Osananajimi ga Zettai ni Makenai Love Comedy Volume 2 Chapter 2 Part 2

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The Four Shida Sisters and the Ultramarine Channel

Part 2

I showed Midori and Akane into the living room after Maria left and prepared tea. After we had settled down, I explained to them what had happened in school – from Maria’s intrusion to the discord with Shirokusa – in an abridged manner.

“I see…”

“Seems that it’s true that there was stress intense enough to actually warrant memory loss.”

As they each nodded it appeared that they had finally been able to grasp the chain of events.

“Well, I’ve gotten it to an extent, but… Sueharu.”

“What, Midori?”

“What the hell are you going to do, man?! Seriously, no kidding!”

“No, what the hell am I going to do about what?”

“First of all, Big Sis Kuro.”

“Ooh!”

I clutched against my chest.

My heart palpitated dangerously whenever Kuroha was mentioned. I entered a state where again it felt like those words would pop into my head, leaving me to strenuously recall the names of those gravure idols I fancied in order to somehow soothe my emotions.

“O- Oi, Sueharu! What’s wrong?!”

“If we consider the situation until now, Big Sis Dori, there is no question Big Bro Haru too is under quite a bit of stress. It would be dangerous to drive him against the wall any further.”

“T- That might be true, but still!”

Midori seemed to be emotionally opposed, despite having heard Akane’s analysis.

“First of all, Big Bro Haru was harshly rejected by Big Sis Kuro. That was the bed-binding level.”

“Oof!”

The sharpness of Akane’s tongue. Shirokusa as much as she could chose strong words in order to intimidate others, but Akane went for weak spots indifferently without malice, and like throwing body blows she steadily found her mark.

“Having that scene be uploaded as a video, then viewed more than a million times – that was the suicide level.”

“Eek!”

“W- Wait, Akane?!”

“And then if despite all of that, he’s told that he’s responsible for driving Big Sis Kuro to the point of amnesia, then there will soon be no other way to describe this but the harakiri¹ level–”

“Wait, wait, wait, even I didn’t go that far, Akane!”

“Ooh… Oogeeeeeee!”

My stress levels quickly surpassed my limits, and my instincts painted over my sense of reason.

“O- Oi, Sueharu! What’s going on?!”

“Oo oo oo oo oo!”

Transformed into an anthropoid ape, I promptly hid myself behind Midori’s back, sticking only my head out at Akane trying to intimidate her.

“It’s no good, I can’t get through to him… Looks like this guy’s taken quite a bit of damage too, huh…” Midori sighed.

Akane was aghast.

“Oh, Big Bro Haru… sorry. It wasn’t my intention to…”

Seeing Akane’s seemingly apologetic face swiftly brought my reasoning back.

At times like these this girl could really pull a sad-looking expression. She couldn’t do things well, despite knowing her own clumsiness better than anyone did. That she thought so was shown plainly on her face.

There were times when the gears in Akane’s head wouldn’t stop spinning after they had been started. Because she only had the intelligence to recognise that as a shortcoming, her impulse to blame herself was strong. To that extent I thus thought of it as my role to help Akane take herself less seriously as much as I could.

“There!”

“Ouch!”

I sent a flick towards Akane’s forehead, causing her to press on it and hurriedly push up with her middle finger her glasses which had slid down.

“I don’t need anything more than ‘sorry’ from a junior.”

“…But.”

“You think about some things too much, Akane. If I know you, you’ve already thought about several ways to apologise, haven’t you?”

“…About forty-three.”

“That’s a lot!”

All the same, at the very least I could hope for her to be a scholar in the future.

“At times like these, your job as the junior is to apologise from the heart.”

“…Okay.”

“The senior’s job is to forgive and laugh it off. Anyone who doesn’t is trash and you shouldn’t get close.”

“…Who said that?” Midori quipped from the side.

“Ohh, someone from Acid Rain if I’m not mistaken.”

“Woah, you’re friends with people from Acid Rain, Sueharu? …Oh, right, it was because of Child Star, was it? …Honestly, I’m a huge fan, though! I heard their new song’s going to be an intense one like those during the indie rock era, but did you hear anything about that?”

“No, no, there was a relationship, but I don’t know ‘cuz we never got in touch after I retired.”

“I see∼. Well, I really can’t form an image of Acid Rain talking to you though, Sueharu.”

“They looked really scary because they were former delinquents, but in actuality they were all incredibly helpful people.”

“Really. I can’t imagine that at all…”

Akane’s unchanging expression broke into the slightest smile.

“If you remember that line, Big Bro Haru, then I think that there is value in doing so. I think that spirit is magnificent.”

This girl was incredible, only she was bad at expressing her emotions. I thought she was cute, her clumsiness included. I thus verbalised that as much as I could.

“Unlike Midori you’re a good girl, Akane.”

“Tsk, yeah, I guess I’ll always be a bad girl no matter what.”

Oh dear, oh dear, I wasn’t going anywhere at all talking to these girls. They were middle school schoolgirls, childhood friends akin to family they might have been. It wasn’t healthy for them to be in the house of a boy who wasn’t family.

I so thought, trying to drive the conversation forward.

“At any rate, it’s honestly a little tough for me to think about romance right now.”

“…………”

“…………”

Why are the two of you silent?! And exchanging looks with each other meaningfully at that?!

“Still, I don’t think it would be right for me to leave Kuro alone. If you have a plan, I intend to help.”

“A plan, huh…”

Midori behaved as if she were thinking, but she definitely wasn’t.

“How about it, Akane?”

See, she had dumped the problem off onto Akane, as expected. She was the type that got a fever after only three seconds of thinking.

Akane raised her index finger and began twirling it around. Someone who didn’t know any better might have thought she was hailing a UFO, but this was proof of Akane being in concentrated thought.

“…To begin, I cannot read at all what Big Sis Kuro’s mental state is, or rather, where she’s heading towards. As a result, I feel that it would be dangerous for Big Bro Haru to start talking to Big Sis Kuro.”

“Hmm.”

“I think that it would be good for us to first explain everything to Big Sis Kuro. Whether it’s about her confession to Big Bro Haru or the video et cetera, she’ll probably learn about it in school sooner or later, so for us – her family – to tell her would create less of a fuss.”

“Well, that’s true. Then I guess the three of us should explain to her when we get back, huh.” Midori also approved.

“After we finish explaining to her, and I think it’ll probably happen tomorrow, Big Sis Kuro will try to talk to you normally, Big Bro Haru. When that happens I want you to be totally prepared, and if possible I also want you to watch over how she’s trending.”

“…Right.”

When I thought of Kuroha, the scene of my rejection would shimmer before me whether I liked it or not.

But right now Kuroha was in a large bind. It wouldn’t do for me to panic here.

“Alright, got it. Let’s cooperate. If there’s anything let’s contact each other immediately.”

“If you would. And also, Big Bro Haru.”

“Yes, Akane?”

“I’ll be proud if you return to the entertainment world, Big Bro Haru – but also lonely.”

“?!”

Honest words. They deeply touched my heart.

“Still, I don’t think I could stop you either.”

“Akane…”

Precisely because Akane projected an image of solitude, seeing her lonely-looking expression compelled me emotionally to want to act in accordance with her wishes.

“I think that whichever you choose is alright, though? You should do what you want to, Sueharu.”

Midori was as she always was. But looking closely, she might have looked a little forlorn.

“Only if there’s one thing I can say–”

“Hm?”

Akane occasionally took upon the appearance of a prophet. Yes, when her eyes were perfectly clear and she was overflowing with conviction as she was right now. This sagacious girl could perhaps see things that ordinary people could not.

“It’s that even if you should choose reinstatement, I want you to do so with positive emotions to the end, not for negative reasons such as running away from love. Because, Big Bro Haru, this will probably become one of the biggest decisions of your life.”

This girl’s a first-year middle school student, isn’t she?

When I was a first-year middle school student, I… no, I shouldn’t think about this any further. It was embarrassing too to compare. I didn’t secretly rely on her the most for nothing.

“Thanks, Akane.”

I took Akane’s tiny hand and enveloped it tightly.

“I’ll try giving it some serious thought. I intend to make a decision I won’t regret.”

“Big Bro Haru… please… my hand… my hand…”

Akane whispered so while completely red in the face.

Despite her being able to say those words, I found her unexpected shyness cute.

As I incidentally looked towards the side, I saw Midori scratching her head as if to say “good grief”.

*

¹Japanese ritual suicide. If you want details, that’s what Wikipedia’s for.