. Right now, we have to come up withthe general plan first.”

…He said this while averting hisgaze.

I can understand where he’s comingfrom, but something feels off. It’s like Onii-chan has beenavoiding me recently? N-No, I don’t even want to think about that,and there should be no reason for that to happen. Still, I can’tkeep my thoughts from drifting in that direction.

Even at the party before, he was eagerto listen to everyone’s opinion besides mine… I also want to helphim out! Naturally, being lovey-dovey with him is a side effect ofthat as well? Yes, I’m also accept my own desires here!

Even still, I wasn’t able to askOnii-chan honestly. Instead, it felt like he was drifting furtheraway from me, which filled me with frustration, more than anything.

Also, since I know that I’mOnii-chan’s perfect heroine, he’ll probably come up with somegood ideas if he’s flirting with me, right?! Yes, there’s nomistaking it! I’m always welcome, so why won’t Onii-chan take meup on it?

M-Maybe he’s finally fed up with me,and he doesn’t want to collect data with me anymore?! N-No, thesenegative thoughts won’t help. That would never happen, so thinkingabout it isn’t going to benefit me in any way. Rather than that, Ishould be focusing on how I can help him, all the while being able toflirt with him. Hence, I have to change the way I’m thinking aboutit!

“Woaah! It’s the sea! It’s beenso long since Sakura came here!”

“Sea. Swimsuits. Staying over.Together with Sensei. There’s bound to be something that happens…Fufufu.”

“…Onee-chan, are you thinking aboutsomething weird?”

When I heard these words, I lifted myhead. In front of my eyes was the cloudless sky, the blue sea, andthe sandy beach. Just like last year, we had once again gone toHimuro-san’s private residence, which included a private beach, andwe were currently standing in front of that, all of us wearingswimsuits.

Yes, now that we’ve arrived, Idefinitely have to flirt as much as I can with Onii-chan!N-Naturally, it’s all to help Onii-chan out with his novel, but Ican’t afford to lose against anyone here! You’d better beprepared, Onii-chan!

“W-What’s wrong, Suzuka? Your gazelooks a bit scary…”

When I turned my passionate gazetowards Onii-chan, he responded rudely. Well, that just shows howdense Onii-chan is. Even though my gaze is filled with love for him…Oh well, it might be true that I put too much force into it. I had toburn the sight of Onii-chan wearing a swimsuit into my eyes, afterall. Ehehehe…!

“H-Hey, Yuu, you think my swimsuitlooks good? It’s a different one from last year!”

“Same here, desu! I want to hearSensei’s impressions!”

Himuro-san and Double Peace-san camewalking over to Onii-chan. The two of them were also wearing bikinis,with Himuro-san having chosen a pure and proper white one, whileDouble Peace-san was wearing a sexy red one. I still feel likethey’re showing way too much skin…

“I-I think that they both look goodon you…”

Onii-chan looked a bit flustered as heanswered, but I didn’t miss the split second where his gazewandered towards a certain place—namely, their chest regions.

…Muuuu…! Where are you looking,Onii-chan?! I-It’s still all about breasts, isn’t it? Is it nogood if you don’t have a chest to boast about?! Also, the two ofyou are being unfair with this! You can’t just use those to seduceOnii-chan!

“Ah, Sensei! Look at Sakura’sswimsuit as well!”

“Me too. I want you to fall head overheels for me in this adult swimsuit.”

“I-I’m fine without anyimpressions, so don’t stare at me!”

Now even Sakura-san, Akino-san, andHaruna-san came walking over, showing off their swimsuits. Naturally,Onii-chan praised each of them in turn as well.

…I had anticipated this happening,but it still makes me feel a bit gloomy… W-Well, I also bought anew swimsuit? And I showed it to him first before we even left forthis occasion, so I’m not frustrated about it or anything?!

“W-Well, they really look good onyou, and you all look really cute, I think… Yes.”

Eh? C-Cute?! Y-Y-You didn’t say thatto me, though! That wonderful word?!

In response to Onii-chan’s words,everyone showed happy expressions.

H-Hold on, Onii-chan?! Don’t just usethe word ‘cute’ so lightly! They’ll take that to mean somethingspecial! And you never told me that I looked cute!

“O-Onii-chan, what do you think aboutmy swimsuit?!”

Panicking, I stepped in front of himand showed him my swimsuit again.

“Eh? Y-You showed me yours yesterday,right? It still looks good on you…”

However, Onii-chan just averted hiseyes and didn’t tell me I’m cute at all.

W-Why won’t you say it to me?! You’llget all flustered when you look at everyone else’s swimsuits, butyou won’t even look at me…! Uuuuu…! Is this how we’re doingit now, Onii-chan…?! Just so you know, I won’t falter fromsomething like this, okay?! On the contrary, this makes me even moremotivated!

Now that it’s come to this, I have tobe lovey-dovey and flirty with Onii-chan during this training camp,and have him focus all his attention on me! U-Unlike last year, I’vebecome a high school student now! I-I’ll have Onii-chan fall headover heels for me with my adult charm!

“Alright then, let’s start!”

While I was thinking that, Mai moved infront of us, and declared that in a triumphant manner.

Of course, we hadn’t come here justto play. If circumstances were normal, the group would just enter thesea and play to their heart’s content, but not this time.

“We’re doing romcom research! Sincewe couldn’t find a resolution to our boy-meets-girl contest, we’redoing it with ideas for romcom events now! You’re fine with that,right, Yuu?”

“Yeah… Bring it on!” Onii-chansaid and made a fist with his hand.

…Obviously, since this is about hisown work, he’s more than motivated. When he was out collecting datawith me, he’d try to get away from everything…

“Alright. Then let’s finish thisright here!”

Everyone else also raised their fistsin the air, and let out a motivated “Yeah!” So did I. I have tomake Onii-chan look at me. This time for sure!

I then started thinking about whichromcom events might work to achieve my goal.

“Me! Me! There’s something thatSakura wanted to do once she was together with Sensei on a beach!”

Suddenly, Sakura-san raised her hand.

…Oh? The item in her hand is…

“Ding ding, sunscreen! When you go tothe sea, there’s always an event where you put sunscreen on oneanother, right? It’s perfect for a heart-throbbing, lovey-doveyromcom event!”

“H-Hold on. I also prepared that. Tothink that our ideas would overlap…” said Akino-san as she tookout her own bottle of sunscreen.

…The two of them might seem likeexact opposites, but I can still see certain similarities betweenthem…?

But never mind that.

“Fu fu fu, what a shame, you two,desu! We already did the sunscreen event last year!”

“Ehhh?!”

“N-No way…?!”

Double Peace-san declared that in atriumphant manner, leaving Sakura-san and Akino-san in silence. But,just as she had said, everyone else already had Onii-chan putsunscreen on them last year… Just remembering that makes my faceburn up…

“I was a bit worried about Onee-chanwhen I found out about her plans, but you already did that? Just howmuch of a pervert are you?”

“S-Shut it. It was to collect data,so I couldn’t help it.”

Haruna-san looked at Onii-chan with afed-up expression.

…Also, I feel like Haruna-san isgetting a bit closer to Onii-chan. It makes me a bit worried, aswell…

“Muu, unfair! We haven’texperienced that yet!”

“Agreed. I want Sensei to do it forme, as well.”

That aside, Neither of them looked likethey had given up just yet.

“Well, since our goal is to researchromcom events, having already finished the experience means thatthere’s no need for it anymore, hehe.”

However, Himuro-san countered with alogical argument, which made the two of them grit their teeth, butonly for a moment…

“Hold on. Then, what if there’ssome element to that wasn’t there before?”

“Ah, right! …Then instead ofputting sunscreen on normally, how about this…?!”

Sakura-san suddenly stepped forward andstarted wrapping a bath towel around Onii-chan’s head—

“Uwaah?! H-Hold on, Minazuki-san?!”

“It’s a blindfold! We’ll haveSensei put sunscreen on us like this!”

“Exactly. He’llhave to follow our verbal guidance. Basically, it’s a collaborativeeffort, much like the melon-splitting event.”

“That’s a bit unreasonable, if youask me?!”

A-Agreed! It’s just as Onii-chansays! If you did that, his hands might slip and…!

“Come on Haruna, join us.”

“Ehhh?! I-I’m not…! Hey, don’tpull me, Onee-chan!”

“P-Please wait a second, Akino-san!Are you serious about this?!”

“Of course I am. And I think thatthis is good as a romcom event as well.”

“Eh…?”

“It’s a good fanservice scene, andit’s even pretty original. Don’t you agree, Sensei?”

“…That might be true. I understand.I’ll do it!”

“O-O-O-Onii-chan?!”

W-What are you saying?! Ahhh! His headmust be so full of thinking about romcom events for his novel thathe’s lost his ability to think rationally!

However, while my thoughts were goingcrazy, Onii-chan had already accepted the sunscreen bottle, andSakura-san, Akino-san, as well as the reluctant Haruna-san hadalready laid down on a blanket.

“U-Umm, you’ll have to guide mecompletely, alright? I literally can’t see anything…”

“It’s fine! Sensei just has to obeySakura’s commands! Stretch out your hands straight forward… Kya!”

“Eh?! W-What happened?!”

“Ehehe… Being touched near my navellike that just tickled Sakura a bit!”

Uuuu…! Why are you so happy aboutthis, Sakura-san…!

“Sensei, do me next. A bit higher.Yeah, right there.”

“…Umm, where exactly am I touchingyou anyways?”

“Right below my chest. If you moveyour hand up just a bit, you’ll be able to touch them. I’veprepared myself.”

“Don’t prepare yourself for that!Also why are you guiding me over there?!”

A-Akino-san seems to be enjoyingherself…!

“I-I’m totally fine, okay?! Don’tcome over here!”

“This is also valuable experience, soyou’ll be joining in, Haruna. Sensei, move your hand to the right abit more.”

“Uhyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?! A-A man’shand is…! A-Ah…!”

“D-Don’t let out such a weirdvoice! This is your back, right?! Right?!”

Haruna-san’s face flushed red, andshe twitches every time Onii-chan touches her… Still, this actuallylooks pretty fun, and if it helps Onii-chan, then I’d like to tryit as well…!

“H-Hmph! Not bad…!”

When everyone’s turn was over,Himuro-san let out a frustrated voice as Onii-chan took off theblindfold. Watching over it, even Double Peace-san muttered “We’vebeen had, desu~” with a slightly bitter smile.

“B-But it doesn’t matter, since myidea is way better anyways! My turn now!”

“No, Mai. I came up with a lot oflight novel and eroge events, so it’s my turn now, desu!”

“No no no! That just now was to makeup for the things that Sakura and the others missed last year, so thereal deal starts now!”

“Exactly. I have tons of other thingsthat I want to try for romcom events.”

“Uuuuu… I can’t become a brideanymore…!”

Suddenly, everyone started fightingabout who would go first, arguing that their own romcom event ideawas the best, not showing any signs of backing down.

“H-Hehe… This should beinteresting…!”

Onii-chan was watching them, a fewsteps away. Maybe what happened before had been a bit too much, sincehe looked exhausted to me. Still, his enthusiasm seemed to be morethan making up for it.

“…W-What should I do…?!”

I, on the other hand, was panickingever so slightly while watching them. They all seemed very seriousabout this, and they had original ideas. Hence, I should really comeup with a good event. One that would make Onii-chan look at me. Rightnow, though, I can’t come up with something that crazy.

…T-That being said, I can’t give uphere…! I have to think up a perfect event for this occasion…!

I focused like never before.

“…?”

It was then that I spotted a smallisland in the open sea.

That’s… Himuro-san told us aboutthat before. Apparently, it’s also part of their private beach, butit’s just a normal island with nothing to offer. Hence, it’s adeserted island, so to speak—

But that’s how far my thoughtscarried me until a shocking revelation brought them to a screechinghalt.

Ahhhh…! T-That’s it! There’s nobetter choice than this…!

With that idea in my mind, I called outto Onii-chan.

“Hm? What is it, Suzuka—H-Hey, whatare you—?”

To make sure that the others wouldn’tnotice us during their fight, I took his hand and slowly sneaked awayfrom that place.

“W-What happened, Suzuka?”

“I-I thought of a good romcom event…!So please come with me to that island…!”

“Island… Wait, over there?! Whyshould we?!”

“I’ll explain the details once weget there…! I’m sure that it’ll help Onii-chan’s novel, soplease trust me…!”

I didn’t try to cover it up. I justhonestly asked him, which made Onii-chan swallow his words.

“I-If you’re that adamant aboutit…” He answered while averting his gaze.

Y-Yes! Now I just have to use thischance to the fullest!

The two of us went over to all thetools that we brought with us, rummaged through the beach volleyballand the parasol, and grabbed the inflatable raft. We pumped it fullof air away from everyone else and set out to sea. Luckily, they wereall too engrossed into their discussion, so nobody noticed us.

We headed for the small island that wasabout two hundred meters away from the beach with everyone else.Lucky, there wasn’t much of a tide against us, so we arrived fairlyquickly.

“Woah, this is a great location…”

It was basically just trees in themiddle, surrounded by a sandy beach. There’s really not much to dohere, but that doesn’t matter as long as nobody else can bother us!

“So what are we going to do here?”Onii-chan asked me.

“This very situation is the romcomevent… B-Basically, the protagonist and the heroine end up strandedon this deserted island!”

“…Huh?…E-Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!”

Onii-chan’s eyes opened wide as helet out a confused scream, but I continued.

“We have to work hard to survive onthis deserted island where nobody will come to rescue us! Thenvarious romcom moments ensue! So please use me as the substitute forthe heroine!”

“Hold on! Stranded on a desertedisland…?!”

“In order to make it realistic, Ieven let the air out of the boat!”

“What the hell are you doing?!?!?!”

Onii-chan turned around, only to seethe now airless inflatable boat.

“N-No seriously, what are you doing?!How are we going to get back without the boat?!”

“C-Calm down. If it comes down to it,we can just swim that distance, right?”

“…W-Well, you’d probably be ableto do it without any great effort, and I might be able to if I workedhard… I guess? But still, aren’t you taking things a bit toofar?”

“I-It’s all to create the necessaryrealism! This is the perfect situation to collect data, after all!Don’t you think that an event like this has great impact during aromcom?!”

“T-That’s…! You might be rightabout that…!”

Onii-chan let out a quick sigh, andchanged his mind. Now that he’s seriously accepted this, he surelywon’t run away from me, which will make it easier for me to flirtwith him, and he can gather data for himself. It’s a win-winsituation! I almost want to praise myself for coming up with thisidea!

“But, when you consider a romcom on adeserted island… What exactly is there to do…?”

…Yes, this isn’t the time to bedwelling in unnecessary thoughts like that. Right now, I have tofocus my everything on this situation that’s right in front of me…!Onii-chan, I’m sorry, but—besides flirting to our heart’scontent of course—this is also for your own good, so forgive me…!

“Ah, ouch…!”

“Suzuka?! What happened?!”

When I cried out and held my rightankle, Onii-chan came storming over with a worried expression on hisface.

“…It seems like I sprained my anklewhen we landed just now…”

“Ehhh?! B-But you won’t be able toswim like that! This isn’t the time to collect data! W-What shouldI do?! Ehhhhmm…?!”

Onii-chan looked at my ankle with aserious expression on his face. I do feel bad for deceiving him likethis, but his gaze made my heart skip a beat…!

“…We can’t help it. I’ll swimback and get some help, so please wait here.”

“Eh? Y-You can’t!”

I hurriedly stopped Onii-chan. Aren’tyou getting your priorities backwards?!

“U-Umm! I don’t want to wait hereall alone! Please don’t leave me behind!”

“Ugh…!” Onii-chan swallowed hiswords. “I understand,” he said after a short pause, and flashedme a smile.

When I saw that, I completely forgotabout my acting for a second, and I really felt happy from the bottomof my heart.

“But what should we do? We have tocome up with another way to get out of here…”

“Ah, well, the pain isn’t that bad,so after a short rest, I might be able to swim.”

Since I wanted Onii-chan to focus onthe romcom aspects, I softened the condition a bit like that. But…

“I see… Ah, hold on a second.”

Onii-chan seemed to have thought ofsomething. He walked over to the roots of a tree, crouched down for ashort amount of time, and came back again.

“I don’t really know if this willhelp your sprain, but maybe we could use this as a splint.”

He moved towards my ankle, but…

“Ah, not good, I don’t haveanything to keep it in place. The trees here don’t have any ivy,either…”

While Onii-chan was thinking aboutsomething again, I could only watch him in silence, trying my best tohold back my loose typical laugh.

…Ehehe, Onii-chan really is kind…

But I understand what he’s planning.Sadly, we don’t have anything to keep in place here. We’d needsome string or something similar. Even some gum or rubber would beenough—

“………!”

Suddenly, a horrendously crazy ideacame to mind.

…N-No, that really is a bit too…!B-But it’s to help Onii-chan write a good novel, so I have to doanything…! C-Calm down, me…! Calm down and just say it…!

“O-Onii-chan, I know of a way to fixit in place…!”

“Eh? What is it…?”

“L-Look… this right here…!” Isaid. I pointed to my chest, or to be precise, the bikini top I waswearing.

For a second, Onii-chan just blanklystared at me, but finally…

“Y-You’re telling me to use yourswimsuit…?!”

Onii-chan finally understood myintentions, and his face suddenly turned a deep red. I nodded inaffirmation, but my face probably looked the same… W-What kind ofindecent things am I thinking about…?! B-But, I’m a high schoolstudent now…! An adult…! This isn’t the time to hesitate if Iwant to have Onii-chan look at me…!

I steeled my resolve, and put a hand onmy bikini top. In that moment, Onii-chan panicked and averted hisgaze. Hiding my chest with one arm, I took off off the top.

…Embarrassing embarrassingembarrassing…!

“O-O-O-Onii-chan… P-Please usethis…!”

“I-I-I-I’m supposed to do it?!”

O-Of course. I have to hide my chestwith my arms after all…!

Accepting my bikini top with a shakinghand, he directed his gaze towards my naked chest for a second, onlyto quickly avert his face again. Because of my embarrassment, I wasfrozen in place, unable to make the slightest movement, only waitingfor Onii-chan to finish.

With a red face, Onii-chan focused hisgaze on my ankle and went to quickly fix the splint in place. Oncethat was done, he turned his back to me with heavy breathing. Evenfrom behind his back, I could tell that he was red to his ears.

…D-Does this mean that he’s grown abit more conscious of me…?!

“……” “…………”

We both kept quiet, an awkward moodfilling the air. At one point, I felt like he might have been able tohear my heart beat, because he suddenly jumped up.

“W-What happened, Onii-chan?”

“…W-We can’t stay like thisforever, right? Umm… I’ll go look for something that you canwear…”

Saying that, Onii-chan walked towardsthe trees again. On impulse, I stood up as well and grabbedOnii-chan’s arm.

“I-I’ll also come with you…!”

“Eh?! B-But, your leg is… Andyour clothes are…”

“I-It’s fine if I just walk slowly!And it’s something that I have to wear, so there’s no use if I’mnot with you, right?!”

Actually, I wanted to say things like”I want to be with Onii-chan” and so on, which is why I moved tostop him in the first place.

Onii-chan hesitated for a second, butfinally stretched out his hand, not saying anything. I took that armand leaned against it. With my bare chest slightly hitting his arm, Icould feel my head going crazy from embarrassment.

“L-L-L-L-L-Let’s take it slow,okay…?!”

“T-Thank you very much…!”

In this position, we slowly walkedtowards the trees in the middle of the island, but we couldn’t findanything usable there like leaves or anything. Thinking about it,since we weren’t far enough south for it to be tropical, it madesense that there wouldn’t be any leaves that were big enough.

Realizing that, Onii-chan and I bothstarted to grow tense. We returned back to the sandy beach shortlyafter and sat down, not looking at each other, until the sky startedto cloud. In the distance, we could hear the faint sound of thunderas well, and the temperature sank, ever so slightly.

“………!”

In that moment, a shiver ran up myspine, and I came up with yet another inhumane idea.

T-This really is bad…! But this is tocollect data, and I’m an adult now! Auuuuu…!

In this confused state, I realized thatall my reason had been washed away, and I moved without thinking anymore deeply into it.

“O-Onii-chan…? It’s gotten a bitcold, so could I lean on you a bit…?”

Right now, the only things going on inmy mind were things like “Collect data” and “The charm of anadult” and “I want to be with Onii-chan”, and I basically lostall sense of reason.

Although he hesitated a bit like he wasgoing to respond, I ignored that and just rested my back against hisown.

“S-S-S-Suzuka?!”

“D-D-D-D-D-Don’t get the wrongidea?! This is to collect data! It’s all for Onii-chan’s romcom,so you can use this as a reference…!”

I wasn’t sure what I was sayinganymore, and I continued to lean against Onii-chan’s warm back.Almost as if that warmth was giving me courage, I pushed myself evenmore onto him. In this position, where we were both too nervous tosay anything, I started to grow interested in the kind of faceOnii-chan was making right now.

It happened when I was unable tosuppress that curiosity of mine, and had started to turn around.

“Uwaa?!” “Kyaa?!”

A sudden bolt of lighting, followed bya crash of thunder.

Shocked by the sudden loud noise, bothof us jolted upright. And when I looked back over my shoulder, Irealized that I was hugging Onii-chan… Basically, I was pressing myfront against Onii-chan’s back…!

“………!”

“……Hauuuu…!”

We both swallowed our breaths at thesame time when we understood our current situation. However, neitherof us moved. I could feel both our bodies tensing up, and we bothmust’ve realized that if either of us moved, something bad wouldhappen. Well, we were right in the middle of this situation.

But even if we both continued to stayfrozen like that, the blowing wind and the beating sound of ourhearts told us that time hadn’t stopped. I finally started toregain my composure, and started thinking.

…I-I have to say something now…! Ihave to act in a way so that Onii-chan can use this for his romcomevent writing…!

“O-Onii-chan?”

“W-W-W-What is it…?!”

But I suddenly remembered somethingelse that I’d been meaning to ask.

“U-Umm… Have you been avoiding merecently…?”

“…!!!”

I could hear Onii-chan swallow hisbreath. I was just about to question him about the meaning of that,but…

“…What are you two doing here…?”

In the next moment, I heard a voicebehind my back. In response, Onii-chan and I turned around at thesame time, our movements as stiff as a robot.

“We were searching you all over theplace, and this is where you were hiding, desu?”

“…Suzuka-chan, don’t you thinkthat this is a bit unfair to Sakura and the others?”

“What a blunder. To think that she’dpull such a move.”

“Coming to a deserted island withyour little sister, you really are…”

Himuro-san, Double Peace-san,Sakura-san, Akino-san, and Haruna-san all were smiling at us witheyes that weren’t smiling in the slightest. In that moment, I feltlike I heard Onii-chan gulp.

“Y-You’re wrong…! There are somecircumstances for this…! Also why are you all here?! Isn’t thissupposed to be a deserted island…?!”

“It is deserted, yes, but there’s asandbar a little ways away from here that you can walk across to gethere. This area a bay, you know.”

When Himuro-san gave a soundexplanation, Onii-chan could only mutter a defeated “Ah, is thatso…?” He was unable to say anything back. But Himuro-san wasn’tdone yet, and she continued with a grin.

“Rather than that…”

Her smile was pure on the outside, butyou could feel some kind of malice behind that.

“I’d like an explanation for thiswhole situation here.”

Then, another lighting came down behindeveryone’s back, making Onii-chan twitch. Preparing myself for theincoming battle, I tightened my grip on Onii-chan… only to remembermy own appearance, and I crouched down on the sand immediately after.

*

“…What a horrible day.”

I tilted the umbrella, and looked up atthe cloudy sky as raindrops fell down in front of me.

Naturally, that comment was about theincident on the deserted island with Suzuka.

After we were found by Mai and theothers, I was thoroughly questioned by them. To be fair, I’d reallyrather forget about it if I could, but to summarize, I barely managedto get through it alive because of Suzuka’s assistance. She stoodin front of everyone, saying that it was her idea, and that it wouldbe good data, and that it was all so that I could write some goodromcom scenes, and so on, and they all calmed down thanks to that.

By that time, it was already evening,and since it had started raining, they let me go and we returned tothe residence. The reason for me currently walking outside like thiswas the punishment that was imposed upon me. Basically, I had to goshopping at a nearby store, and I was on my way home just now. Butthis was just one of multiple different punishments that I wouldprobably receive, and all hell would probably break loose once again…Haaaaah…

“W-What do you mean by that? Are yousaying that the data you got from that wasn’t enough for you…!?”

After I sighed, Suzuka spoke up as sheglared at me with flushed face. Since she was treated as myaccomplice, she had been sentenced to follow me on the shopping trip.

“I-It’s not that. I was talkingabout Mai and the others getting mad at us. And thinking about whatwill happen once we get back to the residence sends a shiver down myspine…”

“S-So, the event in itself and theideas you got from it weren’t all that bad?”

“Y-Yeah, I guess,” I averted mygaze from Suzuka as I tried to cover up how awkward I felt.

But the fact that the data in itselfwasn’t bad was the truth. Rather, I felt like it turned into agreat reference exactly because it was so crazy and over the top. Iunderstood that I had to think of something of this level or itwouldn’t have enough impact.

…However, I’m currently trying mybest not to think about said event. The stimulus was way too crazy,and Suzuka herself told me to “Forget it, please!” so that’swhat I’m trying my best to do…

“…O-Onii-chan, you’re notthinking about it, are you?”

“…?! O-Of course not?!”

“T-That’s fine then… Using it asa reference is good and all, but remembering the details is notsomething I can allow…! But I’m glad that I was able to helpOnii-chan in some way…”

When I looked at Suzuka, I saw that herface was still red, but there was also a glimmer of relief in there,which made my heart skip a beat. After the island incident, I couldfeel myself growing more and more conscious of her, but I’d alwaystry to shake off such thoughts immediately.

…Anyway, now that Suzuka has beenhelping me so much, I have to write a romcom good enough to getSakaki-san’s seal of approval.

“Ah.”

We kept walking for a bit, untilSuzuka’s feet suddenly came to a halt.

“What happened?”

“I forgot to buy something. I’ll goback and get it really quick.”

“Ah, I’ll go with you, then.”

“No, me going alone is perfectlyfine. I’ll be back immediately, so just wait here for me.”

Suzuka took the umbrella in her handand walked off. Left with no other choice, I did as I was told,feeling the heavy weight of the supermarket bag in my hand.

A bookstore entered my view as I lookedaround. Originally, I had only planned to use it as shelter from therain. There was only an older lady sitting at the counter, with noother customers in sight. Thinking that I might as well spend my timewaiting here, I slowly walked through the bookshelves.

Hmm… The volumes and genres are allover the place. Still, this kind of atmosphere also makes me a bitexcited, I guess?

“Hmm…? That’s…?”

Suddenly, a single book piqued myinterest. It was a light novel with an older design. It had a beautydrawn on its cover, but the moment I saw it, I was assaulted by afeeling of nostalgia.

…For some reason, this art stylelooks really familiar… Like the hairstyle and the poses and such.It feels like I’ve seen this before… Hold on, is this…?

I found myself stretching my hand outtowards the book.

“Onii-chan, you were here? I finishedbuying the stuff.”

But right before my hand reached it, Iheard a voice behind me, and I saw Suzuka looking at me with a sharpgaze as she stood right outside the store. I hurriedly stepped out aswell, and we once again started walking towards Mai’s place.

“So they had a used bookstore here.Did you find anything interesting?”

“No, nothing out of the ordinary.”

“But you were looking at some book,right?”

“A-Ah, well, it wasn’t anythinggreat.”

“…W-Was it a perverted book orsomething?!”

“N-No! It was just a light novel!”

“A light novel? What kind of lightnovel?”

“W-Well, I didn’t get a good lookat it, but I was wondering if it might’ve been the very first lightnovel I ever read…”

“Your first light novel ever? Whatwas it about?”

“N-No, I don’t really remember thatmuch. It was back when I was still in grade school, so I can’t evenremember the title. I also forgot to check the cover just now,” Ianswered in a slight panic.

It’s true that I don’t remember thefiner details of the story, but it’s not like I’ve completelyforgotten about everything. Rather, there’s one thing I can clearlyremember… But, there’s no way I could tell Suzuka that. I can’t.And I never will, even if it kills me.

“Is that so…? Then, should we goback and buy it now?”

“N-Nah, there’s no need to botherwith that. I don’t really want to read it again, either.”

When she heard my response, Suzuka gaveme a slightly puzzled look. Since she’s so sharp, she might feellike something’s off. To prevent that from happening, I averted mygaze and started walking faster.

…I really don’t want to keeptalking about this…

“Let’s just hurry home. I don’twant to spoil everyone’s mood even more…”

“I-It’s fine, Onii-chan. I’lldefinitely win the next battle as well!”

“I’m trying to get away from thatbattle…!”

Thanks to that crazy romcom eventresearch with Suzuka, I honestly don’t even feel like I need anymore data to write about. Naturally, I would still be thankful tolisten to everyone’s ideas, but not if I end up like I did earliertoday again…

Meanwhile, Suzuka confidently said”D-Don’t worry, I’ll protect Onii-chan!” as we continued towalk down the street. As we walked, I thought back to that book atthe bookstore once more.

…The novel I first read, huh…? It’strue that I wouldn’t be reading it again or anything, but Ishould’ve at least checked the title, shouldn’t I…?

*

In the end, I was really lucky.Considering what had happened during the day, I was expectingsomething harsh to greet me when we got back, but I was let off thehook… Or rather,

“To think that I would fail atforeshadowing that! I worked on my manuscript last week so that Icould focus on this camp, but I wasn’t paying enough attention! Andnow my editor has pointed something out at such a time as this!”

“Fu fu fu, I did come here whileslacking off on my job, but it seems like I didn’t manage to escapethem entirely, desu!”

“Once she goes back, Sakura has towork on that script immediately! Sakura was being selfish with hermanager and came here without permission, anyway…!”

“To think that my night together withSensei would be ruined because of my job… I want to stop being anauthor.”

“Just keep writing Onee-chan! I’mdoing all that I can, here!”

…When we returned to the residence,it looked like everyone was busy fighting their own battles. When Iheard their circumstances, they were things like sudden job-relatedcalls, or their tight schedules they blew off to come to this camp.In the end, they were all incapable of continuing the talk we hadearlier.

When I heard that, I was reallyrelieved. Deciding that I would repay the favour of them(unwittingly) helping me gather a lot of ideas for a romcom, I alsodecided to work on my plot with all the data I had collected thatday.

Hence, after everyone had finishedeating Suzuka’s meal, they all holed themselves up in their rooms,working on their own jobs. I did the same. I took out my laptop andstarted working to improve what I had come up with so far… Withthis, Sakaki-san will definitely be satisfied, right?

“…Woah, it’s already this late.”

Before I realized it, a lot of time hadpassed. I had arrived at a good point in my rewriting, so I decidedto take a quick break. I walked down the stairs to get a sip ofwater, and there I saw that someone else had probably had the sameidea.

“”Hm? Are you taking a break aswell, Yuu?”

Mai greeted me while holding a bottlefilled with what looked like orange juice.

“Yeah, I thought that I’d getsomething to drink.”

“We have a lot on the refrigerator,so take whatever you want.”

I guess I’ll take her up on thatoffer. I got out some canned coffee.

“Haah… really, why would they callme now because of my job? Well, it seems like I managed to getthrough the rough part… How’s it looking on your side, Yuu?”

“I’m making progress. Slowly butsteadily.”

“Well, that’s what I was expecting.I really would like to see how you work, live.”

…Please don’t. Suzuka is doing allthe work as Towano Chikai, and I’m working on my own novel rightnow. That’s something we definitely can’t allow her to see…

“B-By the way, do you have some timeright now?”

I grew wary for a second, but it seemedlike Mai had no intentions to press that topic any further.

“I still have a bit more to do, butwhat is it?”

“I-It’s not that big of a deal,but… There’s something I wanted to give you, so I want to stop byyour room later.”

“I don’t really mind. But what isit?”

“I-It’s… Something I justfinished!”

“…It’d better not be a collectionof photos that you’ve secretly taken of me, okay?”

“I-I’m keeping those for myself!”

“So you have something like that?! Ionly said that as a joke!”

…S-She really is a scary person.

“A-Anyway, I’m coming by later, soyou better wait for me!”

Ah, hey! …There she went. Really,what is it that she wants to give me? Well, knowing her, it’sprobably something useless and idiotic again…

Though I had a bad feeling about it, Idecided to return to my own room. After I did, it didn’t take longfor a knock to happen at my door, followed by Mai’s voice saying”H-Here I am.”

“T-This is what I wanted to giveyou…!”

When I opened the door, Mai no morethan a single step into the room and pushed a small box towards mewith a red face. The small box was beautifully wrapped. Since Ididn’t actually expect anything like this, I was a bit taken aback.

“W-What is this?”

“Umm… It’s… a wristwatch…”

“A wristwatch? Why would you givethat to me?”

“T-There’s no deeper meaning behindit…! I just wanted to thank you for helping me with my studies forexams!”

Her face reddened up even more beforeshe continued.

“I wanted to give you something asthanks, but since I didn’t know what to get you, I looked up thisstuff on the internet, and this looked pretty good, so I got it foryou…”

The more she talked, the quieter hervoice became. At the very end, she even got a bit teary-eyed, and sheasked “I-Is it no good after all?” while looking up at me.

“N-No, it’s really great. I’mjust a bit surprised, that’s all… Thank you.”

When I responded with that, Mai let outa relieved “I-I’m so glad…”

Her expression looked so pure andlovable that my heart skipped a beat.

“Still, I didn’t expect to get awristwatch from you.”

“A-As I just said, I really didn’tknow what to get for you. I couldn’t decide between a wristwatchand a plush toy with a hidden camera in it.”

“Hold on! What’s with that otherchoice that you thankfully didn’t take?!”

“That plush toy has cameras as itseyes, and it’s able to take pictures and videos. Isn’t thatpretty handy?”

…She’s got a serious look on herface.

“…W-Well, hearing that makes meeven more glad that I got the wristwatch…”

“R-Really? I’m glad to hear that…”

Mai let out a gleeful laugh, and Isighed. Shortly after, though, silence fell on the room. Since herbusiness was done, I thought that Mai would go back to her own room,but she instead stayed frozen on the spot, throwing glances at mehere and there.

“……”

Because of that, I even started to feelembarrassed, until finally…

“U-Umm, Yuu?”

Mai was the first one to open hermouth.

“T-This gift… Is something that Igave you, right?”

“E-Eh? Yeah, I know?”

“N-No, listen…! This isn’t apresent for Towano Chikai, but for Nagami Yuu, okay…?!”

…Huh? What is she on about? I meanyeah, my being Towano Chiaki or not didn’t have anything to do withit?

“……!”

While Mai stared at me with flushedcheeks, I started to think that there might be a different meaningbehind it. I wasn’t really sure how to react to this, so I keptquiet, and Mai slowly opened her mouth again.

“B-Basically, I—”

“Onii-chan, areyou here? …Oh, Himuro-san?”

“……?!”

At that moment, Suzuka opened the doorand came inside, which made Mai swallow her words immediately.

“W-Why is Himuro-san here at such anhour…?”

“I-It’s nothing! I-I’ll be goingback to my room now! See you later, Yuu!”

Ah, hey… Well, she’s gone already.Just what was she trying to say before?

“O-Onii-chan, what is this about?!”

Since Suzuka looked more than perplexedat the situation she had stumbled into, I gave a quick explanation.

“A thank-you gift, is it…?”

“Yeah, she even told me that it was apresent specifically for me, and not Towano Chikai, but I thoughtthat was pretty obvious.”

The moment I said that, Suzuka’sexpression darkened.

“I-Is she possibly…? N-No, thatwould be too abrupt, even for Himuro-san… But there can only be onemeaning behind those words…!”

She started muttering something toherself… Care to let me in on it?

“Oh right, what did you even comehere for?”

“Eh? A-Ah, well! I was worried aboutOnii-chan, so I came to check on you! And then, as expected,Himuro-san was there…!”

“Suzuka?”

“W-Well…! I-I came here to protectOnii-chan!”

“H-Huh?! P-Protect me?!”

“T-That’s right. I assumed thateveryone might be frustrated that they weren’t able to finish theirromcom research, so I anticipated that they might come to attack youduring the night!”

“A-Attack…?! W-What are you talkingabout?!”

“Himuro-san already tried to attackjust now, after all…! Anyway, to make sure that no bad accidentshappens, I’ll stay with you through the night and protect you!”

“N-No, hold on! Through the night…?!”

“T-That’s right. Though I’m notthe biggest fan of it, it’s important that we sleep together. Butthis is a special occasion right now!”

Suzuka started reasoning with a redface that she kept averted from me.

…S-Sleep together…? There’s onlyone bed in this room… So basically, is this what I think it is…?

Suddenly, the scene from today’s datacollection suddenly came flying back to my mind. The sight of Suzuka,having taken off her bikini top, hiding her chest with her arms. Andher soft feeling hitting my back—

“…! N-No can do! G-Go back to yourroom already!”

Before I even realized what I wasdoing, I had forcefully pushed Suzuka out of the room.

“O-Onii-chan?! W-What are youdoing?!”

“I-I’ll be fine! I swear thatnobody will enter this room tonight, so keep calm and go back to yourown room! We definitely can’t sleep together!”

“W-Why?! Last year, we also—”

“T-The circumstances were differentback then! Anyway, I’m thankful for your concern but I’m fine!”

I desperately tried to make herunderstand, and tried to force the door shut.

“P-Please wait a second…! Are youtelling me that you hate the idea of sleeping together with me…?!”

“I-It’s not like I hate it oranything… But please leave me alone right now!”

“N-No way…!”

With her helpless and desperateexpression being burned into my eyes, I managed to close the doorbehind me and fell down to my knees.

“Haaah… That was really dangerous…”

My breathing was rough, and my heartwas beating so hard that it was making me feel like I was goingcrazy. Just imagining Suzuka and me sleeping in the same bed made mego crazy in the head.

Apologizing to Suzuka countless timesin my head for locking her out, I shakily walked over to my PC. Istill had to rewrite the plot, and if I didn’t focus on somethingelse right now, my head would be full of Suzuka.

…Ahhh, dang it, what’s happening tome…?!

To rid myself of any negative thoughts,I worked on my novel through the night.