Osananajimi ga Zettai ni Makenai Love Comedy Volume 3 Chapter 1 Part 2

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A trip begins with preparation

Part 2

Today was Wednesday, Curry Day.

For that reason I stopped by the supermarket on my way home and purchased more or less all the ingredients I needed. After getting home I threw my bag onto the living room sofa then immediately began cooking.

On a normal Wednesday Kuroha would come over to clean and do the laundry. But today – as one would expect after all that fighting – it looked as if I probably shouldn’t hope for much.

“What should I do about this……”

The house had just been cleaned the week before, but already there were shirts and garbage et cetera strewn about all over the place.

They wouldn’t have been littered to this extent had I paid attention routinely. Perhaps subconsciously I thought it was fine because Kuroha would clean for me every week.

“Oh dear, oh dear……”

I was being pampered. Childhood friend she may have been, but it was strange in the first place to have a girl my age come over to my house and do chores for me. It was undoubtedly because we were so close, that somewhere in my heart I had begun taking it for granted that she would be here for me and she would do them for me.

–Especially when nothing in this world was a certainty.

“…… When things cool down, I’ll have to thank her properly,” I reflected as I began cleaning the wet areas of the house.

As I did, my phone rang. It was a notification sound from Hotline.

“Big Sis Kuro seems busy today, so can I come over and clean instead?”

Judging from the content it really should have been me asking her, but Aoi was self-effacing to the end. It was a message very typical of her.

I thought it might be bad, but the result of me agonising over it for a while was that I asked for her help. I had other things to do, after all.

Fifteen minutes after I replied, Aoi arrived.

“Alright then, Big Brother Haru…… please leave the cleaning to me!”

Mm, Aoi grunted softly, as she made fists to show her strength. In fact her two thin arms gave anything but the appearance of strength, and I found the contrast resulting from that very sweet.

Aoi was a middle school freshman. She was 150 centimeters tall and had a mature appearance. Her neat and clean, girly sense of fashion amplified her sweetness. Definitively feminine were the twintails that swayed whenever she moved, and she was an existence I couldn’t help but want to dote on.

“I want to cook the curry for a little while longer, so could I trouble you to clean first, and then we’ll have dinner about an hour later?”

“Alright!”

Not a hint of reluctance on her face…… no, if anything Aoi looked happy as she nodded.

Seriously, this girl was an angel……

“I really think I should be cleaning with you instead of just relying on you, Aoi-chan, but…… can I for today?”

“Of course, that’s what I came intending to do. However–”

“However?”

“If you want to rely on me, it must mean you have things to do, don’t you, Big Brother Haru? In that case, will my cleaning not get in the way?”

Did she perhaps imagine that I might be calling someone or something? She truly was an attentive girl.

“Oh no, my grades are in trouble because they fell a little, so I’ve got to study even if it’s just for a little bit. Really I could do this after you leave, Aoi-chan, but I might just slack off if I were alone, you see. By announcing it like this I’m trying to cut off my escape routes and forcing myself to work hard. Sorry, I’ll send you a gift next time.”

“Hehe, so that’s what it was.”

Aoi clapped her hands together before her chest.

“Don’t worry about it. Please leave the cleaning to me. Right, Big Brother Haru, to your studies.”

“…… Right.”

I was grateful for how amicably my conversations with Aoi went.

“I can’t believe you’re making me do this on my own!” Midori would have probably cursed or something, thus creating an argument.

The problem with Akane, on the other hand, was that her academic ability was too great. Despite being four whole years my junior she was possibly quite capable of even teaching me mathematics, so I couldn’t make the mistake of studying in front of her.

It was in front of Aoi that I could act like a big brother without having to act tough, and try my best not to do anything embarrassing as one. Which was why my heart was glad that it was Aoi who had come in place of Kuroha today.

“Right then…… shall we get started?”

I opened up my reference book over the living room table. From this position I could see immediately if the pot boiled over, so I didn’t have to worry even if anything happened.

First I would start with the day’s revision. English was the topic. Only–

“I got sleepy quite a bit, so there are a lot of parts I don’t remember, though……”

I didn’t understand grammar perfectly either, and in the first place I didn’t have much of a memory for vocabulary.

I opened my English vocabulary book and tried pronouncing each word under my breath.

“Please try your best, Big Brother Haru.”

Without noticing Aoi’s warm gaze, I continued my bitter struggle with the vocabulary book.

Exactly an hour later, after she had thrown the laundry into the washing machine and done a minimal amount of cleaning, Aoi suggested that it was about time that we had dinner.

I prepared two servings of curry, and to Aoi’s I added honey.

“Thank you for the meal.”

Aoi’s face lit up as she put her spoon in her mouth.

“Ah, this is it. This flavour. It really puts me at ease.”

“Great. Speaking of which, Aoi-chan, your family doesn’t cook curry because I do every week, was it?”

“Yes, that’s why I’ve been wanting to eat curry. Yours especially, Big Brother Haru.”

I see. While I had heard about a request to eat my curry from Kuroha, apparently that request had come from Aoi.

“You’re always flattering me like this, Aoi-chan.”

“I couldn’t possibly be flattering you, Big Brother Haru, because this is how I really feel, you know? Didn’t you add honey just for me, for example? Things like that make me really happy.”

This girl had no qualms about complimenting people. Even in school she was surely loved by all.

Aoi was out completely with spicy foods. Kuroha’s taste buds were out of this world, while Midori actually preferred things that were spicy. Akane had no pickiness about taste whatsoever, such that the four sisters all had different preferences, resulting in a spirit of “to each her own” reigning at the Shida family dining table. It was perhaps for this reason that Aoi had been happy about being shown consideration.

“It seems like you’ve decided against going into showbiz before graduating from high school, Big Brother Haru, but have you thought about what comes after?”

“Hm?”

“Because I thought that you might be returning to showbiz without first going to college, Big Brother Haru.”

“Why would you think that?”

Aoi let her gaze wander as she assumed a somewhat lonely expression.

“At the commercial contest before – I’m an ordinary person, so I don’t know much, but…… even from my eyes I could tell that showbiz is your true calling, Big Brother Haru.”

“I see…… mm, thanks.”

I was overjoyed at being commended, but with this girl I had to beware against getting too happy. Aoi was quick to offer praise, so if I believed her every time she did I’d get too carried away.

I went back to my answer to her initial question.

“I haven’t decided what I’m going to do after graduating yet. I’m going to agonise over it for a little more, then make my decision from there.”

“…… Is that so?”

“I mean, I just thought I’d stop having weird ideas, you see.”

“By ‘ideas’, what do you mean?”

“You see, I had quite a few at the start of the commercial contest too. Like about how I could profit from more work coming in if I did well there, or if I couldn’t conveniently be in both showbiz and school if I went back to being popular. Almost immediately I discovered that I was wrong, though.”

“Isn’t it normal to think about things like that?”

“Yes, it is, but I’ve come to think that maybe all this doesn’t suit me, you see. In the past I tried my best to tackle things as they appeared in front of me, and that usually went well. Above all, it was Kuro who made me realise during the Confession Festival that I had always been acting for someone else to begin with. I was also reminded of that during the commercial contest. So I think perhaps what’s important is for me to go back to my roots, so to speak, or try my hardest then and there for everyone around me. That’s why for now I’m only going to focus on what’s in front of me, and deal with that the best I can.”

“Wow……”

Aoi let her eyes sparkle as they fixed onto me.

“Amazing, Big Brother Haru. I’m moved.”

I knew this girl was totally an angel. It was because she would accept, and compliment me sincerely for whatever I said, that I too could talk to her so sincerely. Sincerity was a precious thing.

“I could really feel Big Sister Kuro’s love for you.”

“Pfft!”

I reflexively spit out the water I had started to drink.

Aoi tended to me as I had a fit of coughing, while wiping away – with a cloth which had been close at hand – the water which had spilled onto the table.

“What’s wrong, Big Brother Haru?”

“Oh, no…… it was just because you said ‘love’ so suddenly, you know?”

“After all, wasn’t it by Big Sister Kuro’s words setting your heart alight that you came alive, Big Brother Haru? I could feel just how deep her love was.”

Oh my god! This was so embarrassing to listen to!

This girl was so pure she had a habit of over-glamourising love maybe or being too dreamy about it or something…… and that really made me uncomfortable!

My face burned with embarrassment, yet Aoi simply looked amazed.

Yeah, Aoi wasn’t exactly of the type that brimmed with confidence, and she might get hurt and shrivel up if I quipped, so…… here it looked like I could really only watch over her warmly as her Big Brother……

I had no choice but to change the subject.

“Speaking of which, Aoi-chan, why are you so interested about the path I’m going to take? Did you want me to do more work as an actor or something?”

“Of course I do want to watch your efforts, Big Brother Haru, but more importantly I was wondering why you would put all that effort into studying.”

“Is that strange?”

“After all, Big Brother Haru, there isn’t a need for you to study if you’re going into showbiz without first going to college, is there?”

I grabbed my cup and emptied it of water.

“Ooh, it’s fairly surprising to hear those words coming from you, Aoi-chan. If it was Kuro she’d probably say ‘You need to study while you’re still in high school, don’t you?!’ or something, even if I decided I wasn’t going to college.”

“Hehe, that certainly seems like something Big Sister Kuro would say. I’m not as strong as she is, though, so I think that it’s a good thing when I don’t have to do things that I don’t like.”

“Oh, that’s completely normal. After all, I hate studying too.”

“But you still do it, don’t you? Is there a university you’re aiming for or something?”

“Nope, there isn’t.”

“Then why?”

I felt embarrassed about thus sharing my own opinions…… but Aoi would probably listen to them without laughing.

With that in mind I opened my mouth to speak.

“I think that studying in school’s a form of insurance.”

“Insurance?”

“The better the university you can get into, the more versatile you are, I guess. It’s kind of like taking out a good insurance policy. If you’ve already decided what you want to do right now, then you won’t have to study things that aren’t related, will you? Someone who wants to be a chef, for example, could start training for it immediately after graduating from middle school. If the university you want to enter only examines Math and English, then you could forego studying other subjects. These people who have decided what their aim in life is don’t need any insurance.”

“I see. When you said that studying’s a kind of insurance, Big Brother Haru…… you meant that going to a good university would allow people who haven’t decided on their future to keep the possibility of going down different paths until much later?”

While perhaps not as much as Akane, Aoi was pretty smart all the same. Their father was a university professor, after all.

“Right, exactly. I think that the option to study in school exists for people who haven’t decided on an aim in life. If you decided on one, then obviously you’d start working back from it. Well, I suppose in some cases that would involve getting good grades in school too, of course. So, I’ve decided that I’ll choose if I’m going back into showbiz again when it’s the time to. In other words, I haven’t decided on an aim yet. That’s why I have to study.”

“Wow…… amazing.”

Aoi clapped her hands together before her chest. It was her habit to do so when she thought she had heard something good.

“I never imagined you thought that way, Big Brother Haru…… I’m surprised.”

“Aoi-chan…… you think I’m someone who doesn’t think at all, don’t you……?”

“Aha, ahahaha…… n- not at all.”

Yeah, this girl really sucked at lying. She wasn’t clumsy about it like I was, but she’d feel guilty immediately after doing it, and so in that sense…… she was of a type fundamentally unsuited to lying.

But wait, perhaps she was actually so incredibly good at lying that she occasionally pretended being bad at it……?

I had to be dumb. How could such an angelic girl possibly do something like that?

“B- but it’s true that I respect you, you know, Big Brother Haru?”

Seeing that she couldn’t conceal her lie, Aoi tried changing the direction of the conversation by saying something she thought was positive.

“You sure know how to say things that make me happy. I’m always being made fun of in school and elsewhere.”

“I think that your good points are your cheerfulness and straightforwardness, Big Brother Haru.”

“Only I don’t think at all?”

“I don’t think so, you know?”

“Yes, you do.”

“…… Well, that part of you that doesn’t put on airs, Big Brother Haru – I really lo–”

Aoi got that far before her face turned completely red and she stiffened.

“…… ‘Lo’?”

As I inquired, the total redness of her face suddenly gave way to pure white.

“Lo…… lo…… look at it…… as quite incredible……”

“O- Oh…… thanks……”

Of course I was left with the feeling that I had somehow been deceived, but as Aoi turned her face away there was an aura coming from her telling me not to broach the topic any further. It would’ve been shameful to back such an adorable little sister-esque girl into a corner anyway, so I very quickly desisted.

After dinner ended I threw myself into washing the dishes while Aoi returned to cleaning.

After I finished I then proceeded to the washing machine, and from that I tossed the laundry into the dryer. It was manual work, so I had taken it upon myself to do it during our discussion earlier. In the meantime Aoi went around with the vacuum cleaner.

When all that was done, I returned once again to the living room and set about studying.

Tap tap, went Aoi’s footsteps as she walked around, but curiously it didn’t become an impediment to my studying. In fact the natural feel of it allowed me to proceed smoothly.

Was there a certain study that showed that it was easier to concentrate with a little sound present rather than with it being too quiet? It made it onto TV that when surveyed, the households of people going to Tokyo University were more likely than average to have their living room as the place for studying.

I looked up as the sight of Aoi unexpectedly appeared in the corner of my eye. Aoi too realised when I did and she produced a soothing smile. I found this extremely pleasant.

Yet I also felt a little lonely.

Aoi wasn’t to blame. I was lonely probably because Kuroha – who should’ve been here originally – wasn’t.

With those emotions held in my chest, I turned towards the task before me.

“Then one more cat comes along∼♪ Meow meow meow the cat sings its song∼♪”

I could hear Aoi’s singing mixed in with the sound of the vacuum cleaner. Apparently she thought that the latter would offset the former such that I wouldn’t be able to hear it.

“Her clumsiness is pretty cute too……”

This girl had a kind of cuteness that just made you want to vigorously rub her hair and chin.

So when I gazed at her subconsciously while the hand holding my mechanical pencil stopped–

“Ah……”

Aoi turned towards me and her face turned red.

“E- Erm, Big Brother Haru! C- C-C- Could it be that you–”

“It’s alright, I couldn’t hear.”

I was ass at lying, but this time at least I tried my best.

Aoi was, after all, introverted and unconfident. Perhaps she would grow to dislike me if I made fun of her here.

This lie was to save Aoi, to make her happy. I thus tried to sell it with the same amount of skill I showed while acting on stage…… and this time around, that seemed to have succeeded.

Aoi sighed in relief.

“Thank goodness, then……”

“Yeah, it’s alright, I’m telling you.”

“Yes, everything’s–”

Aoi whispered that much before she froze.

“…… E- Erm, Big Brother Haru……”

“Yes?”

“‘It’s alright’ is something you say because you could hear, isn’t it……? If you couldn’t hear, normally you’d ask if I said something, wouldn’t you……?”

Ohh, yeah, that’s true…… Exactly…… She realised that, did she……

“Aoi-chan.”

I raised my thumb and showed her my white teeth.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“OOOOOooooooooOoooh!”

Aoi turned as red as a lobster before she squatted down and hid her face.

“Big Brother Haru, you bully……” she complained through teary eyes as she stole a glance at me.

Crap, I had intended to deal with this discreetly, but the complete opposite had been achieved……

“E- Erm…… my bad, Aoi-chan. It wasn’t really my intention to do something like make fun of you, you see……”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“You won’t tell anyone?”

“Of course.”

“…… In that case, it was my fault for singing in the first place.”

See, this is what I was talking about.

Apologising if one thought he or she was wrong. Mutual consideration and mutual forgiveness.

Surely this was the ideal way to make up after an argument.

Why couldn’t Kuroha and I make up properly like this this time around……?

Up till now there had been times we had fought, but we had always made up immediately. Well, in almost all cases it had been my fault though, so our arguments had ended with me apologising after we had calmed down.

This argument, however, had a different feel from those before.

Its causes were rooted more deeply perhaps…… but I couldn’t see how it would end. It had that kind of fearsomeness about it.

What should I do……?

“Erm, Big Brother Haru……?”

“Hm?”

“Is something wrong? You zoned out all of a sudden.”

“Oh, well, a little something just came to mind, see……”

Unable to say what I was thinking, of course, I averted my gaze away, but when I did Aoi approached me after leaving the vacuum cleaner on the floor.

“Erm, Big Brother Haru…… it was Big Sister Kuro whom you were thinking of, wasn’t it……?”

“Ah, no, that’s……”

“I could tell even if you didn’t try to avoid it, you know? You fought with Big Sister Kuro, didn’t you?”

Aoi had come to clean in place of Kuroha, so she was probably very well aware that we had fought. If so, she had undoubtedly discerned instantly the reason why I had spaced out.

“I guess. Oh, but it’s not something I can tell you, Aoi-chan……”

“–Please, let me hear it,” Aoi pressed. For an introverted girl such as her, that was an exceedingly rare occurrence.

“Of course, I can’t push you if you don’t want to say it, Big Brother Haru…… but I respect both you and Big Sister Kuro, so I want to be of use to you……”

Her sincere emotions conveyed themselves to me.

With this girl, not sharing might be the more hurtful option. It was quite likely that she would blame her immaturity and thus her inability to offer advice.

It was impossible that I would be unwilling to tell Aoi. Only she was someone I wanted to protect, which meant that I just didn’t want to cause her any worry or unease.

But if not telling her anything would hurt her more, then I thought that I should.

“In that case, Aoi-chan, will you be kind enough to listen? It’s about love, so it might be a little embarrassing, though……”

“Big Brother Haru…… If you’re alright with me being the one to – then yes, I’ll listen about your problems with love.”

Aoi looked genuinely happy as she smiled.

As I reflected on how I had given her quite a bit of undue concern, I narrated a summary of my quarrel with Kuroha.

………………

…………

……

“So that’s how it was……”

It would’ve been embarrassing too to speak directly to Aoi, so as we talked I made and handed her a cup of ultra-sweet deluxe royal milk tea while she sat on my L-shaped sofa.

Aoi watched me as I sat across her diagonally, savouring the fragrance of the tea. She then blew on it in order to cool it, before cautiously putting the cup against her lips – and burning her tongue in the process.

It was her usual clumsiness acting up again, but thinking I hadn’t noticed, apparently, she feigned indifference as she gently returned the cup to its saucer.

“Big Brother Hare.”

“Yup, that’s me, Suehare.”

She had apparently misspoke as a result of burning her tongue. ‘Big Brother Hare’ – the vocabulary that event gave birth to was so sublime that I quipped unconsciously, causing Aoi’s face to turn completely red.

“Ooh∼, Big Brother Haru, you bully!”

Aoi extended herself as far as she could and began raining blows down on my back.

In this fashion I thought Aoi’s behaviour resembled Kuroha’s, but while Kuroha’s gelatin attack¹ had been truly painful, Aoi’s attacks didn’t hurt at all. Though angry, she was apparently still reluctant to cause others pain. She was just that kind.

“My bad! That was bad of me, I said!”

“Do you really mean that?”

“Sorry, I thought it was more funny than bad, actually.”

“Ooh∼, ooh∼, ooh∼!”

From the way her twintails flailed about I could surmise that she was truly angry. But an introverted middle child she was after all, and unlike Kuroha the sounds which came out through Aoi’s nose were a bit spoiled at the same time, arousing sadistic feelings in me.

This girl was meek and pretty cute to begin with, but when flustered she became even more so, such that it unintentionally made me want to tease her.

Overdoing it would have made her lose trust in me, however, so I put an end to it.

“No, no, no, I really am sorry. Look, your royal milk tea’s about to get cold.”

“…… I prefer it that way.”

Ah, she was sulking.

This too was once again pretty cute and made me want to torment her, but returning to our conversation seemed like the better option.

“So then, what do you think, Aoi-chan? After listening to me, who do you think’s wrong?”

She had probably sensed that I was asking seriously.

Aoi adopted a straight face immediately, returning her extended body back to its original position.

“Erm…… about that. I hope you won’t be too angry, but……”

“That’s fine, it’ll be better if you say this truthfully. Let me hear your honest opinion.”

“In that case, if I have to say then…… the phrase that first comes to mind is ‘one shouldn’t get involved in a marital quarrel’.”

“……………… Hm?”

Huh, those words were considerably different from the ones I had expected to hear.

To be honest, I thought I’d be called “childish” or “dull” or something……

“Ahh, you haven’t realised it yourself after all…… You see, Big Brother Haru, your fight with Big Sister Kuro’s the result of your combined power of love overflowing, making whoever’s the listening party stuffed, or just plain exhausted, so to speak……”

“Huh?! That’s what it feels like?!”

“If could say how I truly feel, I think that maybe both of you are wrong, or maybe it doesn’t really matter any more, and it would perhaps just be better for the two of you to quickly make up and start dating–”

“Wa-, now just wait a minute! Kuro and I are seriously fighting, though!”

“Yes, I based my opinions off of that.”

…… What was it, I wonder, that made my impression so different from Aoi’s?

Perhaps it would’ve been better for me to have elaborated a little more.

“Why wouldn’t Kuro explain to me how she really felt, though? She lied because there’s something she wants to avoid, right?”

“I see, you appear to be quite full of distrust, Big Brother Haru.”

“But that goes for Kuro too, doesn’t it? She lied because she doesn’t trust me.”

“…… Well, ‘trust’ is a difficult word, isn’t it?”

They say that girls mature faster than boys, but for those words to have come from the mere first-year middle schooler Aoi, perhaps for her that was true in a more mental sense.

“Your straightforwardness is incredibly soothing, Big Brother Haru, and it’s something I can respect…… but I don’t think all of us can be so open about our hearts as you are, you see.”

“Heh?”

“You’re completely right when you say that it’s bad to lie, Big Brother Haru, and I think that you are indeed the type of person that doesn’t tell lies. However, for someone else to practice that at the same level you do would be quite difficult, I feel.”

“Which means, Aoi-chan, that you think that I’m wrong so I should apologise?”

“That’s not it……”

Perhaps because my phrasing had gotten a little hurtful, Aoi chose her words prudently as she continued her answer.

“If I were to say who’s at fault, then I think that that lies with Big Sister Kuro. Only…… you know. Big Sister Kuro’s feelings…… I understand them incredibly well. So I don’t want you to blame her too much for them perhaps, and if I may be so spoiled, Big Brother Haru, I want you to accept them with a big heart if you can.”

“O- Ooh……”

Kuroha was wrong, but Aoi understood her emotions so she wanted me to forgive her?

Somehow I felt like I got it but didn’t at the same time……

“I get the picture that Big Sister Kuro’s more focused on the ‘result’, while you’re more concerned about the ‘means’ and the ‘process’, Big Brother Haru. Both of you are looking in the same direction, yet placing emphasis on different things. Maybe that’s the reason why you just aren’t meshing together.”

“M- More specifically?”

“I think it’s your job to figure that out, you know, Big Brother Haru?”

Crap. My head was confused beyond resolution.

Despite being younger, Aoi watched over me with a smile full of affection.

I understood what she wanted to say, though only vaguely.

Even then, however, part of me still stubbornly felt that if Kuroha was wrong, then it would be nice if she at least provided a proper word of apology first.

“…… Big Brother Haru, do you like Big Sister Kuro?”

“…………”

I scratched my head, wondering if I should try and dodge the question, but Aoi’s eyes were true.

To that effect I had no choice but to be serious too.

“I do…… but…… she rejected me so spectacularly…… then we fought too…… so I don’t even know how much I should trust her……”

“…… Erm…… I don’t know if it’s alright for me to ask this, but……”

“Hm?”

Aoi looked down, wavered and gulped, before then making up her mind to speak.

“Have you…… fallen in love with anyone else?”

For an instant Shirokusa’s face appeared in my mind as I shook my head from left to right.

“I don’t know……”

The feelings of love and admiration I had for Kuroha were unchanged.

Perhaps as a result of our fight, however, those emotions that were now hidden in the depths of my heart had become hard to discern. I thought I’d be sure about them if I just settled down a little, but at present the fog that enveloped me whenever I thought of Kuroha made that difficult.

“I see……”

Aoi gulped down the slightly cooled royal milk tea, as if to say that it in fact was now at just the right temperature.

“You know, Big Brother Haru, I think that rushing into decisions is the one thing you shouldn’t do.”

“…………”

She really was Akane’s twin. The things that they said were similar.

Akane had advised me before that I should choose my path with positive feelings.

To that what Aoi was saying was a little alike.

“When it comes to love, doesn’t it just cause a huge mess when you choose halfheartedly?”

“…… I know. There’s a good example of that close to me.”

I had seen love, self-interest and possessiveness become an entangled morass and result in terrible scenes of carnage innumerable times before.

All thanks to that guy Tetsuhiko, of course.

“Right now, Big Brother Haru, you’re fighting with Big Sister Kuro, and it’s at times like these that I think our ability to evaluate things coolly goes away. That’s why I think that doing something like choosing someone else right now, just because you didn’t choose Big Sister Kuro, could very well lead to you regretting it in the future.”

“You’re saying that I should only choose someone when I’m calmer, no matter who I do?”

“Yes. You’re going with everyone in the Ultramarine Alliance to Okinawa soon, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. Are you coming, Aoi-chan? I’m sure you’ve heard about it from Kuro, haven’t you?”

“Yes, us four sisters will be there from the second day onwards.”

“Ooh, I see, I see.”

So at any rate we had managed to secure our manpower, huh. Great then.

There were a mountain’s worth of tasks to do this time around.

Filming a promotional video involving the three girls of the Ultramarine Alliance. While that was the focus, Maria, Midori and I had our study camp as well. The rest of the members were to play a supporting role, but in view of the stage construction, costume and sound effects preparation et cetera required with filming a promotional video, no matter how much labour we had it wouldn’t be enough. Tetsuhiko would probably make arrangements for whatever we lacked, but he did say he wanted the Ultramarine Alliance to do this alone as much as possible after all, in which case where labour was insufficient, having our sleeping time cut down enthusiastically seemed to be a likely development.

“So about that, I’ve heard that sometimes magic happens on trips.”

“Magic?”

“Erm, for a boy and a girl with ordinarily nothing between them, for instance…… while they’re on a trip together…… something like magic might happen between them and……”

“Ahh∼, you mean like how they might get closer in the increased tension of a trip.”

“Exactly! If anything, Big Brother Haru, you should take care that doesn’t happen to you. If it does, you’ll definitely regret it.”

Wow, she spoke like she had seen the future.

Only–

“Well, you’re certainly right, Aoi-chan…… but somehow it doesn’t really seem like you to say that……”

Her prophesying the future was reminiscent of Akane, and when I considered the instructive nature of her words, I could very much say that they were like Kuroha’s as well. Ordinarily Aoi would have stopped at “Perhaps it would be better for you to take care?” without going all the way to “if it does, you’ll definitely regret it”, making it all very curious.

“I’m worried about you, Big Brother Haru…… I’m sorry if I said anything that wasn’t like me……”

Ah, Aoi had withered.

She had probably advised me with genuine consideration. Surely it was rude to have even thought of that being strange somehow.

“My bad. Thanks for the tip, I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Please really, really do take it to heart, okay?”

Aoi was strangely pushy today, huh……

“The Ultramarine Alliance’s full of really attractive people, isn’t it?”

Well, Kuroha, Shirokusa and Maria could all indeed pass the standard for showbiz.

“So I know you can get distracted, Big Brother Haru, and I’m also very aware that you have a few of…… those kinds of p…… perverted tendencies, but……”

Aoi pressed on while turning red in the face.

“Going back to my original point, Big Brother Haru, that may be precisely why there is a need for you to watch out that you don’t decide on someone there while going along with the flow!”

“…… In other words, Aoi-chan, you think that I’ll probably fall pretty easily if someone tries to use their sex appeal on me, and so I’ll end up regretting that?”

“Oh, not to that extent, you know?”

“But to a lesser one?”

“…… I do.”

“Oof–”

Aoi’s expression had been serious when she had said “I do”.

That made it, in other words, the equivalent of her emphasising to me to “please take serious care” and to “please not disappoint her”. It also indicated how likely she thought I was to waver around, and how little she trusted me with regards to that.

This warning I received from a girl I doted on like a little sister, I really had to take to heart……

“I’m looking forward to the trip,” were the words Aoi left before she returned home, after she had finished more or less all of the cleaning.

*

¹Volume 2, Chapter 2