Edited: 29/01/17

"You have no right to call me that, brat!" I growled directly at my sister's friend as soon as he called me 'onii-san'. This brat just met me and he was already trying to look good in front of me. He was clearly trying to look appealing in front of Komachi.

My sister glared at me in a cold manner and I understood her message clearly. Fact of the day: Hachiman Hikigaya always managed to find a way to screw up everything - source, Hikipedia.

I stood in silence and Komachi tried to lighten up the mood by talking with Totsuka, "Hello, I'm Komachi Hikigaya! Thanks for being there for my brother."

Her smile and attitude melted through Totsuka's awkward state and now she was able to speak normally, "It's a pleasure to meet you younger sister. My name is Saika Totsuka and I'm his frien- I mean, I'm his classmate."

I almost spilled my drink noticing that Totsuka was about to say that we were friends. Unfortunately for me, Komachi was too smart and her smile clearly meant that she had understood what Totsuka wanted to say.

"Oh, so polite what a cutie, right onii-chan?" Despite her carefree expression I knew that her harmless phrase contained a deeper meaning.

"Yeah, Totsuka is cute, but a nuisance." I said coldly, trying to stop her teasing. Hearing this, Totsuka dropped her head with a sad smile.

Once again, Komachi noticed what happened and she scolded me instantly, "You're an idiot onii-chan! That's not how you should treat your friends."

"Uh, it's okay... That's how Hachiman is, don't worry." Totsuka said with a kind expression. Damn, she was making me feel guilty for being a cold bastard.

While she kept pestering Totsuka in order to know more about our supposed friendship, Taishi finally decided to speak with a worried expression on his face, "...Excuse me, but can you help me? What am I supposed to do?"

Those words were directed at me and the fact that he was expressing his feelings so openly to a mere acquaintance made me became more serious about his request. This kid had some communication skills.

"Tell us more about black lac- I mean, tell us about your sister. You said that she had become a delinquent, why's that?" Crap, my perverted mind was almost exposed, but it wasn't my fault. Her erotic underwear was an image that I could never forget.

Taishi dropped his head and his expression became sad and then, he started talking, "Uh, yeah, that's right. I think that she changed ever since she joined Sobu High. She was always a serious student back in middle school, even if she was a bit scary and rebellious sometimes. Until her first year of high school she used to be nice and she often made dinner and other things... But lately, she has changed."

"Well, I don't think that your sister is a delinquent. It's true that I've never seen her getting along with anyone... But to me it feels like she's always lonely, staring at the window with a stoic expression." Totsuka's remark was actually pretty accurate. That was exactly how the older Kawasaki acted at school.

Komachi nodded and added, "I agree with Totsuka. I've met her and she's a good person. She cares a lot about her family and she's kind even to strangers." After finishing her sentence, my sister's eyes were gazing directly into my soul and I understood her message. She was right, Saki Kawasaki wasn't a bad person.

"So she only changed when she entered the eleventh grade... Have you seen her hanging out with bad company? You mentioned something about being late, but for someone of her age that's nothing new..."

Taishi stood in silence for a couple of seconds with a thoughtful expression and said, "Huh, I don't think that my sister hangs out with bad people, she's a loner and I've never heard her mentioning her friends. What you said about arriving home late might be true onii-san, but coming home at five o'clock is too late, right?"

I was so shocked by what I heard than I even forgot to scold him for treating me like a brother. If she arrived at home in the morning, she would only get around two hours of sleep a day and that would explain her usual tardiness and her tired appearance.

I didn't answer Taishi. I stood in silence, trying to come up with reasons for her behavior. "Y-Your parents don't say anything to her about this behavior?" Totsuka asked Taishi with a worried expression.

I was expecting Taishi to become flustered when interacting directly with such a cute girl, but he seemed to be immune, "Unfortunately, no. Both our parents work and since we still have a younger sister, they rarely even see her around. Raising a big family is complicated."

Dropping his shoulders with a sad expression, Taishi commented, "When I tried to face her about this situation, we ended up fighting. I tried to ask her for the truth, but she gets really stubborn and says, 'it's got nothing to do with you' or something similar..."

Then, Komachi nudged her friend in the ribs in a discrete way and that made him speak again, "But that's not all... Sister gets a lot of calls from a weird place."

"What place?" I asked curiously, finally seeing that we were reaching the core of the problem.

"Mm, I think it was from Angel-something, some kind of store. I've seen her talking on the phone with the manager guy."

"Why do you say it's weird?" My innocent Totsuka asked with a confused expression. So cute and pure.

Looking extremely perturbed, Taishi banged his fist against the table, "I mean, it's obvious! Angel!? With a name like that it's totally a suspicious store."

Finally, the parasite and I agreed on something. I understood what he meant perfectly. My perverted senses were tingling and I could totally imagine the 'Angel' word displayed in a red-light district. Perhaps that would explain why Saki Kawasaki was so mature for her age, not mentioning her sexy underwear.

I knew exactly how he felt, "Calm down, brat. I understand what you said."

Taishi was surprised when he heard those words and he started wiping his passionate tears. Getting up in a swift move, the boy embraced me in a passionate hug, "Onii-san, I knew you would understand!"

Trying to shove him away, I shouted back in mild anger, "Stop it brat! And did you just call me brother, again? I'll murder you, I'm serious."

After managing to push Taishi off me, I said in an annoyed tone, "Okay, I'll do it. I'll try to help your sister, somehow." At this point Komachi was smiling broadly at me in an honest way. Finally I had done something that made her happy.

Taishi seemed also very delighted with my response and he bowed while saying, "T-Thank you!" This kid was a pain in the ass and I felt the urge to act tsundere towards him, saying something like, 'Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not doing this because I care about you!'. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be an act of bashfulness, I truly hated this kid. However, if I decided to act like an idiot again, that would definitely ruin the peaceful mood that I had created with Komachi.

In the following day I started to think of a plan to help Saki Kawasaki. I was sitting on the classroom, using my phone to search for the amount of jobs in Chiba whose name was 'Angel'. I was a surprise to notice that none of the results were linked to a suspicious activity. The mentioned name and the work schedule reduced the options to only two restaurants.

I was so focused on my phone that I didn't noticed that an actual angel was staring at me, "Uh, hello, Hachiman. You see, I was interested about what happened and I really wanted to help you... I don't want to be a nuisance, of course."

Looking directly at Totsuka, I said, "You don't have to force yourself to help."

"No, I just want to help you and our classmate." Totsuka said in a kind way that left no room for discussion.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance and stood in silence, trying to figure a good way to deal with this situation. Totsuka started fidgeting in her seat and I sensed that she was about to say something, "Uh... Have you already decided what to do in order to help Kawasaki?"

I nodded negatively in a frustrated way and Totsuka raised her hand timidly as if she was asking for permission to talk, "So, I've been thinking that we should ask Hiratsuka's help for this. I think that there are some problems that we can't discuss with our parents, but maybe another adult could help, m-maybe?"

Her idea was brilliant, as expected from the prince in disguise. It was true that most of the teenagers weren't able to talk with their parents about embarrassing topics like romance, porn, friendship or even bullying. Maybe Hiratsuka could help, but I couldn't imagine that Kawasaki was the type who would trust her problems to another person.

She seemed really stubborn and from what I understood, she loved her family above all else. If she couldn't share her problems with the people that she loved the most, there was no way that she would talk openly to anyone else. The only option was to confront her directly in a way that would leave her no room to escape, basically, I needed to treat her like a criminal.

I looked directly at Totsuka and said, "Your idea is great Totsuka, but I'm sure that Hiratsuka won't be able to break through Kawasaki's cold attitude."

Totsuka tilted her head in confusion and had this thoughtful expression that made me explain what I meant previously, "Hmm, let me see if I can explain this to you with an example... Think of Kawasaki as if she was a guilty criminal. If she can't confess her crimes with her loved ones do you think that she'll talk freely to an outsider?"

The cute girl made a sound that showed amazement and then said, "I think I understand what you're saying, Hachiman... But how are we going to help her if she doesn't open up to anyone?"

I smirked and said confidently, "We set up a trap that will make Kawasaki admit her crimes." In my head, what I said made sense and Totsuka seemed happy to agree with my idiotic banter. We decided to start this plan.

It was almost nighttime, the exact time that marked the start our city's nightly activity. Totsuka and I were already standing in front of one of the supposed crime scenes.

Before I could say anything, I felt my phone vibrating and picked up the incoming call, "Yo, who's talking?"

"Onii-san, is that you? I got your number from Komachi." A loud and irritating voice echoed in my ear.

"I'm sorry, it's a mistake. I don't have a brother." This brat was clearly testing my patience, so I ended up the call.

Seconds passed and my phone started vibrating again, this kid was really persistent, so I gave in. "Why did you hang up?" He said sounding very offended.

"Tch, what do you want brat?" I said trying to resist the urge to end the call.

"I just wanted to know how the plan is going. I've heard that you're trying to figure out where my sister works."

Surprisingly, he already knew about the plan. Komachi told him about my previous email and as expected, the interaction skills of my sister were top notch. My only complaint was that she had made a huge mistake - she gave my personal information to one of the persons that I hated the most and now I could sent him threat emails to protect my cute Komachi.

Trying to refocus on our conversation, I said, "Yeah, something like that. We're about to enter the first restaurant. Later." With that vague explanation, I hung up and focused on one of my partners.

The first place on the last ended up being an otaku restaurant with the name 'Maid Café Angel'. Totsuka was looking weirdly at the neon lights and the multiple illustrations of cute girls with animal ears in maid clothes.

Totsuka was really interested in everything and her eyes were glistening with curiosity. She seemed like a newborn who had just discovered something incredible and her cuteness made me grin. Despite being a girl, I had never seen Totsuka interested in girly things. Why is that?

"So this is a maid café..." Totsuka murmured happily. "I don't know much about these type of things, can you explain it to me?" I could sense some blood starting to gush out of my nose as I imagined Totsuka in one of those cute outfits, calling me Master.

Still a bit out of it, I said, "Er, uh, I've never been to one, so I can't say. However, I called an expert on this type of stuff."

Suddenly, we heard a loud laugh and then, our expert said, "You called, Hachiman?" I already knew who was the one talking to us, it was none other than Yoshiteru Zaimokuza, the guy who always wore his stupid coat even during the summer.

"Why are you looking at me with that face when you are the one asking for favors?" Zaimokuza pointed at me accusingly, probably noticing my disgusted expression. He was sweating like crazy.

I smirked and said, "I was just thinking that you are a pain in the ass. So this the place, huh?" I asked looking weirdly at the maid café.

Zaimokuza nodded and I trusted in his knowledge on this type of stuff. I had already explained everything about our plan to help Saki Kawasaki and he agreed to guide us.

"Well, according to our research there are only two possible places in Chiba and I bet in this one. Come Sir Totsuka, let's start this plan." Finishing his sentence, Zaimokuza pointed at the 'Maid Café Angel' sign. The poster mentioned that girls were free to experiment serving as a maid, a well thought recruiting strategy.

"Ehh? Do I have to do this?" Totsuka took several steps back, trying to protect herself from Zaimokuza. Suddenly, Totsuka grabbed my blazer with a pleading look, but I couldn't deny that I wanted to see her in a maid outfit.

"Why is Totsuka involved in this? Explain your idea." I said trying to protect the cutie who was almost in tears.

"This is not just me being a pervert, this plan was well prepared. You see, Totsuka can easily disguise himself as a girl, infiltrate the restaurant and hopefully gather some information about the list of employees." While I was sure that part of him just wanted to see Totsuka dressed in cute clothes, I had to admit that his plan was flawless. His creativity was really useful.

I looked at Totsuka and gave her a knowing gaze. With a sad expression and a pout she nodded and we headed inside. Once inside, the three of us received the usual greeting and were directed to a table.

Eventually, Totsuka had to drop her reverse-trap role and with pain in her expression, she mentioned that she wanted to try serving as a maid to one of the employees. She was guided by a couple of cute girls, disappearing into a room on the back of the restaurant.

Looking sideways towards Zaimokuza, I noticed that he was restless. He drank his glass of water in seconds and his usual loud personally was gone. "Oi, what's up?" I asked.

He looked at me blankly and said, "I was too cocky, Hachiman. I think that I cannot converse with the maids..."

I felt the urge to laugh at his pathetic reaction. It was only normal, a teen getting pampered by a lot of girls in erotic custom was surely arousing. However, I felt like I was a little too used to this. It was like I was used to this type of treatment, I felt like this was something that I had to go through on a daily basis, but I couldn't understand this weird sense of comfort.

Coughing loudly as he choked on the water, Zaimokuza looked at me with a serious expression, "Have you been doing some investigation on that thing?" His voice was low and the fact that he was acting all weirdly made us receive lot of attention.

"Not lately... I've been busy with studies and random requests." I knew what he meant with that vague phrase, but I felt like this wasn't the time to speak about this matter.

He then looked at me with a grin and said, "I've been doing some research of my own, especially about that Workplace visit that I mentioned... Imagine my surprise when I learnt that your father owned that and many other media companies in Chiba. Why haven't you said anything, Hachiman?"

He had finally discovered that small detail, well there was no point in denying it now, "Yeah, it's true... If people don't ask, I don't bother telling. Anyways, it's a boring and long story."

I was hoping that he would drop the matter, but he continued, "So cold, Hachiman. We're partners and you're my number one reader! I needed to know that I was dealing with someone that had such a glorious legacy. Haha, now I feel even more hyped to make you admit that my novel is good."

Well, I was glad to know that he wasn't going to ask stuff that I wasn't comfortable to share. The fact that he showed no ulterior motives behind his curiosity was something that made me somewhat happy, but I wouldn't admit it.

Looking around, I started to adjust to the fan-service provided by the employees and I reached a point where hearing the word 'moe' and 'master' was starting to get annoying. Somewhere in my mind, I had this weird impression that this happened to me a lot, but it was a very fuzzy feeling.

Suddenly, I noticed an athletic figure, dressed in a butler's outfit, coming in our direction holding a tray with skill. "Sorry for keeping you waiting, M-Master." The person in front of us was none other than my beloved Totsuka.

I was in shock noticing that the plan that we created to see our classmate in a girly outfit had backfired on us. Zaimokuza was just as surprised as I was, but I could clearly see that he was still smiling like a pervert, clearly enjoying the situation.

Totsuka's lean figure matched the elegant outfit perfectly and her movements were graceful, she seemed experienced in doing this kind of stuff. In silence, she delivered our drinks in a polite way, refusing to look me in the eye for some reason.

Zaimokuza laughed in a creepy way and said loudly, "Not bad, Sir Totsuka! I wasn't expecting this kind of service, but maybe the role of Subaru Konoe suits you perfectly. Is Totsuka really a boy, Hachiman? I can't believe my eyes." [1]

"Uh, yeah Totsuka is somewhat like a special being. My classmate's cuteness abolishes all the boundaries related to gender, right?" I said with a teasing smirk, trying to stop what Zaimokuza wanted to imply. However, Totsuka completely ignored me, looking away with an unfamiliar expression.

Zaimokuza's stupid reference was actually pretty close to her real situation. For what I had understood, her family were the ones forcing her to act like this. Totsuka sat in our table, looking somewhat irritated and I decided to speak again, "What's wrong Totsuka? That's not the way how you should treat your Master."

My second approach didn't work as well. She wasn't smiling like usual and she was acting very tsun-tsun and cold, not even nodding at me, "Are you mad?" I asked, trying to figure out why she was acting weirdly.

Pouting cutely with an angry expression, she said, "Yes I am! You didn't save me... You wanted me to dress like a girl!"

I knew I had made a mistake. For unknown reasons, she was supposed to keep her boy persona and because of this perverted idea, she was almost discovered by Zaimokuza. "Ooh, er, you see, I was just teasing you because you look cute for a guy. It was just friendly teasing and to be honest, Zaimokuza's plan was really good."

This time, she looked at me and with a blush she said. "I-If that's the reason then, I'll forgive you."

Managing to fix Totsuka's mood with my VN interaction skills, I decided to ask the important question, "So, what were you able to find out?"

With a dejected look on her face, Totsuka said, "Kawasaki doesn't work here, I asked around for her, but no one knew who she was and her name wasn't on the shift schedule."

"Well, it look like it was a waste of time." I commented.

Zaimokuza had this guilty look on his face and he interjected nervously, "Ahh, I can't believe it. I could totally imagine someone like her working here. The tough girl that is forced to work as a maid to repay her family's debt. Then she has the fateful encounter with her blond prince-" [2]

"Yes, yes, I get your reference Zaimokuza." I put a stop to his ranting and we decided to head home soon after. Thanks to our wrong prediction, we had wasted a whole evening. At least I had seen Totsuka wearing a cute butler's outfit plus I found a good café to spend my free time.

The following day I continued to pursue my objective to help my delinquent classmate. It was already night time and I was heading towards the second crime scene, the bar called 'Angel ladder', situated on the top floor of the Hotel Royal Okura.

As I made my way through the entrance of this enormous building, I adjusted my black suit, which was one of the most fancy clothing that owned. Underneath my black jacket I was wearing a white shirt, along with a black tie. Since this kind of place only allowed entrance to well-dressed people, I had to pick up some black leather shoes and to avoid some unwanted attention to my eyes, I wore some purple glasses which was probably a cosplay item that I had acquired in the past. I had even gelled my hair backwards.

Even if these clothes looked really uncomfortable, I felt perfectly normal while wearing them. I felt as if I had done this multiple times in the past, but I had no memories of doing such thing. I didn't know why, but these clothes made me feel confident or maybe it was just my imagination, since I looked very mature.

Komachi was almost crying when she saw me leaving home looking like this. She offended me saying that this was how I was supposed to dress during my wedding day and then she told me that unfortunately, that would never happen. Since the mood between had been a little better the past days, she start teasing me by saying that it was too bad that no one would ever want to date such a lame man. What a rude brat.

Today I had to act on my own since my two partners in crime didn't have clothes that were appropriated for this place's etiquette.

From the moment that I left the elevator, I knew that this place was reserved for people of high society, but I wasn't feeling nervous. I was now facing a lounge bar with smoothly lightened and there was this foreign woman playing a nice melody on the piano.

This felt like the perfect place to propose to someone in marriage. The windows of the tall building showed a magnificent view of Tokyo bay and all the different type of lights helped creating a perfect mood for a romantic encounter. Now I was understanding why this place had 'Angel' in its name.

Unlike my usual lax attitude, I entered the bar's wooden door with a confident posture. I was greeted by a male waiter that guided me to the bar counter in front of the edge of a glass window. I was just looking at the view imagining how nice it would have been to see Totsuka wearing a girly dress while, playing the role of my date.

When I finally put a stop to these random thoughts, I saw a female bartender polishing some glasses with a straight and professional posture. I recognized her immediately from looking at that tired expression, I had finally found Kawasaki.

Despite looking relatively tired, she seemed like a totally different person. Her long hair was tied up and she was wearing a waiter's outfit, which showed how well-endowed she was.

Without recognizing me, she placed a menu in front of me, waiting in silence. Removing my glasses I called for her, "Kawasaki."

Giving me a confused look, she said, "I'm sorry, sir, but who are you exactly?"

I smirked at her reaction, she knew exactly who I was. "How rude, I thought that we were more than strangers." I couldn't understand why, but I had chosen the cocky approach.

"I'm sorry but I'm afraid that we are mere acquaintances, Hikigaya." She said, looking at me with her usual cold eyes.

Still eyeing me harshly, she poured me a drink while muttering, "Be careful not to choke... We don't serve drinks for brats here."

She had given me an alcoholic drink, which I was now forced to pay for. Not wanting to waste my money, I picked up the champagne glass and took a sip and that made her grin in surprise.

"I would definitely prefer some coffee, but this wasn't that bad." I said stubbornly after getting adjusted to the sour taste of the drink. "If I choke be sure to save me again, okay?"

This time she ignored my teasing, clicking her tongue in annoyance. Giving me a defeated smile she said, "So, you now know about my night activities." Even if she sounded bothered, she didn't seem to have any intention of hiding the truth.

Looking at me with her arms crossed she said in disdain, "Don't tell me that you came here for a date?"

I was surprised at first at her insult, but then I answered with a smirk, "I don't know... I need to ask your boss if I can take you for some private time."

Her purple eyes widened in surprise and she averted my gaze, "Are you stupid?"

I couldn't contain my laughing, "Sorry, but I'm not interested in cold women. You see, there was this little brother that was really worried about his older sister. It seems like she has been arriving home late because of her part-time job."

Hearing this, Kawasaki gave me a forced smile, "So what? Good job in reporting my brother's worries, but don't think that I'll quit just because this random guy that I don't care about is trying to meddle in my problems."

If it wasn't for the fact that she had saved me, I had thought the exact same thing about her. Unfortunately for me, I wanted to repay her favor and that was the only thing that made me endure her cold words.

I wanted to say something, but Kawasaki continued, "Oh, so you were the reason why things have become more complicated lately. I don't know what Taishi said, but this is none of your business."

I sighed and tried to talk with her, "You can get in trouble for what you're doing... I was just trying to offer you some help for what you did."

She glared at me, clearly trying to warn me not to continue this conversation. Kawasaki probably understood what I meant to say. There was a law that didn't allow minors to work past ten o'clock and that time had passed some time ago. She was working here using an illegal ID.

Kawasaki sighed and said in an unperturbed tone, "I don't intend to quit this job. If I decide to leave this one, I can always get a new one somewhere else. I just need the money…"

Hearing her reasoning I nodded. One of the main reasons to work was simply because we all needed money to survive. It was normal for people our age to get jobs because their friends also had one, others wanted more money to spend on their things, some simply enjoyed working because they couldn't live without doing anything.

Looking at my expression, Kawasaki's expression stiffened, "Why are you looking at me like you understand my position? You have no intention of working or choosing a proper career option, but you still have the courage to lecture me about my own choices... You're a dumbass."

I didn't really have an answer for her argument, it was exactly as she said, I had no goal in my life. "It's not like I'm working because I need money to waste in stupid stuff like the morons from our class... Don't get in my way!" She continued her emotional outburst, glaring at me with cold eyes.

Despite being somewhat intimidated, I couldn't look away from her. I knew that deep inside she was crying for help and she just wanted to be accepted by someone. Her heated words revealed how strong she was in terms of personality, she was doing all of this for a reason.

I sighed in defeat and said in a serious tone, "Let me be the one to help you this time."

Kawasaki looked at me and said coldly, "Like I said, I don't need anything from you. How do you pretend to help me anyways? It's not like you can cough up money for me or help me with the burden that my parents left me."

"If you let me think for a second, I might find a solut-"

Unfortunately for me, I was silenced before I could say another word, "Tch, you're the one who needs help the most. Aren't you the heir of a rich Yakuza group? Someone like you who was born with a golden spoon in his mouth can't understand me..." Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper, but I had understood exactly what she said.

I had no idea how she knew about that, but I was certain that Komachi wouldn't tell anyone about our situation. She kept on cleaning some glasses and as I finally managed to recover from the initial shock, "I understand what you're trying to do. You want to make me understand that our circumstances are different and you're right, maybe I don't understand what you're going through. However, we both know that what you're doing is still wrong."

I didn't mean to scold her or teach her a lesson, like she mentioned before, the two of us were mere acquaintances and we had nothing to do with each other's lives. However, her actions were breaking the law and if something happened, her parents and our school would be involved in this mess and she would be judged by her offenses like an adult.

Kawasaki stood in silence, understanding what I meant to say. Taking another sip of my horrible drink, I said, "Kawasaki, lets meet tomorrow morning at McDonalds. I'll be there at half past five, okay?"

She frowned in confusion and said harshly, "Hmm, why?"

Handing over my empty glass and paying for my drink, I said with a smirk, "It's about your brother, but we'll talk tomorrow. Oh and next time serve me some Max coffee instead." Turning around, I made a cool exit that would certainly fit the bar's atmosphere.

In the following morning and as promised, I was already inside the fast food restaurant, drinking my coffee in a lazy way. I was an idiot for arranging a meeting that would make me wake up at five. Sitting beside me were Komachi and the little brother. This was the final showdown with the female delinquent.

Suddenly, the automatic door opened and a wild Saki Kawasaki appeared. "Oh, you actually came..." I said in surprise after facing this rare creature.

"Taishi... What are you doing here?" Kawasaki glared at her brother and then switched her attention to me. Her tone of irritation was scarier than usual and I deduced that she was very moody because she hadn't slept much this past night.

Taishi looked at her and said, "That's what I wanted to say... What were you doing until now?"

Looking away, Kawasaki decided to cut the conversation, "It's none of your business." The typical answer that in terms of logic was correct, what she had been doing was her own problem. However, this situation was different, she was encircled and she had only the option to confront us.

Before the two siblings could exchange more heated words I decided to intervene, "Kawasaki, I already figured out why you need the money."

After saying that, Kawasaki's attention was entirely on me, "Taishi, what changed when you started your third year?" Taishi mentioned that his sister had become a delinquent on her second year of high school, but the reason for her actions could be something related to this brat.

Taishi had a reflective look on his face and after a few seconds he answered, "Uh... That was when I started prep school." Kawasaki looked at me with a face that showed concern. She bit her lip in frustration when she noticed that I had solved the case.

"Seeing that the problems involving Taishi's fees were already resolved, that means that you're doing this for your future. As the brat said, his sister was always serious and very kind. Nothing changed." I finally stated my conclusion.

"Nee-chan... Why didn't you say something?" Taishi said with a sad expression.

Walking towards her brother, Kawasaki patted Taishi's head comfortingly while saying, "That's why I didn't want you to know."

This heartwarming scene that put an end to the siblings' conflict was wonderful to watch. Everything seemed peaceful until Kawasaki said abruptly, "That's why I can't quit my job. I want to go to university, but I don't want to cause trouble for our parents because of it."

Suddenly, my cute sister decided to intervene, "Saki, mind if I say something?" Kawasaki looked surprised to see my sister interested in this problem too, but instead of a cold glare she nodded and my sister continued, "So, everyone in our family works a lot and, like, when I was little I usually arrived our home first and no one would be there to receive me. I felt so lonely and sad in that huge house... I felt like I didn't belong in there, I was afraid of it, so one day, I got sick of returning to a deserted home and I ended up running away from home for a few hours. That time the person who came to my rescue was my onii-chan. From that moment, he promised to me that he would always arrive home first, so that he can greet me with a smile when I arrive and I'm grateful for that."

I wanted to say something when she started to talk about us, but for some reason I held my tongue and decided to listen to her story. For some reason, when I tried to recall this memory, my head started hurting a lot and I had no idea that this event had happened.

I held my head in my palm and tried to think clearly about what Komachi was saying, but I couldn't remember anything. Is this the reason why I was so eager to arrive home early every day? I had no idea what was happening and I was about to panic.

I noticed Kawasaki looking at me with a newfound respect, clearly figuring out that I wasn't totally rotten. She smirked and said teasingly, "He also comes home early because he doesn't have friends, right Komachi?"

I wanted to bite back, but I was too confused and my head was killing me. Luckily for me, my dear sister continued the conversation, "Well, it's true that onii-chan has become a weird person... But in the past he was popular, a troublemaker, but still a good person. He even had friends."

What is Komachi saying? I had no idea what she was talking about. I felt like she was talking about a completely different person. I thought that I was always a loner, even in the past, but to be honest, my memories were all confused and I could only remember stuff that happened after my graduation in middle school.

Why can't I remember anything clearly? Komachi clearly wasn't lying, I knew that from experience. Whenever she lied she would always have this this playful smirk on her face.

Why do I remember this about her, but I can't remember anything related to me? I started feeling unwell and my sister noticed my weird behavior, "Are you okay, onii-chan? You look really pale, you know that I'm just joking, okay? Komachi loves her brother even if he's a weirdo. Kyahh! That made Komachi points go up."

Before I could say anything, Kawasaki spoke in a demanding voice, "So, what's the point?"

Komachi looked at Kawasaki cold glare and she said with her usual cheerful smile, "Even if my brother is hopeless, he definitely will do anything to avoid worrying me, even if lately he forgot about that... So, Taishi is the same, he doesn't want to cause problems for you." Despite her previous mention to my 'little lie', her logic was flawless. She was truly a Hikigaya.

I was still in silence while the other two siblings had another emotional scene. Taishi was blushing madly as his sister stroke his hair gently with a beautiful smile on her face. I was also feeling a bit calmer, especially after hearing such amazing words from my sister - even if I had no idea who she was talking about.

Even if everything was solved emotionally, she still needed the money in order to enter university. A scholarship could solve her problems with the tuition fees, but what if she was forced to study outside of Chiba. Will she be able to pay for an apartment? Will she be able to live with comfort, while studying for university?

Even if my family had lots of money, handing over some hundred yens wouldn't be morally correct and there were only two things to do, "Leave your current job and contact this number. It's a job offer that is more advantageous for you. Just mention that you know me." As I said that, I gave her a small paper with a phone number, which she accepted with a weird look, "By the way, you know what a scholarship is?"

A few days later and after that meeting with Kawasaki, I finally felt free from my debt towards her. I still didn't know if she had contacted that number for a job interview, but I couldn't care less because I did all I could to help her. Part of her problems would be solved just by getting a scholarship anyways.

Every day of the past week had been an exam day. Today was the day that we received our results from the said exams.

Speaking of my exam results, I had been trying to defend my podium positions in every subject except for math. Seriously I had a terrible score, 9/100. I was still horrible at math and I wondered if I had always been like this.

Lately there has been something that had been taking away my precious hours of sleep. I started wondering why the hell I couldn't remember anything from my past clearly. At certain point, I started wondering who the heck I really was. I felt like something really important happened, but I didn't know what. Is this related to why I hate my family so much?

Whatever happened to me, made me change in some way. I remembered clearly the wish to run away from my family even though I knew that they weren't criminals. What happened?

I tried to calm myself, not wanting to create a big scene. Today wasn't just the day we got our exam results, it was also the day of the Workplace tour. The students and their respective groups were called during recess and we were sent out to our place of choosing.

What a pain! With all the stress from the exams and the drama that went down with Kawasaki and the case of my lost memories, I had totally forgot that today was the day that I was supposed to visit my home with the group.

Speaking of such thing, my group mates were Totsuka and Hayama and we were currently waiting for our ride at the school's parking lot. To worsen my day, Hiratsuka was the one who offered to drive us to my place or maybe I should say 'Workplace'.

My house was located in the south of Chiba, near a small mountain area, which was usually mentioned as Chiba Village. My body and mind weren't ready for this and I was hoping that this day would come to an end. For some reason I had always wanted to run away from my grandparents' home, but today I was being forced to face my problems. Damn you Hiratsuka!

[1] – Reference to Mayo Chiki!.

[2] – Reference to Kaicho wa Maidsama and its main characters.