Chapter 90s: Clearing Up The Misunderstanding (3 October 2003, on the way home after school)
As is usual for Nii-san, he's come to pick me up at school again.
I squeeze Nii-san's hand firmly. Today, I can't chicken out.
Not like yesterday, or the day before. It is just a question.
It is a completely normal question for a younger sister to ask her Nii-san!
I take a deep breath. As deep as I possibly can.
He looks over, and I look at his curious face studying my own.
God, what is it he sees right now?
"Nii-san… when are you going to get a girlfriend?"
The question finally comes out in a rushed fashion as I try to control myself into not taking on the likeness of a strawberry.
He laughs, his hand ruffling my hair about as if it is nothing.
"Do I need to get one? Don't I have you?"
What is with that response?! I can't keep my cool if he says silly stuff like that!
Overwhelmed by the chaos of that glib response, I intentionally step on his shoe and nearly trip the both of us up, but somehow he manages to steady us both.
"I'm not a kid anymore, Nii-san!"
I can't help but pout, but he laughs as he ruffles up my hair some more, not seeming to care much for my panic.
"And stop that! You wouldn't do that to your girlfriend, would you?"
He laughs at this, sidestepping me. Right as I realize he is upto no good, he has wrapped his arms around my waist, lifting me up to where my shoes lose their contact with the ground.
"Nii-san! Please let me go!"
But of course he doesn't listen as I squirm in his arms.
"Hanasete kudasai yo!" ["Please let me go!"]
Then finally, he lets my feet touch the ground once more, his embrace loosening around my body as I turn around to glare at him.
What is with that self-satisfied smirk of yours?! Nii-san!
As soon as I manage to truly be free, I dart out of reach. I know it wouldn't make any difference if he changed his mind, but he is being really annoying today. Geez!
"But it is really, really surprising my handsome Nii-san doesn't have a girlfriend yet…"
I tease him with the coyest voice I can muster, and his frustration appears clear as day on his face as he lunges to grab for me again. I laugh, ducking under his arm and instead glomping against his body like a spoiled brat.
"Says who, hmm?"
His response is cut off, carrying some of that affectionate defeatism that he saves just for me when he'll let me get away with whatever I want to do.
Aaahhhh. This is the most comfortable, sheltering place to be in. Jenny wouldn't hold him like this. No girl would! And Nii-san wouldn't hold any other girl like this, either! Nii-san is mine!
The satisfaction of knowing I hold that very important place in his heart makes my stomach flutter with bubbles of glee. I bury my face into his shirt as he awkwardly tries to hug me.
Nii-san really sucks at comforting girls. No wonder Nee-san made such a fool out of him with that bet, tee hee!
Yet despite all that… it feels different. A bit wrong, perhaps. And no matter how much I try to ignore my gut feelings, Nii-san's unyielding yet characteristically patient voice pierces the veil in a manner that somehow helps to clear out the fog in my mind.
"Aren't you going to let go? People are going to gossip about you."
"So?! Let them!"
My gluttonous response begets a response: I can feel him sighing against me.
How can a sigh be so expressive? So endearing? So utterly attractive?!
As my ability to repress my smile gives way, I finally realize what is bugging me the most about our hug. It is like an ice cold basin of water.
The scent. He smells different.
"You've been hanging out with Nee-san, haven't you?"
As I look up to his face, I ask the thing I do not want to know the answer to.
"How could I? She's been dodg.. well, helping us spend more time together without her being the third wheel."
My hand punches lightly against his strong, comforting chest. Doesn't he think I recognise a lie when I hear one, especially when I can hear his lively heart barely skipping a beat in my left ear?
"Nii-san! Liar! I can smell the smoke on you! If you want to hang out with her, you can. I'm not a child anymore! You don't have to protect me from the weirdness of my sister and brother dating eachother!"
Despite my strong, proud words, my eyes feel moist, and he just comments in the most simple, most gentle of ways as he pulls me close.
"Baka."
So now he just holds me as I feel like I am an out-of-control drama queen. Why am I getting so upset over this? He'll always be my Nii-san. Nee-san is the best girl for him, how would I lose out? It is so much better than losing him to some random girl who will try to monopolize his time and pushes me out of his life for the sake of establishing a Cain-monopoly…
For all the hyperactive reasoning my quickly overheating mind goes through, his next words aren't anywhere close to what I am expecting.
"Plenty of people smoke, don't they? I just thought I'd give it a try myself. Good actors need to know how, right? It has nothing to do with Jenny."
The happy elation his admission of innocence brings along with it is the best. The very, very best! I want to hug him! Cuddle my Nii-san! I totally owe him the biggest of apologies!
…!
I must have looked so stupid to him..! AAH!