Episode 6 – The Tale of Talking to My Brother About The Person I Like

* Heroine perspective

“Ngg…”

I woke up in a daze.

An unfamiliar view. A strange scent, different from my own home.

“Su… su…”

A regular breathing sound that doesn’t belong to me.

Yes, I’m in senpai’s room.

“Senpai’s room…”

I can’t help but feel my cheeks relax.

I never dreamed that I would be this close to senpai.

Yesterday, I forced my way into senpai’s home – I was very anxious, but he welcomed me kindly. He seemed a little troubled, but I decided to look away from that.

Still, even though I was awake, I still felt as if I was in a dream.

I’ve been looking at senpai in the distance for a long time, and now he’s right there…

“~~~ngh!”

The moment I became aware of it, I buried my face in the quilt and groaned out of strange embarrassment.

The futon I had just bought had a peculiar new smell to it… but that brought me back to reality.

This newly bought futon is just like me. It’s not yet familiar with the scent of his room.

I wondered if it would ever fit in, or if it would be thrown away before it did. When I thought about the fate of this futon, I couldn’t think of it as someone else’s affair. It isn’t a person, though.

But I can’t go on like this forever, either.

There was no way that senpai would be willing to go along with the story of my brother’s debt for long. And either way, after the summer was over, I had to go back to my hometown to attend high school.

I’m sure senpai won’t allow me to take day-offs from school to stay, and my parents won’t take my word for it if I say that I’ll be staying at my brother’s house to concentrate on my exams.

I’m well aware of that.

But still.

I’ve made up my mind. I’ll do my best so that I won’t regret it.

Even if I cause trouble for senpai or even if he thinks that I’m a strange girl…

◆◆◆

“Eh, you like Motomu?”

This year’s Golden Week. When my older brother, who had just started college and was living alone, came home, I was in tears and revealed my secret feelings to him.

I’ve never told anyone, not even my friends, about my feelings for senpai who, of all people, is friends with my brother.

“I see… I mean, I’d love to do something to help my cute little sister, but of all people, it’s Motomu huh…”

My brother chuckled in annoyance as he threw a pocket tissue at my feet.

“Is there any problem if it’s senpai…?”

“No, he’s a good guy, and if he were to become my brother-in-law, it wouldn’t be so bad–or even better. It would be interesting.”

“Brother-in-law?　Onii-chan!　You’re making too many leaps!!”

“Really?　You like Motomu, don’t you Akari? Don’t you want to go out with him and get married someday?”

When my brother bluntly asked me that, as if it was perfectly natural, I thought that I might have consulted the wrong person.

“I don’t know, I don’t know, okay..!　I just like senpai… and I miss him, that’s all…”

I hadn’t thought about what would happen after that.

Because I wasn’t close enough to him to feel lonely without him.

I want to get to know him. I want to be able to talk to them as if it were natural.

It would be a lie if I said that I didn’t imagine such a future, but such a future is like a fantasy.

“Akari, you being a novice is fine and all, but if you keep being so shy, you’ll never be able to catch him, okay?”

“C-catch him–!?”

“Let’s see… I’ll tell you about something that happened with a certain person in the past. It would be awkward to tell her real name in case it’s someone familiar, so let’s call her Matsumoto-san.”

Matsumoto-san… seems like a normal name for a pseudonym.

“Matsumoto-san was one year older than us, you know. Motomu and she were on the same library committee.”

“Same committee… How nice.”

“Really now…”

My brother let out an exasperated sigh. I was a little annoyed that my brother, who is usually the one who makes me sigh, reacted this way. But at the same time, I felt embarrassed that I was jealous of Matsumoto-san, who had joined the same committee as senpai.

“Well, whatever. Anyway, it seems that Matsumoto-san taught Motomu the work of the library committee… In conclusion,  love blossomed.”

“Eh.. for senpai?”

“No, for Matsumoto-san.”

“Stop saying that in such a confusing way!”

The way he said it now was definitely like senpai fell in love with Matsumoto-san. Ah, I thought I was going to die of shock…

“Matsumoto-san was quite an introverted person. And apparently, she tuned in to the junior member who followed her with a smile on his face and didn’t complain even when she explained things poorly.”

“Tune?”

“Bah~! Don’t make me explain, it’s embarrassing!”

“Then don’t say it in the first place…”

Aside from that, according to my brother, Matsumoto-san and Senpai did not end up going out with each other. I’m glad.

“As I said before, Matsumoto-senpai was reserved. It was obvious to those around her that she was in love with Motomu, but he never noticed and just left it at that.”

“Heh…”

“What do you mean by ‘heh.’? The situation is exactly the same as a certain someone.”

Someone who likes senpai, but didn’t take any direct action on it, so it disappears naturally… Oh, it’s me…

“You know, there have been a lot of girls like that around Motomu. He’s very popular without realizing it himself. It’s annoying.”

“But he didn’t go out with any of them, did he?”

“Yeah. Including you.”

“Mu-u…”

In other words, it seems that both Matsumoto-san and I are nothing more than a bunch of random people who have a crush on Senpai.

“Well, regarding Motomu’s female relationships… there were other episodes involving people like  Tsuruha-san, Sugi-san, or Cosmos-san… but the end result was pretty much the same.”

I don’t know why my brother lays out the pseudonyms that are tied to the pharmacy store names.

But from the way he said it, I guess he wasn’t lying about having episodes.

“Well, since people like you are not uncommon… knowing that Akari, what do you want to do?”

My brother asked me seriously.

As my brother, and as senpai’s friend.

“I… with senpai…”

I hadn’t thought about it specifically.

I didn’t know what I wanted to be with Senpai or anything like that… But that’s what I regret now…

“Onii-chan… With senpai… I, I…”

After thinking about it again, I mustered up the courage to say the definite thoughts that came to mind.