Stuck Between My Sister and a Blackmailer

This was quite the position Arata had found himself in. If only he didn't ask her, then none of this would be a problem. Sitting in class, it was hard to stay focused with this on his mind.

It was even more of a surprise that the two knew each other in the first place. Why did it have to be this way?

"Hey." Yogi got his attention. "I hope that Ayami's doing well, did she make it back to okay?"

"Yeah, it was a safe trip." He answered. "Speaking of my sister." He needed to know something about these two, like what exactly their relationship was from his point-of-view. Even if he didn't choose to support his sister, it could be important to know. "How exactly do you know each other?"

"Ha… Funny story." The way he explained it, his story lined up with hers. Except there was one problem that Arata had with it. If they did spend as much time as they did together, how did Erina not know about her? After all, that girl seemed to enjoy stalking that boy. Plus, he never saw Ayami pop up in any of her pictures.

"You know, when we had dinner together, how come that was the first time Ayami met any of our friends?"

"Well, I guess it's partially because of her age." He explained. "We were just first years when I got to know her, but she was a third year." Yogi figured that the age difference might cause some problems, rumors might run a muck. He felt it best to keep it a secret, even from his own friends.

"Really?" He figured that Ayami must've been fine with that arrangement, if that meant she got some private time with the boy she liked.

"I have to say though, I'm grateful that I met her." He said. "Before, I was too embarrassed to admit to everyone how much I was struggling in school. She encouraged me to be as open as I am today."

"Yeah, now you're perfectly fine with asking for my help pretty much everyday." Arata finished his thought. "I guess you can say that the Kashimura's are your own private tutors." He joked.

Before their break finished, they were interrupted by a certain school reporter. Yurime walked up to the pair as she usually did. Something like this signaled that the school was about to do something special.

"Hey, what's up you guys." She said to them, acting like they were old friends.

"We're just talking about stuff, what are you up to?" Yogi asked her, Arata noticed her notepad, ready for notes.

"I'm guessing you're going to ask us some questions about some upcoming school event, aren't you?"

"And you'd be right about that." She confirmed his guess. "With our school's culture festival, how couldn't I?"

"Last year was pretty fun" Yogi reminisced over the past. Though from his point-of-view, it was also a rather tiring and troublesome event. Having to share one-on-one time with everyone, that was an odd experience for him.

Arata, on the other hand, remembered sneaking off somewhere that no one would be able to find him. While hiding, he could just secretly read a manga he brought to school. Probably the most riskiest thing he ever did in his life.

"So what are you two planning on doing during it?" She asked them.

"I guess whatever Yogi's doing." He answered.

"Well, this year I think our class is running a cafe." Yogi commented. That was not a meeting that Arata attended, it sounded a bit cliché to him. Still, not a bad time to enjoy watching some cute girls wearing cute maid outfits, if that's what they were going to do.

"Then we're running a cafe then."

"Interesting…" She jotted down the details on her notepad. "What about the play then?"

"What play?" That wasn't something he heard about. There's no way this class could run a cafe and create a stage play at the same time.

"Huh? You don't know about it?" Yogi gave a surprised expression.

"Sheesh, for someone that goes to this school. You really don't know about anything around here." She scolded him. Then she explained to him what exactly they were talking about.

This was for all of the second years. As a showcase of coming together, they would work together on creating a play on their own. No help from staff or teacher, except for advice.

The only major rule being that actors had to be pulled with a few student from every class, to maintain fairness. This year, it appears that they were going to do Shakespeare's classic play, A Midsummer's Night Dream.

"I can't say I'm too familiar with that work." Arata said. In truth, the only Shakespeare he knew was in fictional references. Something pretty common in actuality.

"I'm not either, but it should be pretty fun." Yogi maintain his usual optimistic view. Knowing about their situation, Arata doubted it. Being the ones to talk about this topic, he realized that this girl liked going to them for this type of stuff. Strange, since he never viewed themselves as very interesting people.

Unless… No, it couldn't be. All that thinking about Ayami must've infected his mind. There's no way this girl could possibly be doing this because she likes Yogi. That would be silly, and pretty bad for him if true.

He pushed that thought aside. There wasn't any evidence nor any hints that would indicate that being the case. Now, with school over, it was time to go take care of Hine's garden. Due to missing out on doing it the last week. He was going on Monday, not his usual days, to make up for lost time. Arata made his way to her house, where she was waiting for him as usual.

"It's nice to see you again." She greeted him. He hadn't attended to her garden in a while, so that he could spend proper time with his sister during the break. That meant the last time they saw each other was during his parent's anniversary.

"Yeah, sorry I haven't been able to take care of your flowers for a while now." He told her.

"You don't need to worry about that. I'm sure they can handle a week of no care." Her garden was never the most important thing for her when he came over, not that he knew that.

He got to work, as he usually did, without skipping a beat. However, it didn't take long for her to come over, noticing that he had a problem in mind.

"I can see that something seems to be troubling you." She walked up to him, offering some water to counter this heat.

"That obvious, huh?" He took a large gulp of water to cool himself down.

"I've known you for a long time. It doesn't have to be obvious."

"Then let me ask you something." He didn't know how to put this to her. "If you had to choose between family, or yourself. Then what would you do?"

"If you want to ask for help, then maybe being vague isn't the way. This is about your sister's feelings for that boy, isn't it?"

"What? How do you already know-"

"Because it was clear to me the moment she laid eyes on him." She answered, not letting him finish his sentence. "From the way you're acting, she asked for your help, didn't she?"

"Yeah." He responded dejectedly. "What am I supposed to do? If I help her, I get exposed. But… She's my sister…"

"You can say that you care about your sister. There's nothing to be embarrassed about loving your family."

"Yeah…" He admitted. "She's always had my back when I needed her. When I told my parents I was done with trying to make friends, she stood by my side."

"Even if most of us believe that would be the wrong choice?" Hine asked.

"Yes, because she's always thought about how I felt, put my feelings first before her own. Yet when she needs me, I can't do the same."

"That sounds like an impossible choice here." She commented. "Did you really think that you were going to have to make it alone?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know for a fact that you haven't talked to anyone else about this. I only know because I won't let you keep it a secret from me. So I bet you were just going to deal with this on your own." With the way he lived his life, that was the only way he knew how to deal with things.

"You know now… Then maybe you can help me here?" He begged her, hoping that she might have a plan for this.

"How about this? Instead of thinking that this is a choice between two impossible options. Try something else, like making something."

"I was hoping for something more tangible. And I thought you said I should be less vague!"

"I said that you should be less vague when asking for help." She explained. "If you're helping someone, then you better make sure that person you're helping learns from it." He realized that he was going to have to figure out what she said on his own.

If he shouldn't treat this as a two choice problem, then what would that mean. Except, that in any situation, there's almost always more than just two choices. He just had to find more options, or maybe...

"I understand now." He hoped that this was his revelation. "You want me to make a third option, right?"

"Yes, you should try and find a way to make you happy." She patted him on the head. It was a little embarrassing for him to receive this at his age.

"A third option huh?" Knowing what to do, was different then trying to do it. For now, he could try doing something that would benefit both of them. In fact, there was something that only he knew that could be advantageous.

"Have you figured anything out?"

"I know. You see, there's something that only I know. So it's a secret, but-"

"Would that be Akaki having a crush on Akiba?"

"How…" He was speechless that she knew this too.

"I've lived many years now. Seen countless couples in my time, it was clear to me during our vacation." She answered him.

"Then, that means you probably figured out my plan."

"That you want to try and get her to fall for him instead. That way, there's less competition for Yogi." She had it down to a T.

"Yeah." At this point, his job was technically halfway finished. After all, Akaki liked her. Dealing with Akiba was another deal, but she seemed pretty nice. With the experience that Arata had with Erina, this shouldn't be too hard. Hopefully it wasn't going to take long either.

"You know Arata, I think that you're a pretty bright child." She said to him. "Which is why I have to say this to you."

"Say what?"

"You should careful about this game you're trying to play."