Discussion 2
Once the two of us arrived at Hiiragi-chan"s place, we were let inside.
"As usual, it"s quite clean, Haru-chan"s place."
"It"s because I"m a girl, it needs to be clean. I heard that your room, Natsumi, is quite messy as usual."
"That"s not true! It"s just a little bit messy."
As I listened while smiling to the conversation between the two close sisters, Hiiragi-chan pa.s.sed me a cup of coffee, and Natsumi-chan a cup of tea.
Natsumi-chan stared closely at Hiiragi-chan"s movements. Hmmm… I don"t doubt it, I get a feeling that we may be caught.
"I heard that Natsumi-chan wanted to meet me…?"
"Yes, yes, that"s right. I forgot because of what happened earlier though."
The case with the stray cat?
"As far as I know, the only male that Haru-chan is on good terms with is you, so I was curious what type of person you were."
"Eeehh? That"s not true."
In response to Hiiragi-chan"s denial, Natsumi-chan shook her head firmly.
"It is true. I mean, this is the first time, you"ve ever gotten close to a male and went out of your way to let me know. I can"t help be curious about who this is."
Is that it, Hiiragi-chan said as she tilted her head.
I once again told Natsumi-chan about the reason for the meeting between Hiiragi-chan.
"Since then, I say h.e.l.lo every time I see her at school… Hiiragi-sensei then became the advisor for the club that I was a part of. And that"s that."
Natsumi-chan put the saucer on top of her lap, and then took a sip of the tea. Maybe because it was because she went to a rich lady"s school, her movements seemed to be of a higher cla.s.s. Do they teach them manners in cla.s.s, I wonder? The person herself seemed a little bit unrefined though.
"Haru-chan, you"re an advisor?"
"That"s right. Isn"t it amazing?"
"I mean, it"s probably some club with no motivation and where half the members just go home, right?"
Because she was right on the mark, Hiiragi-chan and I kept silent. Now that I think about it, recently, we haven"t done anything that really seems like club activities…
We only talk and play games, and if Hiiragi-chan comes, we listen to her complaints about work… that"s all. It ended up turning into a going home club that was called the home economics club.
"So I was right? What type of teacher is Haru-chan at school?"
"Mou, stop it… it"s fine, it doesn"t matter!"
"It"s fine, I just want to know."
… A long time ago, during my third year of high school, this sort of three-person interview was something I saw before.
"Hiiragi-sensei is quite bright and energetic, and is a good teacher that is well favored by everyone regardless of gender."
"I don"t need to hear about some fake nice front that she puts up. What do you think about her? I want to know."
Hiiragi-chan looked at me.
Her excited face was saying, "I want to know! What do you think? Let me hear it!"
How should I say this?
If I end up saying the truth, the relationship between Hiiragi-chan and I might be doubted even further. However, if I try saying something fake, the strangely smart Natsumi-chan wouldn"t accept it.
"From how I see it, there are places where she"s quite careless, but she"s at least doing her best… As a result, I don"t think any of the other people around see it, because if they did, she would probably feel closer, or something like a more loveable character? That"s the type of teacher she is."
Hiiragi-chan fidgeted around and looked like she was so moved that she was going to cry.
"Haru-chan, why are you crying?"
"I haven"t started crying yet…"
Receiving the handkerchief that Natsumi-chan handed her, Hiiragi-chan covered her eyes.
"… You really are looking at her."
"That"s how I see Hiiragi-sensei, but I don"t know how other people think of her."
Returning the saucer and cup to the table, Natsumi-chan looked at me straight on. She properly arranged her legs towards the right as she placed her hands on her lap in a high-cla.s.s way.
… Wh-what is it? She"s really staring at me. Both the way she"s sitting and her posture are all so refined
"Earlier, when we were eating okonomiyaki, I was thinking, and now I"m just confirming—"
Dokin.
Wh-what is she trying to confirm…?
"Haru-chan, she likes you."
"Funya!? Wh-what are you saying all of a sudden, Natsumiiiiiii!"
Hiiragi-chan began shaking Natsumi-chan"s shoulders with everything she had.
"Sei—Seiji-kun is going to be surprised, right!?"
"So you aren"t going to deny it at all."
"Ugi…"
Well, she"s right… In an argument, it seems like the younger sister rather than the older sister is better at strategizing.
"I was quite in disarray last time and wasn"t quite sure, but I just wanted to know what type of person Haru-chan liked. That"s why I called you out here today."
"I-It"s not like I like him or anything like that! Don"t misunderstand me like that."
Her lie is terrible!? That"s like a tsundere way of saying "I like you"! The more she tries to hide it, the more obvious it is. What kind of situation is this?
"M-mou, Natsumi-chan…. "
She kept looking back at me. Stop looking towards me embarra.s.singly. If you do that, it"ll be even more obvious.
"You as well… don"t think of Haru-chan badly, right?"
"That"s, yeah. That"s right."
"I"ll keep saying this, but it"s the first time seeing her like this. Being so happy when you were here, and immediately becoming sad once you were gone. When I asked her about you and when she told me about you, she had so much pride in it… She likes you. Probably."
"M-mooouuu, stoooop iiittt."
While having her face turn red, Hiiragi-chan hit Natsumi-chan with a cushion.
"Sei!"
"Ah!"
The cushion was immediately stolen from Hiiragi-chan.
"Be quiet. I"m talking right now."
"… yes."
The old sister is so weak.
But, Natsumi-chan wanted to say something. Is she going to deny Hiiragi-chan her feelings feelings, or is she going to support it?
"I"m quite worried about Haru-chan. I can"t even see the m in male around her, and yet she"s already twenty-four." [1]
"My age is perfectly fine."
Hiiragi-chan, who was trying to steal the cushion back, was easily prevented.
"Muuu…"
"Meeting you like this today, I can see that you"re quite calm despite being younger. I feel that I can leave the airheaded Haru-chan to you. If you were some weird guy, I would have stopped it though…"
Well, of course.
Natsumi-chan, after evaluating me was now pushing Hiiragi-chan towards me, despite how much she cared about her.
"If it was me, then you could leave Sensei to me?"
"If you are fine with it, that is."
"But, I"m just a second year high school student."
"Didn"t I say it earlier? If it was someone that I could depend on, then I would support Haru-chan"s love. Is age really something to consider when it comes to love?"
Alongside her, Hiiragi-chan nodded along, acting like an expert in the field.
We"re talking about you, you know?
As I thought, Natsumi-chan isn"t looking at people based on t.i.tle, but actually looking at them. Rather than the part where I am a high school student, and Hiiragi-chan is a teacher, it was more about Sanada Seiji and Hiragi Haruka as people. Really, she"s such a good child.
This… is plan B.
"If it has already been found out, or if there was no problem for her to find out, then we will be open about out our relationship."
"Yeah. Alright. If it"s Natsumi, I think she would accept it if we explain it to her, so if it comes to that, it"ll definitely be alright."
That was plan B. It is one of the plans we made when we met in advance. Locking eyes with Hiiragi-chan, I nodded.
"Haru-chan, there isn"t many other timings like this, so you should just say it! I threw out a bone for you. Moreover, I don"t feel like Thief-kun is bad, definitely—"
"Ummm, Natsum—"
Before Hiiragi-chan could say anything, I spoke first.
"Natsumi-chan, Sensei and I, we"re already dating."
"Eh?"
Shocked, Natsumi-chan looked at Hiiragi-chan as if to confirm.
"Yeah. It"s true."
Saying that, Hiiragi-chan came to my side. Natsumi-chan"s eyes went wide.
"Eh? S-since when?"
"Since the middle of April. It"s been just over three months."
"Then, that talk last time about the thief stuff…"
"Sorry about that. That was just something made up. A lie."
"Whaaaaat… Tell me about this earlier…"
"We thought that you might be against it, so it made it hard to say… But this time, Seiji-kun said that if it looked alright, then we should be open about it."
Tears started pouring out from Natsumi-chan.
"I won"t be against it… I even support it… don"t hide it… it makes it worse that way."
Hiiragi-chan once again apologized to Natsumi-chan before hugging her and patting her on the head to stop Natsumi-chan from crying.
"It wasn"t just that time, I"ve thought about it a hundred times. Today as well, you didn"t bring out tea, but coffee, serving it without any milk or sugar, completely black, and yet Thief-kun didn"t give a word of complaint… coffee rather than tea, moreover black as well… you know someone like that Haru-chan, I thought… But, if it was someone that you were deeply involved in, Haru-chan would tell me… so I was wondering what it was."
As expected, she was a sharp detective… But, the fact that she supports Hiiragi-chan and I is a relief.
"This is great…! Haru-chan, this is really great. Con—grats…"
With a tear strewn face and broken words, Natsumi-chan blessed us.
"Dank jou…! Najumi, fer zuppording uz, dank you…" [2]
Hiiragiu-chan as well! She"s also crying!! Rather, the person on the receiving end is crying even harder!
In this way, the relationship between Hiiragi-chan and I was revealed to her little sister, Natsumi.
TL Note:
This was in j.a.panese 男の『お』の字, which is basically saying the first letter in the word for male/boy. I hope this makes sense in English. I hope it"s readable… but it"s supposed to say, “Thank you…! Natsumi, for supporting us, thank you…”