New Year's Eve had passed, and a new year had dawned. It was the morning of New Year's Day. I passed my mother after going down the stairs, so I thought I'd wish her a happy New Year.
"Happy New Year's Mom."
"Happy New Year's Haruto, you're going to visit the shrine today with Yasaka-chan, right? Do you have enough time?"
"Plenty of time." I waved off her worries with one hand, but when I tried to slip past her, she caught me by the wrist.
"Wait just a second, I still have something I want to ask you about."
"… What?"
"About that. That." My mother opened the living room door a tad, and gestured inside. In there, in her usual position on the couch, Naruko was hard at work typing on her cell phone. "Whenever she has free time, I see her playing on her phone. Do you know what she's doing?"
"Not really." As I played dumb, my mother put a hand on her cheek and looked worried.
"I've told you right, that near the end of the year, she gets really busy? Even though school is on break, she has to go to track practice and has a lot of modeling work to do… it's nice that she's doing so much to make us proud, but it would be nice if she would at least take it easy when she's at home… it seems like she's not getting enough sleep too, and whenever I ask her about it she won't tell me… the other day, I saw her fiddling with her phone in the bath too! I was so surprised…"
Exactly. After that data collecting date, Naruko had begun walking around at home all the time with her cell phone. In the living room, the hallway, the stairs… at every break she could be seen tap tap tap tapping on the keys of her phone. She was basically like that up until New Year's Eve, so I'm not surprised that she was also writing her book in the tub.
"What's more, she seems to have had a cold for a while now. She felt warm even this morning… "
"Eh… seriously?"
"Seriously. Absolutely seriously. So I'm worried. I don't know what she's trying so hard to do right now, but she needs to think about her own health first and foremost. But no matter how much I tell her this, it's like talking to a brick wall. Hah, she really gets her stubbornness from a certain someone, I think… "
Yeah, that certain someone is you.
… That idiot. She might not have told Mom, but I knew exactly where she caught that cold. In the cold of winter, she had poured water over herself like that… don't say I didn't warn her.
I peeked into the living room. If I look carefully, it really looks like she's having a hard time, that one. Her face looks red, and her breath ragged… and she occasionally falls into a coughing fit… she's definitely pushing herself too far.
It's just that… well… she had to go to track practice, worry about her modeling job, play eroge, and had various other things she had to do as well. "Well, I'll figure it out. After all, who do you think I am?" She had even said something like that… but it's already falling apart, isn't it?
"Haruto… do you really not know anything?"
"Yeah, I seriously don't know. And I mean, lately I haven't said a single word to her."
"Did you two get into another argument?"
"Nah, it's nothing like that."
In short, our business with each other was already settled. Because she had wanted life counseling, I had gone with her to Shinjuku and then to Shibuya, and that session had already finished. Yes. My role in this play was over, and the rest of it was her problem.
I watched my sister as she continued to type on her phone with a feverish looking face. Geez, don't go overboard, alright?
"A webnovel?"
"Yeah… and she's really working hard at it."
Yasaka and I were walking together to our first shrine visit of the year and talking about my sister. My sister didn't seem to especially care about keeping her novel writing a secret from anybody, so I didn't hold myself back and used it as fodder for small talk with Yasaka.
Well, it's not like she was trying to write a huge hit, or something she could be proud about and hold dear, and on the other hand, it's not like it was particularly embarrassing either.
According to Naruko, those weren't the ways in which high school girls looked at webnovels. Sure, you could point out that webnovels have been made into anime and manga, and so they have to be absurdly prevalent. But it's not like that. Works like that one with a two word title… or that one, Deep or whatever… these rare works that exploded in popularity just made a temporary webnovel bubble. Well, to the very end, a magazine is a magazine.
When I stopped talking, Yasaka timidly began to speak, "Umm, can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"… Well then… " Yasaka picked her body up, clasped her hands in front of her mouth, and seemed a bit embarrassed. A blush appeared on her cheeks. "I want you to tell me the type of girl you like."
"Huh?" What is she saying all of a sudden? Normally I would just evade the question and leave it unsettled… but this wasn't a situation in which I could just give some vague answer and get away with it. "So… you just want to know the kind of girl I like?"
"Y-yes… I want to know."
"Fine then, I like girls who look like you."
Yasaka pointed to herself and her eyes widened. "M-me!?"
"Yes, you. When it comes to the girls I know, I get along with you the best. We've been together for a long time, we really know each other, and I don't feel like I have to be reserved around you. It just feels comfortable when I hang out with you… so wouldn't it be reasonable to call that the type of girl I like?"
"I-I see… " Yasaka didn't seem displeased, but instead appeared to be somewhat happily embarrassed.
Putting on a wry smile at her actions, I rewrapped the scarf around my neck that had come undone. This scarf was something Yasaka had given to me Christmas night. She had passed it along to me when we had stopped by her house on the way back from our data collection trip.
Yasaka looked at me wrapped shyly in that scarf. "We match, don't we…?"
Keh. Spitting that out, I quickened my pace and tried to leave her behind. Even though Yasaka was in a kimono, she was also wrapped in a checkered scarf that I had given to her on Christmas Eve. When I had gone with Naruko to 109, I had bought it as a present for Yasaka. And then something absurd happened. The scarf I bought for Yasaka and the scarf she had sewn for me had essentially the same color and patterning. Ugh, how embarrassing, it's as if we were a couple and I had been forced into a matching outfit. Even though that wasn't my intention at all…
Wearing it over her kimono even though it didn't match… walking together with matching scarves like this, we looked like nothing but two lovebirds. If I meet someone I know, what am I going to do? Geez.
"H-hey, wait for me." Having been left behind, Yasaka half ran and caught up with me. I increased my speed even further and tried to run away, but right then I stopped in my tracks. "What's wrong?"
"Ahh… look at that." I pointed in front of me with my eyes half-closed. By the river were stopped a number of cars with tinted windows. I felt like I had seen similar cars somewhere before, when just as I thought, three or four girls dressed in kimonos came out from inside the vehicles.
"Ah, are they having another photo-shoot or something…? Hey, remember half a year ago when we were at the park…?"
"Yeah, it looks like that. From how they're dressed, I think they're doing it at that shrine over there."
"I see… H-hey… isn't that Akeno?"
"… !?"
Reacting immediately to that name, my back straightened and stiffened. Creases formed in my brow and I looked around frantically, when… there she was. She was right there. Wearing a blue kimono, her long black hair tied up in her usual ponytail, and looking just as outrageously attractive as she always did…
I was terrible when it came to dealing with her. Call us natural enemies. After all, to her, I was a "Siscon hentai who loved his sister" and a "weird otaku who only collected little sister eroge and doujinshi." And what's more, every time we met, all she said were things like "I'll kill you" or "How do I report you to the police?" At any rate, I had no desire to meet with her face to face. Fortunately, she didn't appear to have noticed our presence yet, so let's take this opportunity to slip away…
"Akeno!"
"D-don't wave and call out to her!"
"Hm? Why? you get along pretty well with that girl, don't you…?"
Well… that was before that sad affair happened! Ahhh crap, she noticed us! And she's hurrying over here…
"Hey, Yasaka, it's been a while! Happy New Years!"
"Happy New Years. It really has been a while… almost half a year, right?"
As I turned a resentful look towards Yasaka, Akeno greeted me suggestively.
"Haruto-kun, it's also been a while, hasn't it? Happy New Year! How has it been with Naruko lately? Ahahaha, you two have been getting along, haven't you?"
There was no doubt that behind her cheerful smile, she was preparing to kill me if I gave the wrong response.
"Ahh… we haven't been bad, I guess."
When I nervously sent her back a vague response, Yasaka stepped in to help.
"What are you saying, Haruto? Haven't you been really getting along with Naruko lately? For instance, during Christmas… "
D-d-don't say too much, dammit!
"Christmas? Hmm, I'm quite interested in that. I want to hear the details!"
Her smile was damn scary! And her smile didn't reach her eyes at all!
"Ah. During Christmas they went out together, and went to a public bathhouse called 'Rabu Hotaru'."
"… Hmm, a bathhouse on Christmas?"
Akeno stared at me, as if she wanted to say "what kind of a choice was that?" Noisy, isn't she!? But it's not like I could tell Yasaka that I went to a love hotel with my sister! So I lied to her and made up that story! I know! It was a pretty lame excuse!
"W-well anyways. That kimono really looks great on you! As expected from a model! Hahaha!"
When I tried to prevent her from pursuing the topic… an uncomfortable silence fell upon us. Her stare is so cold… she probably is still holding a grudge about having her Christmas invitation rejected by Naruko.
"Well, alright. Oh, right, Haruto-kun, I wanted to talk to you about Naruko… she's been in such poor shape lately, but she still… "
"Ahh, I know. But it's useless just talking to her about that."
"I know, but… hah, so not even Haruto-kun can do anything about it?"
"… I should be saying the same thing. So not even you can do anything about it?"
That exchange allowed Akeno and I to form an unspoken agreement with each other. Yasaka, being the only one left out of the loop, cocked her head in puzzlement. From how Akeno was acting, it seemed that Naruko was acting the same way outside the house as well.
"It really is hopeless, isn't it? She said that such a little cold wouldn't have an impact on her work, and she definitely wasn't going to take a leave… of course, I respect her stance on work, and it's pretty amazing that she doesn't look sick in the least during the photo shoots. But it's clear she's working herself too hard… and she doesn't listen when I tell her to stop either… I'm seriously worried about her."
Akeno cast her face downwards while she spoke and looked at me through upturned eyes, biting her upper lip in frustration.
"… Please, look after her when she's at home too."
"I will. Thanks."
My sister was the kind of person who wouldn't neglect what she had to do no matter what kind of situation she was in. That's something I realized and has been ingrained into my mind since those tumultuous events that one time. How do I put it… no matter what, she wouldn't cut corners. You could call this side of her naive… but she really was a troublesome girl. And completely stubborn to a fault. Once she set her mind on something, nobody could change it, so we had no choice but to just leave her be… but you idiot, don't make your friends worry, dammit.