The Little Sister's Friends Come Over (3)

꒰ঌ The Little Sister's Friends Come Over 3

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It was the following day, a Sunday. Having finished my lunch, I was lounging in the living room and watching TV, when with a Ding dong! the intercom rang. After a short pause, it rang again.

Ding dong! It didn't seem like anybody was going to answer it. Mom was summoned by the publisher. There shouldn't be any people in this house other than me and Naruko.

I began to lift myself up from the sofa, but I heard the tap tap tap of someone coming down the stairs. And then — "Just a second! I'll be right there!" It was an overly sweet voice that I was sure would never be directed at me. I couldn't believe that such a voice was coming out of the mouth of my sister.

Oh right… Today my sister's friends were coming over to play. I sunk back into the same sofa I was lifting myself up from just a minute before. I casually watched the entryway. Finally, I heard "sorry for intruding!" and could vaguely see the forms of a number of female students passing through the now open doorway.

Ton ton ton ton. I heard the sounds of them going up the stairs. It seemed that Naruko had invited her friends into her own room on the second floor. At some point, the TV program I had been watching had ended, so I powered down the TV with the remote, lay down on the sofa, and began to read the weekly music magazine. Whatever. She can invite over anyone she wants, it doesn't concern me. That's what I thought, but…

Dammit… I can't concentrate. Even after reading the magazine, I couldn't focus on what I had read. What was happening above me kept on bothering me, and I found myself constantly glancing upwards to the ceiling. My sister's friends had come over… this might be the first time this has happened since we entered high school, but it's not like she's never had friends over before. Yeah. So why is this bothering me so much this time? It's probably because I knew her secret. Also, her getting exposed to our mother and my having to go through a great deal of trouble to deal with it was still fresh in my mind. Yeah, that was it. In her room, she had hidden a large quantity of eroge and other otaku goods. If her friends found that stuff, then the situation may be even worse than when Mom found out about it.

Well, whatever, it's not like I'm worried about her or anything. I really don't care what she does or what becomes of her. So honestly, none of this has anything to do with me. It's just that… well, I mean… it would be annoying if things spiraled out of control right before the exam period. So ultimately, I was just worried for myself. After all, she can be strangely clumsy. Will she really be alright? As I was thinking these chivalrous thoughts, Naruko came into the living room.

My sister today was wearing some kind of baggy shirt, a super-short skirt, and socks that rose up above her knee. I didn't know much about fashion, so because my sister always dresses in the latest fashions and styles, there was a lot I didn't understand… but, I could see that she was dressed very fashionably. At the very least, there was no mistaking that. And, what exactly is Miss Teen Model coming down here to do? Well, it appears that she had come down to bring up a few drinks and sweets for her friends. Why is it that she never takes care of me like that?

"Bro, didn't I tell you yesterday to stay obediently in your room?"

"Can you see Naruko? I'm watching TV. Go away."

"Huh? You're not watching anything. Don't lie to me. You were just reading magazine."

So annoying. Ignoring my sister, I turned the TV on with the remote.

"We're going to come down to eat sweets here. Come on, I told you, get out right now."

What a way to treat someone. Who the hell do you think I am?

"Fine… I got it, I got it. You'll be happy if I leave, right? Fine, fine, your troublesome brother will return to his room."

Reluctantly obeying Naruko I returned to my own room. I couldn't help but think about how kind I was being. Naruko, you should be grateful to have such an amazing brother.

Now, what should I do? The end of term exams were close at hand, so I really had to study, but I really just didn't have the motivation. The more the test approached, the more my motivation waned. That was a natural law of this world that I could not go against. As I was thinking up these excuses, I sat at my desk. I woke the laptop up from standby mode and started the internet browser. Of course, it's not like I was planning to put on a pair of headphones and start playing eroge, but if all I did was browse the internet, then even if the door suddenly opened, it wouldn't be a big deal.

Resting my chin in my hands, with a sleepy expression, I clicked around and read a few news stories. But really, and I've realized this recently, this 'internet' thing seriously doesn't agree with me. Resting and almost falling back asleep, I let a feeling of laziness wash over me. Hm, this doesn't feel bad at all. As I rested, time still mercilessly marched forwards, but I didn't notice.

Ahhhh… boooored… isn't there something to do? This is probably what most people feel like when they're wasting their time online. After all, it wasn't exactly an activity that required deep thought. Soon, I grew tired of just sluggishly clicking on random links, and felt like searching for something to do. While swishing my mouse cursor to and fro above the Google icon, I thought about what to do.

After indulging in my lazy stupor for a while, the face of my cousin Erza popped up in my mind for some reason. With her quite familiar face and loose smile. It seems that her face comes up often when I'm thinking without any specific goal in mind. Now that I think about it, she had said something a while ago…

"Haruto, Haruto, guess what? I'm collecting pillows right now. And, a while ago, I went with my entire family to the department store, right? And in the place where they sell bedding, I found an interesting pillow. It's soft and feels really nice… but when you take your hand off of the pillow it returns to its original shape…"

I'm pretty sure that at that time, I was only really half listening to my cousin's story.

"Hmm, so, what kind of pillow was it?" I responded casually. But she didn't take offense to my nonchalance. Rather, she seemed strangely happy as she tried to find a response.

"It's a… —makura pillow."

Umm… What did she said? makura… pillow? Well, let's see if we can't look more into this… umm… let's search for 'pillow' then.

Click. Upon entering my search request, Google displayed the following search results:

Pillow search results. Approximately 43,800,800 results. Showing results 1-10 (0.16 seconds).

One, two, three, four… forty three million results!? Are you making fun of me or something!? No, no, of course Google was just doing what it was programmed to do, so it's my fault for using such a generic search term. But, anyone who's using this kind of thing for the first time definitely would think the same way!

Pulling myself together, I took another look at the search results. Ten results for my search for 'pillow' were displayed on the screen. There were links to sites like 'Happy Market', sites to composite sites about pillows, a link to the Wikipedia page on pillows… but either way it seemed that I wouldn't find what I was looking for like this. So then… I decided to make my search keyword more specific. Pillow, a single space, feels nice, single space, makura… and then I hit the enter key.

Dammit… that didn't work at all… not a single search result came up. Well, I guess there's no helping going back and looking over the original search results then. After all, I'm just trying to kill time, so even if I can't find anything I don't mind. For a while I browsed through those results, following up on a few links, searching for words that were close to what I was looking for. At long last, I came upon a certain site. It appeared like a site that specialized in selling character goods. How exactly did I end up here when I was doing a search for pillows? Well, it seems like they were selling character pillows here.

Hm? What's this? Looking at the picture of the product, for a second I honestly didn't think it was a pillow. Rather, it looked like a long, thin cushion on which an illustration of a girl had been printed. The item description ran like this:

Super popular item! Zodiac Angel Lucifen's 'Water Maiden Levia Dakimakura' has arrived with a slightly ecchi hug pillow cover.

—The product image is a sample

Wh-what? Why would anybody want an illustration of a half-naked 2D girl on their pillow…? To think that something as mismatched as this would exist in this world… but, to call it a 'super popular item'… seriously? These things actually can sell? W-well… I really don't think there are people who would actually sleep with these huge pillows, so it's probably just because people really like this character and so there will always be demand for collector's items like this… but either way, the otaku marketplace completely rose above the limits of my understanding and imagination. But… I've definitely felt this atmosphere before! It was the same atmosphere I felt when I was dragged around Akiba by those three.

But either way I looked at it, what I was looking for was not here. H-hm, what's with these hug pillows… I immediately clicked the back button on my browser, returning all the way to the search results where I had clicked on the image before. Putting in a different word into the search window, I turned my gaze away from the image, and…

Click. Upon clicking, Google spit back a question at me in relation to the word I had typed.

Did you mean 'sister moe'?

What the… what is this! Completely surprised, I rattled my chair, causing it to creak. Dammit. Google said something I completely don't understand.

Ugh, that surprised me. Even though it's just a search engine… When I looked at the clock, I saw that an hour had passed. Huh!? How did time go by that fast!? Amazed, I glared at the clock, but of course, the time that had passed was not returned to me. This is bad… so, this is the power of the internet… scary… it's like the internet stole part of my life from me.

Sitting in the chair, I stretched my entire body. My body felt as if I had just spent a while intensely studying. This may have been the first time I've witnessed the deep ravine that can take hold of and refuse to let go of computer users. I probably shouldn't get too involved with this all for my own health… As I thought about this all, I felt a bit chilled. And then—

Hm? If I paid attention, I could faintly hear the sounds of excited chattering coming from across the wall. It seemed that at some point, the girls had come back up from the living room and had moved into the room next door. The walls of this house were relatively thin, so if you were too loud, your voice could be heard in the next room… normally, we would be careful about this, so it never became a problem. But today her friends had come over… so she probably wasn't being that careful.

With a strange expression, I stared at the wall. Once I realized I could hear them, I couldn't get that fact out of my mind. I could hear Naruko's voice especially clearly across the wall as she raised her voice.

"I said, there's nobody like that, geez~~!"

"You're lying~~. Then, let me see your cell phone."

"N-no. I won't do that. That's a violation of privacy…!"

It seems that her friends were interrogating her, and Naruko was resisting their questions desperately. I don't know what she meant by "nobody like that," but in her cell phone there were photos of her with a certain gothic girl friend and a certain chibi otaku girl, and also plenty of evidence in the form of mail she's sent other people about otaku things. There was no way she could show that stuff to her school friends.

"That's pretty suspicious… Naru Senpai~… come on, you can tell us… "

What in the world are these people talking about? And with such loud voices… fully knowing I was doing something inappropriate, I strained my ears and tried to listen to more.

"H-hmph… tell you… tell you what?"

"You're still playing dumb! Come on, come ooon~! Senpai~~, what kind of guy is he?"

Huh? What did she just say? I feel like I just heard something really strange. Raising my eyebrows, I awaited Naruko's response.

"Like I said! I don't have a boyfriend!"

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat!? So, this stuff… this stuff they were talking about was…

"You're lying! I can't believe that! You definitely have a guy! It's alright, it's not like we're going to steal him, right? So come on, just tell us~~!"

"I-I said there wasn't one! How many times are you going to make me say it!?"

W-wait just a second! Naruko has a boyfriend? That's a lie, isn't it!? Where was this saint!? Was he a god? He was a god, wasn't he? My eyes opened wide, I shook my head in disbelief. In my fifteen years of existence, this was the biggest shock I've experienced. I mean, I was more surprised now than I had been when I first saw Mio's body in person! I couldn't see how anybody could be her boyfriend. No boy's spirit could stand being in a relationship with that kind of girl. But the girls on the other side of the wall did not seem to agree with me.

"Huh? But Senpai, you're really popular with the boys, you know."

"Uhh, uhhh! That might be true, but…!"

Is that so? Well, she is cute when she doesn't open her mouth. She probably doesn't let her true nature outside anyways… so there may be boys that have been tricked by her little act. But, wait… maybe in front of a guy she likes, she would be surprisingly pleasant. Pulling back her rebellious nature, and acting like a perfect girlfriend… I tried to imagine it.

Ugh. I felt sick to the stomach. Uugh. I'm not joking at all. The very thought of that sickened me.

"Come on. It's not like you've ever seen me together with a guy. So then, why exactly are you saying stuff like this? That I have a b-boyfriend?"

"Because lately you've been acting weird, Senpai!" said friend A.

"Yeah, I agree with Ashley-chan! Really strangely!" said friend B. And, in response…

"Huuh? I don't believe you… w-where have I been acting strange? I-I haven't been acting strange at all!"

What? That definitely didn't sound like my sister talking. I was taken aback by how weak she was acting. As I had thought, she was really putting on a huge nice act. Then, Naruko's friends began to speak again.

"Lately, you haven't been socializing as much, and I always see you texting someone on your phone~."

Judging by how Naruko wasn't responding, she probably knew what they were talking about. Well, what next?

"Ah, I saw you talking on your phone too! It sounded like you were having a lover's quarrel or something!"

"L-lover's quarrel? What?"

Naruko didn't sound like she was feigning innocence. It seemed like she honestly didn't know what they were talking about.

"I mean, it sounded like you were yelling at each other or something, but you looked happy. And then after hanging up you had this smile on your face. That's definitely your boyfriend, isn't it?"

"Yeah, isn't it?"

"No, that was, you're w-wrong… uhh… I mean… " Naruko was clearly flustered.

I-I see… I think I know what is going on now… I think I know all too well…

"Ah, see? You know what we're talking about, don't you?"

"N-no! I really don't!" Naruko continued to stubbornly deny all of it.

This girl was seriously bad at lying. She might as well have told them "yeah, I have one," the way she was denying it. And yes, I definitely knew what they were talking about all too well. The reason Naruko has been less social lately. The person Naruko constantly mailed at school. The person she was having the lover's quarrel with — I knew all of this. It's because, lately, she's been hanging out and playing with her otaku friends. And her friends had confused her behavior for her getting a boyfriend.

Well, whatever. It's pretty natural that they wouldn't be able to imagine the academic exemplar, sports prodigy, teen magazine model Uzumaki Naruko being caught up in eroge and anime, and going out with her otaku friends to offline meetings.

"Hmm? Are you going to deny you have a boyfriend until the very end?"

"Of course I am!"

"Well, then could you tell us why you've been acting strange lately?"

This girl who's been talking with Naruko is really pushing some sensitive buttons here. That's what I was thinking when, as I expected, Naruko exploded.

"Ahhh, come on, leave it alone!"

She exploded, but in a way that seemed uncomfortably unlike her. Because, I mean, can't imagine an angry Naruko saying something like "Ahhh, come on, leave it alone!" If it was the usual Naruko, with a voice a million times scarier, she would be yelling "Die!" or "Shut up!" But the Naruko here, the Naruko who was pretending to be nice, used an incredibly cute, coaxing voice to deal with her friends.

"I already said it before, I really don't have a boyfriend."

"Really…? Honestly though, we're just worried about yo— kya~! You don't need to hit me, Senpai!"

For a second, I thought that Naruko had lost her cool and had sent one of her friends flying, and that sent chills down my spine. But then—

"Nooooo~~! Come onnn~~! It hurts, I said~~!"

It seems my worry was completely unnecessary. There's no way they should be able to keep talking so lightly after getting hit by Naruko. It seemed that while Naruko was hitting her friends, she repeatedly called out "I'm angry now!"

"Ashley-chan! If you don't reflect on your actions, I'll never forgive you, you know!"

Strange. Way too strange… disgustingly strange! I can feel goosebumps forming! I couldn't stop myself from trembling in fear at this strange Naruko who was actually acting like a pleasant person.

"W-well… Naruko, we'll stop asking about it. I'll reflect on my actions too, see!"

This attempt to calm Naruko down came from a voice I had not heard before.

"Hm, what should I do, I wonder? I suppose if you stop questioning me, I'll forgive you… "

I couldn't hear their responses all the way over here, but I could guess that everyone was nodding and agreeing.

The same voice that had calmed Naruko before spoke up again. It seemed like she was trying to change the subject. "Hey, by the way. Naruko, that person in the living room was your brother, right? "

I affixed my ears to the wall, and can anyone really blame me? Now completely interested in the conversation, I strained my ears.

"Why are you suddenly asking about my brother, Juvia?"

"Ah, nothing. I just thought you were really lucky to have such a handsome brother."

"Huh?"

What kind of answer was that? She was praising your brother, and you just responded with a "Huh?" … That's pretty cruel. But what came out of Naruko's mouth next was far from praise.

"He, handsome? You should go see an eye doctor… your eyes are broken or something."

"I-I don't think they are… probably."

Probably, she says. It's nice that she stood up for me, but it seems that she lacked confidence. Not wanting to hear any more of their conversation, I moved down to the first floor. They probably won't come back down to the first floor again, right?

When I opened the refrigerator, I saw that there was still some cola left over after Naruko had prepared some for her friends, so I gladly drink it down. As I let out a breath, Ding Dong! The intercom rang. Was it another one of Naruko's friends who had come late? Naturally, that's what I thought, but I still moved towards the entranceway to see who it was.

"Uzumaki-saaaan. Express home delivery."

"Ah, yes! Yes yes, hold on one second."

Hurriedly, I opened the door. A deliveryman stood there smiling, holding a cardboard box. At his request, I signed for and received the package.

"Thank you very much!" He energetically bowed his head, and returned to his car. And then… in my arms only the cardboard box was left. The package was as thick as a stack of four or five weekly manga magazines, but wasn't that big or that heavy. At most, it was one or two kilograms.

Hm… what exactly is this? I don't have any idea… it's probably for my mother or maybe my sister, but… when I took a look at the shipping slip, the recipient's name was 'Uzumaki Haruto-sama'.

"Huh? For me?" I scrutinized the package shipping slip once again. The sender's name was a person named Tenrou, the name I didn't recognize, and the contents of the package were labeled as 'cosmetic'.

What? Why am I getting cosmetics from an unknown person I don't know? I have no idea what's going on. Completely stumped, I leaned my head to one side. Well, it's no use to just continue thinking about this here. Just as I thought that, Naruko began to come down the stairs. She probably also heard the intercom ring. She seemed displeased, and began to speak.

"Bro, y-you came out of your room. So? What's that box?"

"I don't know."

"Huh? What the h—" Suddenly, Naruko's expression changed to one of surprise. "Ah! That design… "

"Hm? As I thought, this is yours, isn't it? But my name is on the label… hey!"

Frantically, Naruko finished descending the stairs, and quickly snatched the cardboard box from my hands. She spoke up, sounding happy. "It's an 'Etana' box! What is it? What is it? What could it be?"

Naruko looked at me with an expression filled with both confusion and hope. "Huh? What? This… is for me?"

"What? Ah, no… "

"Amazing! I haven't even been able to get one of these!"

I didn't know exactly what was going on, but it seemed like a misunderstanding was starting to form. For some reason, she thinks that this is a present for her from me. Come to your senses, Naruko, why would I be sending you cosmetics as a gift?

"Well, I guess I can't help it then. Go ahead and take it."

Any motivation I may have had to clear up the misunderstanding had evaporated… I guess 'Etana' was the name of the maker. On the box, in English, was written 'Eternal Blue' or something. From how happy Naruko seemed to be about it, it was probably a high-quality product. I don't know for sure though. But, honestly, is it really alright for us to open this? It wasn't something that Naruko had ordered, and I still don't know why this package would be addressed to me. It's not like I thought it was a bomb or something… it was probably just some mistake.

"But this… this just came out this year! You were so clumsy earlier that I got so mad, but I guess now we're even!"

"No, that wasn't— h-hey!" After her strange, arrogant statement, before I could say anything, Naruko ran back upstairs with the mysterious cardboard box.

She was angry but is going to forgive me? I was so clumsy? What the hell is she talking about? Geez, even though I didn't say a single word back there… and then — the cell phone I had stuffed into my back pocket began to vibrate.

Huh, who is it? It was an unlisted number, and I took the call, puzzled. "Y-yes, this is Uzumaki… "

"Haruto-san?" I could hear a calm mature woman's voice coming from the other end of the line. W-who was this? I didn't know any lady who would call me "Haruto-san."

Puzzled, I asked for her identity. "Umm… who's calling?"

"Hm? Ahh… " Seemingly satisfied, my conversation partner took a long breath, and answered. "Ah, sorry for bothering you. Haruto-chan! This is Mio!"

"Wha—" Her voice had suddenly gotten much louder, so I was surprised.

"Uh, you're… that 'Mio'?" Now that I think about it, because I had phoned her yesterday, she also knew my number as a consequence.

"Fufufu, Haruto-chan, do you really know that many other people are named 'Mio'? I didn't know that. Or should I say, maybe you found a sweeter, prettier 'Mio'?"

"In the first place, I only know one 'Mio' that called people with 'chan'."

"Indeed! Haha, oh no, you're making me blush."

"That wasn't a compliment! But in any case, what do you want with me?"

"Hey hey Haruto-chan. That's not the tone you should take towards a girl who calls you on a holiday. Are you telling me that I need a reason to call you?"

Well, she told me, I guess. I'll reconsider my tone.

"So, did the package I sent to Haruto-chan properly reach you?"

Well, at least that I could make sense of. That package from an unknown sender… and I guess it wouldn't make sense if she used her username to send the package.

"You mean… could you mean that cosmetics box that I got?"

"Yeah, that one. I'm glad that it seems to have reached you safely. Truth is, I know Orange-chan's address and phone number, but I never had asked for her real name… "

"And so that's why you sent this to me."

Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever heard Mio call Naruko by her real name once. It's strange to think of friends not knowing each other's real names… but I guess that's what often happens with people who meet online. Well, if they can get along well regardless, it's not like this is a bad thing.

"I've already passed it on to my sister. She seemed really happy about it. I don't know what's going on, but thank you."

"Ah, then that's great," Mio responded graciously. She really is a good person, isn't she? Even if she's really weird.

"But is it really alright for her to get those cosmetics…? Weren't they expensive?" For something to make Naruko happy like that, I would imagine that it would have to be pretty expensive.

"Hm, it seems that there's been a misunderstanding, Haruto-chan."

"What?"

"I agree that's the box I received after I bought an expensive cosmetics set from overseas… but the contents of that box now are completely different."

Um, what did she just say? Is she saying that the contents of the box were not cosmetics?

"So, what's in the box then?" I tried to ask as casually as I could. And she responded just as casually.

"Among other things, a set of doujinshi from Zodiac Angel Lucifen and Siscali."

"Wha—" Speechless, I almost let my phone drop to the floor. I could instantly tell that this was a dangerous situation.

W-wait. Wait wait, calm down! Despite how angry I felt on the inside, I tried to ask my next question with a calm voice. "Ero stuff?"

"Some of it, yes." I quickly looked up to the top of the stairs. I gulped. As I did that, the phone call continued. "Orange-chan had asked me before to look for these things, and just recently I was able to get my hands on them. There are some Siscali books I bought at a recent event, and also a handmaid walkthrough guide for Haruto-chan. I sent it out as soon as I could yesterday… ah, also, there are some bed sheets too in there. Fufufu~~ you don't need to thank me at all. After all, we're friends, aren't we?"

Calm down… mustering all my strength, I collected myself and quelled the feelings of rage that were welling up. This was not the right time to be blowing up at her.

"Sorry, something urgent came up! I'll call you back!"

Click. Cutting off the phone call, I put my cell phone away. "Arrgh, this is really bad!"

That idiot Mio! What terrible timing to be sending us this bomb! That woman… putting this stuff in a cosmetics box and writing cosmetics on the shipping slip is probably just her own way of camouflaging the contents… but this time it was completely counterproductive! After all, high school girls were really into cosmetics… if she opened that box in front of her classmates, this situation would get really bad really fast! Dammit! What should I do!? This is really serious! And what the hell did she mean by bed sheets? If it's also in the same box, then I can't imagine it's anything good!

And then, I remembered the description of the 'illustrated hug pillow' I had seen online few moments ago. Could… could it be… that the bed sheets were… Aaaaaaggghhhh! That had to be it! Don't open it just yet, Narukoooo~~~! Completely panicked, I rushed up the stairs towards my sister's room. Without thinking, I turned the doorknob. Luckily, it wasn't locked, so it easily opened.

"Naruko!"

"!"

Stumbling into the room, I quickly looked around. It was a room that gave off a strange, sweet smell. The smell was stronger than it was the other times I've come into this room.

In the 8-tatami large room, there were four girls, Naruko included. Naruko was sitting at her study desk, two others were sitting on a cat cushion on the floor, and the last one was sitting on the bed. And then… happily, I noticed that Pandora's Box had yet to be opened. The cardboard box sat in the middle of the room on the floor, and one of Naruko's friends was trying to peel off the duct tape with which the package had been sealed with her nails.

Cold sweat stuck to my forehead as the girls collectively affixed their stares to the rude fellow that had just barged into the room without permission. They were of all shapes and sizes, but they definitely looked like Naruko's friends. That is, they were all really cute girls, and… agh, this isn't the time to be thinking about this!

Naruko stood up fiercely from her chair. "What the hell!? Why are you barging in here so suddenly!?"

What a horrifying look she was giving me.

"Um… well… that is… uhh… " Dammit, if she chases me out now, she's making a huge mistake! Although, she doesn't know that yet. Seriously, why am I trying to protect her public image anyways!? Geez, it's not like I'm getting anything out of this.

"I'm sorry about coming in so suddenly. Really sorry. Uhh… there's been a bit of a slipup… " Putting on a forced smile, I began to shorten the distance between me and the package. But, Naruko blocked my advance vigorously.

"Huh? Slipup? Whatever, just get out. Hurry. Right now." Naruko crossed the room and came right up to me, and tried to push me out with both her hands.

"H-hey, wait a second… Come on! Listen to me… "

"Shut up! I told you to get out!"

She was completely unapproachable. Although, for Naruko, this was the natural way to react to my intrusion. After all, she hated me, and thought of me as something akin to vermin. So I understand that she may not want me to come into contact with her friends, even for a second. I understand, but — "Seriously… listen to me for a second! Just for a second! I'll leave right after, I swear…!"

Not even letting up her pushing by a bit, Naruko screamed, "What is it!?"

"It's the box, the box… the box you snatched out of my arms a little bit ago. Give it back to me!"

"Huh? You came in here just to tell me that!? You already gave it to me! I don't get it! Just get out!"

While she was saying this, she continued to attempt to push me out of the room. Irritated, I scowled. There wasn't even a bit of room for me to offer an explanation. Come on! Realize what I'm trying to do, Naruko! There's hentai doujinshi in that box over there! (By the way, I only knew what hentai doujinshi was because of that other day when those girls dragged me around Akiba. Taking me to ero bookshops… it was torture).

I've seen TV shows where twins have almost telepathic like powers in trying to understand each other, but that was obviously a lie. She honestly didn't understand anything I was trying to say. There's no helping it, so I have to be a bit more forceful here.

"Ugh… sorry!" Shaking off Naruko's hand a bit forcefully, I grabbed both her arms and neatly reversed our positions. I was expecting an immediate counterattack from my sister, but at the very least, it didn't come immediately.

"Kya!" She gave off a girly shriek and held herself. I only touched your arm, geez! Don't respond in such a weird way!

Well, whatever. That wasn't important right now. For now, I had to deal with my primary objective. Where is that thing!? When I looked in the direction of the box, I saw Naruko's three friends sitting near the bed, staring blankly at me. One of her friends, the one with blond hair, was sitting right in front of the package. It was the same girl who was trying to pick off the tape before. I faced her and raised my palm.

"U-umm… can you let me through?" When I pointed towards the box, the girl swiftly hid the box behind her back in her hands.

A teasing smile appeared on her face. "Do you want it, Onii-chan~~?"

Th-this brat! She really knows how to piss me off! Freezing a smile in place on my face, I could feel veins of annoyance popping up on my temple.

"Hahaha, stop joking around." As I gave off a dry laugh, I again reached out my hand. Stepping back, the girl began to run towards the bed. I began to run after her, reaching out my hands, when — suddenly, Naruko caught my collar.

"Stop screwing around! My friends came over to play, so why can't you be a bit less annoying!?"

Scary! With a glare that put my mother to shame, she pierced through both my eyes. As an invader of the girls's sacred space, I felt like I was about to be given the death penalty. She was seriously, seriously angry. Well, I would probably be angry in her position too, so I can't blame her. But, come on… I'm not trying to be annoying here. It's not like I'm doing this for her. It's just that I never ever start something that I don't finish. After I gave you life counseling, after I was slapped by Mom, after I was forced to play an eroge… after I suffered through all that and was able to make a bit of progress… if it all came to nothing here, then that would be terrible, wouldn't it? So, I looked my sister straight in the eyes, and gave her a glare right back. "Naruko!"

"… W-what… Why are you angry?" As I expected, Naruko faltered when she saw that I was serious.

Not wanting to miss this opportunity, I shouted loudly. "Is that a cockroach!?"

"… H-huh?"

It was honestly the oldest trick in the book, but somehow it worked. Everyone's attention (except for mine, of course) turned in the direction I was pointing. In that short gap, I moved quickly. I shook off Naruko's grip from my collar, and quickly closed the distance between me and the box.

"Sorry!" I put my arms around the box behind the blond girl, and forcibly took it back.

"Kyaa~" Dammit, she also made a weird noise… it makes me seem like a pervert or something…

"Um, sorry for the intrusion… " Fully conscious that my self-dignity had been torn to pieces, I made a hasty escape from the room.

Dammit… Why is it that even though it's a holiday, I've had to do such terribly nerve-wracking things since noon? I seriously could cry right now…

Phew… well for now… I should— "Wait! Wait just a second!" Nevermind! Naruko had come out into the hallway to chase me down! Idiot, why do you hate losing so much!?

"I-I'll tell you what's going on later!"

"Shut up! You already made a mess of my holiday, so what the hell are you saying!?"

I should be the one saying that! It's incredible how much I wanted to say those exact same words to her.

Continuing my escape, I almost leaped down the stairs.

"Wait!"

Don't underestimate how fast a track star can run. In no time at all, she closed the distance between us, not giving me any other paths to run.

"Dammit." Having been cornered in a dead end in the hallway, I slowly backed up while carrying the exceedingly dangerous box.

Naruko seized the box I held in my hand, and pulled with all her strength. "Give it back!"

"No! I already told you I can't!" To an objective spectator, our tussle over this cardboard box may look like just some children's argument. They would say that we had let the blood rush to our heads and weren't thinking properly.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr… " Both of us were gritting our teeth. It was my strength pitted against hers. If it was just a matter of physical strength alone, then I would have the upper hand, but while we were having this tug of war Naruko continued to kick me, and in that way leveled the playing field.

Damn it! That hurts you know!

"Stop it!"

"Shut up! Die! Die die die die die!" She was primarily aiming for my lower body, so I had no choice but to protect my sensitive areas.

Th-this is bad…! At this rate, I'm going to lose…! The minute I yielded just a bit to my angry sister's brute strength…

Slip. "Kyaaaah!" Naruko lost her balance and fell to the floor. It's not like this was unexpected. After all, the floors were pretty polished, and she was wearing socks and continually kicking me, so this was pretty unavoidable.

"H-hey— argh!" And, of course, having been holding onto the box as well, I went right down with her.

In slow motion, I watched as the cardboard box danced in midair and Naruko toppled over onto her back.

"Watch out!" As I was falling forwards, in an instant I reached out and took the back of Naruko's head in my hands trying to protect her from the fall.

Thud! We fell right on top of each other. I felt a sharp pain run through the hand between the back of Naruko's head and the floor. When I opened my eyes after the fall, I saw my sister's face right in front of me. I have no idea what happened… but she looked completely dumbfounded. I probably had a similar expression on my face. I was in pain, but it seemed that neither Naruko nor I were really hurt.

Glued to each other on the floor, we stared at each other for a few seconds. It took us both a few seconds to understand what had just happened. It looked almost like I was trying to pull my sister closer with my right hand securely behind Naruko's head. Meanwhile, my left hand (and this was definitely not on purpose) looked like it was just about to try to tear off the bra that was peeking out from her upturned clothing. And, our lower bodies were tangled up, as if they were completely glued to each other. Being in this predicament, I couldn't help but think a certain thought. If this were an eroge, then an event CG would definitely start here… I-I couldn't help it! After all, almost the same exact situation happened in the game I've been playing lately! I'm not sure who exactly I was trying to explain myself to, but these thoughts ran through my head.

When she finally had taken stock of the situation, Naruko's face hardened. Next, her well-proportioned face flushed a brilliant red. Her small lips began to tremble.

"Wha… !? W-w-w-wha… !?"

"C-c-c-calm d-down… ! This was a bad accident! It wasn't any of our faults…!"

"Y-y-you Hentai! Siscon! Rapist!"

"It wasn't on purpose! And also, who the hell are you calling rapist!?"

"Shut up! J-just get off!"

With that, we began to squawk and gripe at each other.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaahhh! Ecchiiiiiiiiii~~~!" A shrill shriek came from behind me. Naruko's face immediately paled, and she tensed up. Somehow or other, there was probably something behind me that I should be scared of. Dreading what I might find, I slowly turned around.

"Ah… " Naruko's friends had assembled in the hallway.

"N-Naru…?"

"Uwaah… should we leave you two alone, Senpai?"

"Could this be… forbidden love!? You two are like that!?"

These girls… What an unimaginably huge misinterpretation. How the hell did they come up with that conclusion!? These damn girls…

"Definitely not!" Naruko and I shouted the same words at the same time. To an extent, you could say that it was a rare moment when Naruko and I were on the same wavelength.

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