26th of April, Friday
Frowny. Worry. Secret Consultation.
With the weekend coming, the atmosphere in cla.s.s has gotten pretty lively. Next Monday is a holiday since it"s the Shōwa Day.
I have immersed myself in interacting with my little sisters and didn"t realize a holiday has come until this morning. Speaking of which, the golden week. By then we, might already get separated, thinking that my mood somehow turned heavier.
To think that just the other day I was encouraged by Yuuki. My troubles appeared on my face and I ended up worrying Mariko as well.
After school, I returned to the mansion and visited the Room 201 on the second floor.
"Welcome back Nii-chama! Maple says welcome too!"
I replied with "I"m back" to Mika"s innocent smile.
Maybe protecting Mika is the best thing to do after all.
Pulled by hand by Mika, I entered the living room. On top of the table was resting the piggy bank and the tablet. She made me sit down on the sofa.
"Nii-chama, is cocoa okay?"
"Ah, yeah. Thank you."
After placing Maple on top of a stool, Mika started to prepare cocoa filled with marshmallows.
When the cocoa was completed and she carried the tray to the living room, a *pikon!* sound came from my smartphone.
Mika stretched her hand towards the tablet on the table.
"Ehh? Nothing came!"
"It was my smartphone that rang."
"I seee. Mii-chan mistook it."
She stuck out her tongue, tilted her head and lightly poked her head. What a cute creature.
When I checked the smartphone, a notification saying there"s a message was displayed on the screen. It was STRING"s chat function. The one who sent the message was Mariko. Or rather, it"s natural since Mariko was the only one I have ever registered. The content was something like "I"m waiting for the answer about homework".
I will decide during the weekend, please wait a little longer. I replied politely.
As I excused myself to Mariko, Mika raised her voice while watching my smartphone.
"This, Mii-chan knows it!"
"By "this" you mean STRING?"
"Umm, you can talk through chat in it. The stamps are cute right."
So Mika has the STRING on her tablet? I might have overlooked it last time.
I wonder if Mika found and installed it on her own?
"Mika, did you have someone install STRING for you?"
"Yup. Nee-chama!"
Ahh, I see, Murasaki-san, huh? STRING is useful for Mika to contact her in case something had happened.
As I nodded convinced, Mika"s face paled.
"W-w-wwwhat to do Nii-chama!"
"What do you mean, you okay, Mika?"
"Mii-chan was supposed to keep the app in secret from Nii-chama."
Oh, that"s bad. I need to hurry up and fall down from the stairs to suffer a memory loss.
"I-I get it. I"ll erase the memory."
"W-will you forget about Mii-chan and Maple?"
"I won"t. The only thing I will forget is that Mika uses STRING."
"That"s great. I wondered what to do for a moment."
Relieved, with an expression that made it seem like she would cry, Mika made a powerless smile.
Let"s change the topic to something else.
"U-umm, Mika. About the thing from last week..."
d.a.m.n, I touched upon a heavy topic unconsciously.
"Mii-chan is looking forward to tomorrow. Maple too is looking forward to s.e.xually hara.s.sing Nee-chamas without limit."
"Hey hey Maple, restrain yourself. No, um..."
What Mika meant she looks forward to, was everyone gathering at my room, right.
"What is it, Nii-chama?"
I took a deep breath to prepare myself, and spoke to Mika who stared at me intensely.
"Mika... won"t you become my little sister?"
"Nii-chama, no."
No? So Mika too has sentenced me to disqualification as an elder brother.
"Why is it a "no"?"
"Nii-chama can"t become only Mii-chan"s Nii-chama. If Nii-chama becomes everyone"s Nii-chama, Mii-chan will make you onii-chan!"
I thought as she smiled innocently.
"I"ll make you my little sister". These words could be seen as looking down on them. Saying "won"t you become", is just stating it in a different way.
Equality... is it. Mika is probably not aware of it. But "I"ll make you onii-chan" is a mirror-like inverse reflection born from my "become my little sister".
I wonder if everyone wants to make me their onii-chan... I think they do.
Before that, if they become independent of the Taishido"s heritage case, and still want to make me their onii-chan, if everyone calls me "onii-chan" then...
"Nii-chama"s face is all frowny. Are you thinking something difficult?"
"Ah, umm. It"s not difficult, I"m thinking too much that it"s difficult or rather...it"s nothing, Mika."
Mika"s eyes moistened as she felt helpless and she cast down her gaze.
She stood up from her seat and whispered quietly into my ear.
"Umm umm... you need to keep this secret."
"Secret?"
"Nee-chama... Tomomi-neechama might disappear."
"Tomomi... will disappear?"
"Yup. But that"s a secret. That"s why, forget it Nii-chama."
"S-sure."
Jumping like a rabbit, Mika went back to her seat.
"Did you meet Tomomi?"
As I changed my expression thinking——made what Mika called "frowny face", Mika slowly made a big nod.
"Tomomi-neechama made a boyfriend. It"s a secret."
"H-haa?!"
As I let out a loud voice, Mika twitched in surprise.
"S-sorry Mika for startling you."
"Y-yup. Mii-chan was surprised too so Nii-chama being surprised is normal too. You see... if Nee-chama has a boyfriend, what do we do if she no longer needs us."
"I don"t think Tomomi will say anything like that... but, a boyfriend huh. Well, Tomomi understands the boys" hobbies, and she"s very spoiled in a very boyish way making a big gap moe, so it"s no wonder even if she"s popular... hahaha."
Mika continued with her head down.
"Mii-chan loves Tomomi-neechama. She teaches me games, is good at games and has biiig b.o.o.bs!"
T-that"s appealing. I didn"t think Mika was into big b.o.o.bs too.
"Since you love her so much, from a boy"s perspective Tomomi must be super attractive too. Getting a boyfriend is a normal thing."
"But, but you see, Tomomi-neechama never went on a date with boyfriend. That"s why she has a request for Nii-chama."
Suddenly, I recalled what Yuuki said yesterday.
What if by a chance his little sister got a boyfriend? No way, could it be about this?!
"What does Tomomi want me to do?"
"Tomomi-neechama said she wants to have a practice date. Nii-chama is qualified to do that. At first everyone was against it, but Sayuri-neechama said 『it"s better if sisters cooperate』and persuaded everyone."
So Sayuri encouraged Tomomi huh. In other words, she asks me after obtaining the approval of her little sisters.
"Then, if by chance I turned it down..."
I would have denied everyone"s feelings.
"Mii-chan doesn"t know what to do. Maple said that it"s ten years early for Nii-chama to go on a date with Tomomi-neechama, but if Nii-chama doesn"t do it then Tomomi-neechama might disappear, but, if Tomomi-neechama becomes master in dating she might flirt with her boyfriend. And Mii-chan with others will be neglected?"
Mika looked at me sadly. It looked like she really was worried. She hoped for Tomomi to be happy, but was also anxious she might disappear, there were many feelings inside of her small chest.
I stood up and gently embraced sitting Mika from the left side.
"Tomomi definitely won"t forget about Mika, and will not neglect you."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Even if Tomomi found a boyfriend, the relationship of us siblings won"t change at all."
When I gently released Mika"s body, immediately Mika herself has hugged me instead.
"Yup! That"s right! Mii-chan"s feeling better again. Thank you Nii-chama!"
Mika clung to me closely, smiling.
However... Tomomi has a boyfriend huh. When we met on Tuesday she didn"t do anything to practice... what kind a guy is that boyfriend of hers? If he"s a weird guy I need to properly protest it as her brother... hey, I can"t just go and spill the fact that I know. I shouldn"t.
Still, why am I this upset by this?