"Mmm... brother..." s.h.i.+ka muttered as she stirred and gradually opened her eyes.Feeling that someone was next to her, she turned around to look.
She saw a handsome boy sitting by her bedside, gazing at her gently.
Seiji smiled. "Good morning, s.h.i.+kchan."
s.h.i.+ka Kagura widened her eyes.
Then, she squinted as her lips arced upwards in blissful satisfaction.
"Good morning, Brother~"
...
In school.
Mika was unable to concentrate.
The first cla.s.s had just ended, but Seiji still hadn"t appeared.
Some cla.s.smates... fine, just the girls, were worried about how he was and asked Chiaki and her about him.
Chiaki gave him a call, and the response she received was: "I have something to do, so I"ve asked for a break."
What could be going on? Did he have a cold? Many pairs of curious eyes blinked in unison, and all the girls were gossiping about it.
Diplomat Chiaki responded by saying, "Sorry, cla.s.sified."
While the girls still wanted to know what was going on, they finally scattered and stopped prying. They were unable to withstand the pressure of the tomboy, who acted as if she were Seiji"s amba.s.sador.
"He said that he"ll come to school in a bit and contact us," Chiaki whispered to Mika in a low voice after their cla.s.smates left them alone.
This finally helped the pigtailed girl to recover some of her spirit. Despite this, she was still rather unsatisfied.
"Just what exactly is Seiji up to!?" she complained inwardly.
Without him there, the awkwardness between her and Kaede as they went to school together was...
Mika was unwilling to dwell on what had happened...
Of course, Kaede also seemed concerned about Seiji... or what happened to Seigo Harano, as she worded it. But after Kaede discovered that Mika didn"t know either, she ceased her inquiries.
Mika made up her mind. "After seeing him, I definitely will ask him what"s going on!"
After the second cla.s.s was over.
Mika was shocked at the scene in front of her to the extent that her mind went completely blank.
"This girl... isn"t she..."
"Yep, that"s right, she"s s.h.i.+ka Kagura. We met her before at the drama club."
The tall and handsome boy had a gentle smile on his face.
A pet.i.te girl whose beauty seemed almost ethereal tailed behind him. She was tugging on his clothes and hiding behind him while blinking her eyes cutely.
They seemed almost like brother and sister...
Mika and Chiaki were both speechless at this situation.
They had received a message from Seiji to meet him in this corner of the school garden, but they never expected to witness such a scene.
The person behind him... Was this really the same person that had been forcibly "captured" by the drama club president before!?
This was a totally different feeling!
Back then, they had met a literature-loving girl. Previously, she exuded a natural iciness which seemed to reject everybody who thought of approaching her.
But now, she seemed like a girl who always stuck close to her own brother, acting all shy and cute like an ordinary girl next door!
The contrast between the two impressions she gave off... this wasn"t even a contrast! It was like multiple personalities!!
Why were the two of them together!?
Why did they behave like a real brother and sister!?
Although Mika and Chiaki knew that Seiji and s.h.i.+ka weren"t real siblings, they were beginning to suspect it could be possible!
Mika and Chiaki"s inner thoughts were like unstoppable tornadoes.
But s.h.i.+ka"s next sentence increased the tornadoes" strength even further.
"Brother, there"s another two beautiful girls here! You have so many girlfriends~" s.h.i.+ka Kagura stated in her soft voice.
Seiji"s expression froze over.
Mika and Chiaki were rendered speechless.
The tornadoes in their minds were upgraded to typhoons!
"Seiji!!" both of them shouted in unison.
Seiji could only feel utter helplessness upon seeing his two female friends" indescribably shocked expressions.
He knew that he shouldn"t have taken the amnesiac girl with him!
But there was no helping it.
After waking up, s.h.i.+ka Kagura clung by his side and refused to let go. If he tried toughening his att.i.tude even a little, she would pout and tear up, and when he tried to leave she really did cry... She was basically a little child that was inseparable from an adult.
He also considered not coming to school, but he promised that he would, and besides... he also wanted to take s.h.i.+ka out for a walk, so she could get a little suns.h.i.+ne.
Safety shouldn"t be an issue with the spell formation still protecting the school. Rana was present as well.
"Calm down a little, and listen to me explain..." Seiji smiled wryly as he began speaking.
Then, he suddenly discovered that he was talking like how a typical sc.u.mbag male lead in a harem story would!?
Cough cough, this was just a coincidence!
...
It was a difficult task to explain to his two friends what had happened without giving any specific details, but Seiji managed to accomplish it.
"Mmm... Allow me to summarize the situation. Seiji was trying to help Kagursan here with some difficult circ.u.mstances of hers, but she met with an accident caused by Student Council President Natsuya Yoruhana."
"After receiving treatment and waking up, s.h.i.+ka lost her memories and now believes Seiji is her brother."
"President Yoruhana feels deeply apologetic about this situation. Since Kagursan"s parents can"t be contacted right now, President Yoruhana is providing her own home for Kagursan to live in, and she"s also providing treatment and care."
"And because Kagursan isn"t letting Seiji leave her side, Seiji has to temporarily live at the Yoruhana residence."
"Did I get the gist of it?"
Chiaki pretended that she was adjusting a pair of imaginary spectacles as she explained.
Seiji sighed. "Yep, that"s right."
"It all seems so unbelievable... it could even be the background story of a television series." Chiaki rubbed her chin. "But since it happened to you... it doesn"t seem all that strange after all."
Mika nodded silently in agreement.
"What does that mean?" Seiji had the subtle feeling that he was being looked down upon. "Was it just an illusion?"
"It means that you"re the type of idiot who always gets wrapped up in some incident, or even rush into something troublesome." Chiaki extended her palms and shrugged.
Seiji was rendered speechless.
Fine, he was indeed being looked down upon in a subtle way.
"I"m sorry that I can"t tell you guys the exact details, but the basic situation is the same as Chiaki"s explanation."
"It"s fine; if you can"t say it, you can"t say it... In fact we"re already satisfied that you can tell us so much." Chiaki smiled. "Right, Mika?"
Mika also energetically nodded and smiled.
Even though she was slightly annoyed at being left in the dark, if Seiji felt like he couldn"t reveal any more details, he must have his reasons.
It probably wasn"t easy for him to tell them this much.
"In fact, he didn"t have to tell us anything, but he didn"t want us to worry..."
Mika felt a warm feeling in her heart when this thought crossed her mind.
She felt that it was a... comfortable feeling to be viewed as important by the person she liked.
"Brother, I"m getting tired! Hug me~"
Mika"s recently uplifted feelings instantly took a heavy blow.
Seeing the fresh and cute... no, seeing this middle school girl who wasn"t even familiar with Seiji before this incident sticking so close to him, acting all spoiled with him, and talking so childishly... Even though she knew that this was all due to amnesia... she still didn"t like it!
"Didn"t I just hug you? Why are you getting tired so quickly?"
"I"m still feeling under the weather. Only when brother hugs me will I feel better... it feels the best~"
"That"s enough!"
Mika felt an indescribable surge of anger rising up within her.
Although she knew s.h.i.+ka was deserving of sympathy due to the fact that her mental age had regressed, seeing this and hearing this right in front of her was still maddening!
"I still haven"t been hugged by Seiji before!!" the pigtailed girl mentally shouted at the top of her lungs.