Kyousuke's Chapter 2


What in the oblivion is happening here?! I wasn't expecting a turn of event like this! Ayase has a brother? You can't be kidding me! There's no way she has a brother or whatsoever he is!

"Alright Ayase." I swallowed hard, coughing seemingly.

"—I might just misheard things, so could you… maybe repeat? You said what…?"

Ayase was puzzled and then she answered,

"I said that this is my brother, Satoshi."

"Wai—"

"—Wait! Wait! Wait! Annddd! Wait!" Kirino cut me off.

"—Why does this happen? Why does that guy…! Have to be your brother? And all of a sudden….?!"

In Kirino's face, big surprise definitely was shown but what concerned me the most was her unexpected dissatisfaction.

Due to this sudden development, I had to nod in agreement.

"Yea, this does not really fit… well, in the story. You never mentioned anything about your brother and you came here, introducing your brother out of nowhere."

"I'm sorry, it's hard to give the significant details. A lot had happened and I couldn't bring myself to speak about him….so… here he is, my blood-related brother!"

Kuroneko and Saori remained quiet as if the unforeseen surprise was still overwhelming them.

The guy petted Ayase's head and said.

"Well, as she said, a lot had happened. Just let it go. Let's proceed with our intent business here."

Wait!

"Wait! Yes, this is my wait! You heard it! Why did you punch me?!"

Nonchalantly, words came from his mouth.

"Ehh~ Aren't you the guy who dumped my sister? It's an obvious thing to do to the freak."

"Hhuh…"

"…"

Wha-?

I can't deny that. If the situation happened to me instead and Kirino is devoted to date that guy and he did what I did, I would naturally kick him in the nuts with no hesitation. Brother's instinct has never been wrong.

"I agreed with , I'm sorry. It was all my fault."

"Nah, sorry won't cut it…. But- the punch paid enough for it." He claimed proudly.

After a while, finally, Kuroneko spoke a word.

"Ah… Sen- The Angel of Darkness! I'm surprised that you could go this far to meet me!"

And it wasn't a bunch of normal speech but it was a phrase of anime of a fighting scene.

I did say a big "HA?" However, it never crossed the conversation.

The guy looked at Kuroneko and said.

"Ah, cute cat(KawaiNeko), I'm glad you're still cute as ever. Have your impure soul healed yet?"

"Ahahaha! It was none of your business, such small thing was never a problem at the first place."

She spoke arrogantly.

The guy smiled gently, then he pointed a finger at the corner of his lips, cuing,

"There's rice leftover there, you sure are vulnerable."

Stuttered by his words, Kuroneko in panic tried to clean her mouth, but it wasn't there. Nothing was there to be honest. She just got played by him.

Realizing it, Kuroneko blushed deep red and replied.

"H-h-how you dare to trick me!"

"Well, well, calm down. Let's get down to the real business."

Eventually Saori spoke.

"—I may read your name as Aragaki Satoshi, right?"

The guy didn't reply but instead, he looked sharply at Saori. A moment of silence filled the air and then crushed by another girl.

"Wiizzzzzzzz! What's going on here? I don't follow any of it!"

When I saw the girl, I couldn't believe my eyes to see my old friend in middle school.

"Sakurai!" I yelled.

"Oh! Kyousuke! Long time no see! Hehe…!"

She grinned cutely, her appearance hasn't changed much since back then. She's still with her short body and short purple hair and as always… her convincingly big breast. In apparent, she seemed a little different as she actually wore a completely normal attire. The last time I saw her was the time I decided to reject her confession.

"What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here…? Hmm…." She rubbed her finger against her chin and put up a thinking act.

"—I want to join the otaku group! That's why I'm here!"

"—And…!" she continued.

"—Together with these two!" pointing out toward the two Aragaki siblings.

My face dumbfounded big time. I couldn't find words to describe the absurd coincidence. The words were kept hidden in the pitch black of my mind, even if it exist.

"Aa….ah…"

I was speechless for quite some time.

Consequently, Kirino voiced a question.

"Hey, do you know this girl?"

"Well… yeah… but not much."

I lied, but I can't tell her the truth that she's one the sources of our long-term cold war. So, I told her,

"—She's my middle school classmate."

"Eehhh…" she replied with an emotionless hum.

"So, so…." Saori intervened our question while adjusting her eccentric glasses.

Afterward, she got up and walked in front offering a friendship handshake to each of the newcomers.

"Anyway, we're all here with the same purpose. To get to know each other in the circle. We open-handed welcome you three in the circle. First, let we all have a seat."

Accepting Saori's speech, they did what had been asked.

Saori started with a cat-like smile followed by a formal greeting.

"Once again, we welcome you to Otaku Girls Unite. First and foremost, let we introduce ourselves properly. I'm Ma- Saori Bajeena. Please to meet you."

Saori was about to give out her real name but it was covered nicely. Seemed like the name wasn't important. However, I thought it the other way around, she tried to keep it secret. Whatsoever the reason, I'll hang on with the flow.

The guy then opened his mouth.

"The name is Aragaki Satoshi."

Followed by his sister.

"My name is Aragaki Ayase, pleased to meet you."

Then by Sakurai.

"My name is Sakurai Akimi! Gaming is my hobby! Looking forward to fun!"

A silence again occurred. In response, Saori cleared her throat sounding "Ehem…" and looked at both Kirino and Kuroneko.

With visible dissatisfaction and unrest, Kuroneko said.

"Code name, Kuroneko. My real name is Gokou Ruri, you may call me either both."

After that, Kirino voiced with almost the same tone as the prior speaker.

"Kousaka Kirino."

And lastly, I, spoke the introduction of myself.

"My name is Kousaka Kyousuke, the only male in the group. Hope the best from our meeting."

The Aragaki siblings whispered each other in passion, expressing off their natural siblings relationship with outstanding love. Then, Satoshi tilted his chin and raised his hand before the meeting starts.

"Excuse me, but my sister here won't be joining our group. She might leave now."

"Ohh… if that's the case, she can stroll around the cafe if she wants. I'm not forcing but if you have another business, feel free." Saori said.

"N-no, don't bother. I'll stay." Ayase refused politely.

"Okay then, shall we start?"

Prior everything, a lovely maid appeared, trying to take orders from us.

"Welcome, welcome! Masters and my ladies!-Oh, onii-chan too!"

The maid was Kirara, the common maid that had served us during every offline meeting. Upon the arrival of Kirara, Satoshi suddenly turned visibly stone. He had the time real hard. Though, he still tried to talk.

"Ah…Ah- guys, I need to go to the toilet….!"

As soon saying that, he moved but halted half-way while trimming out a little "ting" sound. He became terrified… at least in my eyes.

Kirara moved forward to Satoshi and asked,

"My master, may I take your order please?"

The way Kirara sounded was pretty normal, but deep behind the stage, I kind of sense some killing intent.

Satoshi stuttered dreadfully as if he was facing a ghost. He looked around restlessly like searching for a saviour. Afterward, he stopped at one point where it was exactly straight into my eyes. He tried to give me a clue, pointing his eyes downward.

I, with feeling extremely weird, looked where the position was pointed. I bent my body and looked below the chair.

"What…?" I whispered in my heart.

Satoshi's left hand was handcuffed to the table.

What the hell is happening here?

I did my best to find the hint. But looking at Satoshi's eyes, he seemed to try getting my help.

"Help me, see below!"

Well, it's just a monologue translation of the sign.

From my experience, only Ayase could dare to do such thing, the only person I know who owns a handcuff is her, so no doubt. But why?

I saw Ayase beside him, smiling ordinarily.

Yes… it must be her…. The smile was just a mask!

I cannot think more! I don't know why I must help him but he's in very critical state!

"What the hell are you doing?! Help me already!"

"But how?"

"I don't know, make some excuse!"

"Hell if I know!"

We unconsciously communicated through our eyes.

I immediately raised my hand although it was kind a slow.

"Ah Kirara-san, we would like to order later. We're having a crucial meeting right now."

"Hmm…" Kirara think, putting the pen she readied for on the mouth.

"—Well, I'll come later then. Have a nice time!"

She left.

I looked at Satoshi again.

"I saved you."

"Temporarily yeah, but I'm dead already. I can't move from here."

"Crap."

Seeing everyone was ready, Saori gave a sign to start the meeting.

Everyone nodded in agreement except Kirino, she was sort of struggling when trying to shake her head. Eventually, she came with the same conclusion as others'.

"As you know, the Otaku Girls Unite was formed to encourage otakus to share their interest with other fellows. I'm the founder and this group is a special group for the special members….particularly for someone like us."

Saori took a short breath and continued.

"—It's pretty hard to gain a new member since there's a lot of other group other than this. So, I appreciate much of your arrival."

Everyone's focus was pointed toward Saori, none of them even managed to slip a little intervention.

"—Therefore, since we have a male member, I thought we should change our group's name by now."

"Oy I'm here before him! Why didn't we change it earlier?!" I voiced out my dissatisfaction.

"Shii…shii…shii." In response, she let out an evil laugh.

"—So, anyone has a good idea?"

Are you ignoring me?!

"Aye, aye!" Sakurai raised her hand in excitement.

"—I would prefer- Power Otakus Unite!"

"Good one! Anyone else?"

The atmosphere suddenly turned gloomy, ever since the newcomers are here. Kirino just drank the juice emotionlessly while Kuroneko was still in her fix position, well-mannered and quiet. I looked at Kirino seeing her still sucking the straw. The volume of the glass containing juice hadn't gone down a bit. Either she's drinking it in very low frequency or just filled the straw with the juice.

Kuroneko shrugged her shoulders and said.

"Who don't we let it be, isn't the name already great?"

"Hmm…" Saori hummed. Yet, we don't know what's the hum was intended to. The glasses she wears make it more impossible to determine the real emotion.

Seeing everyone not in sync, Saori decided to end it.

"Alright, I think we'll decide the next meeting. For now, let me get your contact address."

Ayase, Sakurai and Satoshi gave their details as she wished.

"—Dismiss!"

The way Saori ended it was unordinary, seemed like she was also affected by the situation.

Kirino quickly stood up and said goodbye.

"Bye guys."

"—See you Ayase."

Then she looked at Satoshi keenly and immediately turned away.

I, as per situation had asked, stood up and bowed, as a farewell gift to him.

Though, I managed to give "Sorry, I can't help you more than that," sign to Satoshi.

"…"

….

For I'd been following Kirino, her mood hadn't improved since back then. However, she's not that dangerous to talk with. So I asked,

"What's wrong? You were acting unusual back then."

Not just her, almost every acted unusual.

Kirino suddenly halted her quick step and atrociously looked at the ground.

"Say, do you know that guy?"

"Who? Ayase's brother?"

"Umm… yeah."

"N-not more than I just met him during the meet up."

"He works at the department of Eternal Blue…-He's kind of a big guy there. Let's say…- He's a personal assistant of Fujima Misaki."

"Personal assistant of Fujima-san…? That means… you already knew him before?!"

"You may say that."

"Did you know him being Ayase's brother by all mean? You know…-like, same family name and you could somehow spot its similarity?"

She denied "Um,um."

"—He never tells his last name. He told me to call him by his first name. In addition, I never expect him to become Ayase's brother."

"—You know, I can't believe I lived in lies in front of him, though…. Not really his fault for lying as he never lies actually."

She lowered her voice as if only herself could hear it.

"I might need to apologize to Ayase…."

"What was that?"

"No, nothing. Let's get back home."

She continued her steps in normal way, no longer being negatively depressed.

To think that Kirino had known the guy already, didn't put me in peace. Besides, he's also acquaintance of Sakurai, the old girl I know who had confessed to me. And of all that, Ayase's brother… a blood-related brother nonetheless.

Realizing me stopping half-way, Kirino turned around and called.

"What are you doing?~"

"—Don't forget! We have another life counselling tonight!"

She had returned completely normal.

I smiled and started moving forward.

"Yes, yes."

….

It was as planned, Kirino decided to have a life counselling after dinner at midnight. Consequently, she came to my room. I was in front my laptop reading online articles about my future study.

Knock Knock!

And here she is.

"Come in."

Kirino entered without making noise, viewing around the room before heading toward me.

"What are you doing?"

"Reading stuff online."

"Hehe, pornography again?" she asked sarcastically.

"No I'm not!"

"—I'm planning on my future course on the university."

"So, has anything got your interest?"

"Um… nothing so far."

"Now that you mentioned, when are you going to begin attending the university?"

"Around next month…"

"Ohh… well it's same as my high school entrance."

Kirino relaxed herself and sat on the bed. She looked at the bottom my rack and saw an eroge PC game she gave me as a present 3 years ago.

"That game, have you finished it?"

"Yeah, pretty much all of the routes. It was splendid I must say."

"I see."

Her short reply made the atmosphere peculiar. She usually unconsciously continues the topic by expressing her experience of playing the game, good end, bad end, the route she likes, the route she dislikes a lot, and much more.

But now, it wasn't like that.

"Do you have something in mind?"

"Yosh, let's start life counselling. It's about the guy, Satoshi. Well- it's not really a problem, I just wanted to tell you stories."

"I'm listening."

"He…. Actually, had helped me a lot during work. He was my manager for a while….-To be honest, I can't say too little about him, his managing skills, his attitude, his influence are beyond average person."

"—Remember the time you brought me back from America?"

"Yeah, clearly."

"That time, when I was sent home, the staff had hard time taking me back to modelling and I was almost dragged into a problem. But, he… said it was okay, he'll manage somehow. Soon, they just let me be."

"—I don't know what he was taken for…"

That makes more than normal sense. No wonder Kirino could go strive in modelling career once again.

"So, have you said thank you to him?"

"Hey, don't mock me. I'm not that stupid to not say so."

Well who knows? Your attitude was worse than now, you can't expect less than that.

"That's good then."

"And one more thing, I think I've met him when we were kids. Though, he denied it."

"Well, if he denied it, then probably it just you, thinking so much."

"I hope so….-Can you still believe it?!"

Kirino suddenly raised her voice.

"What…?"

"He is Ayase's brother?! I never ever met him with Ayase together even when I was visiting her house! Additional to that, I visited Ayase too often to miss meeting him, impossible!"

"Well… calm down. Maybe you were just unlucky."

"I said impossible!"

I laughed wryly as reply.

"—Also…-"

"—I am devastated by Ayase… I mean, Satoshi…-No! I mean his sister…"

"—Ughh, not Ayase, but Ayase!"

Hah?!

"Hell, which one?"

"Arghhh!" she violently rubbed her hair.

"—I don't know, both are Aragaki and both are having black hair…-and…-and…!"

"Seriously, cool down your head!"

Kirino stopped rubbing her hair and went "Ah."

"—Sorry, I just cannot accept the truth."

"—Anyway, I want to ask. Is it right for me to say that Ayase actually lies to me?"

"Why?"

"You know, she never tells me about her brother. She was watching us siblings without letting us know about hers... and…-not to mention, she said she's the only child…."

"—I'm really confused right now."

Pretty much the same when Ayase was unable to accept Kirino's hobby. However, I can't let them get into an argument again.

"Why don't you contact her and get a little closer? Maybe you'll know something."

"…"

"Right, I'll do that."

She stood up and said.

"—I'm glad you were listening, I might just be mad at Ayase without reasons. Thanks Kyousuke."

She left, leaving with a bright smile of relief.

The leftover from our lover game, calling each other name was still intact until now. It had become a habit. There's something I realized, today's life counselling should be about other topic which only she knows. I rather say, she decided to change it when we met Aragaki's siblings.

Good to say if it's true.

The next day, Kirino left early in the morning. When I asked mom "Where's Kirino?" during breakfast, she said "She had some business to settle so she needed to go out early."

That being said, I felt like I should go out and take some fresh air after breakfast.

"I'm going to go out for a little bit. Do you want to order something?"

"Please buy a buy a loaf of bread and jam." Mom answered.

"I got it."

I left the house through front door.

Walking down the street, an old ordinary scenery in the neighbourhood. I decided to go to Tamura Household to kill some times. Meeting Manami after the dispute is indeed a daring move but she's my close friend, I think we could come into same peaceful conclusion.

Upon arriving, I heard voice saying "Thank you, please come again!"

Then, someone I know exit the shop. It was Ayase's brother.

I surprisingly went "Ah."

He also did the same as soon he spotted me.

"Ah, siscon." He said.

"Talk to yourself."

"—What are you doing here?"

"I bought these desserts from this shop. Ayase hankered this for some reasons so she asked me to get it for her because she has to meet someone."

Probably with Kirino.

"—Oh yeah, wanna hang out for a while?"

This is where it starts. My little sister's best friend can't have a brother!