I outsmarted your outsmarting

Ch 24

POV Haruto Nishikawa

Aaaaa. All I am doing is making myself more and more confused. I threw my phone on the bed and buried my head in the pillow. Isn't this task way too hard for a person like me who was basically a loner a few months ago? How am I supposed to know what to gift a girl? I was searching for answers on my phone until just now, Google tells me to give stuff like make up and accessories which I know nothing about, whereas Bing just wants me to just give her money in an envelope. Clearly, something is wrong with that search engine.

Hiwari san's birthday is in 4 days and I haven't even decided on the gift to get her much less go to any shop. Wait, I can ask my sister. Afterall, she must have a good idea of what girls want, right? I got up and went to her door.

My sister is two years younger than me and her personality is nowhere close to mine. She is smart, behaves nicely, and even has great social skills. She is like the perfect student. When I told her that I was going out with my friends on golden week she even went out of her way to buy me clothes. Like, which sister cares so much about their brother. Sometimes I feel like I am the younger sibling.

"knock-knock" I rapped on her door.

"Who is it?" came a sweet voice from inside the room.

"It's me. Actually, I needed some help from you." I replied.

"Ah, onii chan come in." She said as she opened the door.

I sat on the bed and she took the chair. Looking at the books on the table it seemed as if she was studying. Ah, what a good girl. Should I not have disturbed her right now.

Maybe my thoughts were apparent from my facial expression,

"It's alright onii chan, I was just doing some homework. It's almost finished as well."

"Huh? How did you know what I was thinking?" Am I really that easy to read?

"We are siblings, right? I basically know you inside out at this point."

Upon hearing her words, a shiver ran up my spine. This was the only problem I had with my sister. Whenever I was with her alone my instincts would make me want to get out of there as soon as possible, but I could never find a reason for my unnatural fear. I always chalked it up to my inferiority complex. How do you not feel inferior if your sibling is the perfect kid?

I shook my fear off and asked her

"Ne Haruno, what kind of gift would you like to get from a guy friend on your birthday?"

"What's this question for onii chan? Some kind of survey?"

"Ah, no, it's, umm… I have to give a classmate a gift and I was just confused about what would be suitable." I gathered my courage and just told her directly.

Her smile froze upon hearing my words, I felt the temperature of the room instantly lowered by a few degrees. How is that possible? Am I just imagining the cold?

"Hmm? Onii chan, I didn't know you had a female friend close enough to give a gift to."

"D-didn't I tell you I was going out with friends during golden week? You even got me clothes to wear."

"I thought you were going out with boys. If I knew there was a girl-"

She mumbled the last part of the sentence and I wasn't able to hear it. Maybe I don't even want to know what she said.

"S-so what kinds of gifts do you usually get from guys?" I tried asking a different question.

"Huh? I don't know?"

"But you're popular, right? Don't you receive confessions and gifts all the time?"

"I reject everybody and throw all the gifts away. Who knows if they have their hair or blood in the chocolate they give me."

N-no, I don't think people do that normally. Though I don't think chocolate is the right gift for a birthday either. Maybe I should ask someone else. Ohh right. Why didn't I ask Kei chan? I'll ask her tomorrow in school. I quickly got out of my sister's room. As I was leaving, I felt two icy glares on my back.

*****************************************************

POV Shinji Makoto

"Hey Nishikawa, did you at least decide on the gift you are going to give Hiwari san?" I asked him during break, when we were alone.

He averted his eyes and said in an embarrassed voice, "Umm, actually I asked my little sister for advice yesterday, but she was of no help. So I don't know what to do."

I kind of expected him to not be able to do it, but,

"If you don't do anything I don't think you will be able to get closer to her."

I don't know what happened but clearly things are awkward between them. Today during lunch Hiwari san made a few excuses about her club and ran out, clearly, she didn't want to have lunch together with Nishikawa. However, she didn't seem very angry at Nishikawa. So, I think things will be better if they are able to talk it out. And the best chance to flip things will be on her birthday.

"Yeah, I know. I have one final idea left."

The confidence in his voice made me curious, so I asked him. "What do you have in mind?"

But he only looked at me smugly and said, "That's a secret."

Whatever floats his boat, I guess. I just hope his final idea is not some Discord mod's advice.

.

.

.

That day just when I was leaving school a very excited Nishikawa came running to me and said in a very excited voice,

"Makoto kun, Makoto kun, my plan succeeded."

"Oh, so you have decided what to gift her? That's great."

"No no, that's not what happened. I just found the perfect person to help me."

A bad premonition surfaced in my heart. Something went wrong, didn't it? Nishikawa continued speaking in his cheerful tone.

"I actually asked Kei chan for advice and she agreed to help me. We are going to the mall on Saturday to pick up a gift for her. It seems she also wants to gift Hiwari san something."

Aaaah… Pain peko.

I went home lost in my thoughts, again, because of Shimabukuro. My plans backfired. This is totally a date, isn't it? That goddamn Shimabukuro. Always destroys my plans.

The evening passed with me passing time away playing random games. I actually like gacha games for this one reason only. Whenever I am not able to focus on playing regular games or reading manga, I am always able to turn to gacha games. The farming in gacha doesn't really require much focus, so it is really easy to just watch pngs moving around repeatedly. But today I couldn't even enjoy that. My mind was filled with what Shimabukuro would do with Nishikawa on the date. I wouldn't put it past her to take him to a love hotel.

That's it. I can't take it anymore. I messaged Nishikawa.

Hey Nishikawa you better sleep early,

You have a date tomorrow. Don't be late.

What are you saying Makoto kun?

It's just shopping for a friend together.

And we have to meet up at 11 am

There's no way I am going to oversleep

for that long.

Just kidding.

I was bored and wanted to tease you.

I won't disturb you anymore.

Mission successful. I know the time they will meet up. Although now I have made Nishikawa conscious that this is a date, I think it's a worthwhile trade. Shimabukuro would have definitely made him aware of it when they met anyways. Now that I know both the time and location, I can follow them secretly. I never thought I would ever be in such a situation. I mean, in anime and stuff it is usually the other girl that does this. This is why although I am following them, I don't intend to interfere with them until things go too far. Afterall Shimabukuro did play a good move, and deserves a reward for her continuous effort.

Saturday morning.

When I woke up it was already 10 am. Even though I told Nishikawa to be careful just yesterday, I totally forgot that I didn't have an alarm set for Saturday. This is bad, I am going to be late. I hurried and just put on a shirt and jeans, and rushed out of the house. I didn't even bother having breakfast. Surely one day without breakfast wouldn't kill me, right? If I get hungry, I can just buy something, I am going to a mall afterall.

The reason I was rushing was because I had planned to already be there by 10:20. Yes, even though they had decided to meet at 11, I bet both of them would arrive early in their excitement, and to observe them properly I had to arrive even earlier.

Luckily, I boarded the metro train right as its doors closed. I arrived at my destination at 10:35. Not bad for waking up so late. Now all that's left is to search for them. I don't see them at the entrance, I don't think they have arrived yet. I entered the mall and went straight to the food court on the first floor. I bought a Subway and sat on a seat from where the entrance was visible, munching my sandwich.

Finally, at 10:50 I saw the two figures I was waiting for, entering.

Thank god I wasn't late.