Chastity Reversed: Part-Time Life by the All-Girls High School - Chapter 39: The First Landmine

My older brother’s name was Sora Sato.  

My name? Akari Sato.  

Apparently, they named me such that when combined with “Sora”, it’d form the word Hoshizora”—”starry sky”.   

Children didn’t get to choose their own names. It was so unfair.  

“Matching me with a brother like that? You’ve got to be kidding me.” (Sora means Sky) 

It was near the end of summer break.  

That brother of mine—Sora—had a little accident in the bath.  

By “little accident”, I mean he slipped and hurt himself. Badly.  

It was loud, like, CRASH-BANG!!! or something straight out of a shojo manga scene.  

[Hey, Akari! Get me an ice pop! Huh? What’s with that look? Hurry up!]

[Akari, you’ve got zero fashion sense. No chance you’ll ever get a boyfriend. Oh, wait—you’re ugly anyway, so what’s the point? Haha!]

[Dad, I’m out of allowance again! Can you add Akari’s share to mine? Pleeeeease?]

Served him right! Honestly, I felt amazing.  

He totally deserved it.  

This was what he deserved for being a jerk.  

To our parents and his friends, he was all smiles and good manners.  

But to me, his younger sister? He was selfish and lazy, always saying whatever he wanted.  

He was a trashy, vile demon king. 

“…Wha—?!”

“…Whoa…” (muttered)  

So when Sora suddenly jolted upright in front of me, I couldn’t help but sigh.  

Our parents had been visiting him in the hospital every day, worried sick.  

For me, the past week had felt like a little slice of heaven, but I guessed that was coming to an end.  

“Who… are you people?”

Agh, you’ve got to be kidding me!!

Typical Sora—it was just one of his dumb attention-seeking antics.  

He knew perfectly well he’d get a reaction out of Mom and Dad if he acted like that.  

Although… his voice?  

It sounded different.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to call yourselves my parents or something.”

…And honestly, he seemed kind of panicked.  

Wait, what was with him saying ‘I’ (ore)?  

Sora had always used the cutesy ‘boku’.

“Answer me already!!”

No, no, NO.  

I’d never heard my brother’s voice sound like this before.  

Something was… wrong.  

…Heh (smirking)  

What was I worrying about?  

This was still the same nasty, trashy brother I’d always known.  

Time to rip that mask of his right off—  

“Hey, Sora. You’re serious right now, huh?”  

“Dead serious. Are you gonna tell me?”  

“…He’s your brother! Stop it already, Akari!”  

“…I see.”  

It was just an act.  

This faint, trembling voice? Totally fake.  

It had to be. Anything else wouldn’t make sense.  

“You’ve got to be kidding me, damn it…”

He clutched his head like it hurt.  

But looking at him now, that wasn’t the brother I knew.  

All of us could feel it.  

Mom, Dad, and I all fell silent, like we were at some kind of funeral.  

He said some other things after that, but the mood was way too tense for anyone to respond.  

For the record, it was a ceiling, not a floor.  

And your timing was terrible.  

Seriously… Sora-nii seemed completely messed up.  

☆  

They ended up running all kinds of tests on me, but the results came back normal.  

Though, by the way: almost all of the nurses were men, and the doctor with the stethoscope? A woman.  

That was backward, wasn’t it?  

Anyway, I guessed this nightmare wasn’t going away.  

I was discharged from the hospital soon after.  

At first, I struggled to move like normal, probably because something felt off about my body.  

But now, it seemed like I fully owned this new form.  

It was like it fit me.  

I even started doing crunches in my hospital room, though one of the nurses (a guy) scolded me for it. Seriously, what was up with that? Do you think you’re cute or something? Get lost!  

Anyway, back to reality.  

“…”

“…” 

The silence in the family car on the way home was suffocating.  

Wait a second—Mom (or whoever she was) couldn’t drive before, could she?  

Why was she holding the steering wheel like it was no big deal?  

Was this… illegal? Let me off this ride!!  

Seriously—who were these people!?

“Oh… right. Sora’s phone broke during the fall, didn’t it?”  

“…I see.”  

“We’ll have to go buy a new one!”  

“…Sorry for the trouble.”  

“…”  

Ugh, I couldn’t take this atmosphere anymore!!  

Slipping and falling in the bath? I had no memory of that happening.  

Oh, wait—was it one of those ‘my other self’ situations?  

Well, if that was the case, feel free to switch back anytime now!

…

Yeah, not happening, huh?  

“…Staaaaare…”  

“???”  

The so-called sister sitting next to me hadn’t stopped staring at me this entire time.  

The tension was killing me—at this rate, I was going to lose my hair from stress!  

“Oh, by the way, what’d you tell my club advisor?”  

“…”  

“…What?”  

“You don’t have a club. You quit the crafts club, remember? You’re just a commuter student now.”  

“…”  

Absolute shock.  

Apparently, I used to be in the crafts club but quit and became club-less.  

No way.

Take away club activities, and I’ve got nothing left.  

I’ve been doing this for 10 years!  

I was even a regular starter my first year!  

My teammates are waiting for me!  

sigh …Fine.  

I’m done.  

This has to be a dream. No other explanation makes sense.  

“…Are you okay?”  

“Ah, yeah. I’m fine.”  

“Sora… you’re really… Sora, right?”  

“Seems like it.”  

That has to be the most questionable thing I’ve ever heard a parent say. 

But it’s fine. Because this is a dream!  

“Hey, um… sis?”  

“…”  

Oh, she went quiet.  

I mean, fair enough—what kind of way to address her was that?  

Wait, how did I used to call her before?  

“Akari…-chan?”  

“…!”  

“Ah—sorry. What should I call you?”  

“However you want.”  

“Okay… Akari-chan, then.”  

“ANYTHING BUT THAT!!”  

“Okay, okay—just Akari, then…”  

Yeah, calling your sister *‘-chan’* was a dumb move.  

Sorry! I’ve never had a sister before!  

“How do you write Akari in kanji?”  

“…Hoshi. You write it as ‘star’ (星) and read it as ‘Akari.’”  

“Huh. That’s a beautiful and cute name. I think it’s nice.”  

“…What?”  

“Huh?”  

“Are you mocking me? ‘Beautiful?’ ‘Cute?’ Really?”  

“No, I didn’t mean it that way—”  

“I knew it… You really are the same Sora-nii!!”  

Akari pouted and turned away sharply.  

…Wait, where was the landmine in what I just said?  

“…”  

Great. The atmosphere is dead again. Somebody grab an oxygen spray, please!