Cliched Little Sister Trope

"Now then… What should I do?"

The light novel didn't really come into close detail regarding Kaede's bedroom, which was why I didn't recognize it the moment I woke up. The face in the mirror was clearly his, but did that really mean I was in the world of Shion? It looked like I needed to confirm many things first before I could come up with a plan for the future. First off: what can I get from Kaede's memories? Right now, the situation was more like him awakening my own memories instead of myself possessing Kaede's body. So technically, I was now Shirogamine Kaede with the memories of a reader of the light novel, Shion. I was 100% the protagonist of the story, no foreign soul or anything was occupying and replacing me. It was just that, overwhelmed by the influx of my previous self's memories, Kaede's own memories ended up being suppressed, and it was just slowly returning now.

'Oh, right… I haven't looked at the time, huh?'

I'd only slammed the bedside analogue clock to shut it up; I didn't see the time. Kaede had a smartphone like most high school kids, and it was even the latest model of the most popular brand. It should be lying beside his pillow… Or was it on the small table beside the bed?

'Here it is… What the…. It's on the freaking floor…'

Picking up the smartphone that had fallen and was lying haphazardly on the carpet, I habitually swiped at the screen to unlock it. As soon as I did, a digital clock appeared that showed 07:15 am. The alarm must have gone off at seven o'clock sharp. Did that mean it was school day? No, wait, it was a sunday! Thank goodness for that. I didn't think I could cope with going to school right off the bat. But I wonder why the alarm was set at 07:00 am? It wasn't that it was too early for a holiday, on the contrary, Kaede was an early worm who woke up at six every day to have a morning jog. After that, he would have a half-hour workout at the small indoor gym in the house. The alarm was basically useless to him.

I missed Kaede's morning jog routine and the workout at the gym—

"Onii-chan? Are you in there?"

The door to my bedroom was slowly opened. A girl who looked to be in her first year of high school entered my room. She blinked when she saw me standing beside the bed with the smartphone on hand, looking back at her with a surprised look.

"You woke up late? That's a first. Did something happen?"

She looked a little worried when she saw me just standing there and staring at her blankly. You couldn't blame me. She was wearing a jacket with her hoodie down, her hair slightly slick with sweat from her morning jog. We'd usually run through the neighborhood together for a half-hour before using the gym for another half-hour in school days. Probably because today was a holiday, she looked like she'd jogged for more than an hour. Her face was glistening like pearls being caressed by the sunlight; her dark golden hair shining with a luster that seemed entirely their own, her eyes amassing a small world made up of infinitely deep waters. A towel was draped over her left shoulder, and it seemed like she hadn't used it to dry her sweat yet.

"No, I just had a… Dream."

"That dream made you wake up late?"

"I guess."

"Okay… I've finished jogging, but if you want me to accompany you, I don't mind tagging along."

"No, it's alright. I'll jog alone. You can go to the gym first… Right, does our family have anything going on today?"

"Not that I know of… But I'll be going out with my friends at 9am. Onii-chan, don't you have a promise with your own friends? We're free today, that's why we can play outside. I don't know about mum and dad."

"They're always busy even on weekdays to manage the company…"

Kaede's little sister, Kanade; that was who she was. Our family had a company called Shirogamine Group that had assets worth more than a trillion dollars. It was a huge business empire that spanned through the whole of Japan and even to a lot of other countries, known internationally and worldwide. Our dad was the current CEO or president while our grandfather was the chairman and also the largest shareholder of the company, owning a whopping 45% of the shares. Currently, our mum and dad were busy managing the company; I wasn't sure what position mum held, though. As for why Kanade mentioned that we had free time and were allowed to go and play, that was because of the regulations we had to follow set by our grandfather. We had a strict upbringing due to our family circumstances being special and very different to normal high school kids.

"Okay, then. I'm going to the gym for a quick workout. Onii-chan, you should quickly follow me. I think you said that your promise with your friends was at eight o'clock—"

"So early?" I exclaimed.

"... I was just kidding. I knew you looked a bit lost, but did you also forget about that?"

I had Kaede's memories perfectly recovered now, so my exclamation was only a reflex. I was to meet up with my clique of friends for an outing in the city of Gunma. There weren't a lot of places we could hang out, so we chose karaoke first for the safe option. We'd probably go to a sports center or Spor-Cha after that to get our bodies moving. The meet-up time was actually at 11:00 a.m., which was quite late in my opinion. Since it was still very early, I didn't have to move about like it was rush-hour. I could take my time just fine.