Volume 1 - CH 28

My Little Sister Can’t Hide Her Secret

“Ah, that’s right Haru.”

“Hmm?”

Akiho who is lying on the bed, suddenly called out to Haruta.

Haruta replied without looking away from his game.

“It’s tutoring day, isn’t it? Did you have a lot of fun with that middle schoolgirl?”

“Ah, yeah. The younger the better.”

“What are you, an old perverted man? College girls are way better.”

“Are you comparing them? Woah! That was dangerous.”

Haruta is playing CS64 as usual, but before he knew it, the enemy has surrounded him.

Haruta flees into the shadows while shooting and getting into position.

When you got promoted to SS rank, the players you will play against are all advanced players.

They are not newbies that Haruta can play against while chatting.

“Well, Haru is more dangerous, isn’t he? It’s a crime to touch a middle schoolgirl, you know?”

“I was a middle school student myself six months ago.”

“You know it doesn’t work that way, you’re a high school student now.”

Akiho stretches her legs out of the bed and pokes Haruta’s back using her feet.

She is petite, but she has long slender legs.

“So, you got excited by a cute, bespectacled middle-schooler and you invited me over to satisfy your sexual urges on me?”

“Isn’t it normal to invite my girlfriend over to my house?”

“I don’t think that was your intention.”

Akiho raises her body and leans forward.

Haruta makes sure there are no enemies around him, then glances toward the bed.

Akiho is only dressed in a pink camisole.

Her ample b*****s don’t seem to fit her small body.

“Well, you don’t call me your girlfriend very often.”

“…it’s embarrassing.”

“Hmm… but still, it’s unusual for Haru to invite me to your house when I’m the one who usually comes to your house by myself.”

“Do you even know you were intruding?”

Akiho just suddenly comes to Haruta’s house without telling him in advance.

Haruta’s father comes home pretty late, so they won’t meet each other.

Haruta is lucky that his father usually comes home late, because he feels embarrassed for his father to meet his girlfriend.

“Well, my mom isn’t home today, so it’s fine. My dad doesn’t really care about me.”

“…what is ‘witch-san’s’ job?”

“She works for an event company. She manages live performances for musicians.”

“Huh? Didn’t you say your parents hate music?”

“She doesn’t want to listen to music at home because she listens to it all the time at work. Well, I’m not as good as the pros, so it would be annoying for her to hear.”

“She wouldn’t say her daughter’s music annoying.”

Nevertheless, it’s not hard to understand that Akiho’s mom wants some peace when she’s off work.

“You’re not a bad musician, Akiho. You can play your guitar at the light music club room as much as you want, I’ll always listen to it.”

“Hmm, you’re so sweet sometimes, Haru.”

“It’s exhausting being sweet at the time.”

Haruta said so jokingly, but it’s also true.

There is only one person who Haruta treats sweetly all the time.

“You haven’t treated me sweetly once before. You’re rather more aggressive than usual. My b*****s are starting to sore.”

“Ah, my bad…I just wanted to clear my head.”

“Oh come on, I know you were just satisfying your sexual urges using my body.”

Akiho steps on Haruta’s thigh using her legs.

“I’m sorry, but weren’t you pretty wild today too? I have claw marks on my back, don’t I?”

“Claw marks on a man’s back is like a medal.”

“I doubt that.”

If people see it, it would cause a misunderstanding…no, it won’t be a misunderstanding.

“Well, I was in the mood myself today. We really sync in a weird time, don’t we?”

“Have we ever synced on anything else?”

Certainly, Haruta is more aggressive than usual.

Moreover, Akiho doesn’t seem to have any other particular reason to be here.

“Well, I am lonely, and you often look lonely as well, Haru.”

“I don’t know about that…woah!”

Two enemies suddenly appear nearby, one with a melee knife and the other with a sub machine gun.

“Oh that was really close…! I’ll die if I let my guard down.”

“I wish you died, it’s like I’m talking by myself.”

“CS64 is not a game for fun.”

CS64 is a very serious and competitive game, if you lose the game, you will lose you rank.

Besides, it was a game that Haruta used to play with Fuyu.

“I wonder how is Fuyu-chan doing.”

As one would expect from someone who claims to be so synchronized with each other, it’s as if they already know what they are talking about without saying it.

“I’m sure you’ve heard from her, but it’s quite cold over there. She was wondering what kind of cardigan to put on.”

“It seems to be much cooler than here. Reizen told me summer there wasn’t as hot as here.”

“Ahh, the middle schoolgirl that Haru molested today.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve been molesting Reizen. She said she has to wear long sleeves at night even in summer over there.”

“Hmm…I guess wearing a cardigan will hide the sailor uniform a bit.”

“It seems she will wear a gray or beige one.”

Fuyu also sent some pictures of her trying a couple of cardigans.

Haruta thinks she looks cute in either, but Fuyu seems seriously worried about it. She wants to wear the cutest one.

“I usually take a lot of photos for my video thumbnails, but my gallery has been filled with Fuyu-chan’s photos lately…”

“Well, my gallery has always been filled with Fuyu’s photos.”

“I wonder how many photos of me are in your gallery.”

“There are some things in this world that people are happier not knowing.”

“Though there are some things better known even if you’ll be unhappy.”

“That’s true. Alright, one more kill and I win the game…”

Just as Haruta said so, Haruta drops the controller on the floor.

Bang! A surprisingly loud sound suddenly echoes throughout the room.

“…Haru? Wait a sec, wasn’t you supposed to kill one more person to win?”

“Idiot.”

“What? I got about the same grades as you—”

“No, I’m saying I’m the idiot.”

Haruta is no longer looking at the TV screen.

Haruta doesn’t care about his game anymore.

“Fuyu sent me messages and pictures every single day after she moved out. Not just to me, but to Reizen, Hikawa, and Akiho as well.”

“She moved away around the end of May, now is October and she is still sending you messages, so that’s great, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely ridiculous.”

“Eh?”

“I’d understand if she just sends messages to me, but to send them to her friends and his brother’s friend as well is very weird.”

“…I see.”

Akiho nods her head.

“Her Internet connection there is pretty bad, so she should be happy to be able to contact her friends by Line calls. It would be rather strange if she just contacted you.”

“Moreover, the photos she sent me just photos of herself, what about her friends over there? She must have some new friends there.”

“I’m not interested in Fuyu-chan friends, but she really just sends photos of herself. She never sends photos of her friends there.”

“There is no evidence that she took those photos by herself…”

Perhaps Fuyu doesn’t have any friends there to take photos with—or does she?

Fuyu moved away in May and now it’s already October.

“This is what has been bothering me for a while.”

Haruta points at the TV screen.

The TV screen is showing Haruta’s character that is waiting to be respawned.

“Fuyu said she can’t make video calls there because her Internet connection there is too slow.”

“Yeah, I heard that as well.”

“But CS64 is an online game, if the Internet connection is so slow that she can’t even make a video call, she wouldn’t be able to play properly.”

In short, if the Internet connection is bad, the game will lag.

“Apparently, Reizen and Hikawa played some CS64 on Fuyu’s house when they go visit in the summer. The fact that Hikawa, who has played the game for a long time, was able to play normally, means that the Internet there is fast enough for video calls.”

“…is that so?”

It seems that Akiho still doesn’t understand what Haruta is trying to say.

But it’s only natural, Haruta doesn’t have any proof of it either.

It is not even a conviction in the eyes of others.

“Maybe her Internet connection improved?”

“Well, you may not know this because you don’t play CS64, but CS64 can be played online, so that means I can play with Fuyu if her Internet connection is fast enough there.”

“No, even I know at least that much, I’m not stupid.”

Akiho tilts her head—

“So does that mean she is hiding something from you?”

“I can’t say that either—I don’t have any proof.”

“I don’t think that’s true. Maybe you’re just overthinking, besides—”

Akiho gets off the bed and sits next to Haruta.

Akiho is only wearing a white panty under her pink camisole.

“If it’s something that she doesn’t want to tell you about, she won’t tell you even if you ask her about it on Line. She is pretty stubborn.”

“If she won’t tell me on Line, then I’ll just have to ask her in person.”

Haruta grabs a hoodie that he had taken off next to his bed and puts it on.

“In person—wait, you’re going now!?”

“She’s not overseas.”

Haruta grabs his phone and wallet.

“Wait, wait, it’s already 10PM, you know!? Eh…even if you go there now, it will be the last train for today, you will be stuck there!”

Akiho shows Haruta the train schedule on her phone.

Of course, Haruta already knows about that.

Akiho has a rough idea of where Fuyu lives, but Haruta knows more about it.

Haruta also knows how long it will take to go to Fuyu’s house by train.

“I don’t care if I’ll get there in the morning. I’m sorry Akiho. I’m off.”

“Hey wait—”

As Haruta opened the door and about to leave the room—

He pulls a one-thousand-yen bill from his wallet and hands it over to Akiho.

“What is this for?”

“It’s getting late, so please take a cab home. You’ll have to walk home if you don’t have any money. I’m begging you, please take a cab home.”

“…you need to think before you act. You can go there tomorrow. It’s already this late.”

“I’m really sorry Akiho, but I’ll get going now. Please be careful on your way home, make sure to take a cab home, okay?”

“You’re really going.”

“…well, I’m still Fuyu’s ‘onii-chan’ after all.”

Haruta said so and left his room.

Haruta never thought he would actually give Akio money for a cab to go home, but he is in an emergency situation after all.

No, in fact, Haruta may just be piecing together several information and imagining the worst of it.

It would seem to be the case.

However, Haruta can’t sit still.

He misses Fuyu—

With an explosion of feelings that he has been suppressing for a long time, Haruta ventures out into the night.

“He just seriously left me here.”

Akiho picks up her uniform, which she had taken off next to the bed, and puts it on.

After putting on her uniform, she lightly brushes her long black hair back.

“I don’t know what are you trying to do, but you can’t just leave me in your house like this.”

Akiho shakes her head in disappointment—

“Ughh, how did I fall in love with that guy. I wonder what is he trying to do…”

Akiho takes out her phone and makes a call.

“You’re a real pain in the a*s, ‘onii-chan’.”