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Chapter 33 Part 2

「It’s quite a nice room, isn’t it?」

「Is, is that so? I was embarrassed to show you the room as it is, but I also found it questionable to suddenly remodel it, you see.」

The person in question must have some inklings about it, too.

It was a show of kindness from Yuu to deliberately not throw a retort saying: it’s not so manly.

Albeit vaguely, he had more or less guessed that apparently, Rei ending up having such preference was due to the influence of his family.

When he asked him before, Rei said that before he moved here, he lived in a town in the western part of the prefecture whose name Yuu had never even heard of.

He had been living in the Saiou city since that time, and apart from his father, who came by twice a week, he seemed to have a familial relationship where he was surrounded by women, from his grandmother, aunt, cousin, mother, and little sister.

For a while, they talked mainly about the things they could find in the room.

Midway, Rei’s mother brought them tea cakes and drinks.

Incidentally, it was iced cafe au lait for Yuu and Rei and orange juice for Satomi.

It seemed to be a usual occurrence for his little sister to hang around in his room for a long time, but seeing that she was sitting there as if it was only natural even now, Rei’s mother showed a troubled face.

As if to say: I don’t mind; Yuu shook his head and showed a smile on his face.

And then, not wanting to leave Satomi out of the group, Yuu boldly tried to talk to her.

「Satomi-chan, I believe Rei told me before that you are in junior high school, what grade are you in now?」

「Second year.」

She was willing to make eye contact with him, but her answer was minimal.

「Which means you’ll take the entrance exam the year after next, huh. By any chance, for high school, are you thinking of going to Sairyou Academy (our school)?」

「But of course! I’m going to get in for sure!」

「Hohou. You seem confident. I heard that the competition among the girls is intense, though?」

Upon hearing that question from Yuu, it felt as if strength gathered in Satomi’s eyes, who had been shy and unwilling to make eye contact with him.

「Me entering Sairyou Academy in two years is the future I’ve decided for myself! There is nothing I can do until then, but I have to stay close by and watch over my big brother, who will be a third year at that time, so that he doesn’t have any evil women (bugs) sticking around him!」

「Oh…I see.」

Then Satomi straightened her posture and turned straight to Yuu.

「Umm, Yuu-san?」

「Hmm, what’s up?」

「I heard that you are my big brother’s best friend in high school. Until I enter the school, could you watch over my big brother so that he doesn’t get caught by a bad woman? As you could see. I beg you.」

Still sitting in seiza posture, Satomi bowed her head.

As she did so, her long black hair hung down loosely.

Yuu was flustered by the sudden action.

「Ah… No, c’mon, raise your head, Satomi-chan. You see, even if you do no such a thing, I’ll do whatever I can to keep Rei from going through any awful experiences. Well, as long as it’s within the range of my eyes, though.」

「Yes. By all means, please. Since ages ago, there have always been a lot of girls who say that a cute boy like my big brother is their type, after all.」

There are already quite a few girls who yearn for Rei, after all.

Yuu thought that in his mind, but did not say it out loud.

Instead, he floated a smile and said,

「You sure love your brother a lot, don’t you, Satomi-chan?」

「Yes! I love him very much!」

「Wha, oh you, Sato…」

Satomi hugged Rei’s arm with a very nice smile on her face

Perhaps having said what she wanted to say, she was no longer acting in a reserved manner even in front of Yuu.

Looks like we’ve serious case of brother complex here.

Yuu was a little bit taken aback.

Most likely, my elder sister and I would have been like that too, if our sister-brother relationship had not gone haywire in the past; so Yuu thought.

「Come to think of it, at your place, you have an elder sister, right, Yuu-kun?」

Rei said while patting her little sister’s head.

When all was said and done, Rei himself probably found his little sister adorable.

Satomi was in a very good mood as she was being petted.

「Yes, I do. But we don’t get along as well as you do at your place, Rei. Something happened in the past, you see.」

「I, I see…」

He believed it happened last winter, but it seemed that the incident at that time was so traumatic for Yuu himself that it had been sealed away and no matter how much he tried to recall it, he couldn’t.

Therefore, he had no other choice but to keep his words vague.

It was Satomi who broke the mood that was about to turn gloomy.

「Say, big brother! It’s a good chance, so let’s show that to Yuu-san.」

「By that?」

Satomi whispered something in Rei’s ear.

「Ehh?! R, right now?」

「Yes! I’m sure Yuu-san will be surprised!」

「But…」

「It’s okay!」

Seeing the two of them talk in such a secretive manner made Yuu curious about it

「What is it that you think will surprise me? I’m curious.」

「See? C’mon, Yuu-san says it’s alright!」

「Umm…」

Rei looked at Yuu with gazes as if asking for help, but while Yuu was still unable to make heads or tails of what they were talking about, he ended up being forcefully taken away by Satomi.

「Please wait for about thirty minutes. You can read a manga or something during that time.」

「Sorry, Yuu-kun.」

Left alone, Yuu looked at the rows and rows of comic books lined up in a color box.

All of them were shoujo manga.

In the first place, it was a wonder if there were any shounen manga that Yuu could enjoy in this world.

In fact, there were some manga with boy protagonists in Yuu’s own room, but they were pretty much soft drawings with thin lines, which made him think they were drawn by women.

He didn’t see any manga with the rough and bold style typical of shounen manga, the kinds that were drawn by male mangaka.

Feeling no inclination to grab any of the manga, his eyes suddenly fell on a photo frame placed on the space near the pillow.

There was a picture of Rei and Satomi, both wearing dark gray uniforms, standing side by side in front of the school gate, probably for his little sister’s middle school entrance ceremony, as well as a picture depicting the four members of the family.

So Rei takes after his father, not her mother, huh.

The young-looking man with an androgynous look, or rather who gave off little to no male hormone was probably his father.

He looked exactly like the grown-up version of the current Rei.

When he and Rei’s mother were standing side by side, it was hard to believe that they were a couple with children in middle and high school.

While Yuu was looking at the pictures on the bedside table and playing with a stuffed bear, he heard a faint knocking sound.

Most likely, Rei and Satomi had returned, but it was a wonder as to why he would act all reserved even though it was his own room.

「Yes, come in.」

When the door was opened, the one who came in seemed to be the younger sister, Satomi.

She was wearing the same clothes and hairstyle as before, but he could tell that she had worn some semblance of makeup.

For some reason, not only did the way she walked seem to be awkward, she wouldn’t make eye contact with Yuu either.

Had she ended up returning to her shy self after parting just for a short period of time, or was she nervous because she was alone with Yuu, even if only for a short while?