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Hello, My Darling
The world was pure blue. When I gazed outside the town hall’s window, the Japanese sky didn’t have a cloud in sight. It’s slowly turning into fall, huh?
Once a month on Saturday, there’s a government office that opens, crowding the inside of the halls here like crazy. Considering the line, I guess it’s going to take a while until it’s my turn. And around one hour until I can meet up with Tsutsukakushi and friends. This is the second Saturday since school started back up.
I’m speaking lightly about it, but it was really tough work making it this far. I didn’t do any homework at all, so writing the entire thing was a daunting task. Though I did get praised for the report on floods I wrote in geography, so I have that going for me.
“Homework is something you do during September.”
I got scolded by a girl a year beneath me, and she even helped me study the next day at the library. I guess it really isn’t that hard to meet up at school if you really want to. Whenever I escorted her home, I always found the Tsutsukakushi Household standing there like all the typhoon mess had never happened. The main house and storehouse were back to normal, as well. And from what I’ve heard, nothing weird has happened ever since. They put more seals on the cat statue, but who knows if those actually worked or not.
I think there will come a time when I really have to face the Stony Cat head-on. Not just letting it play me like a fiddle, but also fighting back. But that’s a task for another time. As for today, it’s time to fulfill the promise I made. I’ll take Tsutsukakushi to the Yokodera Household (which, of course, had turned back to normal). When we were talking about that in the library…
“Hey, hey. Do you know how to distinguish a centipede from a millipede?”
“How?”
“It has to do with how many legs are growing from each segment of its body. A centipede has only one leg, but a millipede has two.”
“Sometimes your animal knowledge actually scares me. As long as they’re alive, who cares? And what made you remember that?”
“No particular reason. It just came to mind. They’re two types of animals in the same category. There’s absolutely no deeper meaning to it. One in two… One person and two…”
Since Azuki Azusa didn’t have anything better to do, and since this was the perfect chance, I asked her if she wanted to come visit my house along with Tsutsukakushi. She really has too much time on her hands. She doesn’t have any friends at school. That being said, everything worked fine until then.
Tsutsukakushi said that the more people we have for daihinmin, the more interesting it will be, so I also happened to invite her Onee-san as well. But I only realized my mistake a bit later.
If she were to meet my family, the one that lives inside the Yokodera Household, she would realize the truth. That there is only my father, my mother, my older sister, and I. There is no younger brother to be found.
“…Well, I always knew I had to apologize eventually.”
I saw my number flash up on the electrical board. After finishing my business, I received the documents. When I returned to the sofa I had just been at, Steel-san let out an uncomfortable groan.
“Mm… It seems like Tsukiko and her friend aren’t here yet.”
“I wanted to talk with you alone, King.”
“T-To me alone?! Your affection sometimes is too much for my chest to hold. I’m getting embarrassed…” said the person who got excited for some reason. She was wearing a mysterious shirt with the words ‘Full Bloom’ written on it. I wonder what’s blooming. I’ve never seen the King without a jersey, so is this her idea of wearing something stylish? Well, there is only one thing to do, and that is to tell her the truth I should have told her a long time ago. Get a grip and do it, me.
“Look at this. Here’s all the confirmation you need.”
Steel-san looked at me questioningly, and I handed her my family register. If I had to guess, she probably wouldn’t believe me if I just told her. In that case, I’ll just have to show her the solid proof—that the family register that doesn’t have any little brother of mine in it. Basically, in order to reach the ending that gives a good aftertaste, I had to involve the family register.
Steel-san carefully observed the document, then looked back at me. She looked back and forth several times, but finally opened her eyes wide.
“Don’t tell me…”
“That’s right. There’s no younger Yokodera brother in this world. It’s just me1.”
She ran her gaze up and down the document. She even looked on the back of it, and ran her fingers along the lines of text, until she finally removed her gaze. She let out a long sigh, as if she had come to terms with something.
“So that’s… what was going on…”
“…Do whatever you want.”
I could only nod. I had deceived her all this time. Feel free to punch me in the gut or whatever. I’ll take it. Just please not the face. With her sky-blue eyes that closely resembled those of her younger sister, Steel-san looked at me. A mix of anger and sadness was filling them. In the next moment, she tightly gripped the family register document, and…
“There!”
…Ripped it apart.
“Wha… What are you doing?!”
“There! And there! Take this!”
She continued to tear the family register apart into even smaller pieces. After fully turning this document that someone had worked really hard on into small pieces and throwing it into the trash bin, Steel-san glanced at me in displeasure.
“It’s fine. I am your ally.”
“Eh?”
“No matter how much they try to act like you don’t exist, you are still you. You are right here with me after all. Even if you were exiled from your family and removed from any official documents, I will be your only ally.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t quite get what is going on!”
“Even your older brother hates you to the bone. So much so that he of all people would speak ill of you. I understand now. The reason you came so desperately to our house is because you didn’t have any other place to stay…”
Steel-san’s sharp eyes looked like they were turning slightly damp. Even though she had ripped apart the family register like it was a demon from hell, she carefully put her fingers together. It wasn’t a fake act like she had done back in the storehouse, but it was a gesture that truly made her look like a young maiden.
“I’ve been thinking ever since that day.” She muttered in a meek voice. “I like Tsukiko. I want to always stay together with her and protect our house. Thus I cannot allow any evil worm to seduce her… But that isn’t all of it. I can’t properly put it into words, but these feelings aren’t all that there is, I think.”
“Um, can we just talk about the family register for a moment?”
“If anything, I doubt there was a reason for me to agonize about it this much. As for the two of us, we need a family. So do you, since you’ve been left alone. You know… the rest… right?”
“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, and this really isn’t how I was hoping this conversation would go.”
“Ahh, don’t make me say it out loud!”
She forcefully pulled on my arm, embracing me with force that could break my spine in two. I suddenly found myself unable to breathe in the slightest. A warm, soft sensation pressed against my body. From there, I could feel her heart’s accelerated beat, almost like the heartbeat of a pure maiden in love. What is this? What’s going on?
“Even from Tsukiko’s view, she calls you ‘Pervert-san’, meaning that her affection isn’t as high as I thought it would be. At the same time, I received and understood your feelings at the storehouse. It all makes sense.”
“N-No! I don’t think a family can be formed this easily!”
“Maybe. Forming a new family brings pain and complications with it. But if it’s the two of us, we can surely make it. I want to overcome those… I think…”
“W-What do you mean by that…?”
“Don’t worry about Tsukiko. I won’t be cheating. I’m serious about both of you. Once I make it to Massachusetts, we’ll go to Arabia. There we can form our own family. And everyone will be happy.”
“Again, what is this about?!”
I never thought someone besides me would make an Arabian joke like that. But she’s saying the word ‘family’ a lot. Does she mean what I think she does? That we’ll be step-siblings of sorts? That’s all, right? There’s no deeper nor weirder meaning to it, right? Please say it isn’t so, Steel-san!
“You really are a blockhead. W-What I’m trying to say is…”
While my brain was overloading with this information, the alarm sensors in my brain going off, I saw that her reddened cheeks were approaching me. This plane has departed without control, this plane won’t be able to recover, this plane—
I felt a warm sensation on my cheek.
“…I don’t get it myself. I hope you understand.”
Like a plane shot down from the skies, my consciousness was blown away.
Congratulations, congratulations. We managed to land safely.
When I came to my senses, the people around us had stood up and were giving me a round of applause2 and the people inside the ticket window were giving me a thumbs up and were trying to give me a marriage registration form, and when I looked at the clock, it was already time to meet up with Tsutsukakushi and Azuki Azusa and Steel-san was still clinging to me with a beet red face and her cheeks were looking like apples, and now that I actually think about it this might be first time a 3D girl has kissed me like this and seriously what in the world should I do about this?
The wind blew past me from a window nearby. That wind felt awfully chilly. I finally knew that summer was going to end, and the next season would arrive shortly.
*
After these events, I found one thing out. It’s not exactly something crazy, either. It’s not something that would influence humanity as a whole. The moon will sink, and the sun will rise. Once summer is over, fall will arrive. There will be new videos with girls to watch this week, the week after that, and the week after that. The world isn’t going to change.
Just—at the automatic door of this government office stood a friend. Her eyes were wide open, her shoulders were stiff. Her legs were shaking as her bag dropped to the ground. Azuki Azusa stood there, observing this intense kiss that Steel-san gave me on the cheek.
When you look at it from the perspective of the entirety of this world’s history, it really wasn’t anything special. Or so I would like to think.
1 Uses ‘Boku’ here.
CClaw Translations 
“Her eyes were wide open, her shoulders were stiff. Her legs were shaking as her bag dropped to the ground. Azuki Azusa stood there, observing this intense kiss that Steel-san gave me on the cheek.”
Poor Azusa. She never gets a break…
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