บท 31: Komachi Hikigaya is gonna marry her big brother when she grows up!
It was two weeks before the midterm exams. Virtuous high school boys
would stop by family restaurants to study on their way home from school.
Classes ending early and clubs having been canceled due to the Pro-D made
the situation ideal for studying.
I was focused intently on the simple task of transcribing English vocab.
You could even have likened me to the great monk of old, Shinran. By the
way, Shinran taught that one should Let a higher power support you, and he
was a very important man. His philosophy left a deep impression on me, so
I'm thinking I'll allow someone to support my lifestyle, too. From a Buddhist
perspective, I'm practically Shinran.
I finished copying out a list of the test vocab. Thinking I might like a cup
of cocoa while reviewing the words by hiding their definitions with a red
sheet, I took my cup and stood. That's when it happened.
"Sorry this isn't Saize, Yukinon. We'll have Milan-style pilaf next time,
okay? Oh, and I wanted to recommend the Diavola-style hamburg steak,
but…"
"I don't particularly care where we go. We're going to be doing the same
thing either way… Wait, is hamburg steak Italian food?"
Those voices sounded familiar.
"Ah!"
"Oh."
"Ugh."
Seeing each other, all three of us froze. Oh, so we're a snake, a frog, and a
slug, then? For some reason, I felt like I was probably the slug in this
scenario.
The pair who had just made their entrance was a uniform-clad Yukino
Yukinoshita and Yui Yuigahama. Unfortunately, they were my fellow
clubbians. By the way, clubbian refers to someone who is a member of an
arts or a humanities club. This was my first time ever employing the word…
It felt right.
"What're you doing here, Hikki?"
"Uh, studying…"
"Ooh, that's so funny. Like, me and Yukinon came around here to study,
too… S-so…wanna study together?" Yuigahama asked as her eyes darted
back and forth between my face and Yukinoshita's.
"If you want. I'd still be studying, anyway."
"Indeed. There would be no alteration to our agenda." Yukinoshita and I
were in agreement for once.
"Hmm?" Yuigahama seemed puzzled for a moment to find us on the same
page. Apparently, though, she decided to let it slide, because she cooed,
"Okay, it's decided!" and trotted up to my table.
Each of them ordered a drink bar ticket. When Yukinoshita went to
retrieve hers, she studied the machine intently. Her cup was poised in her
right hand, and for some reason, she clutched change in her left. "Hey,
Hikigaya. Where do you put in the money?"
"Huh?" Seriously? You don't know what a drink bar is, Yukinoshita?
What kind of extreme upper-class upbringing did you have? "Uh, it doesn't
cost money. Like, um…buffet style? It's like that, but with drinks."
"Japan is such a bountiful country," she said, a vaguely clouded smile
flitting across her face. Her pontifications on beverage dispensers were
baffling to me, but she let me go ahead of her. She watched rapt, her mien
serious, as I poured myself a drink. Her eyes sparkled as I pressed the button,
the machine whirred, and my cup filled with soda. Just in case, while I was at
it, I put another cup under the espresso machine and pressed the button for cocoa, and she let out a quiet, "I see…" Though she seemed uncertain about
it, Yukinoshita did get the drink she wanted, and the three of us sat down. We
were finally ready to start this study thing.
"All right, let's get started." Yuigahama signaled the start of the study
session, and Yukinoshita pulled out her headphones and put them on with a
clack. Eyeing the others from the side, I put in my ear buds.
Watching us, Yuigahama's expression turned to shock. "What?! Why are
you listening to music?!"
"Well, when you study, you listen to music, right? To block out noise."
"That's right. When you stop noticing the music, you know that you're
concentrating. It's quite motivating."
"This isn't right! This isn't studying together!" Yuigahama objected,
smacking the table.
Yukinoshita put her hand to her chin and adopted a thoughtful pose.
"Then what is studying together?"
"Um…you check with each other what's going to be on the test, ask
questions about stuff you don't understand… Oh, and you take some breaks,
too, and then you ask for help with things, and after that, you exchange
information. And sometimes…you chat, I guess?"
"That's all just talking." She called that studying together, but that wasn't
actually getting any studying done. It was all just impeding studying.
"Studying is meant to be solitary, really," Yukinoshita said as if she knew
all about it.
I agreed with her. Basically, she was saying that loners are good at
studying. Hey, they should write that in those manga that advertise the
Shinkan Seminar home learning courses.
At first, Yuigahama had this look on her face that said she really wasn't
convinced, but with Yukinoshita and I silently and intently buried in our
books, she surrendered with a sigh and began studying herself. This
continued with five, ten minutes passing, and time went by. When I happened
to look up at them again, Yuigahama had a tortured look on her face, her
hand still. Yukinoshita, on the other hand, continued quietly solving math
problems. Perhaps Yuigahama was hesitant to interrupt Yukinoshita's
concentration as she turned toward me.
"U-um…about this question…?" Yuigahama asked. Perhaps asking me
offended her pride, as she looked extremely embarrassed.
"The Doppler effect, huh…? I'm not even bothering with math and
science, so I dunno. I can explain Grappler Baki instead—how about that?"
"No way! The only thing they share in common is a ppler!"
No good after all, huh? I thought I could do a pretty good job explaining
it, though.
Yuigahama closed her textbook and notebook as if she was giving up and
slurped her iced tea through a straw. She took her emptied glass in hand and
was about to stand when she gasped "Ah!" like she'd just noticed something.
Drawn by her exclamation, I turned in the direction she was looking and
saw an amazingly cute, pretty girl in a sloppy sailor-style school uniform.
"That's my sister." My little sister, Komachi, was standing in front of the
register with a cheerful smile on her face. Beside her stood a boy wearing a
gakuran. "Sorry, 'scuse me," I apologized, standing and immediately going
after her, but by the time I got out of the restaurant, they were gone.
I reluctantly went back into the restaurant, and Yuigahama started
interrogating me. "Uhh, um. Was that your sister?"
"Yeah. Why was she coming to a family restaurant with a boy…?" I was
in shock. This was no time to be studying. My little sister had no business in
a restaurant with some strange guy.
"She might have been on a date!"
"That's ridiculous…impossible…"
"I dunno. Wouldn't it be normal for Komachi-chan to have a cute
boyfriend?"
"She can't have a boyfriend if her older brother doesn't have a girlfriend!
No little sister can surpass her older brother!"
"Don't be so stupid at such a high volume. I could hear that even with
headphones on." Yukinoshita removed said headphones and glared at me.
The cord was taut in her hands. If I made any more of a scene, it seemed she
would strangle me.
"I'm not being stupid. My little sister was abducted by an unidentified
male—"
"He was obviously just a middle school student," said Yuigahama. "I get
that you're worried about Komachi-chan, but she's not gonna like you
anymore if you pry. Lately, my daddy has been pestering me with questions
like 'Do you have a boyfriend?' It's so annoying."
"Ha-ha-ha! That's nothing. My dad is so firmly convinced that my sister doesn't have a boyfriend, he won't even ask the question. I feel bad just
looking at him, frankly… Wait, how do you know my sister's name?" I
didn't think I'd mentioned my sister's name to anyone. I doubted that anyone
even knew my first name, so anyone knowing her name should have been out
of the question.
"Huh?! Oh, uh, well, you know… I think it was…written in your cell
phone?" For some reason, Yuigahama averted her eyes.
Oh. Now that I thought about it, I had handed her my cellphone once,
huh? It might have been one of my texts. "Is that it? That's a relief. I thought
maybe I'd turned into a poor bastard with such a severe sister complex that I
unconsciously mutter her name."
"Uh, now you're sounding like you've got a sister complex," Yuigahama
fretted, slightly weirded out.
"That's absurd! In no way do I have a sister complex. I don't even see her
as my sister, but rather as a woman… Hey, I'm clearly joking—don't start
pulling out weapons!"
Yukinoshita was glowering at me with a mix of shock and fear. I stopped
talking when she picked up the knife and fork. Had I finished my sentence,
there's no question she would have flayed me alive. "Coming from you, it
doesn't sound like a joke. It's horrifying. But if this bothers you so much,
why don't you ask her about it at home?" Yukinoshita put forward this
conclusive suggestion, and she and Yuigahama went back to studying.
But I left my notes untouched after that. I reminisced about Komachi
crying, Bro! and scampering after me, shouting, I'm gonna marry you when I
grow up, Bro! and how my dad had gotten a lot harsher with me after that.
Whatever. Who cares about my sister?
And that was why even after I got home I didn't ask about that stuff. I-it
wasn't like it was because I'd heard that prying would make her not like me
anymore!
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