Chapter 13

Even though Reika had both dissed and praised him in various ways, Satoru went straight home today without stopping by her house.  

It was unusual for him to have been dropping by every day recently in the first place.  

Of course, Reika often tried to seduce him to come over.  

However, just as she had said, it wasn’t all that common for him to be completely drawn in and taken all the way.  

That being said, when she truly seduces him, Satoru, being a typical high school boy…. would lose all sense of self-restraint.  

“I’m home.”  

“Ohh, Onii-chan, you’re early today.”  

As soon as he stepped inside, his sister greeted him in her usual laid-back tone.

She was a member of the home economics club and led a rather peaceful after-school life.  

Under the guidance of a kind home economics teacher, she spent about two days a week leisurely cooking or sewing.  

Because of that, on days without club activities, she usually got home before Satoru, who wasn’t part of any club.  

“Well, I don’t get home late every day.”  

“That’s boring. I like imagining all the things you might be up to when you’re late.”  

“…What kind of little sister enjoys imagining her brother flirting with his girlfriend?”  

“Hah? Of course not. It’s Reika-neechan I’m thinking about! Wondering what kind of seductive invitations or cute reactions she’s making…! There’s no way I’d ever imagine you, Onii-chan. The thought of you getting all worked up or trying to act cool in front of a girl is just plain gross.”  

“That was such a reasonable take that I actually feel relieved rather than irritated… Wait, so it really is about Reika, huh?”  

“A cool and sexy side combined with a kind personality—that’s unbeatable, isn’t it?”  

“Well, I get what you’re saying.”  

Of course, girls like Reika didn’t exactly exist in abundance.  

“Haa, must be nice… You totally gave Reika-neechan a hickey, right?”  

“Yeah, she told me to… Wait, how do you even know about that!?”  

The conversation flowed so naturally that he almost kept going without thinking.  

Why had this information leaked to his little sister?  

He hurriedly backtracked and asked her, though deep down, he already knew the answer.  

“Why? Because Reika-neechan told me.”  

“That girl…! What the hell is she telling a middle school girl!?”  

As expected, the information had leaked through the Reika-to-little-sister hotline.  

“Seriously, your whole situation is straight out of a shoujo manga… The way you two met, how you started dating, and now all the lovey-dovey stuff between you…”  

“Wait, do modern shoujo manga actually have that many risqué scenes?”  

“It’s not about now or then—those kinds of scenes have always been there.”  

“For real? Girls are way more mature than I thought… Wait, no, that’s not the point here!”  

Regardless of how it happened, the fact remained that his embarrassing actions with his girlfriend were now known to his little sister.  

“This sucks… having my little sister know about this kind of thing.”  

“Isn’t it a bit late for that? You’ve gone all the way already, haven’t you?”  

“Hey! Watch it!”  

“I dooon’t get it. After doing all that, why are you still getting embarrassed? Well, I guess that innocent side of you is something Reika-neechan always praises.”  

“…Just how much do you two talk about me?”  

“How much? Just enough, I guess. Stuff like this, she casually tells me. But if it’s something really risky, she keeps it secret.”  

“I don’t get her criteria for what’s okay to share and what isn’t…”  

At the very least, it was clear that Reika had no sense of shame when it came to talking about him with his sister.  

Satoru had a feeling that if he pressed her about it, she’d just nonchalantly say, “I left out anything that would warrant an R-18, okay?” 

Yeah, no doubt about it.  

“So, did everyone at school find out?”  

“Of course they did. Then, she went and said something like, ‘My boyfriend gave it to me,’ and the whole place went wild.”  

“Naturally, people would start trying to figure out who her boyfriend is, right?”  

“Obviously. But she dodged them by saying, ‘Do you really think there’s a guy here who’s worthy of me?’”  

“I-I see…! Saying it like that makes it sound like she doesn’t have one.”  

“Yeah, but she never actually said she didn’t.”  

“Wow, that’s amazing! As expected of Reika-neechan! She must’ve been considerate of how cowardly you are and worded it that way!”  

Since they had been talking for a while, his sister had somehow arrived at the same conclusion as him.  

She probably understood it because she had witnessed all of the outward interactions, though she wasn’t privy to the things that happened behind closed doors.  

Crap, what if she actually knows even more…?

Reika had boldly declared something like, “I will treasure you for life.”  

That was the kind of thing a guy was supposed to say.  

At this point, she probably thought something along the lines of, “Since we’re going to be together forever, there’s no need to hide anything.” 

Satoru found himself both drawn to and pushed away by Reika’s actions.  

He had no idea which way she actually wanted to steer things.  

Did she just want to make him feel special, no matter what?  

Given everything he had seen of her so far, there was definitely some deeper intention behind her words.  

But right now, Satoru had no clue what that might be.  

All he knew was that he was being completely swept up in her pace.  

It was just another chaotic day in his everyday life with her—only, today had been a little more chaotic than usual.