Vol 1 Chapter 13 – A Story About My Honest Older Sister【Vol 1 — A Happy Childhood】

“S-Sorry, Will-kun… I didn’t think you’d be that surprised.”
“…No, it’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
“Will-kun feels so cold!”

Just in my underwear.
In front of me, half-naked, flames crackled and roared without any wood or fuel.
The clothes I’d been wearing earlier floated near those flames, where a refreshing wind blew through them.
Both the wind drying my clothes and the fire warming me were born of Sophia’s magic.

We were at the riverbank.
As I sat hugging my knees and let out a sneeze in front of the fire, Sophia suddenly glommed onto me from behind.

“Will-kun, I’m sorry. Forgive your silly Onee-san—I’ll do anything for you! So please don’t hate me!”

With her blonde hair tickling my bare skin as she nuzzled her nose against my shoulder, it was… well, embarrassing.
A situation where an older girl apologizes while clinging to an underwear-clad boy in public like this—what the hell is this?

“Big Sis Sophia, I get it. I’m not angry or anything. But please stop clinging to me here, it’s embarrassing.”

I forcibly peeled Sophia off me.

“Aww, my Will-kun…”

Sophia let out an intentionally tragic wail.

“Ugh!“

Plop…

At that moment, something cool and soft pressed against my back.
A chill ran through me, and I shivered.

When I turned around, Elena was tilting her head at me, her small palm pressed against my back.

“Onii-san, you okay?”
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Yaaay!”
“W-Wait, Elena-chan, please stop patting Onii-san’s back like that.”

I picked up Elena, who was patting my back with her cold little hands, and promptly handed her to Sophia.
Being touched by small hands is surprisingly ticklish. It makes me feel all restless.

Sophia, who had been sulking at being pushed away by me, brightened up the moment she caught Elena’s body.

“Ah! Elena-chan! Were you being a good girl?”
“Uh-huh! I played with Onii-san!”

Watching Sophia and Elena have a conversation that didn’t quite match up, I couldn’t help but sigh.

How did things end up like this?

To put it simply: I fell into the river.
Surprised by Sophia suddenly appearing right in front of me.
And then, rescued immediately from the riverbed, I’d been stripped of my clothes by a frantic “Will-kun will catch a cold!” Sophia, leading to the present situation.

Also, as for how Sophia appeared soundlessly right in front of me—it was teleportation magic.
As the name suggests, it’s magic that allows instantaneous movement from one point to a destination.
Sophia had been commuting to school in the royal capital using that same magic my father uses, but apparently she’d finally learned to use the magic herself just yesterday.
According to what I’d heard from Papa, teleportation magic is apparently quite high-level magic—even a proper magician would need at least five years to learn it.
But that apparently didn’t apply to genius Big Sis Sophia.

So, combining the demonstration of such high-level magic, Sophia had teleported right in front of me. From her school in the royal capital.

“But Big Sis Sophia… even though you were practicing such amazing magic, why didn’t you tell me?”

I asked Sophia, who was having fun with Elena.
She turned toward me with a pout for some reason.

“Because—I wanted to surprise Will-kun!”
“So you were planning to prank me from the start.”
“Ah! That’s not it, Will-kun! I just wanted to see Will-kun’s cute surprised face!”

Hmph! Sophia declared with spirited determination.
Overwhelmed by that intensity, all I could say was “O-Oh…”
There were other things I wanted to say, and I couldn’t accept it, but there was nothing I could do.
It was the same as always—I just couldn’t win against her. Onee-san power is strong.

Elena was mimicking Sophia, putting cute strength into her arms.
My little sister’s cuteness made the corners of my mouth slacken into a grin without me realizing it.

“Geez, Will-kun, you really do dote on Elena-chan so much! You never show me such sloppy expressions. Ahh, Will-kun is so cute!”

Is this person okay…?
I thought that as I watched Sophia squirm with both hands on her cheeks.
I feel like her perversion level increases with each passing year.

As evidence of that, there was one thing.
Something very concerning had been floating vaguely in the air between Sophia and me since earlier.

In appearance, it was a sphere.
A pitch-black sphere about the size of a softball, with a translucent spherical gem embedded in one spot.
That translucent sphere was staring at me like an eyeball, which was very unsettling.

“Big Sis Sophia, I’ve been wondering since earlier. This is a video camera magic tool for recording video, right?”
“Yes! I happened to see it at the market in the royal capital this morning and bought it on impulse.”

Sophia stuck out her pale pink tongue with a peek.
Combined with her refined features, that gesture was honestly quite cute.
That’s right.
Sophia is beautiful. Stunningly so.
According to rumors, at the academy in the royal capital, she constantly receives endless love confessions.
While there was some political element from the upper class, apparently most of those confessions were due to Sophia’s appearance and demeanor (I heard this from an academy student I met when Sophia and Father Lucas took me to the royal capital before).
However, each time, Sophia would apparently declare stubbornly:

“I refuse anyone who isn’t cooler and cuter than my Will-kun.”

It’s a story that makes me feel both embarrassed and troubled.
Sophia’s statements make me feel both superiority and a sense of crisis.

I can’t deny that her attitude makes me happy as a man, but I also worry that one day those rejected guys will come at me with resentment and jealousy.

…Troubling.

But I digressed.
Right now, I needed to address this thing Sophia had brought.

When mine and Sophia’s attention focused on the “video camera,” Elena noticed it too.

Elena exclaimed “Wow, amazing, it’s floating!” with her odd-colored eyes sparkling.
“Amazing, right? This is a really smart camera that reacts to the holder’s mana and automatically records and saves whatever video you want to capture!”
“Amaziiing! Amaziiing!”
“Amazing, right!”

While Sophia bounced excitedly along with the jumping Elena, I reached out and grabbed that black sphere floating in the air.

Hmm, so it automatically saves video of what it wants to capture according to the owner’s will. So it flies around on its own to find the best angle and starts recording on its own.
Certainly convenient.

“Aah! Will-kun, what are you doing!”
“…”

I ignored Sophia’s anguished cry.

I knew how to use the “video camera” because Lucas had something similar.

I pressed the translucent eyeball of the black sphere against my forehead and poured mana into it.

Then, video footage flowed directly into my mind.

From the scene where I fell into the river, surprised by Sophia’s sudden appearance, up to this very moment—all of it from a third-person perspective. All centered on me.

“Big Sis Sophia… what were you planning to use this for?”

I asked with an overwhelming intimidating presence, but Sophia just looked blankly at me:

“Huh? Well, of course. To record Will-kun’s sleeping face, or Will-kun taking a bath, or moments of Will-kun playing with me, or when Will-kun is in his room doing various things by himself—just everything about Will-kun——…”

Having heard that much, I decided to confiscate that black spherical video camera.
There was no such thing as privacy anymore.
Sophia’s every action tends to be extreme…

I tried to put it in my pocket, but then remembered I was half-naked.

The clothes being swayed by the wind magic had surprisingly dried almost completely.
So after putting them on, I stuffed the “video camera” into my outer pocket.

“Alright, since my clothes are dry now, shall we head home?”

I said refreshingly and took Elena’s hand.

“Yeah, let’s go home!”

Elena obediently followed me, and we set off for home.
Beside us, Sophia was saying:

“Please, Will-kun, I’ll do anything, I’ll listen to anything you say, so give that back! No, rather Will-kun, try ordering your Onee-san to do anything! I recommend it! I really recommend it! Try giving your Onee-san various orders!”

She was saying things I didn’t really want to understand too deeply, so when I replied “I’ll give it back, but don’t record me without permission, okay?”

“That’s impossible,”

she answered immediately.
So it wasn’t “anything” after all…

Feeling somewhat exasperated by Sophia, who remained honest in both good and bad ways, but still feeling the same unchanging happiness, the three of us—Elena, Sophia, and I—made our way home.