4 Chapter 2: The Love Romance Suddenly… – Part 1

It doesn't matter how much darker the night gets, the dawn will still come.

It doesn't matter how much you don't want tomorrow to come, the morning will still come.

That's why I was looking at the clock in my room. The time was currently seven o'clock. If I didn't get out of bed soon, I'd be late for school. From outside the window came the sound of the rain. Until last night, it didn't look like it would rain, but this morning the weather seemed as melancholic as my heart.

By the way, usually I'm close to asphyxiation when I wake up. It looks like I have the unconscious habit of pressing my face into the floor while waking up. Since entering this year, I should have died and broken down into five pieces already. Maybe one day, I will be killed while waking up.

Right, I can say that I have never been late to class. It's an almost disgusting never-been-late attendance. I don't want to be proud, but I could win a perfect attendance award.

Why? It's easy. In my house, there is a very strong alarm clock

"Nii-saaaaaaaaaan! Morniiiiiiiing!"

With a shout by a voice like a firecracker voice, the door of my room was flung open.

Standing there wearing a Rouran Academy uniform was a first year middle school girl with short hair. Her face was a little cute, but still childish, especially her eyes. Her two pupils were shining innocently. Without a hint of sadness, she had a brilliant expression on her face and a cheerful attitude. Her strong points were sports and her lively energy.

Sakamachi Kureha.

Yeah, without a doubt my little sister.

"Uryaaaa!"

After that first shout upon opening the door, Kureha jumped, yelling with a high pitched voice. Her thin body was dancing in the air – andthis wasn't an open air space; this was my room.

But there was no way that the jump would continue for long because she was falling at an acute angle. Naturally, the angle and the elevation were leading to my abdomen…

"Guabha!"

Diving-elbow-drop. My body was hit by that one blow and incredibly took the form of the letter V.

Normally, an unconscious person would be immediately resuscitated with this blow. Rather, I think normal people would be sent directly to the ICU with this. Getting hit was also unavoidable. I could have avoided the attack, but the one time that I had, the bed I had bought at the second-hand shop had been broken. That move had the destructive power of a ballistic missile.

"Good morning, Nii-san!"

Kureha changed to the next technique while smiling, looking as if she were playing. Unfortunately, a little sister who went so far as to take the trouble to jump on me from across the room isn't kind. At an incredible speed, she grabbed the futon that I was under and decided my body's movements for me.

"Hey! Solid Ankle Lock!"

"Guhaaa!"

"Continuing on, STF!"

"W… Wait a… Gyaaah!"

"And now for the choke!"

"…uh! …h! …h! (My voice won't come out!)"

"For the final blow! Arm Crush Reverse Ten Symbol!"

"Guhaaaaaaaa!"

"…Aah… Sorry, Nii-san… I broke your elbow…"

"Uwaaaaaaaaaah?"

"Tehe. That was a joke."

"…"

"But… Today's target was your artery…"

"As expected from a triangle chop—uh?"

"…"

My mornings are always like this. I am already used to it.

"Once again – morning, Nii-san. How did I do this morning?" Kureha asked me, as she always did, while she wiped the nosebleed off of my face with a tissue.

"Aah, I had the shit beaten out of me as always. Thanks to that, I almost got to sleep a second time."

That wasn't a lie. The last move had been dangerous. A little more and I would have gone to a flower garden to meet my dad who had died 10 years ago.

"Nyahaha. Okay, the morning training is over." Kureha left the bed with a large smile on her face.

By the way, she is in the handicrafts club. No, seriously. I also thought she was going to enter the karate club or the pro wrestling research group, but she herself decided to join the handicrafts club. The school has everything to polish a woman, but what do they do for the morning training of the handicrafts club?

"Iyaa, but the handicrafts club is full of energy. Every morning we do physical strength training."

"Physical strength training?"

"Yeah. It's awesome. Buchou-san can break a concrete block with one finger."

What a problem, God. Right after the school admission, my little sister ended up entering a strange group.

"We are going to the mountains for the Golden Week(1) training camp. They said that we are going to stay for three days and two nights for a survival camp. Sounds like lots of fun, right?"

"…Something is seriously wrong with your club activities. I have never heard about such a handicrafts club. In no time, you could have been brainwashed and become a green beret. By the time you realized it, you could already be fighting in the Middle East."

"I wanted to fight with a bear at least once; that's why I am thankful for it."

"Stop that. Even you are going to die if you try to fight a bear."

"Eh? I am serious here. Mom wrote in her last letter that she fought with a tiger in India."

"Please, don't try to be like Mom. That person stopped being human a while ago."

My mother is so strong that she left her enemies crying in the ring, and half a year ago she left on a journey to strengthen her fighting skills.

Since we receive a letter with an allowance from her once a month, we know she is alive, but her current location is still a mystery. I'm pretty sure that she would be somewhere around Egypt fighting with a mummy right now.

"Now that I realize it, Nii-san. The regions around your eyes are dark, didn't you sleep enough?"

You can't even say that I didn't sleep enough. I stayed awake the whole night.

"Aah, I am only wondering a little about human relationships."

"Nya?" My little sister looked at me with fuzzy eyes, like she had seen a yeti on a snowy mountain.

"What's with the face? I'm in high school. I have problems."

"Nii-san… Don't tell me they are bullying you?"

"Wrong. In fact, I don't even know how you got that idea." I felt like what had taken place in the infirmary yesterday had already surpassed bullying by about 100 kilometers. If I could, I would stop going to school.

"Then, it's about women?"

Indeed, that's right. But I wanted that to be wrong. "Well, you could put like that."

"Umm… I guess Nii-san is now at the age to worry about that."

"Are you the neighboring Granny? Don't say that so calmly!"

"Then, when is the wedding?"

"This conversation is going too fast. Is there a jet engine running inside your head?"

"If it's possible, I want a little sister."

"That's gross. I will never lay my hands on girls that are younger than you."

"But I don't want to become an aunt at this age."

"…I beg of you, please believe your brother. Do I look like a person who would do such a thing?"

Kureha became silent, looking at me with a serious face which seemed to indicate that she was in a bad mood.

Can you see it? From the eyes of my little sister, I look like a human without principles.

"But Nii-san, you are always peeking at my baths…"

"Don't say things that could be misunderstood. I have never peeked at any of my family members' baths!"

"Eh? But I am always peeking…"

"Okay, okay, I didn't know about that."

"But Nii-san, you always start washing from below your armpits."

"You really were peeking!"

Why does she have to be so nosy? This is a top secret issue that I didn't even talk about with my old goldfish.

"Aah, right, why don't you take a shower? You are incredibly sleepy."

"Don't say that now! It sounds like you want to peek at me taking a bath!"

"Nyahaha. Indeed, that's right!"

"That was right?"

"That's why we will enter together. We always used to do it, right!"

"I won't do that! Entering the bath with you is a distant memory!" We had bathed together until the second grade of elementary school. The image is so old that I can't see it anymore.

"Hey, don't say such harsh things."

"That wasn't harsh. At this age, entering the bath with your little sister is close to a crime!"

"Uuh, it's a big problem, our father in heaven. Nii-san is entering his rebellious phase." Kureha was exaggerating, putting her hands together like she was praying to the heavens.

Don't worry in the heavens, old man, I don't have a rebellious phase. If that happens, I would be torn into pieces by your wife and your daughter. Now I am very obedient. I am at the lowest level of the family hierarchy.

"Well, leaving that aside. I think that you should take a shower and relax. This morning, your sleepy eyes are incredible, and your head looks strange too, Nii-san."

"What kind of strange?"

"Err… Russian?"

"Don't say such rude things. It could turn into an international problem, you know."

"It's okay. I have already managed to learn command sambo, so I think I can give a good match."

"The incredible thing is that when you say it, I can't take it as a joke."

Command sambo is the name of a martial art that the Russian soldiers adopted. In Japan, it would be something like judo, and lately the number of fighters that use this martial art in the ring is growing.

Certainly, the one who taught this dangerous thing to Kureha was our mother. Lately, not only pro wrestlers but fighters from all places and kinds are using this martial art. A fearful story.

"Also, our coach is well known for command sambo."

"Coach? From the handicrafts club?"

"Yeah, his name is Sergey-san."

"…"

No matter how you look at it, he is a genuine Russian. I wonder if the handicrafts club of Rouran Academy is really okay. Perhaps in reality he is secretly a spy from some kind of intelligence agency. Next time, I will ask Suzutsuki.

"Then I am leaving for my morning training, Nii-san. I have already prepared breakfast. You have to eat it all, okay?"

"By the way… What's on the menu this morning?" I asked trembling with fear.

That couldn't be helped. In the last week, I hadn't eaten anything besides strange kimchi. Thankfully, almost all of the housework was done by Kureha, but it looked like she didn't have any sense for food. When she was cooking the results where almost always very strange.

"It's okay. Today is different from usual."

"Seriously? Aaah, I feel relieved. There's no way we could eat more than a week of the same thing for breakfast."

"Yeah, I also thought that way, so I made today's kimchi a nationalized kimchi."

"Yay—, great, I'm so touched that I could cry—."

Calm down. I can't let this little thing get to me. I can't win either way, and it is still better than when Mom was together with us. Now that I think back, at that time, the dinner table was lined with nutritional supplements… That was an awkward scene.

"Then I'm going, Nii-san. Let's meet at school."

Kureha noisily left my room while shaking her skirt uniform, energetic as always – very different from me. Were we really related by blood?

Then, shall I take a shower?

I took my towel and went straight to the shower room. It wasn't like I was following the orders of my little sister, but from here on I should change my attitude and get my stuff together.

Whatever, from today onwards it's starting: my healing program.

"Fighting spirit… I have to wear it," I murmured to myself.

Yesterday in the infirmary, I somehow managed to run away, but there were no more places for me to rest my heart at school. My last oasis would be my house, so I had to enjoy my time here to the fullest.

I made the way to the shower room, reaching the dressing room.

For the time being, I will take a bath and relax. I thought that and opened the door.

In the dressing room was a beauty that I didn't know, and she was completely naked.

"Whaaaaaaaat?" It was so sudden that my voice reached a strange high-pitch.

What is going on here? Is this paradise? Did Kureha's elbow finally send me to the heavens? Shit, it's a shame that I'm not wearing my glasses! Thanks to that, my vision is blurred!

"…"

Iya, cool down, cool down. Calm down a little. Get back to yourself. This is not the time to think about imprudent things.

Her skin and hair were wet. it looked as if she had been taking a shower, as she was wiping her wet hair with a bath towel. The unripe body of a young girl. It was still a little childish, but on the verge of the emergence of the butterfly, when the beauty is still hidden. This was the feeling she gave off.

"Ha, hey…"

Why am I so calmly depicting her naked body in front of my eyes?

While petrified and astonished in front of my eyes, the girl wrapped the bath towel that she had been using to wipe her hair around her body. At that moment, her pupils looked straight at me.

"Close."

"Ha?"

"Close your eyes!"

As she said, I closed my eyes right away. For some reason, I felt a very strong power telling me that it would be bad if I didn't do that.

And… I felt a chill above both of my eyelids.

What is it? A finger? But what would a finger be doing—.

"Guaha—!" A shrill voice came out of my throat. The thing that was above my eyelids pressured my eyes with tremendous strength.

"Gyaaaaaaa! My eyes! My eyes!" I rolled around the floor of the dressing room, still continuing to scream.

Iya, wait. I remember the feeling of this ruthless violence. My body— My body remembers this feeling. What a merciless behavior. The only one who could do something so cruel so calmly is…!

"Humph. You should be grateful for the fact that you haven't become blind," an alto voice resounded. I had unpleasant memories of this terrible, blunt feeling.

"Konoe! What are you doing in my house?" I screamed while pressing down on both of my hurt eyes with my hands. The person who was in the dressing room of my house this time was, without a doubt, Konoe Subaru.

"I came here a little while ago, and a girl who claimed to be your little sister came and told me to 'Please enter and take a shower'. That's what happened."

"Why, why would such a thi—"

"I'm pretty sure that she was worried about me catching a cold. I got very wet from the rain while coming here, and my body was soaked, so I took advantage of her courtesy."

"…"

Iya, this is absolutely wrong. Shit… Damn Kureha, she planned this through.

This was probably a foolish prank by Kureha. When I would go to take a shower, I would encounter my male classmate. It's the type of useless surprise that she would come up with. Usually, I would laugh and leave it alone without any harm being done, but Konoe wasn't a man.

"Why did you come to my house so early in the morning?"

"Ojou-sama's orders. I was ordered to keep an eye on you, so you wouldn't be able to spread my secret. So I came to your house to go to school together and keep an eye on you."

That devil Suzutsuki. I don't think she planned that together with Kureha, but I'm certain that she thought that sending Konoe to my house would make a fun (for her) event happen. I feel as if I could hear her loud laughter. Her plan was a great success.

"Leaving that aside… You saw me naked, didn't you?"

Guh.

"Did you know? My household has an amnesia inducing technique passed down through the generations."

I definitely know that. Yesterday, I got hit a lot by that. Because of that, my head still hurts.

"You have earned the right to be hit by that technique!"

"No, I will pass this time. You should give this right to the people who helped you through the year."

I think that this could be sold at a net auction. This kind of enthusiastic idea sells for a lot on the internet, doesn't it? A premier tag should fit well.

On the other side of the darkness of my eyelids. A mysterious, intimidating feeling was rising.

Killing intent.

When I felt the same cold feeling from yesterday running through my blood, I finally understood: In this world, there were no more places for me to rest calmly.

Unexpectedly, I heard an annoyed voice. "…that was my first time."

"Eh?" Just as I tried to ask her about the meaning of those words, my consciousness was blown away.