Chapter 116Immortal Sisters
The next day, after school, I was called by Yuuki-senpai, also known as the Student Council President. Isn't it too mean to call me through the school broadcast? And don't just say "I'm sorry!" in the school broadcast like that! Some bad and slutty girls, like Koga and Murata, would look at me with bloodshot eyes.
"D*mn, he made me stay in the Student Council Office until after school..."
The reason I was trying so hard was not to help them, but it was because I wanted to save money on my lunch, and um... ...the food was delicious. I don't know what those black grains on top of the white rice are, but all I know is that it's salty and delicious.
But I felt like I was missing out on a lot when my time after school was shortened. I probably wouldn't feel it so much at all if I had any club activities or part-time jobs. Ichinose-san has a part-time job today... I wonder if she's okay? If I go check on her, Gramps might make me a new employment contract or something. It's good that I stop doing that...
I changed my shoes while playing with my smartphone at the school entrance. After school, it was indeed my most relaxing time and I could use it to read the latest notifications on game apps and updates on online novels.
"...Oh..."
"Hmm?"
I was halfway through being prepared to go home. While I was concentrating on one of the students that I rarely saw on my way home, I heard a voice that seemed to be calling me. As I turned my head to see who it was, my back inevitably straightened without me realizing it.
"Wh-What's up...?"
"Wh-Why are you talking like that?"
I raised my right hand slowly to greet her, but it immediately went nowhere. After I swiped the air, I lowered my hand lazily as if I had just been shot down, and Natsukawa slowly approached me. Is she approaching me...? What should I do...? But there was something that made me feel awkward at this moment.
"Oh— ...Um, did you just finish the meeting of the Cultural Festival Executive Committee members?"
"...Yeah. I think we're in a very critical moment right now."
"You guys have been working on this since summer vacation, though."
"..."
"...?"
As I said so meaningfully, Natsukawa's face turned somewhat tired. Eh? Is it that much...? Whatever the truth is, it's a heavy burden since the first year, isn't it? I think I heard somewhere that it wasn't too difficult, but was I wrong? I feel like Sasaki and the others would be willing to voluntarily take over Natsukawa's duties.
While I was in a daze, I tried to imagine the scene where I would insert Natsukawa's picture into the frame in my head, but before I realized it, the beautiful girl in the picture had now disappeared. Just as I was about to look around me, I felt a tug on my sleeve from someone.
"...Hey. Should we go home together?"
"Eh?"
Natsukawa is already on my left.
Eh, eh, eh. What's with that quiet, indulgent demeanor of hers? Eh? Does that mean the two of us should go home together? Is that so? I wasn't wrong, was I? I might die. I might die, if it turns out that I made a mistake.
"..."
"Y-Yeah..."
I was so surprised that it was too late for me to give my proper answer. I hurriedly changed my shoes and walked out of the school entrance, but perhaps I was caught off guard and I ended up being a few steps ahead of Natsukawa. Keeping up with a girl's footsteps turned out to be difficult...
As I stopped and waited for her, Natsukawa quietly appeared next to me and stopped.
"Look, I'm sorry."
"No, no need to worry about it."
She was next to me. That's right, Natsukawa was indeed next to me. Even she was too sideways. What does this mean? In other words, it meant we were indeed "walking side by side". I'm still not used to it... ...I remember that I used to chase after her more and look at her back, so I never thought that there would come a day when we would calmly walk next to each other like this. I think a boy and a girl can be like this even if they're not dating, but it still makes me very nervous.
I haven't walked home side by side with her since the last day of middle school... ...I feel like I'm being given some kind of test. If Natsukawa takes offense, then that's the beginning of my defeat. Wait a minute! This is crazy, I think of so many indecent jokes just at times like this. What happened to my mind...? I wonder if I can stop this mysterious opportunism where the opponent is always the type that doesn't get along with the main character.
"It's been a long time since we... –I mean, we're not like this very often, huh? We go home like this..."
"Yeah... ...that's true."
"...?"
'It's been a long time since we've gone home together like this!'. I was about to say that, like an estranged childhood friend, but then I realized that we rarely had any experiences like that in the first place. That's right, the girl behind the scenes who looks like Natsukawa is the one we used to meet when we went home together. I wonder if she's okay... ...Time has long stopped, so she probably doesn't have any energy or anything like that.
Even so, there's still something... strange about it. Despite my tension just now, I didn't feel any discomfort. Our relationship might have changed somewhat since the last time we met before, but even so, is Natsukawa going to keep quiet like this? Maybe she's really tired...? It's hard for me to say it, but I think she would feel more comfortable if she didn't go home with me... ...There's no way I'm not going to talk to her.
"...I think you're that busy, huh?"
"But I'm not in any club activities. If I'm compared to Kei, I think I'm still nothing at all."
"No, isn't there a difference in the extent to which being a burden depends on each individual's habits? If you're compared to Ashida, there's a difference in physical strength between a housewife and an athlete."
"S-Stop equating me with a housewife."
That was very dangerous. After all, Natsukawa has become a trend these days because she is taking care of Airi-chan herself, so she has a distinctive image as a guardian. But still, even without being paired with Ashida once, Natsukawa seems to be good at sports as well. Is she the type of girl who can be more active in sports than literature? The casual clothes she was wearing at that time were also comfortable for her to move around in. Yeah, it did make saliva out of my mouth.
"But if it's Natsukawa, I'm sure you can handle it all, we'll see. Since you're so popular like the number 1 on the Oricon charts, I think it's amazing that the people around you can help you."
"What's the point of me being number 1 on Oricon? ...But, you see... ...I wonder if there are children who care about things like that..."
"Like Sasaki?"
"I wouldn't call Sasaki-kun a 'child'."
Tsk... ...I thought there was a theory that canine Sasaki wouldn't be considered a boy at all by her... ...but as I expected, Natsukawa was counting on him.
"Sasaki-kun is amazing... ...He can also do his work well in the classroom too."
"Eh...? Isn't that a no-no? He said "I'm afraid they'll see me!"."
"Why do you sound a bit girly? ...You really... ...Yeah, but if I bring it up, it probably won't be good."
"..."
Some parts made me feel uncomfortable. We (Sasaki and I) have only known each other since this spring, but even so, I don't think Sasaki is the kind of boy who would break the rules just because he's busy or in a bad mood... ...First of all, if he wants to bring the documents of the Cultural Festival Executive Committee, at least he should be a senpai member of the Cultural Festival Executive Committee. If the Cultural Festival Executive Committee is busy, the third-year senpai-s running it must be in a hurry.
That's right, he was a handsome boy, but he was also serious at heart. I don't know how many times Yamazaki and I tried to bother him, but he just ignored us, and we became dogs to the girls around us... ...Yeah, I was only focused on Natsukawa, so I didn't care about that. I shouldn't have bothered to care about that in the first place.
'—Sajou, I'm serious about hitting on her, you know.'
To make matters worse, he even took the trouble to declare to me that he was going to hit on Natsukawa. No, it wasn't a declaration. His face was like saying, "Are you sure?", which it was. Besides, wouldn't things be different if I were a girl?
I often tease him because he's a very handsome boy. To prevent Natsukawa from falling in love with him, I would probably take advantage of Yamazaki's stupid teases and try to keep Sasaki and Natsukawa out of each other's sight as much as possible. Why the heck is this guy, who looks like he's going to reincarnate into Isekai at any moment, bringing forbidden documents into the classroom?
Was it just to get a glance from Natsukawa?
"—Ashida isn't the only one busy with sports, right?"
"Eh...?"
"Sasaki. He's a first-year student member with high expectations for the Soccer Club, isn't he? Although it's a bit much for Natsukawa, Sasaki can probably easily handle it with his stamina. Isn't it okay if you can rely on him once in a while?"
'Is it that difficult? Then, let me take care of it for you.'
I wish I could say that, but in reality, the documents were not allowed to be taken out of the office by outsiders. Sasaki also told me that he didn't want any outsiders to see the documents, and I couldn't help him. So it was better to leave it to someone with high specs like Sasaki than to have it tampered with by an outsider. Yeah, I don't care what he can do, but I think he'll be able to handle it with some mysterious corrections. After all, he also has a brocon little sister.
"Y-You can't just rely on others..."
"It's okay to rely on others occasionally, Sasaki is fine too, if you want to. You two are still in the first year, right? Why should the kouhais, the least experienced, bear such a heavy burden?"
"That's..."
High school students. Even though they've only been here for three years, I still think there's a big difference between the different grades in terms of ability. 'What kind of atmosphere is there in this organization?' 'How can this organization be run?' 'Do they need people who are good at using computers?' and so on. The things they have developed over the past two years cannot possibly be compared to what we have done in less than a year. Even today, a level of "this and that" is very difficult.
"Isn't that so? Natsukawa must have subconsciously been in her "Onee-chan mode". Like what he showed when he was with Airi-chan, he probably showed his caring side to you, right?"
"O-Onee-chan..."
Oh, that's bad. "Onee-chan" was a taboo word to say in front of Natsukawa. She even once replied "Stop it!" so sternly when I was texting it in a group chat... It was indeed scary, even more so knowing how siscon Natsukawa is.
"...Onee, chan..."
"Oh, no, look, I'm sorry, Natsukawa. I didn't mean to say that as a weird figure of speech or anything like that. The Natsukawa sisters will be immortal forever."
What am I talking about? What am I, Shigeo*? I don't even know anything about baseball. Besides, it's still unclear if Natsukawa got the point of my story.
(TL Note: Nagashima Shigeo, also known as "The Giants" is a former professional baseball player and a baseball manager.)
I had to be careful. First of all, I never even called my own Big Sis "Onee-chan". "Onee-chan"... didn't I still call her like that until she enrolled in middle school? Eh? If I'm not mistaken, I've never politely called her "Onee-chan" before, right? No, I'm sure there were times when I called her like that... ...Even if it was just out of necessity, to get out of the Big Sis' threatenings.
"...One more time."
"...Eh?"
The Natsukawa sisters will be immortal forever.
Author's Note:
• Natsukawa Sisters ≠ Sasaki Siblings
• Sasaki Brother : Natsukawa Sister ≈ Sasaki Sister : Sasaki Brother
TL: Reeze27
ED: Reeze27
PR: Reeze27
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