Chapter 3: It is not enough that Isshiki Iroha succeeds; Hikigaya Komachi must also succeed.

Groggy. I felt like I woke up from a three-month coma.

While I was going down the staircase, I almost stepped onto our cat who was sleeping on one of the steps. What a funny place for him to sleep at. Though, since our rooms were all upstairs, it was at the staircase where he would definitely be able to catch sight of every single one of us, just to make sure.

His name was Kamakura, but I liked to call him Kaa-kun. I'm pretty sure that he liked to be called that too, but, being a quiet cat as opposed to a rowdy dog, he doesn't really show his appreciation very strongly.

Kaa-kun's whiskers twitched when my foot was right over him. As I slowly withdrew my foot, his eyes, sharp and pearly as ever, shot open and he stared right at me.

Like any cat, Kaa-kun is pretty solitary. He goes off on his own and eats on his own schedule (that is, sometimes eating the moment we bring him food or sometimes waiting a bit before doing so) and sleeps on his own schedule. Ironically, even though he does his own things, Kaa-kun does like to lie around in a room that has people in it. If we're in the living room, then he'll come to the living room to do something on his own like laying down on the couch. It's almost like he's trying to make himself look like an ornament. Well, he'll leave if we're being annoying, though. But if we're being quiet, he'll grace us with the opportunity to feel his fuzzy fur.

Because he's been in our family for quite a while now, he's also become quite perceptive. He'll know exactly when we come home from work or school and he remembers the exact times when we serve him dinner. If I'm tired and I need to rest, he'll snuggle himself right next to me, offering himself as a furry ball of warmth. Actually, about that last point, he's probably taking advantage of my own heat or taking advantage of a blanket that I might be using as his intention.

Guess who Kaa-kun is most fond of? That's right, me, who was his main caretaker and plaything! Although, putting it that way makes it sound like he was the master rather than me.

Solitary, perceptive, and fond of me. Well, that sounds a lot like another person in the family.

Kaa-kun continued to stare at me for another few seconds. I was about to bend down and feel the fuzziness of his fur, but he stood up on all fours and leaped down the stairs.

I went down the stairs as well and chased after Kaa-kun. He twisted into the living room and hopped right on top of the television. When I came closer, he sprang to the couch. He kept his distance, but he didn't necessarily care to keep himself away from my sight.

One time in the past, I got really grumpy because of some stupid thing going on at school with some dumb issue that I don't even want to remember because it was just that insanely nonsensical, especially due to the fact that Yuka turned off her brain whenever her boyfriend came up in the conversation or appeared in person. Anyway, I came home really mad that day, so I, uh, played with Kaa-kun especially hard. After that, he escaped from my clutches and kept his distance just like right now.

I didn't even do anything to him yet.

I sighed. Kaa-kun really is too perceptive.


Breakfast, breakfast, breakfast. Have a good meal first thing in the morning and you'll perk right up. If you skip it, you'll probably collapse before noon. Simple as that. But I almost wanted to put away my frying pan and do just that this morning.

As usual, the role of chef of breakfast, lunch and dinner fell to me whenever my mom was too busy. The eggs got cracking, the sugar got mixing, and the soy sauce got dripping. Dripping right onto the floor. Whoops.

I made sure to clean up the mess I made with a wet towel. It never hurts to be clean. I also keep my room kinda clean. You gotta be prepared to accommodate visitors. Though, whenever my friends come over, my brother is either out or locked in his room. I wonder why that was?

No, of course I knew the answer to that. If my brother had confidence in something, it would have to be in his ability repel other people. He wanted to keep that A-rank ability under wraps.

But he didn't have to do that. If I did have friends that turned out to be vulnerable to that ability, then they wouldn't be my friends anymore afterwards.

After I was done cleaning, I went back to cooking (after washing my hands, of course). I poured some of the egg mixture that I had just made onto the warm-enough frying pan that had a big-enough pool of oil spread around the bottom. In just moments, gooey liquid became still and turned into a yellowy sheet. With a pair of chopsticks, I rolled that sheet up into a nice, well, roll. I poured more of the mixture into the pan, and that portion turned solid, and I rolled it up over the already-made, uh, roll. I kept doing that until I ran out of egg, and I was left with a nice multi-layered egg, um, roll. Well, that's a real stiff name that I came up with. It's no wonder that they called it an omelette instead.

I removed the omelette from the pan and placed it onto my plate. I'll cut it up into bite-sized portions later on. Keeping it whole like this keeps the heat in better. I think it's because of less volume. Or was it less surface area? I hope I got that question right on the exam.

I realized that I still needed to make an omelette for my brother. I forgot about that, so I didn't prepare twice as much of the egg mixture.

Say, about people who weren't vulnerable to my brother's ability, would they necessarily be my friend, then? Would the reverse of that thing earlier by necessarily true?

Of course not. I mean, among one of my brother's acquaintances there's that one guy. Not Sai-chan, but the fat one. Zaimatsuka? Mochiteru? See, I can barely even remember his name.

Slow footsteps approached the dining room table behind me. I, who was still in the kitchen, craned my neck around to see who had arrived carefully and soundlessly. Of course, it was my brother.

"Uh... Yo," he awkwardly spoke.

"Good morning."

I turned back to the kitchen table and stove to finish up the preparations for breakfast. As I chopped up some lettuce for a light salad, not a single squeak sounded from behind me. There was a pot turned upside down on the drying rack. I looked at the reflection of its shiny sides and caught my brother standing motionlessly while occasionally stealing awkward glances at my profile. The fact that I knew made just a little bit of sweat seep out of my pores, and I tensed up a bit.

"It'll be ready soon," I simply said.

"O-Oh, right," my brother stammered.

With that, he finally pulled out a chair from the table and took a seat. Again, there was silence, save for the sounds of cooking. I sped up the pace just a little bit, half in an attempt to ignore the glances that still flashed this way.

After I was finished, I gently carried the plates of food to the dining table, placed one in front of my brother as his eyes followed it, and placed another in front of where I was going to sit. I also brought over cups and poured tea into them.

I stepped back into the kitchen for a moment to take off my apron and put it away. I reached behind my back and fumbled with the knot that I made. However, it was done up far too tighly. Stupid me. I tackled the string labyrinth over and over, each time loosening it up a bit but then accidentally tightening it up again in the next step. I almost wanted to take some scissors and cut it off. I held out in the end, though. With reddened, aching fingers, I finally undid the knot and slipped off the apron.

I made my way back to the table. My brother hadn't started eating yet, and he was looking off absentmindedly for some reason.

I purposely pulled my chair out hard and sat down with a rattle.

"Thanks for the meal," I spoke a little loudly.

Waking up, my brother followed with a start, "Ah... um, thanks for the meal."

I dug in a little too graciously. I realized that my stomach was emptier than I thought. Yet, I didn't feel like savouring each bite. It was neither good nor bad.

My brother pecked at his food unusually slowly , but he swallowed every bite of food that he did put in his mouth.

It wasn't silent. The clinging of our utensils and the crunching and sloshing filled the sound-space of the room. Indeed, we were preoccupied with eating. Too busy. Words would have been in the way, so none were spoken.

After a while, engaged in that quiet consumption, I finished up the last slice of lettuce and put down my fork. I looked over, and my brother was still going at it. If this were an eating competition, then I guess I would've won. But it wouldn't be much of a competition without a prize, and since there was no prize for finishing first here, it didn't really matter at all.

Perhaps I should have immediately transported my plate to the sink and began washing it and the dirty pans and bowls. Somehow, though, I didn't feel up to that, at least not yet. I remain seated and waited for my brother to finish. In the mean time, I sipped my tea, which had cooled down enough such that even a person with a cat's tongue would find it drinkable.

Eventually, my brother finished. He put down his chopsticks and washed down his meal with his tea. After having filled up with breakfast energy and wetted his dry throat, my brother looked, well, a little less wooden.

"Hey, Komachi, we are going again today to help out with things..." — my brother paused for a moment — "If you're not too busy, that is."

I caressed the side of my tea cup. The bit of heat that was left warmed my fingers.

"That's obvious, Onii-chan," I spoke as I looked up at him.

He did raised his arms and did a light stretch. In doing so, he gave himself the excuse to turn his head sideways. He notched only his eyes towards me as he kept facing that way. He tried his best to look apathetic.

"Of course I'm not too busy today."

"R-Right... if you're fine with it. With getting busy again, I mean."

"Mmhmm."

I matched him in doing my own stretches. Seeing that, my brother smiled slightly. I finally smiled too, a little bit.

"Like, it's okay if Komachi gets a bit busy from here on out for the sake of Yukino-san and Yui-san," I said as I stood up.

"Yeah... thanks," muttered my brother.

Inwardly, I thought of the words "well, whatever". I like stuff like that. You roll your words all over your tongue, and things just seem to work out. If you can somehow manage to say something that takes the essence of whatever it is you're a little anxious about, then it just seems a little less troublesome.

Maybe it's because of that that I felt little refreshed somehow. I could actually keep going, even if I knew there was just going to be a thorn stuck to my side later on.

But thinking about such a thorn got me a bit annoyed again. No good, Komachi, you have to focus on your duties!


"Senpaaaai, good morniiiiiing. And good morning to you, little sis!"

Isshiki Iroha approached us with a jaunty skip and spouted off that greeting.

"Yo," my brother briefly muttered.

"Hello," I spoke as I stretched my cheek muscles.

Was I smiling yet?

We were at the community centre again, at its lobby. I guess it's just going to be the hub for all of the activities that the schools will do together. Come to think of it, the schools sure have been using this place a lot for the past months. I wonder if they got the okay for it all.

"The old man who runs this place got just a tiiiiny bit mad when I asked him about using this place for something like this again," said Isshiki as she stuck her tongue out.

I wanted to hold my head in agony.

With an annoyed look, my brother spoke, "So? I mean, looking around, we're all here, so what the heck did you do?"

Indeed, around us were Tamanawa and his crew, a mob of adorable elementary school kids, and Isshiki's own personnel. Ah, I think I see Yukino-san and Yui-san too.

"I came prepared," puffed Isshiki, her hands placed on her hips, "Some cookies and a slice of cake was all it took to get him to cave in and give the OK. Even grown men are all over my cooking!"

"...I'm not getting involved with this," said my brother with disgust, "Sounds almost like something out of an H-doujin that Zaimokuza might buy."

Uwaa, my brother is a pervert. I took a step away from him.

At the same time, though, I felt like there was something wrong with what Isshiki just said, even though it would have been something along the lines of what I would have done too.

"Eeeh, bribery? Komachi would've just given them the treats first then asked them real nicely instead," I spoke.

"How's that any differeeeeent?" pouted Isshiki.

"Isshiki's right," said my brother as he nodded, "You're still forcing them to change their mindset, though they're doing it out of obligation instead of a reward."

"Senpai, could you, like, not make it out to be so devilishly?" huffed Isshiki as she blew up her cheeks, "Well, I mean, it's not like it isn't true, though."

"Don't you try and act all innocent and cute about it because you would've gone out and said exactly what I said if you were talking with Yuigahama about it," my brother groaned.

Again, I stood on the sidelines while my brother and Isshiki had shifted their bodies until they were standing exactly face-to-face. With that kind of position, if I tried to speak up, it would just feel like butting in.

Wait a second, what am I worried about? Why would butting in even be bad in the first place?

I piped up, "Okay, okay. Let's get to work."

Simultaneously, their heads turned toward me with annoyed expressions. However, I knew that they looked annoyed from their previous conversation and not because I called out to them. Even so, I shrank back a little.

"That's right!" suddenly spoke Isshiki as she clasped her hands together, "Senpai, I need you for something. Come with me."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered while shrugging.

Isshiki immediately began trotting away. While slouching forward, my brother followed after her.

As if it was an afterthought, Isshiki stopped for a brief moment, turned her head my way, and added, "Ah, Yukinoshita-senpai and Yui-senpai want you, little sis, I think. Why don't you go that-a-way?"

That quick rest didn't manage to break her tempo. She pointed somewhere quickly, then went right back on track and strutted in a relaxed manner. Maybe she truly thought that she was in control.

I turned my back to her back. I set out to follow her suggestion, but in no way was I acting in service of an order.


I headed to where I spotted Yukino-san and Yui-san earlier, but a bunch of kids were in my way. Oh, no no, I'm not trying to sound like they're burdensome or useless or something. In fact, I would rather be surrounded by such cute kids and be slowed down than not.

When I reached the two, I saw Yukino-san carrying a clipboard and writing on it. Both she and Yui-san were calling out their names and the children responded in one way or another — putting up their hands or saying they were present. They were probably taking attendance.

"Yahallo!" I called out.

Yui-san noticed me and cheerfully returned, "Ah, Komachi-chan, yahallo!"

Looking up from her clipboard, Yukino-san gracefully greeted, "Good morning, Komachi-san."

"From the looks of it, you guys are in charge of the kids, huh," I said, looking around at the, well, actually slightly tired-looking faces.

"Yup, as you can see!" said Yui-san.

"Guess we're going with the play this time too then," I said, nodding to myself, "And the script—"

"I personally revised it to make sure that it was... up to standards," interrupted Yukino-san with a pained expression.

Then, she accidentally let out a tiny little yawn. She quickly covered her mouth and turned a tad pink.

"Sorry. That's just how it was, I suppose," she muttered while averting her eyes.

Wow, maybe she truly faced a nightmare last night — one that was outside of sleep.

"I-I'm so sorry..."

"Ahahaha..."

With a brush of her hair, Yukino-san changed topics before things got any more awkward, "Anyway, about the play, I know it's on such a short notice and that you two might not have read it fully, but it's simplistic in nature. Well, given who's performing it, that should be expected. We should be able to help the kids get the hang of it, though I'd prefer if we had a chance to get familiar with the script first."

"Yeah! Yukinon, I got your e-mail this morning and I quickly read it through, and it seems so easy that even I could understand it!"

Yukino-san and I gave stared super pitifully at poor ol' Yui-san, who somehow, despite everything, managed to still enroll in Sobu.

"I-It was just a joke..." hesitantly spoke Yui-san as she twiddled her fingers.

Yukino-san cleared her throat and got things back on track.

"I think that's everyone. Shall we move to a different room to practice?"

"Mmhmm. Okay, follow us, everyone!" Yui-san called out.

In a neat, single file line, the kids and us three made our way down the hall. I gotta say, the kids were rather well-behaved. Maybe it's because they really adored this friendly and sweet onee-san with the hair bun. Or, maybe they were following after the orders of the stricter black-haired onee-san.

The room we arrived at was super spacious. The middle of it was completely clear, the tables were pushed off to the side, and the chairs were stacked up high. You could probably get a decent workout just by running a couple laps in this place. I think the number of kids that came with us was about thirty, so this place should do nicely.

Yui-san gently urged all the kids to come in and go to the centre of the room and to line up in rows. And so they did so without grumbling even a little bit. Aw, maybe if a certain someone was being cared for this nicely in the past, he wouldn't have grown up to be the kind of cynic he was today. That's right, it's gotta be all papa's fault!

When the last kid enter the room, I headed over to the entrance to close the door. To my surprise, the last kid wasn't the last person. Following after that child was a guy with healthy blond hair, healthy looks, and a healthy smile. His style of dress was casual and trendy, though reserved enough to not notice the brand name they carry on first glance. Some of the kids (mainly the girls) turned their heads towards him and gasped.

Of course, I recognized this incredibly dashing boy. It's impossible to forget the name of the owner of that pretty face, after all. He, Hayama Hayato, was certainly of a Rank S type compared to my brother's Rank F.

"Oh? It's Hikigaya's little sister," he spoke with pleasant surprise.

"Hello!" I greeted, "Are you here to help out too?"

"Haha, I can't turn down a request from the student council president, after all," he said good-naturedly, "But it's always nice to be helping out with something like this, especially if it can help spread smiles."

His specs were simply way too high. Like, he must have absurd base stats. If I were a guy, I would totally play soccer with him.

"Ah, it's Hayato-kun!" said Yui-san as she skipped over.

"Hey. I'm glad I could make it."

"Indeed, we could use a helping hand," spoke Yukino-san as she walked over, "Good morning."

Yukino-san spoke very politely to him and with a reserved smile. Seeing that, Hayama-san dryly smiled back.

"Yeah, I thought I'd help out around, Yukinoshita-san."

For a moment, Hayama-san's friendly face crumbled, and out of his mouth left a sigh. But, he quickly transitioned it into a sort of a grunt or a yawn or whatever that kind of deep sound was as he stretched his arms.

"Sorry, I'm still a little tired from yesterday. You know. That type of thing I usually do," said Hayama-san as he adopted a more wry smile.

"You mean with your family?" asked Yui-san.

"Yuigahama-san, I'm sure it's nothing that this highly able son of theirs can't handle," sardonically spoke Yukino-san, "In any case, we should get started now that everyone's here."

That's right. I should just try enjoying it all. There's no reason not to be trying my best here, especially with all these lovely people around aching to do something fun!

"Iiiit's show time!" I exclaimed with a fist raised into the air.

I hopped over to where the children were neatly lined up. I took a chair from a stack near the wall, placed it in front of the kids and stood up on it. I became a tower, and I looked down upon the children, some of whom had wide-eyes while others tilted their heads.

"Okay! Are you kids ready to put on another absolutely outrageous show?" I announced.

"But Onee-chan, what are we doing this time?" asked a boy in the back row.

"We are doing... actually what are we doing?"

I cautiously looked towards Yukino-san and Yui-san.

"Ehehe, Komachi doesn't really know the specifics, so..."

Yukino-san looked surprised, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I not send the script to you too?"

"Um, maybe..."

I unconsciously groped around my not-present bag on my right for my not-present phone. Come to think of it, thanks to the distractions here and there, I haven't even checked my phone even once this morning. And they call me a millennial. Oops.

"Well, this certainly won't do," wryly spoke Yukino-san, "Although I like your enthusiasm, I'm afraid you'll have to spend some time going over the script to be more productive. I've printed out several copies in case of this."

I stepped down from the chair. The kids' heads tilted upwards a bit less as they stared at me. My vision fell a little below the level of Yui-san's and Yukino-san's height and far below Hayama-san's height.

I silently made my way over to Yukino-san. She pulled out several thick stacks of paper.

"Ah, thanks," I muttered as I received one of the stacks from her.

It was just a minor setback. Once I've taken in this info, I'll be ready to help out again.

I sighed. It's not like I didn't read at all, but my love for reading was far below that of my dad's and of my brother's. Having to go through this entire script was much less fun for me.

"That goes for me as well," said Hayama-san.

Turning to him, Yukino-san said matter-of-factly, "Of course. I didn't even know to send you the script, after all."

"Thanks," said Hayama-san as he retrieved a copy of a script from her, "Did you type up all of this by yourself or—"

"Not entirely. It was the other school that wrote it. I just made it more... acceptable."

Yukino-san paused for a moment and looked like she was considering something. Hayama-san's gaze grew a bit sharper.

Yukino-san continued, "I did what I could do on my own."

"I see. That's good, if it's that way, isn't it? Anyway, let's go over there, Komachi-chan," abruptly spoke Hayama.

Yukino-san and Yui-san headed towards where the kids were to start things off. Hayama-san walked towards a table at the corner of the room.

I stared at Hayama-san in amazement. I've had my suspicions before, but what exactly was with him and Yukino-san?

Hayama-san suddenly turned around, noticed my gaze, and spoke self-deprecatingly, "If you're thinking that I was pitying you or something, don't be. I really don't know what the play is about either."

I shook my head and denied, "No, no, it's nothing."

Wow, he sure did misunderstand something in an unexpectedly terrible way. No, a popular guy like him might always have noticed or thought things like that. It's just that you wouldn't expect them to be so frank.

He removed two chairs from a stack and lined them up on the table. Hey, don't steal Komachi's show. She likes to show off too, once in a while. Regardless, I thanked him and graciously sat down. Nodding, he did the same.

Let's see what the crazy story Kaihin Sogo president could come up with. Oh hey, there's a synopsis on the first page. Thank you, Tamanawa. Or maybe it was Yukino-san that wrote it.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, there existed a planet named Playerbase. Playerbase was subdivided into several continents, each one ruled by one or several deities. The continent of Funstation, known as the land of the free, was ruled by the twin goddesses DUAL-sama and SHOCK-sama. The continent of Teenbox, known as the walled garden of paradise, was ruled by the wealthy god Gates-sama. The continent of Uwii, known as the ageless land, was overseen by the lucky mother Heaven-sama (RIP). The continent of Winnux X, known as the land of great progress, was under the sovereignty of Newell-sama. Finally, the emergent Mohbuhlfone, known as the wild lands, was an anarchic archipelago that, nonetheless, was heading toward order day by day.

Unlike our world, Playerbase was not open to the idea of GLOBALIZATION. Each continent was SEQUESTERED into its own ECOSYSTEM, and nothing flowed between them, with the exception of SHELLS as part of the perpetual and worldwide CONSOLE WAR. Our protagonist VULKAN dreams to unify all continents into a single UNIFIED ARCHITECTURE. He recognizes the futility of EXCLUSIVITY and PROTECTIONISM within the individual ECOSYSTEMS and wishes to enlighten the world with COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE. Through his adventures of NETWORKING, he meets new COLLEAGUES and faces challenges like TARIFFS and QUOTAS. Yet, VULKAN manages to overcome all of these challenges through faith in his COLLEAGUES and convinces the deities of each continent to erase their PREJUDICES and agree to TRADE AGREEMENTS, and he achieves GLOBALIZATION.

The end.

I felt extremely thirsty. By the way, everyone knows that water evaporates when left out in the open. Maybe I was thirsty because I left my mouth wide open for far too long.

I had many, many, many, many, many things to say about this script. But I'll refrain myself from complaining because I'd fill a book doing so.

I looked toward Hayama-san. He, too, looked as bewildered as if someone had dumped water on him.

"I... I think I understand it somewhat," spoke Hayama-san in amazement, "I think the theme is that everyone should get along with each other."

"Um, could you explain how exactly you got to that idea?"

"Even so, it does feel rather unique. It's a bit hard to understand where it's coming from, though," said Hayama-san while nodding.

"Ahaha, I think you're better off not trying to understand it."

Hayama-san shook his head, "Even if it's inconvenient, it's still better to know about it."

He ran his fingers through the top edge of the sheets of paper. They rustled in an even manner as they swept past his fingers until the last page had passed by.

With a look of melancholy, Hayama-san added, "I mean, if we're going to help out with the play, we have to know the story. The context."

"Ehehe, I guess a story or theme like this is perfect for children, though. All cool and fairy tale-like," I spoke, "Well, aside from what was said in that second part of the run-through."

"Indeed, it is very... ideal," said Hayama-san.

Before I could make a retort, the door was whipped open, and I whipped my head in that direction.

"Like I said, don't treat me as a translator..."

"But how else am I suppose to understand Tamanawa? I'm leaving things up to an expert, you know."

In came Isshiki Iroha with large steps. My brother trailed in after her, and he was looking worn out already.

"Yui-senpai! And Yukino-senpai, too! How's the play coming along?"

Yui-san gave her a confident thumbs up. Yukino-san told her that she had absolutely zero things to worry about. Yaaaay.

"You two are always so reliable!" praised Isshiki.

"Then make yourself more reliable too," my brother complained, "For starters, don't bug me about Tamanawa."

"Senpai, how ruuude. Of course I can talk to him on my own. How else did I manage to organize this thing and the cooking thing? You being there just makes it easier on me."

Ah, I know that kind of annoyed face my brother put on just now. It's his "If-that-last-sentence-wasn't-in-this-context-then-I'd-fall-for-you-right-away" face.

Completely lacking in concern, my brother shooed away Isshiki, "Yes, yes. I've worked hard enough for you. It's time to take my break."

"It hasn't even been that looooong..." pouted Isshiki, "Whatever, I'll make you do something after I sort some things out."

Isshiki looked over in my direction. Her face brightened up considerably and she did a quick little wave that could almost be called cute if it wasn't so cheeky. What, was she trying to appeal to me or something?

Actually, looking more carefully, she was waving to this handsome guy with me. Oooooh, that makes more sense. Anyone who isn't a shounen harem male protagonist could figure out the implications, subtext, ulterior motive, between-the-lines, or whatever you wanted to call this.

Isshiki headed towards the door and went out again. My brother went in the exact opposite direction as her — towards us.

As he got close enough, seeing who was over here, he spoke in surprise, "Hayama? You were called here, too?.

"As you can see. It's not a big deal for me, after all."

Hayama put on his usual refreshing smile. Or at least he tried. For some reason, it looked closer to a smirk to me.

"Right..."

Becoming a bit stiff, my brother marched over to a stack of chairs and gruffly pulled a chair out from the top. He set it down in front of the table across from me and sat down, slouching forward of course.

I tried going back to my reading, but this grouchy guy started mouthing off.

"Listen, Komachi. There are times where you have to keep your talents hidden. If you're too efficient and finish early, your boss will be very happy at first, but then he'll set that early time as the new standard for you. And maybe he'll even give you more work on top of that. Never unnecessarily raise expectations like that."

"What the heck are you talking about?" I groaned.

Sometimes when he's particularly annoyed at something, he starts lecturing me about something weird that's somewhat related to what he's annoyed about. Usually I would just nod to make it seem like I understood and give him the satisfaction of teaching me something, though I accidentally forgot to do that just now. I blame Tamanawa's script.

"But isn't your boss doing those things because he trusts you more?" pointed out Hayama-san, "If it's you, Hikigaya, I would give you just a bit more work if I know that you can handle it."

Oh!? How amazingly smooth, charismatic, and leader-like! As expected of Hayama-san!

"R-Right..."

My brother added under his breath, "Like I'd ever work for you."

"Onii-chan, why can't Komachi just feel satisfied by working her hardest?" I spoke in a pout, "Unlike Onii-chan, Komachi is only three-quarters lazy."

"I already did work my hardest. In fact, I was forced to work my hardest. But what's considered my hardest barely passed that Isshiki's demands," my brother complained, "Maybe she's the one that needs to start working her hardest."

I was tempted to nod to those words. However, Hayama-san shook his head.

"No, from what I know about Iroha-chan when she manages the soccer club, she's definitely trying her hardest right now," he said.

He twisted his body around to look over at the kids scrambling to get their act together in both senses. Under the guidance of Yui-san and Yukino-san, the kids were just well-behaved enough to still have enough rowdiness to have fun.

The smile that Hayama-san had on right now wasn't the usual refreshing one that he showed to the public, nor was it the transient smirk that he had allowed himself to slip out. Rather, he had on a far-looking childish grin.

My brother muttered, "That... you sure about that, or, back then, at Destinyland—"

"No, I'm sure that what Iroha-chan is doing right now has nothing to do with that," denied Hayama.

I didn't understand. What they were talking about hardly meant a thing to me. Even with some of my misgivings, it wouldn't be hard for me to imagine that Isshiki was trying her best in preparing for this event. No matter what my brother said, I'm sure he fully did what he could. It didn't even need to be said that Hayama-san had no intention of doing things half-heartedly, otherwise he, a volunteer, wouldn't even be here right now.

I looked down at the script on the table. Even this monstrosity was part of her efforts in a way.

I shifted my legs uncomfortably. The chair creaked its message of age to match my movements of uncertainty.

"But, Hikigaya, I'm sure you know the reason for it, because at that time, not me, but you, for her... no, even from before that—"

"Aw, this script is really something. Onii-chan, take a look at this. Can you really believe that Tamanawa guy could come up with something like this?"

I shoved the script in front of my brother's mouth. If he didn't inch backwards just then, he probably would have gotten a tree-tastic snack.

He gruffly grabbed it and spent a whole eleven seconds skimming over the synopsis.

"Yikes, this is making me remember the grind to level 999 all over again," he said with a grimace, "And is this even legal? Remember what happened in Haganai?"

"Ugh, don't even talk about that, Onii-chan," I said with a frown, "Haganai left a sour taste in my mouth in more than that way."

He nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Speaking of which, because so many light novels out there are ripping off each other for ideas, it's probably not very hard to find a light novel that's loosely based on Haganai. It, too, would definitely leave a sour note and also in more ways than one."

"For sure, for sure! Um, how did we get so off-topic?"

I hadn't even noticed, but there was some sweat that had formed on my forehead. I brushed it off with my hand.

Hayama-san was watching us in wonder, as if we were mysterious, newly discovered fish.

"This 'Haganai' was prestigious enough for Sobu High's student council president to base his play off of?" he asked.

I shook my head and explained, "No, no, this play isn't based on Haganai."

"Then, what is it based on?"

"No, no, for you, Hayama-san, you reeeeally don't want to know. It's a secret," I said as I winked.

"Hey now, you can trust me with secrets. I mean..."

He darted his eyes back and forth between me and my brother.

"You two, what is your secret?"

For some reason, my brother froze and stared at Hayama-san. Oh, don't do that, you're going to make Hayama-san misunderstand about something!

Well, I wasn't really sure what Hayama-san was getting at, but my little-sister-sees-mom-dad-situation-needing-defusing senses were tingling.

"Sugar and spice and something nice," I said with a devious smile, "Just sprinkle a little affection here and there, balance it with some bitter salt so that they don't get spoiled with sweetness and—"

Then, it was my turn to receive the startled stare from my brother. Uh, it's not like we're saying anything particularly crazy right now.

"W-What's up?"

"Komachi, I have faith in you. Mom's wrong, right? I'm not actually spoiling you, right? You're not taking advantage of me, right? Your name's not Isshiki Iroha, right? Please tell me you're not actually that shrewd."

"Huh?" I croaked.

Him comparing me to Isshiki made me do a double-take. I leaned forward and showed my brother the most hollow eyes I could carve out.

Hayama-san laughed out loud (W) good-naturedly.

"I can now see why you pamper Iroha-chan so much," said Hayama-san with a wide grin, "Onii-chan just can't leave the younger ones alone, right?"

"Check your eyes," my brother spat, "It's more like I'm being blackmailed all the time."

"With what?" I asked.

"...Nothing."

He looked to the side. He tugged at his collar as if venting out heat.

Right.

Whatever it was, it was none of my concern. Actually, maybe it should have been my concern, since unreliable Isshiki was taking advantage of him to continue on with her selfish status quo. But then again, he could handle it. Then again, being able to handle pain doesn't make it any less worse.

What the heck am I thinking about? Why do I keep falling back to these worthless thoughts?

It should have been enough that I was focused on what I had to do. It should have been enough to be able to go forward with the aid of at least semi-competent team members. We were able to do something. That's why we were here in the first place. None of us had no role to play.

"Hayato-kun, we need your help!"

Yui-san skipped over to where we were. She looked rather uneasy, though she still tried her best to keep standing up as straight as she could.

"Um, o-one of the girls over there suddenly just started to um... misbehave," she stammered.

I leaned to the side and looked toward the children. Sure enough, one of the girls had her arms crossed with a sharp frown. Pouty.

Oh, I see. Yui-san sure had a good idea. She was planning on sprinkling some of Hayato-san's magical fairy dust over that girl like the little princess that she will think she is. Yikes.

Looking conflicted, but smiling nonetheless, Hayama-san stood up and followed Yui-san as she made her way back to the kids. He scratched the back of his head as if saying "I don't really know what to do about it, actually, but I'll try my best", and the ad-libbing that happens afterward will have one-hundred percent chance of success in making that girl behave well again —maybe overly well as long as Hayama-san is supervising. Being the sun that shines sure is tough. And that's why the guy who's sitting across from me right now is always the rock that sits.

By some author-running-out-of-ideas coincidence, the disruptive door opened disruptively, disrupting the kids that were currently standing idly while Hayama-san was kindly speaking his kind words to the now kind-looking girl. Wait, it's not disruptive if they aren't doing anything. His fairy dust worked sure worked quickly! Anyway, the one who popped in was, as easily guessed, Isshiki Iroha.

"Well, looks like my break time is over," begrudgingly spoke my brother as he stood up as well.

"Onii-chan, you're pretty eager. And I kinda meant that too because I thought you wouldn't stand up on your own like that."

"At this point, it's more of a pain to be trying to squeeze out more of my break than just giving up and going to Isshiki."

"Komachi thought giving up meant stopping working."

He shrugged. With his usual slouching and pocketed hands, off he went. Isshiki received him with a stupid amount of joy, likely more than happy to be able to order someone around.

I caught Isshiki's eye. She nodded just once my way without dropping even a drizzle of that rather sticky honey. I shrugged in response. Isshiki's response to my response was a confused tilt of her head. She got on her tip-toes and whispered something in my brother's ear. He profusely nodded with a look of ridiculousness that seemed to say "You can't actually be that dumb?"

I turned back to the script in front of me. I let that unreliable student council president carried by the reliable senpai do their thing. Behind me, a super refreshing guy, a crazy cuddly girl, and a cutely mature girl were busy teaching the lines and the motions of the crazy play to the kids.

My job right now was— wait, what exactly am I supposed to be doing right now? Just read this thing? That's it? What about after that?

I broke out into a cold sweat. I looked over my shoulder. Those three top-chaste high school students looked like they got everything together. If I butted in now, it probably wouldn't do much. At worst, I might even make things worse. I didn't even know half of the script yet.

But wait. Didn't I already decide to do what I could do to the best that I could do it at? I was told to read the script, so that's what I should be doing right now. Yes, I only had to do this for now, and it will pave the way for other things.

I did a great, big stretch. My three-quarters lazy bones cracked comfortably, if not a little grossly. It was time to show the world the reading ability of a future Sobu High student!


After I got the gist of the whole script, I asked Yukino-san what I could be doing. She told me to just watch the kids and catch any mistakes that she couldn't catch. So I did. And I sat, and I watched. And I watched Yukino-san succeed in catching every single mistake.

I asked Yui-san what I could be doing. She said that the kids were pretty good already, but would be even better if they could practice with the props. I was sent to room A to get them. The people at room B told me there wasn't any props there and told me to check room B. They weren't there either. So I went to room C. Then, I went to room D. After I got to room 2, I decided to go back to where everyone was to tell them I couldn't find them. As I entered the room, I almost bumped into Isshiki who had come while I was gone, to my annoyance. She almost dropped her box of fake swords and shields too.

Whenever one of the little boys got overly violent with a plastic sword, Yukino-san would make them shiver to submission and Yui-san would make them blush to behaving (Yukino-san would look at her body in depression every time this happened). I tried disciplining them too, but they just treated me like someone their own age.

I eventually sucked it up and decided to ask Isshiki what I could do. When I found her, she told me it was time to go home.

"By the way, little sis, keep trying your best at it!"

As she pranced away, I crossed my arms. While staring needles at her retreating back, I thought of my accomplishments today. I arrived at just one line.

Best at what?