Chapter 5 - Loner"s Weekend

My little sister"s dark, dusty room looked as if it came straight from the end of 20th century.
A 3D character was using complex ch.o.r.eography on the large TV screen.

– Ha, sheltered one that goes to school. Come, greet your death. Fuhahahaha!

My little sister Keyaki was, umm, in high spirits.
She was so lively, it seemed her gla.s.ses would start glowing with bright light.

– You are on fire this morning. Are you high? High blood pressure?

– … I have opened a bag of salt tablets just now. I want to win.

– You"re too reckless. Hey, go drink some water, water! I"ll wait for you.

– No! I see right through your little scheme of getting used to controls, aniki!

We do only one thing on Sat.u.r.days.
Playing games with Keyaki for at least half a day is the most common thing. Additionally, this week is special as the popular fighting game Crash Brothers has been just released, so I will inevitably be her opponent for the whole night.
Hardcore 24-hour play. It is extremely hard on the body and I"m worried that our lifespan will be likely cut.

Do I care about that? No way. I"m slowly getting fired up.

On one hand there is Keyaki, hardcore gamer. Having dark circles under eyes is normal to her.
On the other hand, there is me. s.h.i.tty small fry, who earnestly goes to school.

Our skill difference is crystal clear. No matter what the game, I fall behind her in many aspects.
There can be a real contest only in sports games like baseball or football, where I have better chance of winning, but they are not the games that my little sister wants to play. But if it is about a popular t.i.tle that was just released… She is interested and still not used to the controls.

In other words, this is my best chance of raising the precious flag of victory. Of course I am getting fired up.

By the way, according to an urban legend, this game is number one in popularity when it comes to series played at get-togethers with friends. Whomever the opponent may be, if you play against my little sister on a regular basis, you wouldn"t want to lose to her.

Still…

– Oraora, take that rocket in your face.

– Ha, useless, lol. You have always been too predictable.

– Gununu…

Haa…
Umm, that is… It"s just that my condition is not good right now…

I can"t come up with a single pa.s.sable excuse for my fails at small rapid movements or weak reaction speed. While eating ChocoMade chocolate during lunch break, I was thinking.

Somehow, there were too many various events for one week.
Well, not exactly various, they are mostly about one person.

For me, who doesn"t do anything except studying, to have worries linger till weekend is very uncharacteristic.
I"m not sure if I should be proud of it, but generally I forget all my troubles over one night.

It should have been like that, but… I can"t get that Tachibana girl out of the back of my mind. Most of the time I am not thinking of her, yet sometimes she just suddenly pops into my head and I don"t know how to deal with it. Every time I just plunge into my studies. Because I have no other ways out.

First thing I always remember is her happily grinning face.
Perhaps also, her flowery scent.
And finally, her poking me as if greeting me, with that soft hand of hers…

At that point I noticed, that I was about to commit an unthinkable misunderstanding.
I dug fingernails into my palms so hard that blood almost came out.

But did you know, virgin Ichijou Jun-kun?
She is simply sociable. She acts same way around everyone, all surrounding boys end up misunderstanding her. That"s why she is popular, that girl.

Seriously, what is she thinking about?
Like that thing about school trip, what the heck do you want me to do?

At that time, Keyaki has returned upstairs after finishing her meal.
Having seen me, she blinked at me with round eyes.

– Why are you holding a chocolate block in your mouth?

– Eh? Ah, you see…

I wonder, if I was to pick someone with whom I can speak comparatively freely, there is only my incompatible with highly efficient society little sister. That is to say, in the rarest case when I need to consult with someone, she is the only one I can rely on.

Well, she is a shut-in, but… She is someone you can trust. Plus, she is intelligent.
Therefore, I decided to give it a try.

– Keyaki, if… And that is if, you hear me, if… if one day there suddenly appears a boy that is good to you for no apparent reason, how would you explain that?

Keyaki blinked with round eyes once again.

And then her expression started to gradually change to a stare, as if looking at something weird.
As if she was saying "Are you asking that of a shut-in like me, stupid Aniki?".

– Are you asking that of me, s.h.i.tty Aniki?

– Well, I thought I could try.

That matched almost perfectly, but there was no s.h.i.tty. I"m not s.h.i.tty. I"ll have to teach her later.
It seemed her stare was now a bit more meaningful.

– What? Was it the eraser situation? Have you picked up an eraser for a girl next to you and became all friendly with her? Something like that?

That is definitely different from my situation, but she was so right on the mark about the essentials, I was shocked.
Seeing my expression, Keyaki sighed and shrugged.

– I don"t know what happened, but did you know? A beautiful girl comes in set with a precious vase. It is something that gets stolen when you don"t notice.

– Uh-huh…

– It"s too late when something precious is stolen, isn"t it? 1

My proudly grinning little sister held out the controller.

– The only ones you can truly trust are your family members, right?

That being said, "Beautiful girl and precious vase are a set", huh?
I completely agreed and honestly felt admiration.
As expected, she has so much life experience that she could choose to be a shut-in so early in life. It doesn"t even matter who was born earlier at this point. Judging by game skills, she is already my elder sister.

– Well, Round two?

– Ye-, yeah, Let"s go!

Is Tachibana coming to library on Monday?
What are we going to do about school trip?

I had various thought popping up in my head. However, after about 18 hours of gaming all my troubles have vanished. As for the reason, we continued to play the fighting game, exposed to the cold of night, and both caught a cold.

I was forced to skip school on Monday.