The story continues.
“That’s…”
We walked past the parking lot and reached the roundabout, where a long, gleaming white car now waited ahead—completely different from the one that had brought us. It screamed genuine wealth. Were we really about to climb into that?
“~♪”
“Ugh…”
As I followed behind Nee-chan and Yuuki-senpai walking side by side, an intense gaze kept stabbing into my peripheral vision. From my right, someone kept shifting back and forth, studying me from every possible angle.
“Um… what are you doing?”
“Kaede’s Little Brother-kun~♪”
“Hey, hold on…”
Onitsuka-senpai ran her hand along my right shoulder and down my upper arm, as if savoring the texture of the fabric. Ever since she found out I was Kaede’s brother, her attention had been blatantly obvious. Maybe… she was simply into me after all!
“Tamao. Stop bothering him.”
“But you kept it a secret from me this whole time~”
“Ah, hey!”
Senpai suddenly leaned in and clung to me. The full weight of her body pressed against my side, transmitting an unmistakably real, soft sensation through my ribs. The only shame was how her uniform blazer dulled the direct contact. I really wished I’d met her during the summer.
“Ouch☆”
Just as I was noticing that Onitsuka-senpai carried a distinctly different gal scent from Nee-chan, a sharp chop came down on top of her head. Ow—that actually hurt. The impact even jolted all the way to the wound on my left hand.
Onitsuka-senpai pulled back with a dramatic “Owww…” and clutched her head with both hands in an exaggerated display of pain. Her behavior made her seem far younger than her actual age, but the freshly dyed jet-black hair typical of an exam student barely preserved her upperclassman status.
“This girl is always like this…”
“Gals really do have a broken sense of personal space, huh…”
“In Onitsuka’s case, I suspect it’s more than that.”
“…?”
“Regarding this incident…”
I tilted my head at the odd note in his reply. Yuuki-senpai turned not just his face but his entire body toward me and locked eyes with me. Because of how close he stood, I had to look up at him. What was with this height difference? It was practically the perfect height for a kiss.
“I’m sorry… I failed to foresee it.”
The sudden apology carried no bow, but his gaze dropped to the ground. Unlike his usual flat tone, the trailing end of those words seemed to bleed with regret. As far as I knew, the reliable Student Council President was a cunning man. Whether this was an act or his true feelings, I didn’t have the insight to tell.
“…”
Onitsuka-senpai looked away. Nee-chan turned to face me with her arms crossed and said nothing. She was the type whose brain and mouth were directly linked. If she truly believed this was Yuuki-senpai’s responsibility, she would have torn into him immediately. The fact that she stayed silent meant there was something holding her back—something that aligned with what I was thinking.
“‘Never come near me again,’ huh. As if it would be that simple.”
Nee-chan looked at me. I met her gaze—those wavering violet-blue eyes clouded with hesitation. It felt just like that time on the rooftop.
“…What are you—”
The words came out sharper than I intended. Yuuki-senpai looked at me with a puzzled expression. Had he really thought I would just let it slide? Just as I didn’t know much about him, he clearly couldn’t predict what I might say.
“Ever since I started school here, I’ve heard plenty of rumors about Nee-chan. She seems to wield a lot of influence. But the greater the influence, the harder it becomes to control. You once said, ‘If you hold power beyond your own stature, nothing good will come of it’… so tell me, do you really have the right to say that?”
“Wait. The matter with Marika originated because of me. Kaede was simply hated for it. The responsibility doesn’t lie with her—”
“Is it really just the Young Lady?”
“…What?”
“Is the only person who holds a grudge against Nee-chan… the Young Lady?”
“…”
This incident had been an unusual case. It was a bizarre drama born from the relationship between Yuuki-senpai and the Young Lady as fiancés. While it was certainly misplaced resentment, even Yuuki-senpai—the rightful target of that power—had failed to see it coming. Logically, the fault lay more with him than with Nee-chan. Still, I couldn’t believe the Young Lady would resort to such violence based solely on his attitude.
“After enrolling, I learned there had been an incident at Kouetsu High School in the past. I don’t know the details, but I understand the current Student Council helped settle it. Until a few years ago, she was the kind of yankee who would throw hands at the slightest provocation. Honestly, I can’t believe the Young Lady is the only one who holds a grudge against Nee-chan.”
“That’s…”
Aware of it herself, Nee-chan lowered her gaze and looked down. Whatever the reason, she had nearly been the target of violence. If things had gone even slightly differently, those cloth shears might have put a hole in her skull instead of my left hand. She couldn’t possibly have been optimistic enough to think she could have subdued it with her own strength.
“‘This happens because you’re weak.’ ‘You can’t fight because you’re weak.’ ‘That’s why you need power.’ All of those are words Nee-chan said a long time ago. Do you plan to keep kicking everyone around you down, gathering more power than you need, and creating new enemies?”
“Wait, what are you even talking about…”
“Dad gave up his position to protect his family. In the end, he managed to protect exactly what he wanted to protect. That’s precisely why we’re here now.”
“…You…!”
The moment I mentioned Dad, Nee-chan lifted her head and glared at me. She didn’t hate him, but having her role model of what not to do dragged into the conversation was clearly more than she could tolerate.
“Even now, do you still think Dad was wrong back then?”
“…!”
Nee-chan clenched her fists tightly, baring her teeth in an angry grimace. She looked ready to lunge at me, but I was used to that by now. Her face made it obvious she couldn’t accept what I was saying. Still, she seemed too mature to simply give in to her emotions and lash out. Maybe it was because I was one of the things she wanted to protect.
“——Kaede isn’t wrong, you know~”
“Wait… Tamao…!”
In an instant, Onitsuka-senpai threw her arms around Nee-chan with surprising force. The sudden embrace wiped the anger from Nee-chan’s face, replacing it with pure confusion. I was just as stunned by Onitsuka-senpai’s board-flipping move and couldn’t react.
“If Kaede hadn’t been here, We wouldn’t be here~, and the school wouldn’t be like this now~, Kaede is amazing, you know—?”
“Eh…”
“Besides~, no matter who holds a grudge against Kaede, We’ll take care of it. Right? Student Council President-san?”
“…Yeah. That’s correct.”
“…”
With their cheeks pressed together, Nee-chan wore a pained expression as she tried to pry Onitsuka-senpai off. Even with her monstrous strength, she couldn’t overcome her gal friend’s clinginess. Yuuki-senpai watched with what looked like envy. Wait a second.
“My feet are tired~. Let’s go already.”
“Fine! Fine, so let go!”
“Okemaru~”
“…”
Nee-chan was dragged away by Onitsuka-senpai. This was a side of her I had never seen. To think someone could handle her so freely. She was kind to me too, so clearly she was no ordinary person.
“…Are you satisfied now?”
“Pretty much. Besides, it’s not like I know what’s truly right either.”
“…I see.”
I don’t normally live my life thinking about anything that deep. If there was one thing I tried to keep in mind, it was to avoid taking on unnecessary responsibility. Whether I was actually succeeding was another matter.
“Well then… I’ll be getting into that fancy car…”
“——What happened?”
“Huh?”
Just as I was about to excuse myself and climb in, Yuuki-senpai continued in a low voice.
“I looked into Kaede’s past. Her hometown, family structure, previous schools, romantic history… That’s how I learned she had a younger brother like you.”
“Ehh…”
I was suddenly exposed and didn’t know how to respond. What the hell—this guy was a total stalker. Was he that obsessed with Nee-chan? That was probably why this whole mess had happened. The Young Lady really chose the wrong person to fall for. He was getting by on his face alone… If he were an Average Guy, she definitely wouldn’t have been so fixated.
“However, the more I interact with Kaede and you, the more unknown parts of your past suddenly surface. Things that would normally appear if we investigated. At the very least, I had never heard anything about the relationship between Kaede and your father.”
“Well, yeah, that’s pretty normal, isn’t it…”
Just where was he even getting information about other people’s families? Wasn’t it normal not to know past episodes that weren’t written in official records? I couldn’t even tell what dimension he was operating in when he called that “normal.”
“There isn’t any real discord between Dad and Nee-chan. They just have different ways of thinking.”
“I… see…”
Nee-chan had once harshly criticized Dad. But at the same time, she clearly acknowledged that he had protected the family with accurate judgment. They still had normal everyday conversations, after all.
There had been one man who mistimed his departure. Looking back now, to a young Nee-chan, that must have been like a first love that inspired admiration. From that moment on, Nee-chan came to despise weakness.
And from that moment on, I stopped being able to understand her.