Love, Eroge, Music & Other Craziness

by Geek Girl Naruru

Namikaze Naruto is a normal fifteen-year-old high school student. He has a distant relationship with his sister Naruko, who always treats him rudely. One Day in Spring, he encounters a foreign girl playing a piano on one of his travels to a junkyard and helps her in many ways as he discover that her name is Weiss Schnee.

23. Miss Tsundere Quest

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March has come and the final exam was approaching in few weeks. We had day off today, I was getting ready to eat breakfast, I stifled a yawn while descending the stairs, I happened to come across Naruko.

"Good morning, Onii-san."

Naruko gave me an incredibly nice greeting.

"…"

My eyes widened as I moved aside.

"Thanks," Naruko said happily, as she disappeared into the living room.

Did something happen? I mean, if she's thanking me like that…

W-What in the world could be happening…? It's not like a nuclear missile is headed straight for us from the North… right? Suddenly, I felt completely bewildered at my sister's docile attitude. I mean, it wasn't like this up until yesterday at least. Normally, if I tried to talk to her she would just face the other direction and run off somewhere… what was happening…? And then, these doubts I held in regards to my sister began to steadily strengthen.

At breakfast, after our family had gathered around the dining table…

"Here, Otou-san, Okaa-san."

Naruko dished out the rice for every person in the family. Mom and Dad both acted like this was the most natural thing in the world, and accepted the rice bowls offered to them with a "Thank you, Naruko" and a "… Ah, thanks." They were smiling the entire time.

"…*Gulp*"

I unconsciously gulped when faced with this really strong feeling of unease. If this were the Uzumaki household, I would understand what was going on. But this was the Namikaze household, and it was the first time in my life I had witnessed such a vague unsettling scene.

I shuddered, and suddenly realized that a rice bowl was being held out to me.

"What's wrong, Onii-san? You're spacing out. Here, your portion."

"Huh? A-Ahhhh… th-thanks…"

T-This isn't poisoned, right…? I took a good look at the rice Naruko had given me. But all I could sense was the delicious smell of the freshly steamed rice and the steam rising up off of it. Things just kept getting stranger.

"Thanks for yesterday, Okaa-san, Otou-san."

"Ahh, no problem, no problem. It was fun for us too. Right, Minato?"

"Yes. It was worth taking off for that, you could say."

"… Could I ask what you all are talking about?"

Faced with a conversation that I didn't understand at all, I tried to figure out what was going on. It was Mom who explained it to me.

"Ahh, well, yesterday, we went and saw Naruko while she was working."

"… Huh? Y-You and Dad? Went to see Naruko… while she was working?"

Wait… that was completely impossible. I mean, after all, my Dad didn't exactly look too fondly on Naruko's modeling work (at least not on the outside)… so even if Mom invited him along, I can't see him agreeing to that.

"… Hm, it really wasn't bad at all, Naruto. It was a feast for the eyes."

"Ugh, Dad! You sound like a pervy old man."

Being half-jokingly scolded by his own daughter, Dad looked deeply wounded.

"N-No… that's not what I meant when I said that… I mean, anyways, seeing all that with my own eyes made me relieved. I don't really understand all of it, but you seemed to be working pretty hard. It was quite an impressive sight."

Dad tried to forcibly save face, but Mom gave a mischievous smile.

"Fufu… hey Naru-chan Naru-chan… your dad, you know, he was trying to take pictures and was mistaken for a suspicious person."

"Eh, no way!"

"Ugh… you're saying too much Kushina…! And also, if you had just come over and explained the situation it would have never gotten that far…!"

"Eh? But I was so embarrassed. 'N-No, this is… my daughter…! K-Kushina! Where are you!? Get over here…!'"

"D-Don't imitate me!"

What the hell was up with this situation…? This was strange… it was clearly strange. W-What exactly was happening in this family right now…? Could it be… was this a dream? I mean, this… my whole family has gotten really weird all of a sudden, you know?

"What's wrong, Naruto~?"

"W-What's wrong, Naruto?"

Mom and Dad stared at me suspiciously. I once again gulped, and steeling myself, asked a question.

"… W-What have you all done with my real family?"

Mom suddenly reached out with her hands…

Crack! Mom gave me a forceful poke in the forehead, and I saw stars dance in front of my blurred vision. Was she trying to crack my head open!?

"Owww!?"

"Idiot. Don't spew such nonsense!"

Mom faced me as I held my forehead and tears leaked out of my eyes, and spoke in a disheartened tone.

"… T-This isn't a dream… it's all real…"

"Naruto, Is your head alright? Would you like to go to the hospital?"

"Ugh… Mom, there's an insult hidden in there, isn't there?"

In this series of familiar exchanges…

"… Hehehe."

Naruko was giving me a funny stare. Her gaze didn't have any of the scorn it usually had. In this series of familiar exchanges, the only thing different was how my sister was acting and how my family was acting towards her.

Shortly after we had finished eating and I had returned to my room.

Knock knock. I heard a knock at the door. I put the reference book I was reading down on its front, and when I went out to take a look, I saw Naruko standing there. Her hands were joined together near her skirt, and she seemed hesitant about something. She didn't say anything, but she almost looked like she really wanted to go to the bathroom.

"… What's up?"

"I want to talk about something… could you come over to my room?"

That was certainly nicer than how she usually asked me to do things. I was thus summoned and headed over to my sister's room. If I recall correctly, this type of situation had happened multiple times after that incident.

The first time I went into my sister's room… and we had that first life counseling session… that happened around May of last year… Has ten months seriously passed already? So, has it come now? The last life counseling session?

Staring at Naruko as she walked in front of me, I was filled with inexplicable emotions. I've really come a long way… even though we've been living under the same roof for all this time, that's what I thought.

It's probably because I'm thinking about my mental closeness with my sister. The me of ten months ago and the me of the present are standing in different places mentally… that's what I meant by "come a long way." I really can't articulate it very well though…

At last, we found ourselves standing in front of Naruko's room.

"Come in."

This was also the customary exchange that I had seen happen a countless number of times. As always, a sweet smell drifted about in my sister's room. As if she had renovated the place, the room gave off a different impression than before. The curtains had turned from red to pink, and overall the amount of clutter in the room had decreased.

"Hmm, your room seems cleaner than it was before."

"Is that right?"

She gave me a curt response. Naruko pointed to a cat-shaped floor cushion.

"Please sit."

I didn't bother restraining myself and sat cross-legged on the cushion. Every other time I've found myself on this cushion, I was faced with the angry face of my sister, but maybe because she had gotten used to this situation or had just given up, she showed no signs of acting that way this time.

"So… what did you want to talk about? Is this that 'last life counseling session' you mentioned before?"

Sitting on the bed, Naruko took a while to respond. After searching for the right words for a few moments, she finally spoke.

"… I suppose you could put it like that."

It was an incredibly vague answer.

"Well, whatever. Just speak up."

"… Hey—"

Perhaps hurt by my curt tone, Naruko frowned and started to say something, but seemed to manage to restrain herself at the last second.

"… Nevermind… uhh… ummmm…"

Naruko once again found it difficult to find the right words. What the hell? Was it something that was this difficult to say…? Granted, she's acting pretty strange today but it was much better than how she usually acted. If her request was something I could help with…

"I want you to buy me an eroge."

"How could you ask something so crazy so casually like that!?"

And I was wondering what she could possibly ask while she was acting so docile like that! It was just that!? Ugh, Naruko will always be Naruko! It was certainly more simple than anything she's asked me to do up until now, but for that reason I could say it straight out: I don't want to!

"But, is that seriously what you're going to ask me to do in the 'last life counseling session'?"

"… I guess."

What the hell?

"Why are you giving me that look? You disappointed or something?"

"I mean… I guess it just seems pretty light for the final life counseling session, or something…"

"Isn't that a good thing? It should be simple."

"It's not really."

Because of the pace the conversation was now proceeding at, the unease I had felt before had disappeared.

"… Take a look at this."

Naruko pointed to the monitor for her desktop computer. An internet browser was open, and the official homepage for a certain game company was on display.

Notice: Midnight on the Sixth — A late night game sales session at our Akihabara flagship store! From Alice+, you can buy two of their newest releases from their hugely popular series Little Sister Maker EX all at once!

-I'm Definitely Not Love my Onii-chan!

-3D Custom Little Sister

Both of these featured products have already gotten thumbs up from critics! Of course, don't forget about the other game companies! We have, from the new BL game maker, MF Soft Kiraru, You Came, Boiled-San!, The Familiar of Mazo Homoge Club and others all come on the market!

All the sales start at midnight! All those who want to buy and play the newly released ecchi games a step ahead of everyone else, please come!

"… So it's like that. So… I want you to stand in line when these things go on sale and buy me 'Oniai' and 'Kasuimo.'"…

"This late-night game sale?"

"Yes, the late-night game sale. At midnight on the sale date, the store is going to have a special opening and is going to sell these new releases."

"… Why? Are they going to sell out so fast that I actually have to stand in line?"

"It's not like they're going to sell out that fast… you could probably buy them normally on the sale date too."

"So why are you asking me to do this? Can't you just go buy it yourself after school lets out?"

"Well, it should be obvious that I just want to get this done as soon as possible."

She answered me immediately. Naruko puffed out her chest with pride.

"I'm planning to sleep in the evening of the day before, and when you come back with the game, I'm going to play it until the morning and clear at least one route."

"You're seriously a hardcore otaku, aren't you… you're going to go that far?"

"Hmph… of course. Are you that surprised?"

She sounded like the prototypical hero who was going off to his death. This was the very embodiment of determination.

"But, for me to go buy an eroge for you… there are still a number of problems with that."

"Huh? What problems?"

"Well, first, there's curfew."

Our family's curfew was basically set at six-thirty, and if you weren't at the dinner table at seven when the meal started then you didn't get to eat. Granted, my father occasionally came home late because of work, and there were a few times that I was allowed to bend my curfew after I had called in beforehand. For example, when I had stayed over at the Uzumaki household, I was allowed to stay out past curfew. However…

"The sale starts at midnight in Akiba, right? So I won't be able to get home until past one in the morning. No matter what excuse I feed to our parents about having to go out, when I come home at that time of the night Mom is going to be really pissed. And if she found out that I had gone out to buy eroge…"

Terrifying. I didn't even want to think about it.

"I'll figure out how to deal with that part. Call my cell phone once you get back home. When I get your call I'll check if Mom is awake or not, and if she's still awake I'll provide a diversion."

"So, while you're keeping Mom busy, you want me to sneak in? You really think that's going to work?"

"It'll be completely fine. Well? You still have a problem with this plan?"

My sister waved her hand back and forth as I sighed and answered.

"… This might be obvious, but I haven't ever bought an eroge before. Can I really just walk in and buy the game if I go to this late-night sale? Once again, I'm only 15 right now."

"I don't know, but… I mean… I really, really just want to do this as soon as possible."

Why was she so desperate? This is why otaku confused the hell out of me.

"Come on… this is the last time… so… please."

Ughhhhhhhh… although, when I thought about it, it just wouldn't do for me to let her stand in line in the middle of the night… and honestly, compared it to everything I've gone through up until now, this wasn't a big deal.

"… Fine, fine. I'll do it."

"Really?"

"I never go back on my word."

Ohhh, she looks really happy…

Ahh. I'm also just way too soft… or just stupid. Just because my sister asked me with her hands together like that… not only did I easily agree to what she asked, but when she looked so happy as a result, it even made me happy.

Her eyes sparkling, Naruko smiled and spoke firmly.

"I would like to bestow upon you a single, grand mission."

Puffing out her chest like she was the general of an army, placing one hand on her chest, Naruko pointed at me.

"To protect the beautiful maiden, fly through enemy territory with a single plane, thirty-two kilometers. Can you do it?"

"Beautiful maiden… is that what you're comparing an eroge to?"

I didn't like that metaphor at all. And I had no idea what her words were suppose to be a reference to. Well, whatever. I answered sluggishly.

"Yeah yeah… roger that."

Although… for the last life counseling session, this really seemed pretty simple… or pretty light. It's not like I was wishing for something more difficult though.

… Was she really ok with having this as her final request?

For that reason, that night I made up the excuse that I was going to stay at my friend Sasuke's house, and came to Akihabara.

"Sorry Sasuke, but could you just pretend I'm staying over at your place tonight without asking questions?"

When I had asked him that, he agreed to it pretty quickly, with a "Ohh, it's fine Naruto, it's fine. Go do nice things with Weiss." It did seem like there was a misunderstanding happening here though…

He was incredibly nosy, and he was an annoying joker on the one hand, but he was also a good person. Probably. This was the first time I had come to Akihabara at night, but it was more crowded than I had imagined.

Going against the flow of the salarymen getting almost sucked into the train station, I went out through the ticket barrier.

"… Damn, it's so cold…"

The minute I left the station, a cold wind blew around me. I unconsciously thrust both my hands in my coat pockets, and shivered while pulling my coat closed. It was 11PM. The electric city had its shutters closed, and only the streetlamps and a small number of shops illuminated the streets. It was quite a bleak sight.

"It's even drizzling…"

And I had thought it was really cold… when I glanced up at the sky, a mist of raindrops splashed on and sapped the warmth from my face. Unfortunately, I hadn't brought an umbrella.

"I really hope it doesn't start pouring…"

Leaving the station grounds, I headed towards the game shop in question. It wasn't far. It wouldn't take but a few minutes for me to get there. When I arrived at the store, I saw that a number of people were already lined up in front of the shutters.

Wait… there were almost fifty people here, weren't there…? And what was more surprising was that a good number of them were girls. I didn't know what kinds of games they were planning to buy, but… don't tell me that these people were all in the same category as Naruko… bravo people, bravo.

As these thoughts raced through my head, I moved to the back of the line. The store's shutters were shut, and a sign announcing the midnight sale was erected in front of the shop.

A list of the titles being sold by each company was pasted on the shutters.

(◕ω◕✿)

"…"

Although, the guy standing in front of me… he really was wearing quite an amazing jacket. What I would guess was a character from one of the eroge on sale tonight was printed hugely on the back of his jacket.

Don't tell me that he actually came on the train wearing that… he must have quite the burning spirit to pull that off. I can't say I'm not impressed. Although I would never do something like that myself. Granted, it's to be expected that the people here would all be motivated like that.

I mean, they went out of their way to come here in the dead of night, even though tomorrow (basically, roughly 11 hours later) they could just buy these games at a shop during normal hours. If they had school or work, they could also order the game by mail. In other words, these people were all in the same league as Naruko.

I mean, to actually take the time to take the train to Akiba, and then to line up in this insufferable cold… even if I get it one second faster, I want to play this new game as soon as possible. I can't be patient, even if only for ten hours. That's the gist of it, right? They are seriously obsessed. I really couldn't start to understand how they felt, but… If they were looking forward to this game that much, then that would surely make the game makers really happy as well. After all, the game they had poured their heart and souls into was being so heavily anticipated like this.

That was something to be thankful for. I wonder if it was because I had met people who created content when I went to the publishing company a while ago, but that's what I thought.

I stood in line and waited for a few minutes. There was still a bit of time before the shop would open. To be honest, there was not much to do. I should have brought a book to read or something, but I didn't. Getting more and more bored, I casually looked in the direction of the Radio Kaikan, and saw quite an amazing bicycle there.

Just from a glance, I could tell it was an expensive road racer bike. On the back wheel was drawn a picture of an eroge character!? Where the spokes were supposed to be was a disk instead. This is what they called a "disk wheel," right? On one face of the disk was drawn a smiling bishoujo. It definitely gave off a strong impression… in more ways than one.

My eyes narrowed. It wasn't just that the entire spectacle was pretty embarrassing, but the fact that this person went through so much trouble to modify an expensive bicycle like that was just wrong. The owner was seriously out of his mind.

"… Whoa!"

Gulp… was the person who rode here on that somewhere in this line? Alright, whatever, let me just try not to think too much about this…

I shook my head and tried to turn my attention somewhere else. Suddenly, a downright chilling wind blew past me. I wound both my hands in my shirt, mumbling,"F-Freezing…" it was really damn cold.

Everyone who was standing in this line probably felt my pain. It was cold, so the salarymen who were passing us on the way to the station gave us cold glances as well. Jabbering OLs also pointed at us.

"What are they doing in this cold…!?"

"Late-night sale! It's a late-night sale!"

"Ohhh, so this is the rumored."

And to top it all off, a group of foreigners were there whispering and not even trying to hide their shivering. I couldn't really hear them very well, but I think it went something like this:

"W-W-Whatsu?"

"*#( *, Hei, rooku! …late-night sale… hentai geemu."

"… Ohhh… hohohoho… kureezi…"

You're all here in Akihabara like us, so can't you just be a bit nicer about it!? Damn it all. Even to the other people in Akihabara, we look strange right now.

"… Ughhh…" Can't the shop open soon…? I really want to just buy it and get out of here…

I checked my cell phone, and saw that there was still more than half an hour until midnight.

Haah… I languidly leaned on the shutter, and watched as my breath condensed in front of me. And here, I met with someone completely unexpected.

"Umm, excuse me~… Is this where the line starts for the late-night sale?"

"Ahh, yeah it is…" I answered casually and turned around, when…

"Uwaah-?!"

"Ugyahh?!"

Both of us gave out a shout of alarm.

"Ahh… hhh…"

We stared at each other, our bodies stiffening in surprise and our eyes widening. He wasn't much taller than I was. His slightly-drooping eyes were rimmed by double-edged eyelids, and he was easily recognizable from his red hair. He stood out even in the dark with his black, down jacket. The one standing in front of me was precisely the person I had been talking to on the phone a bit before…

"S-Sasuke?"

There was no mistaking it. It was Sasuke.

"N-Naruto… is that you…?"

Sasuke looked pretty cautious. I probably had a similar look on my face. Because, I mean, just think about where we are… you understand, right? In short, it was like that sick feeling when you bumped into a classmate in the 18+ corner of a video store.

Ughhh… what should I do…? But also, why the hell was he in such an unbecoming place like this!?

"W-Why… why are you here, Naruto?"

"I want to ask you the same question Sasuke…"

Both Sasuke and I had already guessed why the other was here, but we just didn't even want to think about it…

"Haha… my, my, it is really cold today, isn't it, Naruto-kun."

"… You know, you're right, haha, Sasuke-kun… hahaha."

We were both just shameless in putting on our little acts.

"…"

"…"

And then we suddenly fell into silence.

Gulp… What do I do now….? H-He's probably here for the same reason I am, but… and then, I realized something. I braced myself and very quickly broke the silence.

"Hey, Sasuke! I definitely just asked you to pretend that I was staying over at your house, didn't I!? And you agreed to that really quickly, so why the hell are you here at an eroge late-night sale lineup!?"

"S-Shut up Naruto! People have these things called 'priorities' you know!"

"S-So you're telling me that buying eroge took priority over your friend!? You damn otaku!"

"Ugh… there's a deep reason for that, alright!? I-It's completely fine… even if your family called my house, my little sister would have taken care of it! I definitely made sure it was ok with her before I left! Also, how can you be accusing me here!? I had agreed to give you an alibi because I thought you were going off somewhere with Weiss and wanted it to keep it a secret from your parents! Why the hell are you in Akiba buying eroge out of all things!? I'm just so damn confused right now I have no words…!"

"… T-There's also a deep reason for that!"

In a complete turnaround from the restraint we were showing just a bit ago, we started to have a loud argument at the back of the line. Why in the world was I arguing with one of my friends about eroge?

Now, the guy with the otaku jacket in front of us was also glancing back at us every once in awhile. If I could just calm down and think about this situation, I would have realized how embarrassing this all was.

"A deep reason? What deep reason, Naruto? Just spit it out."

"… Umm…"

It wasn't something I could just blurt out. Just think about what would happen if I told him that my sister had asked me to come and buy 'I'm Definitely Not Love my Onii-chan!' for her… and I didn't think he would believe such an outrageous statement in the first place.

I immediately countered his question with a question of my own, "W-Well, let's get off me for a second. What's your reason, Sasuke? Tell me."

"… Umm…" Sasuke looked desperate as he fumbled for words. Even though it was damn cold, sweat still managed to form on his brow. I probably had a similar look on my face.

We glared at each other for almost a minute. It wasn't clear which of us would be the first to break the silence…

"… W-Well, it seems that we both have our own difficult issues that we're dealing with."

"… T-That seems to be the case…"

"H-Hey Naruto. It's just a suggestion, but… can we just pretend we didn't see each other here?"

"Good idea, Sasuke! What a wonderful plan! Let's do that, definitely. Neither of us went to Akihabara, and neither of us ended up standing in line for a late-night sale!"

"And of course, neither of us bought any eroge!"

"Friendship is about helping each other —"

"— And expecting nothing in return!"

Clap. We exchanged a firm handshake.

There was definitely a deep sense of friendship between us at that moment. With impeccable timing, clash! the shutter opened halfway, and a shop employee came out from under it. The employee held a megaphone in one hand.

"Ohh, it looks to be about time, comrade."

"No no, I do believe there is some time left, comrade."

Still shaking each other's hands, we listened to the shop employee's announcement.

"Ahh, we're going to form a line starting now! Those who reserved their game beforehand, please form a line in front of each game!"

It seemed that the people who reserved the games beforehand would be able to buy them first. I (or I should say Naruko) didn't make a reservation, but…

"Naruto, I reserved a game beforehand. What about you?"

"No, I didn't."

You reserved an eroge? I thought Sasuke was a really lively guy before, but I guess there was a side of him that I didn't know about… but I wonder what game he had come to buy. The little sister games, probably?

But he had a little sister… if he was still buying little sister eroge of his own free will, then I really pitied his real little sister. In that case, that hentai would be a disgrace to older brothers everywhere.

As we had made a pact, I didn't ask him what game he was going to buy, but as I thought about which games they were selling today I felt myself growing more and more confused. Right then, the shop employee hoisted up a box of eroge, and spoke into the megaphone.

"Those who have a reservation for 'Homoge Club' should form a line here!"

"Ah, alright!" - (Sasuke)

"… Whaat!?"

Swish! With the coldest, most uncomfortable feeling I have ever felt running down my spine, I promptly threw away the hand that I was still shaking, which belonged to my former comrade. Because the eroge box that the shop attendant was holding had pasted on it a drawing of a bunch of macho looking men hugging each other. Also, I swore that some of them looked a bit like me.

Brrrrrr! At that repulsive feeling, I couldn't stop my entire body from shaking.

"S-Sasuke… y-y-y-y-y-you… that… you… you're getting that seriously ho… d-don't tell me… you're…"

"Naruto! You've got it completely, completely wrong here!"

"… I-I honestly didn't know. T-To think that… you would have a hobby like that…"

"N-Nooooooooo! Just listen! We're comrades, right!? Come on, Naruto, look me in the eye!"

"What are you looking so serious for!?"

Gross! This person was just gross! I suddenly knew exactly how Naruko felt!

"Y-You damn homo! D-Don't come close to me…! S-Sorry, but I don't swing that way…!"

"H-Hey, Naruto! What happened to that pact of friendship you just made with me!?"

"I don't remember ever making a pact like that with a homo!"

"I keep on trying to tell you that I'm not a homo, dammit!"

"Then why the hell did you make a reservation for a homo game!? What's up with that drawing and that title!? No matter how I look at it, you're a complete homo!"

"C-Certainly, I'm trying to buy a homo game right now! And it's even a hardcore, no-holds-barred one without any artistic value otherwise! I'll admit that! But, there's a good reason I'm doing all this!"

It seemed that, now that he was cornered, Sasuke was a bit more willing to talk about the reasons he had for doing this.

"The truth this…"

"T-The truth is?"

"The truth is that my sister was the one who asked me to buy this!"

"Ohh… so your sister…" Well, there's no helping it.

"Wait, how the hell is that possible!? At least try to make up a better excuse, dammit!" I thrust my finger at Sasuke, and made my retort.

"Your sister is still in junior high school, isn't she!? Where in the hell could you find a little sister who would ask her older brother to buy ero —"

"…"

"… Well, I guess it might happen every once in awhile."

"Hey! Why the hell did you suddenly start agreeing with me!?"

"… Ah, no, sorry for doubting you before. But yeah… sometimes in this world, there are just things that you can't possibly understand…" I muttered deeply.

Well, this wasn't a big deal. I was here on my sister's orders to buy an eroge too, after all. Even if Sasuke was really just making up an excuse right now, it's not like I was in a position to call him a liar. And I certainly didn't want to believe that someone I hung out normally with was a homo. Nah, I refused to believe it.

"So, Sasuke… your little sister… umm… she plays homo games?"

"Yeah, she's really into them."

Really into them…

Well, I also had a sister who was really into eroge, so even if there was a little sister who was really into homo games, I shouldn't find it strange. At last, I took a look at all the girls standing in line for the homo game.

I see… so this was the reason that there were all these girls lining up at this late-night sale…

"So they call these things… BL, was it?"

"Well, how should I put it… there's soft-core and hard-core stuff, and a number of things in between —"

" — You don't have to go into detail like that!"

I didn't want to hear a lecture about homo games. A number of things, indeed. End of conversation.

"In any case, my little sister is one of those so-called 'fujoshi' types."

"Fujoshi?"

"… You probably don't know about that world, Naruto. They're called 'fujoshi.' You take the kanji for 'wife' which is pronounced 'fu' and replace it with the kanji for 'stink' pronounced the same way. So they're stinking women, or fujoshi. To be honest, I don't fully understand that culture either… they don't care whether it's 2D or 3D, but they're obsessed with guys loving other guys and sex, and they're completely controlled by their disgusting lust for that kind of stuff… you understand?"

With a serious expression and tone, Sasuke chose his words carefully and explained everything to me. It seemed that this was quite an important point. But it was honestly all confusing to me. Also, was it really alright for him to be blabbing all this about his sister's hobby to me?

Well, his situation was probably not the same as mine… but I could empathize amazingly well with his desire to grumble nonstop about unreasonable little sisters to someone who would listen. So I won't interrupt him here and I'll just listen.

"Sorry, I really don't get it… but these… fujoshi, was it? Why do you call them that again?"

"Because they're rotten." Sasuke answered instantly.

He didn't care to explain what exactly was rotten, but his words had a forceful persuasiveness behind them. These were the words of someone who wouldn't be moved by any argument, who had already drowned himself in a helpless sea of shame.

So, even though I wanted to, I just couldn't bring myself to ask him exactly what he thought was rotting. The only response I could give was the following, "So it's like that…"

"Yes, it's like that. You see now?"

"No, not really."

Sasuke did a faceplant. Getting back up firmly to his feet, he came at me almost desperately.

"They like homos! Couplings between anime characters! Musicals! People like Kuroko Tetsuya from the Kuroko no Basuke! "

"Don't shout stuff that could be taken out of context like that!"

Because, honestly, people around us might mistake what you said and assume you're the one who loves Kuroko.

"… Hey, Naruto. Why is it that all the fujoshi I meet love me? Is it because I'm handsome?"

"How the hell should I know?" What an idiot.

"We're getting off track. So, what you're saying is… for the sake of his fujoshi little sister, Sasuke Oniichan is standing out here in Akihabara in the middle of the night buying homo games."

"So don't try to blame me for this one, Naruto… I have my reasons." Sasuke shook his head sadly.

I nodded, feeling a large well of empathy swell up within me.

"… I see."

No, I seriously knew all too well how he felt. In fact, I felt the same way. I had my own reasons for being here too.

"… You know, you really were pretty quick to believe me. Honestly, I didn't think you would believe me even if I told you the truth."

"Y-Yeah, I guess."

But I'm seriously surprised. To think there was a big brother who had been put into a similar situation as I had… and to think I would know that brother personally.

"Hey, Naruto, I should probably mention that all the stuff I just explained to you came from my sister. I'm definitely not a homo, so don't get the wrong idea."

"I got it, I got it. You know, if you keep on trying to make excuses like that, it's going to start looking pretty suspicious. It's fine, so just ignore me and get over to that other line. The shopkeeper is looking this way and waiting for you."

There might come a day when I could talk to this person frankly about my situation. Indeed, I had a feeling that day would come.

"Alright, then, I'm going over to the reservations line."

"Yeah."

I raised a hand and waved to my classmate. Sasuke gave me a bright smile, and turned the other way. He jogged lightly over to the homo game line. Everyone else in the line was probably a fujoshi, so he stood out like a sore thumb.

Also, those other girls standing in the homo game line probably thought Sasuke was flaming gay. Poor guy…

As I stared at his retreating back, I saw him finally reaching the back of the line, at which point he turned back to me and raised a hand.

"Naruto! I'll see you at school tomorrow!"

"Ah…!" C-Crap. People are going to start thinking I'm his boyfriend…!

I mean, that's what was going to happen, right!? Just look. All the fujoshi were gathering and holding a hand to their mouths, going "… kyahh BL! It's BL!" Ugh… my heart sank, just like the rain that was endlessly drizzling down from the black night sky.

(◕ω◕✿)

In order to avoid any possible unfortunate misunderstandings, the line with people who were buying the homo game was partitioned off from our line.

After that, a bit more time passed, until the clock read 12:10AM. By that time, the line behind me had grown quite a bit as well. Seriously, there must have been over a hundred people in this damn line.

A-All these weirdos… once again, I have to say, this country is strange.

I took a glance at the titles of the games on sale tonight, and that impression just grew. It was all stuff like 'Custom Little Sister' or 'Homoge Club' and I couldn't help but think that the demand for homo games and imouto games were that high.

The shopkeeper once again held up the microphone and began to make an announcement.

"The sale will begin in just a moment, so please wait just a bit longer! In addition, please listen carefully to the following list of the final trains leaving from Akihabara Station! For the Soubu Line trains heading towards Chiba, Tsudanuma, twelve thirty-two, and for the trains going towards Mitaka, twelve thirty-eight. Next, for the Yamanote Line…"

In that manner, the shopkeeper began to read out the times corresponding to the last trains. There was certainly quite a large crowd lined up, so there might certainly be those who wouldn't be able to make it to the last train, and the shopkeeper was probably taking them into account.

"And to those of you who are able to go home by train tonight, please be careful."

"Oh?''

When I faced the store, I heard a rustle, and saw that the shutter was being opened.

We were standing in the cold and in the dark, while the interior of the store was bright and warm. So, when the shop interior slowly came into focus, it was quite a scene to behold. The sight of that interior, flooded with magnificent light, reminded me of paradise. I heard gasps of awe around me.

When my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw a mountain of eroge before me. To otaku, you could say that this was heaven. I looked into the shop. Only the first floor of the shop was accessible at this time. There was a mountain of eroge near the entrance, and they were then lined up around the shop in a clockwise fashion.

There were also clear markings near the register that allowed people to get out of the store quickly and efficiently after they were finished paying. The shop employee once again shouted out to us.

"Well then, we're pleased to announce that our late night sale starts riiiiight nooow! We will now be letting people into the store ten at a time, starting from the front."

Ah, I see. There were too many people gathered around here, so they wouldn't all fit at once in the store. That would just devolve into chaos. It made sense that they would try to let only a few people in at a time, and then periodically allow more people to go in once the store had cleared out. However…

"… Crap."

Unfortunately, the problem was that this way of doing things took time. Come on, come on, hurry up. At this rate, I'm going to miss the last train. I knew there was no point in grumbling about it, but even then I wanted to grumble.

There also was the annoying problem that I wasn't going to be let in until all the people with reservations were already done. If only I had lined up just a little bit earlier… if I had known it was going to be this crazy…

Well, there was nothing I could do about it, I still hadn't learned my lesson from that time at summer Comiket. From now on, at otaku events, I would be sure to line up as early as I could, provided it didn't bother the locals.

The noise around me intensified in a crescendo as I approached the store door. Finally, it was my turn to go in. I glanced at the clock on my cell phone. If I remember correctly, the last train was around twelve thirty, right…?

"… Crap, this is going to be close."

If I don't do this quickly, I'm going to miss that last train! I have to get this over with and get back as soon as possible!

The mountain of eroge was disappearing before my eyes. With quite a bit of speed. I had been waiting in line for an hour, but if I didn't hurry the things I came here to buy might honestly sell out.

Alright! Let's go!

"Ok… Oniai… Oniai… ah, this one!?"

I pushed my way through the crowd, and desperately grabbed hold of a copy of I'm Definitely Not Love my Onii-chan! and 3D Custom Little Sister. Both of them had been nearly sold out.

"That was close… thank god I got there in time…"

After I bought the things I had come for and arrived at the train station, all my worst fears were realized when I saw that the last train had left. I had to run the entire way from the store, but I managed to just miss it.

"Ahhhhhhh! Goddammit!"

I hung my head in despair in front of the ticket gate at Akihabara Station. The rain had not stopped falling from the dark, dreary sky, and even as I stood there the droplets of water continued to sap away my body's warmth.

"… What am I going to do…?"

Walking home from here was out of the question, and it was also too far to call a taxi. But even then, if I stood here dazed and just waited for the first train I would probably freeze to death. I was completely out of good ideas.

I found a light pole nearby and leaned back on it. I fished my cell phone out from my pocket. After all, I had to tell my sister who was waiting eagerly to play these games that I wouldn't be able to get back tonight.

I took a quick glance at the paper bag I was holding in one hand. Ugh… this really sucks… there really was no excuse…

"Naruko… she was looking forward so much to playing these games too…"

But, there was nothing left to be done. At the end of the day, I could never do anything. I just stared at her number with quite a few confused thoughts running through my head. I dialed the number, and a moment later…

"You bought it!? Where are you!? Right next to the house, right!? Right!?"

It only took a single ring before she picked up. A restless, happy sounding voice bounded from the telephone into my ears.

Geez… this girl… she must have been waiting anxiously for me to call all this time. I thought of the movies I've seen, in which a busy father has to cancel his plans to go to his daughter's school on Parent Visitation Day, even after he had promised to go. This must have been exactly what those fathers felt like.

"… Sorry. I'm actually still at Akiba Station…"

I let out a heavy sigh, and steeled myself before spilling the truth.

"And I missed the last train."

"Huh? What? What do you mean? When are you getting back?"

"I bought the game you wanted me to buy, but the game shop was really crowded… and the last train already left by the time I got out of there. Sorry… but I think I don't have any choice but to wait out the night at a family restaurant or somewhere, and I'll head back on the first train in the morning."

"… No way… so… so you… so you can't come back tonight?"

"Yeah. Sorry. I mean, at least I managed to get the game…"

"… No way… that's not…" Naruko spoke in a weak, sad-sounding voice.

I couldn't believe that this same person had sounded so happy just a moment ago. Hearing her sound like that made my chest feel like it was about to burst open. It was hard to believe that all of this was over a game. But whether it was games or anything else, that girl was always serious. When she was happy, or angry, or having fun, or being sad… she would always put her all into it. It wasn't something I could fully comprehend, but to her, this probably was something that was worthy of getting so upset over.

"… Umm… is it… is it really impossible? Can't you… can't you just find a way… to get back by morning at least?"

She didn't know when to give up. Didn't I already tell her that I had missed the last train? It was only around ten hours. Just be patient. Or rather, buy the damn game yourself. Don't make me go for you…

If this were the usual me, I would be cursing and spouting those complaints immediately. It was just an eroge. It was just around ten hours. However, I just couldn't bring myself to utter the word "just." I had a feeling that it was just something I couldn't say, no matter what.

"Alright… I'll find a way."

"Huh? You'll find a way… what are you going to —"

"— Hmph, quiet. Just stay awake and wait a bit longer! I'll find a way to get back home!"

Click. I hung up, and turned my cell phone off.

"Now then…"

How am I going to get back? To be quite honest, I didn't have the slightest idea. However, the feeling that it was my greatest duty to get back as fast as possible burned in my chest. To get a mere eroge to my annoying sister, just a bit faster than its official release date… even though it was for the sake of something as trivial as that… haha… I have to say, I'm rather surprised with how complex a person I really am.

"Up we go." I stopped leaning against the poll, stood back up, and dispelled the feeling of resignation I had been feeling a minute before. First, I had to take account of my situation. It was twelve forty-seven, and my wallet didn't have much money in it. I also didn't have an ATM card. I also didn't know anyone with a car.

Hmm… ah, right. For now, I can try my chances and call out to all the people who missed the last train, and ask if anybody wanted to split a cab with me. Or, rather, I could contact Sasuke, who seemed to be in a similar situation as I was in, and explain my situation to him and ask for his help. In either case, I had to act quickly.

As I began to think hard about the ways I could get home, I exited the station and faced the main road. At that moment, I saw it. It was the bike. I looked at that bike parked in front of the Radio Kaikan.

That was it. If I had that, I could get home. I thought of that idea right away. But of course, this plan came with its own set of problems.

It might have been better than asking random strangers to split a cab even though my wallet was pretty empty, but this new plan was so insane that it normally wouldn't have even been considered.

However, that didn't matter to me. I had the sacred duty to get this eroge to my sister, and with a firm determination that blocked out everything else from my line of sight, I momentarily forgot all about everything that was wrong with this plan.

Just like Kuroneko had once pointed out in the past, I had once again gone funny in the head, all because of my sister. It seemed that my inner switch had become much easier to flip as of late. And the reason why that was true still escapes me.

So I… I ran up to that bike with the huge anime character drawn on it, and yelled out to the bike's owner who was just about to ride off.

"Excuse me! Please lend me that bike!"

"Huh!?"

The bike owner's reaction was natural, of course. In his place, if some stranger yelled at me to lend him my bike, I would have definitely reacted in the same way. Even more so if my bike was a custom road racing bike like the one he owned. Also, if he lent me his bike, he would suddenly lose his own way of getting back to his home, so no matter what, the idea was just out of the question. However, I didn't give up!

The owner raised his eyebrows suspiciously, and I began to beg him with my hands clasped in front of me.

"Please! I have an emergency! I'll definitely give it back to you after!"

"T-That's not funny…"

That was also a natural reaction. There was no way he could just lend such an expensive bike to a complete stranger.

"I have to get back as soon as I can to play the games I just bought! You think I can lend you my bike!?"

Seriously, that was the reason? I reacted reflexively and almost shouted that out at him, the time it took me to have that reaction finally gave me a chance to get a good look at the guy.

He was skinny beyond belief, with smooth, black hair and a pair of thick, black-rimmed glasses that looked quite out of style. He looked like he was in his early twenties. And, fully understand how rude this may sound, he was the exact image you thought of when someone asked you to imagine a skinny-looking otaku.

And now that I actually got the chance to look him over, I saw that the same bishoujo anime character printed on his bicycle was printed huge on his jacket. Wait, this is the guy who was right in front of me back in the line, wasn't he!? N-No wonder he was so hardcore about all this.

"Hm? Wait… aren't you that noisy homo that was standing behind me?"

I'm not a Homo Asshole! It seemed that at that moment, he also realized who I was. It wasn't strange to think that having spent an hour lined up next to each other, he would more or less remember what I looked like and remember me. However… even then… that didn't make this situation any better than it was.

"Ugh… dammit!"

Trying to show as much sincerity as I possibly could, I kneeled down on the ground. Knelt down on that cold asphalt, still wet from the falling rain.

"H-Hey… what are you…"

Well, that was obvious. This happened every single time, and I was beginning to get completely fed up with this pattern… but what could I do? I gripped the game Naruko asked me to buy in one hand, put the other hand firmly on the ground, and begged with my head lowered.

"Please, please, please help me! My sister is waiting for me at home! I need that bike for my sister, no matter what! I'll definitely… I'll absolutely give it back to you! If there's something you want from me in return, tell me! I'll do anything! So…"

"… Ugh… that's enough. Just stop it."

Before I could finish my sentence, I felt a strong tug on my arm. With strength nobody would expect could come out of someone with that thin frame, the bike owner pulled me to my feet. When I immediately looked at his face in response, I saw that he was still frowning with a troubled expression.

"Well, I'm not sure what it is, but it sounds like you've got an emergency on your hands, right? And the situation involves your sister?"

"Y-Yes!"

"Well, then I don't mind."

"Huh?"

For just a moment, what he had said didn't register in my brain, and I stood there sounding like an idiot.

"I said I don't mind."

He lovingly stroked the bike saddle. He then nimbly pulled back his hand, and gave the bike saddle a firm whack.

"I'll lend her to you. Just take her and go."

"R-Really!? I can!?"

I had been the one who asked for the bike, but even then I couldn't believe it. How could he so easily trust a complete stranger like this…? As if he could sense my doubts, the bike owner turned his gaze to my hands.

"Well… hmm… it's just that, I caught a glimpse of what you have in that paper bag there…"

He sounded completely sincere.

"To tell you the truth, I bought the same game. I've been buying them since volume 1, and I've been looking forward to this sale for a long, long time. Fans are probably all like this, but you could even say I love this game. For the sake of today, I took off from my part-time job, even though I knew I might get fired for it. I even paid a penalty and withdrew money from a locked account of mine, and had this bike and jacket of Rize-tan custom made. I came here on the day of the sale and stood here in this line in the dead of night, and was planning on turning off my cell phone, getting home without even wasting a second, and enjoying myself to the very last moment, even if the world was ending around me. So… I believe you. If you like this game, you can't be a bad person. I don't know what's going on in your life exactly, but we're comrades. And comrades help each other out."

He gave me an awkward smile and flashed his canines at me.

"… So just go, brother. You have something you'd also be willing to risk your life to do, don't you?"

"… What are you going to do then?"

"Don't worry about it. I didn't see this coming at all, but even then, not all is lost."

He plopped down and sat with his legs crossed in the road, and took a small laptop out from his rucksack, along with a matching battery. He set those things down on his lap, and gently turned the laptop on.

"I'm going to play it here."

"Wha-…"

"Why do you look so surprised? I already told you, I'm not going to waste even a second. So there's not a problem at all. And anyways, playing eroge outside is pretty in-fashion nowadays."

When he said there was a way out, he wasn't talking about another way to get home!? Amazing. There's no doubt about it, this guy was an otaku amongst otaku. A true man with a burning spirit. It's seriously been a long time since I've felt this much respect for someone I had only just met.

"Thanks, man. I'll definitely pay you back for this."

"Hmph, you're still here? Just get out of here… here I go."

He already was turned away from me. In the middle of that frozen-over night, he alone sat with his back turned, diverting all his attention into installing his eroge. It was almost as if he was doing battle with an archrival.

I faced this kind stranger, gave him a silent bow, and straddled the bike saddle. I turned back just once before I took off. There I saw an otaku sitting cross-legged and hunched over, busily pushing the enter key without a care in the world about any of the strange looks he might attract. An image of that anime character he held so dear smiled out at me from the back of his thin jacket. Smiled with a hint of pride.

"… Alright."

My breath turned to chilled, white mist in front of me. I kicked off and began to ride. Towards my dear sister, who was waiting for me thirty-two kilometers away.

(◕ω◕✿)

Pant… pant… pant… pant… after two and a half hours of pedaling with all my strength, I finally reached the front of my house.

I knew all too well that you could almost see steam rising from my body as the sweat evaporated off my skin. I wasn't hot… rather, I was burning up. My shoulders rose and fell with my heavy breaths, and I took a ten second breather.

"Phew… alright!"

With a shout, I took out my cell phone and called my sister. After all, it would be bad if my parent were still awake.

"… Why the heck was your cell phone off…!? And when the heck are you getting ba —"

"— I'm in front of the house."

"Huh?"

"I borrowed an amazing bike from a friend and got here as fast as humanly possible. Is Mom & Dad still awake?"

"… H-Hold on a second…"

I heard a clatter on the other end. It sounded like she had gone out of her room and was going to check.

"… Looks like they're sleeping… I'll go unlock the door."

The front door opened in front of my eyes, and I saw the pajama-wearing form of my sister appear.

"Hey."

"… Mmm."

Naruko looked uncharacteristically meek as she nodded, and invited me in.

"… Big Bro, Y-You're sweating like crazy… ah, here's a towel…"

"Ahh Thanks." I wiped my face with the towel she handed out to me.

"I'll go bring you a change of clothes… so go take a shower and come over."

"Yeah, I should."

I was supposedly staying over at Sasuke's house right now, so I knew it would be bad if I made too much noise in the shower, but I really couldn't stay like this either. So, I decided to take as quick of a shower as possible. And then, I dried off as quickly as I could, and changed into a fresh set of clothes.

Afterwards, I picked up my old clothes, my shoes, and my towel, and softly went up the stairs with my sister. We arrived on the second floor. Arriving at her room, Naruko turned to me and put her index finger to her lips, signaling me to be quiet as she invited me in.

It seemed that she wanted to do what we had come here to do in her room. I nodded silently and entered my sister's room. Following me, Naruko came into the room and shut the door behind her. And right then, we both were able to let out the sigh of relief we had been holding in.

In my sister's room, the table she usually put out when her friends were over was set up, and her laptop was turned on and set on the table. Why in the world was her laptop on when she had a desktop?

Well, putting those random, pointless thoughts aside, I handed two eroge over to my sister,"Here ya go. These are the right ones, right?"

"Yeah… t-thank you… sorry… you know, for asking that much of you."

"Nah, it's fine… "

Naruko sat down with a thump on her bed and set the two eroge boxes on her lap and began to rip off the plastic covering. Finally finishing with that, she opened the big eroge box.

"Ahah."

The minute she saw the contents of the box, her face lit up in a sincere smile. It was almost like she was a kid opening a gift at Christmas. Next, Naruko took out the game manual from the box, along with a clear case with the game disk inside. Holding one item in each hand, Naruko stared at the illustrations on them with a stupid grin.

"OoooOOoo~~… nice nice niiiiice… hehe… let's get this installed right awaaay~~."

Naruko plopped herself down in front of her table. The same table on which the laptop had been placed. Humming all the way, Naruko loaded the disk into the laptop.

Why was she using her laptop to install the game when she had a perfectly good desktop? Well, whatever.

"… Geez." She was honestly the spitting image of a little kid who had just gotten a new toy. It was a cute, charming scene. It made going all the way to Akihabara, waiting in line for a late-night sale, and then biking thirty-two kilometers at top speed on that bike seem all worthwhile.

I took a look at the clock on the wall, and saw that it was already past three in the morning. I turned heel, and took a step towards the door.

"Alright, I'm off to sleep. Tonight's a school night. You too, try not to overdo it… you can stay up and play that game, but just don't be late to school."

I heard no response. She was probably already completely immersed in installing the game. Naruko had her back turned towards me. So I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"Hey, Naruko? You listening?"

"Eh? A-Ahh… yeah, I'm listening…"

She's not listening, is she…? She's obviously completely focused on her eroge, and completely inattentive to anything else. Granted, I could empathize. It's not like I had played many games up until now. But I still remember the times I would buy a new CD album of my favorite band I had really wanted, and the butterflies in my chest when I tore open the packaging.

"Well, whatever. G'nite."

"Ah, w-wait a sec Bro."

"Hmm?"

My hand was already on the doorknob, but I stopped and turned around. When I did, I saw Naruko purse her lips and lay a hand on her laptop. It seemed that the installation had finished, and the startup screen for "Oniai" was showing on the display.

"Do you want to… play together? For old time's sake."

"…"

No way. How the hell am I supposed to play a little sister game with my sister? And honestly, that must be the hundredth time I'm saying that. Also, I was exhausted. I really wanted to get to bed. And what's more, my parents believed I was out of the house right now, so I had to get up early and sneak out before they woke up, right? So let me just tell Naruko all that —

"… Please?"

"… W-well… okay… just for a little bit, alright?"

— Yet that was what ended up coming out of my mouth. This is crazy. Indeed, tonight, I was every bit as crazy as Naruko. And so, for the first time in a long while, I found myself in the awkward situation of playing eroge with my sister.

We were currently both seated in front of her table, facing her laptop. And the question I had before, of why she was using her laptop… that question had an answer. There was a reason as to why she was making a point to install all her games on her laptop instead of her desktop.

Because from the very start, she was conniving to have us play the game together like this. And yeah, if we were going to play a game together for a long time, we were going to naturally end up in this position. But…

"H-Hey… d-don't get so close."

"What else can I do!? I can't see the screen!"

"Hey, isn't your face pretty red?"

"T-That's because I just got out of the bath, alright?"

Why in the world did I have to be sitting here so close to my sister, playing little sister games together…? And… dammit… my sister smells pretty nice. Don't tell me that she put on perfume even though she's about to go to bed…

"This game was the newest in the 'Little Sister Maker EX' series, which was the sequel of 'Loving My Little Sister'. The game system was the usual adventure game system, and was the same one that had been used in 'Loving My Little Sister.' But the thing that sets this game apart from the 'Little Sister Maker EX' series is that there's only one little sister you can go after."

"So… you mean… there's only one route to go through?"

Just like she had done many times before, Naruko was explaining eroge to me with a smile on her face.

"No, no, no. There's only one heroine, but there are also a lot of routes for her! And you can't see all the routes on one play through, and each time you clear the game new story options pop up, and you can get to different endings… well, it's a formula that a lot of games follow. Each of the scenarios themselves are relatively short, and they assume that you're going to play the game more than once… in that way, it's sort of like the A.D.M.S. system in YU-NO. I still haven't played, so I don't know, but this might be a 'loop' game. And then, there are sneaking mini-games in the middle like you see in Metal Gear, and if you beat them you get a new item, and you have to get those to unlock the true ending, or something…"

Blabber blabber blabber blabber blabber… man, she just goes on and on… geez… it just drove the point home. This girl… she really loved these kinds of games, and she really loved talking like this about these types of games. I couldn't care less about what she was saying, but… well, it's not like hearing her talk like this was unpleasant.

I mean, talking about otaku things with Naruko was the only time I actually felt like we were real siblings… I think. Call it a momentary truce, or a special occasion. For me, and for Naruko. But there was still something I didn't understand. And that something was: why did she choose me? If this were ten months ago, I would understand. At that point, she didn't have a single person with whom she could talk about eroge. I was the brother she hated, but I was also someone she could talk to.

However, now the situation was different. Now… she had Kuroneko and Rias. And, although there were a few strings attached… she also had Ayase. She had made precious friends with whom she could speak frankly about her hobbies, and hold nothing back. So, if she really wanted to talk about eroge, then she could just go to her friends. My business here should have already been done. And yet, to this very day, she was coming to me for life advice. She came to me and asked me to play games with her. Perhaps… it's one chance in a million, but perhaps…

"Thanks, Big Bro."

"I… a-also love you Big Bro…"

"Thanks for everything."

Maybe she didn't hate me as much as I thought she did.

Maybe my belief that we had always hated each other was just a figment of my imagination.

Maybe at some point, our cold war had ended.

(◕ω◕✿)

Like that, we continued to play the game with gusto. And after we saw the first ending of the game, it was already getting light outside.

By the way, when we got to the H-scenes, I felt just as incredibly awkward as I had expected, but when I looked at Naruko I saw that she was still fully focused on the text. I said it myself before, but she was a girl who just wasn't bothered very much by things like H-scenes like I was.

"Ugh…" Let me sleep… at this rate, this is going to go down as an all-nighter, isn't it… suddenly taking a glance at my sister's face, I saw her eyes filled with emotion.

"Argh… this ending… it's just too sad…"

"Well, it'd be weird if they just showed you a happy ending right off the bat, right? They also want to motivate you to play the next scenario."

"I can't believe you… how can you sit there and act like everything's fine…?" Blinking the tears from her reddened eyes, Naruko began to find fault with my composure.

As for me, I didn't know how she could have so much empathy for the game characters. Was the game that good? Really? Also, little sister games just didn't sit well with me, so it's not like I could judge the game fairly in the first place.

"And I mean, it's not like one of them died or something. Can't they just call each other or something?"

"You don't get it at all!"

"W-What the hell? It's not something to get so angry over."

She was giving me a fierce glare and looked incredibly pissed off, so I instinctively cowered and shook. Naruko seemed to be looking hard for the right words to say, before squeezed out a response.

"Even though you wanted to die after only three days that time. Even though you looked so pathetic, and had no idea what to do that time."

I really couldn't come up with a comeback for that! Also, I'm sure not everyone gets the reference, so let me give a brief recap. What Naruko was griping about was the time I broke out into tears after Weiss refuse to talk with me for three days. And certainly, at that time, just calling her wouldn't have solved the issue.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. If you think about it like that, this really is a pretty sad ending. Got it. Ignore what I said."

"… Fine. As long as you understand."

Naruko sure seemed to be in a foul mood when she muttered that. A gloomy atmosphere permeated the room after that exchange.

… Well, this was probably a good time. More aware than ever of the sunlight peeking through the gaps in the curtains, I briskly stood up.

"… Well, that's a good place to stop, so I'm heading back to my room and sleeping for twenty minutes. That way, I can get out before our parents wake up."

"W-Wait just a second!"

Naruko sounded flustered as she called me to a stop, so I looked down at her with a questioning gaze.

"What? Still got something to say?"

"L-Life counseling! I… I need life counseling!"

"I need life counseling." Stopped in my tracks by those words, I gave out an exasperated sigh.

"Come on… you definitely said earlier that this was going to be the last time, and I did manage to buy that eroge for you, didn't I?"

"Who in the world said that was the last time?"

"That's just… well, fine. Whatever."

What I wanted to ask her is exactly how many "final life counseling sessions" she was planning to dump on me. She had definitely said it was going to be the last one. And at this rate, wouldn't the same thing just happen over and over again? This is the last of the last life counseling sessions! This is honestly going to be the last life conseling session! Wouldn't she just say stuff like that?

Haah… well, whatever. Whatever. Whaaaaaaatever.

Well, it is what it is what it is. And at any rate, we were brother and sister, so we would be living together for a long time. It's not like I ever thought I would be able to escape from my sister that easily.

Trying hard to prevent a sarcastic smile from appearing on my face, I urged Naruko onwards.

"So, what is it? Just spit it out."

"… A-Alright." Naruko nodded meekly and stood up.

She walked over to her bookshelf and gripped one of the edges. Now that I got a good look at it, I saw that her bookshelf had become rather empty. That might have been because it would have been a bother to move a heavy bookshelf every time she needed access to her secret stash, so she moved all her books elsewhere.

It had been months since I had seen this sight, but… Naruko shifted the bookcase to the side, revealing a secret hiding place filled with eroge and other otaku goods. If you slid the bookshelf to the side, you could find a fusuma. And if you split open the fusuma, you would find a countless number of otaku goods behind it. Her collection seemed to have gotten even larger compared to the last time she showed it to me.

… She's buying too much.

I scowled and surveyed that mountain of eroge and anime DVDs… but then my attention was drawn to a certain item.

"Oh… this is…"

"Ah, yeah, that's the thing I got earlier."

Naruko responded to my reaction and picked up her Madokami Figure.

"I heard from Ayase that you were the one who picked this for me."

"… Yeah, sure."

"But seriously, I was really happy." Naruko gave me a little chuckle.

God, what is she saying now, all of a sudden?

"… Is that right…?" Feeling my face heat up, it took all my energy to manage to squeak out that response.

"Please thank those two for me too."

"What? Just tell them yourself. I'm sure they'll be glad to hear it."

"Yeah? Mmm, yeah, probably."

Naruko put the figure back in its original position, put her hands to her chest, and took a few deep breaths. I felt a wave of déjà vu wash over me at those actions. When Naruko had first told me about her hobby, she had definitely acted in a similar way.

"… It's been a long time since then."

Naruko had her back turned towards me, but she looked back and gave me a bright smile.

"Do you still remember that first time?"

"Yeah, I guess. You asked me if I was going to make fun of you, and I acted really cool and told you something like 'I definitely won't.'"

"Yeah… so, then? After that… what did I say?"

"Hmm?"

Did she say something? Naruko probably saw my puzzled expression, and she tightened her hands into fists.

"Come ooonn~, I definitely said it. That I wouldn't show you anything past a certain point."

"Ahh. Yeah, you told me that there were some embarrassing things in there. I remember that now."

She also told me that she didn't trust me yet, so she wouldn't show me any more. And I remember trembling in fear at the thought that there were things in there that were even more horrifying. I mean, considering she was bragging so proudly about 'Loving My Little Sister' I just couldn't imagine what kinds of things would actually make her blush and hesitate.

"So, I mean… well… you've been keeping it a secret so far… and you haven't made fun of me… and you've helped me out a few times…"

U-Umm… this… I have a feeling that I know where this is going…

"It's a bit embarrassing… but I'll show you."

Pass! Not interested!

… And I almost said that out loud too. Man, I must say, I have more restraint than I would've thought. These were embarrassing things that my sister had kept hidden from me.

I had a bad feeling about all this. I mean, I had no idea what terrible, absurd things would come flying out at me. My fear of the unknown trumped my own curiosity here. However, it's not like I could refuse to see what she wanted to show me. It was all part of these "life counseling" sessions, after all.

"So… that means… you trust me now?"

Hearing my question, Naruko gave me a firm nod.

"Yeah… I thought about it… I think it's okay for you to look at these now…"

"… Hmm."

Is it just me, or was she implying that I actually wanted to see what she was hiding? I honestly didn't.

"W-Well… here we go…"

Naruko sounded nervous… and she slid the fusuma… towards the opposite direction that she usually slid it in.

I gulped as I watched Naruko take Pandora's cardboard box out from her secret compartment. Naruko plopped the box down in the middle of the room.

"… Just going to ask this in advance, but what's in the box?"

"Mm, this and that…"

As if completely oblivious to how terrified I was, Naruko quickly and casually opened the lid of the box. I felt my heart give a tremendous jump. Not in a pleasant way, of course. And… then there were the contents. At a quick glance, there didn't seem to be anything too horrible. There was a mountain of doujinshi piled up, and next to that there were paper bags with anime artwork printed on them, along with eroge boxes.

"It's… more ordinary than I had expected…"

No. That wasn't it. That was definitely not it. My sister's collection should have been anything but ordinary. Alright, Naruto. You're going to expect the worst. Think about the absolutely most horrifying thing that Naruko could bring out and show you.

What Naruko was about to bring out was several times worse than what I can imagined. Just look… that doujinshi, that one at the top… The characters hugging on the cover… don't they both look awfully a lot like guys? Granted, I didn't have the courage to check.

And look, right under all those doujinshi… what is that really thick, big book stacked there? It looked like an album.

I had a bad feeling about that album… what was it? But… for some unknown reason my heart tell me that album was probably the thing I had to watch out for the most…

"Naruko, can I look that album."

I put my hand on the cover of this album and asked. Pictures — or something else?

"Who knows… how about you open it and find out?"

"Alright… then I'm opening it now."

Crank. I flipped through each page.

"This is…"

What I saw in the album is…

"Old photos?"

"Yes, that's right."

The thick album was filled — no, unexpectedly, it was filled with something natural. Photos. Four photos per page, old photos. The photos inside were arranged according to the order of years. I could see the main characters of each photo — mostly me — slowly growing up. Also - — I had a strange feeling.

"Mm…About?"

"… You noticed."

"It couldn't be…."

… I felt like I remembered something, but — If this is a detectives novel, then I would receive a flash in my mind. But unfortunately, my mind is not that good.

"I feel, feel like something is very strange, but I can't say it out. Can you tell me?" I asked her directly.

"You, did you see our family — Mom's album?"

"…I did." That was during our first life counseling.

"Naruko's album? So what of it? Ah!"

I came back from my memories, my eyes fixed on the album on my hand.

"My, my photos!"

Yes, there was no 'my photo' in Mom's album, but there were a lot in this album. I thought that Mom didn't like me.

"So all of it was here!" Surprised, I blurted out.

"Why, why are my pictures here?"

"That is because… ah…" Naruko lowered her voice, looked away and pouted.

"Because I like Big Bro's pictures the most."

"…"

I felt like a blade just buried itself in my chest. What a shocking revelation.

"Although after I entered junior high school, I didn't put anything else in."

Because… that was when we entered the cold war.

"I see…"

As if I'm in a trance, I accepted everything… then looking at the album again. Each page, each photo… showed me the time in the past when our sibling relationship was still very good. I felt like I was watching the time I had forgotten.

"Big Bro… this… all of this… it's really important to me."

"I know."

Naruko seemed to be pretty worried as she chose her next words.

"I… said it back then, right? That I wanted your help to protect my collection."

"Yeah."

"So… from here on out… I still want that to be true."

"Yes."

"I see. Thank you Big Bro."

"You know, I haven't really done anything. Are you really alright with that?"

"Yeah… it's fine." She really did seem pretty satisfied.

She looked just the same now as she did when I had protected her collection from our mother, or when she had been able to make up with Ayase. Even though I really hadn't done anything impressive this time.

Well, I have no idea then. Maybe I really did do something for her, even though I had no idea what it could be. Naruko had been nodding the entire time, but now she smiled, standing there while keeping a strange distance away from me.

"I really feel relieved."

Her teasing smile gave me a sense of nostalgia.

"I see. Is that it?"

"Mmm." Naruko nodded.

Once again, I turned heel, and left the room, giving her a wave of goodbye.

"Yeah. Good night."

Right before I closed the door, I heard my sister utter some last words.

"… Goodbye, Onii-chan."

After that, my sister vanished.

(◕ω◕✿)

Lateley I felt like I had seen a strange dream. A dream… a dream of a time a loooong time ago, when I was still a child.

And even though I could barely make out what had happened in the dream when I woke up, as I regained consciousness fully, even that vague recollection was lost.

It's just, well… I could feel this sad, nostalgic warmth lingering near my chest.

"I'm home~~… ahh? What's wrong, Naruto? Came all the way down here to welcome Mommy back?"

I saw the front door open, and saw Mom enter the house, probably on the way back from shopping.

"Of course not. Here, I'll take those bags for you, Mom."

I took her shopping bags all the way to the refrigerator, and put all the food in the fridge. While I was doing that, I had the sudden urge to ask Mom a question.

"So where's Naruko? I don't think she's back yet. Is she at club or work or something?"

Mom answered, "Huh? What are you saying?"

What was I saying? That's what I should be asking you. I mean, it's not like I wanted to know where Naruko was that much. I was just trying to make conversation with you… well, whatever. I dropped the subject.

But then, curfew came and went, and Naruko still didn't return.

I would expect someone like her, who respected our family's rules so much, to at least give our parents a call if she expected to be out so late. She wasn't the kind of person who would stay out late with friends and break curfew deliberately, so she was probably still at work or club. Well, it's not like I was worried about her.

At dinner, I once again brought it up casually.

"So where's Naruko? Training camp again?"

"Naruto… what in the world are you saying?"

Dad looked puzzled.

"What do you mean?''

"… Hmm, I see. Naruko said she was going to tell you herself though…"

"Seriously, what do you —"

" — Naruko's gone."

"Huh?"

"She left for America today. She's going to be trained by a famous track coach there, and so she transfered in a junior high school overseas and she's going to live there."

"W-What the hell is!? —"

" —When she went to the training camp last time, she caught the eye of one of the foreign coaches who had come to scout, and she got an invite to go overseas if she wanted to. Getting used to the language and getting experience with international competition would be really important for Naruko's future, he said… honestly, doesn't it all sound like crap nonsense to you?"

"…"

"She even met quite a few times with track advisors and talked about scholarship programs and studying abroad. But when it comes to these school sports, it seems that being even a year late would be a pretty big handicap. And she also told me that this was a big chance for her."

Dad looked pretty discouraged as he spoke in an extremely matter-of-fact tone. It was almost as if he was trying to prevent himself from exploding in anger. So I didn't try to interrupt him in the middle.

Honestly, there is a good measure of ridiculousness in the thought that a US coach would be looking in Japan for prospective track athletes. Japan is pretty conventionally horrible at track and field.

"Naruko's mind was really made up too, and she was telling me how she wanted to push herself to be the best she could be. Of course, she was going to go without applying to scholarship or study-abroad programs, so she paid for it herself. Five million yen a year. I told her I wouldn't pay. Because this is no joking matter. No matter how much she says she wants to go, she's still a fifteen-year-old girl, and how the hell do you expect me to let her go off to some place far off, where I can't even reach her anymore!? What if something happens? It's not like I can just leave and head there… and it's not like she speaks the language that well either…"

Dad seemed seriously depressed.

"… But… you ended up giving her permission, didn't you?"

"Yeah, that girl's stubbornness is just legendary. At any rate, the minute I told her I was definitely not going to pay, she sprung her bank account on me, which had the five million yen. 'This is what I earned from modeling and book royalties, so just use this. No more complaints, right?' is what she told me… and what could I say to that? I don't think anything I could have said would have helped…"

He was exactly right. Once that girl decided to do something, there was nothing that could sway her from that decision.

"… I see." Naruko was no longer in this house. I think I sort of understood what was going on. Sort of.

"And so it's like that." With that, Dad wrapped up his story, and began to eat in silence. Out of all of us, he was probably the one who felt the most lonely from Naruko's absence. So, I didn't push him for more details.

Also, no matter what Dad told me, it was all second-hand information, so it's not like I would be able to understand that much more.

At any rate, I really didn't notice anything was going on, did I? Even though the person herself had been right in front of me, I hadn't noticed anything. This was how she had planned to use her book royalties. This was something she wanted to do so much that she stopped writing cell phone novels.

This was why she had been acting strangely as of late. And then… what was the point of showing me all of that?

Why did she stand there and smile at me and look so satisfied, even as I was left there with an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach? Why did she leave without saying a word to me?

But it was already too late to ask those questions. And I didn't even want to think about them. She just made the decision completely by herself, and just pushed forward by herself. It had always been like that. And I had known that all along.

I wasn't annoyed. I wasn't even that surprised. Perhaps somewhere deep in my heart, I already knew that it would somehow end in a way like this.

Finishing my dinner without tasting any of it, I began to walk back to my room. Feeling a sudden urge, I opened the door to my sister's room. It wasn't locked. The lights were off, and it was dark.

It was the same as the last time I was here. Everything was neatly organized. The same bookshelf, now mostly devoid of books. The same bed, but now empty. The same desktop, left behind and deserted. And I would never be beckoned to this room and forced to play eroge ever again.

The last life counseling session was honestly the last one. So… what was I going to do after this? I had been released from my sister's hold, and I didn't have to worry about going through bizarre experiences anymore. Just as I was envisioning, I could probably return to those peaceful days I was living ten months ago.

But I also felt that this wasn't really the case. Because what I had inherited from my sister was not just the secret collection that rested behind that bookshelf. What I had inherited from my sister were not just tangible, material things.

For example, there was the otaku knowledge that she had imparted onto me. For example, there were the memories that came with the various experiences I had gone through with her.

For example, there were the new friends I had gotten to know through my sister. Those things would be there, whether Naruko was here or not. They would remain by my side, whether she was here or not.

What had just been bizarre experiences had been irrevocably intertwined with my new present life, and I couldn't just wish them away. That was probably why Naruko had been nodding and looking so satisfied back then, wasn't it?

"Yeah… it's fine," she had said. In other words… her last life counseling session was still ongoing.

Her last life counseling session would continue on and on, forever. To the very last moment, that girl was just not a cute little sister at all. Just make sure you do your damn best over there, you little brat.

.

.

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