“I was really obsessed with my onii-chan,” Yuzu-san said.
“He must have been really kind to you.” He was thin, with big, thick glasses, and looked like a calm boy.
“Yes, he was so very kind.” Tears started to well up in her eyes. “He resembled you a bit, Gin-san.”
“You think so?” I took a hard look at the picture of her brother. Hmm, I don’t see it.
The thing that really stood out about her brother was his glasses. Since I didn’t wear glasses, it was hard to compare.
“You look similar around your eyes and lips.”
“You really look closely, don’t you?”
“We girls pay attention to details, you know,” she said, smiling a little. Smiling, but still not happy. “I have so many memories of my brother. We used to play pretend a lot.”
I started to get a little jealous. I had never played pretend with my sisters. They both only liked reading and drawing.
“And then when I got bigger, we would play little piggy all the time.”
“Little piggy?”
“My brother would play the pig.”
“And what role did you play, Yuzu-san?”
“The trainer.”
Wow, cool! “So there were pig trainers in this era? I’ve never heard of that before! What kinds of things do they make them do?”
“It was more about the things I didn’t let him do.”
Didn’t let him do?
“I’d go like this, and tie him up...” Yuzu-san made gestures like she was tying something up with a rope. “He’d cry out, ‘Please, let me go!’ but I would never, ever let him go.”
“Let him go where?”
“To the bathroom.”
“Oh, I see. Holding it in is a concept in philosophy. I read a book like that, once.”
“What do you mean, there was a book about it?”
“It’s literature from the future.”
“Oh, my.” Yuzu-san smiled, but her pretty face quickly clouded over again.
Hearing all this, there was something I just really had to know. Usually asking this would have been a bad idea, but the way the conversation was going, I figured now would be the time. I built up the courage and inquired, “Um... How did your brother pass away?”
“He died from an illness.”
Ah, as I thought.
“It’s thanks to him that I’ve been able to live to this day.”
“So he was just that important to you...”
“Yes. And there is another reason, too. ...Um, can I talk to you about it?”
I nodded yes.
“Actually, I’m adopted,” she said. I looked into her eyes on instinct. “It seems I was abandoned at an orphanage when I was a baby.”
So her parents are a mystery.
“I was adopted by my father when I was a baby. My mother was against it, but since my father wanted a little girl, he convinced her.” Tears started to fall from Yuzu-san’s eyes. Perhaps emotions had overcome her, as she was speaking more than usual.
“When I was little, my father was so kind to me. But when I got bigger, he got more and more distant. My mother hated me from the beginning, and so I just became a nuisance to them...”
What a horrible story. Do they have no sense of responsibility?!
“My brother said that he understood how my father felt. He said that once I was packing an elementary school backpack, I was already ‘out.’ That I didn’t make him ‘breathe heavy.’”
“Breath heavy?” I asked.
“I don’t understand, either,” Yuzu-san replied.
“Yeah...”
“My brother used to say that Father should just ‘hurry up and discover the wonders of 2D.’”
“How considerate of him.”
“Yes, he was very thoughtful like that. Unlike Father, he never changed how he treated me.”
Now I understand why you hold such strong feelings for your brother.
“I wanted to buy the booby mousepad in order to honor his memory. He told me to buy it when it was on sale and place it at his grave from the hospital bed. And in a really loud voice, too.”
“So that’s what it was,” I replied.
Yuzu-san fell silent once again. Her crestfallen face was heartbreaking.
I was debating whether or not to say something to her when she wiped her tears with the sleeve of her pajamas, straightened up her face, and looked at me.
“Gin-san, I want to fulfill my brother’s wishes.”
“His wishes?”
“Yes. This was the girl my brother really loved,” she said, pointing to the table. There was a single book there, with an illustration of a girl in a pink costume. I had seen her before: it was Magical Girl Super Sadie.
“My brother had his own worries. It seems like he wasn’t getting along with his friends at school.”
“...Some things never change between eras, I suppose. Was there something that caused it?”
“I heard that the people in his class saw him talking to the girl in that picture. He yelled out something like, ‘Punish me more!’”
“That’s what it was?”
Poor guy... Talking to 2D girls was an everyday thing in my time period.
“And he was seen groveling on the floor and licking the picture, as well.”
“That’s even more normal!” Odaira-sensei had said that he made sure to lick illustrations of his little sisters all over each day. And if Odaira-sensei did it, that meant it must be normal.
One thing was clear. Her brother had been born in the wrong era. He had been killed by the times!
“Like how I was saved by my brother, I think he was saved by this girl character,” said Yuzu-san.
“Every person needs to be saved by something, that’s true.” It was a fact I knew well. I had been saved by Oniaka.
“My brother wished strongly that other people would understand his tastes. He said that if he were in a world that accepted moe, that he would have been able to proudly tell everyone he was Sadie’s manslave. His favorite thing to say was, ‘Please, let moe spread far and wide!’”
Indeed! To think a person would exist in this era with such passion!
“I really don’t know much about this sort of thing, but I want to respect my brother’s wish,” Yuzu-san said, smiling.
It was not her usual smile that was like a beam of warm sunshine. Perhaps because she was remembering her dead brother, it was a smile with a hint of sadness. It was fleeting, and seemed as if it could be broken off with just the slightest jostle.
I have to protect her! Something began to well up from deep within my stomach. Is this what they call... chivalry?!
Yuzu-san had taken us in without a second thought, accepting us into her house. And she was, all by herself, trying to stand up to this era itself. I must help her in any way I can!
I yelled out without hesitation. “Please, allow me to help you!”
Yuzu-san opened up her eyes and looked at me.
“Together, you and I... Let’s spread moe throughout this era!” I said.
“...That makes me very happy. But I can’t trouble you with something like this.”
I leaned in closer to her, so that our faces were right next to each other. “Trouble? I’m the one who is causing all this trouble for you! I beg of you, let me repay you the favor!”
Yuzu-san kept smiling, but wouldn’t respond. She seemed to be unsure.
Come on, already! Fine, then I’m going to say it... Maybe it was unfair to use this to convince her, but I had no other choice.
“Yuzu-san, actually... I’m also adopted.”
Yuzu-san looked startled.
“So, I think I understand how you feel more than other people.”
The looks people gave us... The loneliness... I knew those feelings well. Like being left alone on an island, looking out over to the busy shore of the mainland with envy. It was a special kind of solitude.
I had been saved from that negative thinking b
y Oniaka. And Yuzu-san had been saved by her brother. No wonder she felt so strongly about doing something for her brother even after he had passed away. And that desire had been made even more acute by the cold way she was treated by her parents.
“You must think that you don’t have anyone else you can turn to, now that you’ve lost your brother, right? If I were in your shoes, I know that’s how I would feel.”
“Well...”
“I’ll be there for you! You’re not alone anymore!”
“Please, don’t say that. You’re going to make me start relying on you...”
“Please, rely on me!” I showed her my biggest, brightest smile.
Yuzu-san avoided eye contact for a second, and then glanced at me. She sighed, and clasped her hands to her chest. “Gin-san, you are a scary person. If I’m not careful, you’re going to steal something precious...”
“No, no... I won’t do just anything you ask. Like, I won’t steal stuff for you.”
Yuzu-san burst out in laughter. “Just talking to you makes me feel better, Gin-san. You’re a really nice person.” She stared intently at me. “Please, will you let me rely on you? Gin-san, thank you so much.”
I bowed politely. “I’m in your service. And thank you very much.”
We exchanged glances. Burning... Something is burning deep in my heart!
“By the way, what exactly are we going to do?” I asked.
“My brother used to say this all the time,” said Yuzu-san, with a flash of will in her eyes. “‘Start by encroaching on the school!’”
“Encroaching?”
“My brother went to the same school as I do. I think he meant we should spread moe first in my school.”
“I see... I wish I could see that school firsthand.”
“Oh, about that...” Yuzu-san’s teary eyes narrowed as she spoke. “Gin-san, would you like to transfer in?”
“Transfer? You mean I would go to the same school as you, Yuzu-san?!”
She grinned at me.
You’re kidding me!
But my life seemed to be one joke coming true after another.
I was now going to 21st-century high school. And it was all thanks to the financial power of the Mirokuin family that it was even possible.
It turned out that the Mirokuins had contributed a lot to the endowment of the school Yuzu-san attended, Hakumei Academy, and that was the leverage she had used to make it happen.
It had taken a few days to get all the paperwork in order, but I was now walking alongside Yuzu-san on the way to my first day at school.
“I’ll be in the same class as you, right, Yuzu-san?”
“That’s right. And I also made sure to request a specific seat for you.”
I was not able to read kanji. I needed Yuzu-san next to me to help me read and write.
There wasn’t enough time to order me a uniform, but it seems like my SCHOOL UNIFORM fashion was quite similar to the school uniforms of this era.
I guess I’ll just be going to school like this for a little while.
What is school like in the Heisei era, anyway? I was sure I would be shocked. Perhaps I can use it as material for my novels. Just imagining the possibilities filled me with anticipation.
“This is gonna be so fun!”
“Would you calm yourself down already?” a cool voice retorted from the opposite side of Yuzu-san. It was a voice I had heard almost every day for more than ten years.
Kuroha was also walking alongside us.
“We’re not here to play around, remember?” she reminded us.
Kuroha was also wearing her usual outfit. Her Heisei-taste old school style looked quite similar to Yuzu-san’s school uniform. Supposedly it wouldn’t be out of place for her to go to school wearing something like that.
Why was Kuroha walking alongside us, you might ask? It was because she had also decided to attend the school.
It had all happened a few days earlier...
The day after Yuzu-san and my late-night tête-à-tête, I announced the results to Kuroha while we were sitting around the breakfast table.
“I’ll be attending her school.”
Kuroha did a spit-take with her miso soup. “What the hell is this all of a sudden? You’re kidding, right?”
I explained the situation to her. At first she didn’t believe I was being serious, but when Yuzu-san spoke about her brother and how important he was to her, she realized that it wasn’t a joke.
“Honestly, I’m not sure I even know where to start with you, it’s all so ridiculous... Yuzu-san’s brother, Yuzu-san, and you, Onii-chan.”
“There is no need for words,” I said. “There are some things that a man must do!”
“Gin-san...” said Yuzu-san, quietly.
Kuroha paused from eating, and looked displeased at both of us. “I’m not going to be able to stop you, am I?”
“Not a chance.”
“Then I’m going, too.”
Say what? But then, Odaira-sensei and Miru (who had been listening quietly), both got excited.
“What an interesting proposition! I think I shall go, as well!”
“I wanna go, too! Can I?”
Yuzu-san looked a bit apprehensive. “U-Um... I think it might be a little difficult for you two, considering...” They both looked like elementary schoolers, after all. No matter how much financial influence the Mirokuin family might have, transferring them into a high school would not have been possible.
“Miru, I’m sorry, you’ll have to stay home with Sensei. And if he tries anything, just stab him to death with that,” said Kuroha, pointing to a large knife hanging on the wall of the kitchen.
Hey, what if Miru takes you seriously?
“A kitchen knife, huh? That’s nice and yandere...” muttered Odaira-sensei, seeming to not let it bother him.
“Kuroha, are you sure about going to school?” I asked.
“Of course. You can barely read any kanji, Onii-chan! How in the world will you manage by yourself? It’s dangerous. Don’t go deciding things on your own without asking my permission first.”
“Why should I have to get your permission? And besides, I won’t be alone. Yuzu-san will be there with me.”
“Do you have any idea how much of a burden that will be on her?! Looking after you is going to be incredibly stressful for her.”
“It’s not stressful for me at all. I’m looking forward to it,” replied Yuzu-san, cheerfully.
“Kuroha, you don’t have to force yourself to go. Yuzu-san and I will go together.”
“That’s no good! Absolutely no way!” Kuroha’s eyes went bloodshot and she banged the table with her fist, causing waves in her bowl of miso soup. “I am going to school with you, and that’s final! If you tell me no, I’ll sew your feet to the floor, damn it!”
Now that’s what I call a threat! Is she gonna use that knife to do the sewing or something?!
I had no choice but to nod my acceptance under pressure.
First Year Class 3. This was our class. Yuzu-san was also in the same class.
I was a year ahead of Kuroha and Yuzu-san, but we had me transfer in to the same year as them. We applied together posing that Kuroha and I were twins.
When we reached the school, Yuzu-san headed straight to the classroom, but Kuroha and I went to the teacher’s office. We were told the teacher in charge of us wanted to introduce themselves to us.
As we were led from the teacher’s office to our classroom, another classroom came into view from the hallway.
...What’s that? There was a big board at the front of the classroom. It looked like a teacher was writing letters by directly scratching some kind of white stick on it. How primitive...
Glancing at the seated students, they all had relaxed looks on their faces. Perhaps it was representative of all the people from this time period. This was just how things were in the Heisei “good ol’ days,” I figured.
“Kuroha, look. Everyone has this plain look on their fac
es. You can really see the times,” I said.
“Didn’t you see them before?” she asked. “I don’t think they look so different from our time, though.”
You need to get your eyes checked.
“Oh, yeah. Make sure you don’t tell anyone that we’re from the future, Onii-chan.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’ll think you’re nuts. If you’re not careful, you might even get expelled.”
“That’s just discriminatory... The society of this era is still so immature. I’ll have to be careful, I suppose.”
“The thing that’s immature is that brain in your head, Onii-chan.”
We followed the teacher into First Year Class 3’s classroom.
When Kuroha entered, I could hear voices from the students saying, “What a babe!” “She’s so pretty—” “I’d kill for hair like that...” Hearing my sister complimented like that made me feel happy, as well.
Next, when I entered the classroom...
“Look at the stand up collar.” “They still make gakuran uniforms like that?” “I wonder what school he’s from?”
I could hear the word gakuran here and there. What can that mean? Is it something literary, or maybe intellectual?
First, the teacher was going to introduce us while we waited to the side.
Taking a look at the other students, there was one girl whose beauty made her stand out from the others. She looked like a black and white illustration with color used in just a few places...
It was Yuzu-san.
Yuzu-san looked at me and gave me a bright smile. With that, all my nerves flew away.
“Now then, if you two could please introduce yourselves to the class?” The teacher motioned to us.
Kuroha started to step forward, but I put my hand out and stopped her. “Kuroha, let me show you how it’s done.”
“Huh? Wait...”
When making friends in a new environment, first impressions are crucial. As her older brother, I felt I should help show Kuroha how to make a proper introduction.
I stood in front of the class. Okay, I’m ready to do this!
Introducing myself verbally would be fine, but since I had this big board here, I figured I would make use of it. I took the white stick and wrote my name and birth date in the middle of the board.
My Little Sister Can Read Kanji: Volume 1 Page 9