"Onii-san! Over here!"
At a family restaurant, there stood a female student with brown hair and twintails, waving and inviting me in.
Is her lack of reserve something innate?
She held a peculiar spirit that brilliantly erased the excessive self-consciousness of the Japanese, yet did not garner much attention from the surrounding guests.
It's something I aspire to have, but I'm in a state I can hardly reach it in.
"We're just talking, right. I only came to hear you out."
I informed Sachiko that I was going to see Yuka.
Sachiko also has cram school on Tuesday, so we couldn't go on a date anyways.
After the clerk came to put down the water, I made an order of fries and sat down on the sofa.
"You're stingy, aren't you?"
"I'm not treating you."
"Stingy on top of stingy..."
Unfortunately, I don't have the pride of being older.
If Miyu was here with me, she might have scolded me to show off a little.
Although, it seems more dishonest to me to give money to someone who isn't even my girlfriend.
"So, what is it?"
"It's simple. Please tell me Miyu's weakness."
"I'm leaving."
I thought she was reflecting.
I looked up to her for her unyielding heart even after being beaten so hard, but I'm sure Miyu is also bothered by it.
A prank that the other person dislikes is the same as bullying.
It may be hard for these adolescents to understand.
If you just think about the other party, you'll naturally stop doing it.
"You don’t have to be so picky, do you?"
"Why would I cooperate with someone who wants to do harm to my precious little sister?"
"Guh... I have my circumstances too..."
Yuka swallowed the water with frustration.
"What circumstances."
I also drink water after that.
It is said that when humans interact with other people, they tend to behave in the same way as the other person.
Yuka put down her glass and kept silent.
I was holding my tongue in a similar position.
Following, the waiter brought my fries, and as I watched their backs as they walked away quickly, perhaps thinking we were a couple in a fight, Yuka finally opened her mouth.
"...Onii-san, have you ever seen Miyu laugh?"
Yuka's face at that moment had a fleeting expression, like cherry blossoms falling.
It's not the crisp, bright smile she's always had.
Behind it revealed a melancholic feeling of dampness and sadness.
"What's with that, asking so suddenly."
I was at a loss as to the answer to Yuka's question.
Speaking of which, when was the last time I saw Miyu laugh?
It's been a while since I've been talking to Miyu.
We've had an awkward relationship ever since we were born.
...Why did I keep my distance from Miyu, again?
The reason I got fed up with real women and became addicted to eroges was because I was played with by a girl in my class in junior high school.
I don't think I had any conversation with Miyu before that.
It happened naturally because we don't talk about ourselves to each other.
Because she was born with faint emotions.
...Is that really true?
“I met Miyu when we were in the fourth grade of elementary school. Since then, Miyu has been very serious... It's more that she doesn't laugh, she doesn't open up! We've been friends for years, you know!? Isn’t that mean!?"
"To be fair, you've had too many criminal records to say anything."
However, it's not like I don't understand what you're saying at all.
It doesn't feel good when a friend you've known for a long time continues to be indifferent towards you.
I don't know about Miyu when she's outside though.
She's really no different than when she's at home, huh.
But, I wonder why.
Another consciousness inside my head is screaming that that's not true.
I close my eyes and look deeper into my memories.
It's been a long time since I've thought about the past.
Because I had decided that I didn't have very good memories.
I don't remember much before junior high.
I don't have any particular disabilities, I didn't hit my head in an accident, it was just that nothing stuck in my memory.
Even if I try to remember the Miyu from the past, the emotionless impression she has now is so strong that it's difficult to go back to that time.
It felt like I was putting my hand into an empty box, and instead of remembering the old Miyu, I started thinking about how I was when I was little.
That moment.
My realm of awareness, which had reached the depths of my cerebral core, cast its reflection onto the canvas of my vision.
There stood a young girl adorned in a flowing garment, her smile radiant and sincere.
A silhouette of her youthful days, joyously dancing without a care in the world.
It was there.
She was there.
Surely, a vibrant and spirited Miyu persisted beyond the confines of my memory.
I see.
It was that time.
Ever since that day when Miyu came home from school with mother.
The day when the radiance of Miyu's smile faded away.
It was a few days before Miyu entered elementary school.
My family and I once went to a department store to buy a present to commemorate Miyu's new beginning.
Miyu has always had a passion for clothes, going so far as to make her own costumes out of things like plastic bags, ever since she had a play party in kindergarten.
After much deliberation and being taken around the store, Miyu chose an expensive dress displayed in the shop window.
The colour of sunflowers shining brightly, and the subtly embroidered flower patterns and frills appeared to have captured Miyu's heart.
"Mama! I want this!"
"Ara~ that's a nice dress. But I think it's a little too expensive. Isn't it okay to wear the same colour skirt we saw at the store earlier?"
"No! I want this!"
At this time, Miyu brimmed with vitality.
Befitting her age, she acts selfish and resorts to stomping on the ground when her desires remain unfulfilled.
Our parents were taken aback at how adorable their daughter was as she puffed out her cheeks.
"You're right, this is also cute."
"Yeah. It's cute."
"But, Ko-chan's game cost 5,000 yen, you know. So, 20,000 yen is a little... right?"
Mother calls me Ko-chan.
That hasn't changed since then.
My gift when I entered was a game software.
My father played console video games at home, so I was familiar with games since I was in elementary school.
"...Hmm. I want this."
"Ah, look, Mi-chan. There's a beautiful dress over there too."
"NooOOO!!!"
She cries out without any fear of being seen.
There was a time like that for Miyu too.
"My birthday doesn't matter, so buy it!!"
"Really? But you'll probably want something for your birthday anyway, right?"
"I won't!! I absolutely won't!!"
"Hmm... Still though, 20,000 yen..."
"Then we don't have to have anything for Onii-chan's birthday either!!"
Yes, Miyu was an incredible little sister.
A little tyrant in our family.
Of course, since I was still young, I was very opposed to this.
"Eh-! No way! Why me!"
"All Onii-chan does is play games after games!"
"Is there a problem with that!"
"Stupid!!"
At that time, the term 'game brain' was popular, and television programs were also creating a trend of avoiding games.
Because it was such a time, Miyu disapproves me playing games at every turn.
In those situations, our parents always took Miyu's side.
In particular, our father's love for her was unreasonable.
"You're a big brother. At times like this, it's cool to show your manhood."
"I don’t care if I look cool to her or not…"
"Well, don't say that. If you let her wear that dress, Miyu will be grateful to you. She'll show you her cute side a lot."
"So what!"
I thought it was my parents who wanted to see their daughter's cute side, and that poisoned my young heart.
At the time, I didn't really trust my father, thinking that he just wanted to use me as an excuse for giving her too many things, despite my mother's repeated warnings against such indulgence.
'You have plenty of friends with games, don't you? But it's not every day you get to please a girl this pretty."
"Friends are more important."
I also knew that Miyu was good-looking at this time.
Miyu was always pampered by her relatives, neighbors, and friends since kindergarten.
Even if I was kind to her, I was only one out of many.
In the end, it's the parents who end up paying for the presents.
Miyu will soon forget her gratitude to me anyways.
Miyu is a sly girl who was born with a good head and good face.
Rather, I think I deserve to be treated kindly.
I, who remembered such hatred, had no intention of trying to please Miyu.
A dress so beautiful that it could be mistaken for gold, displayed behind glass.
Miyu's eyes, which reflected this, were also sparkling like stars.
"Onii-chan."
With a sullen face, Miyu pulled on my clothes.
"I want to wear those clothes..."
Despite being a child, she had a hint of allure on her long, beautiful eyelashes, appealing to my pity.
This was the first time I knew what the word 'pounding' meant.
Even though I wasn't running, my heartbeat suddenly became faster.
That strange feeling didn't scare me as a child.
"W-what's your problem. Even after you called me stupid."
That pounding was not a sign of love.
It comes from the desire for a man to protect a girl.
It would be a pity if I didn't give in here.
Since I'm an older brother, I have to be nice to my little sister.
I didn't like the way I felt inside, so I denied it with all my might.
"Buy another one."
When I coldly pushed her away, Miyu tied her mouth shut.
After that, she returned to our mother without even putting another dress in her sight.
"Is that alright?"
"Yeah, I'll find something else."
Miyu's back moves away from me as our mother leads her by the hand.
My father and I were left alone, just feeling frustrated.
In the first place, there's no way you can be kind to someone who insults or speaks ill of you.
Miyu should have known that much.
Why did she say such a selfish thing?
It's probably just selfishness born out of greed.
A little reflection would benefit her.
Emotions were welling up inside me that would have overflowed if I had not blamed Miyu and suppressed her like that.
"Man, you're stubborn. Well, that's courage. You're just like your mother, and I don't hate that. Just kidding, haha."
Our father did not try to join Miyu and our mother, but decided to walk around the department store separately until he decided on an entrance gift.
Miyu turns around and goes into another shop.
The figure walking with her head down was much smaller than usual.
The next morning, I was surfing the internet in my room.
When our father bought a new computer, I was given his old one.
I don't know if it was a good idea to let elementary school students use computers, but the computer I was given at that time didn't have any blocks for harmful sites, and looking back on it now, it was probably due to a ridiculously low level of computer literacy.
"Knock knock! On-ii-chan!"
I heard a cheerful knock and turned to the door.
My mother bought a house right after she conceived me, so Miyu and I were given our own rooms from the beginning.
"Ehehe. I'm coming in."
Miyu peeked out, her long hair braided in a half-up style.
She enters the room with her hands behind his back and her body swaying.
"Ufufufu. How is it, Onii-chan?"
She spreads her hands out and makes a turn.
The sunflower-colored dress, with its ruffles all over it, looked lively, as if it was happy to be worn by Miyu.
"Thank you for buying it! I'll treasure it!"
As the edges of her eyes and cheeks soften, a brilliant smile emerges, rivaling the sun itself in its luminosity.
She had a smile that made everyone who was watching her happy.
"A-ah, yeah."
I couldn't find the words to speak properly, so that was the voice I finally managed to twist out.
After that situation, I told my father to exchange my birthday present to purchase her dress.
My mother was shocked, but she didn't tell me to reconsider.
"I did this myself! I haven't shown it to my mom and dad yet. What do you think?"
She turns her head from side to side and shows off her head, where it looks like she did her own hair and make-up.
The whiteness of her neck, glimpsed and exposed every time her hair swung, was sexy.
I was stunned and could only make my mouth twitch like a carp.
"Mmm. If it's cute, just say it's cute."
While I was doing so, Miyu began to get angry at me for being too unresponsive.
"Eh, a-ah."
"Hmph! Onii-chan is always going to be a doubter for his whole life anyways!"
In the end, Miyu ran out of the room after yelling abusive language.
"...What the hell, doubter..."
I just stared at the door that was left open, dumbfounded, not realising how useless I was.
From then on, Miyu went to school every day wearing various cute outfits.
When she entered second grade, instead of begging for clothes on her anniversary, she begged for sewing kits, cloth, and props.
She realized that her parents would resist buying too many clothes, but if she wanted to make them herself, they would accept any amount of material she asked for.
Then, one day, when Miyu became a third grade elementary school student.
Miyu came home late at night with our mother and ran into her room with red and swollen eyes.
It was from that day that Miyu began to change.
Miyu had given up on the frills and ribbons she had been so particular about, and now came out of her room every morning wearing a simple T-shirt with an emotionless face.
I don't know how it happened.
I deliberately tried not to ask.
I hadn't told my classmates that I had a little sister, nor had I gone to the floor of the grade below me to check on her.
"Ah, maybe it was about that?"
Yuka takes my french fries without my permission, pours a lot of ketchup on them, and pops them into her mouth.
She has the nerve to eat it as if it's delicious.
I guess it's the information fee.
"What do you mean by 'that'?"
"I've heard rumors before. Miyu once beat up about five or six boys at school."
"Eh..."
Miyu gets angry when she's angry.
But it's hard to believe that she has such a bad temper.
Or did the boys do something awful?
"Miyu used to beat up boys when she was in fifth grade. Something similar may have happened in the past."
"Really!?"
Is it even possible for a single girl to compete with several boys?
Miyu was smart, but her physical abilities weren't that great.
"Did Yuka-chan know about her when she was in fifth grade?"
"Yuka is fine. Just call me whatever you want. As far as I know, it wasn't that important. After that, it felt like the number of kids who fell in love with Miyu and the number of kids who were scared of her had increased dramatically... do you want to know?"
After hesitating, I slowly nodded my head.
I don't like digging up the past, but if I go home without asking, my distrust of Miyu will only grow.
Judging from Yuka's way of speech, it shouldn't be a one-sided story about Miyu being bad.
I want to listen.
I want to understand that mysterious little sister as her older brother.
"Okay, but Onii-san, can you tell me about Miyu's weaknesses then?"
"That's impossible, or rather, I don't know. I'd like to learn them too."
"Eh-! Incompetent!"
"Don't call me incompetent... It seems that there are secrets between her and Haruka, but Yuka probably knows them better than I do."
"Secrets? There's no doubt that those two are lesbians... Hmm."
As expected, is that how those two are?
I wonder if the people around them don't think anything of it.
"However, Miyu doesn’t seem to be that keen on it… She seems to feel indebted to her, and she usually doesn't go against what Haruka says…"
Yuka rubbed her chin many times and thought about it.
"Ha... that's right! If this is... yeah, yeah!"
She was convinced by herself, and her face suddenly lit up.
"Very well, I'll tell you about the old Miyu for giving me a nice idea."
I wonder if I've done something outrageous.
When I get home, the first thing I have to do is tell her that Yuka's up to no good.
"It was around October of my fifth year in elementary school. It all started with a certain girl."
Yuka starts talking with her fingers held upwards.
Autumn in the fifth grade of elementary school.
That was when Miyu was already being strict with everyone.
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