Chapter 6

“Ugh… this is exhausting…”  

The next morning, Satoru’s condition was at its absolute worst.  

He had ended up spending way more time with Reika than he had originally planned.  

And on top of that, after his conversation with Seiya, the exchange between him and Ruri had already begun through Seiya’s mediation…  

“This isn’t exactly surprising, but… talking to her is harder than I thought.”  

Their personalities were practically opposites.  

He had expected that they wouldn’t really get along because of that.  

But rather than simply clashing, their conversation felt like they were feeling each other out.  

It made sense—after all, they had barely spoken before.  

Still, Satoru had assumed that Ruri was the type to close the distance with people effortlessly, so he found this a bit unexpected.  

“I never had a phase like this with Reika…”  

Normally, when two people who are at least somewhat aware of each other as the opposite sex start talking, it would begin like this.  

But for Satoru, something that should have been completely normal felt strangely out of place because of how his relationship with Reika had developed.  

“…I don’t even know how fast I should reply.”  

If he were single and even slightly interested in the other person, he’d probably reply instantly.  

But in this case, he wanted to maintain a certain distance and subtly convey that he wasn’t interested.  

That said, acting too distant right after exchanging contacts felt a bit off as well.  

“I have no idea what Amamiya thinks of me, but if I’m this drained just from this, then popular guys must have it really rough…”  

Some guys always say, “I wanna be popular!” but Satoru had a feeling those kinds of people would just end up completely worn out if they actually got the attention they wanted.  

That’s probably why a lot of popular guys come off as flirty or carefree—not just because of their polished appearance.  

Rather, it might be because they’re naturally good at handling situations like this. Or, if put in a more negative way, because they take things lightly and don’t overthink, which allows them to maintain their popularity.  

As that thought settled in his mind, Satoru realized he was even starting to develop his own theory about it.

“Just struggling to handle a simple conversation with girls like this… I guess that would be reassuring for Reika, in a way…”  

After waking up for only a few minutes, Satoru, already feeling drained, clumsily got dressed.  

Then, he headed downstairs and sat at the table where breakfast had been prepared.  

“Haah…”  

“Can you stop with the ridiculously loud sighs first thing in the morning? It’s seriously annoying.”  

“…Sorry.”  

The sharp reprimand came from Chisa Takashima, Satoru’s younger sister, who is two years younger.  

She is usually kind, but when she got mad, she was simply terrifying.  

Besides, no one wanted to hear someone else sighing first thing in the morning—it was 100% irritating.  

It was clear he was only thinking about himself, so it was no surprise that she scolded him.  

“You were at Reika-neechan’s place yesterday, right? Why are you so down? Did you finally have a fight?”  

“No, no. There’s no way I could ever argue with her on equal footing.”  

“Well, yeah, that makes sense. Then… did she finally get sick of you?”  

“Uh, I don’t think that’s a word that even exists in her vocabulary…”  

“Alright, alright. Thanks for the thick slice of lovesick nonsense first thing in the morning.”  

“That wasn’t even my fault just now…”  

Chisa was well aware of Reika’s existence.  

And naturally, she also knew that Satoru and Reika were dating.  

The reason she knew was mainly tied to how their relationship had come to be.  

Chisa admired Reika a lot.  

So, the fact that her brother was dating Reika meant she got to interact with her more, and as a result, she had declared it “the greatest achievement in history as a big brother.”  

“Then why are you sighing?”  

“Something a little troublesome happened at school…”  

“Did some other girl set her sights on you or something?”  

“Wh-How did you know!?”  

Chisa casually hit the nail right on the head regarding what was bothering Satoru.  

“How? Well… you met up with Reika-neechan, and you didn’t fight. That pretty much only leaves one possibility, right?”  

“Women are terrifying…”  

“Let me guess, you got spoiled a ton by Reika-neechan, and now you’re even more in love with her?”  

“H-Hey! A middle schooler shouldn’t be saying things like that!”  

“Hah? I have a boyfriend, you know.”  

“You’re joking right…”  

With a casual morning confession, she dropped a bombshell.  

Her brother’s personal life was an open book to her, but unless she told him directly, he knew absolutely nothing about hers.  

“You know, if it’s such a hassle, why not just make it public? Just say something like, ‘Reika is mine.'”  

“W-What an indecent thing to say! That’s not something a middle school girl should be saying!”  

“Ugh, you’re so loud… But seriously, Reika-neechan would love it if you said that.”  

“I know that, but still…”  

His sister completely ignored his complaints and instead gave him straightforward advice, leaving Satoru at a loss for words.  

She was right. And Reika herself had said the same thing. Making it clear would definitely make things easier.  

“Do you still not have confidence in yourself? Even after Reika-neechan went through all the trouble of turning you into a proper man?”  

“Well… um… yeah.”  

“Pathetic. Honestly, as your little sister, I think you look good, your vibe is solid, you’re smart, and you’re athletic. But that weak mentality of yours cancels out all of it. What happened to the big brother from back then?”  

With that, she took a small bite of her toast, which was slathered with enough jam to practically drip off.