March has come and the final exam was approaching in few weeks. We had day off today, I was getting ready to eat breakfast, I stifled a yawn while descending the stairs, I happened to come across Naruko.
"Good morning, Onii-san." Naruko gave me an incredibly nice greeting. My eyes widened as I moved aside.
"Thanks," Naruko said happily, as she disappeared into the living room.
Did something happen? I mean, if she's thanking me like that…
W-what in the world could be happening…? It's not like a nuclear missile is headed straight to us from the North… right? Suddenly, I felt completely bewildered at my sister's docile attitude. I mean, it wasn't like this up until yesterday at least. Normally, if I tried to talk to her she would just face the other direction and run off somewhere… what was happening…? And then, these doubts I held in regards to my sister began to steadily strengthen.
At breakfast, after our family had gathered around the dining table…
"Here, Okaa-san, Onii-san."
Naruko dished out the rice for every person in the family. Mom acted like this was the most natural thing in the world, and accepted the rice bowls offered to her with a "Thank you, Naruko." She was smiling the entire time.
… Gulp. I unconsciously gulped when faced with this really strong feeling of unease. If this were the Uzumaki household, I would understand what was going on. But this was the Namikaze household, and it was the first time in my life I had witnessed such a vague unsettling scene.
I took a good look at the rice Naruko had given me. This isn't poisoned, right…? But all I could sense was the delicious smell of the freshly steamed rice and the steam rising up off of it. Things just kept getting stranger.
"Thanks for yesterday, Okaa-san."
"Ahh, no problem, no problem. It was fun for me."
"… Could I ask what you all are talking about?"
Faced with a conversation that I didn't understand at all, I tried to figure out what was going on. It was Mom who explained it to me.
"Well, yesterday, I went and watched Naruko while she was working."
"… Huh? Y-you went to see Naruko… while she was working?"
Wait… seriously? I mean, after all, my Mom didn't exactly look too fondly on Naruko's modeling work (at least not on the outside)…
"… Yeah, it really wasn't bad at all, Haruto. I saw lots of cute girls there. It was a feast for the eyes."
"Ugh, Mom! You sound like a pervy old man."
What the hell was up with this situation…? This was strange… it was clearly strange. W-What exactly was happening in this family right now…? Could it be… was this a dream? I mean, this… my whole family has gotten really weird all of a sudden, you know?
"What's wrong, Onii-san?"
"What's wrong, Haruto?"
Mom and Naruko stared at me suspiciously. I once again gulped, and steeling myself, asked a question. "… W-what have you all done with my real family?"
Mom suddenly reached out with her hands…
Crack!
Mom gave me a finger flick in the forehead, and I saw stars dance in front of my blurred vision. Was she trying to crack my head open!?
"Awww!?"
"Idiot. Don't spew such nonsense!"
Mom faced me as I held my forehead and tears leaked out of my eyes, and spoke in a disheartened tone. "… T-this isn't a dream… it's all real…"
"Haruto, Is your head alright? Would you like to go to the hospital?"
"Ugh… Mom, there's an insult hidden in there, isn't there?"
In this series of familiar exchanges…
"… Hee hee."
Naruko was giving me a funny stare. Her gaze didn't have any of the scorn it usually had. In this series of familiar exchanges, the only thing different was how my sister was acting and how my mother was acting towards her.
Shortly after we had finished eating and I had returned to my room. I heard a knock at the door. I put the reference book I was reading down on its front, and when I went out to take a look, I saw Naruko standing there. Her hands were joined together near her skirt, and she seemed hesitant about something. She didn't say anything, but she almost looked like she really wanted to go to the bathroom.
"… What's up?"
"I want to talk about something… could you come over to my room?"
That was certainly nicer than how she usually asked me to do things. I was thus summoned and headed over to my sister's room. If I recall correctly, this type of situation had happened multiple times after that incident.
The first time I went into my sister's room… and we had that first life counseling session… that happened around May of last year… Has ten months seriously passed already? So, has it come now? The last life counseling session?
Staring at Naruko as she walked in front of me, I was filled with inexplicable emotions. I've really come a long way… even though we've been living under the same roof for all this time, that's what I thought.
It's probably because I'm thinking about my mental closeness with my sister. The me of ten months ago and the me of the present are standing in different places mentally… that's what I meant by "come a long way." I really can't articulate it very well though…
At last, we found ourselves standing in front of Naruko's room.
"Come in."
This was also the customary exchange that I had seen happen a countless number of times. As always, a sweet smell drifted about in my sister's room. As if she had renovated the place, the room gave off a different impression than before. The curtains had turned from red to pink, and overall the amount of clutter in the room had decreased.
"Hmm, your room seems cleaner than it was before."
"Is that right?" She gave me a curt response. Naruko pointed to a cat-shaped floor cushion. "Please sit."
I didn't bother restraining myself and sat cross-legged on the cushion. Every other time I've found myself on this cushion, I was faced with the angry face of my sister, but maybe because she had gotten used to this situation or had just given up, she showed no signs of acting that way this time.
"So… what did you want to talk about? Is this that 'last life counseling session' you mentioned before?"
Sitting on the bed, Naruko took a while to respond. After searching for the right words for a few moments, she finally spoke. "… I suppose you could put it like that."
It was an incredibly vague answer.
"Well, whatever. Just speak up."
"… Hey—" Perhaps hurt by my curt tone, Naruko frowned and started to say something, but seemed to manage to restrain herself at the last second. "… Nevermind… uhh… ummmm…"
Naruko once again found it difficult to find the right words. What the hell? Was it something that was this difficult to say…? Granted, she's acting pretty strange today but it was much better than how she usually acted. If her request was something I could help with…
"I want you to buy me an eroge."
"How could you ask something so crazy so casually like that!?"
And I was wondering what she could possibly ask while she was acting so docile like that! It was just that!? Ugh, Naruko will always be Naruko! It was certainly more simple than anything she's asked me to do up until now, but for that reason I could say it straight out: I don't want to!
"But, is that seriously what you're going to ask me to do in the 'last life counseling session'?"
"… I guess."
What the hell?
"Why are you giving me that look? You disappointed or something?"
"I mean… I guess it just seems pretty light for the final life counseling session, or something…"
"Isn't that a good thing? It should be simple."
"It's not really."
Because of the pace the conversation was now proceeding at, the unease I had felt before had disappeared.
"… Take a look at this." Naruko pointed to the monitor for her desktop computer. An internet browser was open, and the official homepage for a certain game company was on display.
Notice: Midnight on the Sixth—A late night game sales session at our Akihabara flagship store! From Alice, you can buy two of their newest releases from their hugely popular series Little Sister Maker EX all at once!
— I'm Definitely Not Love my Onii-chan!
— 3D Custom Little Sister
Both of these featured products have already gotten thumbs up from critics! Of course, don't forget about the other game companies! We have, from the new BL game maker, MF Soft Kiraru, You Came, Boiled-San!, The Familiar of Mazo Homoge Club and others all come on the market!
All the sales start at midnight! All those who want to buy and play the newly released ecchi games a step ahead of everyone else, please come!
"… So it's like that. So… I want you to stand in line when these things go on sale and buy me 'Oniai' and '3D Sister'."
"This late night game sale?"
"Yes, the late night game sale. At midnight on the sale date, the store is going to have a special opening and is going to sell these new releases."
"… Why? Are they going to sell out so fast that I actually have to stand in line? It's not like they're going to sell out that fast… you could probably buy them normally on the sale date too. Why are you asking me to do this anyway? Can't you just go buy it yourself after school lets out?"
"Well, it should be obvious that I just want to get this done as soon as possible." she answered me immediately. Naruko puffed out her chest with pride. "I'm planning to sleep in the evening of the day before, and when you come back with the game, I'm going to play it until the morning and clear at least one route."
"You're seriously a hardcore otaku, aren't you… you're going to go that far?"
"Hmph… of course. Are you that surprised?"
She sounded like the prototypical hero who was going off to his death. This was the very embodiment of determination.
"But, for me to go buy an eroge for you… there are still a number of problems with that."
"Huh? What problems?"
"Well, first, there's curfew."
Our family's curfew was basically set at six-thirty, and if you weren't at the dinner table at seven when the meal started then you didn't get to eat. Granted, my mother occasionally came home late because of her work, and there were a few times that I was allowed to bend my curfew after I had called in beforehand. For example, when I had stayed over at the Uzumaki household, I was allowed to stay out past curfew. However…
"The sale starts at midnight in Akiba, right? So I won't be able to get home until past one in the morning. No matter what excuse I feed to Mom about having to go out, when I come home at that time of the night she is going to be really pissed. And if she found out that I had gone out to buy eroge…"
Terrifying. I didn't even want to think about it.
"I'll figure out how to deal with that part. Call my cell phone once you get back home. When I get your call I'll check if Mom is awake or not, and if she's still awake I'll provide a diversion."
"So, while you're keeping Mom busy, you want me to sneak in? You really think that's going to work?"
"It'll be completely fine. Well? You still have a problem with this plan?"
My sister waved her hand back and forth as I sighed and answered.
"… This might be obvious, but I haven't ever bought an eroge before. Can I really just walk in and buy the game if I go to this late night sale?"
"I don't know, but… I mean… I really, really just want to do this as soon as possible."
Why was she so desperate? This is why otaku confused the hell out of me.
"Come on… this is the last time… so… please."
Ughhhhhhhh… although, when I thought about it, it just wouldn't do for me to let her stand in line in the middle of the night… and honestly, compared it to everything I've gone through up until now, this wasn't a big deal.
"… Fine, fine. I'll do it."
"Really?"
"I never go back on my word."
Ohhh, she looks really happy…
Ahh. I'm also just way too soft… or just stupid. Just because my sister asked me with her hands together like that… not only did I easily agree to what she asked, but when she looked so happy as a result, it even made me happy.
Her eyes sparkling, Naruko smiled and spoke firmly. "I would like to bestow upon you a single, grand mission."
Puffing out her chest like she was the general of an army, placing one hand on her chest, Naruko pointed at me. "To protect the beautiful maiden, fly through enemy territory with a single plane, thirty-two kilometers. Can you do it?"
"Beautiful maiden… is that what you're comparing an eroge to?" I didn't like that metaphor at all. And I had no idea what her words were supposed to be a reference to. Well, whatever. I answered sluggishly. "Yeah yeah… roger that. Hime-sama."
Although… for the last life counseling session, this really seemed pretty simple… or pretty light. It's not like I was wishing for something more difficult though.
… Was she really okay with having this as her last life counseling?