Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru

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The next day of camp I was very relaxed in the morning.

I made breakfast and around eight o"clock in the morning Chiwa, Hime, and Fuyuumi all gathered in the living room. But no matter how long we waited, Masuzu did not show up.

Since I was so worried, I went in front of her room to call her, but—

"I"ll be sleeping until noon."

Driven away by an awkward usage of j.a.panese which seemed to suggest she had low blood pressure during mornings, I imagined she was the type who had a really hard time waking up.

Or, perhaps it"s because she is really affected by what happened last night…

Only the four of us ate breakfast. Afterwards, Fuyuumi suggested that we started doing our summer homework.

Even though Chiwa whined and said, "we"ve come all the way to the sea and we"re going to do homework?!". But I convinced her in the end. Besides, if I didn"t bother this girl, she"d wait to do it until just before the deadline.

Hime very obediently complied and started doing her kanbun homework. Fuyuumi was very surprised, "Your calligraphy is really beautiful!". Hime indeed was really good at it.

I also started solving my mathematic problems as I sat next to Chiwa—

"Hey, Ei-kun! I said, teach me this."

I was pulled back to reality with a sudden jab to my elbow with the back of the pencil.

"O-Ohh, sorry."

This had been the third time I"ve gotten lost in my thoughts.

"Eita, are you tired?"

"It"s really unusual for Kidou-kun to be unable to concentrate on studies."

Hime and Fuyuumi had puzzled looks on their faces. Indeed, even I thought this to be really unusual.

Unable to throw myself into the studies with the proper mindset, time flew, and before I knew it it was already noon.

For lunch, I prepared a vegetable noodle dish that could be eaten alone. I even prepared Masuzu"s portion and went to her room to call her, but she said, "not hungry", and thus declined.

"Is Natsukawa okay? Is it a summer cold?"

Chiwa slurped the slippery red-white noodles and tilted her head, puzzled.

"She looked just fine yesterday... Will she be able to partic.i.p.ate in the beauty pageant?"

"What time does it start?"

Fuyuumi took out her cellphone and checked the screen:

"The venue opens at 4:00 P.M., and the show starts at 4:30. It says contestant should be there before 3:30 and gather in front of the special stage at the second beach."

"Yeah, she"ll definitely get up before then."

Masuzu said it herself, she was going to be judged.

But what did she mean by that?

Did she actually intend to say that I was her fake boyfriend on stage? I doubted that it"d be like that, she could announce that we already went our separate ways.

After lunch, Chiwa suggested that we should go to the beach, but—

"Sorry, I don"t feel like it."

I ignored the signs of displeasure from the three of them and walked outside by myself.

I wanted to walk about aimlessly.

Maybe this was some kind of depressive mood, but I was feeling a little bit more carefree.

I walked south along the beach at first, because northwards was the direction of Hanenoyama City, and I wanted to stay away from there as much as possible.

Towards the distance, towards the distance, towards the distance.

I braved the sun and listened to the sounds of waves as I started to be able to feel my own sweat. After walking for about thirty minutes, the building landscape around me changed. The old-fashioned houses from earlier were now replaced by lines of elegant mansions and hotels.

—Right, this was the third beach.

The second beach that we stayed at had been an actual "beach", but over here there were exclusive vacation resorts. I remembered Kaoru say that he was very envious of this.

As I walked and looked at some unique cafes and trinket shops, I suddenly saw an entire group of tanned people. With that level of tan, I could only figure that they are local surfers.

In the middle of these tanned people, there was a little bit of red.

It was a girl wearing a bright red dress.

And she was blond.

As expected of a high-end resort destination, even foreigners came here— or so I thought, because as the distance between the two of us shortened, it seemed like her face looked familiar.

The girl evidently had the same line of thought, and kept turning her head.

When we reached the distance we could make out each other"s appearances—

"Uge?!"

"Woah!"

We exclaimed nearly simultaneously.

"Why are you here?"

"Isn"t that my line?!"

The person who said that as she stared at me was Natsukawa Mana.

She was still that same old noisy brat.

Even though I didn"t notice it looking at her from far away but she was actually pulling a foreign-made bright red bicycle. She probably had a villa nearby, as expected of a bourgeois.

"Hey-hey, Mana-chan, who is that guy?"

One of the surfers accompanying her asked softly.

Mana responded with an annoyed look on her face:

"My older sister"s boyfriend, and a disgusting otaku."

""Disgusting otaku" was unnecessary!"

As soon as she finished speaking, her crowd of followers began to flatter her, "Mana-chan has an older sister?", "I knew it— I"ve always felt Mana was a little-sister type", "If it"s Mana-chan"s older sister, she"s bound to be a beauty". And thus some grumbling started among them. What"s with these guys? They have a little bit too much free time at their hands.

Mana seemed to approve and looked very pleased. After listening to all the praise:

"Listen, you guys can head back. I have some things to talk to him about."

Naturally, the surfers gave an "Eeeh—!?" reaction.

"Sorry. Thanks for chatting with me, see ya later!"

Mana wore a smile as she put her hands together, and so she smiled at the group with a carefree cat smile and turned around.

"How"s that? I got rid of them."

"A nice way of wrapping things up."

Mana looked back at the group of guys several times, and as they waved with stupid grins on their faces, she then spoke

"Among that gang of flirting b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, there"s not a single decent man. As I was thinking, "Just how long till I can drop these guys", I had to run into you. You so happened to appear at a good time."

Her indifferent tone was actually the opposite of her facial expression.

"In other words, you have absolutely nothing to speak to me about."

"While it"s true that I didn"t had anything in mind— we might as well talk a bit as we walk."

Not waiting for me to respond, she held onto her bike and started to walk. She was just like her sister, always enjoying forcing others to do what she wanted them to.

"So, are you staying around here?"

"Yeah, I have a villa."

"Why at Funase beach? If you have that money, why don"t you go abroad to Ouvea island?"

"Ah, I went last year."

"[...]"

So, the returnee has already been there, you should switch with Hime.

"Yay— That"s so amazing! You really have some high cla.s.s, you really win at life!"

Even though I originally intended to point out that this had been an ironic statement, then—

"Well, that"s obvious, right? If I were not to be considered as winning in life, then who is actually "winning"?"

She totally didn"t get it. This fellow was no good.

"Oh right, why are you here? Did Suzu also come here?"

"Yeah, it"s a club trip."

"That "delusional" club?"

"That"s rude. It"s "Jien-Otsu"."

"It"s roughly about the same, right?"

"…It is."

I couldn"t argue with that. I could only agree.

"So what? Are you getting along smoothly with Suzu?"

"[...]"

I knew she would ask that.

"Hey, how are you? Are you becoming closer? You"ve kissed at least already, right?"

"...I don"t want to answer."

"Eh? What"s with this? Who do you think you are?"

I was infuriated.

"Even though I didn"t particularly expect you to use honorifics, you shouldn"t call me -you[1]— You are so rude to your seniors!"

"Aaah— Just shut up already! Just because you embarra.s.sed me once, you"re thinking that you can deal with me however you like?"

I thought Mana would become angry and leave with a "hmph!", but I never expected her to continue walking next to me.

As a blonde-haired middle school girl, with hair tied into two pigtails, which was waving in the sea breeze, of course she was attracting everyone"s attention. The men we brushed by seemed jealous, which made me uneasy.

Well, this was the usual course when one is around Masuzu, too.

"What do you think? Everyone"s looking at me."

Mana looked up at me triumphantly.

"Even though Suzu is incredibly beautiful, she has that difficult-to-approach feeling, right? From that perspective, I"m different. I"m totally super cute! Are you happy to be walking next to a beautiful girl like me?"

"Hahaa?"

I couldn"t help but to laugh out loud.

"Don"t confuse me with the guys you find everywhere——— Because I...!"

It"s here!

It"s here, the time to settle it!

"I won"t be captivated by any kind of woman! I"m anti-romance—————!"

Finally…

In reality, I"ve always wanted to say it out loud. It"s too cool!

"What kind of idiot are you, you virgin?"

W-Whaaaat?

"H-Hmph! Virgin? To me, that"s a great compliment!"

"Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, go to h.e.l.l, go to h.e.l.l, go to h.e.l.l!"

A-Aah.

Have I just been called "disgusting" and told to "go to h.e.l.l" by a middle school girl?

Can"t possibly be that I"m the absolute worst lame-type of guy that there is in the world, right...?

No, more importantly—

"How refreshing…"

"W-What is?"

Because I"ve been dealing with so many girls that can"t take a hint lately!

A girl that is so cold towards me - it"s the best!

"Why are you smiling so creepy to yourself? That"s absolutely, utterly disgusting."

"Do it some more, try cursing me some more!"

"Y-You"re seriously disgusting! Don"t come near me, virgin! You are the official representative of the j.a.panese virgins!"

"Yes, just like that! Keep going, keep going! Hnnnnng—!"

Mana"s face turned blue and cramped.

"I-I won"t go with you anymore! I"m going home, bye!"

She straddled the seat cushion of her bike and headed off.

But after going barely five meters forward, she wobbled off balance.

*kalangclang*!

…She fell loudly.

Her red dress and blond hair were full of sand.

"T-That"s just a test! Next time is the real deal!"

Mana gave an excuse n.o.body wanted to hear and stood up. Once again, she straddled the seat.

This time, she probably rode about ten odd meters, but she still wobbled off balance.

*kalangclang*!

I pointed at Mana and giddily jumped back and forth on the side.

"Oh? Oh? What is it now~? Could it be that you can"t ride a bicycle~? Natsukawa Mana-san~? You"re already a ninth grader~"

I grabbed this point to provoke her and Mana"s face turned entirely red.

"That looks so awkward! Haha! Ta-kun Epic Win—!"

Winning against a middle school girl and boasting about it, I"m just too awesome!

Awesome!

…Awesome... was it?

Did that mean I was just common… sc.u.m?

When I started to doubt myself, Mana grabbed her face and squatted down.

"*s-*… *sob*… Don"t… laugh like that..."

Aaah, Did I really make her cry?!

"S-Sorry, I got too carried away. My bad."

"*sob*! Wuahhhh!"

"It really was my fault, okay? Here, grab my— Hey!"

Just when I reached out with my hand, my wrist was ruthlessly yanked, and of course I fell. I tumbled forward with much more momentum than when Mana fell, and raised a good deal of dust on the road.

"Kya~hahahahahaa! I—diot! You"ve been tricked!"

"Y-You vicious fake crying precocious brat!!"

"Hey, just don"t touch me, you virgin! If I get cursed to stay a virgin for a lifetime, what were I going to do?"

"Oh— That sounds interesting— We should give it a try, come "ere—!"

In broad daylight and in a public place, I was brawling with a female middle school student— I can"t be saved!

♦

We decided to leave the scene because the people who were gathering around us started to cause a commotion.

I helped her pull the bike and the two of us arrived at an empty playground.

"Here should be all right."

Mana sat on the bench.

After propping the bike up with the kickstand, I also sat down.

"Since you obviously can"t ride, why"d you take a bicycle out?"

"I said I can ride! Just forgot how to a little moment ago."

Why are you making up an excuse that can be summed up as "can"t ride"?

Mana stared at me steadily.

"So, how is Suzu? Is she all right? It"s really hot everyday. And has she been eating properly?"

"So you are worried about what"s happening with your nee-san to that extent?"

Mana turned her face away when she heard that.

"I-It"s not that I"m worried. It"s more like I"m obliged to report about her to dad."

"Sure."

Despite everything she babbled about, she was actually quite considerate of her sister. But if I mentioned that, she would just get angry.

So I told her everything that was recently going on with Masuzu in great detail.

Of course, I also mentioned what happened last night— I kept to myself the fake thing, but I did tell her, "maybe we"ll break up".

"—Yeah, it"s at the limit."

Mana murmured after listening to it all.

"But you"ve done well to last this long. Despite Suzu"s distrust towards people."

"Is that so?"

Mana kicked some small rocks at her feet.

"You know, overseas Suzu is called "the Natsukawa family jewel"."

"Meaning they are boasting about their daughter?"

"That"s half of it. The remaining half is irony."

"Irony?"

"A jewel is an "accessory". Within Dad"s social circle, Suzu is just a stage prop so he can boast, "I have such a beautiful daughter". He separated Suzu from her mother just to do this."

"So you really are half siblings?"

"Yeah. You"ve never heard that from Suzu?"

"She never said anything, I also didn"t mean to pry."

But based upon their hair and eye color, it was obvious.

"Suzu always acts in accordance to father"s expectations, because public opinion of her will reflect public opinion of her mother. She perfectly performed a docile character who is smart, dignified, and respectful of her father. Acting like a "good girl" in front of strangers in a foreign land used to be the meaning of Suzu"s entire existence."

Masuzu who had pretended she was a good girl.

Masuzu who pretended she was a "girlfriend".

She hadn"t changed at all from the past. Rather, she couldn"t be changed, because this was her way of life.

"From the very beginning, the first thing I thought about that kind of thing was, "this is impossible!", also dad didn"t put those hopes on me. But Suzu could do it. After answering those expectations, she forced herself to keep on acting, and continued to tell lies—— In that process she started to become strange."

Mana looked up at a towering c.u.mulonimbus cloud that looked like a skysc.r.a.per:

"You"d think that there aren"t many people who"d say this, right? In order to lie, you have to lie to yourself first. I need to be a good girl. I need to be a good girl. A good girl. I am a good girl— In the middle of lying, you suddenly forget who you really are."

Masuzu seemed to be like this right now.

While she was acting out love, did she come to the realization that she didn"t understand anything about it?

"The things that girl says are ridiculous, right? Just after saying something extremely harsh, the next moment she becomes tender. And the moment you think that, she suddenly becomes cold— Hey, you have had a round of this kind of interactions, right?"

"Yeah."

That description is far too accurate.

Ever since Masuzu confessed to me, I"ve been taken for a roll by her.

I don"t know how many times I"ve cursed.

I don"t know how many times I shouted, "it"s "mayhem"".

—However.

"However, it wasn"t that bad."

I said firmly.

"It wasn"t that bad——— This everyday life."

Mana whispered quietly, "true".

She lightly jumped up from the bench and her double ponytail drifted in the air as she turned back to me.

"Thank you for liking my onee-chan."

File:Oreshura v04 191.jpg

♦

It was almost evening and I decided to return to the hotel.

Mana looked like she still wanted to hang around the park a little longer.

"Bye then."

When I got up, I suddenly realized it:

"Oh, I finally understand it."

"What is it?"

"You———— came here to practice riding the bike, right?"

"U-Wha…?!"

Mana looked like a fish from a pond, with her mouth wide open. It looked like I had hit a bullseye.

"I-I-I said I know how to ride a bike! Go away you disgusting otaku!"

"S-S-Sure. Sorry for being so disgusting."

I just waved my hand and started to walk away.

But then I suddenly remembered something:

"Hey."

"I said I know how to ride a bike!"

I asked that middle school student who was shouting with regret:

"If there was someone suited to be together with Masuzu, what would that person be like?"

Mana tilted her head, "Ha?", and thought about it for a while.

"When it"s about a "liar", then it"s pretty obvious that there is only one type."

"What type of person?"

I held my breath and waited. Then, Mana whispered:

——An accomplice.