As you'd expect from a mammoth school with over 1,500 students, our cafeteria is as big as a tennis court. But even so, during lunch break, the ticket machine is overflowing with students lining up.
I took a bowl of kitsune udon and Hyo took a sandwich and we sat down at the table.
"So, what do you think, Brother?"
"Wh-w-what?"
When I tried to return it normally, I ended up biting it twice.
"I'm asking why you and Aika Hiiragi are on such good terms that you call each other by your first names."
The target looks at me with a piercing gaze.
"Please answer honestly. What about you and Hiiragi-san?"
"What?... It's nothing. It's just that he's so unsociable, he doesn't even respond to the other guys, right? So I thought maybe we should get along as neighbors."
He says this while holding the deep-fried tofu in his mouth, which has absorbed the broth and become heavy.
"There's no special meaning to it."
"Really?"
The target glares at me with a sullen look in his eyes.
"Weren't you in heat, panting, saying how cute the small, lolita-like Aika-chan is?"
"Who would do that?!"
I couldn't help but scream. What kind of perverted old man is that?
"No, it's fine to be in heat."
The marker raised a finger.
"But you just have to be excited about the cute little sister character Shiori-tan."
"How about that too, hey?"
I slurp up the slightly soggy udon noodles.
"What kind of image do you have of me?"
Shiori paused as if thinking for a moment,
"That's right. If I had to say, I'd say 'light'."
"light?"
"That's right, to me, you are light itself."
Shiori says, staring at me intently.
"So if you disappear from my world, I won't be able to see anything. I'll go back to the darkness before I met you."
The target narrowed his eyes.
"You... not yet."
"Yes. Even now, when the moon comes out, I remember that night."
Darkness. It seems Shiori's grief hasn't healed yet.
Of course. My own parents tried to kill me.
And it was Shiori himself who killed his parents.
From that day on, she became my little sister.
But it's not okay to leave it like that.
"I just want you to be happy like normal."
"I can't be happy with anyone other than you."
"We're brother and sister. And there are plenty of better people than me."
"It has to be you, big brother."
Shiori said firmly.
"I would do anything for you, brother."
"Mark…"
"But my brother doesn't reciprocate my feelings."
Shiori's eyes were moist.
I slowly opened my mouth.
"My late father used to say that a lot."
"Your brother's father...?"
"Yeah. Girls are weak creatures, so boys should protect them. And make the person who chose them out of all the others happy."
"Brother..."
"I'm not going to leave you here, so don't look at me like that."
The sign looked at me and said.
"So there's nothing special going on between you and Hiiragi?"
"That's not enough."
"You think I'm the most important person in the world?"
"That's a different matter, but I promise to do my best."
"--Then I will let you off the hook this time."
The sign took a long breath.
"I know all too well how hard it is to be alone--"
The face she had as she said this, smiling slightly, looked a little like Aika.
A dry smile, like that of someone who has suffered a hopeless injury.
"Well, I'm going to my club room, so please go home first."
"Yeah. Do your best."
"If you cheat on me... you understand, right?"
I'm sure the target's eyes will become sharper.
"I, I understand. I understand, so don't glare at me so harshly."
If you get serious, I'll turn into mincemeat.
After school, Shiori heads to the club room she belongs to.
He has been doing it for four years since middle school and is extremely skilled.
The last time I lied on April Fool's Day and said I had a girlfriend, he chased after me brandishing a wooden sword...
"It's lonely if you just talk. Please give me a tight hug."
"Oi, oi. In a place like this..."
"I'm going to do some intense exercise now, so if I don't replenish my energy, I'll collapse."
Although he sometimes displays monstrous strength, Shiori said this nonchalantly.
With final exams approaching, the vast majority of students have already gone home, but there are still a few students lingering in the hallways.
"So, that's why siblings are like that..."
"Then just the head will be fine. Please stroke it."
"Huh?"
"What would you like to do? You can either stroke me, or enjoy the curves of my two breasts to your heart's content, you know?"
"There are only two options?!"
And neither one changes much.
That said, I'm afraid of what will happen if I disobey, and Shiyori is staring at me with moist eyes.
"..."
I prepared myself and stretched out my arms.
"Huh? What's this?"
When I opened the shoe locker to go home and it fell out of the locker, I cried out.
"a..."
I looked around restlessly, but fortunately there was no one there.
It was a neatly folded piece of letter paper, with no sender's name.
"Th-th-th-this."
It's not a love letter.
I can feel my heart beating fast. No, no, calm down, calm down.
Maybe someone put it there to tease me. Something about the lighting.
With trembling fingers, I opened the letter.
"You came."
The girl, Hiiragi Aika, said.
Leaning against the rooftop fence, her hair flowing in the sunlight, bathed directly in the setting sun, she looked startlingly mystical.
"Oh, yeah. What's the matter? What's the story?"
The letter was empty except for one sentence: come to the roof alone.
"......"
Without saying anything, he slowly approached me.
He looked so expressionless, it was a little scary. Just as I was thinking that, he came so close that his breath was practically touching my skin.
"O-oi..."
"like..."
"picture?"
I was so distracted by the way he was staring at me that I missed what he was saying.
Aika looked at me and said quietly but clearly.
"I like you...go out with me."
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