Episode 8 – I am a lying younger sister

(Sumika POV)

Why should I feel this way when I just happen to like someone nearby ……?

[Uwaa, you’re such a brocon!]
[I’m not sure how to describe it, but I think it’s creepy.]

From that day on I started pretending to hate my brother.

◆◇

After fourth period PE, the students take a lunch break.

I’ve been playing volleyball in the gym for a while now and I can’t stop sweating. I was wiping the sweat off with an antiperspirant sheet.

“Haa, hot, hot~!”

I look up at my hands and offer a hand towel to my friend Rio, who makes a pretense of trying to wipe the sweat off her shirt.

“Oh! Thanks Sumika!”
“Because Rio always wipes her sweat off with her shirt.”
“Sumika is surprisingly good at taking care of people.”

Another friend, Hiyori, interjects.

“Surprisingly……, do I look that shabby to you?”
“I think of it more as taking things away.”
“Sumi, it’s not like that.”
“Well, we know Sumika and her good points~.”

Rio and Hiyori. They became friends for the first time in this class.
I am easily mistaken for someone because of my looks. As I say myself, I have received quite a few confessions from boys, some of whom were aces in the athletic clubs that were popular with the girls. Of course, I have turned them all down.
But love is messy.
This time, the girl who liked the ace of the athletic team resented me and spread a rumor that never happened. It was properly recognized as a hoax.

People gradually stopped coming close to me, who was involved in such a troublesome situation. However, Rio and Hiyori treated me with no concern from the first time we met.

…… my dear friends.

We put our desks together and eat lunch.

“What’s that? Sumika, you’re not having bento today.”

Rio asks me curiously as I take out a bottle of Spasara and vegetable juice from a convenience store bag.

“Yeah, I was in the mood for a convenience store today.”
“Wow, that bento looks so good.”
“It’s too good to eat, so sometimes you just want something different to take your mind off it.”
“Well, It is true that I would get bored if I had to eat Chinese food every day.”
“That’s just Rio Chan”
“Hey, Hiyori, you’re being so harsh with me!”
“I’m glad you interpreted it on your own.”

My brother always prepares breakfast and lunch for me, but today only bread and lunch money were placed on the table.

………..
…………..

…… I deserved it.

“by the way, my brother is really annoying me after yesterday’s news report.”

brother ……I stops my chopsticks at that word

“Hmmm, how is that annoying?”
“He said [If you can’t get married, I’ll take you. I know everything about you. There’s no one like you in the world] with a smug look on his face. I don’t want him to make eyes at me just because he is a virgin who still doesn’t have a girlfriend. I don’t want that piece of shit to be with me.”
“Wew. I don’t have sibling, so I don’t know what it’s like.”
“Then I’ll ask Sumika, who is in the same situation. Don’t you think so, too?”
“Well, I….”

The words stop there.
I manage to answer the question, but it didn’t come up.

The two seemed to have misunderstood the situation again.

“……Sumika chan, you really don’t get along with your brother, do you? Last time we bumped into each other in front of a vending machine, you were arguing.”
“Well, I’ve been in fights every day, too. I mean, didn’t Sumika at that time completely change her personality and go into a devil mode? It was more like an agitated tone or ……. She might have actually been the reverse side of her love for him.”
“……….”

At the moment, my heart is buzzing.
I felt like I was touched by something I had kept deep in my chest and didn’t want to touch. ……

“I don’t think so. About falling in love with own brother.”
“That’s right! wait, Sumika?”
“Hm? Sumika chan?”

She looks at me with concern on my face as I turn my head. Yes, just worried.
And yet I was upset because I felt like I was being asked to answer the question, [Do you like my brother?]

If I told them I loved my brother, they would pull me away.
It will be even smokier than that day.
Maybe they will leave me.
If that happens, I’m …… I’m ……

bing-bong bang-bong *Bell

Then the chime rings at the right time. This is the pre-bell for the fifth period.

“I can’t be this lazy! We only have 10 minutes left!”
“that raccoon teacher made me redo my answers until I crossed over the lunch break. Damn!”

Next is a transfer class. I hurry to eat and get ready to leave the classroom.

“Five more minutes, and we’ll make it.”　
“Haaaaa …… ugh …… I might be a little sick from all the rice I’ve shoveled ……”

We move to the chemistry room on the second floor, and speaking of the second floor, there is the second grade classroom.

But….

“Ah, Oni chan…..”

Ahead of me, I see my older brother surrounded by his friends. And next to him is Ru chan, who has always been his childhood friend. His friends Yoshida senpai and Aoba senpai are there.

That soft expression that he never shows in front of me. Her bright voice. Her gentle smile.　　

My heart squeezes tight.
Very painful.
No, I don’t expect him to be nice to me after something like that.

“……..”
“Ah….”

Suddenly our gazes met.
But it is soon returned.

“……”

Sad and lonely. ……
I bite down on my lower lip.

…… Ah, I’ve become Hated.

“………..”
“Towa, what’s wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing. It’s nothing.”

I looked at my younger sister, but I averted my gaze.
That’s how I feel right now.