To recap the situation, I had a punishment to fulfill. It all started when Yamazaki woke me up in the middle of the night with a barrage of smartphone notifications. As revenge, I’d changed his account icon and name to something horror-themed, but I forgot to change it back, which ended up terrifying Natsukawa. I distinctly remembered that Ashida the Great Deity was even scarier than Natsukawa was at the time.
The punishment itself was to uncover the circumstances of the girl I’d accidentally forced into a formal apology at my part-time job. Well, "uncover" wasn’t exactly the right word; it was more like I was supposed to show some understanding of Ichinose-san’s situation before coming back. Even though there was absolutely nothing in it for her, Natsukawa had prioritized my convenience. What was she, a Goddess? Doing things like that made me want to fall for her all over again. Oh, wait... I already was in love with her.
[Sorry, Nee-chan was...]
[Ah, Wataru’s sister?]
[Reluctantly.]
[Don't say things like that!]
The exclamation. Cute.
I was back in my room. Once I’d settled down enough to reply, Natsukawa responded immediately, almost as if she’d been waiting for me. By contrast, my mind was a total blank, and I couldn't find the right words. I was losing my cool over the simple reality of having a one-on-one conversation with her. I was so happy! So incredibly happy!
[Isn't it because you said something unnecessary...?]
[No, I didn't say anything.]
And so, here I was, texting with my beloved high school girl—actually, that sounded like some kind of weird fetish. Like I was into high school girls in general rather than just Natsukawa? I mean, it wasn't exactly wrong. Well, yeah... I didn't dislike them. Haha, I was such a tsundere—alright, I’d regained my composure.
[So, how did it go?]
[The job stuff, yeah. Um... apparently she wants to be independent or something...]
[............Is it really that hard for her? That girl?]
It wasn't so much that it was "hard"... it was more a question of how to explain it to a girl like Natsukawa or Ashida without making it sound weird. Ichinose-san seemed to be having a rough time, but I was struggling too. I never expected her baggage to be that heavy. I’d never met a girl trying so hard to distance herself from her brother before.
[No, it's not some complicated family drama... by independent, I mean, that girl's being ambitious?]
[Is that the truth...? I don't think someone would want to be independent unless there was a serious reason. She's a quiet girl our age, right?]
[Ah—well, yeah... that's true, but...]
[Is there something else...?]
One way or another, I had to explain it while keeping things vague. If I didn't, the atmosphere would 100% turn awkward. After all, the person I was talking to was Natsukawa, the girl I’d confessed to in the past. If I was too honest, she’d probably just think I was bringing up something gross. This next part was my last trump card; I just had to push through with it.
[Um, apparently she has an older brother. It seems she wants to be independent so she can move away from him.]
[Moving... away? Huh? What do you mean?]
Hm... was she shaken up? Since Airi-chan was so precious to her, maybe she didn't like hearing about a sister wanting to distance herself from a brother.
But even if I had to fudge the details, this was the safest explanation. I’d use a generic sibling example to make it easier to visualize.
[Well, you know, whether it's brothers or sisters, once they hit puberty, they usually start finding each other annoying, right?]
[I don't think so.]
[Oh, I see...]
Wait, she didn't? I felt fine about my sister now, but until recently, our relationship had been pretty disastrous. Was it just me? Were siblings around middle school age in the rest of the world actually fond of each other? Was the world really that full of "Love & Peace"? My life had felt more like "Dead or Alive." I was a survivor, dammit.
[Well, purely as an example, okay? Let's say you were fussing over Airi-chan too much and she found you annoying.]
[I have no idea what you're talking about.]
[Oh, really?]
A-Ah... was my explanation that bad? I’d always prided myself on being decent at explaining things to people. Was I actually terrible at it? Could it be that Ichinose-san had been fed up with me because my instructions were so awful? No... that couldn't be it, right? It was just that Natsukawa-san cared about Airi-chan a little too much.
[I don't think such a day will ever come for Airi.]
[O-Oh! You're right! No matter how old she gets, Airi-chan will always love her big sister!]
........................
Wait, it said it had been read, but—
[Stop it with the "Big Sister" thing.]
[Ah, sorry.]
That's right... wait, was it that gross? I thought that had been a pretty natural flow for the conversation. But if it was gross, it was gross. I needed to think calmly. If someone said "Big sis~♪" to me in a calculatedly cute way... I see. That wasn't cuteness; it was terrorism. Pure terrorism. I’d want to try that out on people coming out of a moving movie while they were still soaking in the afterglow. It felt like I could drag them down below the level of their mundane daily lives in a single shot.
[Okay, got it. I'll use a different example. Suppose Airi-chan brought home a boyfriend in about ten years.]
[What?]
Hieee.
G-Goddess-sama...? I won't say what exactly, but my heart just skipped a beat. Was she being a little scary, or... wait, was her siscon level actually that serious? I thought most of that was just Ashida joking around.
But she usually let me hold Airi-chan and stuff. If she were a hardcore siscon, wouldn't she normally forbid that? If I were Airi-chan's brother, I'd be such a siscon that I'd make her attend all-girls schools from elementary all the way through university. And if someone like me touched her...! I’d probably make her scrub that spot with medicated soap.
[Airi... what?]
[Ah, well, you see...]
[Yes? What is it?]
She was scary. Really, really scary. What was with the lightning-fast replies? I could feel the unspoken pressure radiating from her. I felt like I was being crushed—wait, hold on. Pressure from Natsukawa... didn't that mean I was "feeling" Natsukawa's presence to the absolute maximum?
Calm down, idiot. Don't just go with the flow. Hardly anything good ever happened when I did that. I might end up making Natsukawa uncomfortable again. I had to avoid that at all costs. I needed to stay calm and try to manage her mood...
[N-Natsukawa-san...? Are you mad?]
[I'm not mad. So? What? Keep going.]
That didn't sound like she actually wanted me to keep going.
No, this was my fault, so I should just stop. It was painful—truly gut-wrenching—but I had to cut the conversation here. I’d take a nap or something, and then I’d finish the story when Ashida was done with her club activities. Knowing her, she’d be able to follow up and smooth things over—
[Hey. I told you to continue.]
[Yes, ma'am.]
Natsukawa wouldn't let me sleep. Man, I liked the sound of that. It was beautiful.
[Um... okay, so, hypothetically, Airi-chan brings home a boyfriend in the future.]
[What's his annual income?]
[Annual in... eh?]
A-Annual income? Ten years from now would make Airi-chan fifteen, so even if she brought a boyfriend home, he'd probably still be a student. The phrase "annual income" was a bit...
No, wait, this was Natsukawa. She definitely asked that while taking everything into account. Don't be stupid, Sajou! She was just wishing for Airi-chan's happiness in her own way. How could I not realize something so obvious!
Let's see... if she brought a boyfriend home, he'd probably be within a couple of years of her age. Most kids didn't have part-time jobs, so assuming he didn't work... um... New Year's money would be at least 10,000 yen from his parents, and his allowance might be 5,000 yen a month... so—no, let's boost the New Year's money a bit more. Otherwise, the conversation wouldn't go anywhere. Though, honestly, I didn't want it to go anywhere.
[Um, maybe around 100,000...?]
[100,000 dollars? Well, I guess that's acceptable.]
Wait, hang on.
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