Over the next year Konomi settled in well with her new school. She made several friends to spend time with on weekends. Of course, the Iries still popped up occasionally. Kotoko dropped by every now and then to mope about Naoki being away for a specialty program in Kobe or to otherwise complain about nursing courses and what rude things her classmates had recently said to her. Konomi hoped that she would not be as challenged when it came time for her to go to college, but she had to admit that she and the older girl shared a lot of similarities.

Yuuki sometimes called, on the pretext of seeing if there were any subjects that she needed help with. Konomi unashamedly picked his admittedly superior brain when she was experiencing a challenge in class. Occasionally he would end the call with an invitation for the movies or another such outing. Since she knew well the value of friends, she always accepted—especially if the offer included time with Chibi—unless she had family plans. Somehow Kotoko always found out about these excursions and would call the following week asking pointed questions. Konomi chuckled because the young woman still clung onto the idea that she and Yuuki were a romantic couple.

For some strange reason Naoki appeared to share that belief, based upon comments he made at his big "Welcome Back from Kobe!" party. Yuuki almost had a conniption when he overheard their conversation until Konomi put a fist in his chest and told him to stop acting like an ass. Naoki had simply smirked and moved to join his wife.


The main problem she had in school, Konomi admitted late in the second year, was the location of another public high school near Daichi's train stop. She had complained to her brother at Christmas that boys kept approaching her on the trip, asking her out. "It's not that I have a problem turning them down," she explained, "but don't you think they'd get the idea after the first refusal? I like to do my last minute-studying during the ride."

He had offered to accompany her on a few trips, now that he was attending college in Tokyo. She had laughed and said that she was able to handle it just fine on her own, "thank you very much, without a nosy older brother starting a fight with younger kids."

Hiroto had ruffled her short hair and claimed that it was her own fault for growing up so pretty. "The offer remains open," he promised, before heading out to supervise—or hijack—a snowball fight involving Makio and his friends from the neighborhood.

Still, a few weeks later she felt that it was highly unfair that one of the more persistent boys had managed to catch her in a shopping area on a weekend during her own time. She had just finished purchasing yarn to make her brothers scarves for Valentine's Day when the young man and one of his constant companions approached her.

The friend tried to extol the virtues of the other. "Look, he's really a good guy! You may not know it, going to Daichi High, but lots of girls at our school would be happy to date him."

"I think you're really cute," the boy complimented her. "Won't you at least give me a chance? We can hang out in that café over there. It's a public place and all…"

"But, I've already told you…" she began.

"Is there anyone else?"

The friend added, "He has a big crush on you. Of course, we understand if you have a boyfriend already."

"I'll back off then," he assured her. "So, do you? Have a boyfriend, that is?"

"No, I don't," she told them flatly. "But I have no interest in dating you, so will you please leave me alone in the future?"

She watched the boys not-so-good-heartedly retreat, unaware of the witnesses behind her.

Yuuki was holding Kotoko back, shocked silent himself, not that he could have gotten a word in edgewise. "What do you mean, you don't have a boyfriend?" she tried to holler through his muffling hand. "You do, and he's right over here. Why don't you turn around? Yuuki, let me go! Now," she ordered, finally freed, "go tell her so! Yuuki?"

"I'm going home," he said and walked off with the bags of groceries that she had dragged him out of the house to carry.


After eight years, one would have thought Mrs. Irie would have given up trying to teach Kotoko to knit. She struggled with tight stitches, missed stitches, dropped stitches… you name it. Luckily, she had a more apt pupil, one that was about to arrive for instruction on a particularly elaborate pattern that she was incorporating in a scarf, most likely for her younger son, she hummed to herself.

Kotoko happily dropped the mangled yarn when the doorbell rang and opened the door to Konomi. "Good afternoon, Kotoko-chan, Mrs. Irie! Thanks for helping me out again today."

"You're starting kind of late, aren't you?" asked Kotoko, the world's slowest at needlecrafts.

"Ah, not exactly," Konomi laughed. "I just need help for a stitch that appears periodically as an alternating design on the scarf."

"Alternating…? Sounds complicated. Oh, well, come on in!" Kotoko led her towards the waiting Mrs. Irie. "Say," she said, "the other day, near the station…" She halted when their way was intercepted by a grim-faced Yuuki.

"Hello, Irie-kun." Konomi smiled at him. "I'm here again…"

"Yes!" Kotoko interrupted her loudly. "We're doing last-minute Valentine's knitting, so you should make yourself scarce!"

"What did you come for?"

Konomi stared at him. He hadn't spoken in that tone of voice since she had bombed the high school test. "Ah…"

"What are you talking about?" Kotoko asked slyly. "Isn't it obvious? She probably also came hoping to get a glimpse of you-know-who! But later, so shoo!"

"Oh, really? I assume my baka sister is referring to me. "

"Probably," Konomi answered hesitantly.

"Well, we both know she's wrong, don't we?" he asked.

"Sure," she agreed. Something seemed a little off…

"And I know whatever's in that bag isn't for me, is it?" Konomi gazed at him in puzzlement. "You keep coming over here to my house like you're my girlfriend."

"Hey—"

He glared at her even fiercer, if possible. "Even though you're not."

"Yuuki-kun!" His mother's and Kotoko's voices scolded in stereo.

"I never said I was!" Konomi spat at him. "What have I done now for you to treat me like this?" She felt a heavy weight in her chest and spun around. "Sorry, I'll be going!" As she ran out the door, she sped by Naoki, approaching up the walk.

"Konomi-chan?" he asked. He entered to find his brother being verbally assaulted by his wife and mother. "Did something happen?" Between the epithets of "Brute!" "Savage!" and "Lout!" he interspersed, "It looked like she was crying."

"I knew it!" the female harpies cried and continued berating the teenager. Naoki shrugged and continued upstairs. Yuuki was on his own with whatever that was.


That evening in the study, reading the latest medical articles, Naoki replied, "Yes?" to a knock on the door.

"Got a minute, Onii-chan?"

"Sure, Yuuki. What's up?" As if I don't have a good idea…

"Ah, well…nothing in particular… You're not on duty tonight?"

"Nope."

"Say, what are you studying?"

He was almost as bad as Kotoko at getting to the point. "Respiratory distress syndrome."

"Oh, look, you've got the 'Kochi Kame' series." He had now moved over to the bookshelves.

This had gone on long enough. "You have something you want to discuss, don't you? What is it?"

"O-onii-chan...what, um, made you...fall in love with Kotoko?" Naoki seemed to flinch, but Yuuki barrelled on. "Well, I mean, Kotoko seems like the exact opposite of the type of girl you'd like. So when exactly did you fall in love with her?"

He turned to stare knowingly at his younger brother. "What's this about—Konomi-chan?" He let out a breath. "I never thought I'd be talking to you about this sort of thing." He leaned back in the chair. "Let me see, when she kept telling me 'I love you' as if it were some kind of incantation, it was pretty annoying. But that annoying feeling became one that just seemed natural after a while. And when she told me 'I'm not going to be in love with you anymore,' I remember feeling really irked instead of relieved." He chuckled before eyeing Yuuki intently. "The differences actually make the relationship work. The reason I know that we were meant to be together is that Kotoko can't do 90% of the things I can do, but she does the 10% that I can't do in a way that I couldn't possibly imitate."

"It's not exactly like that with me," Yuuki finally said. "Konomi's only told me she liked me once, and that was back in middle school. Plus she even took that confession back later. So I really don't know her feelings or mine. Sometimes she yells at me and calls me names." He paused then added, more softly, "I usually deserve it then."

Naoki snickered to himself.

"I help her with her studies, and we go out for walks and to movies together. I even told her that I'd help her study for college. But the other day, when this guy was being pushy and asking her out, she told him that she didn't have a boyfriend. I just got mad and then said some mean things to her. I don't know why."

The snicker became audible. "Ah, sorry," Naoki apologized. "We really are brothers. 'That's' the one thing that I learned from Kinnosuke."

"What? You learned something from Kin-baka?"

"Never mind," his brother waved it off, "you have more troubles than I did. You're not even certain that she likes you—anymore, that is." He sighed. "Looks like you have your work cut out for you."

"Well, thanks, I guess." Yuuki turned to leave.

Naoki spoke behind him. "Yuuki, according to Kinnosuke, what you're feeling is called 'being jealous'. I think you're going to have to admit that to yourself before you can talk to Konomi-chan and get this sorted out."