The Distance Between Me and Her

As I returned home and stared at the coffee maker whirring away in the kitchen, I thought back to the events of that lunch break.

Kinoshita-san always stays alone, it must be because she’s actually an agent.

The reason she was able to smoothly leave the classroom today without anyone suspecting anything is because she always tries to do everything by herself. And she didn’t bother to care about enjoying her after-lunch dessert, which shows her high level of professionalism in the act.

But is there such a thing as having a part-time job as an agent? Who would ask her to do something like this? Isn’t it dangerous?

It’s so unrealistic that it raises endless questions in my head.

“Agent, Yayoi Kinoshita…”

As I poured the finished coffee into my cup, I mumbled her name in a low voice, a name I would never say in front of her.

“Did you say something?”

‘Wow, Sanae! Ouch!”

Coffee spilled on my fingers as Sanae suddenly appeared in the kitchen wearing her uniform.

“You spilled coffee all over your fingers. Did you do something stupid?”

“I didn’t!”

I deny it in a second, wiping the spilled coffee with a rag.

While I was worrying about Kinoshita-san, it seems like she came back from junior high school.

“Big bro, it’s so easy to understand you. Something is bothering you, isn’t it? You’ve been mumbling and acting weird for quite a while now.”

Sanae, with a grin and a silly smile on her face, is attempting to meddle with my affairs.

“I’m not going to bother you though. It’s none of my business after all.”

It is beyond even Sanae’s imagination that her brother is actually worried about an ‘agent ‘ in the same class as him, let alone a friend.

“I’m busy with piano practice, so I’ll be going. I have to practice for the new No Bra song that’s coming out next week!”

Sanae fluttered her hands and went back to her room. By the way, “No Bra” is an abbreviation for Sanae’s favorite band, Northern Brand. (TLN: That’s a…. Nice way to abbreviate it) (EDN: That’s certainly one way to do so…) (TLN: No Bra for life baby!!)

“What the hell, ugh…”

As Sanae had pointed out, it was true that I was a bit troubled.

If Kinoshita-san is an agent, there’s nothing I can do about it.

What in the world am I expecting to do? What even is troubling me?

I closed my eyes and asked myself the same question repeatedly in my head, but all I could see behind my eyelids was Kinoshita-san’s scary face glaring at me.

A few more days had passed since I had witnessed Kinoshita-san’s suspicious behavior.

The misunderstanding that I had used Mayama to mess with Kinoshita-san has yet to be fully cleared up. He really went the extra mile, didn’t he!

In my second year of high school life, it seems like my relationship’s are bound to have a lot of incidents. Kinoshita-san and I are currently in a state of a communication stalemate, and my heart feels like a banged up convoluted fracture

Kinoshita-san was becoming even more isolated than ever, perhaps it’s due to her decision to ignore Mayama’s greeting. She doesn’t seem to be sad about it, but I don’t really know how she really feels about it.

Even if it is right for her to be alone as an agent, doesn’t Kinoshita-san want to have this normal kind of high school life? Does she plan to stay all alone all the way upto graduation?

Many things are on my mind, but there is no way I can ask her about it directly, much less use psychometry for something like this.

One day, when I was just agonizingly lamenting the distance between me and Kinoshita-san.

“I need someone’s help with something after school today. Anyone?”

In a short homeroom at the end of the day, the homeroom teacher, Shinoda-sensei, suddenly started asking for volunteers.

“I need you to put together materials for my Japanese class.”

Shinoda-sensei is a handsome Japanese teacher who’s not yet 30 years old and is rather popular among the girls.

However, no one took the initiative to help him with his chores after school.

“If it’s Japanese materials, why don’t the library committee members do it?”

When no one came forward and a stalemate ensued, someone made a wild suggestion.

I stopped what I was doing to get ready to leave because I was a member of the library committee.

“Yes, that’s right. Then I’ll ask Fukase to do so.”

As if it was already decided, Shinoda-sensei nominated me, who’s a member of the library committee to help him out.

I can’t say no to this now. If I go home too early, Sanae will just be bitter with me again, and it’s not a bad way to make up for being scolded at the opening ceremony now, is it?

“It might be too much work for one person, so Kinoshita-san, who’s on day duty, can help him out.”

“Hahhhhh?”

Shinoda-sensei’s words cause me to overreact.

To my surprise, Kinoshita-san was on day duty today.

After a short pause, Kinoshita-san gives a small reply, “Yes.” As expected of a homeroom teacher, I guess she can’t just ignore him like all the others.

Unexpectedly, I got a chance to be alone with Kinoshita-san.

Wait a minute. Isn’t this a chance to clear up the misunderstanding?

“Well, that’s it for today. The two people I just mentioned, come to the Japanese Language Preparation Room later.”

A rattling sound of chairs being pulled over rang out, and we were plunged into the after-school duration of the day.

I fearfully walk up to her desk, though I haven’t even done anything yet, and I have no idea about what’s going to happen ahead of me.

“Um, Ki…….”

Just as I was about to call out to her, Kinoshita-san silently got up and walked out of the classroom.

“Ah, wait!”

I followed behind Kinoshita-san with a pathetic look on my face as I fretted about.

“Here. Put them together, one at a time, and staple them together.”

In the Japanese Language Preparation Room on the third floor, Shinoda-sensei handed me a large quantity of printouts. I received dozens of prints, which were stacked alternatively, with both my hands. The prints were still slightly warm, as if they had just been photocopied, and smelled of ink.

“The classroom next door is open. Here, use the stapler.”

Kinoshita-san took the stapler from the teacher and the two of us went into the nearby classroom.

“I’m not sure I want to have this kind of work forced upon me out of the blue!”

I spoke to Kinoshita-san to see if she was in a good mood as I laid out the printouts on the desk in front of her.

“…I guess so.”

Kinoshita-san replied in a hushed voice, refilling the staple lead without looking at me at all.

“Yes, that’s right!”

This time she didn’t ignore me, and I patted myself on the chest just because she had responded back to me, albeit she might have done that in a slightly salty manner.

I feel a great sense of accomplishment, it’s as if I have finally communicated with an alien. What a low goal to set for my life.

I would like to take advantage of this momentum to clear up the misunderstanding of the other day, but I decided to start working on it right away instead.

“Okay, then, I’ll collect the prints one at a time, and you can staple them together, alright?”

“…Got it.”

After saying this, Kinoshita-san moved away from me and took a seat in the back of the classroom.

It seems that a rather powerful ‘Don’t get too close to me’ aura had been developed. This distance… does she really want to be that far away from me?

“Um… why don’t you come a little closer?”

I collect the printouts at the front of the classroom and deliver them all the way to the back where Kinoshita-san is.

“No, I’m fine here.”

Kinoshita-san fastens the staple on the left shoulder of the print.

No, it’s not okay or anything, you’re acting like a pain in the ass, you know?

Where did the Kinoshita-san, who was so happy to be in the same class as me go to?

I wish she would at least smile affectionately at me. I’d like to see Kinoshita-san smile at least once in my life.

“Didn’t you have any after-school plans today?”

In an attempt to somehow ease the atmosphere, I throw out a question as I continue to do my work. It was also a perfect opportunity to find out more about Kinoshita-san.

“…Nothing special”

Whack!

“You don’t do club activities, do you?”

“I don’t”.

Whack!

“Cram school and stuff?”

“Mhm”.

Whack!.

“What about a part-time job?”

“……”

Whack!

Eventually she just began ignoring me, and only the sound of a strong stapler could be heard echoing in an unintended way. And instead of having smiles directed at me, the only thing directed at me would be her glares. 

No more of this! I put on the brakes, thinking I had overstepped a bit. I don’t want to have another accident after all.

Knowing Kinoshita-san’s secret, it’s difficult for me to adjust how I communicate with her. After all, the other party is an agent, a professional when it comes to NOT being suspicious.

Of course, I know due to psychometrically that she thinks I’m cool, but in reality, I don’t know who she really is. I can’t afford to miss the chance to get closer to her.

From then on, we continued working in silence, and the atmosphere was no longer conducive to getting to know Kinoshita-san any further or clearing up any misunderstandings we had prior.

In the awkward atmosphere, the work was almost finished.

Suddenly, I felt a gaze staring from the hallway.

“Hmm?”

Before I knew it, a girl was standing outside the window.

She had her hands on the window and was staring at Kinoshita-san.

Was she a friend of Kinoshita-san’s? No, of course not. I don’t think she has any friends.

“Kinoshita-san?”

When I called out to her to check up on her, she looked up as she tended to her prints.

“Out that window…”

As soon as I started to say that.

“Aah! I knew it!”

The window rattled open and a loud voice came rushing in from the hallway.

“Hya!”

Kinoshita-san, who had not noticed the girl’s presence at all, let out a strange voice and turned toward the window.

“Sis!”

The mysterious girl shouted through the window at Kinoshita-san

─ ─ Onee-chan?

“U-Uzuki!”

Kinoshita-san continues, raising both eyebrows and shouting.

─ ─ Uzuki?

The suddenness of the event made me panic, too.

As I looked at the two girls alternatively with a big question mark over my head, the girl came into the classroom in a stride.

Judging by the color of the ribbon on her uniform, she looked like a first-year student.

Is this girl Kinoshita-san’s… younger sister?

“H-Hi…”

I bowed lightly as a classmate, but the girl walked right past me and went straight to Kinoshita-san. I was splendidly passed-by.

“Hey sis, what are you doing here?”

Apparently, this girl really is Kinoshita-san’s younger sister.

She’s much shorter than Kinoshita-san and she also has short-cut brown hair. They are sisters who look quite the opposite from another.

“What are you doing here? I was on day duty.”.

Kinoshita-san lifts up a printout to make her point.

“Classwork? Sis? You turned down all that stuff in junior high, didn’t you?”

“I don’t think so! I would at least do my classwork normally!”

As Kinoshita-san denies it with a blush on her cheeks, her sister glances at me.

 “…Who is this person?”

“Ughh, he’s my classmate. I can’t help it because my teacher asked me to do this with him!”

I sent her an affectionate smile as a classmate, and her sister smiled back at me. A completely different response from Kinoshita-san!

“How unusual is that?”

For some reason, the younger sister was looking at me and nodding her head.

“But more importantly, Uzuki, you…”

“Sis, shut up for a second!”

She interrupted Kinoshita-san and came straight to me this time.

“Oh, um…”

“Hi, I’m Uzuki, Yayoi Kinoshita’s sister!”

She introduced herself again with her hands folded behind her waist.

“U-Uzuki…-chan?”

“Nice to meet you!”

She flops her short, slightly brown bobbed head down and gives a quick wink at me.

The way she smiled with her small dimples on her cheeks was unlike Kinoshita-san’s tension-filled face.

“Yo, nice to meet you… Uzuki, is it?”

I responded while rolling my head backwards, and then Uzuki-chan was staring at me from my toes to the top of my head.

“I see, I see. You’re a sucker for faces, aren’t you, big sis?

“What are you talking about?”

Kinoshita-san’s scream-like rage echoes through the classroom.

I glanced over at Kinoshita-san and saw that she had forgotten to glare at me and was frozen in place with a red face instead.

“You’re joking. Right?”

She laughs teasingly at her sister and asks her to agree with her. How much of this is a joke now?

I was just blown away by the gap between this girl and Kinoshita-san

Uzuki Kinoshita.

This little girl who suddenly burst into the room really was Kinoshita-san’s younger sister.

Our work came to a halt with the intrusion of Kinoshita-san’s sister, and the three of us were sitting on the chairs in the classroom.

For some reason, Uzuki-chan was sitting right next to me, smiling, while Kinoshita-san was far away with her elbow on the desk, looking a bit irritated.

It was obvious that Kinoshita-san’s usually calm pace had been shifting ever since Uzuki’s arrival.

“So, what kind of relationship are you two in?”

“We’re just classmates!”

Kinoshita-san immediately assures her.

It seems I’ve been able to move up the ranks from “Mob-kun” to “Classmate”. I’m so happy!

“What’s your name?”

Uzuki looks up at me with a twinkle in her eye, as if she’s curious about something.

“My name is Satsuki Fukase. Kinoshita-san and I are classmates…”

“Wow, our names, a fellow old calendar!” (TLN: This is what she’s referring to https://www.thoughtco.com/can-you-tell-me-the-old-names-of-the-months-2027868)

Yayoi, Uzuki, and then Satsuki, we were pointing at each other in turn, both our smiles bursting with happiness.

‘This is what I call fate, isn’t it! Don’t you think so too?”

“Yes, that’s right…”

“Because, sis! It’s fate! Destiny!”

She happily reported back to her sister, but Kinoshita-san just turned her head away with a pout.

“Then I’ll call you Satsuki-senpai! You can call me Uzuki!”

I was left overwhelmed by Uzuki’s machine gun-like manner of speech. My palms were sweating, a different kind of tension from when I was talking to Kinoshita-san

“By the way, Satsuki-senpai. What do you think of my sister?”

“Uzuki! You shut up for a minute!”

With a bang, the stapler hit the desk and fell to the floor.

It was no longer a situation of clearing up a misunderstanding or anything like that.

She couldn’t take a joke from a while ago.

“Don’t you dare say that, even as a joke!”

Uzuki-chan’s cheeks were puffed out, and Kinoshita-san was clenching her teeth and looking like her head was about to erupt.

What am I supposed to do when I’m sandwiched between these two? Should I just smile and nod?

“You’ve only just enrolled in the school, so why don’t you just go back home?”

“I don’t care about that, Oh, I’ll ask Satsuki-senpai to show me around the school.”

“Of course not! We’re busy, so get out now!”

“No, Kinoshita-san. You don’t have to say that much to her…”

“Fukase-kun, shut up!”

Even she got pissed off and hunched over and shrugged her shoulders.

Kinoshita-san and Uzuki-chan seem to have completely polar-opposite types of personalities, but if you look closely, you can see the similarities in their eyes. The younger sister is, of course, also just as beautiful. She is more on the cute side though.

However, she has an aggressiveness that her sister does not have at all.

I feel like if you add their personalities and divide it by two, it would be just the right combination…

“So, what were you two doing together?”

Taking one of the printouts lined up on the desk, Uzuki-chan looks into my face.

She is not at all discouraged by her sister’s anger. This boldness and communicative ability of hers is commendable.

“Uzuki, we are busy. You go home early!”

Kinoshita-san perks up her shoulders and points at the door in my place.

I was a little glad to hear her say “We”.

“You didn’t tell my sister off! Hey, Satsuki-senpai?”

“No, well…”

When I gave a half-smile in response, I was immediately met with a piercing glare from Kinoshita-san. Why am I being glared at?!

I am caught between both the Kinoshita sisters, and my emotions are swinging left and right at high speed like a metronome.

I slowly turn my back to Uzuki-chan, feeling very uncomfortable.

“The teacher asked me to do some work for him. You’re in my way, so get the hell out of here. Okay?”

Kinoshita-san says in a slow, mature tone that it feels as if you’re forced to listen to it.

“Eh, that’s boring! I have more questions I want to ask Satsuki-senpai. Right?”

Uzuki, on the other hand, is childishly pouting and asking me for help. She has a very expressive face, and I can’t look directly at her pursed lips.

“Uzuki! That’s enough!”

Abandoning the calm tone she had used earlier, Kinoshita-san dismissed her without question.

“Well, well. There’s no need for you sisters to fight. We can all get along here…”

“Fukase-kun, will you please stay out of it? I told you to shut up, didn’t I?”

It was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.

I tried to hold the situation together, but it seemed like I couldn’t do it after all. It was best to do as I was told and keep my mouth shut.

“I’m going home today, then. I don’t have time to play with my sister!”

Uzuki-chan sticks out her tongue in a small, sticky gesture, showing a tiny bit of resistance to her older sister.

I was relieved to hear that she was finally going home.

“Satsuki-senpai, let’s talk again sometime!”

Saying this, Uzuki-chan squeezed my hand as we left.

“’…Ackk!”

“Take care of my sister for me!”

Uzuki-chan giggles and says something suggestive while her cheeks are forming cute dimples.

“Uzuki, hey, what are you doing!”

“Yes, yes, yes! Well, goodbye then!”

Waving her hands in a small gesture, Uzuki leaves the classroom as if she was jumping up and down, like an excited child.

“Hah… I’m sorry for having such a pigheaded little sister.”

Kinoshita-san let out a loud sigh as if apologizing for her sister’s rudeness, but I forgot to reply back to her.

I was staring dumbfounded at those hands that Uzuki-chan had held earlier.

At that moment, I was psychometricizing Uzuki-chan.

I have to do my job as an agent too, or else dad would get mad at me!

Again I heard another absurd voice.

Is Uzuki an agent too? What, your father’s one too?

“Don’t worry about what Uzuki says. She says such stuff without thinking much!”

Kinoshita-san’s head was in her hands as if she wanted to erase her memory of the entire series of events caused by Uzuki-chan’s intrusion.

But I was flustered in another way, unable to sort out the current situation.

“Excuse me? What’s wrong?”

Kinoshita-san stares at me from a distance, squinting, as she opens her mouth with a pout.

“Oh, nothing…  She’s a cute little sister.”

“She’s not cute! Oh, God!”

I meant it as a compliment, but Kinoshita-san seemed a little offended, her cheeks puffing out in annoyance.

I didn’t have the luxury of being delighted by Kinoshita-san’s newfound expression.

Is Kinoshita-san an agent in the family?

You mean it’s not on the level of a part-time job or something, but a serious family business?

Instead of being alone with her and clearing up the misunderstanding we had, I learned yet another one of Kinoshita-san’s secrets.

TL: “”

ED: Spynine01