Believing She Has Been Reincarnated into a Baseball Game, My Little Sister Is Aiming for the Koshien, While I Give It My All to Keep Her from Finding out That It’s Actually an Ntr Game - Chapter 52

My earliest memory is of my small onii-san poking my small cheeks and telling me, “They’re so soft and cute.”

Probably, from that day on, being onii-san’s number one became my everything. But despite that, his number one had always been, and continued to be, Maika-chan.

So, in order to become his number one, I had to use everything at my disposal. Promises, Koshien, being his little sister, kisses, even intimacy, and marriage too—all of them were merely means to that end for me.

That’s why onii-san absolutely had to make it to Koshien.

I was told I couldn’t marry onii-san when I was four. It was a shock, but then I realized that it was the same for Maika-chan. As long as Maika-chan couldn’t take the number one spot, I didn’t need to cling to marriage as a means. Besides, onii-san had forgotten his Koshien promise with Maika-chan.

This was my chance. I made a vow with onii-san, saying, “No matter how many times I’m reborn, I’ll be your little sister,” and I made him promise to take me to Koshien.

I thought that would make me his one and only. That onii-san would dedicate his life to baseball just for me. That I, as his eternal little sister, would become his number one. The younger me believed in that without a doubt.

But I quickly realized something. Hand-me-downs are just that—hand-me-downs, no matter how far you take them.

When I showed off my new clothes, onii-san would always say, “They’re so soft and cute, they fit you perfectly.” But when I wore Maika-chan’s hand-me-downs, there was no way onii-san would compliment me like that. After all, the sweater and hoodie had been picked to suit Maika-chan’s curvy figure. They weren’t meant for my soft cheeks. Even if others couldn’t tell the difference, onii-san could subconsciously notice.

The promise about Koshien was nothing but a hand-me-down from Maika-chan.

Onii-san always said, “I’ll take Riko to Koshien,” but in reality, when he was playing baseball—during spring, summer, autumn, or winter—his eyes were only ever on Maika-chan.

I always said, “I’ll help onii-san on his path to Koshien!” but in truth, when onii-san was giving his all—morning, noon, or night—the one supporting him was always Maika-chan.

I knew. I was always left out.

I was shown. Even without a promise, even if it was forgotten, a true bond existed between them.

I realized it. The promise to take me to Koshien was just an excuse for them to flirt.

Hey, onii-san.

You didn’t notice at all, did you? How much I was suffering every time you and Maika-chan came to visit me in the hospital after my illness was discovered.

You two would pretend to be worried about me but use it as an excuse to flirt.

The more onii-san felt sad, the more Maika-chan would comfort you with her weird, over-the-top tsundere caring, right? You knew that deep down, didn’t you? You were sad because of it, weren’t you?

Even my illness became just another excuse for the two of you to flirt.

The only time I felt happy in that hospital was when mom came and told me that onii-san and I weren’t related by blood. I saw hope. Knowing that being an eternal little sister wasn’t a viable method anymore, I thought for a moment that I could use marriage as my means this time.

But in the end, it was meaningless. No, in fact, it made things worse.

Because Maika-chan could also marry onii-san.

If we were on equal footing, there was no way I could win against Maika-chan. If I let her have the marriage card, she would definitely claim the number one spot.

In simple terms, it was game over.

That’s why I couldn’t let them find out about this. Onii-san and Maika-chan couldn’t know the truth.

Well, even if I kept it a secret, it wouldn’t change anything.

My only way to vent in the hospital was to keep writing negative comments on the self-insert romance novel that Maika-chan posted on a site called Kakuyomu. It was a super unpopular novel, so I was practically the only reader. I even gave it a one-star rating and wrote scathing reviews.

I kept replying to Maika-chan’s responses and engaged in flame wars, to the point where the comment section had as much text as the novel itself.

By constantly taunting the awkward sex scenes between “Kyugo” and “Maika” in the comments, I made her ramp up the explicit content until it got reported, and the site banned her. The dopamine rush was the best feeling I ever had in my life.

Honestly, it was Maika-chan’s fault.

I could still understand the cringey idea of having “Kyugo” and “Maika” flirt a bit. But the way she treated the brocon little sister character “Riko” with so many comeuppance scenes infuriated me. As her real sister, I was disgusted by how petty and spiteful she was.

Looking back now, though, maybe I was influenced by that spitefulness.

After hearing about mom and dad’s work and dad bragging about making a baseball game, I made a request.

Finding out that I wasn’t related to onii-san by blood might have been part of the reason. I could already see a future where Maika-chan would marry onii-san, and I didn’t know where to put my feelings.

I was also frustrated after pretending to sleep and overhearing them have a playful argument, followed by tsundere-style making up, right next to me.

I had no idea that dad actually listened to my request and put characters named “Kyugo” and “Maika” in the baseball game, until after I was gone.

Well, either way, it was just self-satisfaction.

That day, in my hospital room, as onii-san talked about the upcoming summer tournament and Maika-chan stood beside him with a mix of exasperation and pride as if supporting that baseball-crazed brother was her role in life…

They would go to Koshien “for Riko’s sake,” fulfill their dream, and meet mom again. Eventually, they’d find out that they weren’t related by blood and get married, making each other their number one.

I couldn’t avoid realizing it anymore.

There wouldn’t be any last-minute turnaround from two outs in the ninth inning. I gave up everything and ended up just resenting Maika-chan—and onii-san too.

But no matter how much I resented them, my feelings for onii-san didn’t disappear. After a long time, I thought about training characters of onii-san and me in Pawapuro, so I logged into onii-san’s account and saw a baseball game I didn’t recognize in the purchase history—those were my last memories of that world.

After that, I remember nothing.

When I came to—or rather, it’s not exactly that I regained full consciousness, but when I think back now, I definitely remember something.

During the two years after I died and before I was reborn into this world—I was with onii-san the whole time, while he locked himself away in his room.

Maybe I was what people call a ghost. I don’t know the proper term, but I kept watching onii-san.

In a hazy state of self-awareness, I saw a side of him I had never seen before. He had forgotten Maika-chan and even baseball, and his only obsession was me.

I can’t remember how I felt witnessing that as a ghost.

But even if I don’t remember, I know. It’s obvious.

I was happy. I was overjoyed. Because that was the onii-san I always wanted. I wanted to be the one who held that place in his heart.

Maika-chan must have been laughing to herself, thinking she’d finally get to have onii-san all to herself after my death. But the opposite happened. She lost onii-san to me, the dead sister. I snatched away the number one spot.

In the end, by dying, I finally became onii-san’s number one.

Koshien, the promises, being his little sister—they were all useless means in the end.

Onii-san never made it to Koshien. He couldn’t fulfill the promise. I wasn’t even his real sister, and I couldn’t stay his adopted sister either. I broke the promise.

And yet, I became his number one.

The only way I could become onii-san’s number one was by dying.

Whether I was related by blood or not, none of it mattered anymore—my death was the ultimate, decisive, one-hit kill.

Death overturned everything. I hit the game-winning grand slam.

And yet, that happiness abruptly came to an end.

I found myself inside the baseball game that mom and dad had made.