Baby Princess - Volume 2
Chapter 2 First Love
21 July. The sky was bright blue, and pure white clouds had sprung out, and a warm breeze was beginning to blow on the hill above which the Amatsuka house was located. Yesterday, on the early morning weather forecast that Miharu appeared on, a smiley bulletin had finally announced the end of the rainy season. It was on one such day, when the summer break was quite near.
“Bad bad bad This is baaaadd!” Still carrying the red randoseru [9] on her back, the 10th Daughter Seika ran into the living room. “What happened?” A lot of voices replied to her in a chorus. The one who loved prime numbers, in 2nd year of elementary, the 12th Daughter Fubuki. A year younger than her, the one who had a weak body, the 13th Daughter Watayuki. The one who believed herself to be the reincarnation of Mary Antoinette, the 14th Daughter Mari. The one who was said to be able to see ghostly things and people’s auras, the 4-year-old 15th Daughter, Mizuki, and the kindergartener crybaby, the 16th daughter, Sakura. These younger sisters were all gathered in the room, along with all the ones in middle and high school –they had come back early because it was currently exam period– except Mizore. For a normal weekday, a relatively large amount –going into the double digits– of people were relaxing in the room. Seika didn’t react to the huge volume of voices at all. In fact, it seemed like she didn’t even register the fact that so many people had spoken at once. Her back bent, hands on her knees, she tried her best to control her heavy breathing. “I received…ha ha ha…this thing…” Her face was a little pale. She was holding a single envelope in her hand. It was a plain, dark blue envelope, and in the middle the recipient’s name was written. To Amatsuka Seika-sama. An on the other side, in small katakana letters, was the senders name. From Koyama. “What’s this!?” Tsurara screeched. “I…I…I received it.” Still breathless, Seika replied, her voice almost catching in her throat. “From Koyama-kun in the same class.” “Koyama-kun!?” It was only at that point that the 11th Daughter Yuuna, who was supposed to have come back together with Seika, arrived in the room, lagging behind. There was no telling where in the house she had made a detour to, but now, she spun around with her magic stick and said to everyone in a merry tone, “Ah! Isn’t Koyama-kun one of the smarter boys in your classroom? This is great. I wonder if one of the love magic spells Yuuna is always casting worked on you.” Yuuna was in elementary 3rd year, and obstinately believed herself a descendant of mages, her one and only genre of magic specialization being love magic. “After all–” she continued “After all, isn’t that a love letter?” She smiled brightly. Kyaa~ Yuuna danced, Mari shouted, Watayuki’s eyes lit up on the sofa, Hotaru upturned a glass from surprise in the kitchen… In an instant, the whole living room and surroundings was in an uproar. Of course, that included Youtarou. At first, he was surprised, and then, it was followed by a complicated feeling as he watched on. “Any-Anyways, how about you open it up first and have a look?” “Th-That’s right! It might not be a love letter at all” It was unusual for his and Tsurara’s opinion to be the same on something, and they unintentionally shared a look. Don’t look at me, idiot! Tsurara mouthed at Youtarou, and then snatched the letter from Seika’s hand. “Ah, O-Onee-chan…” Seika was bewildered, and Tsurara looked back at her. “I’m going to open it, okay?” “G-Got it…” Since there was no one to stop her, Tsurara began ripping open the envelope. Not even glancing at the small sticker of “Chouhi” from the “The Three Kingdoms” put on the flap. With wide eyes like a drill instructor who wouldn’t even let a single mistake get past them, she started pursing the letter inside. Tsurara was silent, and only her hands started trembling. Seika was looking up at her with worry in her eyes. Since they couldn’t wait anymore, the surrounding people all came closer to her. “What’s written on it, Tsurara Onee-chan?” Mari took the letter from the Tsurara’s hands, who was still silent. But… “…of…to…you did…please do. Oh please, there are too many Kanji written on it, so I can’t figure it out!” Even though she was supposedly the reincarnation of the adult queen of France, she was still in the older class of kindergarten. She stuck it out towards Youtarou. Youtarou hesitated. Even though she was just in 4th year of elementary, whether reading someone else’s love letter was a good thing or not…unconsciously, that kind sense of justice made him hesitate. “This coming Monday, come to the school yard, it says.” Tsurara said, spitting out the words. Hearing that, Seika trembled. It looked like her eyes welled up with tears a little too. “What should I do? It’s a summons!” “Summons!? Now that’s dangerous…” Mizuki reacted to those words. Swinging around her Japanese style ponytail, “Could it be that they’re plotting a sneak attack or something similar?” “A sneak attack…I don’t think that he’s the type of boy to do something like that, but…we’ve sometimes talked about the battles in ‘The Three Kingdoms’. That’s why I thought that maybe…” “Maybe!?” Yuuna exclaimed. “Maybe it’s…a duel.” “A duel…!?” Everyone shouted at once. And then everyone started passing comments. Like, there’s no way a boy would ask a girl to have a duel with him, or duels are dangerous so you shouldn’t do them, or what is a duel? Talking amongst themselves, saying whatever they wanted…Youtarou felt his spirit being dampened. Well, of course…there is no way they are right. No wait, I’m sure the that the high-schooler Haruka and Hotaru realize that but are just being carefree and joining in on the fun. The 10th Daughter Seika was in elementary 4th year. She really was one of the sisters, because even though she had a slightly reserved personality, her looks were pretty good. Since she loved “The Three Kingdoms”, she was always wearing a Chinese looking outfit, so it was a little unusual, but her hairstyle with the hair separated into two dumplings was really cute, and her miniskirt was always aflutter. Her gentle and neat speaking style…That, unexpectedly, probably makes her really popular with the diligent boys, I would think. In the first place, all this talk about summons and duels is nonsense. No matter how you look at it, this is simply a love letter. Looking at all the sisters making a huge ruckus, Youtarou started to sympathize a little with the unknown Koyama-kun. The boy in 4th year elementary had probably wrote the letter with a do-or-die determination, and he probably didn’t even dream that it would become the subject of such an open debate. While sympathizing with the young man Koyama-kun, for whom this was probably his very first love, at the same time Youtarou was also overwhelmed by the amount of power a single letter had brought out of this group of sisters.
22 “It’s amazing…like a scene from a story. I can’t help but admire it a little.” After dining, the 8th Daughter in elementary 6th year Kosame said, her voice indicating that she was seriously feeling a little envious. Today’s menu had been a spicy curry menu meant to blow away the summer. There had been 5 types of curry and saffron rice, alongside Tandoori chicken and Naan, and to top it all off for an authentic Indian experience, they had eaten off of silver plates. It had been a curry buffet. The types of curry had been: the slightly spicy chicken curry, the somewhat mild shrimp curry, the sweet coconut curry that even the smaller ones could easily eat, cauliflower and tomato curry, and the stinging, super spicy bean curry. Accompanying it all had been everyone’s favorite Lassi with honey and sparkling homemade mango ice-cream. Even though Kosame was always too afraid to eat anything but the coconut curry, today, it seemed like she had mustered up her adventurous spirit and challenged the shrimp curry, but…maybe it had been too much after all, as she was more excited than usual. “Ara? Does Kosame Onee-chan also want a love letter?” Hearing such a retort from the 6 years younger self-proclaimed queen Mari, Kosame recoiled a bit. “Th-That’s not what I–” “Love letters aren’t that great.” Mari asserted in a very grown up manner. “Eh? Mari-chan, even though you’re still in kindergarten, you’ve already received one?” Kosame asked, wide eyed. “Of course, and not just the one!” As if saying Ohohoho, Mari stood up and placed her hand near her mouth “But you know, all of them are worthless. In sloppy, basically unreadable handwriting they talk about ‘like’ and ‘when we become 23 years old please marry me’ and such incomprehensible things...” Kosame was shocked. When she was in kindergarten, all she had thought about was playing house with her other female friends, and the figures of boys that were always covered in mud and catching bugs and so on had been very distant thing in her mind back then. And yet… “There is no way that this exalted Mari could marry those boys from the tulip group, you know? I’ll let Kosame Onee-sama in on something. It’s a secret, okay? Those guys still do stuff like wetting their beds!” Wetting their beds …suddenly hearing this phrase, Kosame received an even greater shock. Small kids that still wet their beds are already writing love letters…Maybe I should try to write one too. A love letter that is. Kosame’s eyes unconsciously moved to Youtarou, who was sitting on the sofa, reading a book to Fubuki and Watayuki. In that case, writing the first one to Onii-chan…might not be a bad idea. Her cheeks flushed a little.
“Ehhh! There’s no way! Of all the people to receive such a dirty thing, how come it was Seika-chan!” Hearing what had happened from Tsurara, the 9th Daughter, in elementary 5th year, and the only man-hater among the sisters, Urara was so taken aback that she actually bent backwards. At the foot of the huge bed in Watayuki’s room, which had an open design and faced the living room, Urara had spread out and admiring the Tokyo Metro Sticker Set that she had obtained that very day. Since Urara had an innate hatred for men, she was the only who took a train by herself to a girls-only school far away every day. Since today had been the release day of the urban subcenter line KuruKuruKurokku [10] , she had gone all the way to the station where it was being sold and had come back quite late. Perhaps the staff saw Urara as a small child, because they had included the not-for-sale sticker set as a bonus to her purchase, and so she had been on cloud nine. On top of that, dinner had been her favorite curry. Although I like pork curry best, but ah well, coconut curry is not bad either. Ahh~ and yet, I had to hear such a dirty thing. A great day just got ruined! She vented silently. “Really, I have to wonder, what’re boys thinking as they live? Even though they are such idiotic, stupid, and dirty living beings, one of them had the gall to call out to Seika-chan. It would be best if we burned that letter. I’m sure that nothing good will come of it.” The Seika who loved “The Three Kingdoms” and the Urara who loved trains. They tended to get along, perhaps because of their unique hobbies. Tsurara grabbed Urara’s shoulders. “That’s the Urara I know~, I had been waiting for those words! That’s why Urara-chan is great” She raised a finger to the ceiling. “How dare he, even though he’s a worthless man. I say it is 100 years too early for him to call out to our cute Seika! In the first place, isn’t he still in 4th grade? If he has time to be calling out to Seika, who has 100 times more worth than him, doesn’t he have anything better to do? Like studying or exercising. I’m sure that he’s a stupid, snotty brat that has no interest in studies either. Ahhhh! It’s making me so mad! No way I’m going to forgive this!” “You’re right, there is no way I would want to ride on a train with an idiot like that.” “Yep. Oh, now that it’s come to this, what do you say we use this opportunity to completely discipline him?” “Discipline?” Tsurara grabbed both of Urara’s shoulders “That’s right. So that no one has the gal to ever do something like this again, we’re gonna being down heavens wrath on him, and make him an example for others.” “Heavens wrath?” Tsurara then lowered her voice and started whispering, and the people around them could not hear what she was saying anymore. Since this time, it had happened to the lively and bright Seika, Tsurara was still able to bear it, but if, in the future, something repulsive like this happened to her favorite sister, the weak Watayuki in 1st year elementary… Just thinking about it made her so angry that it felt that her heart was going to explode. The 5th Daughter Hotaru as watching the two from the kitchen worriedly. “Tsurara-chan is so angry…I wonder if it will be alright.” “What do you mean?” asked the 3rd Daughter Haruka innocently, preparing a refill of hot milk for Watayuki. “I feel like she is going to do something that will cause an uproar again…” “I wonder about that” Haruka drizzled plenty of honey in the hot milk “Because Tsurara-chan is already in middle school, and her campus is also different from the Seika-chan and the others, I don’t think it’ll become anything too big.” After placing the cup of milk on top of the tray, she suddenly realized. “If anyone other than Yuki-chan wants hot milk, raise your hands please~” Hereee, hereee , 2, 3 voices were heard, and then at the end, “Sora too! Sora also wants to gulp and drink! Milk, milk, gulp!” Sora, who was now 1 year old, came trotting towards them. “Ara, Sora-chan was still wakey wake?” Haruka skillfully picked Sora up in her arms. While letting Sora raise her tiny hand and answer Yesss, she called out “In that case, how about it, Ouji-sama? Would you like to try Haruka’s deluxe hot milk?” She suddenly threw the ball into Youtarou’s court. Watayuki, who was sitting next to him smilingly recommended it, so he tentatively decided to have some. The hot milk made for children was a little warm, and absolutely delicious. So this is…the taste of family. That taste that was unfamiliar also felt oddly…very delicious to Youtarou. “Ah, no fair! Even though Onii-chan’s all grown up, he’s drinking hot milk!” Yuuna came in, having just finished her bath. She was now in her pajamas. So she’s not going to let go of the magic stick, even when in pajamas…Youtarou thought, slightly amused. “Lemme have a sip.” Without waiting for a reply, Yuuna took Youtarou’s cup and gulped down a mouthful. “It’s delisshhh!” A big white moustache formed around her mouth. Her smile was so innocent that Youtarou laughed without thinking. Looking at that Yuuna, Youtarou couldn’t stop himself and asked, “Listen, Yuuna is on good terms with Seika, even in school, right?” “Yep! Ah, could I have one more sip?” Yuuna held on to the cup. “Ah, yeah, I don’t mind that, but listen, does Yuuna also know this Koyama-kun?” “Yep! I do. Ahh, this is really delish. The only ones who can have this hot milk made for them is Fubuki-chan and younger ones, only up to 2nd grade, you know? I’m so jelly that Onii-chan is getting special treatment.” “Is that so? Ah, anyways, listen. That Koyama-kun, what kind of a boy is he?” “What kind? He’s…normal. I think. Gulp, ahh deliiishhh!” It really was an exercise in futility. If he was honest with himself, Youtarou had been thinking that this love letter incident involving Seika had almost nothing to do with him. Especially after seeing Tsurara’s extreme reaction. In the first place, a love letter from a 4th grader was nothing special, and further, his image of Seika was an earnest, “The Three Kingdoms” loving girl with a slightly reserved personality, so he had thought that she would unhesitatingly turn down the love letter. But he suddenly realized. Here we was, sitting in front of Yuuna, trying to make a futile attempt to try to learn more about the situation. There was no longer any way to fool himself into thinking that he was not bothered by the whole thing. “Ah, that’s right!” Yuuna stood up. “I almost forgot! Since I already got out of the bath, you can head in next, Hotaru Onee-chan.” Yuuna’s wide smile was genuine, and for her, besides her daily happiness, any worries or concerns simply did not exist. At all.
23 “KYAAAAAA!” A loud scream rang out. Youtarou had just walked out of the living room and was on his way to back to his room as he heard it. Then, from the other end of the corridor, he heard the sounds of flustered steps in slippers. As he decided to rush to the scene and see what was wrong, “O-Onii-chan!” Wrapped in a single bath towel, desperately holding down her chest, still covered in droplets of water, Hotaru came running into view. The obviously hurriedly wrapped bath towel was struggling to contain Hotaru’s ample bosom and made Youtarou’s heart jump. Her cleavage was completely overflowing. |
But in the next instant, seeing Hotaru’s face dripping with tears, and her eyes also slightly swimming with tears, Youtarou’s indecent thoughts were blown away and replaced with slight regret. “I saw someone in the bath! There was someone outside the window!” Hotaru reached Youtarou and suddenly embraced him. Uwah. In that moment, Youtarou greatly panicked as would be expected, but at same time, looking down at Hotaru’s trembling back, his chest constricted. Always standing in the kitchen, looking over everyone with a smile, a ball of motherly love and devotion…right now, she looked very different from that Hotaru. She looked one or two sizes smaller even. From the start, among the sisters, Hotaru had been on the petite side. He gently laid a hand on her back. Her wet back was slightly warm. “It’s okay now…Calm down.” Till then, all the sisters that had heard the scream from earlier had rushed out of their rooms and gathered in the corridor. Tsurara especially had come running like an angry tiger. “Mou! This is the worst of the worst! All guys should just die! Hey, Servant, what are you doing just standing there! Come with me! We’re definitely going to catch that peeper criminal!” She grabbed onto Youtarou by the nape of his neck. Since the crime had happened at a scene where Youtarou had obviously been absent from, it seemed like at least this time, he would be able to escape from Tsurara’s judgement, who usually always had the mindset that “Peeping = Youtarou is the culprit”.
24 The next day was a Saturday. School was off, and last night’s disturbance was finally dissipating a little. Hotaru’s initial fear had worn off, and she had calmed down a little. Looking at Tsurara who was stimulated beyond limits, she started to tone herself down a little, saying that she might have made a mistake. Maybe because she remembered the peeping and bra incident from the beginning of spring, but Hikaru also became one of those who were trying to remonstrate Tsurara. She argued that last night had been a moonless, cloudy night, and the Amatsuka house grounds that could be seen from the bath windows were huge and unlit, so it was very unlikely to see a person outside. It should be noted though, that Hotaru said she had seen what seemed a pair of eyes shining in the darkness from a gap in window. After fully recovering, Hotaru and Haruka had made today’s breakfast, which consisted of buckwheat galette. The unsweet and thin crepe covering was filled with things like ham and fried eggs, along with and a particularly fancy leaf salad and apple butter sauté. Other than that, there was the normal fruits with yoghurt, and smoothies were also included. Youtarou was still not used to eating with a knife and fork right from breakfast time. As it was a day off, not just Haruka and Hotaru, but all the sisters were happily helping with breakfast preparation. Youtarou thought that it felt very good looking upon that kind of scene. Today, again, the rays of the sun were lighting up the whole dining room, and 20 seats were readied on table. Everyone was happily setting the table or helping with grilling the crepes, and to Youtarou, it was indescribably dazzling. Even Tsurara and Urara, on a day like this, were in a good mood and smilingly talking about trifling things with the others. “Mr Sun is bright! Play with Sora outside?” Sora came up to him, smiling widely, the residue of the dried eggs plastered around her mouth. Kosame, who was watching that said, “We have very good weather today, don’t we?” and laughed modestly. “Yeah, you’re right.” Youtarou replied honestly, and gently lifted his 1-year old sister into his arms.
In the end, after breakfast was over, the smaller girls like Sakura, Sora and the even the 19th 0 years old Asahi along with Hotaru gathered around the eldest Miharu and Mizore, and it was decided that they were going to go and buy some security goods. Apparently, the plan was to put up some sensor lights and dummy cameras outside the bathing area. Youtarou was also invited by Miharu to come along in the capacity of a bodyguard-cum-porter. It seemed like they were concerned about yesterday’s incident after all. Hotaru, a bit embarrassed and fidgeting, looked a little cute to him. They set off on a relaxed trip to the department store located in front of the station. Since they matched their footsteps with those of the little sisters, the world seemed to go by extremely slowly and peacefully. After they had safely finished choosing their items, and were going to check out, Asahi started struggling a little, which made Miharu frown a little. “Abaa…Ababo…Unba, babbabababa!!” “This is a problem. Are we feeling sleepy-sleepy?” “Should I take her and return home first?” Mizore volunteered, very much like an elder sister. However, on the way here, Youtarou had overheard Mizore say that since they were already here, on the way back, she wanted to visit the big bookstore on the 7th floor. Similarly, Miharu had wanted to visit the cosmetics store on the 1st floor, Hotaru had wanted to visit the handicrafts store in the basement; they had all been talking about the various places they wanted to visit. Of course, that was not all. Even as they had been making their way towards this section where the security goods were being sold, whenever the sisters had spotted something from the escalator, be it clothes, tableware, bags, or sundries, they had raised their voices, talking amongst themselves, saying things like “Look, that’s so cute!” and “it would be good if we can have a better look on the way back”. Youtarou had grown up a single child, without any female siblings. So, this scene of girls pointing at everything that came into their view and saying Cute! and I want! was very novel and unusual –how were they still that excited about things that were very similar to what they already had at home?– but he had thought this was in of itself a pretty fun experience. Youtarou’s so-called materialistic desires were very weak, and he hadn’t even shopped at a department store much till then. When he had been living an impoverished life with his late Grandmother, the places he had gone to shopping had been at most the neighborhood bookstore and supermarket, 100-yen shop, the barber shop, and the convenience store. All of them were to get stuff that was absolutely necessary. Well, there had been times when he had gotten attracted by the freebie manga magazines and minifigures and bought some carbonated drinks… On the other hand, it seemed like the department store was a magical place that attracted girls. He suddenly remembered Yuuna with a chuckle. If that girl were here, it would probably have been even more lively. Even as he was thinking that, But yeah, this is a little much. Even I’m getting a little tried now. My feet are starting to hurt a little. I was sure that everyone else had been feeling the same way but… It seemed that there was no limit on the amount of energy girls could spend on shopping, and there was no time limit that could hold them back. “Unba…muugyuuubaaa… Aaaaaaa!” Asahi was still struggling, and a little bit of crying was creeping into her protests. As he looked at her, he had a great idea. “I’ll take her and go back first.” “Eh!? Will you be fine?” Miharu and the rest were a little worried, as would be expected. However, as he received Asahi, who had been clinging to Mizore’s cloak and intensely chewing her pacifier, she unexpectedly obediently clung to Youtarou, and immediately closed her eyes, as if to go to sleep. Had she been listening to us? Youtarou couldn’t help but be tickled by such a thought. “You really are their ‘Onii-chan’.” Miharu said with an impressed voice. Mizore broke into a smile, and Hotaru was wearing an expression that seemed to be saying Onii-chan really is amazing!, her eyes shining. The fact that Youtarou was not their long-lost brother, but just an eternally lonely stranger was only known to the sisters older than Hikaru, only those four. “Well then, take your time.” Youtarou said, and immediately turned his back to them and began walking, so that they wouldn’t have any time to change their minds. He felt the gaze of the sisters seeing him off on his back. Aren’t I a dependable guy? He thought, just a little conceitedly.
He reached home, and laid Asahi down in the White Room. Among the more than 20 rooms in this house, Asahi’s baby bed was in a room on the back side of house, in a room for all the little kids, also known as the White Room. At first, he thought of laying her down on a sofa in the living room, where someone could always keep an eye on her, but, when he took a peek inside just a while ago, the image he had conjured up by himself of a peaceful, afternoon-time living room was torn to pieces. That was because some of the sisters that had not gone shopping were causing a pandemonium –no, a love-emonim?– in there. He gently stroked Asahi’s head, who had curled up on her baby bed. Wearing the bee themed costume that Hotaru had made, Asahi looked very warm and soft. She almost seemed like a smooth and soft plushy and was giving off a slightly sweet smell of milk. Sleeping peacefully like this, she looked even more cute and cuddly. Youtarou had to hold himself back with the utmost effort not to unconsciously poke her cheeks, which seemed even more soft and poke-able than freshly made mochi. In this White Room free of liveliness, with light gently seeping in through the closed curtains, Youtarou also started feeling a little sleepy, and recalled the living room from before. Haruka, who was always going kyun kyun, and the rest of sisters that liked listening to Mari’s premature encounters with love had all stayed behind, but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Things like clothes, accessories and makeup kits were strewn about, and all of them were so into and excited about whatever they were doing that they had not even noticed Youtarou who had carefully peeked into the room from the corridor. In the middle of their circle was sitting…Seika. Before coming to this house, Youtarou had not known that things like makeup kits for kindergarten girls existed in this world, and he also had no idea that the girls started thinking about love from this early an age. If he had to say what he had loved the most when he was in kindergarten, it was, without a doubt, beetles. Seika was trying on the various accessories recommended by Mari, having her very first makeup being applied by Haruka, having her hair tied up by ribbons from Watayuki, and was quite red in the face. She was clearly embarrassed, and in Youtarou’s eyes, also a little troubled.
His sleepiness…was increasing. He suddenly came to and realized that he had closed his eyes. Shit, as I was absentmindedly watching Asahi sleep, I ended up dozing off myself. Fortunately, it doesn’t look like that much time has passed. I swear, tiny kids’ sleeping faces have go to be giving off some ultrasonic rays or something. Youtarou thought, scratching his head. This was another thing that he had learned after coming to this house. While watching the faces of sleeping babies, one would start to feel sleepy as if they had been hypnotized. Rather than Yuuna’s magic, this seems much more like magic to me , Youtarou mused.
After turning on the baby monitor that would let them know of the room’s condition from the living room via a video feed and sound, Youtarou left the room. Going back to my room and talking an afternoon nap doesn’t sound so bad, too. Thinking such things, he walked down the corridor that had the sisters’ rooms lined up on either side. The younger sisters’ rooms were on the side closer to the living room. Around halfway down the corridor, there was a single door that was ajar. It was the room shared by Kosame, Rikka and Urara. As he was passing by, Youtarou glanced inside the room. Inside, there was Urara and Rikka, and also Yuuna and…Tsurara. Tsurara was rattling on about something in a quick manner. Youtarou decided to pretend that he had not seen anything, and softly, without making any noise, made his way towards the lawn.
25 It was almost evening. Seika was sitting in her own room all alone, looking up at the sky which was starting to turn slightly orange at one edge. She was little dispirited. She wondered why. She felt as if she didn’t belong anywhere. Her eyes stung a little. She raised her hands to rub her eyes, and then noticed that some kind of sparkling powder had come off on the back of her hands. Ah, it’s the makeup powder that Haruka Onee-chan put on earlier. I should wash it off. Seika stood up unenthusiastically and walked to the powder room. She stood in front of the washing basin and looked at her face. Her eyes were much more defined than usual, and her lips were redder… Is this a pretty face? Yeah…I don’t like this face that much. She vigorously washed her face with soap, and then only after aggressively wiping her face with a white towel did she feel a little better. Finally, she was able to smile a little. She started searching for Yuuna, who was a good friend. Yuuna, who she was together with a lot. A little while ago, when Seika had been captured by Mari-chan and the others, Yuuna hadn’t been there…where did she go off to? Seika searched around inside the house. She heard a voice from the room that belonged to Rikka and the others. “That’s why I’m saying that we absolutely have to go and get in his way!” Tsurara’s angry voice was heard, followed by the sound of Yuuna swinging her magic stick. “But Seika-chan loves ‘The Three Kingdoms’, so if the person isn’t like Chouhi-sama or Kanu-sama, I don’t think that she will fall in love with such a person.” “But you never know~ This Koyama-kun, he went so far as to send this letter, so he must be pretty serious, right? He might not give up at all just because we got in his way once. Seika-chan is pretty kind after all, so she might not be able to turn him down clearly. Well, if it was Rikka, that’s what I would do. Kusukusukusu” Hearing Rikka snicker as she joked around, Seika’s became even more depressed. This time, Urara spoke up, as if she had a great idea “Ah, I got it! In that case, we can just have Seika-can transfer to my school! Then, she will be able to commute by train, and can ride in trains every day. The 3000 system doesn’t run on weekends, but if it’s during normal week hours, it wouldn’t even be a dream to see it running side by side! What do you think? Doesn’t that sound the best?” In response, Tsurara let out a clearly exasperated voice “You dork. The only one who would be happy with something like that is Urara-chan herself, right? Now that’s it come to this, we have to resort to some extreme…” Listening that far, Seika hurriedly turned her back to the door of room. She walked out into the lawn. In the lawn, having come back from shopping and finished with their afternoon naps, the little-sister group’s members like Sora, Nijiko and Sakura were playing. Bubbles were flying all above the grass. Nijiko was the only one who could skillfully blow bubbles, and Sora, who had could not, was rushing here and there trying to catch the bubbles, frolicking around like a puppy. Usually, if she saw a scene like that, she would immediately participate, and blow lots of bubbles for everyone. Seika was usually a good elder sister to them. But today, she didn’t feel like participating at all. She walked towards the swing that was a little distance away and sat on it. It was a swing made out of just a rope swung over one of the branches of the biggest chinquapin tree in the yard. In the fall, swinging on it would make acorns come raining down and make all the little sisters excited. Yuuna and Seika could now only barely fit in this swing, and so it had been a while since she had sat in it. Her feet could now not only reach the ground but were completely flat against it. In a daze, she looked at the sky. I don’t like this. The day after tomorrow is a Monday…I don’t wanna go to school. It was the first time that Seika, who was always bright and earnest, had thought something like that. A single tear fell from her eyes. I don’t want this at all…
It was at that moment. “Hey, what’s up?” As Seika turned around at the sudden presence behind her, Youtarou was standing there. “Onii-chan…” She hurriedly wiped away the tear tracks. She didn’t know why, but suddenly, felt that her chest became full of something intangible. The feelings inside her body reached a new height and constricted her chest. “The evening sky…I was looking at it.” So that she would not give herself away, she tried her best to control her voice, and was somehow able to say that one sentence. “Yeah…it’s evening time already, huh…” Youtarou stood beside Seika and also looked at the sky. The Amatsuka house was on top of a hill. From the place where this swing was, there was almost nothing to block the view of the western sky and it was very wide and open view. Youtarou had been playing with bubbles together with the smaller sisters, but finding Seika all by herself, he had become a little worried and came to check up on her. Suddenly, Seika felt like asking Youtarou “Um…” Hn? Youtarou turned to look at her. Seika was still looking at the sky, and without facing Youtarou, said “When Onii-chan was in 4th grade like Seika, did you have a person that you liked?” Thank goodness, my voice didn’t crack. The feelings almost bursting inside her receded, and she relaxed a little. She peeked at Youtarou’s face. Youtarou had frozen for a moment, as if he had not been expecting her question. “4th grade huh…lemme see, when I was around Seika’s age…” He fell in thought. After a moment, he started chuckling. Nn? As Seika was wondering why, he continued “No, it’s just that, now that I think about it, I feel like there was no girl that I liked at the time. Thinking like that, I guess I’m a pretty late bloomer as well, or if you asked Tsurara, a dense idiot who doesn’t get emotions…” He laughed, and then glancing at Seika’s face, hurriedly tried to correct himself “Ah, but, it’s not like I’m saying Seika is like that or anything, it was just Tsurara poking fun at me for not having had a single girlfriend and being unpopular…” Youtarou was desperately making excuses, so Seika reassured him “Un-un, I don’t think so. Even Seika…Yuuna-chan and Mari-chan, who are younger than Seika, are so amazing, or should I say that they are much more girlish…really, they are thinking about so many different things, and yet, Seika is so dense about these things. You know, since boys get more fired up when I talk to them about ‘The Three Kingdoms’ or castles as compared to girls, even if I think that we can become unexpectedly good friends, I don’t think of them in any other way, not even a little. And yet, while I was zoning out, a letter arrived, and I thought that it was a summons, but then everyone started saying that it was different…Somehow, it was a way bigger deal than what Seika thought, and everyone started getting excited and making a ruckus, but Seika just couldn’t think like that, or should I say…the more everyone was being considerate of me, the more my chest started feeling heavier and heavier, but, I couldn’t say that properly, and it was like…” As she spoke, Seika slowly lowered her head “I think that Seika is also a dense idiot who doesn’t get emotions!” After the words tumbled out of mouth, “Ahh! Ah, but, it’s different, it’s not like I was saying that Onii-chan is a dense idiot so Seika is similar to him or anything, it’s just that Seika is a little dense, or a late bloomer or something…” Whether those last, wavering words reached his ears or not, Youtarou said in a very clear voice “Well, for me, it was hardly what I was worried about most at the time.” Seika jerked her face up, realizing. Lightly chuckling to himself, Youtarou continued “When I was in kindergarten, I was not really thinking about anything at all, but after I entered elementary, I slowly started realizing, you know? Things like, it was just me who didn’t have parents, and that we were quite poor…” Forcing himself to put on a nonchalant face, he scratched the top of his nose “It’s not like we were so poor that I couldn’t pay for my lunch, but Grandma had to try her best and gather coins in an old bottle of plum wine, and sometimes, when I returned home early on weekdays, I would find her eating nothing but soy sauce over cooked rice. Seeing curry made with nothing but fried tofu in it the week before her pension would come in, made me realize you know. A lot of school stuff cost money, ya know, whether that’s materials or for excursions or what not. But the more time went on, the less I was able to ask her for those things…” Onii-chan… “And so, I wasn’t even able to say anything to my teachers, and just started dwelling on it by myself. Other than that, it’s kind of cliché, but I couldn’t get her to buy me any of the latest games or what not that all the other guys were playing, and so it became hard for me to become friends with them. Since I didn’t get pocket money, I couldn’t go with the other kids to the candy shop…sometimes there would be a kid who would share with me, but then I would feel bad that I couldn’t pay him back, and I would start avoiding him…” Seika felt like that there was lump in her throat. Since Youtarou had brought up a sad memory from his past at an unexpected time, it seemed like all the memories had found an opening and were spilling out one after the other. Ever since he had entered the higher classes of elementary, even as a child, he had become able to understand a lot of things, and he had never since recalled those harsh memories of days long gone by even once. Until now. Youtarou’s words abandoned him for a moment. He quickly returned to the present. “Ah, so-sorry. Even if I tell all this to Seika, you couldn’t even imagine it right? Hahaha…Ah, but sometimes there are some very enjoyable things about being poor, ya know? Since I was living while not being able to visit a candy shop, when Grandma would occasionally hand me a 100 yen coin, it would seem to gleam like gold, and I felt that I could buy anything if I had it…I would hurry to the candy shop and browse to my heart’s content, buying Yotchan Ika and Soda Ramune and ChuuChuu Jelly. And then when, from the leftover 10 yen I would buy a gumball and it would be a winning one and I would get another one for free, I would be on cloud nine and feel like I’m the luckiest man in the world!” As if responding to Youtarou, who was doing his best to tell the story in bright manner, Seika brightly giggled through her sniffles. “Onii-chan, that’s amazing. Seika also thinks that Onii-chan has the best luck in the world.” The two looked at each other and laughed. “That’s why, instead of thinking about girls, the only things on my mind back then were gumballs, and games, and how to hide the fact that my shoes had holes in them.” Seika once again furiously rubbed her eyes and smiled widely. “Seika also loves the candy shop!” “Ah, but I don’t think there would be any candy shops around here, right? Where I grew up, there was a candy shop run by a fossil of an old Grandma that was at least 3 generations older than me.” Youtarou said in a nostalgic voice. “Ahh, that’s mean. We have a proper one around these parts as well! It’s almost at the next station, but we all go on our bikes. Bubbles and water balloons, and they even have frog toys…Ah, at this time of the year, they also have fireworks, so let’s all go together next time! It is almost time for summer vacation after all…” Seika said in an excited voice. And then she laughed one more time. “Thank you very much, Onii-chan. Seika’s feeling much better now!” It was not certain whether Youtarou had noticed the change in Seika heart or not, but as he made a Eh? What? face, Seika turned towards him and continued “You know, Seika, ever since I entered 4th grade, there had been times where I would feel very down…” Her voice was steady and bright, very different from what it had been until now. “I didn’t realize it until recently, but ever since the end of the 3rd grade, everyone suddenly started talking about boys, all the time. Well, there had been some girls who liked idols, and there had been some girls who said that they liked some boys from the class already, but now…” Her feet still planted on the ground, Seika started swinging the swing a little, and as she began to speak again with her eyes downcast, her long eyelashes became prominent, making Youtarou’s a little bewildered. “If two girls liked the same boy, they suddenly began fighting over it and saying bad things about the other behind their backs, things like that. And everyone just, started talking about which boy they liked, and if they were going to get a boyfriend what is their type, and if they were going to marry it had be done this way or that way, and also–” She struggled to continue, as if the next words were hard to say “That they want to ki-kiss soon, and if they were going to throw it away, if they couldn’t do it in elementary, they had to do it by middle school…” She said, her face now completely red “How they wanted to hurry up and have a baby…” Puuu . Youtarou wanted to spit out his drink, if he had one. “But that kind of things…” Seika looked up at Youtarou with an earnest expression “Those kinds of things, there’s just no way… for Seika to keep up with them.” She began the sentence quite powerfully, but then her voice tapered off at the end, reassuring Youtarou a little. “Seika still doesn’t have a person she likes, so should I say, I still don’t know if I do” Seika looked down in embarrassment “Because, Seika has the most fun when reading the ‘The Three Kingdoms’, and when Onii-chan acts out ‘The Three Kingdoms’ together with me.” Oh, that’s right. Youtarou recalled. They had sometimes used “The Three Kingdoms” minifigures to recreate the Battle of The Red Cliffs and acted out General Kanu’s 1000 step journey. He remembered that even though he had only the most basic knowledge about the “The Three Kingdoms”, Seika had been very impressed by him, and had seemed very happy just because he played together with her a little. He also remembered the pillow that had a big print of Kanu-sama on it, that Seika treasured very much. “That’s why, Seika had always thought that she was a little weird. Even if I talked to my friends about ‘The Three Kingdoms’, they would say that it is too hard to understand, and of course they would have the same reaction hearing about castles, or about history… You know, the first one to ever laugh properly when Seika talked about Kanu-sama’s beard, was Onii-chan!” Seika stood up from the swing “But now I see, Onii-chan was also a little like Seika! Somehow, I’m a bit relived, because I always thought that since I couldn’t keep up with what everyone was talking about, that there was something wrong with me. And also…Onii-chan” As if her emotions were overflowing, she strongly hugged Youtarou from the side “Even if we grew up separated, we really are siblings after all.” Since her height was a little shorter than even Yuuna, who was one year younger than her, her head reached his waist, and the words she said were warm in his stomach. “There are some among the boys who like ‘The Three Kingdoms’ like Koyama-kun, and when I’m talking to them about, it really is fun, but I think it’s very different from the ‘like’ that everyone is always talking about, in Seika’s case…” As Youtarou stood there silently, not knowing what to say, his waist was once again tightly hugged. “I’m really glad that I was to talk to Onii-chan like this. Thank you, now I’m feeling refreshed. That’s why Seika can now properly go to school on Monday. Umm, I don’t think of Koyama-kun in that way at all, those current feelings of Seika’s, I’ll do my best to convey them and return.” She paused, and then laughed a little. “I’m saying all this, but what should I do if it really does turn out to be a request for a duel…Kusukusukusu” Her giggle against his stomach was ticklish. While feeling that physical sensation, at the same time, Youtarou entered into a complicated state of mind. If such a good girl had been in my class back in 4th grade, there’s no doubt, even I would have…
26 “Hey, hey…Mou, Rikka, don’t fall asleep on us.” Tsurara let out a miserable voice. Rikka was curling up on Youtarou’s knees and going to sleep. “Fuwaaaaaa~ No good. I’m so sleepy that I can’t keep my eyes open anymore~” “You are really useless…” It was not long after Yuuna had begun unable to operate anymore. Now, even Rikka withdrew from the battlefield.
It was at night of the same day. The hand of clock was pointing to 11. After everyone had finished their baths, in the changing room right next to it, Youtarou and Tsurara were, for some reason…on a stakeout. The dressing room was completely dark with the lights turned off, and a little bit of light was seeping into it from the empty bathroom, along with a little of humidity and a flowery smell. The rule of this house was that the ones in elementary school and lower were supposed to go to bed by, in general 8 o’clock, and 9 o’clock by the latest. Yuuna had snuck out of her room, insisting that she was going to accompany them, but quickly fell asleep after it became 8 and half, and had to be carried back to her room in Youtarou’s arms. And then Rikka…even she who had just become a middle schooler, perhaps because of healthy-slash-active lifestyle, had finally tapped out and only Tsurara and Youtarou were left behind. It seems like Tsurara had also called out to Urara, but from among the sisters the one who hated men the most, emphasized discipline, and loved the timetable, this little sister expressed her intention of not joining the stakeout, citing the reason that she did not want to destroy her daily timetable. Youtarou had once heard from Urara’s roommate Kosame that Urara made a point to get into bed with a straight posture at 9 o’clock exactly every day and went to sleep while looking at a railroad photobook. “Ano…” Sitting a little slovenly, bent forward in a single-person armchair put in the corner of the dressing room, Youtarou began, a little fearfully. “It’s true that peeping is a bit of a problem, but we’ve already taken some measures by putting up some stuff for surveillance, and there’s no guarantee that the peeper will come again anytime soon…” He couldn’t see Tsurara’s expression properly in the dark room, as she was sitting on a chair against the wall and looking away from him. He continued, resolving himself a little “We don’t have to go all the way to keep a night watch, right?” “Haa? What’re you saying at this point!?” And then, as expected, Tsurara turned towards him, the dim, orange light falling on her cheeks, and snapped. Her eyes were harsh. “Hey, what is the essential, pivotal Servant thinking about, to say something like that! You really have a servant’s mind! A member of our family was peeked on you know. Do you not feel angry about that at all!? Idiot! Coward! Weakling! Even though we’re talking about our precious Hota Ane-sama getting peeked on! Of all people, that kind Hotaru Onee-chan, who would definitely not be able to protect herself if she met a pervert or a peeper, almost became a victim to an absolutely shameless bastard. There’s no way I can go and calmly sleep, is there!?” Hearing that, Youtarou also revised his thinking a little. Certainly, they had to do something about the fact the Hotaru might have gotten peeked on. He remembered Hotaru’s figure yesterday, her shoulders trembling. The feeling of her warm back. A single bath towel covering her abundant– Not good. Youtarou shook away the indecent thoughts. But still…essential, pivotal? Youtarou was a little confused. From this little sister, who went around calling him a servant, and actually treated him as one too, was there really any reason for him to be called an important person this time? Youtarou possessed a slightly humble personality, and so could not figure it out. “But, if there really was a peeper, even if we sit here in a daze, should I say that it’s unlikely that we will be able to catch him, or, if he’s an adult with a good physique, we might get done in instead. That’s why, if a peeper appears next time, we will get him on video, and then after that we can properly let the police handle–” As he tentatively tried to propose, “Mou! You really are an idiot aren’t you!? Makes me so irritated! If you’ve thought that far, then why don’t you think a little bit more? Listen up! I didn’t say this in front of the others because I thought they would be needlessly afraid, but in almost all cases, criminals have a tendency to escalate. Especially if they get away with it. Serial killers often start by hurting little animals. Scammers by telling a little lie. Robbers by shoplifting. That’s why all this disturbance, it might not end with just a little peeping next time. Hota Ane-sama might actually…Ah, I’m getting angry just by thinking about it. That idiot scum who peeped on her might get high on the success of his idiotic actions and think up something even more daring next time!” Ah. Youtarou received a shock. “The people of our household are super good natured and don’t have any kind of wariness towards these kinds of things. They all think that people in the world are mostly good people. A belief in the goodness of human nature or what not, not something you see a lot these days. The fact that they picked you up is a good example isn’t it? Without even knowing who or where you came from, just because they felt something similar to themselves, they thought you ‘sibling’, without even doing a DNA test or anything. And on top of that, everyone joined in from the start, unconditionally accepting it and immediate treating you as such. There’s no way that such a clumsy, servant-faced man is a blood related sibling of ours. It’s impossible. So idiotic. Honestly, just thinking that these people are living in the modern world makes me worried sometimes.” Such critical words poured one after the other from Tsurara’s mouth. A DNA test…now that she mentions it, she is right. “But…” She continued after a bit of silence “That is one of the good points about the people of our household isn’t it? They can believe in anything, and they can love anything.” Just a little, Tsurara’s voice seemed to rise in pitch and waver “That’s why I didn’t want to insist on something like that in a loud voice in front of everyone and make them afraid; I didn’t want them to hear anything bad. That’s why…all we have to do is work hard instead, right? And that’s why, we have to catch him with our very own hands and make him taste the punishment! So that we can pummel into him to never lay hands on our family ever again! Before someone from our household…before something strange, even by a mistake, happens to them.” Youtarou suddenly felt that he had touched something very warm and soft, something that was also very fragile and easy to break. It was a contradictory feeling that made you worry and pull your hand back lest you break it, and yet at same made you want to hold fast onto it. Just like her name, Tsurara [11] had a pointy personality, and she was particularly harsh to newcomers. It seemed like she excelled using the entirety of her intelligence –for which she was renowned– to come up with ways to attack other people. Perhaps, it was just the case that she was a degree more protective than other people. Since she was always thinking about various different possibilities, maybe the world she saw was very different from the other sisters, who were, in a way, a little too carefree, as Tsurara had said. To Youtarou, who had already mostly stopped thinking and had been just letting himself be taken along by the flow in this comfortable “19 sisters’ family” environment…it was a topic that made his chest hurt a little. Maybe it was unavoidable that she would foster enmity towards him. It was true that he was living a lie. I’m…not your real elder brother. Your suspicions are true. But it’s not like I have any bad intentions. In the half year that he had started living in this house, numerous times, he had come close to spilling the truth. But if he had done so, just how much would he end up hurting the little sisters that believed in him. It was unknown how Tsurara perceived Youtarou’s silence, but she continued “That’s why, since you’re the only male member of our house, do your best. If a delicate girl like me was attacked, it would be a big problem, but if it were Servant, there would be no problem, right? The time has come for you to come forward and do your best, aren’t you glad? It’s not even on the level of a night’s lodging, you can pay off the previous half years’ debt with this. And even if a guy like you was attacked, it would just end with you experiencing a different kind of world! It might even be a good experience for a simple servant-mind like you, don’t you think? Fufu.” In the unlively, dark room, Youtarou’s eyes were fixed upon Tsurara’s prideful face in profile, as she spoke triumphantly. The feeling of wanting to protect your family…whether it was Hikaru, or Tsurara; no, not just these strong-willed girls, it was a beautiful sentiment held strongly yet naturally by all of the sisters of this house. Maybe it was because they had grown up in this unique environment of 19 sisters, of maybe it was something they had inherited. To Youtarou, it was a very bright and precious thing. But coming into contact with this feeling after already having lost his real family was a bittersweet experience for Youtarou. On top of that, there was one more thing that he felt distinctly. That was the fact that even though Tsurara called him a servant all the time, it seemed like she now completely counted him as a member of the family. Essential and pivotal…only male member of the house… Youtarou’s cheeks relaxed into a small smile.
After that, maybe because she gotten excited, Tsurara swiftly started a debated about the best way to capture or torture any would-be pervert and-or peeper. And then, before he knew it, she had fallen asleep, using his knees as a pillow.
27 It was the morning of the third day after they had started to keep watch at night “Ha…hakuson!” Youtarou woke up along with a magnificent sneeze. Now that I think about it, my throat hurts a little too. Crap, this is…I might’ve caught a cold . For the time being, he decided to go gargle.
Garararararara… As he was standing in front of the 3 sinks lined up in the powder room and gargling with loud sounds escaping his throat, the young kindergartener, the 16th Daughter Sakura wandered up to him. “Nn?” He turned towards her, the gargling water still in his mouth, “Onii-chan, your gara gara gargling is very good! Good boy, good boy.” Sakura lifted her right arm. It appeared that since Onii-chan was such a good boy, she was going to pet him. While keeping his mouth closed, “Nnnnn! (Thanks!)” he lowered his head to a height that even Sakura could reach. “Good boy, good boy!” His head wobbled a little due to her hand movements. Getting caught in that rhythm, he inadvertently swallowed a little of the gargling water. For real…?
The night before yesterday, on Tsurara’s orders, he had once again been on stakeout of the bathroom, However, the peeper had not showed up even once. After getting a glimpse of Tsurara’s real feelings on the first day, Youtarou had become supremely serene about the whole thing, and had decided to assist Tsurara until she was satisfied. It was already a season where you couldn’t easily catch a cold just by sleeping in the wrong place. Youtarou had proceeded to the scene carrying a thin blanket with him, just in case Tsurara fell asleep again. But, that night, Rikka, who had been too sleepy and dropped out the night before, was in a very weird high-tension state, apparently because she had eaten a lot of Haruka’s special chocolate after dinner. “Mou, he’s not coming out at all!! Rikka is tired of waiting~ Ah, I just got a good idea!! In the end, at times like this, we gotta go with the de-e-coy plan, right?” And so, for some reason, Youtarou ended up having to pour water over himself in a half-naked state in the bathroom. On top of it “Ah, I saw a figure in the courtyard just now!” following Tsurara’s orders after she claimed such, he also ended up having to run around the courtyard. During breakfast, Youtarou’s condition kept worsening as if rolling down a hill. Since he didn’t have much of an appetite, he passed on the cold chicken sandwiches that were today’s main course and settled for just muesli with lots of dry nuts and hot tea. The hot tea was Assam tea, this house’s staple for breakfast. The deep fragrance of the tea was finally becoming associated in Youtarou’s mind as the smell of Assam tea. The sugar that he rarely put into his tea was working wonders on his throat today. However, the gradually worsening throat ache was causing even the muesli, which was supposed to become easy to eat after pouring milk on top it, to get caught in his throat, and every time he took a spoonful, he would end up coughing lightly. “Are you alright, Onii-chan?” Hotaru peeked at his face, worried. “I will be allowing myself to take your temperature, my…Ouji-sama!” On his other side, in contrast to he worried Hotaru was Haruka, who seemed awfully happy for some reason, a thermometer in her hand, poised to roll up the bottom of Youtarou’s shirt.
In the end, it was decided that he would be skipping school. He didn’t have much of a fever, but the easily worried Hotaru and Haruka had raised a fuss after seeing Youtarou feeling unwell for the first time after having come to this house. “I’m sure that all the fatigue from starting to live in an unfamiliar place must have caught up with you all at once.” Hearing those kind words, Youtarou’s eyes threatened to well up with tears. Maybe they were right. He returned back to his room in low spirits, and by the time he had changed into his pajamas, he had started feeling dizzy. This is bad. I might really have come down with a cold. As he was going to lie down on the bed, he heard a small knock coming from the door. The door opened and only a 10 cm gap appeared in the doorway. The one whose head popped into view was…unexpectedly, Tsurara. Even she had at an awkward face expression on her face “Are…you alright?” Her demeanor was so meek as compared to her usual self that Youtarou broke into smile. “I’m fine, it’s nothing much.” He said, trying to appear at ease. “Really, catching a cold at this important time…it’s really idiotic! Should I say you’re clumsy or what, just…” Her mouth twisted, as if irritated. Seeing that, as Youtarou relexify apologized “Ah, sorry”, “Mou, you idiot! At a time like this…don’t go around apologizing! You really, really are an idiot…” Blinking numerous times and looking to the side, Tsurara mumbled something almost as if she were monologuing, but the continuation of her words did not reach Youtarou’s ears anymore, as he had already fallen onto the bed. “Today was the day of Seika’s ‘duel’, so I was going to take Servant along as a bodyguard as well. Of all the days, you had to get sick on such an important day…Well, no matter. Since it can’t be helped, I will go protect her instead. Our precious little sister, Seika…” Those words that did not reach anyone’s ears sent the heart of Tsurara, who could not become honest with herself, into a void under the early afternoon sun.
28 He fell into a deep slumber, and then woke up to a feeling of sleeplessness. His body felt very light. He lifted a hand to touch his forehead and realized that both his hand and forehead was wet. For a moment, he was unsure about what had happened. Then he remembered that he had caught a cold and took a day off from school and had been sleeping in his own room. As he gingerly raised himself up, he found out that his pajamas were soaked through with sweat. I…should change. He got out of bed, slowly wiped himself down, and changed. He looked at the clock and found it was almost…12 o’clock. Even though he had slept deeply enough not to even see any dreams, he felt that had recovered a lot in just a small amount of time. Was it the medicine Mizore had given him before he went to sleep? Or was it the secret good luck charm Mizuki had cast on him? Or the song that Nijiko and Sakura had sung for him? Or the candy that had melted in a pocket given to him by Sora? As he was thinking, he started to laugh. It really is a strange family. But yeah, receiving so much kindness when you are sick really does…leave an impact on your heart. For some reason, he suddenly started missing them. He decided to change into his causal clothes instead of pajamas, and under the pretext of wanting to wash his face, he exited into the corridor. Yep, if it’s like this, I might be able to make it work.
“Waaaiiiii, Onii-chan has gotten well!” In the dining room, there was Miharu, Mizore, Nijiko, Sora and Asahi. The smaller ones, Nijiko and Sora ran up to welcome him. “Huh? Why are Miharu Nee-san and Mizore Nee-san here?” He had now become quite accustomed to calling them “Nee-san”. Miharu, who was wearing a red apron, laughed and said, “Since my cute little brother was lying in bed with a cold at home, I decided to excuse myself from today’s classes, and after the morning session was over, I directly came home. Are you okay? Do you think you can eat something?” Saying that, she took out a small, one-serving pot. “How about some of Miharu Onee-chan’s special egg porridge? It works wonders on colds. Waa~ Yocchan, you lucky dog! The first male to eat my porridge, even before my future husband, turned- Out- To- Be- You. ♪ Ahaan ♪ Hurry- Up- And- Eat. ♪ ” Saying in a sing-song voice, she twirled busily around the kitchen. Thanks, I’ll have some , saying that he went and sat down in the middle of the dining table. It was a different seat than his usual. At full capacity, this table could seat 20, but right now there were only 6 people sitting. And one of them was only a baby. The usual, afternoon-time dining room was filled with a mysterious calm. “Ah, but, what about Mizore Nee-san? If I recall, during the exam period…” Hearing Youtarou’s words, Miharu giggled. “I only have a single exam today, so it’s fine.” “Mizore does only have two subjects after all.” Eh? “That’s something even smaller than the dust of this universe.” Mizore sealed Miharu’s words sullenly, so Youtarou became unable to pry further. But what does she mean, only has 2 subjects? Then, as if to distract Youtarou from his brooding, Mizore said “By the way, you finally got your developmental fever, eh? From the start I thought of you as someone with slow reflexes, but you it took you half a year to get a fever…I guess you do have some normal things about you.” “Ah, that’s mean, Mizore-chan. Youtarou-kun did a very good job, you know. A house that’s this full to the brim with girls, if it were a normal guy, no matter how much he was told that it’s his real family, it would kind of impossible to make it work, you know?” Miharu backed-up Youtarou, without taking a pause from the cooking. “Well, once you became a part of the family, that’s it, there’s no helping it, so might as well give up. Well, if your immunity increased with this, it would become even easier to live with us. This fever was a kind of antibody reaction, I’m sure of it.” Mizore laughed in an eccentric manner. Maybe it was because the only sisters together with them were Nijiko and younger, the two older sisters had a very peaceful atmosphere. It felt like they wanted to let off some steam talking about the days since Youtarou had come to this house. That’s why…with complete honesty, Youtarou also said. “Well, it is true that in some sense, this household is pretty hectic and far removed from what is commonly referred to as normal” Miharu and Mizore’s movements froze for an instant. “But, like today, if I’m going to be looked after so well even when I catch a cold, then I feel like a house filled to the brim with girls isn’t so bad either.” Youtarou felt as if he heard the two breathe a sigh of relief. “What, you sound pretty self-important. You know, there are probably many guys in the world who would love to worm their way into this house. It’s basically what they call a harem.” Mizore said, reaching for the condiments on the table. It seemed like cold udon was on the breakfast menu today. Hearing Mizore’s words, Youtarou recalled Junpei from his own class. “Well then, isn’t it a good thing that someone like that didn’t come? If someone full of ulterior motives like that came to this house as a sibling, I’m sure…” Tsurara’s face floated up in his mind. Mizore also laughed “It would have been quite troublesome indeed, for sure…” At the same time, wearing thick mittens on her hands, Miharu came up the table, carrying the small pot high. “Here, thank you for waiting. Miharu’s special porridge is ready. Maybe it’s not as tasty as Hotaru-chan’s, but the real originator of the dish was me after all, you’ll have to bear with it and eat it.” She is very good at winking, isn’t she? As she opened the lid of the pot, steam rose from it. “Hot!” The first bite was much hotter than he had been expecting. “Ara, I apologize. Was it too hot? Here, let me…” Fuuu fuuu. Miharu blew on the yellow porridge on the spoon. “Ah, Sora too! Do the fuu fuu on Sora’s too!” Sora, who had been watching, acted spoiled and stuck her fork in Miharu’s the direction. On the end of her fork were cold soba noodles with broth over them. And it was summertime. “Sora, there’s no need to do fuu fuu on cold things. Try to eat it like that, it’s quite cold.” Mizore said with a very serious face, and Sora, carried along by her, put the fork in her mouth and shouted “Ish cold!” with pursed lips, and the whole table was wrapped in laughter. As Youtarou also laughed along with everyone else, he saw Tsurara passing by on the other side of the dining room glass door. She had hurriedly come back after giving her final exams and didn’t even spare a glance to her surroundings as she swiftly passed by and exited the house.
29 Miharu was completely satisfied after seeing Youtarou finish his egg porridge and commented happily about how men were sturdy after all, and decided that at this rate, she could attend the afternoon classes, and made to leave. Miharu said to Youtarou, who had come to see her off at the entrance “It seems like when Tsurara-chan is with Youtarou-kun, her actions escalate a little. I don’t know what happened last night, but making too much of a ruckus in the middle of the night is not good, okay?” Oh what, so she knew. In the end, even though they had been unable to find the peeper, they had raised a lot of fuss. She’s right, we might not be a good combination after all. Youtarou thought honestly. Youtarou thought that Tsurara was, unexpectedly, possibly a very good person. Whether you looked at how she interacted with the other sisters, or at her extreme concern for the sickly Watayuki. She was a little eccentric and had a little bit of problem choosing her words, but she was usually a girl who could understand other people’s pain. However, when it came to Youtarou, she would oppose him vehemently, and it would become a quite troublesome. He wondered why. He thought that it was surely a problem with the catalyst. The catalyst named Youtarou. He felt that even Urara, who was famed for her hatred of men, didn’t flare up at him that much. Why is it? Why does Tsurara, go that far… Youtarou suddenly noticed and returned to reality. He looked at this watch. Mizore would be taking the little ones for their afternoon nap in the White Room around this time. The time written in the love letter to Seika was 1:30. Damnit! Even though he’s just a kid, setting up such intricate timing. An unexplainable animosity rose up inside him. For such an earnest and good girl, there’s no way such weird company is good for her starting from just 4th grade. The sweet appearance of Seika when she had talked to him in the yard the day before yesterday rose up in his mind. At first, he had been thinking that this love letter incident had nothing to do with him. For one, they were still in 4th grade. For another, Youtarou obviously was absolutely in no position to say anything. In fact, even as the sisters had split up into the “Crazy for Love” group and “All men die” group, Youtarou had not even found any words to say. Also, since he was a male like Koyama-kun, he had even sympathized with him a little…But. A feeling had surged inside him as he looked upon the figure of Seika against that evening sky. Was this…familial love? Or was it paternal love? Or, maybe it was… No, it did not matter what you called it. It was just that Youtarou had thought to himself, I must protect that girl. That girl that possessed such a beautiful heart. Such a kind and pure girl. She loved castles, she loved “The Three Kingdoms”. And she really loved her elder brother and her elder and younger sisters. I have to protect her from anything and everything that would make her sad like that. I’m sure that it’s too early for Seika. Things like ‘like’, and love, and boyfriends. That’s right. No matter what anyone says. Seika, who is living her life so peacefully. I will never forgive a guy who makes her cry like that.
30 It was the first time that he had come to the elementary school that Seika and the others commuted to. Even though he was used to it now, he still remembered the awe he had felt when first visiting Konohana Academy, and the huge Amatsuka mansion with its magnificent and proud appearance, and the stylish building in the city center which housed the company that Mama ran, and so Youtarou had readied himself a little. But now, looking upon the elementary school, he was almost a bit let down. Oh what, it’s just a normal elementary school. Following Mama’s principle of commuting to a local public school while in elementary, all the sisters in elementary except Urara were commuting to this school. Urara, due to extreme hatred for men, was an exception, and commuted to a private, all-girls elementary school. This Motomachi Daiichi elementary school that Seika and the rest commuted to, was a regular, 4 story concrete building. The grounds of the school were covered with artificial grass. From the activity on the premises, it seemed like the day’s classes had just finished, and you could see students cleaning here and there in the corridors and around the school gate. The clock on the wall of the school building showed 1:23. Youtarou was out of breath, as expected. I hope I don’t fall over and faint after all this…No, if it’s today, I don’t care even if I do! Maybe it was an after effect of the fever, but Youtarou’s actions were being controlled by an unusually high tension. In the guard room beside the entrance of the school, he wrote down his name in the “guardian” category. He hesitated for a bit, but there was no other way. He put it down as Amatsuka Youtarou. After he ran into the building, he suddenly remembered. The meet-up place was, if I remember correctly, the gymnasium. Where’s the gymnasium!? After he had entered the premises, he hurriedly looked around for a map but didn’t find one. What should I do? Just as he was starting to become a little agitated, he realized. I see, if it’s the gymnasium, I should be able to recognize it from its shape from outside. Thinking that, he exited out to the grounds. Gotta hurry, there’s not much time. He kept his eyes on the school building as he ran backwards, putting some distance between himself and the building so he could properly see the entire grounds, and desperately searched for the gymnasium. A little more…just a little bit more . Haa, haa. He became a little dizzy. Bump! His back bumped into someone. He was stunned as he didn’t figure out what happened for an instant, and then turned around and apologized first. “I-I’m sorry! But this is perfect. Could you tell the way to the gymnasium¬” He froze. “Se-Servant! You’re sick, so you have to be resting at home, don’t you!? What are you doing here!!” The one who was yelling in agitation was none other than Tsurara “Oh no, I, I thought you wouldn’t be able to come, so I thought I had to do my best all alone…” To Youtarou, it looked like Tsurara’s eye were just a little wet. But that might just have been the fault of the dizziness he had been experiencing for some time now. Through heavy, rough breaths, Youtarou was finally able to reply, “I just don’t want to see Seika troubled because of some weird thing.” In reply, Tsurara nodded deeply, once. “Indeed, me too” she said, as if trying to convince herself “You did good, in coming…that’s pretty remarkable, Servant. You have my praise.” She showed Youtarou an uncharacteristically grown-up smile. She then took Youtarou’s arm and started running. “Let’s go, it’s this way. It’s almost time for them to meet up.” Tsurara ran furiously, like the wind. Since he had come down with a fever not long ago, all Youtarou could do was desperately keep up with Tsurara, and looking at her running, he thought that she looked really cool. By the time they dashed up the stairs to the second floor, he felt like his lungs were about to burst. In front of them was…a plate area with words “Gymnasium” on it, and a large wooden sliding door. The small wall clock placed directly on top of it was showing 1:30 exactly. Glup. He swallowed the saliva that had gathered in his mouth and felt Tsurara stiffening a little next to him. They looked at each other. Let’s go. A tacit understating ran between them. Garagaragara… As Youtarou opened the sliding door, he felt like Musashi who had come to the duel of Ganryuujima.
31 In that instant, the scene of a deserted Gymnasium entered Youtarou’s eyes. In the middle of it, standing in front of Seika was a single boy. His height was about the same as Seika’s, and he had a fair complexion that befitted someone who loved the library, and skinny arms and legs. In his embarrassment, his slightly long hair seemed to be covering his intelligent looking eyes, and he looked very kind. That boy…was approaching Seika step by step, his back completely straight. And Seika stood facing him head on, her hands grasped in front of her chest, her eyes closed, as if waiting for something. Eh, no way. It’s a ki-kiss!? In that world that seemed to be moving like a slow-motion video, the loud and barbaric sound of Youtarou and Tsurara opening the sliding door rang out and seemed to make time move normally again. Hearing that noise, the boy trembled and stopped in shock and fear, and Seika also opened her eyes and turned towards them, surprise flickering across her face. The boy hurriedly closed his hand over something small that he had been about to fasten in Seika’s hair. The door that was opened roughly, and Youtarou and Tsurara who had trespassed in from there. The two were standing inside the bright, glittering backlight, like two black shadows with bright halos around them. Tsurara Onee-chan, and, Seika’s one and only treasured Onii-chan! A warmth spread deep inside Seika’s chest. The two probably came because they were really worried about me. Even though he was sick. Even though he caught a cold. He came all the way here…
It’s almost like the Oath of the Peach Garden that happens in “The Three Kingdoms” , Seika thought. That was a pact of brotherhood that even though their birth places were different, from that day on, they would live together and die together. Even if, in the far future, they did end up getting lovers, they would still think the highest of each other in their hearts, without compensation, without regards to gender.
Seika was a very good girl. That’s why she thought, I must pull myself together. Seika took a small, but powerful step forward.
“Um, listen Koyama-kun. Thank you, but I’m right now, I’m not…” As Seika began with serene eyes, Koyama-kun scratched his head. Flitting his gaze a few times towards Youtarou and Tsurara behind them, “No, thank you for coming. Yeah, it’s okay. I understand. I just…wanted to say it. From tomorrow on, I’ll…” And then, someone else also appeared. “Ah it’s Koyama-kun! Discovered! I found youuu. Listen, I’m troubled because everyone has been asking me so much~ about what kind of a person Koyama-kun is. But even if they ask me that, I don’t know much either, so I thought I’d come ask in person…huh? What is everyone doing here?” The one who had ran in was Yuuna. And not only her, as Youtarou and Tsurara turned to look back, Urara, Mari, Mizuki, Kosame and Fubuki also barged into the gymnasium. It was a delegation from the Amatsuka family, consisting of the members of the elementary team who had come running because they had been worried about Seika, plus the kindergarteners Mari and Mizuki who belonged to the proactive group. Seika and the young boy Koyama were just dumbfounded, and then, all they could do was laugh. Koyama said as he laughed, “A family of more than 5 sisters seems like it very fun.” Normally, Seika would smile a little bitterly at this, but this time, “Un, they’re all my beloved siblings, and I’m proud of them!” she said in a lively manner, and a gentle smile covered her face.
In the end, “Since the gymnasium is free anyways!” Yuuna proposed with an innocent smile, so for some reason, they all ended up playing dodgeball. Since dodgeball was popular in kindergarten right now, Mari was the most willing to participate and enjoyed it fully, but even Kosame, who was afraid of dodgeball and thus was not good at it, was able to participate without hesitation since it was with her own sisters,. Fubuki, who could not run due to her weak constitution, enjoyed the whole match coolly from near a vent of the A/C, and Mizuki was able to completely dodge every ball due to her uncanny intuition. Also, Tsurara ended up slamming all her anger at this weird and unusual situation into the ball, which made her already bad control of the ball even worse. And finally, Youtarou. As expected, he was in no shape to participate in the dodgeball game and declined saying that he was still recovering. He went to a corner of the gymnasium and sat down, and since then had been starting at Seika’s face, who was participating with the rest with an innocent, happy expression on her face. And he was also looking at Koyama-kun, who Mari had taken to because of his dodgeball skills. He had been interacting in a very gentlemanly manner with Seika’s siblings, perhaps desperate to get them to like him. Koyama-kun’s eyes met Youtarou’s and the former awkwardly made a small bow with only his head. Youtarou was unable to say anything in return. In the end, he was still feeling a little sympathy for the young boy Koyama, who had the bad luck of falling in love with Seika of all people. It was just too big of a catch for you, in many ways. By the time the last chime that encouraged students to return to their home rang, Koyama-kun had completely become friends with everyone. Just friends. And then, it was time to part. In front of the gate, as the Amatsuka sisters brightly waved a See you later at him, the young boy Koyama smiled backed and bowed his head. And then, scratching his head wildly again, he smiled a brilliant smile and said to Seika, “I’m going to transfer school as of today. I had fun being able to talk to you lots about ‘The Three Kingdoms’ and castles.” And then he bluntly held out what he had been holding in his hand all this time in front of Seika. “Thanks for everything. I found this for you. I had always admired your family which had lots of sisters. If I had gotten to know you better, I wonder if I could have been able to become a member of that family as well…” Forcefully grasping whatever was in his hand into the hesitating Seika’s, the young boy Koyama ran off, leaving behind the image of a broad, slightly mischievous smile.
Left behind, Seika gingerly opened her hand to look. In her hand was hair tie with a small panda and bamboo mascot on it. 32 “I swear, confessing to her on the day he’s going to transfer away, what’s with the poor planning.” “I agree, boys have no guts.” “But, wasn’t he a good guy, much calmer than we expected? Like how he was quite earnest and seemed like had no weird thoughts…” “Eeeh, Mizuki-chan, is that your type? I didn’t know!!” Everyone was talking loudly and making a fuss on the way back. Youtarou was walking alone at the back. With a pitter-patter, Seika came running back to him. “Onii-chan, thank you so much for today.” Seika said with such an unclouded and gentle smile, that Youtarou started feeling a little bit of guilt. “No, I’m sorry. This was not my intention…” Now that it had all ended, he started thinking that maybe all he done had was just ruin Seika’s– no, Koyama-kun’s memory of his first love. The excellent-student-type Koyama-kun, who had been trying his best to act in as calm a manner as possible, and Seika, who had showed an unreserved smile of friendship to him till the end. He thought that perhaps the one who been acting in a childish manner had been him all along. He unconsciously stole a glance at Tsurara’s face. Tsurara was walking along width the usual cold expression on her face. That ice-like face, that seemed to be saying Yes, I know, stuff like this happens in life. “You know, Seika found out that I still don’t know what it feels like to ‘like’ a boy! When Koyama-kun said that he likes Seika, I was frankly happy about it, but that just means that Koyama-kun was just another one of Seika’s good friends. You know, at time, when Koyama-kun was standing in front of Seika, and when Onii-chan and Tsurara Onee-chan appeared…” Embarrassed, Seika scratched the tip of her nose with a single finger. “At that time, I was much, much happier to see you. Cause, I thought about it. Even if, in the future, Seika becomes an adult, and I find a person I like or a lover, a kind of person that Seika can’t even imagine right now, even then. I’m sure that even then, the one who will be thinking about Seika’s happiness the most will not be one standing in front of her and telling her ‘I like you’…I’m sure it will the ones who will run to Seika’s side, the ones who will stand on the same side as Seika and look with her at her partner, and will support her no matter what path Seika chooses. I’m sure it will still be my family members.” Worried whether she had properly explained herself, she peeked up at Youtarou’s face, her expression a little anxious. “Onii-chan, maybe Koyama-kun…wanted to become like Onii-chan?” Seika said, this time with a serious expression on her face. “Yeah, you just might be right. I’m sure he likes how lively you all are…” Youtarou replied so for the time being. “I see…yeah, I’m sure that’s right. As expected of Onii-chan! Onii-chan, thanks again. Seika, after all…I’m glad that Onii-chan is who he is ♪ ” And then, Seika did a small turn on the spot, and made a chop in air, letting out an Achaa. She had been learning Kung Fu recently, and it was a very Seika like way of marking the end. “Oh, that’s right. Koyama-kun said that the Himeji Castle is near where he is moving to. He said that he will send a postcard when gets there. I can’t wait~ Onii-chan, let’s go together one day to see Himeji Castle! Sichuan is a little too far away, but if it’s just to Himeji Castle, perhaps we can go there one day. It’s definitely worth experiencing at least once! Uwaa, I gotta ask Urara-chan to look up how to get there sometime soon…”
33 It was at night on the same day. “Hey, come with me for a bit, will you?” The one who had come to call Youtarou while he was in his room was Tsurara. “Okay.” Youtarou obediently left his room. After walking down the corridor silently for a few moments, Tsurara suddenly asked “Is your cold okay now?” Now that she mentions it …he had almost forgotten. His body definitely somehow felt a little light, but whether that was because of the cold, or because of the events that had transpired today, Youtarou was unsure. “I think…I’m fine now?” That’s why he replied as such. If we go out from the front, everyone will find out , Tsurara said and led Youtarou out the back entrance. What was Tsurara planning to do? Youtarou was internally trembling a little, but Tsurara seemed a different than usual. At the moment, the abusive words that usually came pouring out of her mouth like a machine gun were completely absent, and it seemed like a…peaceful atmosphere was flowing all around them. A flow made of feelings with similar weights. “Ah, look.” Tsurara pointed at the sky. It was the summertime night sky, now almost completely dark. In the deep dark blue, cloudless sky, to the south, far away, there was, “It’s the Milky Way.” Before he realized it, they had come to most detached part of the premises, all the way to a wall that fenced in the wooded area, also known as “Jousan”, that spread out in the back of the huge 30,000 square meters Amatsuka estate. This place was not taken care of actively and was in a wild state. It was piece of undeveloped land on which tanuki were often sighted. In this place where there was no light from the house or from the city streetlights, you could see the stars clearly. It was the first time Youtarou had come to this place. “They say it’s in the direction of Sagittarius. Ask Yuki or Fubuki about it sometime. They know a lot about stuff like that.” Tsurara silently started climbing the wall. The almost black, old, almost 2 meters tall wall of earth seemed abandoned and now served no purpose, as it had been demolished in a few different places. It just stood tall, raising towards the heavens on the edge of the wooded area. “Hey, help me up here!” Come here, she signaled with her hand, and then gestured to Youtarou to kneel, and then without any explanation, using his back as a steppingstone, lightly jumped onto the top of the wall. “Servant…You can climb on your own, right?” She said the word “servant” in a much softer voice than usual. Youtarou was taller than Tsurara, and so he was somehow able to climb up. The old earthen wall was worn out and crumbling so there were many footholds. The top of the wall was just about 30cm wide, and unexpectedly comfortable to sit on. “We can see very well from here.” All around them was woodland. Like two birds resting on the top branches of the trees there, the two sat side by side. In the pitch-black darkness, the moon was shining dazzlingly, and then there was the Milky Way. One could not help but doubt one’s eyes that there was such a place on the mansion grounds, which so close to the city center. Even Youtarou understood the fact that this place was special to Tsurara. It was probably a place that was secret to everyone in the family. “I haven’t even told Yuki. Even if I had told her, since she can’t climb up anyways, I would just feel bad after telling her” Youtarou was silent. “That’s why, I want to bring her here sometime soon” Tsurara said, looking straight ahead, without looking at Youtarou’s face. “It’s impossible for me alone. But if you were there…I’m sure…” Ah, so that’s why she brought me here. The frustrated look that Youtarou had expected to see on her face was absent. Without thinking, Youtarou was captivated by Tsurara’s face in profile under the moonlight. Her slender, sharp face seemed like it had been chiseled out of something; a strict, gallant face. The strong determination inside Tsurara was showing on her face. The mode of communication with Tsurara…was not words. Youtarou finally understood that a little. Tsurara’s feelings right now were probably such that if she tried to put them into words, they would run away from her. “Here you go. Wanna eat?” Gasagasagasa … Tsurara took out something from the grocery bag that she had been holding. It was a red bean ice bar, complete with a stick. “You worked really hard today, so it’s you reward.” Tsurara let out a little giggle. “It’s okay you know; I went a bought it just a little while ago.” Tsurara did? For me? Youtarou desperately tried not to let the surprise show on his face. “For the summer breeze, ice is the best. It’s cold, and it’s full of nutrients…” Tsurara murmured, almost to herself. And then. “Haa~ Somehow, I’m quite tired after today. Here, Servant, let me…” Before even finishing her sentence, Tsurara leaned her body towards Youtarou. As he was sitting right next to her, she rested her head on his shoulder. “You don’t have to be that nervous, idiot…” she whispered to Youtarou, who had stiffened. Tsurara slowly closed her eyes. “It feels quite nice, so lend me your shoulder for a little bit.” The night breeze arrived to cool down the feverish heat of the two. |
34 An hour and a half after that. Without any warning, a siren from the alarm system that had been recently installed started ringing throughout the Amatsuka house. “Uwaaaahhhnnnn! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Uwaaahhhnn~! Sniff, hic. It’s because Sakura…Sakura….” And then, immediately after, the loud crying voice of Sakura was heard from the changing room. It was already a time when all the members of the white room should have gone to sleep, 9:30, which was past the time the elementary girls were allowed to stay awake. “Sakura-chan…what’s happened, at this late an hour!?” Haruka and Hikaru, who had come to take a bath, found Sakura in her pajamas in a corner of the changing room. In her small arms, she was carrying an even smaller calico cat. And lying near her was a small milk bottle. Haruka lifted Sakura up into her arms, who was terrified and had balled up, crying. “What happened? It’s alright, you don’t have to cry so much, tell me what happened? It’s okay, there’s nothing to be afraid of….” Sakura cried on the top of her voice, her face and pajamas soaking wet. Hearing the disturbance, Hotaru, Mizore, Miharu, Tsurara and of course, Youtarou all gathered in the dressing room. “I’m sorry…Sakura was wrong…It’s because Sakura was hiding a cat in the garden…The cat was small, cold, and hungry…so Sakura thought that she had to help it…Uwaaannn! I’m sorry! I didn’t know that the cat would do something wrong…Onii-chan, Onee-chan…Will Sakura no longer remain a child of this house? Uwwwaaannnnnn~”
Hotaru couldn’t remain standing, and weakly sat down. “The one Hota had made eye contact with, maybe it was this cat…?” Hikaru’s jaw dropped in surprise. Hotaru seemed to shrink in on herself, ashamed of her mistake. Tsurara was so surprised that she was just flapping her mouth, no sound coming out.
And then, maybe because he had been so relived, Youtarou finally came down with a high fever that night. All night long, someone’s hand was changing the wet cloth on his forehead. Through the haze of fever, Youtarou could not figure out whose hand it was.
Chapter 3 Sixth Girl
36 Tsurara was angry first thing in the morning. “How did it end up like this!?” She suddenly cried out, and clenched her hand, crushing the paper she was holding. Her face was pale. Her clenched hand was quivering with the force of her grip. It was early morning, and they were at the front entrance of the Amatsuka house. Among the only two present there, one was Tsurara, who was completely ready to leave the house, in order to participate in the voluntary early morning learning; her white, transparent looking skin fresh and bright. The other one was Rikka, her hair knotted and all over the place, her belly peeking through her pajamas, her skin well-tanned, still wearing her indoor slippers. Acchaaa …Rikka peeked at Tsurara with one eye through a gap between her fingers as she covered her face with her hands. Would it have been better not to show her, after all? However, Rikka had her own reasons to be here. Today was probably the day the results of the raffle of the teens magazine that Rikka read frequently was supposed to come. Cause Myuu-chan in the neighborhood already got hers! Around today was the time that the ticket of a reader-only event, that she had applied for using a postcard with a reply card attached was supposed to have reached Rikka’s hands…at least, that was the plan. The mailbox of the Amatsuka house was quite far from the main entrance, and there had been a few things inside it this morning. Two different newspapers needed for Mama’s work, and a single light blue envelope. Rikka had been disappointed to check the inside of the grey box, as at first it seemed like it only contained the newspapers, but after roughly taking them out, she leaped as the light blue envelope floated to the ground. Yaya! It’s here! It’s really here! It’s got to be. This has got to be for the fated event! As she had snatched it up and tried to rush in the entrance, she had bumped into Tsurara. She had incoherently blabbed about how she had been selected to receive a ticket to a limited event, and merrily yet carelessly tore open the top of the envelope… Huh? What’s this? The only thing inside had been a single photograph. In the center of the photograph, clearly shown were Tsurara and Rikka, and around them Hotaru and Haruka, and Hikaru, Mizore, and Urara…it was a scene of the sisters making the early morning commute to school. Perhaps it had been taken recently, as behind everyone in their summer uniforms, obviously Youtarou was also present. “It’s a photo of Rikka and everyone…” As Rikka mumbled, the face color of Tsurara changed, and she had leapt towards Rikka like a bird of prey, snatching the photograph out of her hands. “Let me see that!” Rikka’s mind didn’t work very well in the mornings. A photo? Why? She had inverted the envelope, and seeing that apart from the photo, there was nothing in the envelope, she had titled her head to side, puzzled. On the other hand, Tsurara had stood silently rooted on the spot staring at the picture, apparently able to precisely capture the meaning of this picture, using the intelligence that she was proud of. “How did it end up like this!?”
Recently, Tsurara had been a little at peace. Youtarou…the existence that went against natural laws, a new bigger brother; lately, she had become a little used to the unexpected event of such a being intruding upon her beloved family. She felt that she was now able to cope well this existence. All of her little sisters were extremely welcoming of him, and even the 13th Daughter Watayuki, who Tsurara had strong feelings of protectiveness for, assertively became attached to Youtarou– to that dumb manservant. This caused some irritation in Tsurara’s heart, but as long as she overlooked that, the rest was fine. On holidays when the weather was clear, they would all go to the park in the afternoon to play. Really now, as 2nd year middle schooler with a sharp mind, I can’t go along with this anymore. But, being able to spend time together with everyone’s smiles was happiness, that’s why. Even though she would never say this to the person himself, this lifestyle where she had a useful manservant that she could scold to her hearts content, was not bad at all… Just as she had begun to start thinking as such, this envelope had arrived. What should I do? As soon as she saw its contents, her heart leapt to her throat, and her pulse skyrocketed. Looking at the face of Rikka, who was still unperturbably rubbing her sleepy eyes, not at all understanding the situation, Tsurara desperately pushed down the desire to start spewing curses. The family’s secret. This is definitely a secret photograph. If this got out, and everyone at school found out about him… At that moment, “Ahh, this envelope, I’ve seen it before!” Rikka, who had been zoning out till then, said in an iditoic tone. “What!? Rikka, do you know something?” Tsurara grasped Rikka’s arms and shook her. “It-It hurts, Tsurara-chan.” “Ah, so-sorry.” Rikka, who was taken aback by Tsurara’s threatening attitude, continued a little unconfidently, her eyes upturned, scratching her head. “Rikka had only entered Konohana back then, so it might be her mistake…” “Come one, hurry up!” “This looks a lot like the envelope of the Konohana Academy Student Council. The guide given to all the new students back in April was, if I recall correctly…” Tsurara’s eyes widened. The Konohana student Council!? Why would they go to all the effort of sending such a secretly taken photograph…? “Ahh! I’m sure that someone from the Student Council just happened to take it, and since it came out so well, they decided to print it out, you know? Look, here, Rikka looks so cute on it!” “You idiot! Rikka, what are you thinking about! This is clearly a secretly taken photograph!! That in itself is suspicious, but on top of it, even manservant showed up on it. No one is school except the teachers know that he’s a part of our family, you know!? If this happens to get out, we will–” A look of determination crossed Tsurara’s face. From the corridor, they could hear the members of the family waking up. “Rikka, keep this a secret from everyone, okay?” Why? Seeing a questioning look on Rikka’s face, she continued. “If you can keep it a secret, I’ll treat you to a triple cone ice cream.” “Wow, for real!?” Seeing Rikka’s eyes immediately light up, Tsurara confirmed to herself once more. This idiotic yet precious family…I’ve got to protect it. At the same time, Youtarou’s face rose up in her mind. Really, because of him… What should I do? What can I do to protect everyone? Tsurara’s grey brain cells started to work at full power.
Continued in Baby Princess Volume 3… [9] Small backpack that elementary school students use in Japan. Mostly shown as red in anime and such but can be any color or pattern. [10] No idea what this is. Round n Round Clock, maybe? [11] Reminder that Tsurara’s name literally means icicle. |