My Little Sister Suddenly Confessed to Me, but What Am I Supposed to Do by Dating My Little Sister?

Chapter 12: The Uniform Date

“Iron spikes… the Hour of the Ox… hehehe…”

“He-y! Shiori! Come back to us!”

I spent a good while watching my sister from the side as she lingered in her “dark side” mode. Once she seemed to reach some sort of internal conclusion (a conclusion I really didn’t want to know), she snapped back to reality and spoke up abruptly.

“Um, about tomorrow… there’s somewhere I want to go with you, Onii-chan.”

“After school? Where do you want to go?”

“Yeah. Um, Odaiba.”

“If we go to Odaiba, it’ll be night by the time we get back. Is that okay?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, let’s go then. I’ll tell Mom that I’m helping you with a class meeting and that we’ll be a little late. It’d be weird to go home and change first, so let’s just go in our uniforms.”

Since we’re in the same class, it’s technically not a lie—barely. Sorry, Mom.

“Okay!”

“Our first uniform date, huh?”

“Ehehehe.”

And with that, my sister descended back into her world of delusions.

Hey… was my sister always this kind of character?

After school the next day, Shiori was—as usual—caught up by her friends.

For the time being, I sent her a mail saying I’d be at the bookstore by the station and headed out first.

The route from school to the station is in the opposite direction of our house, but it’s a straight shot. I was walking along a path by the river that I don’t usually take when I heard a voice from behind.

“Onii-chaaaaan!”

Shiori was running to catch up, completely out of breath. She stopped in front of me to regulate her breathing.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. My friends were being a little persistent about inviting me to karaoke, but I told them I already promised to help my brother with some shopping today, so I had to pass.”

“Did they say anything when you told them you were with me?”

“Yeah. They were like, ‘Huh, you guys are close? You don’t talk in class, so we thought you didn’t get along.’”

“Midori-chan even said she didn’t even know you existed! How rude!”

Midori? Who’s that? I don’t know her. Actually, I don’t know most of the girls in class since I never talk to them. Ugh, my heart hurts a little.

By the way, it doesn’t take that long to get to the station, but—

“Shiori! Oh, where are you going—Wait! A boyfriend?!”

“Shiori-san, where are you headed? And who is this?”

“Shio-rin! Oh, it’s rare to see you with your brother. Where are you off to?”

“Shi-chan, long time no see! And… oh, it’s Shi-chan’s brother. Going out?”

Since it’s the school route and our neighborhood, people called out to us over and over.

And the last one was a classmate from my third year of middle school! You totally forgot my name, didn’t you? Don’t worry—I forgot yours, too!

Still, all this fuss just from walking together… if they ever found out we were dating, it would be……

Once we got on the train, people finally stopped calling out to us (though a few did wave from a distance), which was a relief. I started feeling a sense of dread at how wide Shiori’s social circle actually was as we headed toward Odaiba.

Shiori stood in front of me holding her bag with both hands, humming a tune and looking out the window with a smile.

“I’ll carry your bag.”

The bag looked a bit heavy, and her body was swaying with the train’s movement, so I reached out for it. She panicked, pulling the bag tight against her chest and peeking out from behind it.

“I-It’s okay! It’s not heavy. Th-thank you, Onii-chan.”

“You don’t have to be modest.”

“No, I’m fine,” she insisted, refusing to let go.

I wondered if she had something in there, but if she said she was fine, there wasn’t much I could do. We continued on to Odaiba.

By the time we arrived, the sun was starting to set. We decided to take a break and grab a tea at a nearby cafe.

I felt like she was waiting for something. Even though she was in high spirits, there was a faint air of tension around her as we made small talk.

After 6:00 PM, as it grew dark, Shiori spoke up.

“Onii-chan, the truth is… I came here today because I wanted to ride that with you.”

She pointed at the giant Ferris wheel in Odaiba.

“Will you ride it with me?” she asked, tilting her head with an anxious expression.

“Sure. Let’s go.”

“Okay!”

The two of us headed toward the boarding platform.

The Odaiba Giant Sky Wheel. One rotation takes 16 minutes, and it’s a famous date spot for enjoying the night view.

Two siblings in school uniforms—if anyone we knew saw us, it would be highly suspicious. My heart was pounding for various reasons as we arrived.

A Ferris wheel at night. Everyone around us was a couple.

The fare was a bit steep for students. I tried to pay for Shiori, but she stubbornly refused again. Instead, she insisted, “I’m the one who invited you, so I’m paying!” and forcefully paid for mine as we boarded.

“Whoa… whoa… whoa!”

“It’s amazing! It’s so pretty, Onii-chan! Look at that!”

A little while after we started, we could see the whole Odaiba nightscape, and Shiori was ecstatic.

Once she’d had her fill of the view, Shiori sat back down and looked at me.

“Hey, Onii-chan. Can I sit on that side with you?”

“Eh? I mean, sure, but what’s up? You’re being a bit pushy—or weird—today.”

She was being uncharacteristically bold.

“I thought you would have noticed, but I guess you really did forget.”

“Huh?”

She sat down next to me and looked up with a smile.

“Happy Birthday.”

Ah… I’d completely forgotten.