Chapter 70: Afterstory & Prequel – 8: “Are You Kidding Me?”

At the living room table—

It was supposed to be a rare dinner with all four family members together, but the atmosphere couldn’t have been worse.

Sitting across from me was Maika, her blond hair swaying as she pouted in irritation. Next to her was me, stuck in the middle of this awkward situation. Meanwhile, Riko sat beside me, watching us with a cheery grin. At an angle from me, Dad was fidgeting nervously, muttering, “Maika-chan has turned delinquent…”

Still, staying silent forever wouldn’t solve anything. I had to ask Maika a few things. Three main things, to be precise. Asking her, though, would take a ridiculous amount of courage. Well, guess I’ll go with the easiest one first.

“H-Hey, Maika…”

“…What?”

Even when she’s in a bad mood, Maika still responds if I call out to her. Though she won’t look at me. Not that I’m looking at her either. Especially now—I’m way too tense to make eye contact.

And so, as I focused on the simmering braised yellowtail radish in front of me, I cautiously asked my question.

“There’s a girl named Nakano Sana in the art club, right? She’s in your grade.”

“…”

“Come on…”

Silence. She ignored me. I can’t believe it—she straight-up ignored me. After stiffening up for a second, she resumed eating without a word.

“Nakano-senpai is there, yes. I’m sure even you’ve met her, Nii-san. She’s beautiful, isn’t she? Unlike a certain puni-gal someone, she’s slim and elegant.”

It was Riko who answered in Maika’s place.

“Right, Riko. Yeah, honestly, I barely remembered her at all, but… why’d Maika ignore me…”

“…I didn’t ignore you. I just don’t have much to say about Nakano-san since I barely interacted with her.”

“O-Oh, I see.”

Come on, at least answer whether she’s in the art club or not. Not that pointing that out would help—it’d only make her mood worse. Better to just let it slide and move on.

“Well, anyway, Nakano… she became the baseball team’s manager starting today.”

“…What?”

“Wha—!?”

Maika suddenly slammed her hands on the table and shot to her feet. The force of it startled both me and Dad, and we let out these pathetic little yelps. Yikes…

“W-What’s up, Maika… The radish is falling apart…”

Not that it matters. It’s still gonna taste the same.

“W-What… But why Nakano-san…!”

Maika’s expression crumbled in shock, her face trembling as if the world had just ended. Honestly, her face could crumble all it wanted—it wouldn’t change how cute she looked.

But why was she so surprised?

Sure, Nakano had always come across as the quiet, indoor type. Not exactly the kind of person you’d imagine becoming the manager for a sports team. In fact, if it weren’t for her supposed feelings for me, there’s no way she’d have joined the baseball club. Not that I could just tell Maika all this—way too awkward.

I mean, talking to my little sister about being confessed to by a girl she knows… It’s not like it’s weird or anything, but it’s embarrassing as hell. Right? Yeah.

“So, Kyugo,” Dad chimed in with the least-needed comment ever. “Did the team manager confess to you or something? Hahaha!”

Shut up, you damn old man. I get that he was trying to lighten the tense atmosphere with a joke, but that’s literally the last thing I wanted to hear right now!

“Nii-san, your eyes are fluttering like a butterfly,” Riko teased. “I think it’s cute how flustered you get, but… does this mean Nakano-senpai really did confess to you?”

My sharp-as-a-tack little sister wasn’t helping either. Or maybe I was just too obvious? Some pitcher I am…

“Is that true, Kyugo?” Maika asked, her gaze cold and piercing.

At this point, lying would be pointless. Thanks to Takase’s demotion to fourth-string goalkeeper (or something equally irrelevant), the rumor would probably spread by tomorrow anyway. And it’s not like there’s any real reason to hide it. She’s just my sister, after all.

“Well, yeah, I guess. According to her, she confessed to me back in middle school and got rejected. I don’t remember it at all, but apparently, she couldn’t move on and decided to follow me to the baseball club. Looks like my first-ever ‘popular phase’ has arrived, huh?”

“Eh? Forgetting that someone confessed to you? That doesn’t sound possible for you, Nii-san,” Riko commented, clearly unconvinced.

Before I could answer Riko, Maika interrupted.

“She’s lying. No doubt about it. It’s just some scheme to make you notice her. Don’t let her get to you, Kyugo. Focus on baseball instead.”

“O-Oh… Yeah, I guess…”

She said it all in a rush. But, well, she wasn’t wrong. Prioritizing baseball over silly romances was solid advice.

Not that I could focus on baseball lately—thanks to you, Maika!

Anyway, with that out of the way, I figured I’d move on to my second question. One that was slightly easier to ask.

“So, what’s up with your hair? What happened?”

“Pfft! Oh, Nii-saaan! You can’t bring that up! Just let it go—it’s clearly just a failed ‘high school debut!’ Haha!”

Riko’s mocking laugh made me cringe. I could only give her an awkward smile, which didn’t help Maika’s mood. She glared at me with a deeper pout before snapping:

“Nothing. I just dyed it the way I always wanted to. I didn’t do it before because I was planning to be a team manager. That baseball team has a no-dyed-hair policy, you know.”

“Wha—? Oh, r-right. Now that you mention it, that was a rule…”

Most of the male players shaved their heads out of habit, and the team rarely got female managers, so no one really paid attention to that rule. But yeah, I vaguely remember hearing about it.

Wait. Hold on. Does that mean—

“If you don’t want me to join, I won’t. I’ve already decided not to, so I figured I’d dye it however I wanted. That’s all.”

Maika, you’re seriously not going to be the manager!? Are you kidding me!? Stay by my side, damn it!