The first week of school life came to an end.
The day after Daiki, Asaki, and I went home together, Hikari immediately attacked during break time, shouting, “I was left out─!!” Weren’t you going home with Hina?
「Then we should have gone home as five!!」
「Leaving you aside, it would be troublesome for the others to suddenly be dragged along, wouldn’t it?」
Although I said that, if she’s already acquainted with Hikari and Asaki, then Daiki would be the only one she’d be meeting for the first time, so it wouldn’t be troublesome…?
I want to meet Hina soon, but I feel sorry for making her worry all this time, and I can’t figure out how to apologize, so I haven’t been able to make up my mind.
She’s now my only blood relative, so I know I should meet her first… but I feel like I’ve missed the timing again.
「She’s probably angry…」
「I’m angry!!」
「Not you!!」
I could tell Hikari and Asaki that Hina is my sister, but since they’ve just become friends, I want them to get along without me as a filter.
Hikari and Asaki have taken care of me a lot, so if I tell Hina about our circumstances over there, she might feel obliged. Conversely, if Hikari and Asaki knew Hina was my sister, they might try too hard to befriend her because she’s my sister.
While that would be appreciated, I want them to naturally deepen their friendship as friends first, and then talk about each relationship.
This is just my selfishness, and it might be unnecessary meddling for them.
As for my friendships, because Hikari or Asaki, or both, kept barging into the classroom every break time, no one approached my seat during this week. If anything, I received harsh looks from the boys.
Plus, with Daiki, a super desirable guy, sitting next to me, the girls were almost indifferent. Can I cry?
And as for Natsu, I occasionally saw her glancing over at me, but whenever the people around her decreased, that Amano guy or other female students would come to talk to her, and she never approached me.
Honestly, it feels like we’ve both completely missed the timing to talk.
So why didn’t I approach her?
Even I find it strange, but when I decide to call out to Natsu, I’m suddenly overwhelmed by anxiety.
What if she responds coldly when I talk to her…
What if I have to listen to her gush about her boyfriend…
I found myself becoming cowardly even about just talking to my childhood friend, a girl.
No, I know the reason. Looking back, it was natural for us to be together all the time, and I guess I’ve always been in love with her. I’m aware of it.
Even during the time we couldn’t meet, I think I survived because meeting her again became my goal.
Those feelings didn’t disappear until I returned here, but over the past year and a half, I’ve also made irreplaceable friends.
By the time I decided to use this eye, even though it might kill me, I think the majority of my feelings were about “going back home with these guys”.
Whether that means my feelings for her have diminished, or my feelings for my comrades have grown too much, I don’t know. If asked which is more important, I’d probably struggle to answer.
I know it’s not good to keep making excuses and putting it off, but my thoughts keep going around in circles as if I’ve entered a maze.
So I decided to take the weekend off to sort out my thoughts, and I called out to Daiki.
「Hey Daiki, if you’re free on Sunday, want to come over to my place?」
「Oh, is that okay? I don’t have any plans, so if it’s not a bother, I’ll come.」
「There’s something I want to talk about, so I’d appreciate it if you could come.」
「That’s unusual… You’re usually the one giving advice.」
「Yeah, well. Even I have one or two things to worry about.」
Fortunately, I have trustworthy friends. If I can’t solve it alone, we’ll do it together, if two can’t do it, then three, if three can’t do it, then four, that’s how we’ve always done it, I tell myself.
「Then I’ll come around before noon, and we can go out to eat.」
「Sounds good. Or I could cook for you.」
「No, I don’t want to end up with stir-fried vegetables.」
How did he know? Probably Asaki. That traitor.
──And so, Daiki is scheduled to come over to my place today.
The house is too big for just me to live in, so there’s no problem if a few friends come over to hang out. The only problem is that those few friends who could come over without issue… don’t exist.
──Light Novels──
──Read Here──
What a harsh world.
──Ding-dong.
It seems Daiki has arrived.
I head to the entrance, unlock the door, and open it.
「Oh, welcome. Come i…」
「I came~」
「Ohh… eh…?」
──Bang, click.
Unable to believe the sight of Hikari in front of me for a moment, I closed the door and locked it while uttering some mysterious words.
This is a dream, a bad dream. Okay, let’s sleep. Maybe I’ll wake up from the dream if I sleep.
──Ding-dong, ding-ding-ding-dong.
「Hey, open up─」
Kaname-kaasan’s voice demanding I open the door while repeatedly ringing the intercom.
「Open up─!! If you don’t, I’ll break down the door─!!」
A different voice from before says something dangerous. It’s definitely Hikari.
Thinking that she might actually destroy the door, I gave up on escaping reality and, with a sigh, opened the front door again.
「Fufun, it seems you’ve given up. Now, everyone, come in, come in.」
「Yo Shougo, you got that gloomy face as always.」
Whose fault do you think that is… It’s not your fault, though.
「Daiki, man… how did this happen…」
「I was just passing by and Hikari called out to me. When I asked where she was going, she said to Shougo’s house, so I thought I’d tag along.」
Ahh, so it was a coincidence after all.
「God is dead.」
「The culprit is right there.」
「Excuse me for intruding!!」
「Show some restraint!!」
It’s not really Hikari’s fault!! But still!! I can’t accept this!!
「Excuse me for intruding.」
「Asaki… you too…」
「Um… Excuse me for intruding. No, that’s not right, I’m home.」
「……!?」
My head couldn’t keep up with the sudden turn of events. Right, that’s how it was. Of course she’d be here. With Hikari and Asaki here.
She said she was invited to someone’s house today… She didn’t say whose house it was, but still… I needed some mental preparation…
「Ahh… welcome home. And… I’m home.」
「Yeah… welcome home!!」
Her face looking up at me was much higher than I remembered. I see, she’s grown a lot taller…
「Really, that person is such a handful.」
「Ahaha…」
There was a slight sob mixed in with her chuckling voice.
「You’ve grown up, Hina.」
「Hiccu… Onii-chan, Onii-chaaaan!!」
While stroking my crying sister’s head to comfort her, we entered our home side by side.