The Little Sister's Final Request (5)

꒰ঌ The Little Sister's Final Request 5

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Lately I felt like I had seen a strange dream. A dream… a dream of a time a loooong time ago, when I was still a child. And even though I could barely make out what had happened in the dream when I woke up, as I regained consciousness fully, even that vague recollection was lost. It's just, well… I could feel this sad, nostalgic warmth lingering near my chest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

What was I saying? That's what I should be asking you. I mean, it's not like I wanted to know where Naruko was that much. I was just trying to make conversation with you… well, whatever. I dropped the subject. But then, curfew came and went, and Naruko still didn't return.

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

At dinner, I once again brought it up casually.

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

"Haruto… what in the world are you saying?" Mom looked puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

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

"Seriously, what do you—"

"Naruko's gone."

"Huh?"

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

"W-what the hell is—"

"When she went to the training camp last time, she caught the eye of one of the foreign coaches who had come to scout, and she got an invitation to go overseas if she wanted to. Getting used to the language and getting experience with international competition would be really important for Naruko's future, he said… honestly, doesn't it all sound like crap nonsense to you? She even met quite a few times with track advisors and talked about scholarship programs and studying abroad. But when it comes to these school sports, it seems that being even a year late would be a pretty big handicap. And she also told me that this was a big chance for her."

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

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

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

Mom seemed seriously depressed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For example, there was the otaku knowledge that she had imparted onto me. For example, there were the memories that came with the various experiences I had gone through with her. For example, there were the new friends I had gotten to know through my sister. Those things would be there, whether Naruko was here or not. They would remain by my side, whether she was here or not.

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

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

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

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