Chapter 388: Me? I’m a Brother Saved by His Little Sister
Chapter 388: Me? I’m a Brother Saved by His Little Sister
“Are you ready yet, Akiko?”
They’d already decided to eat out, yet right before leaving, his little sister retreated to her bedroom again.
Minutes slipped by, and Himekoji’s stomach growled loudly.
“Don’t rush, Onii-chan! Hurrying a girl before a date is very rude, you know.”
Akiko’s voice sounded completely unhurried, clearly not feeling the hunger pangs yet.
“What date? It’s just grabbing dinner!”
“Well, a girl needs to get ready.”
Seeing his prodding didn’t work, Himekoji pulled out his secret weapon.
“Hmm, well maybe we should wait for Aoyama to finish her part-time job and all go together. Looking at the time, her shift should end soon anyway.”
“Ah! No need, no need! I’m all done!”
Hearing their precious alone time might slip away, Akiko instantly lost her calm. Terrified that Nanami or Mashiro might come back and ruin everything, she now moved at lightning speed. She finished getting ready in a frenzy and appeared beside Himekoji like a gust of wind.
“Let’s go, Onii-chan!”
Grabbing Himekoji’s arm urgently, Akiko yanked him out of the apartment hallway at a brisk pace.
“Hey, hey! Hold up! This change is way too sudden! Weren’t you taking it slow just now? Now you’re practically running? …And stop pulling my sleeve!”
Pulled along the whole way, Himekoji could only trail behind with a pained smile.
“What are you saying, Onii-chan? Affectionate siblings deserve plenty of time together! But our precious alone moments keep getting interrupted for all sorts of reasons. That’s why we have to treasure every single minute we have now! Onii-chan, keep up! Run!”
“You weren’t saying that when you were messing around alone in your room just now!”
“That wasn’t messing around! I was just getting ready! It’s a date! I have to look pretty!”
“My little sister is already plenty beautiful without even trying.”
“Really?”
Girls truly thrived on compliments. Hearing Himekoji’s praise, Akiko’s eyes curved happily, and she ran even faster.
The inconvenience of her skirt and strappy sandals didn’t slow her down at all; instead, Himekoji struggled to keep up behind her.
Right then, Himekoji felt he could finally understand how it felt to be the owner pulled around by a big dog. It felt cute and happy, sure, but running like this constantly was just exhausting.
“You… seem to be in a great mood, Akiko.”
Himekoji was even a bit breathless when he spoke again.
Racing on an empty stomach? What torture!
“Of course I am! I’m super happy right now!”
“Yeah? Well, that’s good. But speaking of which…”
“Hmm?”
“…Where exactly are we going? It feels like we’ve been passing the same scenery over and over since just now…”
Like they were going in circles on the same small street? Was it his imagination?
“Where to go? Not sure! I was just happily running around!”
“So it really is…”
Definitely not his imagination.
“Anyway, isn’t running so long making you tired?”
“Not even a little! As long as I’m with Onii-chan, I have endless energy!”
“I feel like I’m dying… Busy outside all day… barely got home for a rest… still starving… then got dragged running down several streets…”
A pained look came over Himekoji’s face as he begged for mercy.
“Eh? Really?”
Only then did Akiko finally seem to grasp Himekoji’s plea. Sticking out her tongue sheepishly, she slowed her steps.
“What shall we eat for dinner?”
Akiko left the choice to Himekoji.
“Maybe walk and see first?”
Himekoji glanced at the shops lining the street. His stomach growled loudly, but nothing really sparked his appetite.
A picky appetite was sometimes the real reason a person went hungry.
“Okay! Let’s walk then!”
Akiko agreed without objection.
So, hand-in-hand, the brother and sister walked leisurely along the street. Their pace was unhurried and relaxed, accompanied by their usual stream of meaningless chatter, mirroring exactly the leisurely, ordinary days described in “OniAi”.
This felt really nice.
Immersed in this atmosphere, even his gnawing hunger didn’t feel quite so urgent anymore.
Come to think of it, it had been so long since he’d been able to spend such unhurried time alone with his sister like this, hadn’t it?
Simply enjoying quiet moments without any worries – doing this occasionally was quite pleasant.
“Exactly right, Onii-chan.”
“Huh? What?”
“The time for just me and Onii-chan is way too short. That’s a very serious problem!”
“Eh?”
Himekoji blinked, momentarily thrown by Akiko’s words, then couldn’t help shaking his head with a wry laugh.
“Honestly, sometimes listening to you is like you’re reading my mind.”
“Of course! Because I’m constantly trying to guess what you’re thinking, Onii-chan!”
“Pfft. I was just saying something offhand. You just climb right up that ladder, huh? Constantly guessing my thoughts? Isn’t that a bit much?”
Himekoji clearly didn’t believe it.
“It’s not too much at all! Because now we’re in the Warring States era of romance!”
Akiko only grew more serious.
“Warring States era of romance?”
The conversation, once again, had veered into territory completely beyond Himekoji’s grasp.
“Isn’t it true? When I first reunited with Onii-chan, you already had two formidable rivals living at home! Thinking back now, that was even in easy mode! It was just the Three Kingdoms standoff. But time passed, and the conflict only became fiercer! More and more factions joined the battlefield!”
Akiko began seriously counting off on her fingers.
“Let me count for you, Onii-chan. Besides me, Nanami, and Mashiro, there’s Yukinoshita-san from your club, there’s Kasumigaoka-san from your publishing house…
“Stop! Stop stop! What kind of examples are those? Your very first one is wrong…”
Bringing up others was one thing, but there was absolutely no possibility Yukinoshita harbored such feelings for him. Himekoji was supremely confident about that.
“Onii-chan, you’re flustered!”
“Flustered? Cough, cough… Flustered about what? Not at all…”
A twinge of guilt surfaced inexplicably. Himekoji masked it with a cough.
“But even so, I’m not worried at all!”
“Ah? Why?”
“Because of course I’m Onii-chan’s rightful wife! Right? Onii-chan, isn’t that right?”
At the same time as speaking, Akiko raised her face, looking at Himekoji with an expectant expression.
Himekoji had no idea what Imouto was expecting him to say—was she hoping for a positive answer?
That really was too bad…
“Akiko, are you sure you really know what a ‘proper wife’ means?”
As he asked this, Himekoji’s face couldn’t help but look a little strange.
“Of course! A proper wife naturally means the wife you openly wed, which is me, Akiko!”
“Cough, you only said half of it, right? A proper wife means the first wife you openly wed! Anyway, if there’s a proper wife, then usually there’d also be extras like concubines, second wives, and mistresses…”
“Ah?! Onii-chan! You actually want to start a harem!”
Akiko looked utterly shocked, as if she was scared by her own brother’s ambition.
“I do not! I never said anything like that at all!”
“Hmph! I’m warning you, Onii-chan!”
“Yes, yes, I get it, I definitely won’t have such thoughts…”
“I want to be the main wife!”
“Ah? Wait, wait, what exactly were you warning me about?”
“I said I want to be the main wife! I don’t care, anyway, only I should be Onii-chan’s proper wife!”
“Huh?”
Akiko’s way of thinking seemed quite different from most people…
Himekoji took a long moment to confirm he hadn’t misheard.
So that was the kind of Imouto she was…
Anyway, he had to change the topic quickly.
The current topic was way too unusual…
“Well, anyway, seeing Akiko like this makes me relieved.”
“Hmm? Relieved? Relieved about what?”
“Because you’re always happy and full of good spirits, so seeing your smile always makes me feel lively.”
“Eh? Really?”
Hearing that, Akiko cheered up right away, looking bright and full of energy.
“That’s great! Being able to bring Onii-chan life is the happiest thing for Akiko!”
“Pfft!”
He couldn’t help but be charmed by Akiko’s frankness and cheerfulness; it swept away all his tiredness and worries from recent days.
“Hearing you say that makes me happy, really happy.”
It felt a bit like the relief of watching your child grow up.
All his earlier efforts, like the trouble he went through to bring Imouto home, hadn’t been wasted.
No, in fact, it felt like great value!
Working many part-time jobs, doing more perverted things—as long as it was for Imouto, it was all worth it!
“Onii-chan, please don’t worry! Akiko will always stay in a good mood and always be full of life! Because just being able to live with Onii-chan makes Akiko the happiest person ever!”
“Mm-hmm, great, really great…”
Himekoji didn’t know what to say, so he just smiled and nodded over and over.
“Onii-chan, thank you.”
“No, Akiko, I should be thanking you.”
“Eh? Why are you saying that?”
“Actually, I was really uneasy before…”
“Uneasy?”
“Yeah, after so many years apart, we finally live together again; I was afraid you might not like me…”
Speaking up to this point, Himekoji slowly lowered his eyes.
He truly had felt that way at the time.
Because back then, everyone around him hated him completely.
Childhood friends broke off contact with him, close classmates yelled at him as a pervert, and his trusted editor almost had him sent to the police station…
He didn’t give up on himself, nor did he become a real lowlife; he kept going by holding on to his teeth because of one belief—
He hadn’t brought Imouto back yet!
Even if everyone thought he was a pervert, even if everyone stayed away, hated him, or avoided him, Imouto would still like him for sure.
In the hardest year of his life so far, he survived on that belief.
“Afraid I might not like Onii-chan? What are you saying, Onii-chan? I always deeply love you!”
“Mm-hmm, I deeply love you too, Akiko.”
Words that he thought would be too embarrassing just came out naturally in this atmosphere.
Only after saying it did he realize; Himekoji blushed a bit late.
“Waaaah waaaaaah!”
But Imouto’s reaction was much more intense than Himekoji’s.
Akiko made a weird, shrill sound; her whole face instantly turned bright red, her originally fair pink cheeks now looked like they might drip blood, and her lips trembled excitedly non-stop.
“Onii-chan! Onii-chan! I finally waited for it! Onii-chan’s love confession! Hearing those words from Onii-chan’s mouth makes me ever so happy! Thinking of the dark days apart from Onii-chan, it’s like being in heaven, paradise, or garden of Eden now!”
“It’s not a love confession though…”
Although he wanted to deny it hard, to not ruin Imouto’s mood, Himekoji just muttered it quietly.
Then, right after, he thought of something.
“By the way, wait a moment; heaven and paradise are fine, but garden of Eden? That sounds quite different from the other two—it’s already gone to the other extreme…”
“Hmph hmph, Onii-chan doesn’t know this, does he? Garden of Eden refers to ‘forbidden love,’ and it suits you and me perfectly!”
“Not at all! We’re proper siblings…”
He was used to Imouto’s way of thinking, but Himekoji still felt a little awkward this time.
“Guh heh heh! I don’t mind Onii-chan being so cold at this level anymore! After all, you just confessed to me; if I had to say, you and I should be in the passionate phase of love now! If we keep going this way, marriage should be happening soon!”
“Is that so? I think you’re just overacting…”
Hearing that, Himekoji could only give a bitter smile.
No, maybe it was better to say he felt better.
Looking at Imouto’s bright smile beside him, Himekoji’s heart felt like it was gently brushed by a cool breeze.
He felt refreshed all over, kind of uplifted, and suddenly his thoughts became clearer.
Thinking back carefully—
The time since meeting Imouto again and living together flew by like it had wings; a lot happened and they went through a lot, but Akiko’s attitude toward him never changed.
Even after learning Onii-chan was a pervert, even after seeing all his strange words and actions, her liking never changed by even a bit.
Though this “liking” was often pretty exaggerated…
Still—
“Hey, Akiko.”
“Hmm, what’s up?”
“Thank you.”
“Huh? Why are you saying something strange again, Onii-chan?”
“It’s not strange.”
Himekoji touched Akiko’s little head with emotion, then spoke gently,
“I am an Onii-chan saved by Imouto.”
……
……