My Wing

by Geek Girl Naruru

Uzumaki Naruto is a 15-year-old high school student who lives in Chiba, Japan. He has a distant relationship with his sister Naruko, who always treats him rudely. One Day in spring, he encounters a girl playing piano on one of his travels to a junkyard and helps her in many ways as he discovers that her name is Namikaze Ruby. A Naruto x RWBY Romcom-fic

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Disclaimer

The idea of this work was based on a fusion of several of my favorite lightnovels stories with Naruto and Naruko replacing the original protagonist's role as the main characters. Mostly I using "Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai'' and "Sayonara Piano Sonata", but I also use other lightnovels such as "Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!", "The Mozart Season", and "Yasei No Last Boss Ga Arawareta'' as extra.

I also going to replace the original cast of the lightnovels I used for this work with the characters from my favorite series (Naruto and RWBY), so since I just remaking and mixing various lightnovels stories with my favorite characters, please don't give me the full credit for this work, thanks the original authors and the translators and if you can please support their original works. I am doing this just for fun, if you find this work is fun to read, that's great!

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Title: My Wing

Genres: Alternate Reality - Modern World setting with no power, Romance, Comedy, Teenage Drama, Music, Brother & Sister, Japanese Culture, Slice of Life, Fantasy, Crossover.

Summary: Uzumaki Naruto is a 15-year-old high school student who lives in Chiba, Japan. He has a distant relationship with his sister Naruko, who always treats him rudely. One Day in spring, he encounters a girl playing piano on one of his travels to a junkyard and helps her in many ways as he discovers that her name is Namikaze Ruby. At the same time, he also found his sister is actually an Otaku with an extensive collection of moe Anime and younger sister-themed Eroge she has been collecting in secret.

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Characters

Main

01. Uzumaki Naruto (Naruto/Naruto): The main protagonist of the story. He is the bassist of the band Ouzel. A laidback and calm young man when it comes to almost anything. However, there are times when he truly does get angry. When this happens, the laidback and calm person he is usually completely disappears, replaced by a decisive and serious man. He is also very stubborn and has a strong determination to accomplish anything he sets his mind to. Despite this, he tries to make everyone happy.

02. Uzumaki Naruko (OC/Naruko): One of three main heroines of the story. Naruto's twin sister. She attended a local famous all girls school. She's an overachiever who seemingly lives a perfect life and is idolized by almost everybody. However, she keeps a big secret from her family - she is an avid Otaku and a fan of adult-rated games, especially those involving brother-sister dynamics. During her early interactions with Naruto, she demonstrates an attitude similar to a "Tsundere", with the bossy and abusive part more dominant. Although she maintains this attitude, she slowly tries to open up to her brother at times, reluctantly expressing gratitude for things that Naruto has done for her and she does indeed care for him, although she chooses indirect methods, sometimes laced with her sharp tongue, to show her sisterly affection for him.

03. Namikaze Ruby (Ruby/RWBY): One of three main heroines of the story. A world famous pianist prodigy, and later the guitarist for the band Ouzel. She had escaped from home and ran into a junkyard, where she found a piano and met Naruto who helped her repair her mother's tape recorder. Although not as bad as Naruko, she also has some tsundere qualities about her, especially when dealing and interacting with Naruto, she often calls him idiot and tells people around her about how dense he is, despite this she has strong feelings for Naruto, but cannot find the courage to express these feelings to him.

04. Belladonna Blake/Uchiha Satsuki (Blake+Fem-Sasuke): One of three main heroines of the story. Her real name is Uchiha Satsuki. She's an avid Anime fan and a Chūnibyō who claims to have supernatural powers, inspired by her favorite Anime character Indra. She's very skilled at several things, but she doesn't automatically succeed in everything she tries, in contrast to Naruko. Even though she started off as haughty towards Naruto and, despite the fact that Naruto at first seems to dislike her, eventually, they seem to get along. They share the same rationality, and seem to be equally appalled over some of Naruko's childish acts and likes.

05. Yang Xiao Long (Yang/RWBY): Naruto's childhood friend since elementary school. She is a former martial arts practitioner and now drummer for Ouzel. She is a very upbeat girl and has been Naruto's friend since childhood as she lived close to him. They have been friends for a long time, and before she knew it, she started developing romantic feelings towards Naruto.

06. Hoshino Neo (Neo/RWBY): The lead guitarist and vocalist for the band Ouzel. She's a glass half-full type character, who will stop at nothing to get who and what she wants. She is also very cheeky and likes to experiment with relationships. She often flirts with Naruto, Ruby, and Yang within the band.

07. Akatsuki Dina/Penny (Penny/RWBY): The leader of the Otaku Girls Unite! community. She's an avid fan of the Otaku culture and comes from a wealthy family, which allows her to spend tons of money on her Otaku hobbies and isn't afraid to abuse her money to please herself and her friends. She has two personalities, as Dina the high class lady when she is online, and as Penny the Otaku girl when she is together with her Otaku friends.

08. Shirayuki Weiss (Weiss/RWBY): Naruko's best friend, classmate and a model co-worker. She is mostly seen as a polite and sweet girl, but she can become a tsundere with Naruto, and even a yandere when Naruto or Naruko are involved. She hates everything related to Otaku culture and considers Otakus as a threat to society, but thanks to Naruto's help, she eventually changes her mind and even comes to accept Naruko's hobby.

09. Uzumaki Karin (Karin/Naruto): Naruto's kindhearted cousin and has been in love with Naruto since beginning, blushing at his compliments and going to many lengths for the sake of his reputation and what she believes would be the best for him. Despite Naruto being oblivious to her feelings and treating her like a big sister, she continues to love him unconditionally and would support his romance with any girl.

10. Fiona Thyme (Fiona/RWBY): Ruby's childhood friend and a renowned violinist. Very outgoing girl. She likes to get out and experience new things. She is also very outward about her feelings and emotions. She will often express these to other people, not caring if what she says could be considered rude or inappropriate. She has openly stated that she loves Ruby, and has shown some hostility towards Naruto.

Supporting

01. Uzumaki Kushina (Kushina/Naruto): Naruto's & Naruko's mother. She raised them alone as a single parent after their father passed away from illness. She worked as a music critic.

02. Namikaze Minato (Minato/Naruto): Ruby's father and well known musician. He also friend with Kushina when they were still attending at the same school.

03. Haruno Sakura (Sakura/Naruto): Naruto's classmate during his elementary school days. She is one of the main reasons that changed Naruto's personality from a hot-blooded boy to the "normal" person he is at the start of the story.

04. Mikazuki Rose (OC): Naruko's bratty friend. She bears a shocking resemblance to Roz-chan, Naruko's favorite magical girl character.

05. Pyrrha Nikos (Pyrrha/RWBY): She came from Greece and was the defending winner of the Zodiac Angel Roz-chan cosplay competition in which Rose was forced to join. Pyrrha played the character Goddess of Love Naru, the series main villainess.

06. Cindy Falleaf (Cinder/RWBY): She worked as a music teacher at Naruto's school. She is also the club supervisor for the Folk Music Research Club, the "official name" of Ouzel band.

07. Hyuuga Neji (Neji/Naruto): One of Naruto male friends. They became "close" friend after they found each other's secret.

08. Hyuuga Hanabi (Hanabi/Naruto): Neji's little sister. One of the members of the Game Research Club. And hardcore fujoshi.

09. Sarutobi Konohamaru (Konohamaru/Naruto): One of the members of the Game Research Club. A very polite first year student and very creative with his retort.

10. Yakushi Kabuto (Kabuto/Naruto): the president of the Game Research Club. He was a great helper to Naruto during his quest to Akihabara.

11. Momochi Haku (Haku/Naruto) : Naruko's male model friend. He acted as Naruko's boyfriend when she asked him to get Naruto's attention.

12. Hatake Kakashi (Kakashi/Naruto): The owner of a music store where Neo works. He also has a band that is famous in the underground.

13. Adam (Adam/RWBY): Kakashi's bandmate. He acted very hostile to Naruto's lousy technique as a bassist.

14. Uzumaki Menma (Menma/Naruto): Naruto's loud cousin and Karin's little brother.

15. Mitarashi Anko (Anko/Naruto): A 'wannabe' author that stole Naruko's novel. After Naruko's novel incident, she worked as Naruko's editor.

16. Coco (Coco/RWBY): Blake's talented DJ friend. She became fast friend with Naruto after Ouzel's summer live performance.

17. Uzuki Yuugao (Yuugao/Naruto): The head maid of Namikaze Mansion. She takes good care of Ruby.

18. Nora Valkyrie (Nora/RWBY): Naruko's little sister and rival in track she met during her stay in America.

19. Yamanaka Ino (Naruto): One of Naruto's classmates and their female class representative.

20. Nara Shikamaru (Naruto): One of Naruto's classmates and their male class representative.

21. Inuzuka Kiba (Naruto): One of Naruto's classmates and everyone's favorite pervert.

22. Kamaitachi Temari (Naruto): Neo's friend and the president of the student council in Naruto's school.

23. Yuuhi Kurenai (Naruto): the Homeroom teacher in Naruto's class.

24. Ayame (Ayame/Naruto): The maid that Naruto met on his first visit to Akiba. He also met her again during Summer Comiket.

25. Akatsuki Yahiko (Yahiko/Naruto): Dina/Penny's older brother. He and his friends are the one who influenced Penny to become an Otaku.

26. Momochi Zabuza: Haku's freeloader big brother who lives at his apartment.

27. Kazamatsuri Moegi (Naruto): Weiss obsessed fangirl who stalked her. She idolized Weiss, and was disappointed in the misunderstanding that Weiss started dating Naruto. Naruto eventually mediated the relationship between Moegi and Weiss while Moegi said that she dreamed of being a Weiss photographer.

28. Melanie & Miltia (the Malachite Sisters/RWBY): the members of Star Maidens, a very popular Japanese pop music singing duo that created the music opening for Zodiac Angel Roz-chan anime.

29. Ogata Koji (Kashin Koji/Boruto): the son of legendary musician Ogata Jiraiya.

30. Namekuji Tsunade (Tsunade/Naruto: The chairwoman of the modeling company where Naruko's work.

31. Kusanagi Orochimaru (Orochimaru/Naruto): The senior editor at which Naruko's novel is published. Anko uses his name to con Naruko.

32. Summer Rose (Summer/RWBY): Ruby's mother. She and Minato are no longer married and currently live in America.

33. Yukina & Yukito (OC): Naruto's twin child that appears later in afterstorry.

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Volume 01: Piano & Little Sister

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01

With the windows of the train pushed up by just about five centimeters, the smell of the sea was already drifting in slowly. It was a Sunday afternoon, and there were no other passengers aboard other than me. There will be a lot of visitors heading down to the beach once it hits the summer vacation. But for now, which was early April, there was still quite some time to go before the beaches were available. Therefore, high school students might be the only ones who would be taking a trip to the beach during spring vacation - which included me.

The double-carriage train rumbled past a gentle turn. The walls of mountains and bamboo forests suddenly disappeared before my eyes, and my line of vision broadened, along with the increasing smell of the sea. The clusters of rooftops and the copper-rust colored sea were darkened under the gloomy sky. The train wobbled and stopped at a small station. I grabbed my backpack from the luggage rack. As I walked onto the open platform, I could immediately see a gray band between the dark green mountains on my right.

I have no idea when it all started, but the valley has turned into a huge dumping ground. I don't know if the dumping ground is legal or not but there are plenty of trucks from all over the place that come here to dispose broken electric appliances or furniture. As time went by, that place became strangely silent. It was so quiet, it felt as though it was fifteen minutes after the apocalypse of the world - an enclosed space was thus formed. Recently I stumbled here by accident after being lost one day, I have secretly named this place The Department Store of Hearts' Desires.

My mother has a weird occupation as a music critic and due to that my house is filled with all sorts of sound systems, records, CDs, musical scores and other related items. The equipment in our house are tools of the trade, and yet my mother handles them carelessly. She breaks everything - be it the speakers, the turntable or the DVD player. Since there weren't many people who bought toys for me and my sister when we were kid, I resorted to dismantling the broken equipment, and slowly learned how to repair and assemble them. As of now, it's sort of like a half-hobby to me. Due to the needs of my hobby, I visit this Department Store of Hearts' Desires next to the beach once every two to three weeks by making my way down via the wobbling train to collect some useful parts. It feels like I am the only living person left in this world when I walk around the rubbish heap by myself, and that feeling itself is rather pleasant. However, I was not the only person to visit the dumping ground that day.

As I walked through the forest and made my way towards the valley, I saw a mountain made up of abandoned fridges and scrapped cars that were exposed to rain and shine. Surprisingly, I also heard the sound of a piano. I originally thought I was hearing things, but as I stepped out of the forest and took a look at the heap of rubbish right before my eyes, I realized I wasn't just hearing the sound of a piano. The low chords of the bassoon were like the surface of the calm seas and the sounds of the clarinet came to me soon after. I had no idea what the song was, but I have heard of it before. It's probably a piano concerto from nineteenth century France. But why could I hear it here?

I climbed up the roof of a derelict car, and began scaling up the rubbish heap. The melody of the piano turned into that of a march. I originally thought the sound of the piano came from a radio which still had some power left in it, but that thought vanished within seconds. The depth of the sound was not the same, it was definitely the sound of a piano played live. I looked at the basin after I reached the peak of the heaps, and the sight which greeted me was so shocking it made me hold my breath. A large grand piano was buried amid the cupboards and broken beds. Its lid was giving off a black glow, as though it was doused with water, and it expanded outwards like the wings of a bird. On the other side of the piano, was a bunch of black-red hair that swayed along with the exquisite sounds of the instrument.

It's a girl. That girl was sitting in front of the slanted keyboard, with her gaze fixed on her hands, and her long eyelashes slightly drawn back. Those penetrating and exquisite sounds played by her were like the raindrops of late winter, bouncing out drop by drop from within the piano. I somehow recognized her face. Her stern and pale white face was something that was out of this world, and she was so beautiful that I could not shift my sight away from her. I've seen her somewhere before, but… why is that? I couldn't remember her name. As for the piece she was playing, I couldn't recall it either. There should be no one else around here either, so I should only be hearing the sounds from the piano as well as the gushes of waves that were filtered through the forest, so why? Why could I hear the sound of an orchestra?

I suddenly noticed that the piano beneath me was giving off a tremble and a slight sound whenever she played the low notes with force. Not just that, the bicycle that was buried within the rubble over there, the rusted metal container, the broken LCD screens, everything - they were all resonating along with the piano. The rubbish buried in the valley was singing. But those echoes stirred my memories of the orchestra that accompanied this tune. It's just my auditory hallucination, but it felt way too real. I do know that piece of music somehow, but what exactly was it? Why… did it touch my heart so much?

The allegro march was like a flurry of footsteps that flowed into the expansive estuary before dawn, which was the music at adagio. Countless tiny bubbles of notes flowed upwards from the depths of the sea onto the surface, and gradually spread outwards. Then, the sounds of the orchestra rang from afar again, and this time it should continue on steadily, but the music suddenly stopped. I held my breath, and looked downwards at the piano, while being stuck to the peak of the rubbish heap like a barnacle. The girl stopped playing the piano, and was looking at me with an extremely stern look. The hallucinated orchestra, the reverberation of the piano and even the sounds of the winds rustling through the trees - it had all disappeared, leading me to think for an instant that the apocalypse had really come.

"… How long have you been standing there?" She spoke. Her voice was clear like the shattering of a wine glass on the floor. She was angry.

I lost my footing, and slipped from the fridge that I was standing on.

"I am asking you, how long have you been standing there?"

"Huh, well…" I was finally able to breathe after squeezing my voice out. "Probably during the cadenza."

"The cadenza at the beginning?" She sprang upwards, and her soft black-red hair fell down from her shoulders. It was only then when I realized she was wearing a black one piece dress.

"So you've been listening since the beginning?"

I couldn't help it, alright! What did you want me to do then? Do an Indian dance while yelling my lungs off for you to see? As I looked at her red face and her fluttering hair, I slowly regained my composure. I did nothing wrong, it was just that someone had arrived earlier than I did, right?

"To think you actually stalked me all the way out here!"

"Stalk? Hey, I'm just here to visit!"

The instant she slammed the key lid of the piano, there was something that resonated along with it. Then, the fridge that I was standing on gave a violent tremble. It tilted slightly, and I slid down along with it.

"Whoaaaaa!" I rolled away from the tilted fridge and the hood of the derelict car, towards the bottom of the basin where the piano was. My shoulders crashed into the leg of the piano.

"Ouch!" Just as I was about to stand up, I realized that her face was right before mine, and her silver eyes were gazing at me intently. I was shocked, and was unable to move. I could only stare at those lips of hers, which were gently quivering like the petals of camellia.

"Why are you here if you are not stalking me?" She knitted her brows. The mysterious magical powers that were binding me seemed to have weakened a little.

I finally managed to regain control of myself, and scooted backwards while still sitting on the ground. "I am here just to visit this place, I have come here recently. It's not like I am stalking you."

"… Really?"

"Why would I lie?" Then again, did this girl know that she may be stalked by someone?

"In any case, leave here immediately, and tell no one about my presence here. You are to remove the memories of the tune you had just heard from your mind as well."

"How is that possible!"

"You definitely. Cannot. Tell!" Her eyes were shimmering with tears, as though the stars were falling from the sky. Having witnessed that, I could no longer say anything else.

"I understand, I'll just scram, alright?" I heaved my backpack onto my shoulders, and began climbing up the rubbish heap. Then the cranking sounds of a machine suddenly came from behind me, and what followed were her screams of "Ah! Ya!" As I turned my head to take a look, I noticed a palm-sized tape recorder on the piano, and it was giving off a strange sound.

Could it be that she was actually recording this entire time? The tape inside seemed to be spinning back and forth. I couldn't bear seeing that worried look on her face as she grabbed onto the tape recorder any longer. I walked over and pressed the switch of the recorder.

"… Is… is it broken?" She asked with a voice that was close to tears, as she carefully lifted up the tape recorder and cupped it like an egg that was close to hatching.

"Ah, don't do that. You can't just pry open the recorder like that."

She hurriedly stopped herself from attempting to open the cover. I placed my backpack onto the piano, and took out a screwdriver. Her eyes widened as she saw that.

"Are you dismantling it?"

"No worries, I'll repair it carefully."

As I took the recorder from her hands, I realized that it was no ordinary recorder, but a double-track recorder and player. Not only can it play the A and B sides of the tape simultaneously, it can record on them separately as well. However, the labels on the recorder were printed with a language that I have never seen before, and it was obviously not English.

"What language is this?"

"Norwegian," she replied softly. European goods huh. Can I repair this?

As I unscrewed the screws and removed the outer casing, what appeared before me was an interior made with parts that I was familiar with. International standards are really useful.

"Can it… be repaired?"

"Probably."

I lowered the lid of the piano to use it as a worktable, and slowly began to disassemble the recorder. Just as I thought, the magnetic tape was pulled out of its cassette. It was spewed out and clustered into a bunch, just like how sea cucumbers spew out their organs, so it took me quite some effort to remove the cassette.

"Hey, is this tape recorder defective to begin with?"

"Eh? Ah, mmm… the tape will not stop spinning even if it reaches the end, so it will get even more entangled if you don't press the stop button."

I see, the automatic stopping device was already faulty.

"I-it's because of your sudden appearance that caused me to forget to press it."

So it's my fault again? Just buy a new one already.

"Is this important to you? Since you're still using it despite it being faulty."

"Eh?" She looked at me in surprise, then lowered her head and said, "Yes."

I dug for parts from the rubbish heap, and finally completed the surgery of the recorder after finding the required parts. The tape recorder will no longer go out of control, whether it is rewinding the tape, or fast-forwarding.

"And it's done."

"Eh… ah, mmm."

Her face showed an expression of disbelief. I was about to press the play button to confirm if the recorder was working normally, but she suddenly snatched the recorder away from me.

"Y-you are not allowed to listen!" She tweaked the volume to its smallest, then pressed the play button to confirm if it was working properly. "… T-thanks." She hugged the tape recorder tightly, and thanked me with a tiny voice while hanging her head downwards, with her face flushed red. For some reason, I felt embarrassed as well, so I turned away and nodded. As we exchanged our glances, her face became red again, so she hurriedly turned her face away.

As I stared at her side profile, there was a sudden impulse to bombard her with multiple questions. Why are you here? Or rather… who are you? What was the title of the piece that you were playing? And also, I wanted to listen to what you had recorded, you know? Perhaps that orchestra which I had heard wasn't actually my hallucination? I thought of all those things, but she would probably get angry again if I was to actually ask her those questions.

She placed the recorder back onto the piano, then sat on a cupboard as a substitute for a chair and looked at her feet. I wanted to continue talking with her, but the atmosphere was no longer right, and I could not find an opportunity to speak.

Forget it, it felt like she was finding me troublesome anyway. I'll just head home for the day. I probably won't be meeting her again the next time I come here, right? Or perhaps she came here because there is no piano in her house? I thought of all those things while preparing myself to climb up the rubbish heap.

Just then, her voice came from behind me, "Hey…" I turned my head. She was fidgeting next to the piano. She didn't look angry this time round, but rather, she was blushing due to embarrassment. "D-do you live nearby?"

I tilted my head. "Nope. Takes about four hours to get here by train."

"Then are you heading to the station now?" She instantly showed an expression of relief the moment I nodded my head. She slung the recorder next to her waist, and began to scale the slope created by the huge rubbish by following behind me.

"Are you going back? Then I can just stay here, right?"

"You can't! Just move, go on!"

What's with that…?

I maneuvered past the bumpy heaps of rubbish unhappily, and slowly walked back towards the forest next to the valley. She kept complaining about how her feet hurt and how she was about to fall, but she still followed me all the way.

"Look…" I turned around and called out to her. She was startled, and fidgeted about three meters behind me.

"W-what?"

"Could it be that you have forgotten your way back?" Since her skin is a lot fairer than those of a typical Japanese person, it was really obvious when she blushed. Though she shook her head furiously, it seemed like I had hit the spot. I couldn't help but give a sigh. "Well, I was lost the first time I came here as well. One single step in the wrong direction while on the path from the seaside to the station is all it takes for one to get lost."

"It's not my first time. I've probably been here three times already."

"So you still can't remember the route despite coming here three times…"

"I've already said that's not how it is!"

"Why don't you go back by yourself then?"

"Grrgh…" She gritted her teeth and glared at me. I had no choice but to cease arguing with her, and walked out of the forest quietly.

While on our way, I saw an orange colored truck passing by us, it's probably there to dump some thrash. The forest regained its deep silence as the truck went further away. The faint sounds of the truck, together with the sounds caused by the rubbing of tree branches, made me recall the rich ensemble of the piano concerto. That was indeed a stunning experience that made me breathless. However, that miracle probably wouldn't have happened if this girl didn't play the piano at such a special place.

I stole glances at her as I walked on ahead. Then again, where exactly did I see her before? Could she be a forgotten childhood friend of mine? Why else would she be so brazenly willful in front of me? That couldn't be, right? If I knew a girl who left such a deep impression on me, I would not have forgotten her.

After walking to the small town between the mountains and the sea that is filled with plenty of ramps and slopes, the cluster of houses suddenly came into sight along with the train station. Almost all of the decorative lights on the archway of the shopping street were no longer lit up, while the four story high building, which is a relic from the Shouwa era, had a Glico advertisement board on its roof. How very nostalgic. To the left, a sign with the JR logo as well as the station's name was hanging from the top of what looks like a prefab house. Aside from both of us, and a few stray cats that were scrounging for leftovers, there were no other moving things at the entrance of the soba shop.

"Here we are."

"I can see that."

That was all she said, before she rushed to the entrance of the station.

I stood blankly at my spot, and considered what I should do next, but I could not even call out her name. Couldn't help it. That was the first time I met her, and she asked me to forget all about her as well. I should just head back to collect some junk.

I turned away from her, and just as I was about to leave, someone spoke, "Hey you." The voice belonged to a middle-aged policeman, who was walking out of the small police station opposite to the bus rotary. Seemed like I was not the one he was referring to though. She was petrified, and timidly turned around. The policeman went up and asked, "Eh, ain't you Namikaze Ruby-san?"

"… Eh? Umm, well…" Her face was ghostly white from the shock.

"Ahh, I'm right. Even your clothes fit the description. Namikaze-san, your family's looking for you, right? Seems like you came somewhere around here the last time you ran away from home as well. In any case, follow me. I'll contact your family members."

A runaway girl huh? Seemed to be a repeat offender too, so it's best that I do not associate myself with her. Just as I resumed walking and went past the policeman, I could feel her staring at me, requesting for my help.

Dammit, I still noticed it in the end. It was as though her earnest and teary gaze was saying, "I'll hate you for life if you don't help me.'" Stop it, me. Ignore her! But it was all too late. I'm not fit to be a human being should I choose to walk away silently after seeing that gaze of hers.

"Hey!" Looking at the sweat-drenched back of the policeman, I spoke. He was about to take the girl back to the police station, and the expression on his face as he turned around seemed to be suggesting that he had only noticed my presence just now. "I think you have mistaken her for someone else. You see, this girl is my sister."

"Huh?" The policeman's expression became funny, as though he had accidentally chewed on a snail or something.

"Naruko, let's go quickly. We'll have to wait for a long time if we miss the incoming train."

"Ah, uh… yeah." She scooted away from the policeman as I gave him a nod, and together we briskly walked towards the train station. I didn't know if he understood what I had just said, but there's no point in sticking around either.

After purchasing the ticket and passing through the gates, we sneaked a peek at the direction of the bus rotary.

"Will that work… you'll play along with me if the policeman catches on to us, right?"

"I, I…" The girl held onto her ticket, and shifted her sight away from my face. "I didn't ask for your help, and I'm not your sister!"

"Fine, I'll just get the policeman then. It's not good to lie." The girl's face turned red, and she didn't speak a word. However, she slapped my back repeatedly. "Dammit… stop hitting me already! The next time you run away from home, choose a location where your parents won't find you!"

"That's not it! Things are not like what you think!"

So it seems like I was the one acting like a busybody. It couldn't be that she was actually hating me? Hey, I offered you help! She suppressed her anger, and shot a glare at me, then walked towards the platform that is linked to the Kudari line.

The opposite direction as me huh. I was slightly relieved, but felt a small sense of pity at the same time. Just then, the station played a tune that signifies the arrival of the train. It's a very familiar tune - Mozart's Twelve Variations on Ah vous dirai-je, Maman.

"Ah…" The bulb in my head lit up all of a sudden. I got it! I remembered who she was. Yeah, didn't the police officer say earlier that her name is Namikaze Ruby?

"Namikaze… Ruby?"

She was about to take the second step up the stairs, but she was so surprised she stopped in her tracks. As she turned around, her fair face was dyed red, and her pair of eyes were like the dark cloudy skies prior to a thunderous downpour.

No wonder I found her familiar, I had seen her on CD covers before, as well as on TV. She's the daughter of the world famous musicians Namikaze Minato and Summer Rose. A pianist prodigy who became the youngest winner of the International Piano Competition held in Europe, at just the young age of twelve. Her debut was met with a full house of applause as well. Namikaze Ruby. This mysterious girl had released quite a number of albums two and a half years ago, but she disappeared from the music scene at the age of fifteen. And now, this mysterious figure was right in front of me, grabbing onto the handrail with an expression close to crying.

"You… know me?" Her stuttering voice was nearly drowned by the railway crossing, but I still nodded my head slightly. Not only do I know her, I could even remember all the titles of the songs that she had released.

"Yeah, I do. That's because I have all your CDs, and-"

"Forget it all!"

"Eh?"

"Just, forget everything!"

I wanted to say something, but I could only see her running up the stairs, her black-red hair fluttering behind her. Just then, the ding ding ding sounds made during the lowering of barriers of the crossing came to my ears. For a while, all I did was stand in one spot in a dazed state.

"Hey!" a human voice rang from my side. I turned my head, and saw a silhouette on the platform opposite of me. We exchanged glances for a moment, and then she, Namikaze Ruby, swung her hands and threw something over. A red object flew over the tracks. I extended my hands in an attempt to catch it. It was a can of cola. The train drove in between us. She stepped onto the train, and it left the station after closing its doors, leaving me all by myself on the platform. The coke she gave me was still cold, so she probably bought it from the vending machine over there. Could she actually be treating this as a sort of thank you gift?

I've heard all her CDs, her works are the only ones that I will not get tired of listening to. In fact, even the track order has left a deep impression on me. I enjoyed seeking those unintentional glimpses of warm pulses amid that clear, steady and inanimate melody. Then I thought about the piece she played at the dumping ground, that piece should not be in any of her CDs, right? If I had heard of it from the CDs, then I would have definitely remembered it. What exactly did she face and encounter? She's not someone to play such a depressing tune. Her last words kept reverberating in my ears, "Just, forget everything!"

I grabbed onto the cola, and sat on a bench. That intriguing piano concerto and her voice echoed in my head, until my train arrived. That was what happened to me during the spring vacation before school began, that unbelievable coincidence.

When I returned home, I continuously played the Twelve Variations on Ah vous dirai-je, Maman recorded by Ruby on her CD. As I listened to it, I recalled the incidents of that day, and couldn't help but wonder if everything was just a dream. That's because there was no way those junks could resonate to a piano, and it's also impossible for them to give off the sound of an orchestra. The only evidence that could prove the reality of everything was the cola she gave me, which exploded on my face the instant I pulled open the tab.

Dammit, you really can't shake or throw carbonated drinks. After wiping my face clean with a piece of cloth, it felt like the only remaining sense of reality was gone as well. Even if she didn't want me to forget all that, I would have probably done so anyway. I am a busy man, and I can't even remember the dreams I had two days ago. At that time, I obviously had no idea that I'll reunite with that girl again under those situations.

ঌ ໒

02

When I returned home from school, my twin sister was on her phone in the living room. My sister's name is Uzumaki Naruko. She has the same red hair as mine that she usually wears in low pigtails held by a small braided segment of hair. Both her ears are pierced and her long fingernails are manicured to a glossy shine. Her face is attractive enough to turn heads just by itself, but she always makes sure to carefully apply her makeup. She carries herself with an air of maturity almost unseen in high school age. Her frame is tall and slender, but her figure is undoubtedly filled out in all the right places. If only she also had a knack for singing, she could have easily been a popular idol in the entertainment industry. Moreover, she's also attended a famous all-girls high school in our city, being invited as an honor student with very good grades.

I'm not just saying these things because I'm her brother. My sister is truly refined. It's also not as if I want to portray her as the perfect sister. My male friends often tell me they're jealous of me for having such a sister, and while I can understand where they're coming from, I really wish they wouldn't joke around like that. Honestly, I wonder if other people with sisters might understand my position. In reality, though, my sister isn't that great. Well, at least to me she isn't. Take this as an example: in a typical high school class, there are usually a few closely knit groups of friends. Within those groups, one group stands out as the most outstanding. This is the group with lots of remarkable characters - the popular student who gets along with everyone, the genius who's also quite handsome, and the incredibly cute girl, among others. Even within that outstanding group, one girl still stands out as the most refined, and that girl is my sister. She's the kind of person who lives in a different world, who you always hesitate before talking to, after all, she won't really be interested in what you're saying, right? She is the so called "highest level girl". People might think that this sounds like a good thing, but she's the kind of girl who doesn't pair well with the average guy. Now, imagine being related to that kind of girl.

"I'm home." I decided to go for a rather polite greeting, but not only did she not respond, she didn't even glance in my direction.

Donning her sailor fuku uniform, Naruko was sunk into the sofa, her legs crossed under her very short skirt. She was on her phone with an amused expression, chuckling occasionally. "What? Seriously? Why'd he do that? Ahaha, what an idiot."

The true idiot is me, for trying to talk to you! Cursing mentally, I looked inside the refrigerator. I found a bottle of cola, and pouring it into a glass, I downed it in a single gulp. Feeling refreshed, I left the room.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh… alright. Let me change and I'll go right away."

It's already getting so late, but she's still going off somewhere? Well, in any case, it doesn't concern me. My heart murmuring, I went up the stairs. My home consists of a single house built with two stories. Since my father had long passed away, my family only includes my sister and me, along with our mother for a total of three people. We're a reasonably well off and wholly unremarkable household. My room and my sister's room are both on the second floor.

After relaxing in my room for a few minutes I went back downstairs. Before starting to study, I wanted to use the restroom. Incidentally, when I go down the stairs into the entryway, on my left hand side there is a door to the living room.

"Ah." Near the entrance, I bumped into my sister, who had also changed out of her uniform. There had always been a blind spot here in our house, so it wasn't unusual to bump into people here. My left shoulder lightly crashed into Naruko's chest. The impact itself was not very impressive, but in that instant my sister let go of her bag and its contents spilled onto the floor.

"Sorry." After my simple apology, I tried to reach down to the various cosmetic products that had spilled onto the floor, but… when she saw what I was doing, Naruko quickly swept my hand away with her open palm.

"Wha-" Looking back up, I was left speechless by the sharp glare I found waiting for me.

"It's okay. Don't touch it." Only saying that much, she began to quietly gather her spilled belongings by herself.

Whoa… she gave me a bad feeling there… is it that bad if I touch the stuff she was holding? I looked silently down at my sister as she expressionlessly picked up her things. An awkward tension filled the entryway. My sister turned her back on me, and hurriedly put on her shoes.

"I'm off, see you later," she muttered this like it was an annoying formality, and shut the front door with a bang. There you have it. This is what my relationship with my sister has become. Well, it's not like I was offended or anything.

Hah, since when has it been like this? I had the feeling that, even for her, there was once a time when it wasn't like this at all. Well, whatever. Whatever. It's a bit irritating, but whatever.

After taking a piss and washing my hands, I dove straight into the sofa in our living room. Picking up one of my Rolling Stone magazines scattered about, I lie on my back with my legs crossed. Wasn't I supposed to start studying? Lying down like that, flipping through and staring intently at the magazine, my mood was filled with an extreme emptiness. This isn't the time to be doing this! My brain was yelling at me, but my extreme sluggishness prevented me from listening to reason.

Ahh… dammit. I really don't want to study. This type of emptiness is probably pretty common for us high school students. Shaking my head like a dog that had its face splashed with water, I finally rose to my feet. Leaving the living room and entering the hallway, I spotted a strange-looking thing.

Huh? It was lying behind the shoebox in our entryway. I hadn't noticed it before, but now I could see half of a red thin case in the gap between the shoebox and the wall. Well honestly, my curiosity was just another way to procrastinate. As "I don't want to study, I don't want to study", repeats in my head, my brain is constantly trying to find a reason to keep me from studying. Even if doing something like just picking up this strange object only really takes a few seconds. It's really all the fault of the lazy haze I'm in right now.

I dragged out the object from behind the shoebox. What the hell is this? It was definitely not something that I would expect to find in this house. This is… well… what? I held the case between my fingers and took a good look at it, but I still wasn't sure what it was. It was definitely a DVD case. I knew that much. I've seen these types of cases often at video rental stores… well also, "DVD" was clearly written on the case. But, the contents of that case I could make neither heads nor tails of. I'm sure my facial expression right then was one of puzzled suspicion. On the DVD cover, there was an outrageous drawing of a black-winged girl with a red theme.

There is so much red in this girl… l continued to inspect the case like some detective examining evidence. It wasn't just the character; the entire DVD package had plenty of black and red. Well, that much is fine. But the problem is… what's with this get up? This black-winged girl was wrapped in a red costume. She wears a short red dress with matching arm garters and a leg garter on her right thigh, along with a choker around her neck. Her gloves are black and reach to her wrists. Her boots are black with red laces and end just below her knees. She has black lace lining the top of her dress and the top and bottom of her arm garters, leg garter, and her choker. Her choker has a small bird pendant dangling from it and one of her wings has a red ribbon tied around it with a bell. In the upper half of the package, what was probably the title was written in a very round font.

Zodiac Angel… Roz-chan? First time… limited edition? What's this? I could go on and on picking out small details, but in short, this was obviously a Mahou Shoujo Anime. I might have been initially confused because I hadn't seen something like this in a long time.

Then… why is something like this here? I held this "Zodiac Angel Roz-chan" thing with both hands and stood still in the entryway. Suddenly, the front door to the house swiftly opened right in front of me.

"I'm home… huh, why are you rolled up like that in the entryway?"

"D-don't worry about it, Mom. I just wanted a change of pace."

Too close! I thought my social life was going down the toilet! But she wasn't mistaken. The instant the door opened, I fell to the floor and rolled up, hiding what I was holding.

Phew… I made it just in time, didn't I? Although I don't know the culprit, maybe this was a trap set for me. If someone witnessed me holding something like this, I would be the laughingstock of the family. I could already imagine Naruko's disdainful stare, as if she was looking at a pile of garbage.

Mom, holding a few bags of groceries, looked down at me sympathetically. "You know, I heard from one of the neighbors. Mental counseling for students is pretty popular nowadays."

"W-wait. Don't be rash. I'm not insane. It's just… today I studied a bit too much, I guess."

"What a lie. There's no way you would stress yourself out so much over studying, is there?"

Ah, even my mother is saying such things to me. Have more confidence in your own son, will you?

"It's not like that. My grades are plenty decent, you know?"

"But that's because of Karin-chan, right? Having such a talented cousin tutoring you, how exactly can you be patting yourself on the back like that? When have you ever liked studying by yourself?"

Dammit, she hit the bulls-eye with that one, and I couldn't respond. After all, up to five minutes ago I was lounging around reading a magazine.

Crawling along the floor like a worm, I hid "Roz-chan" underneath my shirt and tried to escape from that place. Behind my retreating back, my mother called out. "Naruto? I don't mind that much, but in the future, please try not to read your ero book in the entryway."

Dammit, how depressing. Then again, it's to be expected that Mom would guess such things by how strangely I was acting. After all, she had once cleaned my room and accidentally unearthed my secret Icha-Icha collection. But this time, the thing I was hiding did not have such kind of meaning.

Carefully letting my mother walk past, I held the DVD to my chest like a rugby player would hold a ball, and ran up the stairs. Flying into my room, I shut the door, and finally let out a sigh. I slowly took the article out from underneath my shirt, and held it carefully in my right hand. Using my left hand, I wiped the cold sweat off my face. Mission complete. Really, though, I'm used to doing things like this. I won't go into the reasons, but I believe that any healthy high school student would be able to sympathize.

I ended up bringing it up here, didn't I? Squinting at this "Roz-chan" thing in my hands, I grumbled. Well, it can't be helped. If, in the middle of my excuses for not studying, I had suddenly gone "Hey, here's this thing I've also been hiding from you", then I'm sure that would have attracted unwanted interest.

My examination studying time having been cut short by such unavoidable circumstances, I began my inspection of the thing in earnest. My room is six tatami large. There's a bed and a desk. Reference books, manga, CD, music magazines, etc are stored on my bookshelves. And I also have a closet. My carpet was colored orange, and my window curtains were blue. On my room wall, there are some posters of FC Barcelona and The Beatle. Other than that, there is a small mini-computer, CD Player, Radio, and audio system. Also, I had already pretty much given up hiding my ero books, so they were being stored in cardboard boxes under my bed. I had once begged my mother, kowtowing to her on the floor, to never clean under my bed. But, I have no reason to believe that she would honor such an agreement, and even if she were checking my collection every so often, I had no way of knowing.

Ugh, I don't even want to think about it! My pride really wouldn't be able to handle that. But at least my collection was not that risqué, so that even if my mother discovered my ero books this wouldn't lead to a family crisis. That's the best defense plan as far as I can tell. I wonder how people without their own private room try to hide things like this… but, in any case, I've never really thought of anything but leaving my door open. I guess it would be pretty spoiled of me, to be troubled by not having a lock on my door. For a few seconds, I mulled over these thoughts.

Then, I sat on the bed and crossed my legs. I took the DVD case in one hand, and rested my chin in the other hand. The more I look at it, the more out of place this thing seems… bathed in the light of a fluorescent lamp, Roz-chan's smile sparkled as she raised her majestic sword.

Hm… well then… who exactly does this belong to? In turn, I went through all the other people in the Uzumaki household. As I thought, there was nobody who I would expect to own such a thing as this "Zodiac Angel Roz-chan". And, I don't remember ever seeing this DVD being played on the television in our living room. So… what do I make of this? Why was something like this lying there? While I continued my musings, I opened up the case with a click.

Wha-!? I was more puzzled than ever. Much more intensely puzzled than when I had been just looking at the cover. In short, there was no "Roz-chan" DVD inside the DVD case. In its place, there was some other DVD. I guess this kind of stuff happens a lot. For example, after listening to CDs on my CD Player, putting each CD back into their matching case is such a bother that I often end up shuffling them around. But then, I soon have no idea what CD is in which case, and chaos ensues. This is probably what the owner of the "Roz-chan" DVD did; the owner probably put in the DVD, not really caring whether it was the right DVD or not.

Ahh, I understand now. This stuff happens often, after all. But… uhh… why is the title of this DVD "Loving my Little Sister"? What the hell are you trying to get someone to do? And what's with this quaint little "R-18" label?

Calm down! Beads of cold sweat gathered on my forehead, and my breathing became ragged. This was bad. This was really bad. I thought about what could have happened in that little scene back there with my mother if she had found this. If I was discovered with this, I would probably have to kill myself. Is this really some sort of trick someone's trying to play on me? I might not deal with this kind of thing often, but my instincts were letting off loud warning bells in my head. What was this dark aura emitting from this title!? Even without the R18 label, the title itself is plenty! The more I thought about it, the more I knew that this was something I definitely could not continue to hold onto…

"Naruto… are you studying properly?"

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Giving out an agonizing cry, I dove under my futon. Peeking out towards the door, I saw my mother looking dumbfounded at my strange behavior.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"D-don't worry about it Mom. It was just speaking practice… but please, please knock next time!"

"I see, I'll be sure to do that from now on." With a forced smile and a knowing expression, Mom left and shut the door.

No good… it's a good thing I managed to hide this thing at the last second, but Mom definitely has the wrong idea now…

Dammit. Today has been such a terrible day… and all the blame is on this thing. Still under my futon covers, I stared at the puzzling DVD case.

Dammit… at this rate, I have to find the owner; I won't be able to live in peace until I do that. I burned with angry determination to find the culprit. But… there's too much I don't know. That is, there's too much I don't know about the owner of this bizarre DVD. The owner of this "Zodiac Angel Roz-chan" case, in which there was this very suspiciously titled "Loving my Little Sister" thing. If I had to make a prediction, I'd probably guess that whoever owned "Roz-chan" was the same person who owned "Loving my Little Sister". And, considering I discovered this article behind our family's shoebox, there was a high probability that the owner was someone in my family - either me, my sister, or my mother. Of course, it's not as if outside people never went in and out of our house, so I can't completely reject the possibility that someone outside our family is the owner. But seriously… who would deliberately come to our house and drop "Loving my Little Sister" in a "Zodiac Angel Roz-chan" case behind our shoebox? I can't even imagine how that would happen.

Well, for the time being, I feel it would be useless to consider the possibility of an outside owner. For now, let's try to wring the identity of the culprit out from inside the family. Me, my sister, and my mother… out of these three people, one is supposedly the culprit. Objectively speaking, which one is the most suspicious…? "Zodiac Angel Roz-chan and "Loving my Little Sister (18)", who would be the most likely owner of these things…?

Well, the answer would be me, and that's annoying. No, no, no. Of course it's not me! But certainly, I guess that I would be the most likely suspect. Man, saying that about myself makes me kind of sad. But that thing obviously isn't mine. Because I really am not that interested in Anime. There are a few people in my class who would talk about Anime, but we rarely talked about it. But, I mean, I could say the same for all the other members of my family… concluding that, I held my head under my arms, troubled.

Ok. Well, it can't be my mother, right? And my sister… well, she was the first one I had excluded. About five years ago, she may have watched stuff like Mahou Shoujo Anime, but lately she's only been into mainstream dramas and music programs, right? Such childish Anime is definitely quite far from Naruko's hobbies and interests. No matter what, I can't possibly imagine her going so far as buying this "Roz-chan" DVD and then watching it. And, as for "Loving my Little Sister", even thinking she would do that would be repulsive. So, could it possibly be Naruko? The popular high school girl? Just today even, there's no mistaking that she went out to hang out with her friends…

I give up. I'm beyond stumped. My ship of reason had finally run aground. As I thought, the culprit couldn't be in my family, but if I expand the sphere of suspicion to include people outside of the household, there would be so many people to consider that I would surely make no progress. This is useless. I guess I really am not cut out to be a detective.

Well then, what now? This is so annoying… maybe I should just give up? No… as I thought, I can't erase this from my mind. I will definitely find the person responsible.

It was strange, but I had become unusually determined. The usual me would have stopped this investigation right now, and then would have taken a nap until dinner. And, if I had done that, the peaceful life that I had before now would have continued. But, that didn't happen. With purpose, I had decided not to give up the search. Of course, at this point I didn't know why I felt this way, but for better or for worse, I was determined now to be the decider of my own fate. In this case, I decided to go and tread on a huge landmine.

ঌ ໒

03

In our house, dinner happened at seven o'clock sharp. If you weren't at the dinner table at seven, then you weren't going to be eating dinner there at all that day.

It was six forty-five. Scratching my head, I left my room and went down the stairs. But, I suddenly stopped mid-descent. Right beneath my eyes, I saw the figure of Naruko around the entryway.

Ah, so she came back. Now that I think about it, Naruko's curfew was 6:30 PM. Setting aside whether that time was too early or too late, it seemed that she honored her curfew.

Today, Naruko had on a black and orange striped T-shirt, as well as a black something that looked like a mix between shorts and a skirt. I don't really know, but it looked like something of the Sesi brand. If she were called a fashion model, then everyone would probably believe it. Pretty cute, isn't she? But I didn't really want to approach her. Because she seemed to hate me, it was probably best that we keep our distance from each other. But no matter how often I repeated that to myself, it wasn't like we could stop being brother and sister. I just have to deal with it, I guess. So I waited there on the stairs for her to go to dinner.

Hm? But this was quite weird. The living room door was right next to her, but she did not head towards the living room, and instead just stood in the entryway looking dazed. What exactly is she doing? Well, I didn't want to look like an idiot just standing there, so I descended the rest of the stairs. I stood in front of the living room door, my hand on the knob. Suddenly, I turned my head.

"Something wrong?"

"Huh?"

Whoa, what an intense stare…

Dammit. Knowing this type of thing would happen, why did I have to open my mouth? Am I an idiot?

"It's nothing." Clicking my tongue, I turned the living room door knob forcefully.

On the dining room table was tonight's dinner of curry and miso soup. This room where we gathered to have our meals functioned as a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen, so it had no dividers and was very spacious. My sister and I sat down in empty seats, directly across from our mother. The newscaster on the television chattered away about overseas exports as well as other current events. My mother was chewing some pickled vegetables. Her name is Uzumaki Kushina. From her appearances, Mom looked like a 20 years old woman despite her age who's already in late 30s. My sister was very silent. In this family, my sister was fundamentally unsociable. Silently eating her meal like that, I thought she really looked like our late father… incidentally, I've been told that I take more after my mother. Our family's dining room was also a typical, normal family table, and for that I was grateful.

Eating my curry silently, I looked for an opening to enact my plan. It was, of course, a plan to identify the owner of the DVD. Although, it isn't as complicated as I make it sound. It was a simple plan with no twists and turns. In a word, because pure logic would not get me anywhere at that point, now that all the suspects were gathered in one place, I could fish for the culprit a bit.

And then, there was the opportunity I was looking for. Draining my clam miso soup, I spoke to no-one in particular, "I'm going to the convenience store after dinner. Does anybody need anything?"

"Ah? Then please buy me some of the new Haagen Daaz ice cream. The seasonal one."

"Sure." After this conversation with Mom, I nonchalantly started talking again. "Oh right. One of my friends has recently gotten into some girl's Anime. Umm… I think it was zodiac girl something, or something like that."

"What's this, so suddenly?" At my bait, the first response I got came again from Mom. Could it really be that…

"Well it's nothing, just that he thought it was interesting and recommended it. I was wondering if I should give it a try…"

"Eh, that sounds like something an Otaku would do, doesn't it? Come on, I learned about this kind of thing from the media. It would be bad if you turned into something like that, wouldn't it?"

Honestly this stuff generally doesn't leave a good impression, does it? For me, I don't really care what hobbies other people choose to take up. After all, it has nothing to do with me. But, objecting to my parent's words would be really annoying, so I just responded with a noncommittal "uh-huh."

Well, I guess Mom is not the culprit after all. She never faltered at all at my comments. I'm speaking, of course, about the owner of the DVD. So then… by process of elimination… the only one left is… I discreetly glanced at Naruko out of my peripheral vision. Naruko was intensely biting her lip. She had stiffened with all her might, to the point where the tips of the chopsticks she was holding were trembling.

Wha-? … Could this mean…

"… What's wrong, Naruko?" Mom called softly to Naruko upon detecting her unease.

"Nothing… thanks for the meal." Naruko, looking quite annoyed, rose from the table and briskly walked out of the room. She closed the door with a loud bang! I heard the dan, dan, dan, dan, dan of her footsteps going up the stairs. The two of us left at the table were dumbfounded.

"… What's gotten into her today?"

"Wh… who knows…" I appropriately answered to my obviously dumbfounded mother. But honestly, I had no idea what had just happened either. What did she get angry at?

Something was said in the previous exchange between Mom and me that really made her angry. Maybe she was the real culprit, and realized exactly what I was doing, but that would be all the more stranger. Normally, Naruko would never get so agitated and be so easily caught red-handed by me. So, why did this happen? Naruko, I don't understand you at all.

But… Naruko's behavior was anything but usual… I also have to take into account that she definitely reacted to my comments. Of course, this wasn't definitive proof that she was the culprit, but at the very least, this heightened my suspicions that the DVD belonged to a family member… but could it possibly be, that the "Zodiac Angel Roz-chan" DVD I picked up in the entryway belongs to… my sister?

If I assumed that… a lot of things would make sense. The time she dropped the item was probably the time she bumped into me earlier in the evening. At that time, when the contents of her bag spilled out, this thing may have fallen into the crevice between the shoebox and the wall. And then, she went out and realized that this item was missing. And, this also explains why she seemed like she was looking for something in the entryway right before dinner. Continuing along these lines, if my theory about the mismatched DVDs was correct, then Naruko meant to bring "Zodiac Angel Roz-chan" with her and not "Loving my Little Sister."

But still. I can't even begin to imagine why she had to bring this with her when she went out. I thought that she was just going to hang out with friends, and there's no reason for a girl who's going to a mixer like that to bring an Anime DVD, is there? I mean, she definitely was going to meet with her friends… I just don't understand. For one, until this day I could not imagine Naruko ever having to do with children's Anime. Was I wrong? Is the owner really Naruko? That's impossible, isn't it? It's nice that I came up with this theory of Naruko's guilt, but so far in my heart I was still less than half convinced. Well, for now, let's see if we can set a little trap.

"Thanks for the meal." Having finished my meal, I left the dining room table. I stopped by my room to grab my wallet. Stopping in front of my sister's room, in a forced tone, I spoke, "Alright. Time to go to the convenience store."

I have no acting ability, do I? Well, whatever. It's not like I thought this was going to work. Instead of a trap, this was turning into some clownish sideshow. With a dan, dan, dan, I went down the stairs. With a bang, I left the house and shut the door. Leaving the house, I walked towards the convenience store. Rounding the corner, however, instead of going towards the convenience store, I walked along a different path that led me to the back of the house.

What exactly was I planning to do? Well, I guess I was trying to think from the perspective of the culprit. If Naruko was really the culprit, then she probably already knew that I had her DVD. So, then… if I were in Naruko's position, what would I do? Well, she would definitely want to take the DVD when I'm not looking, and then feign innocence… that's the only thing she could do. Naruko was obviously in a strange mood earlier. She lost her cool. And in that state… when I left she may have finally reached the end of her patience and started looking for her DVD in my room. I mean, the chances of this ploy working were pretty low, but I wanted to try something rather simple.

Ahh, as I expected, it's not good is it… or wait… could it be… I went in through the kitchen door at the back of the house, and sneaked quietly up the stairs. And then, I forcefully threw open the door to my room. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!"

"Ah!" In the middle of the room, Naruko was crawling on all fours. At my entrance, she paled and swiftly turned her head in my direction.

"I asked you, what are you doing?!"

"I-it's nothing. D-don't worry about it," Naruko shuttered, with her behind still facing me. She seemed nervous, and her breathing was uneven.

"How is it fine? Freely walking into another person's room and looking around… what would you think if the same thing happened to you?" And also, of all places, wasn't where she was sticking her hand where I kept all my Icha-Icha books? Instilling my words with a sense of inexpressible anger, I had spoken calmly.

Without speaking, Naruko turned away. Maybe it was from anger, but she began to blush. Then, without a word, she slowly stood up and walked this way.

"Out of my way."

"No. Answer my question - what were you doing here?"

"I said out of my way!"

"Don't play dumb. You were looking for this, weren't you!"

While she glared intensely at me at point blank range, I slowly took out the "Zodiac Angel Roz-chan" DVD case which I had hidden under my shirt. Naruko's response was quite dramatic.

"T-that's!?" Naruko threw an intensely threatening glare my way, and reached out for the case, but I skillfully evade her hand.

With an excessive look of triumph on my face, I beat my palm against the back of the DVD case. "Hm. So this really was yours, wasn't it?"

"N-no, there's no way that could be mine!" She spoke in a clearly displeased voice and obviously did not want to continue this conversation. Hey, hey, at least make an attempt to make your words and actions consistent, then.

"It isn't yours? I picked this up in the entryway this evening. Isn't it something you dropped when you bumped into me?"

"Definitely wrong… it's not mine… th… that kind of… Otaku thing… there's no reason I'd watch something like that."

She's completely set on denying it, isn't she? We're not going to get anywhere like this.

"Well, if you weren't looking for this, what exactly were you doing in my room?"

"Well, that is… that is… "

"That's what? What is it?"

Upon my prodding, Naruko once again fell into silence. Her shoulders shaking pitiably, she bit her lip and cast her eyes downwards. It was obvious that my questioning had left her incredibly embarrassed. For example, imagine if someone you hated came up to you and said "Hey, this ero book, it's yours, right? Hehe~" that would be horrendous; it would be so embarrassing that you'd want to die.

"… Tch." Her glare was cruel, and her cold hostility struck me.… dammit. Why does she have to glare at me so hatefully?

"Hey." I casually held out the DVD case to Naruko. My sister looked up at me with hatred gleaming in her eyes. "This is something important, isn't it? I'll return it, so please accept it."

"B-but, it's not mi-"

"Then take it and throw it away."

"Wha-?" Naruko looked up at me with a puzzled expression. What's with that look? It wasn't like there was any reason I should continue teasing her like this. I was only curious who this DVD belonged to, and now I know that. Why would I want to keep going back and forth like this with her? I didn't reveal these thoughts to Naruko, but I chose my next words to ease the tension.

"My bad. It was a misunderstanding. I know now that this doesn't belong to you. I don't know who it belongs to, but it somehow found its way to me. I'm apologizing, and then please, won't you throw this away for me?"

After I had made that attempt to calm the situation down, Naruko suddenly spoke. "… Uh… i-it's okay. Whatever." With that, she took the DVD case from me.

I stepped to the side, and Naruko opened my door and walked out of my room. I advanced into the center of my room. Geez, that was so unexpected! How many years has it been since I've spoken with my sister like this? I'm so tired… falling into my bed with a thud, I stared up at the ceiling. And then, my sister's voice appeared, even though I had thought she had left the room long ago.

"… H-hey?"

"Huh?" She's still here? How annoying, can't you just leave?

When I turned my eyes on her, I saw that she was shyly looking at me. She wore a charming facial expression that I would have never expected her to normally have.

Wh-what is this? What's going on?

"What?" I asked, feeling a bit uneasy.

"… Do you… do you think it's strange?"

"What is?"

"That is… okay, this is just hypothetical… it's like this. If I… really owned that DVD… I'm asking you, is that strange?"

"Not really? It's not that strange, is it?" I answered. I wanted to get her out of my room as quickly as possible, and if I didn't answer like that she would just get angry again.

Geez, why did she still want to fight over this? Didn't I return the DVD to her to protect her pride and avoid conflict? After all, her clumsiness is what caused this problem in the first place… she should be thanking me, why is she still so resentful?

"You… really think that?"

"Yeah. Whatever hobbies you might have, I definitely wouldn't make fun of you for it." Because it really has nothing to do with me.

"Really"

"You're stubborn, aren't you? Yes, really. Believe me please." I chose my words a bit carelessly, but somehow or other Naruko seemed to be satisfied with my response.

"I see… alright." Nodding her head repetitively, and holding "Zodiac Angel Roz-chan" with almost religious fervor, she ran out of the room.

Why did this scene evoke such a sense of nostalgia in me? I feel like something like this has happened in the past long ago… but I've forgotten what.

"… She could have at least shut the door." Grumbling, I collapsed into my bed, facing skyward.

ঌ ໒

04

It was late at night. I was sleeping peacefully, when with a smack, I felt a sharp pain on my cheek.

"W-wha!?" What a terrible wake-up call. Something really knocked into my cheek hard. W-what is it!? A burglar!? Terrified, I hurriedly opened my eyes.

So bright. It seemed like the lights had been turned on. I felt a heaviness on my stomach, but it didn't seem like my arms or legs were restricted. Pretty sloppy for a burglar, isn't it? Ascertaining the identity of my attacker, I opened my eyes wide. Due to the unexpected night attack, I could hear my heart beating.

"Be quiet." The attacker's identity was revealed to be Naruko, who was in her pajamas. My upper half sprang up. She was right over me on all fours. Her face, which bore none of its usual makeup, closed in on me.

"… Wha… it's you? What exactly do you-"

"I told you to be quiet. How late do you think it is?" Naruko said threateningly in response to my accusatory question.

" 'How late do you think it is?' - shouldn't that be what I should be asking?"

I'm on my own bed, my sister is sprawled over me, and we're staring at each other at point blank range. What in the world is this situation? Taken out of context, it seemed like a scene straight out of a romantic comedy novel, but my heart was bursting with an entirely different feeling.

"For now, get off my bed," I said while trying to steady my breathing. With a clearly indignant expression, Naruko obliged. If this were another girl, I would have also been really bewildered but probably for a different reason. But with my sister sprawled on top of me, the only thing that really bothered me was her weight. No matter how I looked at her, it never really registered that Naruko was part of the opposite sex. Guys who have a sister should understand this feeling.

Rubbing my temples with my fingers, I sighed and then began talking, "So? What do you want with me?"

"… I have something I want to talk about, so come with me."

Geez, why do you look so angry? I'm the one who should be angry, with you slapping me on the cheek like that. But, I'll be a nice guy and entertain you right now.

"You need to talk? At this time?"

"Yes."

"I'm really sleepy though… is this something that really can't wait until tomorrow?" I said this in an obviously annoyed tone, but Naruko did not nod her head. Instead, she looked at me with an expression that said "Are you an idiot?"

"Tomorrow is no good. It has to be now."

"Why?"

"Just come with me."

Alright, alright. She didn't give me a reason. She also was obviously not giving up. Geez, this girl is so spoiled. Even though these remarks flew through my head, I honestly just really wanted to go back to sleep… but I had already woken up, so I guess I'll play along.

This is really annoying, but I'll respond, "Where do you want me to go?"

"To my room," she said this as she began to pull on my sleeve. Finally giving up resisting, I resigned myself to following her. "See, you should come. Come with me."

Seriously, what's going on?

My sister's room was right next to mine. Mom had given her this room when Naruko entered junior high school. This room was once an old ragged Japanese-style room, but it had been refurbished into a Western-style room.

"It's okay. Come in."

"… Alright."

At Naruko's word of approval, I took my first step ever into my sister's room. I didn't really feel it was that big of a deal though. A strange sugary smell permeated the air.

Hm. Isn't this bigger than my room? This room was probably around 8 tatami large. There was a bed, a closet, a desk, bookshelf, full length mirror, and a CD rack, among other things. The interior design of the room was pretty much the same as that of mine. The entire room was also covered in an orangish coloring. But she did have a personal computer on a desk, which I didn't have. It wasn't a room with too much personality, but in its relative modernity, it matched the image of Naruko I had always held.

Naruko sat quietly on her bed, and pointed at the floor. "Sit," she said that so naturally too. Isn't this situation looking a bit too much like a judge with a criminal?

"Hey, at least give me a cushion to sit on, won't you?"

Naruko scowled, obviously displeased, and threw a cat cushion at me. Thankful, I sat on the cushion, cross-legged. Seriously, she looks really annoyed that I'm touching something that belongs to her. Does she think I have cooties or something?

"So?" I casually rested my chin in my hands. Naruko frowned, and was obviously agitated about something. Soon, she took a deep breath and murmured something.

"… have something to… "

"Come again?"

Her voice was so low. I couldn't hear it at all. At my request for clarification, Naruko's eyes hardened. "Advice. I need advice."

Whoa, am I hearing this correctly? Thinking my ears were playing tricks on me, I asked again, "What did you say? I can't hear you."

"I need some life counseling!"

For what I'm sure was a long time, I was silent, dumbfounded. In my silence, my eyes were blinking rapidly.

Wait… what? Of all things, my sister is facing me and asking me what? For consultation? However I think about it, this seems like a dream. At this point, I wouldn't even be surprised if the alien started attacking the city outside our window.

Somehow or other, I managed to speak out of my parched throat, "You need… life counseling… from me?"

"Yes," Naruko gave a definitive nod. Seriously, is this real? "… Is about what you said before?"

"About what?"

"You know uhh… that time when you asked me 'would it be weird if I owned something like this.' That talk."

"That time… could you mean, when I asked you to throw that thing away?"

"… Y-yeah."

"Why are we talking about that here?"

"Umm… you say… you really wouldn't make fun of me?"

"Geez… should I even answer that? I already told you, I definitely wouldn't make fun of you." After all, your hobbies are your hobbies, and I really don't care. Did she really call me all the way over here just to ask me that one more time?

"You de-definitely wouldn't? Really really?"

"Definitely not. Really really really."

"If you're lying… I'll never forgive you."

"Whatever, do what you want." Get to the point, won't you? What are you saying?

After my weary explanation, Naruko stood up, as if she made up her mind, and walked to her book case.

Hmm? What is she trying to do? Confused, I watched as Naruko went up and pulled one of her two bookcases off the wall. It didn't look too heavy, but she walked over and spilled the case's contents onto the bed. And now, one of the bookcases had disappeared from the walls, leaving just a large blank space.

"Hey… what are you trying to do?"

Not answering my question, Naruko went up to the remaining bookshelf - having already dumped half her books on the bed, and began pushing on its side with her shoulder. Facing the empty gap on the wall, she started to apply pressure to the bookcase. Little by little, the bulky bookcase began to slide. And then, behind the bookcase, a Japanese-style sliding screen appeared. A secret hiding place.

Naruko let out a breath, and then began to speak, "When I started going to junior high school, and got my own room… this room was converted from a Japanese-style room into a Western-style room, right? I'm not too sure, but this is one of the remains of the old room… I think. It was hidden by the bookcase, so I didn't even know it was here until last year when I found it while cleaning the room."

"Oh?" It's just like Mom to be so stingy. She probably thought that it would be OK since the problem spot was being covered by a bookcase. "So… could it be that the counseling you need is about what's behind that door?"

Naruko nodded. She put a hand on the sliding door, but did not look like she was trying to open it at all. Hesitating with an unsure expression on her face, Naruko stared at me intently. From the flow of the conversation, I tried with my limited imagination to guess what could be behind the sliding door. Whatever was behind there, it was also probably the reason for her hesitation.

Needs life counseling, huh? Why from me, of all people? Well, certainly, I did tell her that I wouldn't make fun of her regardless of what hobbies she might have. I tried to imagine what I would do in Naruko's place. Well… if we're talking about life counseling, then there are really two main types, right?

First, it could be the most common case, where you consult with someone you can rely on. In this case, you have some problem but you can't figure out what to do, so you want to think about a solution with someone else together. And then, there's the case where you consult with a third party who doesn't know anything about the situation. In this case, the third party can't give good advice from the onset, so he has to sit and listen to the situation for a bit before giving an opinion. But, for Naruko, I was certainly not someone she felt like she could depend on and confide in.

Definitely not… right? But if what's bothering Naruko is what I imagine it to be, I can understand that it's something that would be difficult to talk about with other people. She must be afraid of tarnishing her own image. It's not a situation in which she can freely choose who to confide in. At this point, there really was only one person in the world that Naruko could go to for honest advice. I already had found out her secret, and I was impartial and didn't care. That one person was me.

Huh. So it's like that, is it? Now that I was fairly convinced I had figured the general situation out, I wanted to just get it over with and go back to sleep. So, I spoke, "Don't worry. Whatever you bring out from there, I won't make fun of you, and if you want me to keep it secret, I won't tell anybody… alright?"

At my carefully chosen words, Naruko nodded once again. "It's a secret, OK?" Murmuring that to reassure herself, Naruko opened the forbidden door.

*Whoosh. Plop.*

"Huh? Something… fell out?"

Before I went for a detailed look at the contents of the hidden compartment, I moved instinctively and picked up the fallen object. It was another DVD case… the title was "Loving my Little Sister ~ Little Sister Maker EX Vol.4."

"COUGH COUGH COUGH!" I almost choked over my surprise. Th-this again!? Now that I think about it, she didn't only own that Anime, but things like this too. I was dumbfounded. Also, what the hell is with this half naked underage girl looking embarrassed and covering herself on the cover!? Such an indecent cover illustration is beyond my imagination! And, what's more, this is only part of an entire series!?

"Wh… what in the world… is this…!?"

"Ah. That originally came out for the PS2, but it was ported over to the PC and renamed. It's really amazing, but it's a bit old and the content is a bit difficult, so I wouldn't recommend it for beginners."

"That wasn't what I was asking!" And also what do you mean by "beginner"? Are you a "pro" or something? Seriously a "pro"?

Dammit, there are too many comments I wanted to make here, and with all my strength I don't think I can keep them in. Wh-what exactly am I trying to start? What kind of strange business did I get myself caught in this time? Somebody tell me!

The revelation of this "Loving my Little Sister" hit me right in the gut, and I felt groggy. My sister didn't really notice though. Breaking out into a cold sweat, I raised my head and took a peek into that forbidden abyss that was thrown wide open.

At first glance, the interior of the compartment looked like just any ordinary closet. It was split up into an upper and lower compartment, and was poorly lit. But, the inside of the compartment was stacked densely with a large number of goods. My eyes first landed on a tall stack of boxes in the upper compartment.

"These… boxes are…?"

"These? These are PC game boxes." Naruko responded with a hint of pride in her voice, and with a bit of effort took a few of the boxes and placed them in front of me.

These boxes were mostly from the "Little Sister Maker EX" series, with titles including "Playing with My Sisters," "My Little Sister Academia," "So I'm Little Sister So What?", "Re: Sister", "Sister/Stay Night", "Sisters War: Love is Game," and things of that type. There was a lot I wanted to say, but I didn't want to choose the wrong words and land myself in a terrifying situation. For now, let me start with a relatively safe question.

"Why… are these boxes so big?"

"I don't know either. But that's how they are," Naruko said, as if this were one of the world's unsolved mysteries.

I don't understand… I don't understand… I don't understand anything at all… straining to keep in dangerous comments that were threatening to come out from my mouth, I averted my gaze and turned towards the lower shelf in the compartment. There, also, stood a line of huge boxes. These boxes were even bigger than the PC game boxes, and there were a variety of many of them there were illustrations of girls, several which had a metallic shine to them.

"These… these stuff… what is it?"

"Anime DVD boxes. All the boxes here are deluxe editions."

"DVD Boxes? Deluxe editions?" It was a bit shameful, but I parroted her words back to her.

"Yes. These complete editions include extra story content, have bonus disks, special edition booklets, and other extras are included… fufu, incredible, isn't it?"

"And, it's the same with that… zodiac girl… whatever?"

"Yeah."

For some reason, I felt Naruko getting excited. Being able to reveal her prized collection like this made her this happy? She's even smiling at me, her hated brother. But, for some reason, I still didn't feel that satisfied about this. For now, something was bothering me.

"All of this… wasn't it very expensive?"

"Hm? Well, relatively, I guess. Let's see… this was 41,790 yen, you see? And this one was 55,000 yen, see? And then, umm, this one was…"

"So expensive! What do you mean, relatively!?"

"Really? I mean, it costs around the same as one or two sets of clothing."

"Where in the world are you getting all that money!? You're a high school student, aren't you!? Why is it that you're only fifteen, and you already have so little restraint in spending money!?"

Ignoring my obvious discomfort, Naruko quickly responded, "Where am I getting the money… isn't it obvious I have a job?"

"I… I see… "A job? I guess it's OK if that's true… no, wait wait wait wait! That's not good at all, is it!? Giving Naruko a penetrating stare, I continued my questioning, "Job, you said?"

"Yeah."

"What job? Where did you get it?"

"Ahh, right, I never explained that. I'm modeling for a magazine."

"W-WHAT!? Ma-magazine? Model? Like… a gravure idol or something? Naruko I don't like this as your bro-"

"Completely off. Are your ears broken or something? I said I was a mo-de-l. For magazine subscribers."

I never really had made a distinction between a model and a gravure idol, but it seems that what I said was completely off the mark. Whether or not she noticed my confusion, Naruko took a magazine out from her bookcase, and tossed it to me. It was some kind of teen magazine. On a white background, the title was flashily displayed in shiny font. On the cover, there were also various statements predicting the latest trends.

Flipping quickly through the book, here and there I caught glimpses of the familiar figure of my sister. I don't really know much about this kind of stuff, but it seemed like she was posing while wearing the latest in fashion. I had always said that she looked like a model, but she seriously was one. I really shouldn't care what she does with her time, but why am I a little annoyed by this?

I don't really know why, but without thinking, I let loose a snide remark, "Doesn't posing like this make your back hurt?"

I thought I saw a hint of disappointment within her scornful stare. It must have been my imagination. At her suddenly downcast eyes, I felt the mood of the room darken. I quickly tried to smooth things over.

"I mean… it's… pretty cute, isn't it?" What am I saying? But it was also the truth. "And I mean, this is a pretty popular magazine right? I've even heard of it. You're pretty amazing."

"Not really. It's not that big of a deal, this magazine."

But at my words of praise, she seemed happy. She didn't appear to be as annoyed as she put on. Sensing that the tension had broken, I continued where I left off.

"So… how much do you make?"

"Umm… that would be around 300000 yen… "

When I heard her answer, I dropped my shoulders, heartbroken.

"Hey hey… however you look at it, that's a bit too much to be giving to a high school girl."

"What are you saying, every day I have to make sure to practice and keep up my appeal too - that's also part of the job."

"Keh… well said, I guess."

But man… I'll bet that the readers of this magazine would not believe that this cute, stylish model who's posing for them uses her pay to buy things like "Loving my Little Sister" or "Playing with my Sisters." Or, should I say, if her fans knew something like this, they would probably faint.

As I reflected on the unfairness in the world, I tried to peek into the bottom of the hidden compartment. But, Naruko stood there with her legs straight and arms stretched out, standing in my way. "Ah, I won't let you see any more than this today."

"Why?" Well, it's not like I wanted to see more. I just thought that she wouldn't let me go until she had shown me everything.

After taking one glance at the hidden compartment's bottom, I was met with a fierce stare. "I… still don't trust you. We won't go any further today."

"What?" What was this? What exactly was she saying? She made it sound like this was just the tip of the iceberg, that there was a lot of stuff worse than this. Ehh… seriously? Is that true?

"Umm… there's some stuff in here that's… a bit embarrassing… so… yeah… not today."

"I-I see… "

Whaaa? My sister, who was almost proud to show me "Loving my Little Sister," is hesitating and telling me that there are embarrassing things in there… what kind of unthinkable, terrifying things were these? Suddenly shivering and quieting down, I fell forward onto all fours.

"H-how could that be?"

"Wh-what do you mean 'how'?"

What in the world am I saying? If anybody knows, please tell me. When I didn't respond, Naruko started a bit bashfully.

"So… what are… your impressions? You saw. That's… my hobby."

"Uhh… my… impressions?… urm, I'm surprised."

"That's it?"

"Even if you say 'that's it?' I can't help it can I? I really am very surprised… I don't really have any other impressions about it."

At my intentionally conciliatory remarks, Naruko frowned and murmured wearily, "As I thought. Having this kind of stuff… is strange, isn't it?"

"No, it's really not… whether it was strange or not… that wasn't really the issue."

So this was the "life counseling" that Naruko wanted? Leaving that aside, will she let me go back to my room soon? I want to sleep and just forget about all this. I really wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible, so I said what I felt my sister wanted to hear.

"I already told you. Whatever hobbies you might have, I definitely won't make fun of you. Isn't that enough? Whatever hobbies you want to have, that's completely up to you. It's not like you're causing problems for anyone, and nobody has a right to complain when you're using your own money to pay for it."

"I know, right!? Haha… sometimes you can say good things too!"

Alrighty then, is she satisfied? So, please let me go back to my room now. With that, I began to lift myself up, but I suddenly changed my mind and sat back down. The truth is, for quite a while I've been being really patient and keeping in all the interjections I wanted to throw her way. If I made a poor remark, she might answer in a horrifying way, and so if I could I wanted to get through this without making any snide remarks. But I couldn't keep it in anymore. It was like the world was hurling me instructions to "Hurry up! Make a comment! Make a comment!" Of course, this was probably my imagination.

Alright… should I make a remark now? Should I really? Am I prepared? Am I ready to deal with it, to not lose my cool if she responds in a horrible way?

"Naruko, we've talked through all of it, but I still have one thing I would like to ask you."

"Huh?"

"Your collection… why do you only have little sister Eroge?"

"…"

Hey, hey… why is she being so quiet? Say something, won't you?

"What… do you think?"

Wait wait wait. Why is she blushing? Why is she crawling towards me on all fours? Wait a second, wait a second… stop that, seriously! It's not like I'm into stuff like that.

Sensing danger, as if I wasn't able to stand, I began to scoot backwards.

"Why are you running away?"

"I'm not running away."

"Liar. You're running away."

"That's because you… ah… "

Crap. My back hit the wall, and I couldn't retreat any further. Looking for a way to stand up and run from the room, I hurriedly looked around the room. Doing this quite slowly, I became more and more cornered.

Naruko looked like she was thinking hard, and had made a decision. With a serious look, she stared right into my eyes. I felt paralyzed, and could not move at all. Neither of us looked away, and a tense atmosphere permeated the room. Continuing to crawl on all fours, Naruko seemed like she was going to crawl on top of me… and then she thrust the "Loving my Little Sister" package in front of my nose.

"Wha-?" I was surprised at this unexpected development.

Ignoring my puzzlement, Naruko's attitude did a complete 360. She began to speak as if slightly entranced. "Looking at this package… don't you think it looks good?"

"Wh-what are you saying?" I don't understand what she's getting at. I can't even count how many times I've said "I don't understand" since setting foot in this room, but this time I was especially confused.

"Come oonn!" She seemed truly confused, as if she wanted to say "Seriously, you don't get it?"

"… It's really cute, isn't it?"

"What is? Be more specific, won't you?"

At this time, I probably looked pretty doubtful. I didn't think that asking her anything at this point would get me a useful response, so I tried to read between the lines of her words and guess what she meant in my mind.

There were two clues. First, there was the package she had thrust in front of my face. And then, there was her abrupt description of this package as "really cute." If I thought about it normally, there was really only one answer… but, would that answer be strange? Or not?

Not being able to come to a definitive conclusion, I hesitantly asked, "So you mean… that is… uhh… I might be wrong but… you like 'little sisters'? And so, you have a lot of those kinds of games?"

"Yeah." Correct answer… she's vigorously nodding.

But why does she look so proud of herself? Although, it would be nice if we could talk to each other like this normally. These thoughts were flying through my head when Naruko began talking without prompting.

"It's really cute, isn't it? Umm, I'll give you an example. Because the main character in a galge is usually a guy, the little sister will call you things like "Oniichan," "Onii," "Aniki," "Niikun," to show her affection for you, yeah? And these 'special nicknames' all match her type and personality. And that's… really adorable."

"A-ahh… that's great," I responded the only way I could. Geez, she really seems excited about all this. And also, the only things you call me are rude things like "hey" and "you." What's up with that? That's not adorable at all, rather, it's pretty irritating.

Not noticing my silence in the slightest, Naruko continued to show me the "Loving my Little Sister" package, and pointed at an illustration of one of the girls. "In this game… this girl is my favorite one, Hina-chan."

The girl she was pointing to was short and seemed very timid. She has long, dark blue hair and lavender eyes, and she had a shy, bashful expression.

"These types of tidy, obedient girls, you just really want to protect them, and you just really want to hug them tightly… hehe… it's great, isn't it?"

But you wear an incredibly short skirt, cross your legs, and sit with your ass in the air and talk on your phone. All that stuff you said now, it's impossible for you to become that type of girl, isn't it? Well, whatever. That's another matter.

"I see." My sister likes little sisters. That's why she's collecting these things. I understood that much. But my curiosity was far from sated. Rather, my curiosity was just getting bigger. With a strained face, I asked my next question, "But… why?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, why do you like little sisters? I'm not saying it's wrong… but the games you're playing, they're usually meant for guys, right? And, what's more, isn't it illegal for you to be buying R18 games? This just doesn't seem to match with your image at all. Why would you like, I mean, like things like that? Is there a motive, or reason, or something, for this?"

"That's… that is… " After hearing my question, Naruko was clearly dismayed. She blinked as if her face were splashed with cold water, and her gaze darted confusedly around the room. It didn't feel exactly like she was just struggling for words. Waiting for a while like that, I heard Naruko speak. "I… I don't know!"

Her eyes shut tightly, her face dyed a brilliant red, Naruko seemed just like a small child.

"Huh?" I responded.

Naruko held her chest with both hands, and, embarrassed, began speaking, "Um, that is… that is… I… I don't understand it… myself… "

Whoa. What is this, so suddenly… has she been possessed by a demon or something? Where did the usual hateful Naruko go off to? Looking so embarrassed is so unlike Naruko, in fact, she looks cute, and I was dumbfounded.

"You don't know, you say… but it's your own hobby, isn't it?"

"B-but! I can't help it… I really don't understand it myself… at some point, I just… started liking this stuff… I… probably saw some Anime in the window of a store or something… and that got me into Anime." Naruko, just like the little sister characters she liked, was getting more timid. She uneasily looked up at me. "I also… know that this isn't a normal hobby for a girl. So up to now I haven't told anybody… I always kept it hidden. But… in the end… it's really something that I like… I think when I was on the Internet, I accidentally Googled this stuff… and then I downloaded a trial version, and while I was playing that… ahhh… I got really into it and knew I had to buy more."

In the end, it was like this, was it? I looked at the high pile of little sister games, scrutinizing them. She's fallen into the devious game producer's trap, hasn't she?

"Th-this type of cute illustration… it almost drives me mad… " That's the illustrator's fault, isn't it? And, anyways, why the hell am I sitting here in the dead of night, listening to my sister explain how she became an Otaku? Is there any brother in the world who has done this before? Naruko continued, "There were so many times I told myself that this couldn't go on, that I should stop… but, no matter what I tried I couldn't stop… whenever I opened up an Internet browser, and I go on news sites for all the latest news, they always try to make me buy stuff, you know? Mm, and also on cosplay and Akiba blogs… "

"Well, I mean… I don't understand this well at all but… the news sites? Can't you just not look at them?"

"If I could do that I wouldn't be having these problems in the first place… " At my light interjection, Naruko looked very disheartened.

Hey hey… who is this person in front of me? This cute sister in front of me is definitely not the Naruko I've come to know.

In front of me, Naruko clunked down and looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. "So… so, would you help me?"

If I wanted to be honest, I would respond "Why should I help you?" but as expected I couldn't say those words to my sister who was obviously depending on me. Whatever the case may be, I couldn't say that.

"Alright, I'll help you."

"Re-really?" Naruko had a surprised expression on her face. It seemed that she couldn't believe that I was accepting her request.

You… what exactly do you think of me? As I was thinking these unhappy thoughts, I nodded. "It's OK. If anything happens, don't hesitate to tell me. I can't really give you great advice, but I'll do what I can, I'm your brother after all." I regretted these words right after they left my mouth.

"Then, let's do that, I guess… yeah, if you do that for me, it would really help… maybe… " Naruko did not speak a single word of thanks, but she was repeatedly nodding and seemed happy. Seeing my sister like this, honestly, I couldn't think of a bad thing to say about her.

Hmm. So, even Naruko could get like this, huh… as I was mulling over my surprise, I gazed at my sister's shy face. How nostalgic… I don't know why, but it really felt nostalgic. Geez… and for a moment there I thought that I had said something irresponsible.

Well, whatever, it somehow came to this. I guess since I discovered that item in the entryway, she's been agonizing and agonizing and agonizing over this, until she finally came to me for advice. So now, I have to help her with this. Although, it's all still a bit annoying. Well well. But in any case, this situation could have been much worse… so I'm glad for that.

"So, in conclusion, you like little sister characters and you buy little sister Eroges… there's nothing you're not telling me, right?" I had asked that question for some more peace of mind.

"Huh? If not that, what did you think it was?" Confused, Naruko inclined her neck. And then, a few seconds later, she realized the "worst outcome" I was worried about, and she scowled. "Gross. Of course it's not that. Pervert!"

Whoa, in a single second she returned to the usual Naruko. Such undisguised disgust. This is definitely my sister. I probably should be unhappy about this change but I can't help but feel a bit relieved. That charming side of Naruko was just strange.

"Aren't you the one who's pervert? The games you like are about a little sister loving a big brother, right? Are you denying that?"

"Huh? Don't mix two-dimensional things with three-dimensional things. Games are games, real life is real life. Generally - in reality, are there really that many sisters who are in love with their brothers?"

This girl… was that just a way to say "I hate you" in a really roundabout way? Isn't that cruel? There are a lot of brothers and sisters in this world that get along, aren't there? But it seems that in our case, we're eternal enemies.

"I have nothing more to talk about. Can you please leave now?"

Dammit. As I thought, she really isn't cute at all!

ঌ ໒

05

Few days passed. When I returned home from school, I found Naruko waiting in the entryway. She was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. Did I do something to piss her off?

"Come with me."

"Why?" I asked. Naruko continued to glance at me from the corner of her eye.

"Life counseling. Part two," she muttered this thickly.

I know what she wanted to say, but why does she have to say it with such frank hostility? Is that really the proper attitude of someone asking someone else for advice?

"Part two, you say…?"

"J-just come."

Without even letting me properly take off my shoes, Naruko pulled at my sleeve. I might be overreacting, but her inability to actually directly take my hand is a bit irritating.

I was forcibly taken to my sister's room. As always, the room emitted a sweet smell. Naruko, who entered the room first, pulled out a chair in front of her PC, and beckoned me over with her index finger. What the hell is she trying to say? Was this not an advice session? Not knowing what my sister really wanted, I was bewildered.

"Sit here." Naruko came to my side, and leaned one hand on the table, putting her weight on it. Naruko turned on her computer, and I soon found myself looking at the Windows startup screen. Soon, that screen was gone, and replaced by the desktop screen. A number of cat-eared girls relaxing in a living room adorned Naruko's desktop one corner of that cute desktop, there was an icon of a deformed cat peeking out from behind a wastebasket. There was a calendar in the upper left. In the upper portion, there was a messenger window open that was shaped like an oblong set of cat ears. Browsers and other icons were also lined up in an organized way.

"You're really into this stuff, aren't you?"

"Sure. I changed the skin, and used a cute launcher to dress everything up. It's pretty basic stuff, isn't it?" She let out a proud laugh.

Using a launcher and skin to dress something up? What the hell. Why is she using all these technical terms? There wasn't a single thing she said that I understood, but I think all she means is that she customized her desktop. Really, this type of showing off was pretty consistent with both her sides, as an Otaku and as a famous girl in high school.

"Well? What's the point of showing me this?"

"I'm shocked. You still don't know?"

"As if I could know!"

From right beside me, Naruko gave me a scornful look. Taking the computer mouse, she spoke, "It's the game, the game. We're going to play it together."

"Wha-? That ero game… you mean, you and me? Together? you want to play an ero game with your brother?"

"Y-yeah," she answered without looking at me. She probably became a bit self-conscious that she was saying some pretty weird things, so this was hard for her to say.

Honestly, I don't know at all. Why do I, a guy who isn't even that friendly with his sister, have to stand here and play a game with her? Whether this was a competitive game or not, I was getting an unpleasant feeling about it…

Maybe she realized how puzzled I was, but Naruko tried to smooth things over. "You said it yourself, didn't you? That you would help me as much as you could, or something…"

"Well, I meant that I would give you my advice whenever you have trouble with your hobby… I thought that was the main point, why do I have to play this game so suddenly?"

"I-it's necessary! It's okay, so come on, hold this." I was forcibly given the mouse by Naruko. She was covering my own hand with hers, manipulating the mouse. She maneuvered it to the icon in the corner and double clicked.

Man, she's suddenly so tense… where was the usual cool attitude that she usually had? If I thought about it, maybe this was her real personality. She became so animated when she was doing this stuff. I only recently came to understand this though, and normally she blends into her surroundings and feigns innocence.

Cooling down, she casually looked at me with a cynical glint, slightly defiant. Wearing the latest clothing, talking about the latest gossip, going out with her friends to do karaoke or whatever… she was the embodiment of the "trendy high school girl". Do people say that anymore, or is it just me? Whether that was a good lifestyle or not, I wasn't really in a position to judge. But seriously, Naruko… regardless of all that, don't you want to play these kinds of games alone?

Oh well, I guess there's no helping it. I'll hang out with her for a bit, I guess. Exuding the spirit of a big brother, I watched as the game booted up and displayed on the screen.

*Ping!*

A lively title screen showed up, and I was greeted by the voices of young girls. "Little~ Sister~ Maker~ EX! Voluuume Four~! Welcome home, Oniichan! Let's love each other!"

"Naruko! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO GET ME TO DO!?"

"K-keep your voice quiet, idiot!"

I should get out of here. I should get out of here right away. I should have known when she led me into her room instead of into the living room to play. This damn girl, where in the world is there a brother who would play games like this with his sister? Am I a pervert or something!?

"You probably already knooow, buuut… Oniichan? All the little sisters who appear in this game… they're all eighteen or older, okaaaaaay~~?"

Eighteen my ass. Rubbing my temples to dull my headache, I turned to Naruko.

"Y-you… "

"Don't get so close."

Her words stabbed me like a poisoned knife. I wanted to say something, but seeing her face darken, I stopped in my tracks.

"Hey… what's wrong?"

"As I thought, you're making fun of me."

"Huh? What?"

"I guess you're all talk. You think it's a bad thing and you haven't even tried it… you say sweet things, but in your heart you think I'm weird… " She glared at me, obviously annoyed.

"No no, it's not like that… " I gloomily played with the head of the mouse in my hand. "I'm not making fun of you. Playing this kind of stuff in front of you just makes me feel awkward. You understand, don't you? You know, this isn't exactly the same as two people watching a kissing scene in a movie in the living room, right?"

"What the hell does that mean? I have no idea what you're talking about."

Could it be… that she really has no idea what I mean? Or rather, did I say something awkward? No, but I definitely had a point. Pointing to the screen, I spoke, "I don't know the particulars, but in this game, you probably get close to a virtual little sister, and then do this and that, right? And what's more, it's a game for guys above 18, right? So I mean, the natural conclusion is that during the story's climax, certain things would happen…" While Naruko put on an angry expression, I started up again. "You… watching those kinds of scenes with me, you don't think anything of it?"

"Ah!" Having finally realized what I was insinuating, Naruko's face flushed a brilliant red. "F-for me, I mean… I didn't realize what you meant before… don't say pointless things. And, the way you put it, you make me sound like some pervert."

Ah, I see, I know my mistake now. She's not playing these games because they're 18+, or because they include those kinds of scenes. When she says that she loves little sister characters, she doesn't really mean anything perverted by that.

Well, that should have been obvious, considering she's a girl… for now, that was my conclusion.

"Okay… I understand now, Naruko. I think I know where you're coming from now. Let's talk now, okay? It's alright… that is-"

"Click the screen, but gently, won't you~~?"

"Shut up Idiot! Don't interrupt at bad times!"

Geez, I'm yelling at a computer screen. I must be going crazy. This isn't good… I have to calm down.

"Hey, don't bully Hina-chan!"

"You also return to the real world. It's just a drawing."

"Don't call her a drawing!"

"What are you shouting for?" Ahh, dammit. What the hell. What should I do? Someone tell me. Man, this is getting out of hand… I exhaustedly collected myself, and tried to explain myself, "It was my fault. I spoke without really knowing the situation. I'm not trying to say that what you're doing is bad, or trying to make fun of you, not in the slightest. That is the definite truth. Please believe me."

Pursing her lips, Naruko looked at me with tear-filled eyes.

"But… I think this game is a bit too high of a hurdle for me right now. See, I'm still underage. I'm not trying to make fun of you, but playing this is impossible for me… I mean, do you see what I'm saying? I mean, this is probably a really interesting game, right? It's a game you recommended to me, right? That I understand all too well. So, I'm sticking my neck out here and asking you to please let me go this time. I know you're reluctant to, but I mean, playing this 18+ game not alone, but with my sister next to me… unfortunately I just don't have the courage for that."

"Coward." My sister threw that scornful word at me.

You can get through this… you can get through this, Naruto! If I stop now, things will just get much more complicated.

Naruko gave a huge sigh. Hey, hey, I'm the one who should be sighing here. Naruko began talking as if nothing had happened. "Well… let's make it homework then."

"Homework?"

"Yes. After all, you don't want to play this next to me, right? So, let's call it homework. I'll lend you my laptop along with everything, and you can play the game by next week."

If I refuse her now, she'll get angry again and think I'm making fun of her, won't she? Feeling my cheeks cramping, I knew that in the end, I couldn't resist the oppressive aggression of my sister.

"Alright… so should I play this then? I should… play this?"

"Yes, exactly." Naruko moved the mouse with a triumphant look.

When she clicked to exit the application, the girl who was on the title screen, she must have been only two heads tall appeared again, and quickly bowed. Waving her hands energetically, she said a sorrowful goodbye.

Oniichan. Promise you'll come back to play, okay? Bai-baiii~." Hina-chan said with her cute voice.

"Yeah, yeah… bai-bai… " You're quite something, aren't you? It's not like my sister has ever once called out to me like that.

ঌ ໒

06

Another few days passed. Wanting a cold drink, I went into the living room and saw Naruko there. She was in her usual uniform with the damn short skirt. She sat there like a queen, her legs crossed and reading a teen magazine. As always, she exuded an aura that said "servant, don't come near me."

Staring at the distant form of Naruko, I poured a glass full of cola and drank it dry. Feeling energized, I tried to leave the living room. But, when I put a hand on the doorknob, I heard a voice from behind me. "Hey."

"What is it?" I turned around.

Having momentarily taken her eyes off of her magazine, Naruko asked a terse question. "Did you do it?"

"What do you mean?" When I asked for clarification, Naruko tossed her magazine there, and stared at me like some famous performer would stare at an underling.

She muttered this, "You didn't play it?"

Wha-? How did she know that?

Seeing me flinch, Naruko continued to apply pressure. "Why? Didn't I say it was homework? Why haven't you done it yet?"

Why? Why do I have to get preached at by my sister just because I haven't played the ero game she lent me? What exactly has become of my life? I mean, man! It's because I've never really been able to speak my mind without holding back! What's sad is that even though I have a real sister, I have to play an 18+ little sister game. Ah, seriously, I don't have an ounce of mental strength to resist this. Can anybody understand my predicament?

"Well because… I'm just a beginner, right? Even after reading the instruction booklet, I'm not too sure of how to play," I told her my lame excuse.

Looking furious, Naruko responded, "If that's the case, tell me that earlier!"

And then, I saw a complete change, almost like a performer changing characters backstage.

"Hmm… well, I'm only at the beginning stages, so I'll explain it to you. Come to my room." She caught my sleeve, and urged me upstairs.

We went out of the living room, but as we were climbing the stairs, I decided to try objecting. "But… the entire point yesterday was that I don't want to play it next to you, wasn't it?"

"Ah… right right. Geez, you're spoiled, aren't you? But come for now."

Dammit, why did she have to say that about me? Isn't that what I should be saying?

Having gone up the stairs, she brought me once again to her room. Naruko brought her computer back from standby, and said this, "I guess I can't help it, so I'll get out the version for all ages."

"If such a thing existed why didn't you get it out in the first place!"

"You don't understand at all. The all ages version and the 18+ version have the same title, but they're different games."

Isn't it cool of me to be actually going along with this conversation? Somebody compliment me.

"Huh… but the all ages version… isn't the only difference that they take out all the ero scenes, right?"

"If you say that, it's an insult to both the writers and the fans. Don't say it again… often, when I see that an 18+ game I have has gotten an all ages remake, I try it out. And then, I'm often saying to myself 'this is pretty different.' How do I put it? It just seems unsatisfying. There are things that you only can do in an 18+ version, I think."

"Huh, I really don't get it." I really have no idea at all.

"But, look, they added a heroine, and she's fully voiced. That's good, isn't it?" I said this, although I was still a bit troubled by the entire thing.

"I've said a lot, but I really just want to say that… the all ages version is also good, but if it's possible, I really want you to try the original version. That's why I left the original version for you as homework."

"Then, why are we using the all ages version now?"

"Because! You said that you didn't know how to play, remember? Be a bit more grateful that I'm showing you how to play."

Grateful, huh… dammit… I really have to do this, don't I? Taking the mouse, I watched as the game screen changed and I was faced with the display. The usual annoying Hina voice along with the "Loving my Little Sister" title appeared. Underneath the title, the message "Click the screen gently, okay?" flashed.

Naruko became unusually talkative, and from my side let fly various instructions. "Alright, start. First you put in your name… wait, why are you going with the default name? Put in your real name-your real name."

"Real… name…? Why? Do I have to?"

"Huh? Isn't it obvious? It's the little sisters calling your own name that makes you feel so good. Here, quickly… okay."

Dammit. Is it really alright to be doing this? Playing my first sister game with my real name… this was going to be tough, wasn't it.

So, then, I decided to listen to the explanation of the basic system of "Loving my Little Sister (All Ages Version)." Of course, because I had just started playing, I was only listening - there was nothing really for me to say. If I'm a bit slow, please forgive me.

Hmm… so in this game, the player, that would be me, primarily uses the left mouse button to scroll through and read text that appears on the lower portion of the screen. Or, as Naruko puts it, "Well, it's just a normal adventure game. You don't really need an instruction booklet." And so it seemed.

When I had glanced at the instruction manual that I had picked up just before now, I read that there were three fundamental things that, when put together, made up the game display: the text window, the background image, and the pictures of the characters. Furthermore, when special event scenes come up, the background display changes to an "event CG," a single drawing that helps liven up the game.

If I had to describe it honestly, I would call it a glorified, extravagant picture story show. The game's system was so simple, and how to operate the controls was also easy to figure out.

Well I guess even I can handle this much… putting in my name, and starting the game, I was presented with a blue sky background. Then, the protagonist's first monologue began.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. If I had to describe myself, I would say I was an extremely commonplace high school student."

"What a boring guy… suddenly calling himself commonplace… Hey hey, after I went through so much effort putting in my own name, at least say something a bit more tasteful."

Hearing my negative impressions, Naruko, with good timing, interrupted with an explanation. "Hey, just telling you, because they want the player to be able to easily empathize with the main character, they usually make the main character a very ordinary, plain person. And, so there is room for him to grow in the story, he's always a bit clumsy in the beginning."

Oh well, let's see if we can't stop being boring then. I'm counting on you, 'Naruto'. And also… Naruko gets quite talkative when we're talking about this kind of stuff, doesn't she? Listening as Naruko excitedly continued to explain the game, I pushed the mouse buttons with a click, click, click, click…

When the ordinary, commonplace monologue ended, the screen blacked out.

*chirp chirp.* A sound, not unlike the call of a tree sparrow, played.

Naruto: "Ahhhhh… I slept a lot. Well, since I stayed up so late studying yesterday, I guess I can't help it." He said a few more words, but we can skip those.

Well, in any case, I'll explain the gist of things that are being described on the screen. In this version of the game, the protagonist, Naruto, wakes up in his room, and for some reason his sister, Hina, is sleeping in the same futon. Hina is the lavender eyed, timid looking small girl with dark blue hair, she wears a purple flower-style hair band on each side of her head. That's the scene that starts off the story.

Naruto: "Whaa… Hi-Hina-chan…?" Startled, I woke up fully, blinking rapidly.

Naruto: "You surprised me… Geez, Hina-chan, when in the world did you…"

Hm? Why is he being so calm about this? Hey, hey, be more conscious of the danger of the situation, 'Naruto'. Are you still half asleep or something? Didn't you just wake up with your little sister sleeping next to you? Shouldn't you be shouting in surprise at a time like this?

"Hey, hey, seeing her sleeping soundly and defenselessly like that, how is it? You were surprised, weren't you?"

"Well… I mean. It's… normal? I guess." As Naruko went on to sing the praises of the Event CG, I gave that vague response. When I tried to click and advance again, suddenly, a new window opened in the middle of the display. "Oh?"

"This is a choice point. The player has to pick what the protagonist does at important plot points. And, depending on what you pick, your relationships with the little sisters will change, and afterwards the story will also change."

"Hm? Then, which one should I pick? There are three choices…"

"Huh? If you don't pick it yourself, there's no point in the game, is there? It's alright, in this game, all the choices are really simple," Naruko said this lightly.

I see. So it's like that, is it? Alright, time to pick what the protagonist is going to do. Alright… so, which one?

To the peacefully sleeping Hina, I will…

1. Gently hug her close.

Let's not do that one! Was I looking for trouble? If I'm with Naruko in this situation, hugging Naruko who's sleeping was an insane idea.

2. Gently pull out the futon so as to not wake her.

Hm… I guess that was the safe choice. But, come on, Naruto. If you don't teach her some discipline now, then it's going to come back to haunt you in the future. It's already too late for my sister, but you won't go down the same path as I did… alright, so I won't pick this one either. Without faltering, I clicked on the third option.

3. Without any hesitation, kick her off the futon.

*Bang!* (The screen shook a bit.)

Naruto: "Hey, don't go freely wandering into other people's futons! Wake up, idiot!"

Alright, that was definitely the appropriate action. Good job, Naruto. Heh, this is a pretty good game, isn't it? Alright, and next is…

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO HINA-CHAN!?"

*Bang!*

A counterattack flew at me from my real sister. The kick she let fly overturned the chair I was sitting on.

"Huh-whaa!? What the hell are you doing all of a sudden!?" I got up and issued this complaint, and was met with a fierce glare.

Naruko shouted, "Isn't that what I should be asking you!? Why the hell did you pick 'Without any hesitation, kick her off the futon'!? I seriously can't believe this, what the hell were you thinking!?"

"Why are you angry? I just want to teach her to not take me lightly!"

"What!? Is that how you treat your little sister? She just wants your attention and you kicked her!?"

"W-well… um… you right, my bad, I'm sorry," realizing my mistake I offer my apology to Naruko.

I sat back into my chair. Grabbing the mouse, I started the game again. Clicking and scrolling through Naruto's text, suddenly, the background music turned very sad.

Hina: "S-s-sorry… S-sorry Naruto Oniichan… umm… I-I… last night… I couldn't sleep alone… . so then… and then…"

Naruto: "Huh? Are you saying something?"

Hina: "A-… n-nothing. It's nothing… e-ehehe! Good morning, Oniichan."

Hina clutched at the part of her side which had been kicked, but even then she put on a courageous smile.

"He's a pretty terrible person, this protagonist."

"Ugh, that's the result of your own choice isn't it!? And I mean, to think this kind of scenario existed! I've never ever picked that choice before, so this is the first time I'm seeing this! Ah, dammit… she looks so pitiable, Hina-chan does…"

Naruko looked sympathetically at the heroine who was already subject to such harsh treatment so early in the game. But, Naruko, you treated me in a similar way just now… I wisely didn't point this out to her, and valiantly continued to play the game.

From the early morning, a gloomy atmosphere reigned in the Uzumaki household. After the decision point, the protagonist Naruto turned into a tyrant and chased Hina out of his room. Afterwards, he changed into his school uniform and headed towards the dining room. There, seven little sisters who all adored their big brother waited for the protagonist.

"Hey, Naruko? There are a lot of places where these girls look completely different. No matter how I look at it, they really don't look like blood relatives."

"They can't help that. Different people draw each of the heroines."

It was a silly question, but, wasn't that the most unhelpful answer she could have given? Well, whatever, this isn't exactly the place to make a snide remark. I left-clicked. The heroines having all gathered, the dining event started.

*Ping.* The image changed to a viewpoint overlooking the dining table. Icons resembling each of the little sisters were scattered about the screen, flashing and growing bigger and smaller. In the upper half of the display, in a circular font stood the message "Onii-chan, who do you want to talk with~?"

"Oh? The display changed again."

"This is an event choice display. If you click the icon of the little sister you want to talk with, a conversation event with that little sister will start. And then, there will be more choices you have to make in the conversation, and according to what you choose, her affection points for you can go up or down."

"Hm. And what do you mean by 'affection points?' "

"It's a number that tells us how much one of the little sisters likes her big brother. If you don't get this number above a certain point, you won't be able to see certain events. There are also different endings based on this. So, fundamentally, seeing lots of events with the little sister you want to capture, and then raising her affection points is what you need to do in this game. And, also, if you raise the affection points of a number of the little sisters by a lot, then it'll be easier to unlock special scenes, like a Valentine's Day scene. So you shouldn't spend all your time with one little sister."

For some time now, Naruko has been a bit too feverish to explain all of this. Yada yada yada yada yada yada… is doing this that fun?

"I see… by the way, how many affection points do you have for me?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Nah, it's fine."

With that expression, I don't have to hear her answer to know. I wonder; in the real world, if my sister's affection points for me were not below a certain value, then would previously unseen special events also spring forth?

"So, that's generally how the game flows… understand?"

"Yeah."

Having finished her tutorial, Naruko then showed me how to save in the game, and turned off the game. Afterwards, she looked at my face to gauge my impressions.

"Any thoughts?"

"I don't have any yet… I just started, after all."

"I-I see… that's true, I guess… "

If I were to be honest, I would say that I don't think this type of game suits me at all. It wasn't a question of whether the game was interesting or not. It's just that, for people who have real sisters, the idea of enjoying the affections of a fictional sister is hard to imagine… no matter how many times Hina and the others made a cute face, and said cute things, and sought my attention, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from thinking that they had ulterior motives. How do I put it… little sister cynicism? For example, if Naruko were to play a game in which you captured big brothers, do you think she would be able to sincerely enjoy that game? It's impossible, wouldn't you say? It's just like that for me in this case. But, I mean, I already said that I would try this game. I guess I'll play just this one to the very end.

"Hmm, so, what should we do next, I wonder." Looking like she was having fun, Naruko opened up a folder and meandered the cursor around…

Could it be that she wasn't satisfied with just one little sister game, and wanted to make me play another one? She was sure excited about this. But honestly, whatever the point of all this is, I don't really feel obligated to do so much… however, somehow, I understood why Naruko was making me play these little sister games.

"Hey… Naruko."

"What? Why do you look so serious?"

"For you… at your class, is there anybody you can play these games with, who you can talk about these games with?"

Upon hearing my question, Naruko's expression became vacant, and she looked slightly downwards. "That doesn't matter, does it?"

I see. Naruko's classmates, not one of them probably watched child-oriented Anime, or played little sister games. And, I mean, that was the image I had of my sister until a little while ago. If I were in Naruko's position, I also probably wouldn't feel like looking for people with similar interests in order to come out in the open with my hobbies.

"Well, it doesn't have to be a classmate… do you know anybody who has the same hobbies, who you can talk to openly about games and Anime?" At this second question, Naruko did not nod.

"That doesn't matter."

I see. And so she came to encourage me to take up the same hobby. She wanted to be able to talk about it together. Hiding your hobby from everyone around you, and only enjoying it by yourself… that's a pretty lonely existence.

Yesterday, Naruko had taken me to this room, and said that she wanted to continue the "life counseling" session. But I think that was just a simple excuse… that it wasn't really for "life counseling."

It really wasn't. Somehow or other, she just wanted to do this. You're lonely, aren't you? But you don't want to admit that. That's true, isn't it? - you're not being honest with yourself. But, honestly, I can't really get into your hobby much more than this. If there was some other person instead who could, that would be the best. It would definitely save me a lot of trouble.

"Hey, Naruko… " I inclined my neck and looked at the ceiling. "Do you… want to make friends?"

"H-huh?" Naruko's eyes widened in surprise. Her expression revealed her inner thoughts of What is this idiot saying?

So far so good. With unusual determination, I stared right back at my sister. I put on a bold smile, and turned the chair around. With the air of a life counselor, I pointed towards the bed. "Sit there please." Naruko looked like she wanted to object, but in the end reluctantly did as I said. Well, alright, I guess she's willing to listen to what I have to say. "You said it already, right? You asked me 'what should I do?' And, at that time, I didn't give you any good advice. So now, I'll give you an answer. Go make friends."

"Fri… ends?"

"Yes. People who have the same hobbies, who, when you start talking about these things, whether it be Anime, or games, or 18+ things, they will be able to properly engage in the conversation. Of course, those kinds of people would never look down on you or make fun of you, because after all, you're all birds of a feather."

"So you mean… I should make Otaku friends?" I nodded. Sitting on the bed, Naruko thought seriously about this while biting her lip and clutching her knees. But… at long last, she muttered this, "I don't want to… make Otaku friends. If we're together, people will also think I'm one of them."

"Again, isn't that ridiculous talk? You're a huge Otaku, aren't you?"

"N-no, that's-"

"No? Then, what are you? I mean, if you can, please answer that for me." Having finally become a bit fed up with my sister's attitude, I tried to corner her with my words. Naruko looked downwards in shame and was silent. Her shoulders shook. I clicked my tongue. "The one who's all talk, the one who's making fun of Otaku, that's you, isn't it? I said it already, didn't I? Whatever hobby you might have, they won't make fun of you. So, what do you think? People who have the same hobbies, who don't hide but are open about being Otaku, do you really think they could make fun of you?"

Naruko raised her head, and gave me a penetrating glare.

"That would be impossible, right? It would make no sense. It would be like someone making fun of himself."

"That's not the issue! It's a matter of public image!"

"Public image?"

"Yes, public image. Certainly, I like Anime and I really like Eroge. You could say I love them."

You could say… to hear that from a high school girl and my own sister, what should my reaction be?

Seeing me draw back, Naruko spoke arrogantly, "Of course. Being with my friends at school is also really fun. But, this stuff is also fun. I can't just pick one. So there's no helping it, is there? What I like is what I like." Naruko looked as proud as she usually was. "But, I also know that the world tends to look coldly on Otaku… and Japan is the most prejudiced in this way… don't you think so?"

A high school girl. As a student in a high school, she must understand this all too well.

"Umm… so what I want to say is… that is… I belong to both sides of this." She told me her feelings, but couldn't find the best words to express those feelings, so she was stumbling on her words a bit.

What she was saying was jumbled and difficult to understand… but I think that I got the gist of what she was trying to say. She liked Anime and loved Eroge. But, she also really likes being with her friends at school, so she can't choose one at the expense of the other. She had a normal school girl side, and an Otaku side. Both these sides were joined together in her person. This is probably what Naruko wanted to say. Probably.

"But… because of that, I don't want to tell the truth to Mom, and I definitely don't want to tell the truth to my friends. If that happened, I really wouldn't be able to go to school anymore."

Public image. For a student, it was an important thing, perhaps even more so than for adults. Everyone understands that high school students are just the type to exclude someone socially and relentlessly attack them as if they were some foreign object. I knew this. I knew this all too well. I guess it's pretty natural that anyone would care a lot about their public image. Preserving your public image or embracing your hobbies… what a dilemma. Not being able to talk to anyone about this, you tried your best to deal with it, didn't you, Naruko? I understand your problem now, Naruko.

"So, in other words, as long as you don't have to tell your classmates, you're fine with making some Otaku friends?"

"Y-yeah… I guess… that'd be okay."

"Then that's fine. Without ever exposing yourself to your classmates, then, you should go find Otaku friends."

And that's how it was. Well, I had at least reaffirmed Naruko's feelings. And if she had a mind to make friends, then somehow or other we'd manage, I think.

"What? Do you have a good plan or something?"

"Yeah, how about you try to participate in an offline meeting for someone who shares the same hobbies with you?"

"… Offline meeting?" When I told my sister my idea, that she should try to find some offline meetings to participate in, my sister shut up with a strange expression.

"You don't like it?"

"It's not… that… " She looked downwards and thought for a few seconds, but before long raised her head and spoke, "I understand. Let's try it."

Oh? That was a pretty straightforward answer. How unexpected.

"You can access the sites on your phone too."

"I know already."

Naruko took out a cell phone from somewhere, and with a tatatatatatata, began tapping away on the keys at incredible speed. Pretty amazing. I would definitely not be able to do that. I guess they do exist, the girls who are damn fast with their phones. As these thoughts flew through my head, Naruko clicked her tongue.

"Tch. I registered but I need a referral letter from someone… this is pretty annoying… "

"Hmmm… well, there are SNS sites that are only for Anime and games, right? Try to look for one that doesn't need a referral letter."

"Yeah yeah."

As I gave my instructions, Naruko, seeming reluctant, fumbled around with her cell phone, and registered on an SNS site meant for Otaku. And then, first she had to make her profile page.

"It's asking you to input a username. Pick one quickly."

"Saying that to me… I can't just decide one that quickly, can I?"

"This is something you can't change later, right? You should pick a good one from the start, a good one. You could use other screen names as a reference too for what you can pick. See, look here, you have to enter in something something, here."

As I was urging her on while peeking at her cell phone screen from her side, Naruko turned the cell phone away from my gaze, looking quite annoyed at my pushing. She entered in a username, and showed it to me.

"Alright, how's this?"

"What exactly is this 'Starlove Naruru~: this guy next to me is being really annoying' thing?"

"My screen name. Cute, isn't it?"

Was she trying to tick me off?

"H-hey… wait… if you write 15 in the ages column, it's risky to put little sister Eroge as a hobby, isn't it?"

"But it's the truth. This is my hidden side, remember? If I had gotten a referral letter from a classmate or a modeling friend, I wouldn't be making this kind of profile."

I guess. If I was reading a female classmate's profile page, and saw her passion for Eroge spelled out on it, I would burst out laughing. Then, when I saw her the next day, I really wouldn't be able to behave normally. And that's why she should keep this separate identity to be safe. That's a good point. But there was another thing that was bothering me…

"Hey, why have you been looking so down for a while now?"

"Well… "As Naruko was carrying out my plan, she seemed quite nervous. Why was that? Straining my ears, I listened to my sister's explanation. "I mean… it's just that I'm a bit scared of this type of social networking… I mean, in the end, the people with the same hobbies are going to be guys I think… and not only that, but older guys I think… this isn't a stupid reason, right? I mean, it's not that I don't like this idea… but, I mean… I guess… I'm just a bit scared."

"I see… that's… how it is… "

It was a blind spot. This was quite a huge yet fundamental problem, wasn't it? This was completely different than networking with classmates or her modeling friends. Forgetting that they're Otaku and so on, it must be frightening for a high school girl to make friends with older men. Even if it's just online. It would be all the more awkward to meet them in person… so really, in the end, she really had to look for girls of the same age who shared the same hobbies…

Are there people like that? high school girls who share the same hobbies as Naruko, are there really people like that? Or is it just my sister? I scratched my head in frustration. What should we do now?

"So… could you… look for girl-only groups? Might as well give it a try… "

"I'll try."

Naruko started typing on her cell phone, searching for the right community. From her side as usual, I interjected.

"What about… this one?"

"Hm? This one?"

"Yeah. Heh, so these types of groups actually exist… click on it and check it out."

The community we found was titled "Otaku Girls United!" There were around twenty members. Whether that was a lot of a little, I'm not sure, but it sort of had the feeling of a small club. To join the community, you have to write in your age and gender and send in a message asking to join, and if the admin refused your request you could not join. And, what's more, there was a topic called "tea party invitation" visible. Because we weren't members, we couldn't see the actual details, but it seemed like the kind of offline meeting we were looking for.

"Hey Naruko. This one might be alright."

Even if there were guys posing as girls in this group, there's no way they would go to an offline meeting for all girls. So that wouldn't be a problem. I thought this was a perfect opportunity, but for some reason Naruko's expression was not as agreeable.

"Hm… uhh… yeah I see…"

"What's wrong with you? Is there something else bothering you?"

"Not really, but…"

"Well, how about you send them a message to tell them you want to participate? Here, with this button."

"Umm… " Naruko stared at the message composition screen for a while, and then suddenly looked at me and asked this, "What exactly should I write?"

"Hmm. Well, you should just tell them your intentions, right? That you want female friends who share the same hobby."

Naruko nodded, wrote the message, and sent it.

Your message has been sent.

Seeing that notice, I felt that my duty was half completed. If Naruko could make friends with girls who could understand her hobby… then I would be relieved from duty. But for some reason I feel sad. In these few days, we've talked more to each other than we have in four years. And, I also discovered a surprising side of my sister. It wasn't just her strange hobby. I also caught a glimpse at the hidden part of my sister that got scared when she couldn't figure something out and gave up. It felt as if I was able to slightly feel the inner heart I could not hope to look into. I guess I was a bit happy. Although I don't really understand any of it either.

"Alright then. So I only have to wait for a response… "

"Do your best, okay?"

"Yeah," Naruko nodded.

I raised the corners of my lips and smiled. For my sister… if she could find friends better than me who she could have fun with, who she could chatter with without any restraint, that would be great. But for just a small amount of time until then, I would fill that void in their place.

ঌ ໒

07

The next day, the "Otaku Girls United!" admin sent us back a favorable reply. When I returned home from school, I was dragged to Naruko's room in the usual manner, and now, I was reading the response message from the community admin, whose user name was "Penny Polendina."

"Nice to meet you, Naruko-sama. My username is Penny, and I am acting as the administrator for the "Otaku Girls United!" community. I will not waste any time, so thank you very much for your message expressing your interest to join. Of course I will gladly approve your request. Given your age and hobbies, I am sure that we can become great friends. If you want… in a few days we are planning a meeting, and would be pleased if you could join us for tea. There are lots of things I want to talk about… please consider it. Until next time, thank you very much."

"So her name is 'Penny'… sounds like a western name. This admin seems like a really polite person, doesn't she?"

From the contents of that letter, I felt the air of a well brought up young woman. How do I say this… it exuded a smell of elegance. Was it just wishful thinking? No, my intuition told me that there was no mistaking this for a beautiful young woman. When she became conscious of how I was acting, Naruko looked at me as if she were looking at some unclean thing.

"Gross. What are you grinning for?"

"I'm not grinning. I was just thinking that I'm glad she seems like a good person."

"Well… I guess. Seems sorta like a proper daughter from a high class family, doesn't she?"

"Yeah. So, you're going to go, of course, right?"

"Mmm. I'll do it," Naruko nodded, but for some reason she seemed stiff.

Geez, she's been acting like this for a while… it seems like there's still something she's worried about but is hiding from me. We've already solved the issue of her being afraid to make friends with older guys… what is there other than that? This bothered me, so I asked. "Hey, there really is something still bothering you, isn't there?"

"Not really."

This attitude again. It looks like she really just doesn't want to say. Although this is pretty annoying. Well, at the very least, I guess I can just continue to encourage her.

"I see. Well, do your best then."

"Huh? Why do you say that as if it's not your problem anymore?"

"What?"

As I creased my eyebrows, Naruko faced me and said, "Come with me to the meeting."

This girl…

"What the hell are you talking about, how exactly do you want me, a GUY, to participate in an all girl meet up?"

"What if you crossdress? A little makeup should be okay."

"Hell no! You say that so casually, but if I'm discovered, wouldn't they make me out to be some pervert who wanted to take such a huge risk just to go to an all girl meeting!?"

"I'm prepared to take whatever risk, so it'll be alright."

"This isn't your problem! It's about me! I have absolutely no desire to carry the dishonor of being labeled a pervert! It's not alright at all!"

"Tch. Fine!" It seemed like Naruko finally agreed with my reasoning. Nodding earnestly a few times, she pursed her lips and grumbled. "I guess it can't be helped… well, should we go for a more direct plan of attack then?"

"You make it sound like I'm the one who really wants to go and am asking you for a favor or something… well whatever, I'll listen for now so go on. What do you mean by 'more direct plan'?"

"Well, what if I sent this Penny-san a message saying 'My brother was a huge Otaku, and for some reason he insisted that he wants to go to an all girl tea party. He looks really lonely so would it be alright if I brought him along?' Or something like that."

"You make me an open pervert instead of a sneaky one. And I mean, they would probably reject such a proposal. It was an all girl's meeting, so bringing a guy would be very frowned upon." I told this to Naruko, and her mood darkened. Biting her lower lip, she glared at me.

"So, what are we going to do!?"

"As I said, going with you to this meeting would be impossible… come on, stop glaring at me like that. Uhh… hold on… hmm… " I looked at the "Otaku Girls Unite!" community page. Clicking on the topic about the offline meeting, the details of the meet up were displayed."See, this place… it's a café right? It's not like you need a reservation, right? So then, I'll go with you and sit in a seat next to yours. It's not like I can talk to you from there, but at least I can watch you."

I mean, this was my idea, but just sitting at a table next to her probably wasn't what she wanted.

I was expecting her to respond with her usual scorn and disdain, but suddenly… "… I understand. That's fine."

I don't know why, but Naruko was sincerely nodding her head. Surprised, my eyes widened. "I see."

Incidentally, Naruko never really made it clear why she wanted me to go with her, did she? But it's a bit too late to ask that now… but is it alright if I'm just there with her, even if I can't participate? I have no idea what's going on… well, anyways, that's how it was. Next Sunday, I will go with my sister to the "Otaku Girls Unite!" community offline meeting, and would watch over her from the shadows.

ঌ ໒

08

In no time at all, the day for the offline meeting arrived. We rode a train from the nearest station for around an hour and a half. Right now, we were standing at the Akihabara Electric City exit on the JR line. It was just past noon on a holiday. I was expecting something consistent with the rumors, that Akiba would be messy and congested, but it wasn't really like that. At least inside and in front of the station, it gave off an impression of a well maintained, orderly place.

"It's a radio studio! And a gamer's flagship store!" Naruko tried to restrain her voice, but couldn't completely hide her excitement.

She sure is having fun, isn't she? It seems like, just like me, this is her first time in Akihabara. Up to now, her experience with Tokyo has been limited to Shibuya and Harajuku, I think. She might have a lot of Anime goods, but as an Otaku she might be a relative beginner.

I checked the time on my cell phone. "Hey, Naruko. This isn't the time for that, alright? If you want to go to the shops, do that after the meet up."

"Yeah, I know I know."

Naruko seemed to be tensely preparing for her first offline meeting. Her shoulders were held high, and she was wearing clothes that made her seem very mature. Underneath, she had on a miniskirt and boots. But she also wore a good deal of expensive-looking accessories. Even to someone like me, who did not really understand fashion, she looked quite stylish. She looked more suited for somewhere like Shibuya or Odaiba. But I mean… it's already too late so I won't say anything, but… going to the meeting in that getup… I mean, certainly it's pretty cute, but… will she really be alright like that?

"Alright. Then from here on let's split up a bit. You were supposed to meet up here, right? I'll head off to the café first and I'll be on standby there."

"Huh? Ah… alright. I got it."

"Don't look so disheartened. I'll definitely be watching out for you."

"I-I don't look like that at all. Don't be an idiot, shouldn't you be going?"

"Yeah, yeah. Well, see ya."

Lightly raising a hand as a goodbye, I turned my back on Naruko. Passing by the shop Naruko had called a gamer's flagship store, I went out into the main street. Soon, I could see various games and cords and such lined up in the storefronts that I passed by, although with such a brief glance I didn't really know what exactly they were selling. I was reminded of a cheap sweets shop I used to pass by often as a kid. I didn't really plan on buying anything, but I still felt a fluttering of excitement.

Odaiba is an island accessible via a bridge in Tokyo that holds a lot of attractions, including a bustling shopping district, an amusement park, and the Tokyo Big Sight Convention Center. It's pretty lively around here, isn't it? As expected, it was pretty busy here. At its busiest times, Akihabara's main street even had places where bands would play. Compared to that, I would say that today's atmosphere was somewhat more subdued, but… it's really like a festival around here, isn't it? That's really what I thought.

As I was admiring my surroundings, I took out a printout map from the bag hanging from my shoulders and looked at it. Ah, this isn't the right street at all. It's in the opposite direction. I turned around in order to retrace my steps, but I saw Naruko still standing there. Having gallantly come this far, it just wouldn't do if I made a U-turn now. Without facing the main street, with its row of electronics stores, I turned left. I made another left at the intersection, and continued straight. I passed under a railway bridge and still continued, and soon I could see a thin tall building on my right. It was the Shosen Book Tower, according to my map. The influence of Otaku culture seemed to lighten here, and the surroundings gave off an impression not unlike what you would find outside a very normal train station. I crossed the pedestrian crosswalk, and came to a stop close to the entrance of the Book Tower. Hmm, it's this way, right? Like that, I continued to follow the road. Following the map, after walking for a few minutes, it looked like I had entered into what looked to be, judging from the houses around me, a quiet residential neighborhood. If the map was correct, the café would be right around here…

"Ah, here it is." I stopped, and looked up at a building that looked a bit like a lodge. The café was named "Fairy Garden," and its exterior gave off the impression of an elegant little cabin. After I went up the very short staircase, I opened the wooden door and was greeted by the pleasant sound of a bell.

*Ring ring.*

"Welcome home, master!" I was greeted simultaneously by the voices of many aproned maids. Trying hard to pretend that nothing had happened, I shut the door again.

"Wh-wh-what… is going on… ?" Still holding onto the door with both hands, I muttered to myself.

No, it was clear what was going on. I knew what was going on… but… seriously, just wait a bit. My mind still hasn't quite caught up to the situation yet. Because the neighborhood outside had seemed so normal, I had completely forgotten that I was still in Akiba…

So, the rumors were true… this was… what do they call it… was this a maid café!? Finally having come to this realization, I took stock of my situation in my head. Inhaling and giving a huge sigh, I opened the door a second time.

*Ring ring.*

"Okaerinasaimase, goshujinsama!" It is the standard greeting for all maid cafes. "Welcome home, master!"

It was the same scene as before… dammit, it wasn't an illusion, was it? To welcome me, a cute brown haired maid-san approached with a pitter patter. She was wearing a fluffy white apron. Her skirt was excessively short, although her socks were very long. It was definitely an outfit that was designed for cuteness. I couldn't help feeling that I wanted to get out of here, but I had made a promise to come here and be on standby. What's more, turning back here would just not do at all. I braced myself and took a step into the café. Uzumaki Naruto. Fifteen years old. My first time at a maid café…

"Is it just one guest, master?"

"Y-yeah… "

"Well, then, please come this way~."

I was led by the maid-san to a table for one. The interior of the place had the look of a normal coffee shop. The slightly dim shop was illuminated by a number of orange lamps. The furniture all somehow looked like antiques, and the atmosphere felt really Western. Also, even though it was lunchtime, the place was relatively empty. Maybe the people who were going to the offline meeting had reserved a lot of tables.

"Would this seat suit you?"

"Yeah… thanks."

The maid-san pulled the seat out for me, and I sat down. I felt quite self-conscious. Every maid in the place certainly was quite cute.

"Here is the menu, master~~. Could Ayame take your order for how you want to be addressed?"

"Huh? Wh-what do you mean?"

"Well~~, please decide how you would like me to address you. On the menu, you can see all sorts of options like "master," "danna," "-kun," "-chan," "oniichan," "oniisama," and others ~~."

Maid cafés are really terrifying. How is a mere high school student like me supposed to get through this?

Well, let's just let nature take its course. Putting on a bold smile, I responded, "It doesn't matter. Whichever is fine."

"Is that so? Then, how about Ayame call you Oniichan? Oniichan~~."

Well, now the maid-san was being a bit overly familiar with me. I guess it would be a bit boorish for me to point out that at this point, she didn't seem like a maid at all anymore… and what's more, it was obvious that she was over twenty years old…

"Did you say something, Oniichan?"

"No no!"

How terrifying. Was she reading my mind or something?

The maid brought over some water. As I gratefully sated my thirst, I looked at the menu. I had yet to eat lunch, so let's see what I could fill up on… and… with a bewildered expression, I glanced roughly at the menu items. Why was I confused? Well… that is… for now, let me give a few examples.

Lunch:

1. The maid's lovey dovey omelette rice (ketchup or otafuku) - 900 yen.

2. Little sister's handmade curry (parupunte flavor, begiragon flavor, zaraki flavor) - 1000 yen.

3. The tsundere school president's specially prepared ramen - 800 yen.

Drinks:

1. Spirit of Saiyan - 300 yen.

2. Super holy water - 300 yen.

3. Juice from the divine essence tree - 300 yen.

I have no idea what's going on. At least the lunch items sound similar to actual food items, so whatever, but I can't even begin to imagine what any of those drinks are. What should I do? I had to look this up, but Otafuku is apparently a Japanese company that produces various sauces. I guess I have no choice but to ask.

"Excuse me… what exactly is this… Spirit… of… Saiyan?"

"That would be vegetable juice, Oniichan~~."

Then write vegetable juice, dammit… the menu was what the menu was, I guess. I also ascertained that "Super holy water" just meant cider and "Juice from the divine essence tree" just meant mixed fruit juice.

"Have you decided on your order? Oniichan."

"Not yet… sorry." In my confusion, I stupidly apologized…

"By the way, Ayame has a recommendation. You should try the little sister's handmade curry. Me, Ayame-chan, especially made it with my own hands, Oniichan~~."

"A-alright, then I'll go with that."

This damn girl, picking out the most expensive thing on the menu so casually… although, it really was my fault for going along with it.

"Your order has been entered in~. Little sister's handmade curry. Zaraki flavor~~."

Zaraki flavor, huh? That sounds pretty dangerous… well, whatever. But, still, what they bring out to me might be completely inedible. Having exhausted myself just by ordering, I took a breather. Tilting my chair backwards, I stared at the ceiling. Then, the door once again opened, and a group of people entered.

*Ring ring.*

"Welcome home, master!"

Ah, so they came. I took out a baseball cap from my bag, and wore it low over my eyes. Nonchalantly, I turned my gaze towards the door. In succession, a group of young women of various ages entered. I still couldn't see Naruko. Hm… as I thought, they were relatively plain looking, most of them really didn't seem very refined. There were also a few girls here or there in cosplay… hm? Whoa!

I turned my gaze to the tall girl that stood at the front of the group. Well, let's see… first things first. For a girl she was very tall. And her breasts are quite big too. She was a young woman who appears to be in her late teens with long orange hair that reaches down to her waist. She had to be around 180 cm tall. She looked like a supermodel… but what was more startling was her getup. She looked extremely like an otaku. Her head was wrapped in a bandana, and she wore a checkered long-sleeve shirt, tucked into a pair of trousers. She also bore a rough-looking backpack on her back. To make matters worse, a number of rolled up posters poked out from her backpack. To sum it up… she was the image of the stereotypical otaku that I had seen on TV, while having a figure like a supermodel.

I'm not lying. I really didn't believe it myself, but there she was, right in front of me, a young girl dressed like a gross old man. Heh, Tokyo is truly a frightening place, isn't it? I've definitely learned that today. Feeling myself getting agitated, I gulped down some water in an attempt to calm myself. And in front of my eyes, that aforementioned girl began to talk to one of the maids.

"I have a reservation for 1 PM, please."

"Alright. Would you please give me your name?"

"Penny Polendina."

Wha-!? I did a spit take, and held my throat, coughing violently. Hack! Hack! Cough! Cough! Hack!

"Ah! A-are you alright, Oniichan?"

The maid-san, Ayame, patted me on the back as I continued to cough in agony. Dammit, that definitely went down the wrong pipe! Hack! Cough! Hack! Damn it, I feel like I'm going to die.

This was the person with the username "Penny Polendina"!? She wasn't quite the prim and proper lady that I had imagined her to be… she really fell very short of that expectation! This was perhaps the biggest surprise I've had in all my 15 years of life! Well, this was a bit of a dreadful outcome right from the start, wasn't it? What the hell. I haven't even talked to her, and yet I'm making such nasty comments already.

Cough. Cough. Cough. "Thanks… sorry for being so noisy."

"Oh no, it's fine~. Alright, I'll go get another water for you, 'kay? But Oniichan? If you do that again Ayame'll get angry, okay?"

*Blop.*

The maid Ayame tapped my head lightly with her fist. Even in such unexpected situations, she didn't panic and stayed in character. She's really a seasoned pro, isn't she?

"Yeah… I really am very sorry… " I blushed and I realized that all the eyes in the place were now looking at me. I felt the jealous stares of the other guys here and there in the bar, as if they wanted to say "Well aren't you pretty clever?"

*Ring ring.*

Turning my gaze once again to the entrance, I saw Naruko crossing her arms and giving me a fierce glare, as if to say "why the hell are you being so conspicuous, idiot!?" Well, I couldn't help it, could I!? It was all Penny's fault! I tried to explain it to her just with my eyes, but…

"Hmph!" Whether she understood what I was trying to say or not, Naruko quickly turned the other way. But seriously… she really doesn't fit in with that crowd… excluding Penny, the girls of the "Otaku Girls Unite!" group, whether they looked plain or were wearing some kind of cosplay, all looked like quite docile girls. Mixed into the middle of that group, there was a teen model who had obviously tried very hard to coordinate her clothes… she really stood out.

As the community members were standing near the entrance awaiting further instruction, two maids went up to them and bowed.

"We are very sorry about the wait~. Please allow us to lead you to your seats~~."

At the maids' directions, the group slowly entered into the middle of the café. Naruko and the others were shown to the very middle of the café. A number of other tables were attached to that one, and chairs were brought and placed appropriately. The group split up into smaller groups of 10 or so, and picked their seats while chatting away. From the bit of conversation I could overhear, it appeared that this was this group's first offline meeting. So, this was probably the first time any of these girls were meeting in person. Also… isn't Naruko a bit cut off from the rest of the group? In one corner, Naruko was sitting by herself. Her posture was strangely stiff, and she was anxiously looking around. It was like in elementary school, when people separate into groups of friends, but one person ends up being left out. Dammit, this was a pretty miserable situation… I felt a pang in my chest as I clenched my teeth.

"Umm… " In that state, as soon as Naruko tried to timidly strike up a conversation, the same conversation would end after two or three words. It seems like Naruko was wary of her companions, and they thought the same of her. Even though this was a group that presumably shared a hobby, it didn't seem that way at all. It was as if her words just weren't getting heard… or if there was an invisible wall.

I clicked my tongue. Well… it's not like I wasn't vaguely expecting something like this to happen… Naruko had always exuded a haughty aura that screamed "Servant, don't come near me." She seemed like the type who would push away anybody who wasn't similarly beautiful and refined as she. Of course, that's fine at school. There are people of all sorts at school, and it wasn't difficult to form a group with similar people and hang out with them. But Naruko, at her school, was not only part of the most popular group, but was a leader of sorts in that group. In that position, it was good that she could so carefully pick her clothes and be so charming. This aura of a cold princess that she exuded helped her charm and attract people with similar sensibilities. But, here, the people were not that way at all. Here, the people that Naruko was trying to make friends with were completely different from the people in the crowd she hung out with at school. That was pretty obvious. It was as if in the middle of a flock of sheep, the wolf who wanted to make friends with the sheep had been left out. No matter how desperately the wolf tried to speak, the sheep would get nervous, and would think "why is this wolf mixed in with our flock?"

Irritated, I bit my lip… Ah, Naruko ran away from another conversation. She really can't hold a conversation for longer than two or three words, can she? Whomever she was talking to would nod idly for a bit, and then get drawn into another group's conversation, and would stop talking to Naruko. And anyways, from what I could overhear, I really had no idea what any of these people were talking about. It felt like I had gotten lost in a foreign country or something.

As I rubbed my forehead and let out a sigh, Naruko looked in my direction as if asking for help. Don't look at me with such a miserable expression… that's so not like you! I began to clench my fists, and then…

"Sorry to keep you waiting! Your little sister's handmade curry is here, Oniichan!"

"Ah, thanks." This damn maid… she really chose a great time to bring this to me, didn't she? Oh God, Naruko was glaring at me, she must have heard this maid call me "Oniichan," didn't she!?

Clenching my fists, I watch her table. Hey, Naruko, I really can't do anything in this position. But, I'll definitely watch you from here. Do your best! Do your best Naruko! Dammit… what was that crap about "handmade"? This taste, this curry obviously came from a can, didn't it!

ঌ ໒

09

The offline meeting continued for around two hours, and ended with what looked to be a gift exchange. Of course, without being able to communicate effectively with anyone at all, Naruko had not managed to make a single friend… what's more, the final blow came when Naruko received her gift from the present exchange, and it turned out to be some shabby toy magic hand.

Wh… what the hell was this? No matter how you looked at it, that was just a bit… it didn't have to be a perfect gift, but seriously, shouldn't you prepare a more serious present? Feeling all alone and looking downwards, Naruko dejectedly opened and closed the magic hand, and I couldn't help but pity her a bit.

I was now outside the café, standing only slightly removed from the gathered girls. And then, the community leader and also the organizer of this offline meeting, Penny, began to make her closing remarks.

"Thank you all for your cooperation in making this first memorable tea gathering pleasant and seeing it through to a safe conclusion! From me, I offer you the most heartfelt thanks."

The crowd raised a delighted cheer. As expected from her, her appearance and manner of speech gave her a commanding air, not unlike a teacher talking to his students.

"With that, this tea meeting has come to a close! We can now go on each of our separate ways, but because the day is still young, please continue to congregate with friends you have made! Also, as for the next official event, I will post up a topic on the community boards, and be sure to attend that one as well! Alright then… dismissed!"

With that, the crowd came to life. Farewells flew left and right, along with invitations, with a "hey, do you want to head to Toranoana now?" here to a "where do you want to go?" there to a "hey, let's go and talk seriously about those Gundam couplings" somewhere else. But, in that energetic throng, my sister, Naruko, was nowhere to be found. In groups of two or three, the larger group dispersed. Also, Penny, after giving her farewell speech, made a mad dash out of there. Did she have some urgent business to attend to? Like that, the area slowly emptied of people, leaving a lone Naruko standing stock still in the middle. She may have been hopeful that someone would invite her to go with them, and would not allow herself to give up. Now, looking completely exhausted, she dropped her shoulders. Her cute clothes, which she had so carefully picked for today, had been exposed as being completely ineffective… in fact, they may have had the opposite effect to what she intended. It was a scene of a desolate battlefield, with the wasted arrows and broken blades of the losing army strewn about. And in her hand she still grasped that magic hand.

Slowly, I took off my baseball cap and approached my dejected-looking sister. I place my hand on her head in comfort.

"You definitely tried your best, Naruko."

"I… I couldn't talk to them at all."

"Yeah, I saw. Well, this was your first time after all. Don't worry about it."

"It's not that… wh-why? I… was just trying to act normally… why were they avoiding me? Uuh… I'm so annoyed… so annoyed. Annoyed annoyed annoyed…" Looking truly irritated, Naruko ground her teeth while stamping her feet.

It's not like I could blame her. I've also been in situations like this. Sometimes, when I was frustrated or depressed, I couldn't find any way to distract myself other than changing those feelings into anger… so, I had pretty good knowledge of my sister's anger

"Hey! Naruru-chan!… phew, I'm glad! You're still here!" An unexpected figure suddenly appeared.

"Ah… you're… Penny-san?" Panting from having run all the way here, the community leader Penny stood before us.

"Hey, hey, what's with that 'Penny-san'? It's as if Naruru-chan doesn't know me or something! I told you already stop being formal with me, you can call me 'Penny-chan.' Ahhh, but I'm glad I caught you. I was just about to try to reach you by cell phone, too." Penny smiled widely.

From her appearances, Naruko was equally stumped, and timidly tried her best to respond, "W-what did you want with me?"

"Ah," Penny nodded and held up one finger and said this, "Truth is, I wanted to invite you to another gathering."

"Huh?" Naruko looked bewildered at the strange invitation. Right after she made this statement, Penny turned her eyes to me.

"Naruru-chan, by the way, who is this? If I'm not mistaken, earlier he was in the shop watching you… ahhhh, I see… "

"Definitely not!" Naruko and I raised our objection at the same time. Of all things, what in the world are you thinking!?

"So, was I mistaken? I apologize then… it's just that this handsome oniisan a little while ago was intently staring at Naruru-chan inside the shop, right? I was so certain that it was the gaze of a lover…"

"There's no way! Stop that! Just thinking about that grosses me out!"

"Wow, Naruko… isn't there some nicer way you could tell her she's wrong?" While I was complaining about these things, I added on my own thoughts. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm her brother. Please don't make any bad assumptions."

"Oh hoh, I see I see, you're Naruru-chan's… brother," nodding in understanding, Penny faced me and gave me a light bow. "Alright, my mistake then. I think you already know this, but my username is Penny Polendina, you can call me Penny-chan' if you want, Naruto-chan."

"Umm, okay then… Penny-chan."

"Fufufu~~ would Naruto-chan like to come with us?"

"Would I mind… you mean, to the meeting?"

"Of course! How about it?"

Naruko began to speak with a slightly uneasy tone of voice. "Um… this meeting… will there be a lot of other people?"

In other words, she doesn't really want to go, does she? And I understand why. If she goes and feels left out again, it would hardly be a good time. And, in Naruko's case, because she was pretty spoiled in general, this was very hard for her. But, with a "oh no no," Penny shook her head back and forth in a hugely exaggerated way. She put up four fingers on one hand and spoke, "Including Naruru-chan and Naruto-chan, there are only four people. It's a meeting for people I had wanted to talk to, to make friends with, but didn't have a chance to. I guess for a 'gathering,' it's a bit small. Let's go chat a bit at a Starbucks, and then go shopping together. How about it?"

"U-uh… " After hearing the details, Naruko seemed a bit interested and began to think about it.

If it's like this, then she wouldn't be left out of the group, so it should be fine, right? That's what Naruko was probably thinking. After realizing this, because I felt I should encourage Naruko a bit, I faced Penny and spoke, "I don't mind, but it depends on what my sister says."

"Hm, well how about it? Naruru-chan?"

"Mmm… " Showing us her thinking face, after acting like she was thinking hard about it, Naruko blushed. "A-alright. If you put it like that… I'll go then for your sake."

Her words sounded so childish that it was very difficult to restrain my laughter. Naruko had always acted mature for her age, but every once in a while she showed her younger side, and the cuteness made me smile.

"Ahh, then that's good! Well, let's go! The last member of our gathering is already waiting at the Starbucks." Removing one of her posters from her backpack as if unsheathing a lightsaber, Penny pointed straight ahead.

Penny the girl who dressed like an Otaku. Honestly, I can't think of any way to describe her other than weird… but… maybe… if she weren't really the way she was through and through, then it's unlikely she could be as respected as a leader of the Otaku community.

ঌ ໒

10

With that, we set off to meet this last person. We were now seated on the second floor at the Starbucks nearest the Fairy Garden café, on a couch in one of the corners. Two tables were joined end to end, so four people could sit down together. Naruko and I were sitting side by side, Penny was across from me, and the last person at the meeting was sitting across from Naruko. There were drinks set in front of each seat. Naruko, Penny, and I had just come up from the first floor after buying drinks a few seconds ago, and had just met this fourth person. But since all four of us had gathered here, not one person had said anything.

… But, this last person… she was also really strange, although not in the same way as Penny. As soon as I saw her, my eyes widened. Although I couldn't really see her face… in the corner seat across from Naruko, she was fiddling with her cell phone. Because she was motionlessly looking downwards, I couldn't see her face, but she definitely had a beautiful head of black hair.

But… she was one of those cosplayers, wasn't she…? She has a black cat tail and black cat ears and she wears a black blouse with white frilly material at the chest along a row of black buttons. Around her neck is a purple bow with a silver bell attached to the center. Her skirt has white multi-layered frills with black around the sides and back. Her black mary-jane shoes are worn with knee length white and black striped stockings. She really looked like she was going to a ball or something.

She stands out in an entirely different way than Naruko does… I had no idea what she was cosplaying, but however I looked at it this just went way overboard… she was taking cosplay a bit too seriously.

As soon as she saw that all of us had sat down, Penny began to introduce us two. "These two are Naruru-chan and, as a special guest, her brother Naruto-chan. And, this is a member of my community-"

"My username's Belladonna Blake," the final person at the meeting raised her head and vacantly introduced herself. What an emotionless, indifferent manner of speaking.

"Um… my username's Starlove Naruru. N-nice to meet you," Naruko spoke nervously. It was a nervousness that didn't really suit her, but this was probably how she felt during the offline meeting too.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Sorry for intruding on this meeting so suddenly." Following this, having introduced myself like my sister, and a gloomy voice responded.

"I see. Well, for the time being, nice to meet you," she spoke bluntly, but this black haired cat girl was really quite a beauty.

Although, her personality did not match Naruko's at all. She has long wavy black hair. Her skin is pure white. Her eyes are golden color and sharp. I'm not sure if this is the right way to say it, but she was a somewhat Japanese doll-like beauty. From the looks of it, she also seemed to have a difficult, gloomy personality… in this atmosphere, I was half-expecting her to start using black magic. She was definitely pretty, but she had none of the charm that Naruko had, and a foreboding aura rose up from her entire body.

"Everyone seems to be here, so I'll ask quickly… what exactly is your intention for inviting me to a place like this, manager-san?"

"Hahaha. Didn't I tell you before? I wanted to invite you to a little afterparty. Ahh, but that was a pretty close call! The minute I finished speaking, you started briskly walking away, so I had to run after you! Geez, if I didn't do that, I wouldn't have been able to invite you!"

Penny repeatedly nudged the cat girl, but she remained completely expressionless. Since we first saw her, she had not changed her facial expression in the slightest… it was really eerie. But I understand now, this is probably why Penny took off running earlier.

I see. Gradually, I'm starting to see what Penny is trying to do here… but, Naruko and this cat girl… the reason she deliberately picked these two to bring here, I still didn't really know… perhaps it was that this meeting was organized by the community manager for the sake of the attendees at the offline meeting who failed at making many friends. That's why there were no others here. As Penny had said, it was a meeting "for people I had wanted to talk to, to make friends with, but didn't have a chance to," right? That's a nice way to put it.

Hmm. You couldn't tell by looking at her, but she really knew how to take care of people in a discreet way, didn't she? And, also, she never asked exactly why I had been accompanying Naruko, and furthermore received me as a "special guest," so she probably had vaguely guessed what I was doing there. So really… hah… just as her appearance would suggest, she was a pretty charitable person.

*Slurp.*

Still having not let her guard down, Naruko silently sipped her soda. It seemed like Naruko had not yet realized what was going on… but Blake I think had already figured it out. That might have been why she suddenly looked so ill at ease after first seeing us. On the one hand, I would be grateful, but on the other hand, once I guessed Penny's intentions, no matter how I looked at it I felt like I was being pitied. It was an incredibly difficult situation.

Blake's inner thoughts were probably pretty complicated. Honestly, my mood was also a bit complicated right now. The people who weren't doing well at the first meeting would probably not go to the next meeting, right? As Penny, I really would have been fine with that. That's what I thought at least. So really, Penny was a pretty good person, wasn't she?

"By the way, stop it with the manager-san and the reserved manners. Just feel free to call me Penny-chan or "Oneechan", Blake-chan. We all went through the trouble of meeting here, so let's drop the formality and have fun."

"How could you dare to call yourself with 'chan' at your age? How shameless."

The minute Penny gave out this invitation to drop formality, this cat girl had to say such a thing.

"Hey hey, that's the first time someone's said something like that to me."

"But it's true, isn't it? When you're online, you put on that 'pure princess' act… but really, it's like this, isn't it? However you look at it, you're a fraud. It's unfortunately laughable. And also, what's with that weird outfit…?"

"You feel like some gross Otaku from the past." Like a timid cat, Naruko huddled in her seat and spoke bluntly what we all were thinking.

"Hey you two when she said you could drop the formalities, she didn't mean you could just freely insult her. Even after she took the trouble to invite you two who didn't fit in at the offline meeting… why are you saying such cruel things to her?" Especially you Naruko, if you want to act mature, should you be saying stuff like that?

"Hey, hey, Naruto-chan, there's no need to get that angry. I'm glad that you got so fired up for my sake, but… these types of insults feel like nothing harsher than a soft breeze to this body. Rather, they're almost pleasant. So, don't worry about it, Naruto-chan. I don't mind if you insult me either!"

"Don't talk like that, Penny-chan, I really think that you're a good person… " As I sent her a dumbfounded stare, Penny raised one finger and leaned forwards.

"Well, at least we can be open with each other. So, how about we each introduce ourselves again?"

"I'm a bit skeptical that what just happened you could call 'being open'…" It wasn't a bad idea, though. However, at Penny's words, the place felt deathly silent.

Come on, guys, say something. Even if it might be awkward. Seeing no other way, I took the initiative and urged them on. "Come on, isn't this a good idea?"

As I thought, I got no response. It seems like both Naruko and Blake were completely bewildered and at a loss for words. For one, no matter how I looked at her, Blake didn't seem to be the type of person to do this kind of thing… and Naruko was still dealing with the failure from before.

Hmm… I mean, even if you tell them so vaguely to introduce themselves, they're still going to be shy. As an outsider, I really shouldn't be butting in here… but it really can't be helped now. So, I proposed an idea.

"Well, how about for each person who is about to introduce themselves, we take turns asking them questions? That way, it should be easier to talk. Ah, of course, you can pass on asking a question if you want. And then, we'll gradually rotate through all of us."

"Hm. That's a nice idea, Naruto-chan. Then, let's start with Blake-chan!"

"Oh yeah, just feel free to pick me first… "

At Blake's fierce glare, Penny, with a "well, well," made exaggerated gestures in an attempt to calm her down. Blake blew on her hot milk, and after slowly taking one sip, muttered with an uninterested expression.

"Alright, fine… well, I believe I already gave you my name, so what should I talk about after that?"

"Hmm, well first. I have a question… yeah."

I was sure that she was going to start with the obvious question about her outfit, but Penny did nothing of the sort.

"Hmm, well, could you tell us a story about an event recently that made you really nervous?"

"That doesn't sound like a question appropriate for self-introductions. It sounds more like something a guest would be asked on a talk show… "

Geez, I felt the same way. I did not understand at all why Penny would ask such a question… but with a "whatever," Blake played along. Really? She's pretty impressively calm about this. With that, the flow of conversation began to smoothen.

"Hm, an event that made me really nervous, right… if I had to pick one… " Blake pondered expressionlessly for a little while, but before long began to mutter in a disinterested tone. "I was planning a submission to NicoNicoDouga, so I put on my cat ears and tail and was dancing around, when my little sisters saw me… yeah, I guess that made me pretty nervous."

I didn't know what Niconico-whatever was, but I did understand that she had lost her cool, quite contrary to her calm demeanor now. Still, I could only really understand half of what she said, so I couldn't comment.

"Hahaha, Blake-chan is surprisingly mischievous, isn't she? And then your sisters came in?"

"Yeah. They were staring at me as if she was witnessing something inexplicable and her mouth was half open."

I can believe it. I mean, that's pretty much how I felt just now, right? I can relate to her sisters all too well.

The conversation then turned into Blake's sisters but Naruko continued to be silent the entire time. As always, she's just too nervous, isn't she? And then, with good timing, Penny turned the conversation to Naruko. "Alright, it's Naruru-chan's turn now! Please ask Blake-chan a question~!"

"Uh, me?… uh… uhhh… " Realizing that she was suddenly being pointed at by Penny, Naruko blinked in surprise. "I-I… don't really have anything to ask… so… I'll pass."

What an idiot. What the hell are you doing!? All this after Penny, being considerate, didn't ask Blake about her outfit so you could have an easy question! Ask it, won't you!? Ask about her clothes! But it didn't seem like my mental wishes went through, and Naruko curled up tightly on her chair while casting her eyes downwards.

Well… this might be something else. It might be that Naruko is still traumatized from being excluded from the previous meeting… maybe… what should I do? Scratching my chin, I threw a suitable question at Blake. "What kinds of food do you like?"

"Fish… is that a good enough answer?" Blake begrudgingly answered me as if she was just fulfilling some sort of unwanted obligation. It seems that this girl also doesn't have enough respect for other people, does she?

"Alright. Next, it is Naruru-chan's turn to introduce herself!"

"M-me… ? Uh… uhh… I'm Naruru." Naruko had become quite stiff, and continued to look downwards as she gave her name again.

Sensing that the tension was not decreasing at all, Penny raised her voice with good timing. "Alright, then it's time for a question for Naruru-chan! Blake-chan, if you would please!"

"Why exactly are you wearing such an out of place outfit? I would understand if you were meeting friends in Shibuya or something, but for going to an offline meeting in Akiba, that kind of fashion is just unheard of."

Well, she doesn't mince words and goes right to the difficult questions, doesn't she? This cat girl! This will just further traumatize her, so don't ask such a thing! Certainly, I wanted to tell someone to ask about clothes, but that someone definitely was not you.

"Wha-" as expected, Naruko, seeming dejected, looked offended and tried to refute Blake's statement. "Well, I'm sorry… I can't help it, this is just the type of clothing that suits me. A-and, I mean, you too… "

"Me too? What's that? Please tell me," Blake whispered this with a sneer. Whoa… what an amazingly condescending atmosphere.

A blood vessel rose to the surface on Naruko's forehead. Whaaa, stay in control, please, stay in control. Naruko, normally having a quick temper, was showing an almost unheard of level of self control, and was deeply breathing in and out. She was probably on the verge of blowing up inside, but on the surface she still didn't seem that angry. But even the smallest thing could set her off now. Damn, I'm worried.

Hoping that she would be able to defuse this dangerous atmosphere, I looked at Penny, but… she was sitting there with her neck cutely inclined to the side, with an expression of feigned ignorance that said "Oh dear, how will this turn out?" It seemed like she was just going to sit back and watch… dammit, what is she trying to accomplish? As the smell of gunpowder hung in the air, Naruko and Blake's exchange continued.

"I think I'll have to take back my pass from before. I have a question for you too. That costume… what cosplay is it supposed to be? Momomiya Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew… right?"

"Ah, this? It's not Ichigo. That's completely wrong, where exactly are you looking…? Exgate Online's Indra the Demon Goddess of Hell… could it be you haven't heard of it?"

I had no idea. Even if she acted surprised that people hadn't heard of it, I had no idea. Naruko also didn't seem to have heard of it.

"Hm? I think I've heard the name somewhere before… it's a new Anime, right?"

"Yes. Exgate Online. It's an action Anime, and the story and artwork are both the best out of the current season. It airs in the evening every Friday, so watch it, alright?"

"Ah, that… isn't that competing with Roz-chan in the same time slot? It's that Isekai harem Anime with those super power edgy boys, right?"

*Ping.*

I could have sworn I saw a vision of a skull and crossbones switch being pushed.

"What in the world do you mean by edgy? I hate that word with all of my being. Just labeling it with a word like that, idiots criticize it without even trying to see the show for what it is. You said something there… 'Roz-chan,' could you possibly mean Zodiac Angel Roz-chan? Hmph! Children's Anime like that is not cool at all. Other than idiot kids, or stupid adults who are satisfied as long as there's a cute Anime girl in it, I can't think of anyone who would watch that rubbish. Also, if you take into account the ratings, it's Zodiac Angel Roz-chan that's the inferior one, isn't it? Please don't say stupid reckless things."

"Children Anime you said!? Roz-chan is not a children's Anime, idiot! And also, by your remarks, you haven't even seen Roz-chan, have you? If you watched the first three episodes, you definitely wouldn't be throwing around insults like that! Ahhh, how pitiable! Someone who hasn't even seen Roz-chan! And together with that ultra-cool soundtrack from Star Maidens that will make you want to die, everything is just so awesome! Don't you dare make fun of Roz-chan!"

"It's you that should be more respectful. That stupid Anime is only loved by people who like to watch young girls dress in perverted clothes. Could it be that you're one of those pigs?"

What the hell is happening? Why did an argument suddenly start?

"Waait wait wait wait wait! You two, don't get up and stay in your seats! Calm down! It's just Anime, isn't it?"

" IT'S JUST Anime!? " Blake and Naruko simultaneously turned to face me.

Crap, Otaku are scary when they get serious. I looked to Penny for help, but she just went on sipping her orange juice without concerning herself with me. I leaned over and whispered into her ear.

"P-Penny-chan do something, won't you?"

"Opening up to each other like this… hehe, don't you think they're strangely suited for each other?"

"Where the hell do you see that!?"

Of course, without anything stopping them, the verbal argument continued.

"Hmph… well, you just have a great personality, don't you? That's why you couldn't make any friends at the offline meeting. Were you self-conscious or something?"

"Look who's talking. I saw you, and all you did the entire meeting was fiddle with your phone by yourself. How gloomy! If you do that, nobody's going to talk to you, you know!"

"Shut up, you… I just suddenly wanted to check the funny memes in an Anime Twitter I followed… "

The two girls stared each other down while holding imposing poses. They were both very pretty but… this was quite a stupid argument.

But honestly, they're both to blame, aren't they? Geez… why do all the pretty ones have such problematic personalities? Because of you two, my own prejudice against good-looking girls is just getting stronger and stronger. As I thought, normal girls are the best.

As I began to escape from reality, the battle of insults had come to a standstill, and Penny interrupted. "Well, it seems that the discussion has completed the first stage, so let's proceed to the next phase, shall we? Let's see… it's my turn next."

With her boomingly clear voice, Penny attracted the attention of everyone in the place. The corners of her lips upturned, she smiled. "Alright, so one more time. My username is Penny Polendina. I act as the leader of the 'Otaku Girls Unite!' community. This is already written on my profile page, but I'm eighteen years old and currently in my final year in high school. I believe that Blake-chan is around the same age as Naruru-chan and Naruto-chan here, right?"

Penny had casually changed the subject to Blake, but Blake showed no reaction. She was completely expressionless.

So she was older than the three of us and I could guess that Blake would be somewhere around Naruko and my age. But Penny…? She didn't look like a high school girl at all. Not really believing it, I took a good look at Penny.

"Why are you staring at me so intensely, Naruto-chan? Fufufu~ If you want to know my measurements are-"

"You don't have to tell me that!" I shouted. Dammit, I really didn't know how to handle any of these girls…

"Alright, alright, someone quickly asked her a question." Exhausted, I pleaded for someone to help me, and surprisingly, Blake was the one who answered.

"Alright then, I'll ask the question everyone has on their mind. What the hell is with that gross Otaku outfit and manner of speaking?"

I really wanted to hear her answer to that one too! In my heart, I applauded Blake's nerve, but what should I do when the question is answered honestly? I should take my sister and get away from this weirdo, right? Thankfully, my fears were misplaced. Penny responded. "Well, haha, I'm a bit embarrassed. Truth is, this was the first time I organized something like an offline meeting… so I wanted to make a good impression on everyone and did my best to make a character appropriate for a leader… I mean, normally I'm a bit more reserved than this."

Seriously? You can't just make a character out of an outfit, but you have to change how you speak too? The remarks I wanted to make here were absolutely countless… for now, I'll just say that I can't even begin to believe that she's a bit more reserved normally. She might think so, but it's probably not true.

Blake blinked her golden eyes in surprise. "If you did your best, how it became something like that, I can't even begin to understand. But, at least, it's a bit preferable to a certain someone who came armed to the teeth with brand-name clothes, who tried so hard but just ended up being ignored."

"What the hell? Annoying… you shouldn't be the one talking. What the hell is up with that overdone cat girl outfit!? Even in Akiba, I didn't think I would see an idiot wearing such an outrageous thing at the meeting!"

"What did you say?"

Once again, Naruko and Blake were glaring at each other. Whatever, I'm just going to leave them be. Dealing with each and every argument is just too tiring. Also… I just realized something. Naruko had picked some truly cute brand-name clothes for today. Blake had come in a full-blown serious cosplay. Penny had wrapped her body in the clothes of a gross Otaku. Three people, three kinds. Yet, even though their appearances and personalities were so different, these three had common ground. And that is… that all three of these people, wanting to do well at the offline meeting, had each very carefully and with great effort picked their outfits.

As I listened to Blake and Naruko sling insults at each other that I couldn't quite understand, I reflected over these past few hours. Today marked the first time I had come into contact with Otaku outside of my sister… but honestly, they were completely different from what I had imagined them to be. When I say "Otaku" here, I'm using the strict interpretation of "Otaku." That is, people who like games or Anime, who are really into what we call the "subculture." I think I'm saying something obvious, but they are people who love their hobbies, and that's it. Yes, that's all there is to it. It's not different from liking music, or sport, or mystery novels, or calligraphy. But, up to now, I didn't think that. An "Otaku" was something that went beyond just attachment to a hobby, that had some special extra quality to it. Even though I really didn't know what that extra quality was.

Even now, at my side, Naruko and Blake were still bickering feverishly, probably about Anime stuff. Is there really a difference between this situation and a bunch of girls talking dreamily in a karaoke box about their most beloved idols? Is this really any different from members of high class society sitting in a corner of a stylish café, talking about romance novels? Well… there probably isn't any major difference, I think. Am I wrong?

Naruko had said that because she had to worry about her public image, she couldn't pursue her hobby in public. I understand her reasoning. Thinking back on how I thought of Otaku before today, it was quite clear to me that society holds great prejudice against them. Especially amongst high school students. But, not all of it is completely prejudiced… like, weren't these people a bit weird? At the very least, they weren't normal. Yes, prejudiced as I am, I dare to say this. But, I underestimated them! They were weird beyond belief! Well, I mean… these three are the only Otaku I know, and it might be hasty to use them as a basis for judgment. The typical Otaku may be quite different from these three. So, by this point, it's pretty clear that any thoughts I express on Otaku from here on out will be affected greatly by the prejudices I harbor against them. I think Otaku definitely have their good points too. Although they still are a bit weird.

I looked at the unmistakable Otaku. For instance, even though Penny is older than us, she is very considerate of us and good natured, isn't she? But also… she's weird in every possible way! Yet it was admirable that she could play the role of a leader so well in order to make sure everyone else was satisfied. There were other good points as well. Going over the day's events again in my head, I understood this well. For example, take the maid café where the offline meeting happened. Take the festival-like main street in Akihabara. And then, take this second meeting here. Apart from the sad scene of Naruko getting left out of the conversation, I didn't think there was anything bad about these things. Rather, they seemed like fun. To have people who like the same thing gather, to hang out together, to play together… if you can't participate in that, wouldn't you regret it too? Are you worried about public image? Terrified of prejudice? Don't worry, come join us. Together, we'll have a huge party and have lots of fun! I could imagine them saying this with arms outstretched to the ceiling.

Who's "them,"? Well, I don't really know… although, if I had to give an answer, I'd say that "them" would be everyone. Although, I might just be talking to myself. So, these people are here to fulfill that hope, aren't they? They came here to find friends, just like Naruko did. I mean, just take a look at this heated verbal exchange between Naruko and Blake here. They had only met today, and they could already get so seriously into a deep argument like this… that's amazing in its own way, isn't it? Right? And that's because, between these two, there is something very important that they both strongly believe in. Although, from the side, well, some people might still see them as quite strange. But it still definitely wasn't a bad thing. It's not something to be looked down on, to be brushed to the side as not having any redeeming qualities. No matter how strange they happen to be.

"Ugh… the likes of you… to just keep going on and on as you like. Alright, let's take this outside, bitch. I'll etch true fear into your body there. I'll make you regret this in the next life."

"Shut up! Do whatever the hell you want, you delusional shitty cat."

"S-s-shitty cat… d-d-d-d-delusional? You've finally said something you shouldn't have… ahh, how pathetic, you don't know what you've done, do you? Even if you regret it, it's too late. Even I won't be able to stop it… "

"Are you an idiot!? You, don't you want to stop being such an embarrassment? Wouldn't it be better if you went off and died somewhere?"

I take back what I said before. Otaku… are definitely terrifying people.

ঌ ໒

11

It was a little while after that. Having left the Starbucks, we followed Penny's plan and went for some light shopping in Akihabara, during that time, Blake and Naruko never ceased their foul-mouthed arguments. It was generally tangled in Otaku subjects though. They started from Anime, then went to games, then to manga… this couple and that couple… the artwork is yadda yadda, the DVD's price is blah blah… but through it all, I was amazed at their everlasting string of verbal abuse and bitter insults. It was evening, and the get-together had just disbanded. Even though they had already said their formal farewells earlier, the battle between superpower boys and magical girls continued.

"Heehee, Naruru-chan and Blake-chan are really hitting it off, aren't they?"

"Where exactly do you see that?" Those words came out of my mouth, but… I sort of understand where she's coming from.

Watching as Naruko and Blake threw verbal abuse at each other, I couldn't help but turn up the edges of my lips a bit. I'm glad, Naruko. I'm glad that you found someone to talk to about your hobbies in such a loud, unrestrained way. Although, you'll definitely deny that this has happened… but you've made a friend here, haven't you?

"Well, then," trying not to get pulled into the Otaku Anime dispute, Penny and I stood a bit to the side. We stood on a walkway at the side of Akihabara's Washington Hotel. Soon, there was a crosswalk in front of us. As Naruko's brother, there were words that I definitely had to say to this person. With as much sincerity as I could muster, I lowered my head to Penny. "Thank you."

"Huh? What exactly are you thanking me for?" A question mark floated above Penny's head and she inclined her neck.

Although, I'm pretty sure she understood. But, saying anything past what we've said would be inappropriate. But I said what I had to say. And I definitely believed that my feelings were transmitted successfully. I smiled. "As I thought, you're a good person, Penny-chan. I am really grateful for what you did to my sister."

"I don't know what you're saying, but… hee hee, I'm not as good as you make me out to be. I've always just only done what I want to do, and not anything more… but if you really think like that, then probably, that's because Naruto-chan himself is a good person. Other people are just mirrors of that, aren't they?"

Having said that, Penny took out a poster from her backpack and wielded it like a lightsaber. The poster gleamed under the light of the setting sun. Squinting at the shining point of her makeshift sword, I shrugged my shoulders.

"Hm, say whatever you want."

"Exactly," Penny smiled and turned her back to me.

In her head wrapped in a bandana. With her checkered shirt tucked into her trousers. It was a terrible, gross Otaku fashion. I couldn't believe how out of fashion it was! Penny, with a swish, swung her sword to the side, and resheathed it into her backpack.

"Well then, let's be sure to meet again sometime, Naruto-chan."

The traffic light turned green. Akihabara station was tinted with the glow of dusk. Penny confidently strolled away from me, not afraid of what others might think, she was an impressive sight. Not wanting to be outdone, I puffed up my chest and walked to Naruko's side.

ঌ ໒

12

Coming home from the school, I went into the living room and saw my mother, who seemed to have just come back from shopping. While putting things into the refrigerator, she hummed happily to herself and seemed to be in a good mood. Did something good happen?

Holding a wheat tea in one hand, I teased her. "Mom, what are you grinning at? Are you drunk or something?"

"Shut up, Naruto! I'm not drunk! it's just that, just now, the lady next door gave me a compliment. 'That daughter of yours is really impressive', she said."

"Ahh… so it was about Naruko… " I murmured while my face twitched in irritation, and my mother's face burst into a huge smile.

"Yesterday during club activities, somehow or other she did amazingly well, and it seems she'll be participating in a big tournament later. The lady next door heard from her daughter."

"Oh? And what type of club is she in?"

"What? You don't know, even though you're her brother?

"How should I know? We attend different schools, you know."

"Geez, you two seriously don't have a good relationship, do you? She does track, you know, track."

Hey hey, give me a break… she has good looks. She excels at schoolwork. And now she's also a sports prodigy? Dammit, enough already. This stuff does exist only in Manga, where there are characters that are just good at everything. But because this was reality I was really bothered by this all… well, I guess they did exist. This type of freak-like being.

"But, does she have time to do club activities? Studying and playing with friends… doesn't she have to do a lot of other things?"

"Well, of course, she has to keep up with schoolwork and other things too. Otherwise, I really wouldn't approve of it. You might not know, but she's also working as a magazine model."

Well, yeah, sure. It probably wasn't very easy to get this stubborn woman to let Naruko go off and do something flashy like being a model.

"She made a promise with me. Let her do whatever she wants, and she'd be sure to keep up with everything else."

"I see… " I responded in a vague way.

Mom grinned broadly. "And now… she's really pretty famous in the neighborhood. She's also so polite when she goes outside, and greets everyone properly… and also like me she has such beautiful looks, doesn't she?"

"H-huh?" I raised my eyebrows in complete disbelief, but Mom continued on without paying me any heed. Well, certainly, they both know how to completely ignore other people when they're talking.

"She's also really popular with the elderly! She really makes me proud too! All the others are so envious of her."

"But isn't all that politeness just part of the agreement with you? Her motives aren't exactly pure, you know."

"Not pure? That doesn't really matter. Even if she didn't talk it would be the same, wouldn't it? Naruko would still be great - that wouldn't change."

She's being so blunt about it. Will she really be alright, my mother? But well, she did have her reasons. Naruko put a lot of time and effort into doing this in order to keep her freedom, and she managed to come out with great results. That at least I had to recognize.

It's not like wanting to do something is the same as being able to properly do it. At the very least, it would have been impossible for me. Although lately, whenever people talk about Naruko it's always been "She's so great!" this and "She's great!" that. Do people not know any other words? Although it's possible I'm just speaking from prejudice. Well, whatever. Honestly, it's not that amusing to hear my sister's praises at every turn. It makes me feel like my own shortcomings are being emphasized. This is sort of a shameful way of thinking about it, though. As these complicated thoughts flew through my head, my mother said something unexpected. "Now that I think about it, lately that girl's been more lively than usual. Although, it's probably a change that only I've noticed."

"Oh?" As I raised my eyebrow, my mother said something crazy.

"It's… definitely a boy, isn't it!? Naruto, do you know anything about it?"

"A b-boy?"

"Yes, there's no mistaking it. She met a boy - that's why she's smiling so much now!"

That's not it. Do you really think there would be a boy that would go out with that girl? If there was, I'd give in and concede that he is a god. But my mother clearly didn't agree, so she excitedly investigated

"So, you don't know? Even a vague idea would be fine."

"Why would I know? I have a bad relationship with her, remember?" I answered as if it was obvious, and my mother stared at me with pursed lips.

"Seriously, Naruto, you really should have looked at your sister. She's doing so well, so it's obviously not a problem with the genes."

"Unfortunately, Mom, I guess those genes came from your side… I'll just have to go the straightforward way and keep studying."At my sharp parting shot, I left the room. Putting my hand on the doorknob, I opened the door with a clang!

Naruko has been more lively than usual, huh? Well, I do have a guess as to the reason. Maybe… although it seems unbelievable. Being shown her surprising hobby, being complained by her at every step, being made to play an eroge, being taken along to the offline meeting, being dragged around Akiba… maybe the life counseling that I was forced to give seems to have had a bit of an effect on her.

ঌ ໒

13

Couple days later, in the evening, I finally finished "Loving my Little Sister." Honestly, it was a troublesome, difficult ordeal to get through. I mean, it wasn't as if it was boring. It was just that this game had already driven me insane a countless number of times. Already having a real sister, I had to endure playing a sister capture game like this, and somehow or other survived up to this point.

I did something pretty impressive, if I say so myself. No… seriously, I'm really, really happy… I'm seriously filled with emotion. Setting aside my impressions of the actual game, I feel an extraordinary sense of accomplishment. Why am I getting so excited over this? A warm feeling broke forth from inside my chest…

Yes! I did it! Happy happy! Hooray! I want to shout my triumph out to the world! Haha! I won't ever have to grovel to those little devils ever again! I won't have to listen to their whispers of "Oniichan, is it okay?" and cry tears of blood ever again! Yaaaaaaaaahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I was showing an idiotic and rare amount of high energy. But even I couldn't stop this excitement! And then, suddenly… on the computer I had borrowed from Naruko, the END credits began to roll.

Sitting at the desk I usually worked at, I stretched my back muscles with all my might and let out a breath. After that, the feeling of accomplishment slowly dwindled into nothingness… my chest tightened. The high spirits of just a few moments before came quickly crashing down. It was my first time feeling the strange emptiness that lingered right after finishing a galge. Nothing good can come of this.

What was up with this feeling, as if a wise man had just achieved enlightenment? Hm… and why was I so worked up a few moments before? Well, let's go back to the game then. With a clear and serene determination, I stood up. I left my own room, and knocked on the door to Naruko's room.

*Kshh.*

The door opened slightly, and my sister poked her head out. As usual, she glared at me as if she was looking at her sworn enemy.

"What? Do you want something?"

"I'm here to return the game"

Geez, this girl… in the end, reality and games are different, aren't they? Here, I definitely couldn't go through event sequences and generate good will that way. There seriously had to be bugs in the difficulty level of this game.

Naruko took the computer from me, and spoke with a doubtful tone,"You finished it?"

"Yeah, I finished it."

"And?"

"Well… " Hey, Naruko… what's with that evil professor expression? "Well, it was really interesting?"

"In what ways? Be more specific." Naruko began her emotionless cross-examination.

Ah… I see… right now, I was stuck in one of those "decision points" like in the game… but, the affection points the sister in front of me had for me were already completely in the negative. So, if I made a poor choice, my life would end… and in this game of real life, there were no saves and reloads… my fate would be decided by a single decision. Dead or alive. Well, wasn't this great.

"Umm… Hina-chan's scenario? The latter half was… a good story, I think. That is, when their parents didn't like their relationship… and Hina ran away from home… and then the main character chased after her… and the background changed to that setting sun… that scene."

Upon hearing my response, Naruko shut her eyes and was silent. Perhaps I had managed to give a correct response… or not. But honestly, I had just picked the scene I had played most recently. Clicking furiously like that through such emotionally burdensome scenes, do you honestly think I could remember all of them, idiot!?

At long last, Naruko opened her eyes. With narrowed eyes as if she was looking down at me, she spoke, "W-well… I guess you sort of understand then."

Ooh… somehow, it seemed like I had given a correct response. Heh… and then I thought about this once again. This is so ridiculous! This seriously isn't funny! Why do I have to talk with my real sister about fictional sister games!? I mean, I had already tried very hard to help her make friends so I wouldn't have to talk about this stuff in the first place! First, tell me what happened with those people, can't you!?

"But, you still have room for improvement. That isn't the only good scene in the game. For example… "

"W-wait." Interrupting Naruko when she started trying to speak, I tried to change the subject. "We can talk about that stuff at length later… but first tell me. What's been happening with those people we met at the offline meeting?"

"Huh? Ah… those people," Naruko pursed her lips, and with a blunt tone, beckoned me into her room. "Come in."

It seemed that she didn't think it would be appropriate to continue this conversation in the hallway. "Okay." I followed her and entered.

Naruko put the computer on the table and sat on the bed. She cracked the joints on her neck, and spoke in an extremely uninterested tone. "In short, we've been keeping in touch, even now. Through mail and through messages."

"Oh? Then you've become friends."

"Friends, I wouldn't say… more like conversation partners? Really, we just talk with each other. They tell me things that I wouldn't know, for example… well, it's pretty useful at least."

Wait, that sounds exactly like friendship, doesn't it? She's just dead set on not using that word, it seems. When you're hiding your true personality, you don't have trouble with calling people friends, so why can't you be straight with the people you can be completely open and honest with? Well, it's not like this is unexpected.

"So, you haven't met with them in person again?"

"Yeah. That shitty cat seems to live relatively close by, but Penny-san is a bit far from me. So they're thinking of organizing another offline meeting… well, I guess it can't be helped, right? I'll go for their sake… yeah."

"Huh… I see… " It seems like I did a pretty good job. Not only did I clear the game, but it seems that I succeeded in getting Naruko to make friends she could talk openly with.

My mother had said that Naruko has been looking pretty happy lately… and it also seemed that she had become more self-sufficient and stopped relying on me. It seems that she intended to go to the next offline meeting by herself. So, everything seemed to be going pretty well, and there was no more need for our "life counseling" sessions. Geez… so, I guess that my work is done. Feeling refreshed, I spoke. "Hey, Naruko. Don't go carelessly dropping your DVDs again, alright?"

"Shut up. Do you really think I would repeat something stupid like that?"

"Look who's talking. That time, just by shaking you a bit you were so flustered that you were so easily caught in my obvious trap, and tried to cover up your carelessness with your short temper."

As I reminisced with a grin on my face, Naruko blushed and threw a tissue box at me.

"Oops." Moving my neck, I nimbly dodged it. Then I proceeded to escape from the room. Shutting the door behind me, I heard a loud bang! as something else collided into the door. She'll always be like this, won't she? She's pretty frightening, isn't she? Well, whatever. Naruto's life counseling services at this time were officially closed!

ঌ ໒

14

It was a Sunday evening, and when I returned home from my friend's house, the house was strangely silent. There were no sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen, nor could I hear the television or the sound of any talking. It was unnatural.

Taking off my shoes, I felt a tingling sensation and slapped the back of my neck. A strangely tense atmosphere floated about. I could feel goosebumps rising on my skin. Something was definitely strange. This was different from the home I was used to.

Raising my eyebrows, I walked through the hallway while trying to keep absolutely silent. I stopped in front of the door to the living room. An ominous feeling washed over me as I placed my hand on the knob, and I hesitated for a Moment.

Gulp. Swallowing deeply, I opened the door. "… I'm… home…?"

When I entered the room, I saw Naruko and Mom sitting across a table from each other on the sofa having a meeting. Both were silent. Mom's face was absolutely expressionless, so I couldn't tell what she was thinking, but Naruko was frozen solid, and was hanging her head. And then…

Ah. Everything became clear when I glanced at the table. On top of the table, as Mom might put it from her line of work, there were two pieces of evidence. First, there was the brand-name handbag that Naruko often carried with her. Second, there was something that I had definitely not forgotten. It was the "Zodiac Angel Roz-chan" DVD case, with the copy of "Loving my Little Sister (18+)" inside. The DVD case was open. The evidence was more than enough. There was no use in arguing about who was guilty. While blinking a number of times, I came to understand the situation.

IS SHE A HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE IDIOOOOOOOOT!? Idiot! What a huge idiot! This situation was already so pitiable, I felt tears coming to my eyes! Didn't you say that the one thing we had to do was to not expose your secret!? And she was careless again and dropped her DVD… didn't I already warn her not to do that!? She had repeated her blockheaded mistake once again! She's done the same thing as when she exposed her secret to me! Why, if she's so talented everywhere else, does she have to fail at this one thing!? How can she be so careless… ahh… what should I do? I have no idea…

For ten minutes I stayed anxiously in front of the living room door. I can clearly hear Mom yelling at Naruko from here. Having her secret hobby exposed to Mom, how was she trying to explain it anyway? I couldn't even imagine what she would say… but to that woman, I couldn't see any excuse working. She was so convinced of her own beliefs that she would never concede to anyone else. Also, she was surprisingly sharp. It wouldn't be wrong to say that she could see through lies very well. Ugh… what's going to happen…?

It was ten more minutes before Naruko appeared in the doorway. Strongly kicking the door open, Naruko flew out with a frighteningly devilish expression on her face. Her face was bright red with anger, and her eyes were swollen and bloodshot.

"Na-Naruko… ?"

"Get out of my way! Get out!" Naruko quickly walked towards me, and with a glare filled with hatred, pushed me out of the way. Like this, it felt like there was very little I could do to calm her down. Naruko's breathing became more and more audible as she headed towards the entranceway and began to confusedly put on her boots.

"Hey Naruko where are you going?"

"Shut up, I can go wherever the hell I want!"

"Wait a second."

As Naruko began to leave the house, I tried to chase after her, but…

*Bang!*

Naruko slammed the door shut behind her.

Should I chase after her? No… before that… I returned back inside. I wasn't sure, but I was considering asking Mom to tell me the details of what had happened. I had to do that if I wanted to know what had caused Naruko to get so enraged. Although I can vaguely imagine what went on.

Very cautiously, I entered the living room, and for some reason Mom was handling a vacuum cleaner. In the corner of the living room, a crystal ashtray sat overturned… could it be that Mom lost her cool and threw that? What in the world could have unfolded here?

Mom silently operated the vacuum cleaner. In the dead silence, the echoing sound of the vacuum stood out like a sore thumb. A tense silence, the kind that persisted right after a familial conflict, dominated the mood of the room.

At long last, Mom stopped vacuuming, and in a low, deep voice, mumbled this, "Naruto, please sit there for a bit."

"A-alright… " doing as I was told, I drew near the table and sat down on the sofa. She was probably planning to interrogate me about Naruko's situation. Or maybe she was going to lecture me. Naruko was really stubborn when it came to this, so my name probably didn't come up. But, knowing Mom, she could probably guess even without firm evidence that I was involved. It would be pointless to try and play dumb.

Well, it was what it was. I also didn't have any intention of confessing that I had given advices to Naruko. That was just common courtesy. I turned my eyes to the top of the table. The damning evidence, the open DVD case, was still placed on top. Next to it, I saw a single scrap of paper. It seemed like the scrap was an advertisement for an Anime and Manga specialty shop. There was a huge image of 'Roz-chan,' and right underneath was this description:

'Zodiac Angel Roz-chan Vol. 1: Beginnings - First Limited Edition has finally arrived! Customers who bring the box from a previous edition to the shop counter will receive a signed postcard by the popular Roz-chan voice actress as a gift!'

Ah, I see. With this, a few of my questions have been answered…

The day I had found her Zodiac Angel Roz-chan package, why was she carrying the package with her, outside when she didn't have any Otaku friends to call on? And why did she have the package with her today? Well, she probably planned to bring it to the store counter, and get a signed postcard. It wasn't something that took much time to do, so she probably thought it would be good to just do it quickly… but of all the times she could have done it, today… that was the most terrible timing. For now, with this, I understood that when Mom discovered all this, Naruko had come back from the meeting. That's probably what happened. Once she came back, she went to her room, put Zodiac Angel Roz-chan into her bag, and when she thought "well, let's go get that signed postcard," she bumped into Mom… I could imagine that flow of events. I don't really know what happened after that, but, well, it was clear she had somehow or other seen the contents of the DVD case. And then that was enough to hold a family council like that… what a miserable story. And then… after having tidied the room with the vacuum, Mom sat across from me. As if by reflex, I grew anxious and corrected my posture.

"Naruto, did you know about this?"

"Y-yeah." I could not respond any other way.

"I see. I won't ask why you know about it already. I'm not here to chat."

Mom's stare was not just frightening, but it seemed to pierce into the very center of my soul. How far had she guessed about my involvement with this crime? I felt my spine shiver.

"I have never bought things like this for you two. Do you know why?" Picking up the DVD case with one hand, she spoke about both the Anime drawing on the cover and the contents of the case. The 18+ indication only applied to the contents of the case, but Mom did not make such a distinction. Not being able to make any objection, I stayed silent. Trying to avoid Mom's gaze, I looked downwards. Every time Naruko or I have received a lecture from our mother, it's always like this. "It is because things like this are bad influences for you two. The news also often talks about these things, how playing things like these games will rot your brain. I don't mean that you should just swallow every story the television tells you… "

Well, in either case, they were worthless things, right? That's what Mom's facial expression was saying. Mom's understanding of the subculture was outrageously low. She would apply her so called "common adult knowledge" stereotypes to everything, and only through this filter could she view Naruko's hobbies. Although, just a while ago, my own opinions about Otaku were similar to those of Mom. I could buy magazines and CDs with my allowance, but Mom would definitely never allow me to buy video games. She always told me video games were good for nothing. People who played games were all idiots. For this reason, Naruko was in quite serious trouble.

"Well, that's how it is, more or less. People say that these things are bad influences. And also, people who only play those games all the time are… what? They're Otakus, or something… and Otakus are hated, right? So, nothing good can come of these things. So there is no reason for you two to buy these."

"But that is… " Just as I was barely beginning to talk, Mom broke me off.

"I guess you want to tell me 'well, Naruko spent her own money.' I know that, and I'm not going to dwell on that issue. Whether it was makeup, or showy clothes, or handbags… from the start, I believed that I should set down rules to control the various things that my daughter shouldn't have because she is still too young… but your grandparents told me that they were necessary to make friends, so I couldn't resist. I gave up and let Naruko do what she wants."

"So makeup and handbags are alright, but Anime and games are not?"

"Obviously! That hobby is believed to be bad, so I cannot allow my precious daughter to have such things. Especially since, if I do say so myself, Naruko is really a talented kid. If she becomes addicted to that worthless hobby, I have to correct her and put her back on the right path before she is completely lost."

As an Otaku, Naruko would be completely lost. So, she would stop that from happening. That was the gist of what Mom was saying. Honestly, by getting hooked on eroge, as a junior high school student my sister had already gone bad, so I really couldn't say anything in response to Mom. And then… seeming to have finished her lecture, Mom stood up from her seat and began to leave the living room. A chill ran up my spine.

"M-Mom? Where are you going…?" Panic, I chased after Mom, and called out to her.

She was trying to go up the stairs. Up there, there was nothing but my room and Naruko's room. Could it be…!? Mom said exactly what I had feared. "I am going to investigate Naruko's room. She might be hiding other things like this from me."

"W-wait! Wait just a second please!" Crap, Naruko's complete collection is…! From the foot of the stairs, I looked up at Mom and held her back with my loud voice. "And if that sort of stuff was there, you would have already found it! You clean that room every day! Even the ero books I had hidden in my room, you found all of them, didn't you? There isn't any reason she has anything hidden up there! The one you found in her handbag is definitely the only one she has."

Naruko had probably also told her the same thing. If for some reason, Mom discovered all her other eroge, then I have no doubt that she would throw them all out. Even when faced with the unpleasant task of confronting Mom, I'm positive that she would try to defend her collection to her dying breath.

"So what? If I look for them, but don't find them, then it will be fine right?"

No, you're definitely going to find them this time. If this continued, her entire collection would be discovered. Just from what she showed me the last time, she had at least twenty or thirty! Furthermore, Naruko had said there were things in there, she was too embarrassed to show me, so those things were also in there, weren't they? If Mom ever discovered those things, she would completely blow up. Not good… even putting it lightly, this was not good…

"W-wait a second! Mom!"

Mom rapidly ascended the stairs. I chased after her hurriedly, getting in front of her and blocking her path with both arms outstretched.

"Move aside, Naruto!"

"I won't!"

Mom lightly twisted my wrist, and repeated herself. "Move aside!"

It seemed that until the very end, Mom was going to try to get me to move of my own will.

"I won't move!" Dammit… she's strong. The pain in my wrist intensified. "Whatever the situation, just going into someone's room without their permission and rummaging around is bad, isn't it? I mean, even for a parent, there are things you can do and things it would be bad to do. So I won't move!"

I bore the pain and made my case. It looked like I was going to try to defend my sister's collection. Although, I have no idea what became of that girl. Also… if your daughter is in possession of suspicious things, then as a parent it's your duty to scold her and confiscate the items. Mom was just trying to fulfill her duty as a parent, and even if Naruko cried and yelled about it, it was her own fault in the end. So, why in the world was I here enduring this pain, doing something that could not possibly do me personally any good?

Well… because! Somehow or other, she had taken my advices and furthermore I remembered how she had shown off her collection to me with such a proud expression. I remembered how she forced me to play an eroge, constantly asking my impressions, if there was a way or how I wanted to do something for her. And then, I remembered the Starbucks at Akiba, how they had begun to argue even though it was their first time meeting, and how much fun the group of Otaku seemed to be having. It really wasn't something to be thrown away. And that's why I was doing something crazy like this…

"Mom… please leave this to me… let me talk to her. At least wait until then, please. Throwing away her precious things when she isn't even here… that's a terrible thing to do, isn't it? Please, I beg you!"

As my pleas became desperate, Mom watched me with suspicious eyes. "Naruto, you… "

I know exactly what you want to say, Mom. Why is it that I'm protecting my sister so desperately like this, when we don't seem to have a good relationship? Indeed… it's strange however you think about it, isn't it? I personally know all too well how strange it seems! For a while, we glared at each other in silence. With a strict expression, Mom seemed to be thinking about something…

At long last, she let go of my wrist. "Alright. I will wait. I won't go into her room." Mom was a woman who would honor any promise she made. She would never go back on her word. "I leave this to you, but I want you to promise me Naruto, as the only man in this house and as her brother, you have the duty to make sure all of these things are thrown away. All of them, without a single exception. Do you understand?"

"I understand. I'll talk with Naruko… and I'll definitely do that." I had no choice but to answer like that. From her order, I knew that even without going into Naruko's room, Mom was convinced that she had forbidden objects there. It can't really be helped. By standing here and resisting Mom's attempts to get into her room so strongly, I might as well be loudly shouting "there are suspicious things behind this door!" And, if I break this promise, Mom might not forgive me and throw away every single thing in that collection without leaving anything behind. I had to tell Naruko that. On top of the grave seriousness of this duty, the task would be terribly difficult and I would gain little from it.

Dammit. Well, Naruko… at least I bought you some time… although… I shouldn't expect any gratitude from her. Heh…

ঌ ໒

15

Having managed to stop Mom, I went to look out for Naruko. But, I had no idea where she could have gone after rushing out of the house like that. I didn't even have a guess.

As the sun was setting, I ran off into the town without a particular destination in mind. Should I call her cell phone? She probably won't answer it.

"Dammit… where the hell did that girl go…?"

The park, the shopping district, the arcade, the school, in front of the train station… I could not see the conspicuously pretty form of my sister anywhere. She's not here either! Shit! Where else should I look… dammit!

Just like the protagonist in the game my sister lent me, Uzumaki Naruto had flown out of his house looking for his sister, dashing into the sunset-lit town. Images of cute little sisters ran through my mind. In the game, Naruto met his sister again in the city dyed with the color of dusk. Out of breath, while looking up at the sunset, the protagonist saw his sister appear in front of him.

Well, that was just a game. In reality, the scene in which I found my sister was a far cry from such a romantic scene filled with promises. It was the evening, in the shopping district in front of the station. I was running by the side of the arcade, when… a familiar head of bright red hair was attached to someone angrily and violently striking her drumsticks against the drums in a taiko game. Completely ignoring rhythm, she continued with a Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Do you want to break it or something!? Stupid. Unconsciously, I murmured to myself. This idiot. Even though I've been so frantically looking for her… agh, my head began to hurt. Well, this is how it is. It wasn't that dramatic after all.

"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!"

Why in the world is she yelling words like that!? I drew near to my highly praised sister who was in the middle of throwing an angry fit. From behind, I lightly tapped the back of her head.

"You, die!"

*Bang!*

As Naruko turned around she swung the drumstick with her. I took it completely in the face.

"Guahh!"

"Wha…! It's just you… "

"Idiot! Without even figuring out who I was, you hit me!? What if I was a store employee coming to tell you to calm down!?"

Dammit, she really can't control her anger, can she!? However, it was hard to believe that the Naruko who had turned around and the Naruko who was so angrily yelling for people to die were one and the same. Her tone of voice and her facial expression were incredibly sorrowful.

"What did you come here for?"

"What did I come here for…? Well, you ran out of the house… so I came to look for you."

"Huh? Why do you have to do that?"

"Well… Mom tried to go into your room, you know… "

"Wha-!?" Naruko watched me with weepy eyes, and began to tighten her hands over the back of my neck. Ahh! That hurts Idiot! "And you stopped her, right?"

"Dammit, why do you say that as if it's obvious? I'm your brother, not your manservant. Hey, you understand that, don't you? But of course I stopped her… I risked my life for you."

"Alright, s-sorry…"

"Geez… for now, let's go somewhere else. We stand out too much here."

We found a nearby Starbucks and moved there. Even though it was early summer, it was slowly growing dark. Dressed in plain clothes, Naruko and I sat across from each other in front of a small round table. Guests in this place were generally college students and office workers who were coming back from work. High school students, perhaps coming back from club activities, were nowhere to be seen. We were in the middle of that. What did the people around us think of us, I wonder?

We had not said a single word to each other since before. Wearing an angry aura, Naruko had been continually glaring at me with her bloodshot eyes… not being able to bear the silence any longer, I spoke without really thinking. "Hey… Naruko."

"What?"

"What are you going to do? After this."

"… I don't know."

As I thought. If she went back home, our mother would be there. I'm not surprised she doesn't know what to do. In fact, Naruko asked me just that.

"What do you think I should do?" She asked. She was in such a rut and had no choice but to depend on me, and I felt cornered. It was the same as that other time. That's why I couldn't respond with "How should I know?" here. Even if that's really what I thought.

Throw away everything, without leaving a single one. I still haven't told Naruko what Mom said to me. In our house, Mom's word was absolute. What would she think when told her that she had resolved to destroy her entire prized collection? It would be troublesome if she threw a fit here. For now, I have to figure out what exactly happened.

"Before we talk about anything else, Naruko, there are a few things I want to ask you. Is that okay?"

"What?"

"What exactly did Mom say to you? You two really seemed to be in a heated argument." I asked this question to clarify exactly what position Naruko had been put in. Unexpectedly, at that Moment, Naruko panicked. "Naruko… ?"

It was the moment I had asked my question. Naruko's face flushed bright red, and her entire body began to shake. Holding her chest with one hand, her other hand tightened into a fist on top of the table. Her cute face was jumbled up. I could feel the extent of the violent emotions stirring inside her, to the point where it was quite unpleasant. Anger. Regret. And, just a bit of resignation. Frustration. Frustration. Frustration frustration frustration frustration frustration… and sadness. Those kinds of unbearable feelings were keenly being transmitted to me. What exactly happened in the living room back then? But, just by how Naruko was acting right now, I could guess that something must have happened.

"… worthless… " My sister, with her head downcast, whispered darkly. When I asked "What?" Naruko violently beat her hand on the table.

*Bang!*

"She called them worthless! The Anime I love! My games! The offline meeting I was going to today! Everything everything everything! E… even though… they're… not like that… and I… I couldn't… "

After that, she degraded into mostly sobbing, and I couldn't really make out what she was saying. As she hit the table with her fist, Naruko kept her head down and convulsed with sobs.

"You couldn't say anything back… could you?"

"Yeah… "

*Drip, drip.*

Her tears fell in drops onto the table. As the person she had come to for life counseling, it took me not too long to understand what was happening. Today, Naruko had faced our mother's wrath. Her important things, which she had shown me that time, were being trampled underfoot. That's why Naruko was so angry now, that she was deathly frustrated, and why tears were flowing from her eyes. I too had things that were important to me. If she had dismissed those things as worthless, even I would have blown up in anger. Definitely. Even if it was Mom, I would strike out. If I didn't do that, I wouldn't be able to calm down. Naruko feels the same way, doesn't she?

"I couldn't say anything back… and then… I took the crystal ashtray and tried to hit her with it… but she caught my arm… ahh… this is so frustrating… "

Finding a blunt weapon there so quickly… she's seriously pretty frightening. I couldn't hear much of what was going on in there, but to think such a battle was unfolding… I take back what I said about having the same feelings. Dammit… she wasn't trying to kill her own mother, right?

"Here, Naruko, use this handkerchief."

"Ugh… dammit… my makeup… "

I gave her a handkerchief, and she wiped her face. She then excused herself from the table for a little while. She fixed her makeup. And in the meantime, we both calmed down, and started over.

Huh?

"Hey, what are you looking at!" I glared at the people around me, and the inquisitive stares quickly turned away. I'm glad that we're here at this time. At this time, neither Naruko's nor my classmates should be around to see what's happening.

As I downed the rest of my iced coffee, Naruko came back with all her makeup taken off. Quietly, she sat down across from me. It's not like I would ever say this out loud, but she's pretty cute without her makeup on, isn't she? Because I was thinking that…

"… Hey?"

"Hhm? What?" I suddenly spoke up in a rather suspicious way. The makeup-less Naruko then began to talk, in a very subdued tone of voice.

"Do you think… I'm weird? Liking that kind of stuff… is it bad?"

"Naruko… " Looking at me with tear-filled eyes like that, how exactly am I supposed to respond that?

"At the very least, that's what Mom said. But it's not like she was being especially strict. Any normal parent would say something like that, I think that's obvious. You said it yourself, right? You have a public image to maintain, so you can't expose your secret to anyone else."

"But… I mean… already… it's already been exposed… "

"Yeah. So, it's too late for that. We can't change the fact that it's been exposed," I spoke with as much sincerity and goodwill as I could muster. "So, you have to choose."

After saying that, I fell silent. I focused intently on my sister's eyes.

"You mean… whether or not to give this hobby up?"

"If you can do that, then this all will end peacefully. If you stop being an Otaku, your problems will vanish. Mom will stop being angry, and the constantly ticking bomb that's always ticking away next to your public image will also go away… You know, you're amazing. You're great at sports, you excel at school work, you work as a model, you're also in an afterschool club… you're really managing to do some very difficult things. I honestly believe that. And, without that one hobby, you would be absolutely perfect, don't you think? Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"I know. I know more than anybody that I'm good at a lot of things. If I stop being an Otaku, just about everything would be perfect… I've known that from the start." Naruko tapped lightly on the table with her fist. Calmed down, she spoke, "But, I won't stop. I definitely, absolutely won't stop. Because… the things I like… I really like them! For me to stop anyways… I don't want to do that. I can't do that… "

"I see. But as far as Mom's concerned, this has nothing to do with your feelings. You have to correct yourself if you're doing something bad… she'll say that to you until your ears fall off, won't she? No matter how much you like these things, to Mom they'll always be good for nothing and worthless. And if she tries to force you to stop, we can't really do anything about it, can we?"

"Even so!" Naruko shouted with a serious expression. "I won't stop. I won't stop doing what I like to do. You said it yourself before, didn't you? I am both sides of me… if I got rid of one of those sides… if I stopped doing one of them, I wouldn't be myself anymore. I know that I'm a child, so I have to listen to what my parent say. That's obvious, so I can't resist what she says… but, even if my entire collection is thrown away… even if that becomes no more, I would still be the same person… so, the one thing I definitely won't do, is stop doing the things I like to do."

That's what she said. Even if her entire collection were thrown out. Even if her cell phone and computer were taken away, and even if she couldn't connect to the internet anymore, she wouldn't stop being an Otaku. She would definitely not stop. Because that's what she likes. If I got rid of one of those sides, I wouldn't be myself anymore…

I see. You're an idiot. Seriously an idiot. I can't believe how much of an idiot you are. Are Anime and eroge really that important? You have to be stubborn and defend them to your dying breath? I don't understand. Seriously, I don't understand at all. It's a hobby that nobody would praise you for, so why do you think it's so important? How can you be having fun with these things, collecting them, raising a fuss about them? Ahh… geez… it's not like Otaku are all like this. Even so, it's not like I expected her to say anything different.

"It's not bad."

"Huh?"

I spoke with a brazen smile to my confused sister. "I said it's not bad. That's my answer to the question you asked before."

I slowly stood up. "Naruko." Looking at Naruko's face, I pointed at my own face with my thumb. "Leave it to your brother."

ঌ ໒

16

As I hurriedly returned home. Naruko was still at the Starbucks. I gave her clear instructions to wait there for an hour, and then to head home afterwards. I was really the only one talking and I never heard a response from her, so it's unclear whether or not she actually heard what I was saying. In either case, until she actually felt determined enough to head back, she wouldn't return home. Before that, I intended to settle the matter with Mom. Even if it seems impossible. But, I can't help it!

"Throw away everything that's in your room." "Stop being an Otaku" Could I really say those things to her!? Not only did I understand her feelings, but anybody who says such things I can't forgive! Even if that person is Mom! Right now, there was really only one thing that I understood. Naruko is my sister and I'm his brother. Whether or not I hate her, whether or not I don't care about her, whether or not she's an annoying brat… I have to help my sister. That's how it is.

Thirty minutes later, I found myself standing outside the door to our living room. Somehow or other I prepared everything as I had planned. But… honestly, there really wasn't any guarantee that this would go well. To put it bluntly, the possibility that this idea would crash and burn was pretty high.

"I'm home." I opened the door to the living room. Mom was sitting on the sofa, still angry. Noticing me coming in, she glanced at me and scowled. Dammit. She looked even more frightening now. I came to a stop around three meters from her on the side.

"Mom… I have something I want to talk about." I began to talk.

"Did you find Naruko?"

"Yeah… I came to talk… to you."

"And?" Mom pressed me without paying me even a glance.

Honestly, I was grateful. Eventually I would have to look her in the eye and make my case, but for now I really wanted to avoid eye contact. The surrounding atmosphere became very heavy. It was strangely hot, and I had trouble breathing. Sweat began to pour down my face, spilling off the bottom of my jaw.

"And?" Mom pressed me once more with the same words.

"I would like you… to approve of Naruko's hobby."

It may be my imagination, but the moment I said that, the room fell gravely silent. The only sounds I could hear were those of my own heartbeat and my ragged breaths.

"Naruto… " Talking low and without expression, Mom responded. "Earlier, I told you that it was your duty as her brother to throw away all those things. Every single piece, without leaving a single one. And you responded 'I understand. I'll talk with Naruko, and I'll definitely do that.' Isn't that right?"

"Yeah."

"Honor the promises that you make!"

What she's saying is correct. However you think about it, the person who's mistaken is me. I understand that. But… I can't retreat now.

"That's what I wanted to talk about."

"Are you breaking a promise that you made?"

Each one of Mom's words echoed heavily. Gritting my teeth, I raised my voice. "It has nothing to do with me. She won't let anyone stop her, and won't let anybody throw away the things she's been hiding. She also won't listen to reason. Please listen to me, Mom. Listen to my reasons for doing what I did."

"Fine… go ahead."

"Certainly… Naruko's hobby is not something an average girl would have. So, in her usual crowds there wasn't really anybody who shared her hobby." Taking a single breath, I continued. "… So, she tried to find friends who had the same hobby… and, she looked in a lot of different places, and somehow or other found some good people… she even met them in real life for the first time."

Mom continued to stare at me, and silently listened to me. The pressure of silence was extremely frightening. If I think about it, today was pretty unpleasant for Mom as well. To think that her beloved little daughter whom she's raised all these years would come out and say "Actually, I love ero game." And, when she tried to scold her and set her straight, she tried to beat her to death with an ashtray. On top of that, her son then comes in, uninvited, and begins to chatter about defending her sister's outrageous hobby.

"That was just recently. Today, she was coming back from meeting those friends in an offline meeting… I mean, a meeting for people with the same hobby… you probably already heard this, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"And then, you called her hobby worthless… don't make fun of her when she's tried so hard! Even though you don't know that much about her hobby, you're making such quick judgments about it!"

Because my sister regrettably couldn't say anything, I was telling her what Naruko felt in her place. Even though these weren't supposed to be my feelings, even though this entire situation really wasn't my business, I was honestly getting angry. At some point, this was no longer "somebody else's problem."

"With my own eyes, I've seen her 'important things.' I've also met with people who love the same things. Of course there's prejudice against them, and there's no helping that, since they really are an odd bunch. How they speak, how they act, how they dress - at any rate it's all pretty odd. Honestly, I can't understand where they're coming from at all. But!"

I remembered. That scene in Akiba, and my own feelings. "It's really not a bad thing, I think. They really seem like they have fun when they're together. Even though it was their first time meeting, they could argue so loudly, and raise so much of a commotion. They really love what they love! Naruko, and those others, being able to get seriously angry like that - it's not something to be taken lightly! Naruko, and those others, being able to get so entranced by the things they love… seeing it, I felt sort of embarrassed, but at that time, they were already dear companions! Frankly speaking, they were already friends! Of course, I can't even begin to understand her hobby. I really can't! But! Is something you can be entranced by like that, can that something really be that bad!? If you think about it, shouldn't that be a pretty important thing!? Right!? That's not something you can so casually throw away, you know!"

"So, you want me to forgive her? For a worthless hobby that can have nothing but a bad influence." Mom stood up and faced me. She pierced my heart with a gaze that was a hundred times scarier than anything Naruko could pull off.

"You say that it's nothing but a bad influence, that it's a worthless hobby…?"

It was here. I decided to play my trump card. I quickly closed the distance between me and Mom, and dumped out everything in the bag onto the table.

*Bang.*

The first thing I threw at Mom was Naruko's report card. "Just look at these unbelievable grades. She's even one of the best in the entire prefecture. And her great performance isn't limited to just the present. If there's anyone who knows how well she's been doing in school, it should be you, Mom."

"So what? Naruko is just keeping the promise she made to me. That's all it is. That's why I can forgive her for wearing such flashy outfits, and can allow her to be a model."

The next things I threw at her were numerous trophies and awards. The most recent one was from a big track and field tournament just last year. "Look at this. And this. And this and this! Just look at it! Second place, outstanding, excellent… they're all like that! This one she got last year! This one is from junior high school! See!? Mom! Your daughter is so incredible, don't you see!?"

"I know. So what?"

"Don't say 'So what?'! You're being really petty! To be that good at sports and to be that smart, and also to have so many other talents… she's so talented, isn't that amazing!? So what if she has one, and only one, strange hobby!? Isn't it fine!? Look at all her other talents! Your daughter, your pride and joy, has just one thing you can't tolerate, and just because of that, you lecture her to death, you make her cry, you try to throw away her important things… isn't that right!?"

"That was just a parent disciplining their child!"

Dammit. I had tried with all my might to appeal to Mom, but she didn't seem the least bit moved. She's really stubborn. But, I still had more!

*Bang!*

I threw a very thick book at her.

"… That album?" Mom's tone of voice softened just a bit.

In that beautiful thick album there were large numbers of photographs of Naruko, from the time she was born until now. Photos of a baby Naruko sleeping. Photos of our late father holding Naruko. Photos of Naruko playing a leading role during kindergarten's sports festival. Photos of her kindergarten ceremony. Photos of her elementary school entrance ceremony. Photos of Naruko finishing at an athletic meet. Etc. etc. Of course, all the photos were taken personally by Mom, with a single lens ridiculously high-end camera. Just with this album, it was obvious what Mom thought of Naruko.

"Why did you bring this out…?"

"Don't rush me!"

*Bang!*

I threw another thinner book at her. Mom's expression suddenly changed.

"This is your treasured possession, isn't it?"

The book I had shown Mom was a scrapbook. In it were arranged cutouts from a teen magazine. These cutouts were all of a familiar red haired model, wearing the latest fashions and posing confidently. The photos went on and on, on and on. For dozens of pages. It's likely that from Naruko's debut to the present, every precious photo of her was in here for safekeeping.

"You were happy, weren't you? You buy all her magazines, you cut out all her pictures, you collect them… "

"D-don't say stupid things. I-I had to keep track of what kind of things she was doing for her job."

That remark… so it was just because she was your daughter… I don't think so Mom.

"Yeah right, you had to keep track… and what did you find out? Was it the same kind of showy, flashy job that you were prejudiced against?" I spoke while turning through the scrapbook page by page. "It was different, wasn't it. If it wasn't, you wouldn't have kept this scrapbook so carefully all this time like some kind of treasure… that's true, isn't it?" I felt like I was walking on a tightrope. My eyes met those of Mom. I didn't flinch, and I didn't look away.

Mom let out a long exhale. "But, it's not something she needs to hide. Even now, though, I'm not sure what to think about that."

"Then, how about this?" From my chest pocket, I threw the last photo at her.

"…!"

It was a picture of Naruko, Blake, and Penny. This was a photo that Penny had just taken today with her cell phone camera. While I was talking with Naruko at the Starbucks, I had looked through the photos on her cell phone and printed this out… she definitely argued before letting me borrow this though.

"Is this also something you need to hide?" It was a photo of Naruko with her friends at the offline meeting. The three people squeezed close together to fit into the small frame of the shot. One person was standing in front with her arms outstretched, leisurely setting up the cell phone camera. The other two were in the middle of the argument, but somehow still managed to look at the camera.

"It's a worthless hobby that can only have a bad influence on her?" I could almost hear their loud chatter… and behind their scowls their true feelings were hidden… it was that kind of pleasant photograph. At least, that's how I saw it.

"You might not want to admit it, but this is something that she has!" And then… "This album where she's with the family too… and these pictures of her modeling, and these pictures of her wearing the latest fashions, and these pictures of her stylishly posing. And even these photos of her with her Otaku friends, raising a fuss with scowls on their faces… all of these are Naruko! Only when all of these things are there is she Naruko! If even one is missing, she wouldn't be herself anymore!" These words that I was throwing at Mom welled up from deep inside me, and were my own sincere feelings. "Don't you see? Looking at this, If you don't know anything about something, don't judge it like that!"

As Mom gave me a grave stare, she responded. "I… I understand what you're saying." Blood vessels popped up on her face, and her expression became terrifying. She's seriously a demon. I flinched a bit. "For now, I will take back what I said about her Otaku hobby being worthless. I acknowledge that I was prejudiced against these things. Alright, then. I will defer to you and I will let her for having this hobby."

"S-seriously!?" By this time, I had already given it all I had. I was shouting, fueled solely by the momentum, without a shred of a logical argument. It was honestly a jumbled up petition. But even so, through my frantic efforts, it seems that I had gotten something through to her.

"I will let her for having this hobby…" The Moment these words were spoken, I had won this battle. But Mom continued. "But there is one more thing. I cannot possibly ignore the indecent contents of that case. This is not a question of whether it's good or bad. This isn't related to whether or not I know about these things, or whether or not I have prejudice against these things. This is about the fact that this was an 18+ product."

Ah, at last, this issue came up… there was no ignoring the logic behind Mom's words. If it's an 18+ product, then it would be bad if someone under 18 had it. But, if Mom went through with what she was saying… then we would have to throw away the majority of Naruko's collection. That would be defeating the purpose. But however I thought about it, Mom was right. She was right, but… there was room for argument. After all, I had predicted that eventually we would come to this point. And so, just in case, I had thought of a few ways of dealing with this.

"Actually… " I had prepared for this… but honestly speaking, this was the one topic I didn't want to discuss. This was the first time I felt such a storm of conflict raging in my chest. I had already made up my mind to decisively push forwards in this direction. So I spoke, "Naruko doesn't have any age-restricted things… "

Upon hearing my words, Mom closed her eyes as if she was trying to restrain herself, and her hands began to tremble. And then, suddenly, she opened her eyes.

"You… at this point you're still trying to lie to me!?"

"I'm not!"

I had gotten something from those people, and I had changed. I had become an idiot. I had become an embarrassing person. For that reason, I could put such a ridiculous plan like this into action.

"THIS IS MINE!" For me, this was the worst thing I have ever said in my life. "This is definitely not Naruko's! I'm the one who owns it, it's mine! So it's alright if you don't throw it away, isn't it!?"

Blood vessels appeared on her forehead, and she responded expressionlessly. "You think I'm stupid? This is something you play on a computer, and in this house, the only person without a computer is you."

Dammit. I had to come up with an excuse in the spur of the moment.

"T-that's because… Naruko lent me her computer!"

"W-wha-what!? I-I see… Y-y-you used your sister's computer, i-in her room, to play games in which you do indecent things to little sisters?"

"It was really fun! You got a problem with that Mom?"

*SMACK!*

Mom raised her hand and slapped me across my face with the back of her hand. She hit me so hard it made me fall on the ground.

"Urgh!" Am I a dumbass!? At the very least, I should have said that I used a laptop to play it in my room! Dammit… but, not just yet! As if I could bear to let it end here! I raised my head and continued my plea. Listen to me! Listen to my saintly, virtuous explanation! "In any case, that's mine, I said! I'm a boy, so having ero things is ok, right!? Even Mom, when you found my ero books collection under my bed, you said it was normal for a healthy boy to have that, right!? And, how is that game different from the magazines!? Is there really a difference!? Is there!? There isn't, is there!? So don't you dare throw them away! You better listen well, Mom. Anime and Eroge… I… LOVE… THEM! You could say I adore them! If you throw these away, I won't be me anymore! EROGE ARE MY HEART AND SOUL!" With all the power I had left, I let out a desperate, jumbled up scream. "UNDERSTAAAAAAAAAAAAND!?"

Receiving the full brunt of my soulful cry, Mom teetered around as if dizzy. "Y-you… y-you… " As if she had been dealt a severe blow to her head, Mom grasped her temples. "YOU IDIOT SON! Do whatever the hell you want! I don't care anymore!"

What a huge yell. I haven't ever seen her flip out like this before. But Thankfully, it didn't seem like she was planning to kill me. Breathing deeply and moving her shoulders up and down, she quickly turned around and with loud footsteps left the room.

Alright, this was my victory. While my cheek's red and I held onto my cheek, a smile floated to the surface. Haha… how's that, Naruko… your collection… I protected every piece, without leaving a single one. Heh heh heh… even though, as you could expect, I did it in a pretty sloppy way.

ঌ ໒

17

On the following day, after returning home from school, I saw my sister in the living room on her phone, just like she was on that one day some time ago.

"I'm home." I gave a greeting out of courtesy, but not only did I not get a response, she didn't even look in my direction. In her sailor uniform, she sat deep in the couch with her legs crossed in her extremely short skirt. She was on her cell phone and giggling about something or other. Certainly, that smile was cute, but it would never be directed at me. As I was thinking these thoughts…

"Huh!? Did you really watch it!? The DVD edition!? Then how the hell did you come to that conclusion!? I can't believe it, I guess that's what I get for asking for the opinion of an edgy girl… well, whatever… you should seriously get over being so edgy. See ya."

What kind of conversation was that supposed to be? I watched in interest as Naruko nonchalantly cut off the conversation and tossed her cell phone away from her.

Well, even she's changed a little from before, perhaps. Even without me, she seems to be doing well… doesn't she? At any rate, with this, all her problems have been resolved. So, again, in terms of the unusual life counseling sessions… my work was done. While I continued to talk to myself in my head, I opened up the refrigerator. I took out a pack of wheat tea, poured it in a glass, and gulped it down. Filled with many emotions, I let out a heavy breath. Feelings of relief, of satisfaction, and of just a bit of loneliness passed through my head. Shrugging my shoulders, I tried to leave the room.

"Hey." I stopped with my hand on the doorknob, and turned my head. As I turned, my sister, in her usual blunt way, said something unthinkable. "Um, I still need life counseling."

Seriously?

"And… also, uh… um," Naruko hesitated, and our eyes met. It was just simple words but… With an awkward smile… "Thanks, brother… for protecting my collections. " She said that, her words clear. Afterwards, she quickly turned the other way. She might have been slightly blushing.

With my mouth hanging open and eyes staring, I couldn't do anything except be dumbfounded. It's been a long time since she called me that. As I wondered if I was seeing or hearing things, a thought passed into my head. My sister can't possibly be this cute.

.

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