Volume 1 - CH 27

My Little Sister is Too Cute Even for Her Friends

“Ah, there you are! This way, Sakuraba senpai!”

“Ah.”

Hearing the loud voice calling out to him, Haruta pulls Reizen-go over to that direction.

Bob cut black hair and red framed glasses.

A navy-blue blazer, checkered miniskirt, and white pure thighs.

It’s Reizen, Haruta actually named his bike after her name.

“So this is the place for today. That was kind of sudden.”

One day after school…

Haruta parks Reizen-go in the motorcycle parking lot of an Internet café.

Today, Haruta is meeting Reizen at this Internet café.

“My mother has to go out for an urgent business meeting. As expected, a beautiful middle school girl and a high school boy can’t be together alone at home, can’t they?”

“…you’re going to pay for this, right?”

“That’s really bold of you. I’m a girl, your junior, and a middle school student, you got a lot of nerve to ask me to buy you a drink.”

“I’d give up my pride for it. I mean, it’s a job, isn’t it? I’m here to be your tutor.”

“Yeah, yeah, my mom already paid for the room.”

Reizen grinned and went inside the Internet café first.

“A room for two, three hours. A soundproof private room with a lock is fine, right?”

“…yeah.”

Haruta and Reizen have used this Internet café several times before.

They grab some drinks from the drink bar and head to their room.

It has a pair of seats and two cushions inside.

There is also a table on the wall with a mini tower PC and monitor.

Obviously, there is enough space for two people to sit side by side, or even lie down if they’re tired studying.

“Then, shall we get onto it, senpai? ♡”

“Don’t say it in a suspicious way.

A private room like this is usually used by couples to have intimate time with each other—Of course, Haruta and Reizen is also aware of it.

Haruta has been Reizen’s part time tutor since this summer.

Reizen is planning to go to the same high school as Haruta, Yurinkan high school, and of course, she attends cram school to help her prepare.

But her parents are still concerned about the entrance exam, Yurinkan high school is one the most prestigious high school in the prefecture after all. So they want to provide a tutor for Reizen.

Reizen herself disagreed with her parents saying it was ‘too much’ but since Haruta goes to Yurinkan high school himself, she thinks it’s not a bad idea to be taught by someone who already passed Yurinkan’s entrance exam.

Reizen thought that it would be nice to know the study methods for the exam.

So, Reizen introduced Haruta to her parents as her acquaintance and a current student of Yurinkan high school. After a short conversation between Haruta and her parents, Haruta was hired as Reizen’s tutor.

Even though Haruta is only tutoring his acquaintance, but it’s a decent job with a decent pay.

Haruta had no reason to say no and—

This job has some fascinating perks.

“But this small space is calming, I feel I can concentrate here. It’s unlike at home or at a family restaurant.”

“Well, if it’s helps Reizen to focus, I have no problem with that.”

Reizen is sitting so close to Haruta that their shoulders are touching one another.

There is a sweet scent coming from this middle schoolgirl.

On the contrary, Haruta can’t seem to focus in this small space.

A soundproof room is necessary for tutoring, because Haruta can’t just stay quiet teaching Reizen.

They also don’t want to be disturbed, so they have no choice but to rent a room with a lock.

“Well, first things first. Bring out today’s stuff.”

“Roger that, sensei.”

While joking around, Reizen brings out several notebooks and problem books from her bag.

Haruta stares at her books.

“Hmm… you’re actually taking it seriously today.”

“Well, it’s already October. I only got six months left to study.”

“That’s true, entrance exam day is approaching whether you like it or not.”

“Can we stop talking about it, sensei? I feel depressed talking about it.”

“Very well then, let’s get started.”

Haruta starts to open Reizen’s notebook.

Then after a while, Haruta finished checking Reizen’s notebooks.

“Hmm, it looks like things are going pretty much according to plan. You’re doing pretty well, you don’t even need me to teach you anymore.”

“Even if I don’t need you to teach me anymore, I still want you to teach me.”

“Is that a confession?”

“Take it as you like senpai, but either way, we’re paying you to do your job.”

“Nope, it’s your parents who are paying me.”

“Parents’ money is children’s money!”

“No, they are not!”

Haruta’s head begins to hurt.

Haruta had almost never spoken to Reizen until he started tutoring her.

Haruta had no idea how hard it would be to deal with her.

“Well, alright then. I’ll start teaching you.”

“Yes, sensei!”

Reizen salutes.

Despite her serious appearance, she is joking around with Haruta.

Haruta doesn’t really have much to teach Reizen.

She mostly studies by herself on cram school, and she already understands most of it.

Haruta usually just tell her what to study based on his own experience of taking the entrance exam.

And of course, such things are also told at cram school.

The only difference is only Haruta told it as someone who has passed the Yurinkan high school entrance exam.

The teachers at cram school are has more knowledge and experience in teaching than Haruta, but they have never taken the exam themselves.

Haruta explains to Reizen about a math problem while recalling what he had studied for the entrance exam.

“…hmm, I have to study more starting today.”

“Yeah, that’s right, you only got six months left to prepare.”

“I’ve been going to cram school since last fall, and my grades have really improved since Sakuraba senpai started tutoring me.”

“I would be in trouble if your grades didn’t improve.”

In fact, until this summer, Reizen was just barely passed her exams.

Her homeroom teacher also suggested Reizen to change her school of choice.

However, since Haruta started tutoring her, her grades have improved significantly.

But they still have a lot ahead of them, the real exam is approaching.

“But I’m still not good enough in the Japanese subject, I have to be more technical in solving it.”

“Technical…”

Reizen looks like a literary girl because of her glasses, but in fact, she rarely read books.

She is not good at Japanese.

The Yurinkan entrance exam consists of three subjects, Japanese, English, and Mathematics.

Reizen is already good enough in English and Mathematics, so they will need to focus more at Japanese.

Haruta also consulted with his classmate who passed at the top of their grade to come up with a plan to help Reizen’s study.

They spent about two hours solving problems and studying.

“Whew, I’m exhausted!”

“If you want to get into Yurinkan high, you have to push yourself. Go for it.”

“An appropriate encouragement…”

Reizen gulps down her drink.

Reizen has drank five glasses of iced tea, she must’ve been exhausted from all that studying.

“Hikawa doesn’t seem like she’s studying very hard, but she got an A grade.”

“She just doesn’t know what to study for the entrance exam.”

Like Reizen, Hikawa also has Yurinkan high school as her first choice of high school.

“Hika is one of the best students in her class. She looks like an athletic type of girl because of her short hair and tanned skin, but her grades are on the top of the class.”

“…but well, it’s tough to go for Matsukaze. He’s tall and he’s a handsome basketball player, so he’s popular with the girls.”

“Eh? What?”

“He has always been popular, especially among his juniors. All his juniors admire and love him.”

“…did you notice that Hika has a crush on Matsukaze senpai?”

“Who am I to judge?”

Matsukaze is much more popular than Haruta.

Haruta has seen a number of girls fell head over heels for Matsukaze.

“Ah, you’re right. you’re sharp when it’s about other people, but when it comes to yourself, you’re as dumb as a pig. Boo, boo.”

“What are you talking about?”

Reizen is staring at Haruta behind her red glasses.

“But well, Sakuraba senpai also named his bike after his junior, so people think that he’s after me.”

“That’s your fault!”

Haruta asked Reizen’s opinion on what type of motorcycle he should buy.

Reizen really like the camel-coloured Giorno and insisted Haruta to buy it.

Since he found one in a good condition, Haruta listened to Reizen’s opinion without thinking much about it.

Then one day, when Haruta got home, he noticed there is a sticker on the front of his motorcycle. It says ‘Reizen-go.’

Apparently, Reizen stuck the sticker secretly without Haruta knowing.

Not that Haruta was angry, but…

“This is not what we should be talking about. Tutoring hours are over, now let’s get down to business.”

“Yeah, let’s get down to business… shall we start with, ‘opinion exchange’?”

Reizen quickly closed the distance between them.

Her shoulder hits Haruta’s arm.

“I don’t have any new information though.”

“Me neither.”

Haruta puts his phone on the table, its screen is showing a number of photos from his gallery.

They all are Fuyu’s photos.

Haruta’s gallery contains quite a few photos of his friends, including Akiho, Minami, Matsukaze, and as well as Reizen, who is next to him.

But still, there is an overwhelming amount of Fuyu’s photos.

As a matter of fact, Haruta didn’t take those photos of Fuyu by himself, but since she moved out, Fuyu herself sends them to Haruta every day.

Sometimes, Fuyu even sent more than ten photos in one day, Fuyu’s photos are starting to fill his phone’s internal memory.

“For the past few days, she has sent nothing but herself in her sailor uniform.”

“Same here.”

Fuyu sends messages and photos not only to Haruta and Akiho, but of course to her friends Reizen and Hikawa as well.

Fuyu has a change of uniform in October, her middle school uniform changed from the navy-blue one-piece summer uniform to a black sailor-like type winter uniform.

The opinion exchange meeting begins—

In short, they are just giving each other information about Fuyu.

This is just a bonus for the tutor, but for Haruta, this is the main issue.

“Well, Fu doesn’t seem to like it either. The length of her skirt is slightly different each time it is sent.”

“Eh? Ah, come to think of it…isn’t there a centimeter or two difference?”

“I think that’s all she can do because she can’t make it too obvious. Fu is really persistent about it, isn’t she?”

Come to think of it, Fuyu told Haruta that she is trying to find the perfect cute length for her skirt.

Haruta recalls such a casual conversation between them.

“She seems to have a lot of complaints about her life over there…”

“When I saw her in the summer, she was fine.”

During the summer vacation, Reizen and Hikawa went to visit Fuyu.

They spent four days and three nights enjoying the river, camping, and hot springs on the countryside.

“Well, I did take some photos and send them to senpai, but I haven’t show them all, have I?”

“I think I got about thirty of them. Well, I’m not particularly interested in Reizen’s and Hikawa’s photos…”

“I feel offended.”

Reizen leans forward and glares at Haruta.

“Even though there is a big service shot like this!”

Reizen taps on her phone and displays a photo.

It’s a selfie of Reizen soaking in an open-air hot spring.

The milky white water makes it almost impossible to see from the chest to down—

“What about it?”

“That’s your only reaction? It’s a middle schoolgirl bathing scene! It’s a hot spring episode!”

“It’s just you soaking in an open-air hot spring. I don’t think it’s a good idea to bring your smartphone into the hot springs. What if you accidentally took photos of other guests?”

“We rent the whole place for ourselves. We’re not that stupid, you know?”

By ‘we’ Haruta assumes that she means Fuyu and Hikawa as well.

“Ah, but it was very fun. Except for the fact that it’s so far away, it was a great trip.”

“You keep saying that.”

“Seriously though, Fu’s house is so far away. I was actually thinking of turning back halfway though. I was like ‘Let’s run the train in the opposite direction!’”

“There would be a trainwreck if that happened.”

“It takes three hours to go there by train, it’s quite far.”

“Well, I guess it’s very rural. She dyed her hair back too…”

“Ah…”

Reizen now shows Haruta a photo of Fuyu in her school uniform.

It’s a selfie taken at a riverbank.

“She always complains that her black hair is not cute at all and that her uniform makes her look like she is in kindergarten, but I think she is very cute. She is a neat and tidy girl to begin with, she is not even a bit dowdy, but she looks more like a young lady. Even a girl like me, want to take her into the shadows.”

“You’re a very dangerous person…”

“Senpai should’ve gone too—a harem of three middle schoolgirls is a luxury.”

“Three isn’t enough, at least add a couple or three more.”

“You’re the worst, senpai…”

Reizen played it along with Haruta, but it seems that she vaguely guessed that Haruta ‘couldn’t go’ there rather than ‘didn’t go’.

Haruta’s parents want to separate them.

They don’t want to move away in May and have Haruta and Fuyu see each other again less than a year later.

Their parents hope that the distance between them will cool their feelings.

However, Haruta’s feelings haven’t cooled down in the slightest.

In the worst-case scenario, Haruta plans to take away Fuyu regardless of their parents’ intentions.

But that being said, it would be a bad idea to go against his parents now.

For now, Haruta must bear with just being able to contact Fuyu through Line.

“However, Fu seems fine there, she sends me pictures and messages every day. Her selfie skills are improving.”

“But today’s photo was taken on a tripod, wasn’t it?”

Reizen shows a photo that Fuyu just sent to her today.

The photo is also taken at the riverbank, it’s Fuyu in her black sailor-like uniform, smiling happily.

Fuyu’s long skirt was flipped up by the wind, so the photo is quite revealing.

“Fu, aren’t you sending us too much photos? It must’ve taken a lot of time to take those photos. …haven’t you been studying?”

Haruta is glad that Fuyu keeps contacting him every day in spite of living so far away.

However, Fuyu will need to take an entrance exam soon.

If she has that much time to take selfies every day, she should just use that time to study instead.

“Hey, Sakuraba senpai.”

“Hmm? Whoa!”

Reizen snuggled up to Haruta, put their cheeks against each other—and snapped a photo of them.

“Ah, again! This time like this!”

“Whoa, hey!”

Reizen jumps on Haruta vigorously that Haruta is pushed down onto his back.

The middle schoolgirl once again took some photos of them together as she hugs Haruta who has fallen on his back.

Haruta can feel the b*****s of a high schoolgirl pressing against his chest.

“What are you doing!?”

“This is actually a very bad idea.”

“What are you trying to do, provoke me!?”

The photo turns out to be a lovely-dovey shot, they really look like a couple in it.

Moreover, Reizen already sent that photo to Fuyu on Line.

“Ah, she already read my message.”

“Great…”

Haruta is too scared to see how Fuyu will react that he doesn’t even want to get up.

Reizen, lying on Haruta’s side, giggles.

“Since Fu moved away, she reads her messages so fast that it’s as if she is waiting for it.”

“That doesn’t matter, that did she say?”

“She didn’t reply. She’s the type of person who stops talking when she gets angry.”

“She never did that to me but…”

Apparently, Fuyu treats her friends differently from her brother.

“Whenever Hika said something like ‘Matsukaze senpai is way more popular than Sakuraba senpai.’, Fu got so angry that she didn’t read Hika’s messages for three days straight.”

“Seriously?”

“But in the classroom, she talks to Hika as if nothing had happened. Isn’t that scary?”

“…that is very scary indeed.”

But still, it is better to be ignored in Line than in real life.

Haruta is surprised by a side of Fuyu that he never knew.

“Ah, that’s right, it’s called CS64, isn’t it? We played it together when we went to Fu’s house in the summer.”

“She bought a console?”

The console that Haruta and Fuyu used to share is in the Sakuraba family’s house.

Even though Fuyu who is a gamer left it in the Sakuraba’s family house, she couldn’t resist to not play CS64 and bought a console for herself.

Haruta is relieved when he knows that Fuyu is still enjoying the game they used to play together.

“Hika surprised killed Fu at first, but then Fu got serious and beat Hika up really bad. Fu was really mad with her. She was so angry that she hunted Hika all game long. I’m not good at playing games, so I just watched them play.”

“Hmm, is that so… I feel bad for you, you didn’t get all the fun.”

“I don’t mind. I just think that you’re really cute when you’re upset, senpai—is there something wrong?”

“…you guys played CS64 at Fuyu’s house, right?”

Haruta intently stares at Reizen’s face as he lies on his side.

“Eh, you’re really close… Uh, yeah, it’s more like they both played CS64… I only watched them play, but what’s wrong with that…?”

“No, it’s nothing. I’m currently on SS rank, I’m just wondering what’s Fuyu’s rank now.”

“Rank…she certainly said something about her rank, but I can’t remember what it was.”

“I see…”

Haruta lies down and looks up at the ceiling.

There’s something stuck in Haruta’s head.

Haruta thinks he can figure it out with a little bit of thinking.

Haruta is a Yurinkan high school student after all, he is not stupid or naïve.

The answer may be immediate—but the answer is a little scary.