Chapter 47: New Year Eve's festival (II)

"Shou-chan, can I speak to you for a moment?"

During one of her breaks in the music room, Kaori asked Shouko, who was sitting down near them while listening to the music produced by the duo.

"Hm? Sure." Despite not knowing what Kaori wanted from her, she could tell that Kaori had something important to say, judging from the unusual behavior displayed.

"Hm? Sounds interesting. Could you let me in on your conversation?" As per usual, Fuutarou, being the busybody he was, immediately intervened with a big smile on his face.

"Nope~. It's a girls' conversation!" Kaori exclaimed before pulling Shouko along to somewhere where Fuutarou wouldn't be able to overhear their conversation, not that they needed to.

Despite Fuutarou's behavior, he knew when to push forward and take a step back. Since the girls wanted their privacy, he would naturally let them have it. He wasn't some controlling freak that needed to monitor their every move.

"Shou-chan..." Kaori started nervously after reaching the school garden that was located not too far away from the music room.

Shouko didn't speak and just patiently waited for Kaori to continue.

"I need to tell you something..."

In contrast to her usual cheerful and bubbly attitude, Kaori was now speaking very softly, as though she was being ashamed of something that she had done.

"It's about -"

"Fuu-kun, right?"

"Eh?" Kaori was surprised. Before she could even finish her sentence, Shouko had already completed it for her.

"Sigh...I knew that this day would come sooner or later, though I never expected that it would be this soon. I was hoping it would come later...much later..." Shouko muttered the last part, though Kaori was close enough to hear it, "Kaori-chan, you like Fuu-kun, right?"

Silence.

Kaori wasn't too shocked to hear those words coming out of her friend's mouth. In fact, she had expected it, though it was more direct and straight-to-the-point than predicted.

"Ano..."

Shouko didn't reply and just stared at her.

"Are you...angry...?"

Shouko didn't know what she was currently feeling.

Should she reply with a 'yes'? Or should the answer be 'no'?

Life was never separated into two distinct parts, areas, or sections.

She was slightly angry that the boy she loved would get another girlfriend apart from her, but living in this world where boys were given preferential treatment, what could she do apart from accepting it?

Overthrow the government and remove the polygamy law? Create a similar virus from the past and remove 80% of the girls and balance out the boy-girl ratio?

"Not really. I was already expecting it from the start, ever since you joined us in Fuu-kun's daily piano practice."

"Eh...I never really thought of that at first, though..." Kaori muttered.

"I guess you could consider it a gut feeling? Fuu-kun is a very amazing person, and a person like him would obviously be well-liked by everybody. Yet, he doesn't specifically or purposefully get close to anyone, in particular, especially girls. The only exception to this so far was me, his girlfriend, his younger sisters," Shouko said and pointed towards Kaori, "and you."

"If that wasn't a tell-tale sign that he's interested in you as well, whether or not it was his intention, I don't know what is."

"But the reason why I said I wasn't really that angry is that it is you."

"Huh? I don't understand what you mean."

Shouko just smiled at Kaori's confused look but didn't reply to her question and continued speaking, "You have my permission and blessing, but treat Fuu-kun well, okay?"

"Eh?"

"Or do you not want Fuu-kun anymore? I don't mind that as well. I can at least get Fuu-kun for myself." Shouko chuckled at Kaori's dumbfounded expression.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Kaori hurriedly interrupted Shouko and said, "I want Fuu-kun! Thank you, Shou-chan..."

Shouko was surprised when Kaori suddenly hugged her, but it only lasted for a few seconds.

"You don't have to thank me. All I'm giving you is an opportunity. If Fuu-kun doesn't like you, even I can't help you."

"Hehe...even if he rejects me, I'll never give up! I'm going to keep asking him out until he accepts me!" Kaori grinned, and though Shouko couldn't see it since Kaori's face was buried in her shoulder, Shouko could feel it.

At Kaori's words, Shouko let out a wry smile. But that was a good thing...right? Having a devoted person become her 'sister' would be than some random girl that Shouko had never seen before and only loved Fuu-kun for his looks.

But one thing confused Shouko.

"But why did you wait so long to ask me whether you could date Fuu-kun?"

Kaori's smile immediately disappeared, and a serious expression formed on her face as she released Shouko from her arms.

"I can tell you, but please don't tell Fuu-kun, alright?"

"You know I can't promise you that. If you ever want to get together with Fuu-kun, that secret of yours might affect the chances of you staying together..."

"It won't. Because it doesn't affect Fuu-kun at all." Kaori shook her head determinedly, "So, can you promise me that?"

Shouko stared at her for a while before sighing, "Fine. But if I deemed it to be a factor that would harm him, I will definitely tell him, okay?"

"No problem."

"So? What's your big secret?" Shouko asked curiously. She was turning thirteen soon, and all soon-to-be teenage girls like her would bound to be

curious about secrets and things like that.

"I was once sick..."

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

"Fuu-kun? Shou-chan? You guys are here too!"

We turned out heads towards the direction where the sound came from, and we saw Kaori, and slightly further behind her, Kobayashi Haruma, though I don't think he noticed us yet.

""Kaori onee-chan!"" Raiha and Yuzuru greeted her.

"Oh? Kaori-chan. Good evening!"

"So formal?" Kaori took a bite out of her cotton candy as she said.

"Don't speak when your mouth is filled with food. Choose one."

After I said that, Kaori didn't speak any longer and focused on her food.

...it seems that food occupied a higher position in her heart...

"I didn't expect to see you here today, Kaori-chan? Where are your parents?"

"..." Kaori didn't reply as she continued devouring her cotton candy, though I could see her eyes not leaving my face. And somehow, I felt that I could understand what she was trying to convey.

"Because you were so frequently absent from school that I thought you had some illness or something that prevented you from being outside too much. And judging from your looks, I assume that you left your parents on your own violation?"

Sigh, this is troublesome...if her parents saw me with her now, they would think that I have kidnapped their daughter. At least, her father would. Her mother was a pretty kind lady, and all she'd do was to 'ara ara' me.

The moment Kaori heard my words, she immediately became stunned and started choking on her cotton candy.

Seems like I was spot on. Still, she's trying to keep that a secret from me, huh? Why though? You have already recovered from your disease, from what I could tell, so why are you still hiding it from others?

Well, not that I really care why she didn't tell others. Maybe she was just embarrassed or ashamed or something, but since she didn't want to tell anyone...well, let's just not mention it.

"Are you okay?" I started rubbing her back while giving her some water to ease her choking.

"Y-Yeah...I'm fine. Thank you."

"Yo! Shouko-chan, Miyazono-chan, and Fuu-chan~."

"You finally stopped calling me yellow hair, Kobayashi-kun."

"Oops, must have slipped my mind then. I'm sorry, yellow hair." Haruma bowed, apologizing for the fact that he had not called her yellow hair.

"Grr..." Kaori growled in anger but did nothing to correct Haruma. He had called her that for too long already. Plus, she was already used to it, even if she disliked it.

"Good evening, Haruma-kun."

"Stop calling me Fuu-chan, Haruma."

Out of the three people who replied to him, only Shouko responded normally; Kaori and I just retorted him for his words.

"We've been through this, Fuu-chan. I'm not gonna stop calling you that."

"Sigh, Haruma, are you here alone? Where's your family?" Not wanting to further this pointless argument, I sighed, looked around, and realized that he was alone.

"I ditched them since my parents keep flirting around while my sister is with her boyfriend. So I'm left by myself wandering around until I found you guys." He shrugged as he patted Raiha's and Yuzuru's heads while smiling.

Haruma is part of a family of four. His parents work an office job while his sister is in high school this year. Usually, his house is empty as they are all busy with work or study. That was why he could often stay back late after school to accompany us in the music room when other elementary students usually head straight home after school.

Excluding me, of course. I'm just an anomaly.

It's currently 9pm, and there are still 3 more hours to the New Year's countdown.

After the two people found us, we hanged out together, playing games and buying a ton of sweet candies and food for us to eat. I continued keeping my mask on when going close to a stall that I wanted to play or get the prize.

This time, I didn't suffer from any financial problems since my mother gave me quite a bit of money to spend. But I didn't plan to spend it all in one go.

Money was hard-earned in this household, after all, especially since a pair of twins would be added to the family as well. Well, at least I would be helping to lighten the burden in volume 2.

"Onii-chan! Can I have that?" Raiha pointed towards a small pair of plush kitty cats, one pink and one purple.

"Oh? You want that?"

"No," Raiha shook her head and smiled cutely, "I want to give my new little sisters a toy!"

Urgh...I felt an arrow of cuteness stab at my heart...

How could anyone be this cute?!

"No problem! Leave it to your onii-chan!"

Putting on my battle mask, I walked towards the stall with wide steps. I think I was getting way too serious for something as minor as this, but for everything that my family asks for, I would do it to the best of my ability.

Except, of course, my father's absurd requests.

"Yay! Onii-chan is the best!"

"Boss, give me a gun and five bullets." I took out 500 yen and placed it on the counter.

"Hoh? Another challenger, huh? Good luck, kid." The boss smirked as he handed me my gun.

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

While Fuutarou-kun was doing something to complete the two girls' request, Shouko pulled Kaori to one side.

"Kaori-chan, when are you going to confess? You asked me a few weeks ago, but until now, your behavior hasn't changed at all."

Hearing what Shouko suddenly said, Kaori, who was in the middle of drinking her juice, almost spat everything out from the surprise she felt.

"Pffttt....please don't say that so suddenly. Besides, I have already planned everything out. I've been getting closer to Fuu-kun over the few weeks." Kaori eyed her best friend as she wiped her mouth of apple juice.

"I should have asked this before, but since I didn't, then let me ask you now. Why do you like Fuu-kun so much?" Shouko pondered.

"Since I found out that I was really sick and needed to go to the hospital often, it resulted in me not being able to attend school as frequently as others. This caused me to have a lack of friends. Although I wasn't really bullied since I would fight back and no one wanted to fight me anymore-"

"You mean, no one could fight you anymore?" Shouko interrupted with a small smile.

"Hehe...anyway, Fuu-kun was the only one nice to me, despite him not even being in my class and not knowing me at all.

He never loses his patience with anyone and would calmly guide them in wherever they went wrong. He is very gentle and never loses his temper at anyone. I don't think I would find anyone better to spend my life with." Kaori spoke without reservations, complimenting Fuutarou, though her face was bright red as she whispered the last part.

"So I'm not nice to you, huh...?" Shouko asked in fake sadness, though it was enough for Kaori to panic slightly.

"Of course not! Shou-chan is my best friend! Anyone who wants to bully you will have to get through me first!"

Hearing her words, Shouko just chuckled, "I think if anybody wants to bully me, Fuu-kun would be the first to smack them."

Just as Shouko finished speaking, she made eye contact with Fuutarou, who had a massive smile on his face as he pointed excitedly at a huge stuffed toy that he was holding in one arm.

The two girls smiled at Fuutarou's kid-like behavior as they waved back.

"Plus, Fuu-kun is cute."

"That I cannot deny. Anyway, as your friend and Fuu-kun's girlfriend, I will always support your decision. Are you going to take the initiative, or are you going to wait for him to confess to you instead?" I asked her.

"Of course I am going to confess! My mother said that girls need to take the initiative. Otherwise, the boys wouldn't even look at you!"

"So when do you plan to confess?"

"Midnight."

That simple reply from Kaori now caused Shouko to almost spit out her juice instead.

"That was...sudden..."

"You said it yourself. If I dragged this any further...well, nothing would change." Kaori shrugged, "And...can you help me bring your little sisters away? I want to be alone with him for a while..."

As she spoke towards the end of her sentence, her voice got quieter and quieter, her face getting redder.

"If you have already decided on it, I'll help distract my two imoutos from Fuu-kun and let you be alone with him for a while. As for where to confess, that would be up to you. Just do your best alright?"

"This feels so weird, encouraging another girl to be my boyfriend's girlfriend..." Shouko muttered under her breath, but Kaori managed to hear her despite the loud surroundings.

"Hehe...don't worry. I"ll love you as much as well!" Kaori grinned and hugged Shouko. Shouko sighed at Kaori's actions, but she didn't struggle within her embrace and just enjoyed it.

"For now, let's just enjoy the festival."

Until midnight, Kaori didn't plan to leave Shouko. She wanted to spend more time with her soon-to-be 'sister', and to be very honest, she was also feeling slightly guilty of 'forcing' Shouko to share Fuutarou.

Although though there were no laws of polygamy, the virus-infected world wouldn't just change overnight. Morality was still present amongst the adults, so there weren't many adults who had a harem.

Depending on the type of family the children were born in, they get a different influence and perspective on harems and sharing their man. Some might not like it, while others might accept it. But most children would tend towards the latter since the number of boys their age was not a lot, and a young girl's fantasy and dream was to become a bride. But they couldn't possibly become a pride if they remained single, right?

"Okay, and remember, Kaori-chan," Shouko said as they walked towards Fuutarou, who was now in another stall trying to sew two life-sized baby penguins for her two imoutos.

"Hm?"

"I'll never forgive if you ever hurt Fuu-kun. Even if you are my friend."

Although Shouko's face still had a smile, her tone was deadly serious.

"I'll never hurt Fuu-kun or you in this lifetime!" Noting the severe attitude Shouko had towards this matter, Kaori didn't joke around and replied with a tone as serious as Shouko.

"Good. Well, I hope you get what you wish for..."

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

A/N: I feel weird making the girls have a more dominant character. Though you have to note that this (world) is becoming a women-orientated society.

Though it's still not that extreme yet, with the loss of the younger population of boys, girls naturally replace the boys at being more...manly? I would say...So anything that a boy would usually do would now be done by a girl instead in this world. So Kaori and her mother's mentality isn't very wrong.

In fact, even Shouko was the one who confessed to Fuutarou, not the other way round. For more information, read Author's Thoughts.

A/R: I don't really actively search for new anime and manga to watch and read, but my youtube recommended the weirdest anime and manga. Gleipnir, Kanojo mo Kanojo, Magical girl apocalypse, Dead Tube, The way of the househusband, Zenozard the animation, and so on. I personally recommend Magical girl apocalypse and Dead Tube. It's an amazing read.