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Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume5 The Sixth Question

2012-04-16T05:04:03Z

128.189.154.190:

'''Yoshii Akira-Sensei's Special English(?) Test'''

Question: Please describe honestly any intimate association or experience with the opposite sex up till now ''‘spit it out even if you have to do it in Japanese!’''.

'''Yoshii Akihisa’s answer:'''

<big>“THAT’S JUST AN INTERROGATION!”</big>

'''Yoshii Akira’s comment:'''

This is a test. If you once hugged someone of the opposite sex, write down that you did so. If you once kissed someone of the opposite sex, write down that you did so. Please answer my question honestly. Later on, nee-san will directly sear—carry out remedials for Aki-kun. You are to study honestly with nee-san tonight.

'''Shimada Minami’s answer:'''

“I once had an encounter.”

'''Yoshii Akira’s answer:'''

Scattering beans [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume5_Translation_Notes_and_References#] doesn’t need to involve relationships with the opposite gender.

Yuuji got into an accident and ended up hospitalized, and Himeji-san went home once school was dismissed.

This continued for another 3 days, and in the blink of an eye, it was Saturday, just like we agreed.

“Aki-kun, nee-san told you before. I’ll have to work in the mornings today and tomorrow, so you still have to watch the house even if you feel bored.”

Nee-san said this to me as she put the breakfast I prepared into her mouth.

“It’s tough working on Sunday, let alone today.”

Nee-san’s been coming home late, and I hardly have the chance to meet her other than morning. It looks like the company’s running well as nee-san seemed to have some stuff she couldn’t finish. She really looks busy.

“Don’t worry. I just need to work in the morning and can come back tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be on vacation on Monday and Tuesday too.”

“I see. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon. We can then have dinner together then. What do you want to eat, nee-san?”

Since it’s a rare chance, I’ll show off my culinary skills to nee-san and cook something good. As for the money to buy the ingredients..oh well, better use what I have and don’t be fussy.

I pondered as I waited for nee-san’s response, but unexpectedly, nee-san refused me with a sharp tone that didn’t allow for any arguments.

“No need. There’s no need for you to do such unnecessary things.”

“Unnecessary things…what does that mean?”

I really didn’t like that tone. What does she mean by asking me not to do anything excessive? It’s been a long time since us siblings met, so I proposed to have a meal together. There’s no need for nee-san’s tone to be that bad, right?

“What do you mean by meaning? I’m telling you exactly as what I said. There’s no need for you to cook dinner.”

“No need to cook dinner? Are you going out because you have an appointment with someone at dinner?”

Maybe it’s not work, but she got some friends to eat with her, right? It can’t be helped in that case. I’ll find a chance next time…but nee-san’s words just now were rather irritating.

“It’s not like this…let’s not talk about this for now. You’re going out too, Aki-kun?”

“Un, yeah? Didn’t I tell you before? I’m going over to stay at my friend’s house for the night and study for the end-of-term tests with everyone.”

“I see. It’s really great to see you so passionate towards your studies.”

I’m not studying because I want to…but because someone kept deducting points without any warning, I’m forced to do such things.

“Don’t cause too much trouble over at Yuuji’s house tonight.”

“Eh? No. I’m going over to Kirishima-san’s house…”

“Kirishima…‘san’?”

WHY DID I JUST MAKE SUCH A FATAL MISTAKE!? AM I AN IDIOT!?

“Aki-kun, nee-san’s so touched that I have to look at you in another light.”

“Eh?”

“You’re not hiding anything from nee-san and would even tell the truth honestly. Nee-san feels that this is a great thing.”

“Ah, un. I’m happy that you can praise me like that.”

“And your determination to overcome obstacles really impressed me.”

Nee-san took out her notebook and added a new demerit value on it.

“Wait, nee-san! Did you just write a 4 digit number? You’re mistake! Kirishima-san’s a girl, but she’s Yuuji’s bride—ah, no! I’m not having an affair with her! Hurry up and erase those 5 digit numbers!”

5 digits…that’s a score even Kirishima-san can’t get. That’s basically a death sentence.

“Then, tell me what’s going on?”

“We, well…anyway, we’re gathering everyone in class to stay overnight at Kirishima-san’s house to get ready for the tests. And we have a lot of people, so Kirishima-san’s house is the only one large enough…”

Kirishima-san was the one who invited us in the first place, but that wasn’t important, so I better skip it.

“In that case, you will be gathering together to study and nothing else, right?”

“Yeah.”

I really can’t have the luxury to think of anything else when I have to raise my points up by 340. No no, even if it’s not about the grades, I can’t just think about those random things.

“If it’s just studying, nee-san don’t have to deduct that much points from you…but nee-san can’t praise you like that.”

“Eh? Why? I’m going to study!”

“It’s a huge mistake when you have to go to someone else’s house to study right before the exams.”

“Tha, that’s because…I’m not good at studies—”

“Aki-kun.”

Nee-san sternly interrupted my words which I couldn’t even say out.

“Nee-san understands how Aki-kun can’t study, and nee-san feels that being able to understand what you don’t understand is an important part of growing up.”

“Uu, un…”

“But even if being able to see your own limitations is something important, you can’t have the thought of ‘I can’t do this because I’m not good at it’, you know. You should have the attitude of working harder than anyone else to make up for this. This attitude is the most important one you should have. Aki-kun , didn’t you use ‘I’m an idiot’ as an excuse and not try to work hard?”

“Uu…”

Nee-san’s direct words caused me to be unable to argue back.

It’s true that when it’s tough or troublesome, no matter what, when I can’t come up with a solution, I would think ‘I’m an idiot, so I can’t do it’.

I never showed such a thought before, but nee-san’s really my own sister. She really understands me. Nee-san’s right. This naïve thinking isn’t good—

“Oi, hold on a sec! in that case, aren’t you the same, nee-san? Using a high and mighty tone to lecture me. What about you?”

“Me? What are you talking about?”

“Cooking! Telling me to work hard, yet regarding the things you’re bad at, you never—”

—BIBEEP!

As if it was pre-timed, the clock in the living room indicated 8am.

“Sorry. It’s been a nice conversation, but the time’s almost up. Nee-san should be going to work now.”

“Argh! That’s dirty! Are you running away? Despicable!”

“Also, I have to deduct you 50 points for going over to stay overnight at a girls’ place.”

“DAMN IT! HURRY UP AND GET OUT, YOU BIG IDIOT!”

“Okay~ I’m going out then.”

I didn’t get points deducted by 4 digits or 5 digits, but my deducted points went up to 390 after a morning. Looks like I have to be more serious in the study group today…

<center>☆</center>

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume5 The Fourth Question

2012-04-15T22:45:13Z

128.189.154.190:

==The Fourth Question==

'''Please indicate the accented syllable of the underlined words in the English sentence below.'''

“Don’t mind. It's your imagination. He had stayed on business in New York yesterday.”

'''Himeji Mizuki’s answer:'''

"It’s your imaginátion."

'''Teacher's comment:'''

Correct answer. Normally, words that end with ‘tion’ will have the syllable before it, so it’s best to remember it.

'''Tsuchiya Kouta’s answer:'''

"It’s your íḿáĝíńáťíóń."

'''Teacher's comment:'''

You won’t be necessarily correct if you accentuate every single letter.

'''Yoshii Akihisa’s answer:'''

"It’s your '''''imagination'''''!"

'''Teacher's comment:'''

Sometimes, I would suspect if you’re really a genius, but that’s just a wrong impression.

I’m living together with that dangerous sister of mine under the same roof

Maybe it’s because of such a tense feeling that my senses became abnormally sharp, or is it that my pre-recognition ability got sharper?

I suffered for an entire day yesterday, and I really felt tired because I studied, which I rarely do. However, for some reason, I opened my eyes before the alarm clock rang.

“…”

“…”

The moment I opened my eyes, I found myself holding onto a pile of cosmetics with both hands and exchanging looks with my sister.

“…Ah…erm…”

What is this person doing in my room so early in the morning?

“Good morning, Aki-kun.”

“Ah, un. Good morning.”

As she said good morning to me so casually, I answered without thinking too much. Wait, now’s not the time to say good morning now!

“Nee-san! Why did you come over to my room!? And what’s with the cosmetics? Are you thinking of bullying me again?”

Is she planning on doodling on my face while I’m sleeping!?

“What do you mean by bullying? That doesn’t sound nice. You should be saying pampering you or playing a little prank on you.”

“Ahh, whatever you say doesn’t matter! Fine, then tell me what kind of prank are you playing!?”

“Sexual related.”

“GET OUT!”

“I understand. Then treat it as revision for last night. I’ll leave if you can translate that into correct English.”

Damn it! A test at this moment? My sister’s too damned despicable! Anyway, I just need to get her out of my room,

“''Take off''!”

“Deduct 10 points.”

Damn it! Deducted again! Isn’t it like this? Let me see…’take’ has the meaning of ‘walk’ or ‘go’, and ‘out’ will have the meaning of ‘out’ here. If I match them up…

“''Take ou—''”

“Unfortunately, if you want to say ''‘take out’'', nee-san will have to take Aki-kun ‘back’ to her own room and dress you like a doll.”

“''Take ouch''!”

This is bad! Got to hurry up and get away—

“Did you say ''‘take ouch’''?...deduct another 10 points.”

—I failed again.

No no. What’s the English form of ‘get out’…what, what is it…

“Aki-kun, did you want to say ''‘take off clothes’''?”

Perhaps she couldn’t stand seeing me panicking as nee-san helped me out. This is great! I don’t know what that means, but I should be able to escape then!

“Tha, that’s right! That’s it! ''‘Take off clothes, hurry!’''”

“I understand that. If Aki-kun says so, nee-san can only give up on marriage.”

What! What does ''‘take off clothes’'' mean? Why did nee-san say that she can only give up on marriage!

“Alright, considering all the punishment from yesterday, that should be enough with the jokes.”

“Eh? Jokes? Then what about the point deduction?”

“I’m serious with that one.”

“YOU DEMON!”

In that case, I will have 240 points deducted. I’m doomed. It’s getting worse day by day…

“On a side note, ''‘take of clothes’'' is translated as ‘taking off clothing’. Really, our Aki-kun here is so perverted.”

“Ahaha, what are you saying. It doesn’t benefit me one bit even if I see nee-san’s naked body.”

“…Deduct 30 points from you.”

“YOU’RE THE DEVIL!”

There will be real problems if the younger brother is interested in his sister’s naked body.

“Speaking of which, while Aki-kun was sleeping in the morning, nee-san used the excuse of cleaning to check your room.”

“Excuse…that’s not something you can just say…”

“I found two more H-books.”

“HAAAAUUUU!!”

How did this person find those old books that even I've completely forgotten…

“So I’m going to deduct from you another 20 points.”

“Uu…so you’re deducting one book for 10 points, and two books for 20 points?”

“Nope, you’re mistaken.”

Eh? That’s not it?

“I found 6 books up till now, but none of them were about affairs with older sisters, so I deducted 20 points from you.”

“ISN’T THAT WAY TOO UNREASONABLE!?”

I already have a sister, how can I even go and buy those kinds of ero-books! Speaking of which, since she’s my real sister, shouldn’t she feel disgusted if she saw such things?

“I might be a little bit too strict, but I hope that it all will serve as a good lesson for Aki-kun. This is nee-san’s love for Aki-kun.”

“WHO WOULD BELIEVE SUCH A LAME EXCUSE AFTER YOU'VE CLEARLY SHOWED ALL YOUR PERSONAL INTERESTS?!”

“Alright, you should leave after having your breakfast. Nee-san has to go to work today.”

“Uu…I can’t stand such a life…”

How is it that living together with a relative under one roof could be such a pain?

<center>☆</center>

“That’s the case, Yuuji. So let’s have a happy study group later again!”

After school, I packed my bag at the fastest speed possible and hurriedly ran over to Yuuji’s seat.

“…Akihisa. These words sound really disgusting when they aren’t things you’ll normally say.”

“Whatever you say. I’m not bothered with thinking about what other people say.”

The more my points got deducted, I have nothing to do other than to try to improve my grades.

“What the heck, you got deducted again?”

“Un…nee-san tested me English early in the morning…”

Testing me just when I woke up; there has to be a limit to how despicable one should be! But I guess it doesn’t matter what the time was, since I just couldn’t think of the answer…

“ReallY? Then how much were you deducted?”

“In all, 290. This is bad.”

“290, huh. Looks like you have to get at least 1090 points for your end-of-term exams.”

“Yeah. Even if I’m in good condition, my maximum will be about 1000. If I can’t get more than 50 points more…”

If I can get 1100 points, it will be the average in E class. To be honest, I have no confidence about that.

“If it’s just like that, you should be able to do it.”

“Eh? Really?”

“If you’re willing to work like crazy memorizing things that you have to remember, you should be able to improve your grades. In your case, world history should be your big chance. I remember it was only about 50, 60 points?”

“Un. You really remembered that.”

“I’m the class rep of F class after all.”

Yuuji would check everyone’s scores before starting a summoning war. As a commander, he definitely has to know his own class’ grades.

“It seems that the one responsible for the end-of-term test is going to be different from the one for the streaming exam - it's going to be Tanaka-sensei. This should be a good thing for you, right?”

“Tanaka-sensei…if he’s the one making the questions, it will be a lot easier to get the points.

Tanaka-sensei, who’s in charge of world history, is a kind middle-aged man. As the questions he sets are very simple, he’s highly regarded amongst the students.

Normally, simpler questions wouldn’t determine how good or bad the grades are, and a test that doesn’t determine how good or bad the standard is would be meaningless.

But to me now, this is something I really need. Besides, the important thing isn’t to compete with the other classmates, but to get points.

“It should be easier to get points from subjects that only needs memorizing than those subjects you’re good at.”

“You, right. Even if I start studying maths now, I probably won’t get any good grades.”

To me, the key to getting points at this end-of-term tests will be world history.

Just when Yuuji and I were discussing how to deal with the tests and things like that, Hideyoshi, who was holding onto his bag, came to us.

“What are you discussing about? Are we having another study group at Akihisa’s house?”

“My house? Un…nee-san’s out to work, so she won’t be around at night, so you can come along. But…”

“But?”

“It’s better to go to Yuuji’s house to study. It’s better to change places once in a while other than mine. And my house doesn’t have any reference books, so we can’t study if there’re things we don’t have.”

I immediately suggested that we study at Yuuji’s place.

It’s not a lie when I say that I don’t have any reference books at all, but the reason why I chose Yuuji’s place is actually because I want to drag him down. That Yuuji always has no interest in things he’s not interested in, so if I don’t do this, I will worry that he won’t teach me. He said that he will help me for the sake of the next summoning battle, but I have to be prepared.

“Can we, Yuuji? You did come over to my house forcefully yesterday.”

“Well, we did force our way to your house yesterday alright…”

Yuuji pondered for a while,

“Alright then, we’ll come over to my house then. My mom’s going to a hot springs trip and isn’t at home now. That’s really lucky.”

I don’t know what’s worth being happy about Yuuji’s mother not being at home, but he agreed rather heartily. Now I can ask him to teach me today.

“In that case, can I join in too? It’s really hard to be motivated studying alone.”

“Of course it’s okay. Or rather, the same few will be gathered here, right? In that case, might as well gather them to save time.”

“You’re right. Oi, Muttsurini, Himeji-san, Minami!”

I hollered out to the other three who were waiting in the classroom.

“Yes, what’s the matter, Akihisa-kun?”

“What?”

“…Where’re we going?”

Having packed their bags, the trio carried them and walked over.

“Un. We intend to study at Yuuji’s house. If you guys are alright…”

Perhaps it’s to prepare for the upcoming end-of-term exams as everyone agreed wholeheartedly.

<center>☆</center>

After a 15 minute walk from the school, we arrived at Yuuji’s place, located in a corner of the residence district.

“““Please excuse us.”””

After taking off our shoes at the corridor, we entered the house one by one.

Unlike my house, Yuuji’s house is a 2-storeyed bungalow and looked wider than mine. It should be easier to study here.

“Yuuji, isn’t anyone else at home?”

I walked forward and asked Yuuji who was about to lead us to his room.

“Ahh, my dad’s still working at this time, and my mom went off to a hot springs trip with her high school friends, so please don’t feel restrained and make yourself at home.”

“I see. The last time I came here, it seemed that your relatives weren’t at home, Yuuji.”

“Yeah. But it’ll be better if they’re not at home in more than one way.”

Yuuji smiled cheerily and opened the door leading to the living room, and then,

“……(Guchi guchi guchi guchi)!”

There’s a woman focusing on squeezing a bubble bag.

“…”

—BATAN!

Yuuji wordlessly closed the door.

“Yu, Yuuji? That person who’s squeezing the bubble bags that’s piled up like a hill is—”

“…Someone I don’t know.”

“Is, is that Sakamotos mother…? Why is she squeezing so many bubble bags…”

“Ye, yeah. Aren’t there too many of them? If she wants to squeeze so many of them, it will take about 1, 2 hours.”

“…Such amazing concentration.”

“Is Sakamoto-kun’s mother line of work squeezing bubble bags?”

All sorts of ideas appeared in everyone’s mind. What was that just now…

“Must be some patient with a psychiatric disorder. Don’t know how she got into my house, because my mom’s should be off on the hot springs trap.”

It’s really rare for Yuuji to make such a lie that anyone could see through. This Yuuji can cheat other people’s hearts like a professional con-man and I thought that such an evil Yuuji is no different from the devil, so I’m rather surprised by his response now.

Yuuji closed the door leading to the living room, and we can only stay in the corridor. At this moment, the voice of that so-called stranger Yuuji said could be heard.

“Oh my? I didn’t think it would be that late now. I remember Yuuji just went to school.”

Looks like the person inside the room has been squeezing bubble bags for almost 8 hours.”

“I’ll finish the rest after I have lunch.”

And it looks like she wants to continue.

“DAMN MOM! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?”

Seemingly unable to stand this any further, Yuuji finally stepped into the living room. Really? That person’s really Yuuji’s mother…

“Oh my, Yuuji. You’re back.”

“TO HELL I AM! WHY THE HECK ARE YOU AT HOME!? DIDN’T YOU SAY THAT YOU’RE GOING OUT ON A HOT SPRINGS TRIP AND STAYING OUTSIDE!?”

“About this, it seemed that okaa-san here mistook the time. July and October look really easy to mix up on first glance. How troublesome.”

“HOW IS IT EASY TO MIX UP!? THE NUMBER’S DIFFERENT, AND ONE’S A SINGLE DIGIT WHILE THE OTHER IS A DOUBLE DIGIT! THEY’RE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!”

“Really, you, Yuuji, treating okaa-san as a naive female high school student.”

“STOP USING THAT SHAMELESS EXCUSE TO ESCAPE THE PROBLEM! YOUR GOLDEN AGE ENDED MORE THAN 10 YEARS AGO!!”

“Oh my, are these Yuuji’s friends?”

“ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!?”

We were already stunned by such a crazy conversation. A, amazing…how should I describe it? Anyway…it’s amazing…

“Everyone, welcome here. Our Yuuji has bothered you a lot. I’m his mother. Just call me Yukino.”

Aunty Yukino smiled kindly at us and said gracefully. The gentle presence that she gave really made it hard to imagine that she would have any blood relation to Yuuji.

And also, after seeing her look, there’s one thing we’re all shocked by.

“Sa, Sakamoto? Your mother’s…way too young, isn’t she?”

“Yeah…I’d feel that Yuuji’s mom is so young that she never gave birth before…”

“…A beauty”

“I feel that she’s more like Sakamoto-kun’s sister~”

Just like what everyone said, she looked more like an older sister who was somewhat older than Yuuji more than a mother. Speaking of which, how old is she anyway?

“Ever... everyone, just pretend that you never saw my mother and head to my room.”

“U, un. Pardon us for intruding then.”

After bowing to his mother, we head over to Yuuji’s room on the second level.

“Everyone, I’ll bring tea over to you later.”

A voice came from the living room. It’s great to have a young and pretty and kind mom…even though it feels a little weird.

“My room’s here. Please enter.”

We entered Yuuji’s room as he led us in.

Once we went up the stairs, we arrived at Yuuji’s room. It’s rather neatly packed, which is surprising. For a one-person room, it’s rather wide.

“Speaking of which, it’s been a while since I came to Yuuji’s house.”

“I’d say so too.”

“…Me too.”

It seemed that ever since I came here last autumn with Hideyoshi and Muttsurini, we never entered Yuuji’s house again.

“Eh? Don’t you normally come over?”

“Normally, they would come over to my house. We hardly come over to Yuuji’s house, and even Muttsurini or Hideyoshi’s house.”

“The place’s great and it’s wide. Akihisa’s house still the best.”

“That’s because Akihisa-kun’s being too luxurious living in such a large house.”

“Other than the three meals.”

Yeah yeah, but I will have to see the grades of this end-of-term tests to decide whether I can live my luxurious happy life of living alone.

“But…with so many people inside, my room will be too small, which is troublesome…”

There were 6 people altogether. If we were chit-chatting, it would still be alright, but if we open all our textbooks and notes, the place will be rather small and hard to move in.

“Can’t we go to your living room?”

“It’s not that we can’t, but my mom’s over there. With her around, we can’t possibly study.”

Yuuji showed a thoroughly irritated look. It may be my lucky day to know of this guy’s weakness other than Kirishima-san.

“Really, how can you say that, Sakamoto-kun? Treating your own mother as a form of trouble.”

“Himeji, you’re saying that because you’re not living with such a mother. If you have to live with her for 24 hours a day under the same roof, you’ll find that there’s a lot of points you have to snark at her about—”

Prrr! Prrr!

Just when Yuuji was arguing back, a certain electronic sound suddenly rang inside the room. Someone’s handphone probably rang.

“Ah, it’s my phone. Sorry, I’ll take the call.”

Minami took the phone from her skirt pocket and put it at her ear. It’s not a message but a direct call. Is there something urgent?

“Hello? Ah, Mut—okaa-san. What is it? …Un…un. I see, got it then.”

This call lasted less than a minute as Minami put the phone back into her skirt pocket.

“Did something happen, Minami?”

“Un…my mom originally didn’t need to go to work and could stay at home…but it seemed that the company suddenly got something urgent, so she has to go out.”

“Ah, is that so? Then Hazuki-chan’s the only one at home, is it?”

“Ya. Sorry everyone, looks like I have to go home today. Let’s work hard together next time.”

I see. It’s a pity, but it couldn’t be helped. Besides, it’s too much leaving a primary school kid at home.

Minami then took her bag and got ready to leave Yuuji’s room. But at this moment, Yuuji called Minami.

“Wait, Shimada. In that case, why don’t we move the study group over to your house?”

“Eh? My house?”

Minami’s house. I see, that’s a good idea.

“That’s not a bad idea too. Shimada’s little sister knows us, and Yuuji’s room is so full of people that it’s a little cramped here..”

“And we can meet Hazuki-chan too.”

“…I can cook dinner for you.”

The rest of us agreed with this proposal. Most importantly, it looks like Yuuji, who proposed this, wants to change the place no matter what.

“If you’re willing, Minami, can we go over?”

“U…you, you’re right…”

That’s weird? It sounds like Minami’s not willing. I do find this a good idea.

“The, then, let’s go over to my house then…”

After pondering for a while, Minami still agreed in the end. That’s great, now Hazuki-chan won’t have to feel lonely, and everyone can gather together and study.

“But you absolutely must not enter my room!”

For some reason, Minami stared at my eyes as she said that. Do I look like someone who’ll enter a girl’s room on my own? And to think Minami’s more wary of me instead of Muttsurini? How regretful.

“Alright. Since it’s decided, let’s hurry up and leave! That pipsqueak will feel lonely if we leave her alone at home!”

After saying that, Yuuji pushed us from behind and hurriedly moved over to the corridor. Does he really hate having a mom at home while studying?

Yuuji entered the living room while we were putting on our shoes at the corridor to talk to Aunt Yukino.

“Mom, I’m going out. There are leftovers from yesterday in the fridge, so take it out and reheat it for dinner.”

“Oh my, are you going out? I just brewed tea.”

“Sorry, there’s some sudden situation…speaking of which, why are you holding onto that bottle of noodle sauce?”

“Noodle sauce? Oh my, I thought it was coffee.”

“Mom…I won’t ask you to take note of the color or taste, but at least you should read the label on the bottle…”

What’s going on? Why do I feel that Yuuji feels even more lethargic at home than at school?

<center>☆</center>

“I’m back. Are you here, Hazuki?”

Minami immediately called into the house once she opened the door to the corridor.

“Waa, onee-chan? You, you’re back?”

A little profile dashed out from the other side of the corridor.

The girl with the almond-shaped eyes that were twitching upwards and two ponytails tied in butterfly knots is Minami’s little sister—Shimada Hazuki.

“? Hazuki? Did you come out from onee-chan’s room?”

Looks like Hazuki-chan just came running out from Minami’s room.

“Ah, auu…actually it’s because…it feels lonely being alone, so Hazuki went over to onee-chan’s room…”

Hazuki-chan sounded like she really had something she didn’t want to say, and there seemed to be something hidden in the pocket of her parka.

“Did you go over to my room to get the doll? Onee-chan won’t get angry over that.”

“Re, really? Thank you, onee-chan!”

Good good. Minami patted Hazuki-chan gently on the head. I saw that their conversation has ended, and took a step forward from behind Minami and said hello to Hazuki-chan.

“Hello there, Hazuki-chan.”

“Ah! Baka onii-chan!”

On seeing that I came over, Hazuki-chan leaped into me with her arms wide open without a second word. After hugging at my waist, Hazuki-chan rubbed her forehead at my waist a few times. Un un, as expected of Minami’s little sister…her forehead precisely fit right into my solar plexus.

“Hello there, Hazuki-chan. We came along.”

“Waah. Even pretty onee-chan is here. There’re a lot of guests here today!”

It’s really lonely for a primary school kid to be alone at home, as Hazuki-chan immediately showed a smile the moment she saw that we came here and looked extremely delighted. Such an honest kid is really suited for the term ‘innocent’.

“Okay, Hazuki, let go of Aki, or else everyone else can’t enter the house.”

“Okay, I got it. Baka onii-chan, everyone, please follow me.”

“Okay okay, Hazuki-chan, you don’t have to pull me. I’ll follow—nn?”

As I was pulled over down the corridor by Hazuki-chan, I accidentally glimpsed the inside of a door that wasn’t locked. There are a few dolls inside, and at the middle is a familiar large doll. The doll looks like it’s holding onto something.

What’s in the grasp of that fox doll? It looks like…a photo frame…?

“Wa, wait a second, Aki!?”

“Houe?”

On hearing Minami call me, I consciously turned around. At this moment, my forehead, nose and chin were struck with a strong force. Just when I lost my balance, the joints on my wrists were twisted with such violent force that they were dislocated.

“What are you looking at?”

I suppose right now I'm looking into the pit of hell.

“Listen! This is the room that you’re not allowed to enter!”

Minami hurriedly closed the door, and at this moment, Muttsurini too joined me with dislocated wrists. Minami then turned around and furiously pointed at me. Un, relax, I definitely won’t open this door. I know clearly that this door leads straight to hell.

“Really, what in the world are you guys doing…how have you been doing, pipsqueak?”

“Hazuki’s doing well, muscular onii-chan.”

“Really? That’s good.”

Yuuji reached out and patted Hazuki-chan’s head twice before putting his hand on her head. It seems that Yuuji likes to put his hand on Hazuki-chan’s forehead because of the difference in height.

“Oh yeah, is your living room in this direction?”

“Yes, it’s this way.”

Yuuji looks like he regained his composure and attitude the moment he left his house. If I had known, I would have mocked him further.

“Find a place to sit then. I’ll move a table over.”

Minami walked over in front of us and got ready to move a table so that we can open our textbooks and read.

“? Onee-chan? Why do you need the table? Are you playing cards?”

Hazuki-chan tilted her head in a puzzled manner as she saw Minami’s actions.

Ahh, that’s right. We haven’t told Hazuki-chan the reason why we came over to her house.

“Hazuki. Onee-chan’s school is going to have end-of-term tests soon, so onee-chan brought her classmates over to study.”

On hearing Minami’s explanation, Hazuki-chan showed a lonely expression and looked down slightly.

“Auu…so you’re going to study…Hazuki can only go back to her room and not bother you…”

I should say she either really knows how to read the mood or is very cognitive. Hazuki-chan was ready to go back to her room without us saying a thing.

This is really a response a good kid should have, but…

“Wait a moment, Hazuki-chan. If you don’t feel bored, why don’t you study with us? You can do your homework or study.”

It’s not a good thing if a kid can really read people’s moods. She was already happy when she saw us come over. Wouldn’t it be really lonely if she were to hide back into her room alone like that?

“Eh? Hazuki can stay with everyone to study?”

Her expression immediately brightened.

“Of course you can. Right?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s teaching one or two people.”

“Yuuji, are you saying that I’m only on the level of a fifth-grader?”

“Hazuki-chan. Let’s study together.”

“I don’t think this me has anything to teach you, but I’d be willing to welcome you to study with us.”

“…If it’s health education, I can teach you.”

Muttsurini, those words of yours are just within the limit (it’s nearly an out there).

(Aki, are you really alright with that? Don’t you have to work hard for the tests this time?)

Minami kept her voice down to prevent Hazuki-chan from hearing that and whispered into my ear. She really seemed concerned with my grades.

(It’s alright. Hazuki-chan’s a good kid and won’t be a hindrance. Also, it’ll be too pitiful if she were to stay in her room alone. I won’t be able to work hard then.)

Minami was really over-thinking things… of course that was my response,

(…Thank you, Aki.)

She whispered to me in a shy manner.

Minami will occasionally look at me in a gentle manner. After seeing her like this, I…well, about this…what should I say..

“Hazuki wants to study with everyone!”

“Very good. Bring your homework over then.”
“Got it!”

Tototo. Hazuki-chan scampered away. Even though she’s just studying with us, she looks really happy there.

“Alright. We’re going to move the table. I’ll help.”

“Ah, there’s no need. I can do it myself.”

“Really? Yeah. If there’s a ‘photo of a certain person in the house’, of course you won’t wish that other people will go around, and I won’t insist on helping.”

“Wh-wha-what, what are you saying, Sakamoto!? Did you…see what’s inside that room!?”

“Nothing, I’m just joking…”

“To think that Shimada still have the heart of a girl.”

“…Sorry for using your generosity to help my business.”

Looks like Minami does go over to buy photos from Muttsurini. Muttsurini Company is really the real deal.

“Oh yeah. We can talk about the hidden things later. What about dinner?”

“…Should I cook something?”

“I don’t mind.”

It’s 5pm now. If we want to cook, we have to buy the ingredients, and we won’t be able to make it later.

“Why don’t we order pizza? It’ll take some time to cook something.”

“Yes. Akihisa-kun has to study quite a bit. We can’t waste time cooking.”

It’s great that the two girls were so kind. Besides, I do have some spare cash now, so it’ll be great if we can prioritize cooking.

“Well, I’d thought we would be able to see Shimada cook personally.”

“After last night, my confidence was so shaken thoroughly, so…”

“I see. I’d understand.”

“Everyone, find a place to sit. I’ll move the table over.”

Minami went away, and Hazuki-chan seemed to brush past her as her arms were full of textbooks while she came over.

“Sorry to keep everyone waiting.”

“You look rather motivated, Hazuki-chan.”

“Yes. Ah, baka onii-chan, please sit here.”

Hazuki-chan put the books in her hand onto the living room table, and then put a cushion onto the carpet. Is she asking me to sit on it?

“Thank you, Hazuki-chan.”

“It’s nothing much.”

I obediently sat on the cushion, and then—

“Hazuki’s seat is over here.”

Hazuki-chan then sat on my knees. I see, so that’s how it is.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ll put this table—hey, Hazuki, what are you doing?”

“Ehehe~ Hazuki wants to sit here and study.”

“No way. You’ll get in Aki’s way!”

Minami started lecturing in a way an older sister should be doing. It’ll be great if she just tell me off instead of taking action for real when she faces me…

“I’m fine here, Minami. Hazuki-chan’s so small anyway.”

As compared to support pile of stone slabs and being forced down hard, I don’t feel hurt at all when Hazuki-chan’s sitting on my legs.

“You’re so kind, baka onii-chan.”

It will be problematic if I have to take out my notebooks or start writing, but my main aim today is to memorize history thoroughly, so there won’t be any problems. I just need a memorization sheet to study unlike homework where I have to write.

“It’s alright if you’re fine with that…but Aki, don’t you feel weird somewhere?”

“Akihisa-kun, if there’s any strange feeling, something bad will happen!”

“Yes, ladies, I have no evil intent at all.”

With this, we’re finally able to finish our preparations. The few of us plus Hazuki-chan were finally able to start studying for the end-of-term tests.

<center>☆</center>

After about 2 hours of studying and a luxurious meal of pizza, we continued to study. It’s rare to have nothing troublesome, and time peacefully passed.

“Un? It’s so late already. Shouldn’t the study meet be over or something?”

Before I noticed it, the clock was showing 9.30pm.

“Wow, time sure does fly by fast.”

“…We were very focused.”

“It’s already pitch black outside.”

Once Yuuji said that, everyone put down their pens. I made quite a bit of progress because Himeji-san and Yuuji’s teaching methods were very easy. If I can continue on like this, I should be able to chase nee-san back overseas, I suppose?

“That should be it for today. We should be going.”

“You’re right, thank you Minami-chan.”

“Ah, un, I should be the one thanking you. Hazuki, you should be—Hazuki?”

“Zzzz…”

“Ahaha, looks like she’s tired.”

Unknowingly, Hazuki-chan fell asleep in my lap.

“Really, Hazuki…sorry Aki. Can you help me move her onto the sofa?”

“Ah, okay, I was planning on doing so.”

Hazuki-chan was tugging at my shirt even when she was sleeping as she didn’t let go even when I carried her to the sofa. I won’t be able to go home like this.

“Oi, Hazuki, wake up. How is Aki going to go home if you continue to tug at him?”

Minami patted Hazuki-chan on the shoulder.

“Nu…”

At this moment, Hazuki-chan finally opened her eyes slightly.

“Don’t…go home…”

Hazuki-chan muttered and tugged harder at my shirt.

“Hazuki, onee-chan’s going to be angry if you say such stubborn things.”

Minami spoke with a heavier tone. At this moment, I can see that Minami is a kind and yet strict older sister to Hazuki-chan when it comes to it.

“…Onee-chan doesn’t understand…”

“Eh? What?”

“…Onee-chan can often play with baka onii-chan…but Hazuki can only be with baka onii-chan at such a moment…”

“““…”””

She’s all sleepy, which is why she said such things, but the few of us who are awake were stunned to actually hear Hazuki-chan’s true thoughts accidentally. So Hazuki-chan really admires me that much…

“Eh…Minami, if you’re not bothered, can I stay over to study for a while longer?”

“Eh?”

“Yeah. Since the pipsqueak said so, Akihisa should stay behind.”

“It sure is thus. Akihisa, being a popular guy is tough.”

“…You're really popular.”

Everyone started to make fun of me as they jabbed at me, but this isn’t a bad feeling. I’m really happy to hear such words of goodwill that can ease my emotions, especially with that out-of-sorts sister of mine launching perverted attacks on me.

“Is, is that so…sorry Aki. Please accompany Hazuki for a while more.”

“Un.”

Since Minami allowed me, I should stay behind to study more. Besides, there’re some parts of the lesson today that I don’t really understand.

“Ah, well…in that case, I should…”

“Eh? Himeji-san, you can’t stay behind. It’ll be dangerous for a girl to go back home alone if it’s too late. Better get Yuuji to send you back home.”

“But I’m really worried, in many ways…”

“I understand your feelings.”

“No, you don’t understand what I’m worried about, Akihisa-kun!”

“???”

For some reason, Himeji-san seemed to be angry.

“I’ll send Himeji home. Muttsurini, bring Hideyoshi home.”

“…I accept.”

“I’d won’t really accept this, but this couldn’t be helped…”

As we continued to drag on, time continued to fly. Cute kids like Himeji-san and Hideyoshi will really be in danger if they walk back home alone at night. They were hounded by some malicious weird guys before in the Cool Summer Festival, so we have to take note.

“Then, I’ll…”

But even so, Himeji-san just wouldn’t agree. It’s not that I don’t understand that she’s worried about Hazuki-chan, but…

“But no matter how much you ask, no means no, Himeji-san.”

“But but…”

“No buts. There’s a lot of dangerous people outside, so you have to watch out for your own safety and go back home early!”

“Give it up, Himeji. No matter how much you say, Akihisa won’t change his mind.”

“…Uu…why did it end up like this…”

On hearing Hazuki-chan’s lonely words, kind Himeji-san definitely won’t leave her alone, but it’s very late now, so I’ll take over here.

“We’ll be going then. Thank you for today, Shimada.”

“I’d feel bothered for disturbing you for too long too.”

“…Thanks.”

“Thank you, Minami-chan…”

Including Himeji-san, who looked somewhat stressed out, everyone thanked Minami and headed off to the corridor.

“Everyone, see you tomorrow.”

My shirt was still being tugged at by Hazuki-chan, so I could only remain there and wait for everyone else to leave.

“Wait, I’ll send you off.”

Minami then got up and followed everyone out.

“Alright, I should be studying now.”

I sat in the living room that felt immediately empty, and reached out for the notes Himeji-san specially made. Himeji-san’s words are pretty, and it’s easy to read. The notes are really so good that I can grasp the important points of the exams. With these notes, my grades will definitely improve.

I took the highlighted notes and stuffed their contents into my brains.

“Suu…suu…”

A steady breathing sound could be heard at my knees.

Sleeping Hazuki-chan feels very warm, and it feels even more comfy with the air-con switched on in the room. No, it’s not because of the warmth, but it’s that her fawning over me like this made me really happy. Besides, nee-san’s been talking about exam grades and living lifestyles and nagging about all these recently, which made me feel that such a time is really precious.

I held onto the memorizing sheet and continued to memorize in a dazed manner, and time passed by just like that.

“Sorry for that, Aki, troubling you like that.”

Minami, who sent everyone off, soon came back.

“Uun, I don’t find it troublesome.”

“…Thank you.”

After thanking me in a shy manner, Minami sat beside me and gently patted Hazuki-chan on the head.

“Nyuu…”

“This kid’s really…”

Minami sat beside me and patted Hazuki-chan’s head, and Hazuki-chan, who was lying on my leg, seemed to twitch due to itchiness.

“Minami and Hazuki-chan are really close.”

“Yeah. It’s not bad.”

“Looking at you two, I really want to smile there.”

“What are you saying? Aren’t you on good relations with your sister, Aki?”

“Eh? Since when! I’ve been watched by her, and everything family related ended up with me. She will even nag at me. There’s nothing good about it at all!”

“But didn’t you sister say ‘I love Aki-kun the most’?”

“…Please forget about that.”

“Uu, I feel that she was joking at the last bit.”

“Of course she is!”

Or rather, I’ll be really bothered if she wasn’t joking.

““…””

As we looked at Hazuki-chan’s sleeping face, Minami and I went silent.

[[Image:1212_169.jpg|thumb]]

“Well, Aki, that…”

“Nn? What is it?”

“That doll in my room…”

“Ahh, are you talking about the large fox doll in the room?”

“Un, that fox doll—Aki bought it for me, right?”

Nn?

Speaking of which, Hazuki-chan back then said that she wanted to buy the doll for her older sister, and Hazuki-chan’s sister is Minami…

“I see. So I helped Hazuki-chan buy the doll for Minami.”

“Eh? Don’t tell me you didn’t even realize this?”

Minami gave me a look as if she’s treating me like an idiot again.

How rude. It’s not that I didn’t notice it. I just didn’t think of it.

“Well, this can’t be helped since Aki’s like that.”

“Minami, are you actually secretly mocking me now?”

“Yeah, because you’re an idiot, Aki. It can’t be helped.”

“Minami, are you actually mocking me now?”

There’s no need to deliberately pick on it.

“After the Cool Summer Festival, I wondered how Hazuki knew about Aki, so I asked Hazuki about everything.”

“Ahh, is that so. Speaking of which, I don’t think we told you about that.”

It’s no wonder she would be wondering how her little sister who’s in primary school would know about her classmate.

“After hearing Hazuki explain it, I felt…really happy.”

“This is to be expected. You should be happy after knowing that your sister worked so hard to cheer you up.”

“…”

I’m so envious that Minami has such an understanding sister.

“Haa…really, you’re a blockhead.”

Minami sighed hard and said this to me.

Whether it’s the brain, looks or lifestyle, it looks like I have an inexplicable link to the word ‘lousy’.

“You saw that doll when you've looked into my room earlier, right?”

“Ah, un. I only saw the large doll holding onto a photo frame or something.’

“That photo frame…”

“Un.”

“Don’t you want to know…whose photo I put on it?”

“Eh?”

What’s with this mysterious conversation? I suppose the photo frame has the picture of Hazuki-chan who gave her the doll, or a family photo or something like that, isn’t it...? If not, it should be the photo of someone Minami likes—

“Nyuu!”

““HYAAA!!””

At this moment, Hazuki-chan, who was all sleepy, suddenly sat on my legs. Tha, that scared me!

“Nyuu…”

And Hazuki-chan leaned back down again. Did, did she really fall asleep?

“A, ahaha…that scared me.”

“Ye, yeah. Me too.”

During this time, Minami and I could only laugh awkwardly.

To change this strange atmosphere that’s flowing between us, I suppose I should look for something else to talk about. Let me see…

“Ah, Hazuki-chan let go of my shirt when she moved.”

“Eh? Ah, really.”

Most likely, she let go when she got up. That’s good.

“I suppose it’s about time for me to go.”

I carried Hazuki-chan and laid her down on the soda. It hasn't been long since Yuuji and the rest left, so if I walk faster, I should be able to catch up to those guys.

“Really…then see you tomorrow.”

“Un.”

I put my textbooks and notes into the bag and reached out for the door handle of the living room.

Just when I was about to open the door and got ready to step out of the living room,

“…Aki.”

“Nn?”

“…You can go over to my room…to look at that photo…”

Minami said to me.

“U, un…”

With such a ridiculous pressure, I could only nod my head.

Minami didn’t say anything much after that and silently turned her head away.

“I, I’ll be going then…”

After closing the living room door, I walked towards the corridor.

“…The photo in Minami’s room…”

Since she said so, I can’t go home directly without taking a look at it.

From the conversation just now, I can guess that the big fox doll is holding onto the photo of the person Minami admires, and there’s a chance—it’s my photo.

“…(Gulp).”

I reached out for Minami’s door with my sweaty and tense hand and peeked into the room. I checked the photo in that frame. I then put on my shoes and opened the corridor door to leave Minami’s house.

Is that so…so Minami—

“A, Aki should have seen it, right? That photo…if he sees it, even an idiot should be able to understand…in that case, I can finally…”

“Nyuu…”

“Ah, Hazuki? You’re awake?”

“I’m awake…”

“Since you’re awake, change into your pajamas and go to sleep. If you feel lonely, onee-chan will sleep with you.”

“No…Hazuki borrowed a photo from onee-chan’s room, so Hazuki won’t feel lonely…”

“Really? It’s good that you won’t…eh? Wait, photo? The photo from my room?”

“Hazuki went over to borrow baka onii-chan’s photo from onee-chan’s room, so Hazuki won’t feel lonely…”

“Eehh? The, then, the photo in my room is…”

“Hazuki replaced it with the Mr Ape that’s used as the theme for the arts lesson at school…”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

—So Minami likes apes…well, how to put it. it really shocked me in many ways…

<center>☆</center>

Being completely shocked by the shocking words of my classmate, I couldn’t help but hasten my speed. Less than 5 minutes, I saw Yuuji and Himeji-san walking in front of me. Eh? They didn’t go far? Did they take the long way?

“Ex, excuse me. I think I left something at Minami’s house…”

“Don’t worry, you didn’t forget anything. I checked thoroughly before we left Shimada’s house.”

“Uu…no, well…I have some place I want to go to….”

“It’s too late now. Better go tomorrow.”

“Hau…the, then, I have something I have to say to Minami.”

“…That’s enough already, Himeji. You’re just wasting your time now.”

“B, but…”

“No buts. That sound came from your handphone, right? Your parents should be worried about their daughter who’s back late for 2 days, right?”

“I, I sent a message over to them. Sakamoto-kun, please, let me go back!”

“It’s not that I don’t understand your feelings. Of course I want to let you go back there if I could…”

I ran over to the duo who seemed to be talking about something.

“What are you talking about, Yuuji?”

“Kya!? A, Akihisa-kun!”

“Oh, Akihisa, you’re rather fast.”

“Yeah. Hazuki-chan woke up soon after you guys left.”

But I never expected that Yuuji and the rest didn’t go far.

“Oh yeah, what were you two talking about?”

“Well…what do you say it is, Himeji?”

“We, well…”

Himeji-san looked around. That’s weird. Is it something that’s hard to talk about?

“Forget about that. Akihisa-kun, what did you talk about with Minami-chan alone?”

“Eh?”

The unexpected question came at me before I could even get prepared, causing me to make a weird sound.

I, I can’t say it! I really can’t tell everyone about that shocking secret thing about Minami…

“Wha, what happened?”

“Eh, erm, about this…”

Himeji-san continued to stare into my eyes, and it looked like any lies I try to make won’t escape her eyes.

“Is it related…to someone she likes?”

“Ugh!”

I let out a surprised sound as she guessed correctly. Himeji-san, your sixth sense today seems to be really sharp.

“Can you please…tell me exactly what happened?”

“Ugh…”

Himeji-san’s expectant eyes really hurt me.

But no matter what she says, I can’t do it. Besides…how can I say that a girl in my class likes apes…

“Akihisa-kun…”

“Sorry…Himeji-san, I can’t say it…”

“Is that so…”

Himeji-san dejectedly lowered her head.

If possible, I really want to say it, but Minami’s too direct to say that she loves apes. I won’t talk about how people in this world will think, but no matter what, I can’t just reveal Minami’s secrets to others.

Just when I was thinking about that, it seemed that Himeji-san started thinking, and soon lifted her head with a certain amount of determination.

“Akihisa-kun!”

“Ah…yes!”

“I understand Minami’s feelings!”

“What are you saying?”

How can you understand such things?

“But I hope you listen to my feelings!”

“Ho, how can you do this! I, I’ll be troubled if you suddenly say that!”

Wha, what should I do…if Himeji-san suddenly tells me that ‘I understand that Minami likes apes, but I feel that gorillas are better’, that will definitely be more than what my brain can take! Speaking of which, why are these two people talking about such things? No matter how they ask me, I can only introduce humans to them!

“I know you’ll be really bothered, but I hope that you can seriously consider this!”

“Se, seriously…?”

I have no idea what’s so good about such things, but since Himeji-san said so, I can’t just leave it alone. In that case, I have to seriously listen to her.

“Oi, Himeji, aren’t you thinking too much? This guy’s obviously thinking about some dumb things now.”

“Eh?”

“If it’s Japanese apes, I should be able to introduce some to you…n, no. even if gorillas are on the entertainment side, it will be tough if they’re together…”

“Akihisa-kun…why must you mention about animals when I’m trying to summon my courage and say such things…”

“You’re just going to wear out your brain cells no matter how you think. Oi, Akihisa, wake up (knocks)!”

GACK! What did I do?

“Sorry, what were we talking about?”

“Don’t worry. You don’t have to think about it. Oh yeah, Himeji. Which side of this junction is your house at?”

“Ah, yes…my house’s on the right.”

“The right side? The same direction as Akihisa then.”

“Oh ya, Yuuji’s house on the other side.”

“That’s right, so I’ll hand the duty of sending Himeji home to you. Don’t think you can attack people in the middle of a peaceful night just because no one is around.”

“Understood. I’ll try my best to endure.”

“Oi, isn’t that answer kinda inappropriate…”

“I, I’ll endure too!”

“Himeji! You want to attack Akihisa too!?”

Yuuji continued to stare at both of us with a look of disbelief.

“Oh well, whatever. No amount of time will be enough to snark back at you two idiots.”

““?””

“Then, see you tomorrow.”

“Un, see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Sakamoto-kun.”

As we waved goodbye to Yuuji at the cross-junction, Himeji-san and I walked side by side with each other as we went home.

Maybe it’s because Yuuji, who’s always being so noisy, isn’t around, the chirping all around became extremely clear.

“Oh yeah, is your house in this direction, Himeji-san?”

“Yes. My house is actually rather close to yours, Akihisa-kun. We even studied in the same primary school.”

“Is that so? That’s true. If our primary school is the same, it means that we’re living rather near each other.”

Recently, because of the assembly, there’s a lot less chances, but there were about 3 primary schools nearby. Himeji-san and I studied at Mutsuki Primary school.

It sure was memorable. It’s been over 5 years since then…

“It’s really a rare chance to walk together with Akihisa-kun slowly.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Yeah. Akihisa-kun’s always surrounded by so many people.”

“Ahaha. It’s really amazing to hear Himeji-san say that I’m really popular.”

Actually, I was being teased by those guys.

“Not at all. Akihisa-kun’s always been popular. There was a Valentine’s Day in primary school. I wonder if you remember about it?”

“Valentine’s Day in primary school?”

“Yes. Almost every girl in class gave Akihisa-kun chocolates. From that point on, Akihisa-kun’s the most popular guy amongst the girls.”

“Is that so? I didn’t know…I thought Valentine Day’s chocolates were nothing more than ordinary greetings…”

How did it end up like that…was I always just eating them…

“Akihisa-kun’s been so dull since then.”

“Well, I was still young, so I didn’t understand then.”

“Akihisa-kun, your use of Japanese is wrong. It’s like you’re not dull now.”

“Eh? Ah, un, sorry.”

I’ll take note of those things I didn’t think through before. That’s what I actually wanted to say…

“But speaking of which, I’m really surprised that I was rather popular with the girls…I won’t be wondering if we’re talking about how Himeji-san is popular with the guys now.”

“Well, I can’t say that I became skinnier, but I was really fat in primary school and was often laughed at by the boys. I wasn’t popular at all.”

Himeji-san patted her stomach and grumbled.

“But didn’t people normally say that boys in primary school love to tease the girls they like?”

“I suppose it’s not that they didn’t like me…and actually, they didn’t tease me to an extent. I remember they removed the ‘hime’ in ‘Himeji Mizuki’ to call me ‘plain lover’ [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume5_Translation_Notes_and_References]. The boy who was the leader didn’t like it, and everyone didn’t call me that, right?”

Himeji-san smiled as she said to me.

Is that so? I don’t remember who’s the leader of the class, and of course, I don’t remember that.

“It’s just that I was still bothered by the nickname they gave me after that.”

“The nickname after that…’Yuki-chan’?”

I searched my vague memory and recalled this nickname. But…why call Himeji-san ‘Yuki-chan’? I always called her ‘Mizuki-chan’, so I don’t really know how the ‘Yuki-chan’ nickname came about.

“Yes, it’s the ‘yuki (snow)’ from ‘yukidaroma (snowman).”

“Ah, so the ‘Yuki’ came from snowman. That’s rather cute.”

“It’s cute now that I think about it…but I was really bothered back then.”

“Eh? Why would you?”

“Wouldn’t anyone associate ‘snowman’ with white and fat?”

“Eh? Is that the reason why you’re called Yuki-chan?”

“Ah, now. I guess it’s just the impression people have of me that created this nickname. But I was really bothered.”

Himeji-san waved her hand in a casual manner.

She’s saying it really casually now, but she must be really bothered by such a nickname when she was young, right? Let’s forget about how it actually came about, since I definitely won’t feel happy if I imagine how the ‘Yuki-chan’ nickname came about.

“So I’m still rather bothered about my tummy even till now, especially after eating hi-calories food like pizza or biscuits.”

“Is that so? I feel that you don’t have to be bothered about it.”

OR rather, Himeji-san’s curves are way too perfect.

“This can’t do. I get fat easily.”

…If it’s just a certain point, such a figure will make people envious. Especially for girls like Minami.

“But Akihisa-kun, you’re different from me. You need lots of nutrition.”

“Don’t worry. I can’t say if it’s my normal life, but I’ve been having my meals regularly ever since nee-san came back.”

I even sacrificed my precious treasures.

“Really, how can you say such things…do you actually hate your sister, Akihisa-kun?”

“Hate? Uu…I never actually thought of such a question before.”

Coming back to meet me in a bathrobe immediately after flying back, and showing off my precious ero-books and my bathing photos in front of everyone, and even nagging away about exams and living attitudes everyone. It’s frustrating. And she will even pull all sorts of weird pranks on me…

“I suppose, Akihisa-kun, your sister must be worried about you, and she definitely likes you. If not, she wouldn’t be asking everyone about Akihisa-kun’s condition at school.”

“Nononono. There’s a reason why she would ask that…”

Himeji-san’s pure heart seemed to view nee-san’s impish attitude in a completely different manner. Himeji-san, don’t be fooled by that demonic sister of mine. She’s doing such checks to deduct points from me.

Just when I was about to explain everything to her, Himeji-san suddenly pointed at a corner.

“My house’s over there. You can just leave me here. Thank you to escorting me all the way here.”

“Hm? Ahh, don’t worry, it’s nothing.”

Himeji-san bowed at me, and I bowed back at her.

“See you at school tomorrow.”

“Nn, see you tomorrow.”

After saying that, Himeji-san scattered off with fleeting feet.

But after a few steps, she turned around as if she suddenly thought of something.

“I feel that you should notice the feelings of the people around you, Akihisa-kun. Like your sister, Minami…and me…”

“Heh? What does that mean?”

“Fufu. I’m not going to give you any more hints.”

Himeji-san gave a smile and immediately ran off to her house after that.

[[Image:1212_187a-1-.jpg|thumb]]

Speaking of which, what’s the significance of the three people she just mentioned? Nee-san, Himeji-san, Minami…

''“And Toshimitsu Kubo.”''

“What, why is there a completely unnecessary name being mentioned!? Is it the work of the devil inside me?

''“The four people mentioned here all have feelings for you. You should be able to understand now that I said so much, right?”''

So it’s really the devil, messing up my thoughts like that! What kind of common feelings would the four of them have? I have no idea at all. If there were 3, at least there’s a common point of them being the other gender…

''“Do I have to mention it? Of course it’s the feelings for Akihisa!”''

That’s the angel in my heart now. Didn’t I tell you not to come out already?

''“No, the angel’s right this time…”''

LIAR! I WON’T BE FOOLED BY SUCH NICE WORDS!

Or rather, I should say that I rather not believe such words with Kubo-kun’s name mentioned behind.

''“Really, how stupid can you get?”''

Why must I be treated like an idiot by my alter-ego?

A few minutes of talking to myself later, I reached home too. The lights in the house were already switched on, so nee-san should be back.

“I’m back~”

After opening the door, I shouted out to nee-san in the house.

Immediately afterwards, I saw nee-san walk out of the living room in an apron (!?), a rare feat at that.

“You’re back. You must be tired now, having came back so late.”

“Eh? Ahh, yeah.”

Nee-san’s different attire and tone from usual bothered me. What is she planning?

“Hand me your bag.”

Isn’t this a common scene in a serial?

“Ah…”

At this moment, I suddenly noticed something.

Wearing an apron and saying such things…is she imitating a sweet romantic couple? She did mention of some doctor game or something. Nee-san’s probably thinking of playing with me, right?

Speaking of which, it’s rare of nee-san to come back, yet us siblings hardly had the time to talk with each other. If we talk a bit, it’ll immediately end up being about grades or how I live my life…in that case, is nee-san just thinking of teasing me affectionately by playing newly-weds to get rid of such monotony?

Alright. In that case, I’ll play with you then. It’s rare of nee-san to think about this.

“What is it?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Here’s my bag.”

I handed my bag to nee-san with the attitude of a man who’s the head of the house.

“Alright.”

Nee-san reached her hands out and grabbed onto my bag tightly.

“Ahh~ so tired today.”

“It’s been tough on you, being busy for the whole day.”

We walked towards the living room, continuing such a conversation.

“Do you want to eat? A bath first?”

Nee-san asked me with a kind voice.

I couldn’t help but smile at such a staple line in scripts.

This really feels like a real newly-wed couple dialogue, with kind smiles.

“Or do you want to do pervy things with me?”

And there’s some weird line in there.

Nee-san probably felt that I’ll be bored if she follows everything according to the script, right? She even added some teasing words besides the basic conversation. I’m rather touched by the weird yet affectionate feelings.

In that case, I shouldn’t waste my strength snarking back at her, but continue on in a humored manner.

I pondered on what to answer, and then continued this act,

“No, there’s no need for a bath, meal or pervy things.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, because—”

I didn’t finish my words as I deliberately paused before smiling, saying to nee-san, word by word in a forceful manner.

“I’ve done them all outside.”

“Minus 50 points from you…”

Nee-san took out her judging notebook. Isn’t that too unreasonable!?

'''Current score [-340 points]'''

<noinclude>
{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume5 The Third Question|next=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume5 The Fifth Question}}
</noinclude>

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7.5 Me and Lottery and The Pot of Darkness

2012-04-12T03:47:30Z

128.189.154.190:

==Me and Lottery and The Pot of Darkness==

[[Image:BTS vol 07.5 128.jpg|thumb]]

A few days ago, we had a sports meet.

During one of the sports events, the summoned beast baseball tournament, we really betted on our lives and fought to the very end.

At that time, Fukumura-san collapsed as he caught the pickoff from Himeji-san; at that time, Fukumura-san was knocked to the ground after Takahashi-sensei’s hit; after that, Fukumura-san got hit by Takahashi-sensei’s hit.

After sacrificing our comrade, we finally won the match.

But that victory—to us, was the start of another test.

“Aki-kun, what is this?”

In my house’s living room, ane-san passed over the package the school sent over to me and started interrogating.

I tried my best not to look at her and answered, softly,

“…It’s some slightly pervy reference book.”

Really—this is another great test.

“I see. So then, what’s this?”

“…It’s a slightly embarrassing reference book.”

“I see. And this?”

“…It’s a reference book for me to become an adult.”

As we continued on, ane-san’s face started to give off a gentle smile.

To the bystander, maybe she might look really calm now as she remained still, but as a younger brother, I know very well that that’s an attacking expression. If I continue to agitate ane-san, my life will be immediately terminated by her. Now’s a time for a change in fortunes, I guess?

“…”

I slightly pondered for a while. In this situation where I need to make a big decision, I need to find someone to talk to. It’ll be great if I can have someone I can talk to in this situation…

‘Do you want to listen to my suggestion for this kind of thing?’

Oh my? Isn’t this the devil in my heart? It’s been a long time. I’m a little insecure that it’s the devil who came up, but it doesn’t matter now as long as I can talk to someone—

‘Wait a minute. If you don’t want to talk to the devil, you can talk to this angel here,’

Sooi!

‘Uoh! The angel that just appeared got sent flying the sky like a PET bottle!’

The angel in my heart, I think I told you not to appear again.

‘An, anyway, ane-san’s feeling extremely agitated right now. How about we think through the possible scenarios to prevent agitating her?’

I see. Going through a simulation in the mind to expect what will happen. That’s a good idea.

“Aki-kun, do you have anything you want to say to me?”

Ane-san asked me. How should I answer? I have to think through I carefully.

Scenario 1 ‘Play Dumb’
“They should be mistaken.”

“Really?”

“Mn, I don’t know why I would have those things.”

“But the slip that came with the package has the words ‘these are things confiscated from Yoshii Akihisa’.”

Nope. I can’t play dumb and say that the teacher messed up when the explanation slip came over as well.

Scenario 2 ‘Admit my own mistake’.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

“I see.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“Then grit your teeth and get ready to die.”

My ane-san isn’t someone who will forgive others immediately after hearing an apology.

Scenario 3 ‘Push the blame to Yuuji’

“Actually, it’s all Yuuji’s fault.”

“I see.”

“I was framed.”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses.”

You shouldn’t have asked in the first place then.

No matter whether I play dumb, admit my own mistake or push the blame to Yuuji, it seems that I won’t be able to escape from ane-san’s demonic clutches. In other words, the only answer that can allow me to survive is something other than this answer.

Okay, in the case, I’ll use the fourth choice to answer ane-san’s question.

I lifted my head and looked straight into ane-san’s eyes, took a deep breath, and said to her,

“It’s ane-san’s fault.”

‘Pushing the blame onto the person who’s fuming now!?’

‘That’s the worst answer you could think of.’

‘What were you thinking? How did you think of this answer…’

I just found out that I chose the worst possible answer. Though it’s normal to be shaken when I’m facing an unprecedented crisis, I still couldn’t hide the shock that I chose the worst answer.

Thinking about the terrifying corporal punishment that would happen on me anytime now, I became so scared that I can’t control my trembling—

“? Arre…?”

Unexpectedly, ane-san didn’t do anything really tragic to me.

“Haa…really, you…”

Ane-san said this and sighed. Ah, seems like she was willing to forgive me. This is a one in a million chance. Let’s use this chance to apologize honestly!

“Well, ane-san, I’m sorry. I did reflect on—”

“Kneel and bow down first.”

I stand corrected. She has no intention of forgiving me at all.

“Eh…ane-san, shouldn’t the classic line be ‘get over here and sit down’, right? ‘Kneel and bow down’ seems to be someone weird somewhere.”

“I afraid that I can’t help but kiss you once you lift your head.”

“…”

The floor feels so icy, so cooling, so comfortable.

“Aki-kun, ane-san never said that you can’t read these books at all.”

Ane-san picked my reference books up and says,

“I’m just saying that if you want to read it, you must be prepared to die.”

I guess this means that same thing as ‘you can’t read them at all’.

“Really, it can’t be helped that guys will be interested in these things, but there’s an age limit to reading these kinds of books. You need to wait till you’re of an old enough age to read. You have to endure it before that.”

“Uu…ane-san, you’re too serious…”

“Of course. I’m not just Aki-kun’s older sister, I’m your guardian too.”

Since you’re my ane-san and guardian, you shouldn’t be saying things like ‘kiss you’, right?

“Anyway, are you reflecting on this?”

“Yes, I’m thoroughly reflecting on them.”

“From today onwards, you shall follow the rules of society and study hard like a good student, okay?”

“Yes, I’ll study hard.”

“Will you live a healthy and orderly normal lifestyle?”

“Yes, I’ll live a healthy and orderly lifestyle.”

“Is ane-san the person you love the most in this world?”

“No, not to that extent.”

“…”

“OW! IT HURTS! ANE-SAN…! A SLAP’S REALLY…!”

“But you…really, Aki-kun’s troubles are really bothering me…”

“That’s not true. I’ll live my life seriously like a good student.”

“Really? Then why do you want to take back these ero-books?”

“Eh? Because these are reference books.”

“…”

“OW! IT HURTS! ANE-SAN…! AN ELBOW TO THE MOUTH IS TOO…!”

<center>☆</center>

“Here, Aki-kun. Hold this too.”

“Yes…”

On a warm and sunny Saturday, as my reference books (Ero-books) were discovered, I was forced to accompany ane-san on a shopping trip as a gofer as punishment.

“Uu…it’s really heavy…”

“It won’t be considered punishment if it’s light.”

Though we’re shopping, ane-san wasn’t buying things girls like to buy, like clothes or little ornaments, but daily necessities and electrical appliances. Thus, the trolley in front of me is really heavy.

“That’s right, ane-san, why did you buy the steam oven?”

I looked at the largest electrical appliance in the trolley as I asked ane-san.

Don’t we have one at home already?

“I just like the exterior design of it. I don’t intend to use it for something.”

Ane-san’s answer really puzzled me. She just liked the exterior design? Would people deliberately spend money to buy a steam oven? Ah, I got it. Speaking of which, I think the TV program I saw yesterday introduced some ‘simple and delicious baked cheese and chicken ‘. The method is to put the cheese and tomato paste on the chicken breast, steam it, and finally, add some lime or lemon juice on it to add to the flavor…That’s really a simple and delicious meal.

“I guess. The exterior design’s really nice.”

“Yes, I like it too.”

Actually, this dish doesn’t need a steam bowl to make, since the normal microwave in our house can do the job as well…but I guess I shouldn’t tell ane-san after all. It’s rare that she wants to cook.

Seeing ane-san working so hard, I really want to smile, but just when I was thinking about that, ane-san put fingers below her chin and muttered to herself while pondering.

“…The ingredients required are lime and cheese, and…”

So she wants to get the ingredients for the baked cheese and chicken. The ingredients listed on the program were lime, cheese, tomato paste and chicken breasts, four items—

“…Pig’s blood and chicken breast…”
Uh oh. This person must have mistaken pig’s blood for tomato paste.

“Erm, well…ane-san…”

“…Lime, cheese, pig’s blood and chicken breast…”

Ane-san continued to focus on those ingredients as she ignored my voice completely. Really, even if ane-san wants to cook something and hide it from me, at least she should note down what ingredients she needs.

“Ane-san!”

I tried to call ane-san again. This time, she finally noticed me.

“Ahh, sorry, I was thinking about something. Is there something?”

Ane-san deliberately acted as if there was nothing wrong.

Since she wanted to work hard alone, I should pretend that nothing happened. However, I have to find a way to tell her the difference between pig’s blood and tomato paste.

“It’s a little sudden, but the red of the meat sauce is made from tomato paste. Do you know that?”

“Tomato paste?”

“Un, the type where they boil and press through.”

That’s definitely not the red made from pig’s blood.

“I see. I really had a lesson today.”

“Ahaha, that’s because ane-san lacks knowledge about cooking.”

I laughed as I ended the topic about food.

I gave a hint already; will ane-san realize that the red from that dish wasn’t from pig’s blood but from tomato paste?

“Let me see…the ingredients are lime, cheese, pig’s blood and—shears.”

DAMN IT! NOW SHE MISTOOK CHICKEN BREAST FOR METAL BAT BECAUSE HER ATTENTION WAS DIVERTED!

They sound similar to chicken breast [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume7.5_Translation_Notes_and_References], but ane-san’s really scary for mixing food and metal up. Looks like I have to remind her first.

“An, and also, ane-san…shears are metallic. They’re not ingredients.”

“Of course. Shears are to be used for cutting metal boards or metallic wires. They contain metal, but they’re different from the types humans need. Besides, the metals the human body needs to take in, iron, zinc and magnesium, and these aren’t to be consumed directly through the mouth.”

“U, un, that’s right. So please don’t treat shears as an ingredient.”

Ahh…I chose to say so much at this time. Now she would choose lime, cheese, tomato paste and chicken breast, right…

“Let me see. The ingredients are knives, beef, pig’s blood and shears…”

It’s over. These things can’t be used to cook baked cheese and chicken, but an unbelievable murder scene!

“Ane-san…I, I want to have chicken for dinner tonight. Can we buy lime, cheese, tomato paste and chicken breast…”

“I don’t mind, but what do you want to do with these ingredients?”

I really want to return those words back to you!

“Anyway, can we go to a supermarket first?”

“Okay, but before we leave this place, I want to check out the hardware area.”

“No need for that. We definitely won’t need to use hardware as ingredients.”

I forcefully grabbed ane-san’s hand, pushed the extremely heavy trolley with one hand and headed to the cashier.

Even if ane-san’s a real idiot at cooking, at least she wouldn’t put hardware into food…but a little added security won’t hurt. Besides, this is heavily related to my life.

“Oh yes, Aki-kun. Once we’re done with the shopping in the supermarket, can you follow ane-san to buy some underwear?”

“Eh…that, that’s a little…”

Even though we’re family, I can’t just accompany ane-san to an underwear shop! No, it’s because we’re family that I can’t go there with her. To this ane-san of mine who lacks common sense, the underwear shop may be just one stop on a shopping trip, but to me, that’s a shameless game. I can’t agree to that no matter what.

“You don’t want to?”

“I’m a guy after all. If it’s not urgent, you can go on your own, ane-san.”

“Sorry, but I really need it.”

“Heh? Really?”

“Yes, actually, before I bathed this morning, I took all my underwear to wash.”

She washed all her underwear before bathing? And now she needs to buy some urgently. Don’t tell me it’s because…

“Ho, hold on a minute! Don’t tell me, below ane-san’s clothing—”

“Are you talking about the underwear? If that, then I definitely—zchuu!”

“THEN WHAT!? WHAT’S AFTER ‘DEFINITELY’!?”

“Ara, this alarm clock’s really cute.”

“I DON’T CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO THE ALARM CLOCK! HURRY UP AND ANSWER MY QUESTION! ARE YOU ‘WEARING IT’ OR ‘NOT WEARING IT’!? I HAVE TO USE THIS ANSWER TO DECIDE WHETHER I SHOULD TREAT MY OLDER SISTER AS A PERVERT!!”

Ane-san, treat it as I’m begging you. Please answer ‘I’m wearing’! Or else I’m going to be labeled the ungodly title of a ‘pervert’s little brother’!

“Of course I ‘wore it before’.”

<big>“THERE’S A PERVERT HERE!!!”</big>

PAST TENSE! WHY MUST IT BE THE PAST TENSE! IT’S A GOOD THING SHE’S WEARING PANTS NOW, OR ELSE I WOULD HAVE FAINTED IF SHE’S WEARING A SKIRT!

“You’re really noisy, Aki-kun. Don’t you feel ashamed at all?”

“NO! SHOULDN’T ANE-SAN BE ASHAMED ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE ALTOGETHER!?”

I WANT TO RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY FROM THIS PERSON HERE!

“Aki-kun, I was just joking.”

“Eh…joking?”

“Yes. Since I’ve been scolding you a lot recently, I thought I should joke around with you for a bit to ease your feelings.”

Ane-san smiled as she said that. That was a joke? I really couldn’t laugh at that one…I nearly believed it!

“Did I scare you?”

“More than scared, I think it was more like ‘so it was like that’ feeling…”

“How rude. Wouldn’t ane-san be like a pervert if you put it that way?”

“The ‘like’ is unnecessary, but it doesn’t matter now…”

Anyway, at least I can finally heave a sigh of relief and continue shopping.

After buying everything I need and settling the bill, the shop assistant passed me a few coupons. What are these?

“Are these lottery coupons? That’s great, Aki-kun.”

“Ah, yes.”

It seemed that as this was the 7th anniversary of the shop’s opening, so I could get lottery tickets once I bought a certain amount of stuff. Really, it feels like I earned something when I don’t even know of it.

“Then let’s go try it.”

“It’ll be great if we can draw something.”

After letting the shop assistant put aside our stuff for safekeeping, ane-san and I walked towards the the lottery area near the cashier. There were about 10 people queuing up for the lottery, and the shop assistants were dressed in traditional festive clothing in front of the lottery booth, shouting energetically.

“Congratulations customer! You've won the 4th prize, '3,000 yen worth of metal bats'!”

I guess any ordinary person who won this prize would be thinking that they didn't win anything at all.

“Dear customers, please don't be discouraged. The top prize '100,000 yen worth of metal bats' and special prize '500,000 yen worth of metal bats' weren't drawn yet!”

What's going on with this shop? Are there no other prizes other than metal bats? Did they not check on the customers' needs? Even the delinquents from the countryside don't need that many metal bats, right? Just when I was ready to leave the queue waiting for the lottery, I noticed the other prizes.

5th prize: Udzuki onsen 2-person's chalet ticket.

6th prize: Seafood deluxe set.

7th prize: 10,000 yen worth of shopping vouchers.

Shouldn't these prizes be in the front.

“There seemed to be a lot of prizes.”

“It's great if we could get those shopping vouchers before we bought these.”

The onsen chalet trip that was designated as the 5th prize seemed to be the biggest. On thinking about, that customer who got 4th prize just gave a wry smile and left without accepting the prize.

“It'll be great if we could draw the onsen chalet trip.”

“That should be for couples, right?”

“Really? I think that it's alright for us siblings to go there.”

Go for an onsen bath with ane-san? That sounds good. Soak in an onsen, eat delicious food, now that will be wonderful. I also want to take my hardworking ane-san to an onsen everyday.

“Here's the coupons, ane-san.”

“Nope. Aki-kun, you can draw them all. Ane-san will just watch from the sidelines.”

“Eh? Is that good?”

“Un. I'll be watching.”

As ane-san refused, the 10 tries were in my hand. Okay, I have to get the 5th prize no matter what!

After queuing for a while, the person in front of me got some tissue paper and left. It's now my turn.

“Will the next customer step up please~”

“Sorry to bother you.”

I handed the tickets to the assistant in charge of the lottery, and put my hand onto the handle of the spinning lottery press.

“1, 2, 3...10 tickets altogether. You can draw 10 times.”

I close my eyes and concentrate. Here I go!

Tissue, tissue, metal bat, tissue, tissue, tissue, tissue, metal bat, tissue...

What the heck! Drawing the 4th prize occasionally made me really mad.

Standing in front of the small pile of tissues (naturally, I refused the metal bats), and took a deep breath.

“The final chance...watch me!”

I forcefully spun the lottery press for the last time, and the press let out sounds of little beads colliding. I spun it hard, and saw a blue bead drop out from the hole. Oh? What prize will this ball be?

“Congratulations, dear customer! You have won the 6th prize, the seafood deluxe set!”

The shop assistant took the bell that was beside the lottery press and shook it. RING! Oh! The seafood deluxe set! Now I really got a huge prize!

“The seafood deluxe set can be prepared for you immediately. Do you want to bring it back, or should we deliver it to your residence?”

The shop assistant asked me. What should I do?

The seafood deluxe set looks really heavy, and if possible, I hope that they would deliver it to my house. But in that case, I have to wait till tomorrow to receive it. It's rare that ane-san will be resting at home tomorrow. If I bring it home today, I can prepare a sumptuous meal for ane-san.

“I'll bring it back then.”

“Okay.”

I did intend on borrowing a trolley from them to bring the steam oven back. Now I might as well bring the seafood deluxe set home.

“Wow, the 6th set's already so good.”

A customer who was watching from afar let out this sound. I see, so that's the aim of this shop. If that customer queued up and saw the list of prizes, he would feel the same as me. Thinking about these useless things, I dumped everything we bought just now onto the trolley and turned to leave this shop.

<center>☆</center>

“Akihisa-kun?”

“Hm?”

On our way home, I was pushing the trolley forward, only for someone behind me to call my name. Who's that?

“Ara, isn't that Mizuki-san? Hello.”

“Hello, Akira-san, Akihisa-kun.”

“Hello, Himeji-san.”

I turned around to look, and standing in front of us was Himeji-san, who was giving off a girlish presence with her neon green top and skirt. The comfortable looking casual clothes looks cute on her.

“Akihisa-kun, did you come out to shop today?”

“Ah, yes.”

The trolley I'm pushing now has a steam oven, some daily necessities and the seafood deluxe set just now. Speaking of which, we really bought a lot of things today.

“Wow...you bought a lot of things. Are you going to cook a feast?”

“No. Aki-kun won it in a lucky draw.”

Ane-san said as she pointed at the Styrofoam boxes that had all sorts of seafood inside. After seeing so many things, anyone would definitely think that there's a feast or something.

“Oh yes, Mizuki-san, where are you going?”

“I'm going to buy ingredients for dinner.”

As she said that, Himeji-san raised the bag she had in her hand slightly. It's really like Himeji-san to prepare her own bag when buying things.

“Speaking of which, you're in charge of dinner tonight, Mizuki-san?”

“Yes. I'm in charge of dinner, but daddy and mommy are out, so I'm just making my own share.”

Oh yes, I think I remember now. Himeji-san's a lone daughter.”

“You're having dinner alone, Mizuki-san? Will your parents be back late?”

“Ah, yes. They went to attend a friend's wedding far away, so they will be back late.”

Speaking of which, Himeji-san can only watch the house alone before her parents come back. I've often heard some shocking social news these days, so it's worrying that a girl's watching home alone.

Just when I thought about that, ane-san seemed to think the same thing. She asked Himeji-san,

“Mizuki-san, in that case, why don't you have dinner with us?”

“Eh?”

Himeji-san couldn't help but blink.

“It's too dangerous for a girl to be alone. How can I leave you like that after knowing your situation?”

“Eh? But that's...”

“Come along, Himeji-san. I just happened to win a seafood deluxe set. It's impossible for ane-san and me to finish all these up.”

As expected of a prize that's used for a lucky draw, the seafood deluxe set was too much. Raw seafood can't be kept for too long. It'll be great if Himeji-san can come over to help finish the food.

“I'll be bothering you in that case...”

“No need to worry. We don't feel bothered at all.”

“That's right. We can't finish that much seafood, so just come over and help us finish it up.”

Ane-san and I try our best to persuade Himeji-san, who's been refusing us,

“The, then I'll help myself then...”

Now Himeji-san finally nodded her head and agreed. Good, very good. It's rare to get good ingredients. If Himeji-san would come over to enjoy this food, it would be all the more reason why I should show off my skills. I must do my best today and make a good meal for ane-san and Himeji-san.

That's right, that's what I intended.

“Well, Akihisa-kun...”

“Hm? Himeji-san, what is it?”

“Since I'm going to your house, then, at least let me prepare dinner for tonight.”

But the situation developed in a bad way.

“Wha, wha what are you saying, Himeji-san? Ho, how, how, how can I let the guest do this?”

“But if I don't do so, I'll feel really bothered...”

But if I let you prepare dinner, my life will be at stake!

“Think about it, you're definitely not used to the utensils and stuff in my house, so you may get hurt accidentally...I think it's better to leave it to me—

“In that case, I'll bring my utensils over.”

“No no no. There's no need for such trouble. I'll handle dinner tonight.”

“No, Akihisa-kun cooked for us when we went to your house for the study meet. So it's my turn to cook.”

Himeji-san sounded gentle, but nobody can change her will.

Just when I was really exasperated over this and wondering how I should advise her from cooking—

“Okay, okay, you two, knock it off. In that case...”

Ane-san spoke up to stop us. Has she thought of a good idea?

“—In that case, both sides should step aside. Tonight's dinner will be prepared by Mizuki-san and me. How about it?”

“THAT'S THE WORST POSSIBLE SITUATION I COULD THINK OF!!!”

THERE'S ONE MORE KILLER COOK HERE!

What should I say? This situation is completely out of my control!

“Akira-san and I will be making dinner tonight? In that case...”

Himeji-san didn't refuse ane-san's proposal. I'm begging you, Himeji-san! You should insist on your own thoughts!

“We, well, you two...I don't mean it that way...”

“Then it's decided, Mizuki-san, I'll hope to learn from you later.”

“Ye, yes. I'll be in your care, Akira-san.”

Not good. They're not listening to me at all.

“I'll get the ingredients now.”

“Ahh! Himeji-san hold on!”

Himeji-san never even listened to me as I tried to stop her, and hurriedly ran to a nearby pharmacy. EEEHHH!? ISN'T SHE GOING TO BUY INGREDIENTS!? WHY MUST SHE HEAD TO THE PHARMACY!? ISN'T THIS TOO WEIRD!?

“Okay, I should get some ingredients too.”

After saying that, ane-san went off to the store. That's too weird! Why are these two's basic sense in 'food' completely wrong!?

“...”

After both of them left, I was left alone with the trolley.

A combination of Himeji-san and ane-san...to be honest, I don't think I can stop them.

My mind suddenly remembered the terrifying feeling when I was forced fed with Himeji-san's rice balls.

The scene of Yuuji and Muttsurini betraying and stuffing the poison into my mouth flashed in my mind.

Why must I get stuck in this painful experience I had to go through? I shouldn't be the only victim, it's time for Yuuji and Muttsurini to suffer.

After thinking for a while, I finally came to a conclusion.

In that case, I'll at least,

“Uu, phone, phone...”

I took my handphone out from my pocket and searched out my bad friend's number.

“Hello? Is that Yuuji? I won something good in a lucky draw, but it's impossible for ane-san and me to finish them up, so—”

At least I can get a few bad-lucked people to die with me. Good friends are to go through thick and thin together.

<center>☆</center>

“Akihisa, we're here~”

Yuuji's voice came from the speaker. I'm really touched that he came here as promised.

“Welcome. You guys all came over.”

I opened the corridor entrance and welcomed everyone. Once the door opened, I found my usual good friends, Yuuji, Hideyoshi and Muttsurini standing at a door.

“It's rare that you'll have such good stuff. I'm somewhat feeling sorry for just coming here to eat.”

“It feels a little thick-skinned for me, but I'm rather happy to enjoy a bowl of soup.”

“...I'm looking forward to eat.”

“There's too much here, so it's a great help that you guys could help finish it with me.”

Even with so many people, there's still enough food. They didn't need to mind at all.

“Sorry for intruding.”

“Same here, sorry to bother you.”

“...Excuse me.”

“Here here, hurry up and come in.”

I tilted my body aside and let them into the house, put my hand behind the door to close it, and didn't forget to lock it.

“Mu? What's wrong? Is there a need to lock the door?”
“Ahaha, security's been bad recently.”

For added precaution, I hooked like the chain lock on the door. This move is extremely important, enough to delay them long enough when they run away.

“...Akihisa, I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this.”

Yuuji, who was standing at the front porch, seems to be hesitating over whether he should move forward.

“As expected of Yuuji, your primitive instincts are as sharp as ever.”

“What do you mean, Akihisa and Yuuji? Didn't we come here to enjoy a seafood meal? It's not like we're having some poisonous meal—”

As Hideyoshi spoke halfway, the door leading to the living room opened.

The person who appeared in front of us was...

“Ah, Sakamoto-kun, Kinoshita-kun, Tsuchiya-kun, hello.”

Dressed in an apron, the killer cook, Himeji-san was standing there.

“...UU!!”

“You're running away?”

Yuuji immediately turned around and tried to run to the corridor, but having expected this, I raised my leg, BAM, and hit it low against the wall of the front porch to block Yuuji's escape.

“A, Akihisa, you bastard!”

“Yuuji, it's now a one way trip to Hell. Don't think you can escape!”

Nobody's going think of escaping this trip to Hell. If we must curse, we shall curse all you people who came here excitedly thinking that you're going to enjoy a great meal!

“A, Akihisa! Don't you find that doing this to your friends is too cruel!? I was wrong about you!”

“...(Nods head frantically)!”

Hideyoshi and Muttsurini looked sad and angry. That's right, every guy present here knew the terror of Himeji-san's cooking, so it's expected that they would have this kind of response. However...

“It's alright, I understand. Even though you guys say so, you guys aren't willing to see me suffer on my own, right? Shouldn't we go through thick and thin as friends?”

I trust this group of guys.

“You could have just died alone!”

“I don't think anyone who'll do this is a friend!”

“...The Devil!”

The completely dishonest friends actually said such heartfelt words. How stupid. Even if they said so, I have picked up the true feelings you people couldn't hide at all.

(((Akihisa, we'll kill you...)))

You guys will die together with me!

“Akihisa, you bastard. You're thinking about taking revenge for that incident during the sports meet, right?”

“...Too heinous!”

“That has nothing to do with me, right?”

To be honest, I was hesitating over whether I should have gotten Hideyoshi involved in this, However, we're a four man gang with a great relationship with each other. I really couldn't bring myself to exclude Hideyoshi.

“Ara? Sakamoto, you guys are here? Hurry up and come in.”

Just when I was quarrelling with Yuuji and the rest, ane-san come over from the kitchen.

“There's really too much seafood, so I called everyone to come over to finish this.”

“This idea's not bad.”

With so many people eating, the serving each person will have will reduce a lot. If the situation's good, maybe I could save my precious life.

“In that case, shall we call Minami-san, Shouko-san and Aiko-san over for dinner? Everyone played together at the seaside before. It's not too bad to invite them over, right?”

“Eh? Can I?”
As ane-san said a lot of vicious words before, I thought that she would be really angry if I called other girls over, especially since I got those secret reference books confiscated from me. I have to be especially careful now.

“You can. After seeing Aki-kun's actions, I should...perhaps ane-san restricted you too much and caused a negative effect. You can invite girls to our house to play as long as ane-san's around.”

Ohh! An unexpectedly happy outcome even after she found so many reference books. That's great!

“But your life will be in danger if there's any lewd things like physical contact or peeping. You have to remember that.”

“Un, I can expect that without ane-san reminding me.”

Of course, I knew that my ane-san isn't going to say such nice things.

“Yuuji, can you call Kirishima-san?”

“Ah, I remember she said that she had something on today...”

“I called Shouko-chan already. She said that she'll be here in a while.”

“That's too fast already, Himeji!”

Then, we confirmed that Minami and Kudou-san were alright. Now the members of the 2 day 1 night seaside trip are all gathered together.

<center>☆</center>

“Oi, Akihisa, what do we do now?”

“Even if you ask me, I...”

Yuuji, who's sitting on the sofa in the living room, raised his chin to point at the kitchen. I wanted to enter the kitchen to invigilate to prevent them from adding some suspicious things into the food, but ane-san and Himeji-san chased me out with the reason that 'the kitchen's a woman's battlefield'. It would be an apt description if this can be used to measure the number of casualties.

“Well, Akihisa-kun...”

“Hm? Wha, what is it, Himeji-san?”

Himeji-san poked her head out from the kitchen. What happened?

“I'm looking for something...”

Something? Ahh, I got it. Since it's someone else's kitchen, Himeji-san probably doesn't know where the utensils or seasonings are at. And besides, ane-san doesn't cook often, so of course she doesn't know.

“Ok, what are you looking for?”

I nodded my head and got up as I prepared to head to the kitchen. What does she want? A steamer to steam prawns or oyster? Or a large pot to boil soup—

“Actually...I'm looking for instant glue.”

At this moment, the very definition of food crumbled from the base up.

“Not good...I'll definitely die here today...”

“Damn it...I still have lots of things I haven't done yet...”

“...I want to live, live a little longer!”

On hearing Himeji-san's words, a burial-like atmosphere started to swarm around my bad friends. Everyone, don't give up! Now that we know of the existence of instant glue in this, we can find a way to avoid this tragedy!

Thus, I told Himeji-san in a warning tone.

“We, well...Himeji-san, I guess you should be clear that you can kill people if you add instant glue into food. It's really dangerous—”

“What are you saying, Akihisa-kun? Wouldn't it be bad if I add instant glue into the food?”

Himeji-san looked puzzled as she answered. Wha, what, so it wasn't to be added into the food...

“Tha, that's right. It'll be bad if you add instant glue into food! Everyone knows that!”

“Yes. Fufu, Akihisa-kun's really weird.”

On seeing that Himeji-san's smiling, the burial-like atmosphere in the living room gradually vanished. That's great. Since Himeji-san still had such common sense, there should be no problems, right?

I heaved a sigh of relief, and now, there's only a little doubt in my head. Hm? In that case...

“Why do you need instant glue?”

“Ahh, I wanted to make French seafood stew, but the pressure cooker broke right down the middle, so—”

<big>“““I'M GOING BACK!!!”””</big>

“ARGH! HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! DON'T YOU DARE ESCAPE!”

Damn it, these idiots are leaving me behind!!

I chased after them to prevent them from leaving the trip to Hell. However, Yuuji opened the door and was about to run outside—

“...Why must you leave when I just arrived?”

“UWAAAHHH!! PLEASE, SHOUKO! LET GO OF ME!”

The moment he stepped out of the house, Yuuji was caught and grabbed tightly by Kirishima-san, who just arrived.

“Kinoshita, Tsuchiya, where are you going?”

“Muttsurini-kun, even if I'm here, you don't have to be so embarrassed that you must leave, right?”

Hideyoshi, and Muttsurini were cut off too. Such idiots, leaving me behind and running away? Things aren't that simple.

“Minami, Kirishima-san, Kudou-san, welcome. Here here, hurry and come in.”

“““Pardon us for intruding.”””

Yuuji was long caught in Kirishima-san’s grasp, and I grabbed Hideyoshi and Muttsurini’s hands tightly and dragged them back into the house. The trio who were brought back looked like prisoners who failed in their prison break.

“Aki, here’s a souvenir.”

“…I brought a little something from my house to Akira-san.”

“I brought something too.”

The girls all brought different gifts. Actually, they didn’t need to spend so much effort, but in this situation, they aren’t as used to this place as Yuuji, who I knew for quite a while.

“I’m really grateful to you people.”

I thanked them as I received their gifts. Besides the fruits like oranges and grapefruit, Kirishima-san gave me what looked like some high-class grape wine in a wooden box. I have to be careful not to let Himeji-san or Kirishima-san drink this wine…

Everyone walked into the living room. Would it be too packed with too many people here?

“Ah, everyone’s here. Hello.”

“Welcome.”

Ane-san and Himeji-san invited everyone in. Minami and the rest greeted them, and everyone randomly chose a seat.

“Mizuki, what did you intend to do?”

Minami sat on the sofa and asked Himeji-san.

“I wanted to make French seafood stew, but…”

“But what?”

“I failed a little, so I have to redo it again…”

Himeji-san muttered sadly.

Who would have thought that the ‘little failure’ Himeji-san said would be a complete destruction of the pressure cooker?

“Arre, Mizuki, don't be so disheartened. Anyone can fail.”

“...Failure's the mother of success.”

“I don't really understand cooking, but you can definitely succeed next time.”

The girls encouraged Himeji-san in an understanding manner. I really want to encourage her too, but if it's cooking, I may end up endangering my own life if I say something wrong. I guess I better watch myself and be quiet.

“But there's no time. How can we prepare such food now that needs such a long time to prepare...”

Himeji-san said in regret. At this moment, Kudou-san look around at everyone and suggested,

“In that case, why don't we have hotpot?”

“Eh? You're saying...hotpot?”

Yeah. We have so many people, so a hotpot based on seafood should be good. There's no need to spend too much time preparing the food, and everyone can enjoy it. The problem is—

“Hotpot? I understand, I'll prepare it now.”

The problem is that this hotpot's going to be made from the hands of a killer chef.

“Ah, Himeji. Hotpot's my speciality, so just leave it to—”

“No, Sakamoto-kun, you and the rest can just wait for the start of the meal!”

Yuuji's proposal was instantly rejected.

“But Himeji, you just need to boil the soup for hotpot.”

“Why is Kinoshita-kun saying that as well? The soup's very important.”

It seems like she's determined to prepare dinner no matter what as she wasn't letting us guys help. Yuuji, Hideyoshi and Muttsurini were chased out of the kitchen by her. Uu...now, what do we do...

“How about we have some dark hotpot?”

At this moment, ane-san suddenly raised this mysterious proposal in a mindless manner.

“Dark hotpot?”

“Yes. I heard that amongst all hotpots, the dark hotpot's the best kind.”

“No, ane-san, that's...”

That's not true—just when I was about to say this, I suddenly thought.

Hold on...this may be a good idea!

Even if us guys stand up and say that we can prepare a dish in a short time, Himeji-san will feel troubled and would insist on cooking. As long as Himeji-san's around, it'll be futile no matter what kind of food we cook.

But it'll be different if it's dark hotpot. Since we're going to add all our current ingredients, it will have nothing to do with Himeji-san's help. If it has nothing to do with her own culinary skills, she can't possibly create some dangerous dish. Maybe...maybe we can really come back safely!

I shot a glance at Yuuji, Hideyoshi and Muttsurini. They seemed to have the same idea as well as everyone gave the same look. No matter what, we have to make this dark hotpot the dinner for tonight. Great! Then it's decided!

“Well...Akira-san, dark hotpot's a little different from a normal hotpot...”

“This idea's good! I think that the dark hotpot's a rather good suggestion!”

“That's right! Dark hotpot's the hotpot amongst hotpots!”

“...Dark hotpot's the best!”

“As expected of ane-san! This is really great!”

We shouted out in agreement and deliberately shut off Minami's voice. It's definitely the correct choice to have dark hotpot today. It's not our bad intentions; this is for Minami's precious life's sake as well!

“I'm interested in dark hotpot as well, and I've never tried it before.”

“...Me too. It doesn't seem to be a bad idea to try it out.”

Kudou-san and Kirishima-san added on. You two really helped out a lot!

“Ah, but our house doesn't have a cassette gas stove...”

At this point, I finally remembered something important. My house's cassette gas stove was spoilt a while back, and we haven't bought a new one since then. But this is a life-and-death situation. It seems that I can only ask ane-san to buy one...

“Akihisa-kun, I can get a cassette gas stove from my house if you need to. My house's nearby anyway.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Of course. I intend to bring some other things over as well, so I can bring them all in one go.”

Himeji-san proposed happily. In that case, I'll just ask her to bring it over.

“Then, before Mizuki comes back, I'll make a few appetisers. Aki, can I use these ingredients?”

“Mn, you can.”

Minami asked as she pointed at the box with lots of seafood inside. This is really a proposal I really wanted. It's rare to have so many good ingredients, so it's a waste to use them for the dark hotpot.

“...In that case, I'll help out as well.”

“I'll help out too~”

After Minami said so, Kirishima-san and Kudou-san followed. I don't know how's Kirishima-san's culinary skills, but since Yuuji didn't stop her, at least it won't be fatal. Kudou-san definitely won't add some weird things inside as well, so there shouldn't be any problems with leaving it to them.

“Minami-chan, I might need to spend some time, so if you need to do something, you can start on your own without me.”

“Is that so? I understand then.”

“I'm going back then.”

After Himeji-san said that to Minami, she ran towards the entrance in small steps.

“I'll prepare the soup base for the dark hotpot then.”

“A, ane-san! I'll boil the soup base late, so just sit over and rest for a while!”

I continued to try and stop ane-san, who intended to walk to the kitchen.

In the end, Minami, Kirishima-san and Kudou-san all entered the kitchen. Himeji-san went back home to get some stuff, and the rest are just waiting for the execution in the living room.

<center>☆</center>

“Everyone, sorry to keep you waiting. The appetiser's done.”

“...Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long.”

After we waited in the living room, Minami and Kirishima-san brought a large plate as they walked towards us. What kind of appetiser did they prepare for us?

“As there's grape wine, we tried to make seafood cold dish.”

“““WWOOOOHHH!!!”””

The entire plate was filled with fresh fish, and the fish was surrounded with lush green vegetables. There's also the beautiful lines of sauce on it. This fish should be the one drawn from the lucky draw, right? I remember that this fish wasn't sliced...

“Minami, did you slice this fish?”

“No, I was in charge of the sauce and the arrangement. The fish was—”

“I sliced it.”

“Wow, so Kirishima-san did that?”

The fish that was arranged aren't inferior to the sashimi sold outside, as every single piece was sliced to perfection. I had never known that Kirishima-san can cook.

“...Because this is a part a bride has to learn.”

Kirishima-san explained shyly.

I see. She always dreamt of being a bride when she was young, so she worked hard to learn how to be a good wife. Kirishima-san's really hardworking, and passionately devoted.

“There's sashimi, steamed oysters and seafood salad~!”

Then, Kudou-san served up a large plate. The plate has steamed oysters with the shells on and a salad that's laced with shrimp and cuttlefish.

“But then again, I was just in charge of washing the vegetable and arranging the dish~”

“No no no, this is already impressive enough.”

There's such appetizing food on the table. The most important thing about eating seafood is the freshness, and we have to savor the food before the cold dish becomes warm.

“Well, it's a bit bad to Mizuki, but we better start first.”

Minami took off the apron and then sat on the carpet. Kirishima-san and Kudou-san found their seats as well.

“Shouldn't we wait for Himeji-san.”

“We can wait for her...but if we do that, Mizuki will be troubled that she kept us waiting. That's her personality after all.”

“That's true. Himeji-san did say that 'you can start first' before she left. I think we should just follow what Minami said.

“Then, I'm a little sorry to Mizuki, but let's tuck in.”

“Let's have a toast first then. Didn't Kirishima-san just give us a bottle of grape wine? Why don't you open it and drink it, ane-san?”

I don't really understand wine, but since it's white grape wine that's iced, it should be suitable to go along with these dishes.

“That's true, but it's a little awkward when I'm the only one drinking.”

“It couldn't be helped then. We're all underaged here.”

“Yeah. Why don't we replace wine with juice?”

“Ah, Kinoshita, hold on a minute! We just prepared some drink as well. I'll bring them over.”

Minami said as she stood up. Speaking of which, she just borrowed a juice blender from me. So she wanted to make fruit juice.

“Here we here. This is my specially-made fresh fruit juice.”

Minami took out a few glasses of fruit juice from the kitchen. They sure looks good. Minami herself said that she had no confidence in cooking, but she should be rather good at that, right?

“Then, cheers!”

“““Cheers!”””

After everyone called out 'cheers' in unison, I slowly brought the cup to my mouth. The sweet and sour taste of the freshly squeezed juice is about to reach my mouth. This glass of fruit juice should have lots of assorted fruits in them, and I smelt lots of different aromas in my nose. It's rare to get a chance to drink freshly squeezed juice. I have to enjoy this.

Tilting the glass, I took a sip of fruit juice and swirled it with my tongue twice. The fruit juice in my mouth let out a rather familiar taste, but it was a taste I never tried before.

The strong taste that's full of intensity.

“....”

The intense flavor of...Tabasco.

“IT'S HOT! IT'S TOO SPICY! ARE YOU DELIBERATELY BULLYING ME NOW!?”

It was so hot that I couldn't help but roll on the floor. Why must Minami do such a cruel thing!?

“Because my hand naturally reached for the Tabasco the moment I thought of Aki.”

“What? So Akihisa's drink was the only special one.”

“Shimada's really thoughtful about Akihisa.”

“...It couldn't be helped that your hand naturally reached over.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY IT COULDN'T BE HELPED! AND THIS SORT OF GIRL'S ROMANCE THINGY ISN'T CUTE AT ALL!”

“I was too careless! So tonight's enemy isn't just Himeji-san!

Anyway, get me something I can drink! Hurry up and give me something I can drink!

“Yuuji! Hand me your fruit juice!”

“No can do, Akihisa. Wouldn't it be an indirect kiss if I let you drink my fruit juice?”

“What are you saying now!? You don't care about this in the past, right?”

This damned bastard! He must be feeling happy after seeing me in such pain, right!?

“Th, then, Muttsurini can do too!”

“...I refuse.”

“Wait a second! Muttsurini, have you been deliberately keeping your distance from me recently!?”

That was a misunderstanding! I was only joking when I said that Muttsurini looked cute in a girl's outfit during the sports meet!

How about Hideyoshi...but this will really end up being an indirect kiss. This won't do. And I can't drink the other girls' drinks!

“Aki-kun, what's wrong?”

At this moment, ane-san said to me in the same calm tone as ever. Damn it, I don't care whether she's my ane-san at this time! I'm facing an emergency here!

“Ane-san, get me something to drink now!!”

“A drink? I got it.”

After saying that, ane-san gulped down the glass of wine in her hand. No, wait, you're mistaken, ane-san! I didn't ask you to drink—eh?

“NOOOOOO!!!”

Ane-san suddenly grabbed my head, and her face gradually closed in on me. Hold on a minute! What is ane-san intending to do!

“(Gulp) Didn't you want to drink?”

“I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO FEED ME WITH YOUR MOUTH!!!”

What is ane-san thinking! Will she really make me drink with her mouth if I don't resist?

“I...I see...feeding through the mouth...”

“Oi, Shouko, hold it right there! Don't slip the Tabasco into my drink.”

Unable to do anything else, I could only groan as I ran to the kitchen, gulp a large mouthful of clean water to wash the terrifying Tabasco taste away. Really, Minami actually did such a terrifying thing! Now I can't taste the delicious looking dishes on the table now!

After rinsing my mouth a few times, I silently wait for the intense taste in my mouth to fade away. At this moment, Minami brought a cup over as she approached me.

“Here, Aki, this is your real fruit juice.”

“Eh? Oh, thanks.”

I received the cup Minami passed to me and timidly took a sip out of it. This cup doesn't have any strange taste inside; it's a fruit punch with a nice sweet taste.

Minami watched me as I enjoyed the fruity taste, and gave a smirk of mischief.

“Aki, have you reflected on it?”

“Hm? What?”

Reflected? Did I do something bad? I don't remember doing anything to Minami...

“Really, I can tell from your expression that you don't understand what I'm talking about, right?”

“Muu...sorry.”

“Oh well, it's not like Aki's slow-wittedness isn't some rare thing. Really, I'll just tell you then. What made me angry was that—”

Minami pointed at me, puffed her cheeks slightly and pouts,

“—You actually asked Mizuki out first and not me!”

“Eh?”

Unexpectedly, this was what Minami said. For a while, I could only react while not understanding what's going on?

Did she think that I left her out of my good friends' list? But I didn't specially ask Himeji-san alone. I just so happened to meet her on the way home after the shopping trip.

“That's how it is. It's nothing actually. Let's go back.”

“Eh? Ah, un...you're right.”

Recently, Minami seemed like she would say some things with cryptic meanings behind them. What should I say? It's like...some words that would make me have some expectations...perhaps I'm thinking too much, I guess?

I thought of this as I return back to the living room. Seeing me all teary in the eyes, Yuuji couldn't help but laugh.

“Akihisa, how was the special fruit juice? Seems like you were rather excited WWWAHHHH IT'S SPICY!!!”

However, just when Yuuji lifted his glass and took a sip, he immediately spit the drink out.

“...Yuuji, do you want my drink?”

“DA, DAMN IT, SHOUKO! DID YOU SWITCH MY FRUIT JUICE WITH AKIHISA'S!?”

Nice going, Kirishima-san!

“Really, I say, why are you guys always so noisy.”

“...Not calm at all.”

“But I like this. I like it like this~”

On the other side, Hideyoshi, Muttsurini and Kudou-san were all watching. Kudou-san, the reason why you're so happy is because you were just watching. The bad things haven't happened to you yet.

I happily watched Yuuji suffer as he rolled on the floor in minute and returned back to my seat. At this moment, ane-san reached her hand out and tugged at my sleeve.

“Aki-kun, sit over here.”

“Eh? Ane-san?”

Damn it, is she going to tell me off again? Did I make her angry for being all noisy before we started?

“Aki-kun, sit here.”

And then, I was pressed down by ane-san onto her thighs...HOLD ON A MINUTE!

“WHA, WHAT KIND OF JOKE IS THIS, ANE-SAN! I'M ALREADY A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT. FOR YOU TO HUG ME LIKE THIS IS...fuu...”

“Good, good, Aki-kun's a good kid.”

Once I'm hugged by ane-san, I'll lose all my strength.

“““...”””

Seeing me being all weak, everyone present was shocked and speechless. No, it's not like that! Everyone, don't look at me like that! I'm not in love with my sister!!!

“The foods' nice, and the wine's good.”

Ignoring everyone's gazes, ane-san continued to put the wine and food into her mouth. What's going on? I didn't notice it for a while, but how is it that the bottle's only half-filled with wine...

“Ane-san, don't tell me you're drunk?”

“Speaking of which, I may be a little drunk.”

No, it's not just 'a little'. Even if it's my ane-san, she couldn't do this in a conscious state in front of everyone. She won't do this stupid thing if she wasn't drunk to a certain extent.

“Shall I get you a glass of water?”

“I see, that's great.”

I jumped off from ane-san's thighs, went to the kitchen to fill up a glass of water, and returned back to the living room.

“Ane-san, here.”

“Thanks.”

After handing the glass of water to ane-san, I chose a seat that's furthest away from ane-san and sat down again. I won't be able to take this if she doesn't something ridiculous in front of everyone.

Pata (the sound as ane-san got up from her seat)

Tatatatata (the sound as ane-san walked over to me)

Oumph (the sound of ane-san hugging me)

“““...”””

Everyone gave me cold observing looks.

Not good... from tomorrow onwards, my nickname will become 'siscon'.

“Sorry, I'm late—Akihisa...kun?”

“I'm sorry, Himeji-san. I understand that you may have lots of things to say, but please just imagine that you didn't see anything.”

Himeji-san brought the cassette gas stove back, and widened her eyes in shock the moment she saw me being hugged by ane-san.

In the end, until ane-san slept, everyone continued to watch me, not looking away from me at all.

<center>☆</center>

“Alright, it's about time to prepare the ingredients for the hotpot.”

Himeji-san put the cassette gas stove she brought from home onto the table.

After keeping aside the appetiser, it's now time for the main course of tonight's dinner—the dark hotpot.

Like usual, allow me to explain the rules of this dark hotpot.

1.The ingredients must be edible.

2.Any food that's taken with the chopsticks must be eaten down.

3.Everyone can choose a food to put into the hotpot (except for the kelp that's used for the soup base).

Normally, we should prepare our own ingredients and thrown them in, but we didn't have much time today. Thus, we'll use all the ingredients we have at my house. At least there won't be anything deadly inside.

In other words, the only thing that will endanger our lives is—

“Oh yes, I brought some hotpot ingredients besides the gas stove☆”

—The terrifying thing that will endanger our lives is right in front of us.

Don't be careless, concentrate hard. This game is a matter of our own lives!

Himeji-san smiled as she opened a 10cm sq rectangular box. Is that the ingredient (?) she brought...

“Everyone has to choose an ingredient and put inside the hotpot. We just need to make sure not to let others see what we put in. Understand?”

“...Un, it won't be interesting if someone sees it.”

“Understood. I'll start then~”

After saying that, Kudou-san, who's the first one to put the ingredient into the hotpot, walked into the kitchen. After her were Minami and Kirishima-san.

“I'm next then.”

Hideyoshi looked somewhat nervous as she got up. After a while, he brought something back as well.

“...My turn.”

Next would be Muttsurini and Yuuji. They chose their ingredients before returning to the seat.

And now, it's my turn.

“...What kind of flavor will it turn out to be?”

“It seems a little scary.”

“Really? I'm rather looking forward to it~”

As the girls continued to talk happily without understanding the situation, I turn my back on the guys who are feeling abnormally tense, and walked towards the kitchen.

“Let's see. What should I choose...?”

Standing in front of the basin, I pondered alone for a while.

Right now, we have to face the dark hotpot, and the action I should choose is way too simple. That's to find a way to dump the ingredient (?) Himeji-san throws in into Yuuji or Muttsurini's stomachs, that's all. Once I do this, I can let everyone else survive.

“But they must be feeling the same way as me.”

No matter whether it's Yuuji or Muttsurini or even Hideyoshi, they will think of sacrificing others to protect their own lives. They won't feel regret over protecting their own lives even if it means sacrificing their friends. That's an important lesson we learnt as we went through this path.

“Okay, first...I should check what everyone choose.”

Even though it's almost a secret as to what everyone chose, but if the stuff that were here yesterday disappeared, I will know what everyone chose. Anyway, let's start from the shelves.

—After checking through the shelves, below the basin, the seasoning rack...hmm, I got it.

The things that disappeared were—

1.Tabasco (New and completely untouched).

2.Tabasco (Opened)

3.Tabasco (Seasoning powder pack that came with pizza delivery)

“THEY'LL ALL A BUNCH OF IDIOTS!!!”

Unexpectedly, everyone loved chilli so much, and I couldn't help but cover my head and shout.

Why did everyone choose Tabasco!? Aren't there any other ingredients to choose from!? What sort of weird interest is it to boil some big red soup!!!

“Akihisa-kun, what's wrong?”

On hearing my horrific cry, Himeji-san called out from the living room. This is bad, if I panic now, I'll be checkmated by them.

“Nothing. I'm alright.”

After recovering, I regain my thoughts and stood in front of the fridge.

“Yuuji and the rest must have chosen stuff from the fridge...”

I guess the people who chose Tabasco were Minami, Kirishima-san and Kudou-san. Putting Tabasco into a dark hotpot will make it some spicy and horrifying food. They chose such a shocking ingredient...most likely, they don't understand that this dark hotpot concerns life and death, and made this peaceful and casual choice. As for people like Yuuji and me, who often had to endure classes of killer cooking in our everyday lives, we wouldn't do that. As for why, that's because even if we added Tabasco, we can't save our own lives. These guys must have made this decision with the intent to make someone else other than themselves eat the ingredient Himeji-san put in. If I don't consider that, I definitely won't be able to survive after eating this dark hotpot.

I took a deep breath and reached for the handle of the fridge, opening it at one go. Let's see, what ingredients are less than before?

“—Spring onion, radish and tofu.”

In terms of ingredients, these will look like a logical choice, but there's an intent to harm others.

As for spring onion...I remember that there's a medicinal effect. In other words, the person wants to use spring onions as defense to protect his own life. Even if it's to play safe, if something really happened, he would only hope for the anti-toxin effects the spring onion brings. I see. This choice shows that even if it's only a 1% chance, he will try his best to increase his chances of surviving. From this choice that's not offensive at all, I guess Hideyoshi chose spring onion.

And now, let's think of the radish that other person took away. Looking at the state of the vegetable knife and the basin, it doesn't seem like they were touched. In other words, the radish that were taken away will be thrown in with it's original triangular shape. I have two less radishes in my house. What's the situation? How can I use radish to let myself live if I choose it?

“Radish...not sliced...triangular-shaped...if I use it...”

I got it! He wants to use the triangular side of the radish to send the ingredient Himeji-san puts in to someone else! Considering that the hotpot's located in the middle of the table and everyone's seats, Himeji-san can't possibly reach out too far, but put the ingredient in front of her. Now the ingredient will slide to someone because of the triangular shape. He probably thought that us members of the killer cooking class would try our best not to touch such dangerous ingredients and choose to pick our own ingredient—things in our area, only for us not to notice that the dangerous ingredient Himeji-san puts in will roll into our areas. Rule two clearly states that anything we pick up with our chopsticks have to be eaten. In that case, this guy just wants the dangerous stuff to be handled by others. This guy...how did he come up with such a dangerous and offensive strategy? This method will only endanger us, who know of the terror of Himeji-san's cooking, and allow him to survive. That guy who thought of this plan must be laughing inside.

Unfortunately,

“This thinking's way too naïve...”

Thinking of such a method is too naïve, and overly stupid. As for why it's stupid, that's because this strategy only considers that what Himeji-san will put into the hotpot is a ball-shaped item.

But I'm doubting whether that's even a solid object. Didn't Himeji-san just say that before she went to get the gas stove? 'The most important thing about the hotpot's the soup base'. Based on Himeji-san's insistent personality, it's more likely that she would add some fluid that will mix the flavors in the soup base up instead of something that won't affect the hotpot. In other words, what Himeji-san will put in may be some basic ingredient like kelp that can be used for a soup base. I can understand that from the preservative container she brought from her house. The person who thought of such a surface-deep situation is way too naïve...so the radish shouldn't be taken by Yuuji. My guess is that Muttsurini chose it.

“In that case, Yuuji chose tofu.”

In that case, I know the ingredient my greatest enemy Yuuji chose. Once I know this, I can sort of understand his strategy, and I can guess what that guy's thinking.

“In that case, I'll choose this.”

I took out that thing from the fridge and sliced it a few times with a vegetable knife.

Next, I just need to find a good place to put this thing in.

<center>☆</center>

The hotpot let out a 'psst psst' sound that sounded appetizing.

The gas stove that's set right in the middle of the table had a large claypot on it. There's nothing inside the pot besides the kelp that's used as the base of the soup. I guess...the most wonderful taste of this pot will be at this moment.

“I'm turning off the lights now~”

As Himeji-san said that, pak, the room became dark. Inside the living room that had the curtains drawn, only the flames of the gas stove was swaying gently. A war is about to break loose.

“I'll put my ingredient in first~”

Kudou-san said in a cheery voice, and at the same time, she dropped something into the pot that let out a 'plop plop' sound that echoed throughout the room. Normally, I should be thinking worriedly “did she put some mochi[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume7.5_Translation_Notes_and_References] inside. No , it sounded like a fluid, so it's something else...” but I don't mind today. Besides, I'll be really happy if it was mochi.

“My turn next.”

“...Me too...”

Then, it's Minami and Kirishima-san's turn. Looking at the current situation, there wasn't anything strange inside the claypot. Tabasco? That's not scary no matter how many times I see it added in!

“It's my turn to add it in next.”

“...I'm next.”

After that, Hideyoshi and Muttsurini took action. It seemed that Hideyoshi was holding onto chopsticks as he added one thing after another, and Muttsurini stealthily added something else into the pot. I was right!

“I'm next.”

Yuuji then took out something. It seemed that he was arranging them in a line with his hands. Since he put it in with his hands, it's likely that what he chose was tofu. I'll win this time!

“I'll put mine next.”

After checking that Yuuji put in all his ingredients and retracted his hand back, I put what I chose into the pot. The reason I waited for Yuuji to stop completely was so that I can make sure that the positioning of the ingredients can't be changed through human means.

“I'm last.”

If possible, I really want to cover the pot up and treat it as if it never happened. I guess the members of the killer cooking class must be thinking the same way. But no matter how we cried or begged in our hearts, Himeji-san put what she chose into the claypot mercilessly.

Ploop, ploop...

On hearing that sound, Himeji-san probably chose something that's more like a liquid or jelly.

“...Uu!”

I could feel Muttsurini freeze for a moment. It's too late to regret it now! Go to hell for do something so reckless without thinking through!

“Okay. Now, let's turn the fire on and let it simmer.”

Yuuji turned the switched of the gas stove.

There's only a small light in the room, and the silent time came again.

Like what I expected, Hideyoshi cared about defending himself. Muttsurini failed. Thus, Yuuji's the only enemy left.

I watch the flame of the claypot and repeated my battle strategy inside my head.

~Akihisa's side~

Yuuji probably thought this way as he chose the tofu. Once the ingredient Himeji-san throws in dissolves into the soup, it will threaten our lives. In that case, he just need to block the soup off and let someone be the victim. To complete this mission, he need to use the tofu and block me and Himeji-san's off his food, forming a sealed reservoir. His plan must be to push the poison over to me. The reason why he insisted on not putting too much soup inside the claypot is because he's afraid that the cooked tofu will float and form gaps.

In that case, I'll just use Yuuji's strategy against him!

Yuuji will use the tofu to seal Himeji-san and me of. Using that, once I put this ingredient X outside this area, I can be assured of my safety. Also, I'll use konjac[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume7.5_Translation_Notes_and_References] and tofu (what Yuuji put) in front of him to form another reservoir. This is another measure for Yuuji.

Of course, if I do this, the soup that flows into Yuuji's area will just be normal soup, and it will be meaningless. It'll be over once the dangerous ingredient flows over to my side.

At this point, I have to make use of the rules of the dark hotpot. Though everyone can choose only one ingredient, there's another ingredient inside the claypot—the kelp that's used to boil the soup.

To let the dangerous ingredient fall into Yuuji's area, I will take the kelp that's heated and curled up and put it in front of Himeji-san's area. With that, the ingredient X (jelly-shaped) will all flow into Yuuji's area, and can prevent everyone else from getting hurt! Yuuji you idiot! Enjoy being trapped in the defense you created!

In this fight for survival, the last one who'll survive is—

~Yuuji's side~

Fooled ya, idiot! Damned Akihisa, so he actually created a sealed off area with the konjac like what I expected. He didn't even think why I chose the konjac without choosing the tofu that will crumble easily, and why I remained silent even though the kelp's all cooked? It's because Akihisa didn't think about this at all that I called him an idiot!

Akihisa's in charge of the kitchen, so he will know what I choose no matter what. Since he knows, that guy will do something to me, and because of that, I must checkmate him back.

First, I left the konjac behind, chose tofu, and poked a few holes in it. These tofu blocks are to separate Akihisa and me. Akihisa must be thinking that the tofu's out of the safe zone and lower his guard. He will naturally reach his chopsticks out and pick the stuff in front of him without know that the tofu wall has a few holes, and I just need to pick food from outside Akihisa and my area.

In this battle of survival, the last one standing will be—

[[Image:BTS vol 07.5 186.jpg|thumb]]

“—ME!”

“—ME!”

<center>☆</center>

As we waited for the hotpot to boil, time gradually passed.

“It's about time. Turn off the fire.”

After a while, as Yuuji said this, the flame of the gas stove shut off, and the living room descended into darkness again.

“It's finally time...”

“...I'm so nervous.”

“I don't know what kind of taste will it be~”

Though nervous, the girls voices were still full of expectations.

“Then let's open it.”

Minami reached out to grab the cover of the pot and opened it. At that moment, the spicy flavor of Tabasco scattered through the air and reached our noses.

“““Ugh...”””

The girls frowned as they seemed to smell it. This should be their just desserts.

“Then, the dark hotpot game begins officially now!”

“OKAY! LET'S EAT!”

To motivate ourselves,we deliberately increased our volume. I poked my chopsticks inside to grab the food. Now's the important part. I have to be careful not to poke the tofu and konjac that's used as the protective wall.

“Humph, Akihisa, we're facing a dark hotpot, but you're looking rather relaxed.”

“Speaking of which, aren't you the same, Yuuji? It doesn't seem like you know what tragic fate will befall you?”

I continued to search for the food inside the hotpot as I jostled with Yuuji. Fufufu, you big idiot. Did you think that you could use the tofu wall to protect your measly life? In front of this konjac wall I created, you can only feel endless bounds of despair!

Thinking through the painful look Yuuji will soon show, the tip of my chopsticks seem to touch something. This should be a safe zone, so let's take this.

“Akihisa, are you really going to eat that?”

“You too, Yuuji. Don't regret once you pick it up.”

As we decided on our food, Yuuji and I jabbed at each other again. I have to hold my chopsticks tight to prevent the food from dropping back into the pot.

Watching myself so as not to let the food fall, I intend to pick it into my mouth at one go. Ready—

Dloop ← Corroded konjac.

““...””

…..............................................................................What?

My thinking process was short-circuited.

No no no, that's impossible. Something must have gone wrong. Maybe it's because the living room was too dark that I couldn't see clearly. Besides, no matter what, such a thing is impossible!

I decided to pretend that nothing happened and put the piece of konjac back into the claypot.

Fuu...I took a deep breath and again grabbed the thing into my bowl with my chopsticks.

Dloop ← Corroded konjac.

““THE IMPORTANT WALL OF DEFENSE WAS ACTUALLY...!””

“Wha, what's going on? Aki, Sakamoto? Why are you shouting!?”

In the midst of the darkness, the scream Minami made scared Yuuji and me.

Why did the konjac melt? What kind of chemical reaction is that? It's just a hotpot. Why is there a chemical reaction!?

“That Himeji's really scary! So our little tricks couldn't win her...”

The defense wall was actually destroyed. Her thinking can't be put on the same level as our childish tricks of trying to survive! She wasn't someone we could deal with right from the beginning!

“Aki, what happened?”

“No...Minami, don't think too much about it...we're already the side who's going to be taken away...”

“I'm serious! What happened?”

There's no need for Minami to know this. At this point, it's too late to understand.

“F, fine, if you don't want to say it, then I'll...

Just when Minami was about to reach her chopsticks at the claypot—

“Shimada, hold on for a moment.”

Yuuji spoke to stop Minami, and then clasped his fingers together and said with an extremely stern voice,

“Our Father in Heaven...”

“What kind of joke are you pulling, Sakamoto!”

“Minami! You have to pray earnestly too! I don't want to see my friend die at all!”

Hideyoshi and Muttsurini seemed to have clasped their hands together as they prayed silently. We're all feeling the same way.

“--Amen.”

“““--Amen.”””

Everyone drew a cross in front of their chest. It's now the time of judgement.

Gradually getting used to the darkness in front of me, I took up my bowl and chopsticks and looked through the darkness.

A strong pungent smell could be smelled through the hot air that's floating. What's going on? My eyes seem to hurt the moment they touch the hot air that's coming out from the pot. I can't even stop my tears.

“A, Akihisa! Why do I feel that the hot air that came out from the hotpot seem to be purple!?”

“UWOOOAAHHH!! MY EYES! MY EEEYYYYEESSS!!”

“Calm down, Akihisa! You'll create a huge tragedy if you accidentally flip the claypot!”

Yuuji exclaimed as he grabbed my wrist.

It's true that if I flip the claypot accidentally, the terror inside it may spill on the human body or even cause some irreversible and terrifying consequence. Yuuji's right. The thing that shouldn't exist is this hotpot.

“Really, what are you playing around with, Aki?”

“...You're too noisy.”

“Why are you often so cheery, Yoshii-kun and the rest~”

The girls at our table didn't seem to notice the abnormal situation that's happening at the table. No, that shouldn't be the case...

“If you find that it's tough to pick them up with chopsticks, why don't we use a scoop?”

Perhaps knowing that there's tofu and konjac amongst the food, Himeji-san suggested using a scoop, and so, everyone ended up having a scoop to pick the food out from the claypot, and we start to walk up the stairway to heaven one step at a time.

“...I'm tucking in.”

Kirishima-san raised her bowl and took a sip. Now, what sort of reaction will she have?

''“...It doesn't taste as weird as how it smells.”''

“SHOUKO! YOUR VOICE'S ENTERING MY BRAIN DIRECTLY! IS YOUR SOUL IN YOUR OWN BODY!?”

I seemed to see something white behind Kirishima-san. That's way too dangerous!

“Stop fooling around, Aki! It's better to eat now, right? I'm tucking in.”

“Me too~”

This time, Minami and Kudou-san put the chemical weapons into their mouths.

““AARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!””

“Eh!? Isn't it strange to scream once you put the food in! Wouldn't people normally think that it's either 'good' or 'bad'?”

Both of them collapsed onto the table, not moving at all. Not good, they lost consciousness!

“Mi, Minami-chan!? Shouko-chan!? Aiko-chan!? Wake up!”

Himeji-san frantically called them.

“Ugh...wha, what the heck. This taste is too...”

“...Doesn't taste like food at all.”

“Even, even I can't de...”

The three girls shook their heads and slowly got off. Great, it seem that they're still alive.

“Ugh...really, this terrifying experience actually happened to me...”

“...This is a near death experience.”

“This is the first time I tried this flavor~”

Minami and the rest took their drinks and washed away the taste of death in their mouths.

Once they calmed down slightly—

“Okay, now it's your turn to eat now, Muttsurini-kun~”

Kudou-san said.

“...Uu (Shakes head violently)!”

Seeing that the topic suddenly switched to him, Muttsurini immediately panicked. It's obvious that he would be so terrified after seeing three friends lose consciousness at the same time.

“Ahaha, you don't have to be so scared, Muttsurini-kun. This is nothing.”

“...It's not nothing!”

“If there's really a need too, I'll help you do CPR☆!”

“...Uu!”

“So hurry up and eat up. Ah~”

“...Uu (Shakes head violently)!”

Kudou-san was about to send the bowl of soup to Muttsurini's mouth, and beside me--

“...Yuuji, ah~”

“STOP JOKING AROUND! I'M NOT EATING THERE! AND I DON'T WANT YOU TO DO CPR ON ME EVEN IF I'M UNCONSCIOUS!”

“...There's no need to be ashamed, we kissed before.”

“WHA, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!? THAT WAS ON THE FOREHEAD, IT DOESN'T COUNT! AND THAT'S BECAUSE YOU MADE ME DO THAT AS PROOF OF APOLOGY!”

“...Don't say anymore, ah~”

Sitting beside me, Yuuji was trying his best to resist Kirishima-san. Anyway, as for the kissing incident I just heard, I'll ask more about it during our FFF court.

“Hey, Aki...”

Because I need to focus on the messenger of death that's slowly approaching me.

“Ah~”

Minami brought the bowl to my mouth. Damn it...she wants me to fall unconscious because she tasted that terrifying feeling of hell!

“Do, don't say that, Minami! I don't want to die yet!”

“What are you saying! Hoping that you won't be involved in this? I won't allow that to happen!”

“Even if you say that, I...”

“Stop yapping and open your mouth!”

I tried to wrestle with Minami. Seeing her like this...did she think that the ones who put that disgusting ingredient into the hotpot was us guys? That's a grave mistake! We're the one protecting everyone!

“Okay. Here, ahh~”

The terrifying and dangerous food is slowly approaching my mouth. It'll be bad if this keeps up!

[[Image:BTS vol 07.5 196.jpg|thumb]]

“No, wait, if I fall unconscious, will you do CPR on me, Minami?”

I wasn’t careful and let such ridiculous words slip out of my mouth. I’m doomed! Everyone was spouting gibberish, and even I…

I got into a position as I got ready for Minami’s attack (or rather, humiliation), but what I got was an unexpected response.

“Eh? We, well, that, how, how should I put it.”

That’s strange? Minami looks rather panicky. Ah, I know! There was a little misunderstanding between Minami and me before.

Thinking that this is way too awkward, I just couldn’t say anything as I just remained there silently and blankly.

At this moment, Minami said shyly,

“...We, well…if…if Aki wishes for it…”

Hm? If I wish for it?

“—E, even if you’re not knocked unconscious, I can…”

“Ehhh!? Minami, what are you saying?”

Wait a second! Let me calm down first. If I feel all elated here, maybe I will lose all important clues. CPR…that’s right. Minami never said she would do it mouth-to-mouth. Maybe she will flip my body when I’m unconscious and stamp hard on my back…

“M, Minami-chan’s too sneaky! You’re cheating!”

“Here, Aki, open wide. Ahh!”

“UGH!”

Just when I was thinking, Minami quickly dumped the hotpot soup into my mouth at lightning speed. Damn it, she got me!

“Here, Muttsurini-kun, have some.”

“…U…gu…!”

“…Yuuji, open wide.”

“UGH!”

My friends who were not far away seem like they were forced to open their mouths, and they had something stuffed into their mouths.

She got me…my, my consciousness…

“Well…Minami-chan, let’s play janken. The winner will do CPR on Akihisa-kun…”

“Tha, that can’t do. Aki only asked me. You heard that.”

“Too sneaky…Minami-chan, didn’t you kiss Akihisa-kun before…”

Not good…my consciousness…

“…Yuuji, it’s now my turn to save you.”

“Muttsurini-kun. How does the dark hotpot taste?”

My consciousness…

--Didn’t fade.

“That’s strange? I’m completely alright.”

“What the heck. We’re all fine.”

“…I feel fine too.”

“Hm? That’s true. This hotpot’s spicy, but even I feel that this isn’t lethal.”

Yuuji and Muttsurini, who were forced to eat this dark hotpot, and Hideyoshi, who ate some on his own, seemed to be all fine without any abnormalities. What the heck. We were scared for nothing then?

“I see. So we unknowingly developed some resistance?”

“Besides, we had all sorts of terrifying things stuffed into our mouths.”

“…Really a complicated feeling.”

I took a scoop of bright red soup, and there’s a few blocks of tofu and konjac that’s meshed together with the Tabasco, and then eat the radish and spring onion inside. It’s thanks to everyone adding stuff into the hotpot that Himeji-san’s terrifying ingredient was greatly weakened.

This level of cooking can be considered cute. It’s just some numbness to the tongue and limbs.

“Wh, why are you all alright!? The taste of this hotpot’s extremely terrifying!”

“…I can’t understand at all.”

“Yoshii-kun, do you guys have a taste problem?”

Seeing us all peaceful here, Minami and the rest were all shocked and stunned.

<center>☆</center>

“Arre? Where did everyone go to?”

“Are you awake now, ane-san? It’s quite late already, and everyone went home.”

After the dark hotpot meet, I was washing the dishes in the kitchen when ane-san, who was sleeping in the other room, came over. To be honest, I didn’t expect ane-san to sleep so deeply because she got drunk. As my parents could drink a lot, I thought that ane-san’s tolerance shouldn’t be bad…maybe it’s because she’s been sick recently?

“Akira-san, you’re awake? Does your head hurts?”

“Thanks, Mizuki-san. The alcohol’s wearing out. I’m alright.”

Himeji-san, who stayed behind with me to wash the dishes, poured a glass of water and passed it to ane-san. After she drank it, ane-san turned to Himeji-san.

“Speaking of which, is it alright for you not to be back home this late, Mizuki-san? Wouldn’t your parents be worried?”

“It’s alright. My house’s nearby, and my parents aren’t back yet, so I don’t have to worry about the time.”

Just when Himeji-san was about to reach out for the empty glass ane-san drank from—

Prrr!! Prrr!!

The handphone ringtone could be heard from her pocket.

“Ah, sorry. Seems like it’s my call. Let me pick it up for a while.”

Himeji-san nodded slightly, and then turned to pick the phone up.

“Hello hello? Okaa-san, how’s the wedding ceremony? Me? I’m okay here—eh? So, so that’s how it is. Are you alright? Un, un…”

Himeji-san seemed to be shocked as she raised her pitch slightly. What happened? From her tone, did someone have an accident or something?

“Really? No, don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Un, un, really…what rare chance. Okaa-san’s as carefree as ever…okay, I understand. So be it then.”

After putting down the phone, Himeji-san turned around. It seemed like the phone call just now wasn’t some good news…

“Himeji-san, what happened?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. It’s just that my parents can’t get back immediately.”

“Eh? Is that so? What happened to them?”

“I heard that there was a strike at the airport, and the planes couldn’t fly…”

“Flights terminated…Aki-kun, can you please turn the TV on.”

“Un. Got it.”

I did what ane-san told me to do and turned the TV in the living room on, switched the channels, and found a live news feed from a foreign country.”

“Nakanishi-san, this means that the airport can’t be used, right?”

“Yes. As the airport personnel are all unhappy, they are protesting for better work conditions. It seems that it can’t operate normally for the time being, but there should be no worries about a riot.”

The screen’s showing the tourists who were bemused that they couldn’t leave the country and the workers who were raising their banners in protest.

“Is it this country?”

“Yes. My parents went to the wedding of an old friend…”

Himeji-san said that her parents went out for a banquet. So they went overseas.

“But at least it doesn’t look dangerous. That country’s security’s rather good.”

Ane-san said this as she watched the news. Really? It’s great that the security’s good. This may be the best thing out of this.

“Yes. Okaa-san even said ‘it’s a rare chance, so before the airport starts operations, I’ll stay and sightsee with otou-san.”

“Ahaha, Himeji-san’s mom’s really so optimistic.”

“Okaa-san’s such a carefree person…”

In that case, they can only wait until the strike stops. It’s good that Himeji-san’s parents are fine.

In that case, the problem now is—

“Mizuki-san, what do you intend to do?”

“Well, I can’t do anything in Japan…so I can only wait for them to come back. But all flights were terminated. I have no idea when they’ll come back.”

“Ahh, that’s not it, Himeji-san. Ane-san’s not asking that.”

“???”

“Mizuki-san, you’re stay alone before your parents come back?”

“Ah, yes. I’ll be alone at home during this time.”

Himeji-san has to live alone. That’s a little, no, very worrying…it’s too unsafe for a girl at this age to be alone, especially since security’s been bad recently…

Just when I was thinking about what to do,

“How about you move over to our house first before your parents come back?”

Ane-san suddenly asked. EH? EEEEHHHHHH!!!???

(Ho, hold on a minute, ane-san! Can this really do?)

I frantically grabbed ane-san’s shoulders and whispered to her. Of course, I wanted to let Himeji-san move over to live with us for the time being after knowing of her situation—but I never expected ane-san to say this. Didn’t she often say that she would object to any impure relationship or something? And now that she invited Himeji-san. Is this really okay?

(What’s not alright? This is for Mizuki-san’s good.)

Ane-san answered me without a single doubt, and then adds on,

(Or does Aki-kun prefer the ane-san who’ll sit by and watch even after seeing this situation?)

Ane-san gave a mischievous smirk as she said this.

(That’s not true! I like ane-san like this the most!)

(Ane-san’s happy that you’ll say that.)

If not for Himeji-san in front of us, I could have given ane-san a big hug. My ane-san may lack common sense, but she’s really a kind and understanding person!

Just when I’m really touched by ane-san’s actions, Himeji-san timidly said to us,

“Well…I understand your kind intentions, but this will trouble you. I can’t…”

“No, we don’t feel troubled at all because Mizuki-san’s a good girl.”

“Yeah. And if Himeji-san shifts over to live with us, your parents will be more relaxed.”

“Even if you say that…”

Himeji-san should be worried about having to live alone, but she wouldn’t nod her head to agree to our proposal.

“And I still have most of the seafood ingredients I drew. If you don’t hate it, how about you finish them off with us, Himeji-san?”

“Ho, how can I possibly hate it?”

“You don’t? Okay, then it’s decided.”

After getting Himeji-san affirmation, things were decided like that.

This may be a misleading question, but I’ll close one eye at that. It would be another matter altogether if she really doesn’t want to live with us, but Himeji-san didn’t look like she was really against it.

“Ah, tha, that, I…”

Himeji-san seemed like she didn’t know what to do as she hesitated for a long time before saying in a concerned manner,

“In that case…I’m sorry, but I’ll be disturbing you for a few days…”

After saying that, Himeji-san bowed to us. How polite!

“We need to learn from you here, Himeji-san. If there’s anything troubling you, you can tell us anything.”

“Mizuki-san, you may be worried about moving in with a boy of the same age, but I’ll bear responsibility for that and watch Aki-kun’s actions, so you can relax.”

“Ah, no, there’s no need. If it’s Akihisa-kun, I’ll…”

“To be specific, if there’s any incident, I’ll break one of Aki-kun’s fingers.”

“Wa, wait a second, ane-san!”

“And once there’s no more fingers to break, I’ll snap his back.”

“DON’T SAY SUCH THINGS, ANE-SAN! THAT’S BASICALLY DECLARING MY DEATH!”

And thus, after the sports meet ended, I will be living together with Himeji-san.

Himeji-san entering my daily life; how would that turn out…

“Th, this girl’s impolite and incapable. Please take care of me!”

Anyway, at least I know that Himeji-san’s someone who gets flustered easily.

<noinclude>
{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume7.5_Our Song by Yoshii Akihisa|next=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume7.5_Special Bulletin-Brainy Spec's Advisory Session}}
</noinclude>

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume6 Novel Illustrations

2012-04-10T08:12:12Z

128.189.154.190:

These are the novel illustrations that were included in volume 6

<gallery>
Image:Bts6 0000a.jpg|'''Front cover & insert''' 
Image:Bts6 0000b.jpg|'''Back cover & insert''' 
Image:Bts6 0000c.jpg
Image:Bts6 0000d.jpg
Image:Bts6 0000e.jpg
Image:Bts6 0000f.jpg
Image:Bts6 0000g.jpg
Image:Bts6 0000h.jpg
Image:Bts6 0039.jpg|'''Page 39''' 
Image:Bts6 0055.jpg|'''Page 55''' 
Image:Bts6 0069.jpg|'''Page 69''' 
Image:Bts6 0103.jpg|'''Page 103''' 
Image:Bts6 0131.jpg|'''Page 131''' 
Image:Bts6 0151.jpg|'''Page 151''' 
Image:Bts6 0175.jpg|'''Page 175''' 
Image:Bts6 0235.jpg|'''Page 235''' 
Image:Bts6 0239.jpg|'''Page 239''' 
Image:Bts6 0257.jpg|'''Page 257''' 
Image:Bts6 0261.jpg|'''Page 261''' 
Image:Bts6 0275.jpg|'''Page 275''' 
Image:Bts6 0287.jpg|'''Page 287''' 
</gallery>
<noinclude>
{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume5 Author's Notes|next=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume6 The First Question}}
</noinclude>

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume5 The Third Question

2012-04-10T07:45:19Z

128.189.154.190:

==The Third Question==

'''Under the 76th line of the Japanese Constitution ‘The Independence of the Judge’, please fill in the following blanks.'''

‘All judges shall exercise (________) to (________) execute their (________) and shall be bound only by (________) and the (________) to apprehend criminals.’

'''Himeji Mizuki’s answer:'''

‘All judges shall exercise (conscience) to (independently) execute their (authority) and shall be bound only by (Constitution) and the (laws) to apprehend criminals.’

'''Teacher’s comment:'''

Well answered. This is one of the rather important articles in the Japanese Constitution. As the judge’s exercise the privileges, the constitution can ensure that the judge won’t be instigated by political powers and high-levels of the court and perform the duties independently. The content itself also includes ensuring the personal safety of the judge. I hope you can remember this little knowledge.

'''Yoshii Akihisa’s answer:'''

‘All judges shall exercise (BLEEP) to (BLEEP) execute their (BLEEP) and shall be bound only by (BLEEP) and the (BLEEP) to apprehend criminals.’

'''Teacher’s comment:'''

In that case, wouldn’t the 76th article be a bad thing?

'''Tsuchiya Kouta’s answer:'''

‘All judges shall exercise (instincts) to (take off their clothes and) execute (a strip exercise) and shall be bound only by (the policeman’s hand holding onto the culprit) and the (handcuffs) to apprehend criminals.’

'''Teacher’s comment:'''

I DEMAND YOU SEND A LETTER OF APOLOGY TO ALL THE JUDGES WITH FULL SINCERITY!!

The familiar sound of the dismissal bell rang, and it’s finally time for school dismissal.

“Yuuji, can I discuss with you something?”

I asked my bad friend who was ready to pack his bag and go home.

“Hm? Akihisa, what’s the matter?”

“For today, can I stay over at your house tonight? There are a lot of things about homework and the types of questions that are to be tested at the end-of-term tests I want to ask you about.”

—ZAWAASH

The moment I said this, buzzing could be heard in the classroom.

“Oi…did you hear that…?”

“I heard that. To think that such an unbelievable thing was said…”

“How could those two possibly…”

“Yeah, how could that Yoshii and Sakamoto…”

““Actually know of end-of-term tests…””

I really want to argue back at them, but I’ll let them off for today. Humph, you guys managed to keep your own lives there.

“You want me to teach you?”

“Un.”

“Really there…haven’t you memorized the times table for 7?”

“Hold on a sec! I don’t remember saying that I’m uneasy over being unable to recite the division table! Even I know how to multiply fractions there!”

“I see. Then tell me what’s the area of a triangle.”

“(Base) X (Height) = <Area>! Are you thinking that I’m an idiot on that level!?”

“Okay okay, you got it, Akihisa. Just remember to divide by two to get the correct area of the triangle.”

…

“Fuu, really there…you’re really a genius at being picky in such things, Yuuji.”

“Amazing! This answer is far more than what I even expected!”

Tha, that’s not it! I just answered too quickly and forgot about it. I will definitely be able to answer if there are questions related to the area of a triangle!

“Well, Akihisa-kun….”

Just when Yuuji and I were yapping away, Himeji-san with her hands carrying her bag arrived in front of us. She’s probably intending to go home directly today.

“What is it, Himeji-san?”

“I have to tell you that there’s a trick to memorizing the times table quickly.”

“I can memorize it! Even I can remember that nine times nine equals eighty one!”

Himeji-san really looked worried. Am I really an incorrigible idiot in Himeji-san’s mind? This really shocked me.

“But why did you become so hardworking? If there’s no special reason, I don’t think you would study obediently.”

On hearing Hideyoshi, who’s sitting nearby, say the words special reasons, Himeji-san stared at me in a gloomier fashion.

“No, that’s not it. Didn’t Yuuji announce it to everyone? The ‘summoning system’s data is being reset’ and that ‘we have to attend summer remedial if we don’t do well for the end-of-term tests’. I don’t want to keep carrying a wooden sword and wearing a school uniform until graduation, and I want to enjoy summer vacation as well, so I thought I should work hard.”

“…This isn’t like Akihisa at all.”

“Yeah, I don’t think Aki will start working hard because of such a trivial reason.”

Muttsurini and Minami came over. Why did so many people gather when I said that I want to study?

“Well, Akihisa-kun, if you don’t mind…can I study with you?”

Himeji-san timidly raised her hand to request. Saying ‘Really, Himeji-san’s really a kind-hearted person.

Under normal circumstances, I would accept this offer gratefully. But today’s situation is different. It’s possible if it’s Yuuji’s house, but—

“I can’t possibly stay overnight at Himeji-san’s house…”

“Eh? Akihisa-kun, you want to stay over at my house?”

“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant…”

“In, in that case, I have to call back home first and tell otou-san not to drink tonight…erm…I’m saying that if Akihisa-kun’s willing to talk about ‘important things’ with him, it will be troublesome when he’s drunk…”

Himeji-san fidgeted and said some things I couldn’t even understand. What important things do I want to say to Himeji-san’s dad—

“Is it about the transfer? I’ll go convince him then!”

Are tatami mats still not enough? If we can have someone get some normal tables and chairs…

“Are you talking about changing of faith? Isn’t Akihisa-kun a Buddhist?” TN: Transfer school/changing of faith are both written with the furigana ‘tenkou’.

‘Hoh? What is that about?”

“No, well, it’s about how our families have different religions…”

“???”

What the heck? It sounds like both of us aren’t on the same page here.

“Himeji’s thinking pattern is really similar to Akihisa.”

“Yeah, this is what it means by taking the color of one’s company.”

“…Way too similar.”

My three bad friends stared at me, seemingly exchanging looks and whispering.

On a side note, there are some terms Minami doesn’t understand, so she has a pile of question marks above her head now.

“Speaking of which, I’ve been wondering about it since this morning. Why do you want to come over to my house, Akihisa? Did something happen at your house?”

“Ah…well, actually…”

“Don’t try and lie to me.”

“I suddenly thought that I need to study—ack, that’s too fast! I didn’t even say anything yet!”

It’s true that that was a lie though.

“Oh well. This will implicate the next summoning battle, so it’s not like I can’t teach you.”

“Eh? Really?”

“But we’re going to your house. It’ll be easier to deal with things there.”

After saying that, Yuuji even looked aside and muttered “because of such a mother around in my house…”

That kind of mother? I’ve never met Yuuji’s mother before. What kind of mother is she?

“Eh? My house’s not convenient! It’s a little, well, inconvenient today!”

“Your house is inconvenient today? What’s wrong?”

“U, un, well, actually, some workers are going to come over to decorate my house.”

“Stop lying. We were supposed to go to your house to play that boxing game. How is it possible that any workers will be here!”

“No, I accidentally lost my key.”

“Your house is an apartment. Just call the caretaker to open it for you.”

“No, actually, my house caught fire!”

“A fire happened and you have the heart to prepare a bento and even iron your clothes thoroughly? How stupid can you get?”

“Ah—erm, actually, what other…!”

“Time to buck up. Your lies are really so bad that I can read through them.”

“Gu…”

I really thought a lot about this, but I just couldn’t think of a reason not to go home. This is bad.

Can’t be helped. In that case, I’ll just go back home and try to fight against my sister…

“I got it. I’ll just go home then…”

I carried my back and got up from my seat. But just when I was about to turn around and leave, Hideyoshi grabbed my shoulder.

“Wait a sec, Akihisa. Is there something you’re hiding from this gang here?”

“Uehh!? No, there’s nothing!”

“I don’t know what’s going on, but if there’s a secret this idiot wants to hide no matter what…looks like it’ll be interesting.”

Yuuji smirked as his eyes narrowed.

“Alright, let’s go check it out!”

“Wa, wait a sec, Yuuji! What are you saying?”

“Yeah. Maybe we can see a completely different side to Aki.”

“I’m interested too.”

“…Time to search the house.”

“Since club activities are suspended during the exams, I guess I’ll come along too.”

THIS IS BAD! WHY IS THE SITUATION BECOMING MORE AND MORE DISADVANTAGEOUS TO ME!!?

“No! You can’t go to my house today! Erm, my house is messy now!”

“Erm, if it’s messy, I can help you clean it up. You can’t concentrate if it’s messy.”

As, as expected of Himeji-san…! Her kindness’ just like an angel…!

But if this keeps up, Himeji-san will come over to my house and meet that ridiculously weird sister of mine. What should I do? What should I—that’s right! I’ll just mention something that girls won’t want to touch!

“But the mess I’m talking about is the 2000+ ero books I have at home!”

“…Leave it to me (thumbs up)”

“Damn it! It ended up piquing Muttsurini’s interest!? This is way different from my initial prediction!”

“Alright. Since everyone has a common understanding, let’s go over to Akihisa’ house!”

“““Ossu!!”””

“NO~!!!!”

I tried my best to resist, but in the end, I was twisted on the neck and dragged back home with everyone. Wha, what should I do now…

<center>☆</center>

“What can it be?”

“Akihisa’s different from Muttsurini in that there’s nothing he would normally hide. Even I would be looking forward to seeing what he has at home.”

“…I don’t hide anything.”

“Muttsurini, are you interested in girls’ underwear?”

“…How could I.”

“I’d say, Muttsurini, you’re so used to lying that you could do it without blinking.”

“…(Shakes head furiously)!”

On the way home, everyone except me seemed to be chatting away happily as they walked.

“But what could it be? Something that Akihisa-kun wants to hide no matter what…”

“That’s right. There’s the huge commotion he caused during the study camp. I don’t think he will be hiding ero-books.”

“Yeah…Akihisa would actually bring his own bento and even iron his clothes properly. I’d guess…”

“Maybe he got a girlfriend?”

“““…!?”””

But Yuuji’s careless words caused everyone present to widen their eyes.

“A, Aki! What’s going on!? Explain clearly!”

“M, muu…so Akihisa found his partner in life…as a friend, I’d be giving my blessings, but I don’t know whether I should be relieved or jealous here…”

“…Traitor!”

“I, I didn’t even say anything!”

Isn’t everyone’s imagination way too creative?

“Everyone, don’t worry. How could Akihisa-kun be dating a girl and hiding it from us? I believe Akihisa-kun.”

Amongst the voices of the 4 people, Himeji-san was the only one who kept her calm. As expected of Himeji-san, she’s really different from the rest.

“Right, Akihisa-kun? You aren’t ‘hiding someone’ and keeping it a secret from us, right?”

Really, she’s different from the rest—Himeji-san’s smile looks really creepy here.

As we continued to argue, our gang arrived in front of the building where I lived in.

“Oh well, the truth will be out once we enter the house. Oi, Akihisa, take out the key.”

“I don’t want to.”

I still tried to resist.

“Akihisa, do you want to try the pain of wearing just a Y-shirt?”

“Eh? Wait a sec! Didn’t you leave out lots of parts in the middle!?”

“…I want to see Akihisa looking up with tears in his eyes.”

“Muttsurini! You’re even designating what the action will be!? Are you trying to sell it!? Make a cushion out of it!? The twin-sided cushion has Hideyoshi on the other side, right!?”

“Why do you even got me involved?”

“Tsuchiya-kun, if possible, I hope that the top two buttons of the shirt are opened…”

“EVEN HIMEJI-SAN’S BEEN WEIRD RECENTLY! I GOT IT! I’LL OPEN! I’LL OPEN IT!”

“…Buttons?”

“THE DOOR!!”

Since it came to this, it’s useless to resist no matter what. In that case, I can only pray silently and hope nee-san’s out…

I secretly prayed to all the gods in the world and opened the door leading to my house.

“Don’t tell me he really has a girlfriend…”

“I feel really nervous…”

“Don’t worry, it’s definitely not something like that…”

Just when everyone swallowed their saliva and watched me, I opened the door to the corridor.

Nee-san would normally put her shoes in the corridor—they’re gone! Great! She went out!

If nee-san’s not around, I have nothing to worry about. I’ll just let them look around the house and immediately send them out.

“Alright, everyone, come into the house then.”

I called everyone in and opened the door leading to the living room.

The moment I opened the door, what entered my eyes was—

“““…”””

The thing hanging inside the room—was a type of woman’s underwear called a brassiere.

“WHY IS THERE EVIDENCE I CAN’T HIDE NO MATTER WHAT!!”

THAT THING SHOULD BE HUNG INSIDE THE BATHROOM! THAT IDIOT SISTER OF MINE!!

I frantically ran over and threw the washed bra into another room. Did they see it? Did they all see it?

I slowly turned around to check everyone’s response,

“…Well, there’s no evidence that’s more decisive than that.”

“I, I feel the same here…”

“…I’m so jealous that I want to kill you!”

Minami and the rest said their response.

“Eh, ermm, that’s…”

Damn it…! I can’t even try to mislead them here…!!!

In the midst of despair, I still thought of some method to try and give an excuse.

In the meantime, Himeji-san was the only one who remained calm and she smiled and walked over to me.

“Akihisa-kun, how could you do this?”

“Eh? What?”

“That bra isn’t Akihisa-kun’s size, right?”

“““ISN’T SHE IN SELF-DENIAL HERE!?”””

Eh! Himeji-san, do you think that I’ll wear a girl’s bra? In a certain sense, this is something that disturbs me more than having my sister’s existence discovered!

“Himeji-san, that’s not mine!”

“Arre? That’s—”

Even with such a huge misunderstanding, I tried my best to explain, but Himeji-san’s gaze had already moved to the table in the living room. What is it this time? Ah, that’s the cotton pad nee-san uses for cosmetics—

“That’s fishcake, right?”

“““Fishcake!?”””

As, as expected of Himeji-san! She actually saw the cotton pad as fishcake; she’s living in a completely different dimension from an ordinary person…I’m really wondering what Himeji-san’s dining table will have.

Just when I saw these random things, Himeji-san looked afar. What she saw on the table—wasn’t that a healthy bento women like most!?”

“Hi, Himeji-san…? What…? What’s weird about that bento?”

“Sob sob…”

“UEEHH!? Why are you crying out of a sudden?”

“I can’t deny it further…”

“HOLD ON A SEC! WHY IS IT THAT A BRA AND COSMETICS CAN BE PASSED OFF BUT A BENTO IS IMMEDIATELY OUT!?”

Don’t tell me a healthy bento women like is a more serious evidence than bra and cosmetics?

“Haa…since it came to this, it can’t be helped…I’ll be honest here. My sister just came back home…”

Since so much was found it, it’s pointless for me to hide anything, so I have to say the truth. It’ll be extremely bad if I continue to try and hide things and cause them to mistake me for having a crossdressing fetish.

After hearing my confession, everyone finally showed a relieved look.

“Tha, that’s right. How could Aki have a girlfriend.”

“…We’re thinking too much.”

“Even I’d feel relieved.”

Everyone put their hand on their chests and heaved a sigh of relief.

Even though it’s a little late, I’m really wondering why they wouldn’t think that it was nee-san instead of a girlfriend I would have? Did they already have some sort of idea?

“I see. So Akihisa-kun’s nee-san came back. That’s great…”

That’s not good to me at all.

“Well, since things are like that, I made my own bento and ironed my clothes nearly. Do you understand now?”

Alright, now that I explained things here, please leave. I have to make these troublesome people leave before there’s any doubts.

“Wait, Akihisa.”

Ack! The most troublesome idiot seemed to notice something.

“Is, is there something wrong, Yuuji?”

“We knew that you have a sister. But why aren’t you willing to stay at home with your sister here?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

“Even I feel that it’s weird here.”

“…(Nods head).”

“Does Akihisa-kun still have something else he wants to hide from us?”

Yuuji’s doubt caused everyone present to feel suspicious.

Gu…! If I had known that things will end up like this, I shouldn’t have told Yuuji about staying overnight and should have just went home…

“Akihisa, it will be easier for you if you just say the truth, right?”

Yuuji reached his hand out and patted me on the shoulder. Un, actually, I’m already prepared…

“Actually…my sister here, well…she’s really a weird person… or rather, lacks common sense…anyway, if I’m with her, a lot of terrible things will happen, and I’ll be deducted a lot of points for whatever strange reason, so I don’t want to go home…”

“To, to think that even Aki would say that she lacks common sense. How serious can that be?”

“Muu…even, if it’s scary, even I’d be wondering here.”

“…Have to meet her no matter what.”

“Yeah, I want to meet Akihisa-kun’s sister for once.”

So it became like this…this is almost like the worst situation I could imagine.

Just when I was thinking that everyone here was interested in seeing nee-san,

“Ah~ what the heck, I say, your interest in other people’s family affairs is way too weak. Even other people have sisters or ‘mothers’ that they don’t want others to meet.”

That’s rare! It’s rare that Yuuji would actually say something for me. What kind of wind is blowing here?

“Yu, Yuuji…! Thanks—”

GACHANK!

At this moment, the sound of the door at the corridor being opened could be heard.

“Arre…? You came back when nee-san’s out shopping, Aki-kun?”

……Eh? What’s with this timing? Are we having a comedy here!?”

“UWAAAAHHH!! SH, SHE’S BACK! EVERYONE, FIND A PLACE TO HIDE—”

“Is it Akihisa-kun’s sister…? I’m really nervous here…”

“Ca, can I actually say hello to Aki’s sister…”

“NOT GOOD! YOU PEOPLE JUST WANT TO SEE HER!!”

Just everyone focused on the living room door to see nee-san appear, I could only continue to look up to the heavens and pray.

Since things ended up like this, I have only one last hope left. Nee-san! I won’t demand for you to greet everyone properly…! So at least, just for once, be in normal clothes…!

The tense moment went by immediately, and the door finally opened.

“Oh my, do we have guest? Welcome. Our house is a little small, but I hope that you can treat it as your own house. Please don’t feel restrained.”

Nee-san, who said such a normal thing, was dressed in ¾ pants and a collared short-sleeved shirt with a vest on. That’s a normal kind of get-up if there was one.

“““So, sorry to bother you…”””

The appearance of the ever-normal looking nee-san with a normal attire, demeanor and common sense caused Yuuji and the rest to look completely stumped.

“Sorry for not introducing myself. I’m Yoshii Akira. Everyone, thank you for willing to be friends with this stupid and useless brother of mine.”

She even bowed after saying that. Tha, that’s too perfect! She looks just like a normal sister no matter how I see it! In that case..I should be able to fool them, right?

“Ahh, hello. I’m Sakamoto Yuuji, Akihisa’s classmate.”

Having recovered, Yuuji hurriedly lowered his head and greeted nee-san.

“…I’m Tsuchiya Kouta.”

Muttsurini spoke up next.

“Hello, Yuuji-kun, Kouta-kun.”

Nee-san smiled back at them.

Ahh…such a wonderful scene here…

Just when I was touched by this rare peaceful moment, Yuuji looked over slightly and whispered,

“Oi, Akihisa, your sister looks rather normal here. Calling her weird, how well off can you get? Instead of me, instead of me…”

“Ahaha…she, she’s normal, isn’t it? So if you have seen enough, hurry up and leave!”

Just when I whispered to Yuuji, the other classmates continued to chat with nee-san. Right now, it seems like it’s Hideyoshi’s turn.

“I’m called Kinoshita Hideyoshi. Please take care of me. A lot of people will be mistaken when seeing me, but I’m not a girl—”

“Ehh. You’re a boy, aren’t you? Hideyoshi-kun. Welcome to my house.”

“!”

On hearing those words, Hideyoshi couldn’t help but look completely shocked as he looked up at nee-san.”

“You, you’re the first one to actually be able to tell that I’m a guy….!”

I don’t know what’s going on, but Hideyoshi just looked really moved

“Of course I can tell. That’s because,”

Nee-san smiled as she said,

“That’s because it’s impossible for that stupid and ugly and useless brother of mine to have female friends.”

What’s with that firm belief that really sickens me!

Just when I was wondering how to snark back at her, nee-san’s stare moved to Himeji-san and Minami,

“So these two are guys, right?”

She made such a conclusion.

“WA, WAIT A SEC, NEE-SAN! HOW CAN YOU SAY SUCH A RUDE THING YOU’RE MEETING FOR THE FIRST TIME! THE THREE OF THEM ARE GIRLS!”

“Akihisa! I’m an authentic guy here, right?”

How little common sense does she have to view the three of them as guys…

After shouting that out, nee-san seemed to have a reaction to my words and slowly turned around to look at me.

“…‘Girls’, you say? Has Aki-kun been bringing girls back home?”

GUAAHH!! Da, damn it! Nee-san seems to be unhappy that I brought girls back home!

Nee-san already thinks that holding hands is illicit sexual relationships. She’s definitely fuming now! Got to find a good reason!

“We, well, nee-san, listen to me! There’s a lot of reasons—”

“…Really? Girls? Sorry for saying such insensitive things”

“In fact..eh? That’s weird?”

While ignoring me as I tried to explain, nee-san honestly lowered her head at Himeji-san and Minami and didn’t give off any killing intent at all. Is nee-san really not angry here?”

“What’s wrong, Aki-kun?’

“Ah, no…it’s just that I’m wondering whether you’re angry, nee-san…”

“? What are you saying? Why would nee-san be angry at you?”

Nee-san looked really calm and answered as if she had no reason to be angry at all.

Wha, what, am I thinking too much? But this is great…that’s right. It’s just that some friends came over to visit my house. This kind of thing is normal, nee-san has no need to be angry.

Just when I put my hang at my chest and thought that I could heave a sigh of relief, nee-san suddenly smiled and said to me,

“Oh yes, Aki-kun.”

“Nn? What is it?’

“There’s a lot of guests here today, so the doctor game Aki-kun likes to play will have to delayed till tomorrow, right?”

Ahhh I see…this person’s really trying to drive me to my grave…

“NE, NEE-SAN, WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU SAYING! YOU’RE SAYING IT AS IF MY HABIT IS TO PLAY DOCTOR WITH YOU EVERY DAY…CAN YOU STOP SAYING SUCH MISLEADING THINGS! I HAVE NO INTENTION OF PLAYING THAT KIND OF GAMES WITH NEE-SAN!”

DAMN IT! SHE’S DEFINITELY ANGRY NOW! COULDN’T SHE JUST EXERT VIOLENCE ON ME!? WHY MUST SHE TORTURE ME IN SUCH A CRUEL MANNER!? THIS PERSON HERE IS REALLY TOO MUCH!

“A, Akihisa-kun…playing doctor with your own sister…”

“Aki…it’s against the law to do this with your blood-related sister…”

FUUOOOHHH!! SEE, THEY’RE MISTAKEN HERE!!

“NEE-SAN! SCOLD ME LATER WHATEVER YOU WANT, JUST CORRECT THOSE WORDS!”

“Aki-kun, what are you panicking about? Oh yes. Do you know where’s the nurse uniform nee-san gave you yesterday?”

“DON’T ASK ME SUCH A THING AT THIS MOMENT!”

DAMN IRRITATING! THIS PERSON’S DAMN IRRITATING! IF I HAD KNOWN THAT THINGS WOULD END UP LIKE THIS, I MIGHT AS WELL CAMP OUTSIDE!

“Also, I’m going to deduct you another 150 points under the crime of illicit sexual relationships.”

“150? 150’S TOO MUCH! I DIDN’T EVEN DO ANYTHING YET!”

“…’Didn’t even do anything yet’? …I’ll deduct another 200 points.”

“FUWAAAAHHHH!!!! NEE-SAN’S ONE HUGE IDIOT!”

200 POINTS! WHY DID IT JUST END UP IN A STATE WHERE I CAN’T RECOVER NO MATTER WHETHER I WANT TO!

“…Sorry Akihisa, I’m willing to take back those words I just said.”

“Un…thanks Yuuji…this, this is the first time I actually feel healed by Yuuji ever since I was born…”

I wasn’t able to prepare myself mentally in time because of my sister’s attire and demeanor. I’M BASICALLY GAMBLING WITH MY LIFE FOR ACTUALLY DARING TO BE CARELESS IN FRONT OF THIS PERSON!

“Sorry for being off-topic. Can I ask you for your names?”

“Ah, yes, sorry for not introducing myself. I’m Himeji Mizuki, Akihisa-kun’s classmate.”

“I’m Shimada Minami, and—”

Minami suddenly glanced at me as she spoke halfway,

“—I’m friends with Aki.”

Mu. Minami just looked like she wanted to say that we aren’t friends. Was she planning to use the introduction she made at class and say that I was her wrestling training sandbag?

“So it’s Mizuki-san and Minami-san. Nice to meet you for the first time.”

Nee-san kept her smile and answered them throughout. It’s because she showed herself to be so normal in such situations that people will wonder how real were those weird things she said. Really, she’s a sister that really worries me…

“Oh yeah. Where did you go just now, nee-san?”

“I went to buy ingredients for dinner.”

Nee-san opened the bags she was holding, and there were ingredients like clams and bacon. I see, so nee-san went to buy ingredients for dinner.

“Eh? Didn’t you buy too much here?”

Each ingredient was way too much if it’s for two people. Even a family can’t finish that much.

“Nope, that’s definitely just enough.”

Nee-san seemed to be unhappy with my words and even puffed her cheeks unhappily. It’s rather refreshing when nee-san herself doesn’t really show her real emotions on her face.

Nee-san’s not good at cooking, and actually ran off to buy dinner ingredients, so the amount was mistaken, right? But it isn’t like nee-san to be unhappy over being pointed out.

“It’s rare for everyone to come over to our house. Why don’t you stay behind for dinner? There’s not many dishes we can offer though.”

It seemed that everyone was ready to do so. Nee-san spoke and invited everyone to stay behind for dinner. Looks like she just wouldn’t admit that she bought the wrong amount no matter what.

“In that case, I’ll stay behind too.”

“…I’ll stay for dinner too.”

“It’ll be troublesome for you, but I’d stay for dinner too.”

“Me too.”

“I, in that case, I’ll…”

Everyone nodded their heads. Looks like dinner tonight will be noisy.

“So everyone’s willing to stay behind. That’s great. Aki-kun, I’ll leave the ingredients to you.”

“Un, got it.”

I took the bag of ingredients over from nee-san. Looks like I can enjoy a luxurious meal I haven’t had for a long time.

“Eh? Aki’s cooking dinner?”

“Un, yeah.”

“Akihisa-kun knows how to cook?”

Minami and Himeji-san both looked shocked. That’s weird; is it really strange that I can cook?

“Didn’t I say it before at lunch? I prepared my own bento.”

“No, now that you mentioned it, that’s true…”

“Akihisa-kun did mention it before…”

But both of them just gave inexplicable looks.

“This isn’t anything worth being shocked about, right? Even I can cook a few simple dishes here.”

“…That’s a gentleman’s habit.”

“I’d, I don’t know…how to cook at all here…”

Yuuji and Muttsurini did show off to everyone before, so they didn’t have much reaction that I can cook.

“Forget about Muttsurini. As expected, you’re forced to learn how to cook at home, right, Yuuji?”

“Oh, that’s right…but what do you mean by saying as expected?”

“Ahaha. Because you look like you have the lowest position at home, Yuuji.”

“? What are you talking about now?”

“Eh? What do you mean—isn’t the one at the lowest position in the family in charge of cooking?”

“““……”””

For some reason, everyone showed me stares of compassion.

“It’s because of my mom’s education policy that I was forced to cook.”

“Is, is that so…”

“Aki’s mother sounds really strong…”

“I’d feel that the position isn’t the problem, but rather who can cook…”

“Eh!? Don’t tell me everyone else’s different!? Damned mom! Lying to me since young!”

I see…so my family’s different from other families…when watching TV when I was young, I would think “Isn’t it weird for mothers to cook? Aren’t mothers supposed to be the strongest people in the families?” I felt that it was weird back then, so that’s how it is…

“Alright alright. It’s still early, but let’s prepare dinner. I’ll help you, Akihisa.”

“…I’ll help too.”

“Ah, un, thanks, you two.”

“Then, in that case, I’ll…”

“““NO NEED, THE GIRLS JUST NEED TO SIT QUIETLY AND WAIT!”””

“Ah, haa…I see…”

Thus, we decided to deal with dinner first, and everyone will then study to prepare for the exams.

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“Oi, Akihisa, is there a wok that’s of better size?”

“Hehe~, actually, that rack has a paellera on it.”

“When you say paellera, are you talking about the wok used to cook paella? I didn’t think that your house would have something so special. Even my house doesn’t have it.”

“…Mine neither.”

“That’s something my mom gave in the house. What I’m saying is that since our house had such a thing, I used it to cook paella, and it was rather nice. Since then, paella became one of my favorite dishes.”

“So that’s how it is.”

In the kitchen where I was most proud of at home, Yuuji, Muttsurini and me were ready to prepare dinner for tonight.

My house was one that was bought for a family of 4 to live in, so it is rather spacious. It’s so spacious that I would feel somewhat lonely when living alone, and it’s difficult to clean up. There’s not really much benefit to say…but with three guys in a kitchen, I do feel relieved that the house’s spacious enough. However, I do still feel restrained having 3 big boys packed in a kitchen.

“But are you really going to cook paella? I thought your sister would prefer Japanese cuisine…”

“…Nee-san said that she’s fine with anything.”

“…These ingredients are obviously meant to cook paella.”

“Yeah. If it’s just prawns and clams, we can still think that it’s spaghetti, but with saffron,”

“Yeah. I can’t think of any dishes that uses saffron other than paella…arre? What’s this bottle of tomato sauce used for?”

Amongst the ingredients nee-san bought, she actually added a bottle of tomato sauce. Is this really an ingredient for cooking paella? I never heard of it before.

“…There’s also paella that’s made from mixed celery, onions, garlic and tomato sauce.”

“Eh? Tomato sauce?”

“(Nods head)… it’s a tomato sauce called soffritto in Italy.”

“Heh~so that’s how it is. I never used tomato sauce when I made it before.”

Muttsurini actually knows about such things. Is there something related to sex in Spanish restaurants for Muttsurini to be this interested?

“Akihisa, don’t tell me you actually did such a troublesome dish like paella so many times.”

“Un, I like it very much, so I do make it often.”

However, the last time I actually made paella on my own was more than a year ago. I didn’t have enough money to cook something good ever since I started living alone.

“Since you did it so many times, why did she buy some unrelated ingredients? Isn’t this weird?”

“Really? I think it’s my sister who bought the wrong thing. Normally, I would be the one in charge of buying ingredients and cooking.”

“Really? Oh well, maybe she did buy the wrong thing.”

Yuuji was still puzzled about the ingredients, but still agreed with what I said. Does he feel that something’s wrong? There shouldn’t be any problems if it’s just the ingredients, right?

“Oh yeah, Akihisa, I just thought of something.”

“Hm?”

“You didn’t let your sister know what kind of life you lived, right?”

“…You’re rather sharp about it.”

“Anyone sharp enough can tell whether you’ve been well off or not, you idiot.”

Yuuji removed the intestines of the prawns and said to me.

“…Will you be scolded if she knew?”

Muttsurini, who was using the scrub to wash the clams, asked.

“It would be alright if it was just a tantrum.”

I’ll leave those horrifying punishments of being kissed on the lips aside.

“Is there anything else other than throwing a tantrum?”

“Un, if I don’t live properly or that I can’t get enough marks during this end-of-term exams, my sister will continue to stay over at home.”

I said that as I sliced up the onion, red peppers, asparagus and stuff and put them into the big bowl.

“Enough marks?”

“It’s just like what my sister said, about deducting 150 or 200 points or so.”

“She did seem to mention it, but I didn’t hear it clearly. What’s about that marks?”

“Besides the marks, I have to get more marks than the previous streaming exam during this end-of-term exams…”

“I see, so that’s why you thought of studying hard. So that’s how it is.”

“…Understood.”

I was only deducted 20 points yesterday, and in a short moment, it became 220. If the situation is better, my recent scores will be about 1000 points…but it will be bad if this keeps up. So no matter what, I have to prevent further loss of points.

“So I just want to say, please don’t say anything in front of my sister, like grades at school, my real living habits…and also, that incident with Minami…”

“That one you’re referring to is the kiss with Shimada—Mm!”

I frantically covered Yuuji’s mouth.

Yuuji’s really a loudmouth. The voice can even reach nee-san in the kitchen!

“That’s really bad too, so you can't say it! Nee-san’s very insistent on forbidding me from having any illicit sexual relationships!”

I kept my volume down, explained it to Yuuji, and slowly took back the hand covering his mouth.

“I see. Since you’re living alone, it’ll be easier for me to disturb you at home, so I’ll just shut up this time.”

“…I’ll help too.”

“Thanks guys.”

After explaining things, they were willing to help me out. Now, we’ll continue our preparations. Let me think, the next step is…

“Yuuji, can you help me get the consommé? It’s about time to boil the soup.”

“Hm? Don’t you intend to cook that soffritto?”

“U~n….I can try it if I’m living alone, but since everyone’s waiting for dinner, I guess we should follow the recipe I’m familiar with.”

“Is that so? Since you say so, let’s do this.”

Yuuji stopped slicing the octopus into slices and took a can of consummate. That Yuuji can really do anything, talking and working at the same time.

“Un, thanks.”

I received the can and opened it, pouring the consummate into the wok Yuuji just heated up by turning on the fire. The saffron will need some time to show more of its color, so it was added in the beginning, and the soup base that’s used to increase the flavor was soon completed. Did we prepare it well beforehand, or is it that they’re skilled with their hands…? I really have to take my hats off of those two.

Let alone Muttsurini, I didn’t expect Yuuji to be good at cooking. Does this guy cook normally? My curiosity started to surge.

“I say, Yuuji, do you cook at home every day?”

“Ahh, no, not everyday. My mother does know how to cook…”

“That’s great, having such a mother.”

“…But if I leave her alone, I really can’t tell what kind of horrible thing she’ll cook…”

Yuuji looked far away. A slight indescribable melancholy surrounded him as if there was a dish served with a mix-up between crayfish and lobster.

“Oh yeah, isn’t it time to put the rice in?”

“Ahh, put it in. Muttsurini and I will prepare the salad and the dessert.”

“…Leave it to me.”

I put the vegetables and rice in, and turned on the fire. I’ll add in the soup once it’s fried somewhat.

“Akihisa, watch the wok when you pour the soup in, or else it will get burned.”

“Don’t worry. I know what to do.”

After a while, it seemed that the color of the food in the wok was almost there, and I poured the soup in. I just need to shake it occasionally and wait for the paella to be done.

Finally, we have nothing to do and can only wait silently. Just when I was staring at the wok and spacing out, I suddenly heard Himeji-san and the rest talking. What are those people talking about?

''“Do you want to see the photo album? These are all photos of Aki-kun when he was young.”''

''“Eh? Can we?”''

''“Sounds interesting.”''

''“Aki’s photos when he was little. How does he look like?”''

''“I’ll go get it. Please wait for me.”''

Uu…my photos when I was young…feels embarrassing…if possible, I really want to stop nee-san, but my eyes can’t leave the wok, and Himeji-san said that she wanted to see it…

''“Sorry to keep you waiting.”''

Just when I was thinking randomly, it seemed that nee-san got the photo album and came back.

Haa…can’t be helped. I can only grit my teeth and endure so that everyone can pass the time, no matter how shameful it can be…

''“This is Aki-kun’s bathing photo at two-years-old.”''

''“H, how cute!”''

''“Muu, I find this expression cute too.”''

''“Looks so honest, so cute~”''

''“Next, it’s Aki-kun’s bathing photo when he was four.”''

''“Ahaha, really, Aki, falling asleep in the middle of a bath.”''

''“Probably feels nice bathing in warm water.”''

''“That sleeping face looks so pure.”''

''“And this is Aki-kun’s bathing photo when he was 7.”''

''“Should be in elementary school at this point. How memorable.”''

''“He grew quite a bit.”''

''“He really grew a lot.”''

''“And this one’s Aki-kun’s bathing photo when he was 10.”''

“WAIT A SEC, NEE-SAN! WHY ARE THESE ALL BATHING PHOTOS OF ME!? WHAT EXACTLY DOES THAT PHOTO ALBUM HAVE!?”

I had to watch the wok, so I could only stand in the kitchen and shout at the living room, but didn’t get any response at all. Really, even if these are photos when I was young, why are these all bathing photos—

''“—And this is Aki-kun’s bathing photo from yesterday.”''

''“““…(Gulp)”””''

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“THAT IDIOT SISTER! WHEN DID YOU TAKE THAT PHOTO!? WHEN I WAS CHANGING!? WAS IT WHEN YOU TOOK MY CHANGE OF CLOTHES FOR ME!?”

“Akihisa, didn’t I tell you not to look away from the wok? The rice will burn.”

“IT DOESN’T MATTER WHETHER THE RICE GET BURNED OR NOT! THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO GET A FRYING PAN AND WHACK THAT IDIOT SISTER OF MINE ON THE HEAD!”

“I won’t let you look down on the importance of cooking! Watch the pot!”

“LET GO OF ME! YUUJI! YOU BIG IDIOT!”

No, it’ll definitely be alright. Himeji-san and Minami are different. They’re girls with common sense, wisdom and good decision making ability. They definitely won’t look at those kinds of photos!

—Time passed just like that—

“Everyone, sorry to keep you waiting. Dinner’s ready.”

“Thank you. Sorry to make you cook with Aki-kun even though you’re guests.”

“No, please don’t worry about that. I don’t hate cooking.”

We lined another table with the table in the living room, and the dinner that was finally finished was served. Un, it looks really good.

“Than, thank you…(blushes).”

“It, it looks good…(blushes).”

“Himeji-san, Minami, why are you blushing the moment you saw me?

You two didn’t see it right? You two definitely didn’t see the photo nee-san talked about, right?

“Oh yes, Aki-kun, why do you look extremely anxious? You were yelling and shouting, and I could hear you from the living room.”

“THAT’S BECAUSE I HAD TO YELL BECAUSE OF YOU!!”

And she even dared to tell me off when she didn’t mention what she did!

“See, you’ve been shouting again…do you like calcium?”

As she said that, nee-san moved away my plate of paella and put a plate with a deeper base. Hm? What’s with this plate?

“Everyone, put your leftover shells in this plate.”

“WHAT’S WITH THIS!? DOES MY DINNER ONLY CONSIST OF SHELLS? YOU SAY THAT I LACK CALCIUM, BUT THAT’S JUST SIMPLY ABUSE, RIGHT!?”

Such a beautiful relationship called family caused my tears to continue flowing no matter what.

At the same time, I vaguely realized something…

“Nee-san…do you actually, actually hate me, nee-san…?”

Beating me hard the moment she got back home, and showing embarrassing photos of me in front of the girls in class. If I combine these facts, I can’t think of anything other than being hated by her.

As she faced my doubts, nee-san gave a ‘you surprised me’ reply, and casually answered.

“Aki-kun, what are you saying, child? How can nee-san hate you?”

If you don’t hate me, the way you treat me is way too much.

“Or rather, on the contrary.”

“Eh? Isn’t the opposite of hate…”

“Nee-san loves you.”

“Is, is that so…”

“Yes, nee-san really loves you.”

I couldn’t help but shy off. I’m happy that nee-san said that, but I’m still somewhat awkward. Saying ‘love you’ in front of everyone is really—

“—As someone of the opposite gender.”

THIS IS THE WORST!!

“WAS THOSE LAST WORDS A JOKE? I’LL BE HAPPIER IF YOU SAID THAT YOU HATED ME!”

THIS PERSON’S DEFINITELY TRYING TO FORCE ME TO MY GRAVE! THAT’S RIGHT! SHE MUST BE THINKING ABOUT THIS! SHE DEFINITELY HATES ME!

“Doesn’t a Japanese saying say it?”

“What? What are you trying to say?”

“The dumber the child, the more adorable he is.”

“Akihisa, you better give up. There’s no one else who loves you more in the world than your sister.”

“WAIT A SEC! ARE YOU SAYING THAT I’M THE DUMBEST PERSON IN THE WORLD!?”

“I, I think that Aki’s the dumbest person in the world too!”

“Me, me too! I definitely believe that there’s nobody else dumber than Akihisa-kun in this world!”

“DON’T SAY IT! PLEASE STOP HURTING ME!!”

Why is it that everyone wants to trample on my heart mercilessly…

“Oh well, we’ll just leave this alone.”

“It, it doesn’t matter now…such a conversation is only a part and parcel of my life…”

Oh yeah, did Yuuji mean that it doesn’t matter what happens to my life?

“Anyway, let’s tuck in before it gets cold.”

I turned my eyes to the food that was giving off hot air. It’s not that everyone can’t eat whenever they want to, but it’ll be a waste if the food we spent so much effort to cook goes cold. Nee-san’s right. It’s better to tuck in.

“““Itaidakimasu!!”””

Everyone clapped their hands together and attacked the food in front of them.

“Muu, this is really good.”

“Really? It’s great that it fits your taste.”

“Now that you say that, it seemed that our efforts in making this dish is somewhat worth it.”

“…(Nods head).”

Hideyoshi smiled as he ate the paella, and the way he looked was so cute that I really want to take a photo and archive it. On the other hand, Himeji-san and Minami looked lost like they didn’t know what they were tasting.

“Arre? Do you two not like paella?”

“Uu…no, it’s not that we hate it. it’s really good…”

“It’s more like it’s depressing because it’s so good…”

I really couldn’t understand what they were saying. Girls’ feelings are really complicated.

“…As expected, I have to cook more to practice more! I have to make more unique and personal flavors to win this battle!”

I’ll just pretend that I didn’t hear Himeji-san’s muttering.

“It’s really good, but I deliberately bought ingredients different from the menu Aki-kun knew off, yet the flavor’s no different from before. Nee-san’s rather disappointed in that here.”

Nee-san said that as she put the prawn and clam shells on my plate. She’s probably still angry that I brought girls back if she’s using such an immature manner to bully me.

“Stop yapping over there. You don’t know how to cook at all, nee-san, and you dare to tell me off!”

In fact, before Himeji-san appeared, this person’s number two in the ranking of those who don’t know how to cook. On a side note, my mom’s ranked first.

“Aki-kun, what are you saying? Nee-san’s growing in ways Aki-kun doesn’t know of.”

“Fu~n, growth…in what aspect have you grown?”

“My bust size is now E.”

“DO YOU EVEN KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORD SHAME!? THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH COOKING AT ALL!”

I couldn’t help but retort back at my sister who showed her chest proudly.

What should I see? When hearing my sister say this, I would be happy for her but worried about her.

“Of course I worked hard in terms of cooking.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yes, I can finally understand the difference between a sea urchin and a scrub.”

“To me, it’s more amazing that you couldn’t understand the difference between a sea urchin and a scrub…”

For some reason, Yuuji, who was beside me, actually muttered ‘I’m so jealous’ or something like that.

“But speaking of which, it’s amazing that you manage to buy ingredients like red peppers when you’re like that.”

No matter how much I think about this, I just feel that nee-san will mistake red peppers for green peppers.

“I won’t make that mistake. That’s because I handed the list directly to the shopkeeper and asked him to put it into the bag.”

“AND YOU NEED SOMEONE’S HELP IN THE END!”

She didn’t grow at all. No, she wouldn’t even do anything before, and now that she would prepare a list, I suppose it’s some form of improvement…

“Oh yes, I have something I want to ask everyone.”

It seemed that we finally entered the main point as nee-san suddenly said cheerily. What does she want?

“I want to know how’s my stupid brother doing a school, like school grades or ‘illicit sexual relationships’.”

Why must she deliberately emphasize on those last words!?

Ku…! Damned despicable…! So she’s been planning this when she invited everyone to stay behind for dinner!

But it doesn’t matter. After that explanation in the kitchen, and the supposedly biggest threats, Yuuji and Muttsurini are standing on my side.

“Well, I find that Akihisa-kun’s very hardworking. It seemed that his grades improved.”

“Tha, that’s right. He would sometimes be so serious that it’s scary.”

As expected of Himeji-san and Minami, they’re different from Yuuji in that they won’t say anything bad in front of the person involved or the family members. They’re really good girls who know how to back off.

“Really? Then, what about illicit sexual relationships?”

“Eh, erm, well, I’m not, too certain about this…regarding Akihisa-kun’s ‘relationships with the opposite gender’.”

“That, that’s right. I’m not too certain about this…regarding Aki’s ‘relationships with the opposite gender’.”

For some reason, both of them seemed to emphasize on the ‘illicit sexual relationships’.

Luckily, Himeji-san and Minami didn’t say anything. in that case, the only one left is—

“Akihisa’s relationships with the opposite gender, huh…”

Only Hideyoshi was left as he used his hand to support his chin.

Hideyoshi probably won’t mention about what happened between Minami and me, right? But…he may say something explosive with a half-joking tone. I have to find some way to prevent Hideyoshi from talking rubbish.

I took my fork and picked up the mushroom on the plate,

“Does Hideyoshi-kun know something?”

“Well…if there’s something.”

“Hideyoshi, ahh-n”

“Nnu? Ahh-n”

I passed the fork in my hand to Hideyoshi before he said something ridiculous. On seeing my action, Hideyoshi didn’t show any suspicion and immediately ate the food I fed him. Naturally, he can’t talk when he’s chewing.

If he’s chewing, he shouldn’t open his mouth. That’s why nee-san waited for Hideyoshi to swallow the mushroom and ask,

“Hideyoshi-kun. About that—”

“Hideyoshi, ahh-n”

“Ahh-n”

Chew Chew.

“Hideyoshi-kun. About just now—.”

“Hideyoshi, ahh-n”

“Ahh-n”

Chew chew.

“Hi—”

“Hideyoshi, ahh-n”

“Ahh-n”

Crack.

What is it? It seemed I heard something unnerving.

“UWAHH!! MY JOINT! MY JOINT! MY ELBOW’S TWISTED IN THE OPPOSITE MANNER! IS THIS THE NEXT GENERATION OF HUMANS!?”

“Aki-kun, please don’t bother me. Or else nee-san will do something terrible to you, you know?”

“YOU’VE DONE IT! YOU’RE DOING SOMETHING REALLY CRUEL TO ME!”

“Alright, what’s the situation like, Hideyoshi-kun?”

“Un, about that…”

Ignoring me while I was struggling on the ground in pain, nee-san continued her conversation with Hideyoshi.

“Akihisa himself didn’t mention it, so I don’t think I can say anything.”

Hideyoshi still smiled as nee-san asked him and said an answer to end things. Such an answer doesn’t state what exactly happened, but it does prove that something happened. Besides, Hideyoshi doesn’t know my situation and felt that saying this would be alright. Uu…it’s a grave mistake on my part not to inform Hideyoshi first…

“Arre, so that’s a secret? In that case…I’ll have Aki-kun explain things thoroughly next time.”

“That’s the plan.”

“Nee-san, what do you actually mean by ‘explain things thoroughly’? Normally put, it should be like ‘thoroughly’ or ‘slowly’ explain things!”

I can clearly feel her malice and killing intent from her tone. I think it’s best that I replenish my calcium for the sake of the crisis that was about to occur.

“I’ll just cook fish tomorrow…”

“You’re already thinking of tomorrow’s dishes when we haven’t finished dinner today? You’re really gluttonous, Aki-kun.”

“No, I don’t mean that.”

That’s to prevent my bones from being snapped.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you. From tomorrow on, you don’t have to prepare dinner for nee-san.”

“Eh? I don’t have to prepare your share?’

“Yeah, I have some work to deal with. From tomorrow until the weekend, I think I would be going home late.”

The work nee-san’s talking about should be related to helping out at dad’s company. As the head office’s shifted back to Japan, it seems that there’re still some processes to deal with or some deals. I don’t know what kind of company my dad’s running, so I don’t know of the specifics.

Anyway, it’s great that nee-san’s coming home late. In that case, I can get some breathing room from nee-san’s wanton desposition…

“Aki-kun, you look happy.”

“Eh! No, not really, that’s not true. Nee-san came back home and yet has to go home late. I’m really finding it a pity.”

“Say it in English then.”

“Happy.”

“…”

“AH! OUCH! NEE-SAN! DON’T SLAP ME WHEN WE’RE EATING!”

My mouth’s already bleeding inside, and the dessert I ate inadvertently had a slight tinge of blood.

<center>☆</center>

After dinner, we quickly cleared the plates. Everyone was gathered in the living room, and Himeji-san spoke up to say the biggest reason why we’re gathered here.

“Then, isn’t it about time we should study?”

“Yeah. It’s not good to go home too late.”

Maybe it’s because we ate dinner early that it’s now only 7pm. Right now, there’s a lot of time we can use to study. I don’t want to work hard, but this is for my own freedom. I have to force myself to work hard!

“In that case, please teach me about some lesson related questions.”

“…Me too.”

It’s really hard to imagine us as F-class members with such serious attitudes. I really want to show Ironman this.

“Yeah. Studying’s not about preparing for exams. Let’s start reading ‘like usual’!”

I held off nee-san’s response to prevent her from guessing.

“Is everyone going to study together? In that case, I have something good here, you know?”

“Something good?”

“Yes. I found it when I was cleaning the house. I’ll bring it over.”

Nee-san walked out of the living room, and the sound of rummaging could be heard. Soon after, nee-san came back to the living room.

“These aren’t really considered reference books, but it’ll be great if it can benefit everyone.”

Nee-san put the book in her hands onto the table. That’s weird, I seemed to have seen them before…

<<Female high school student: Lustful bold collection.>>

“I found them in Aki-kun’s room.”

“Isn’t that my top secret—!!”

What in the world did this person take out!? Does she feel happy to force her brother to the edge?

“Please take it as health education reference.”

“NOT! HOW CAN SUCH A THING BE USED AS REFERENCE! AND DIDN’T YOU ENTER MY ROOM ON YOUR OWN!? DIDN’T I TELL YOU MANY TIMES NOT TO ENTER MY ROOM!?”

“I didn’t enter on my own will, Aki-kun, you did say that I can enter your room.”

“ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THE TIME WHEN YOU WENT TO MY ROOM TO GET CLOTHES!? IS THAT YOUR METHOD TO ACHIEVE SUCH AN AIM!? THIS UNDERHANDED TACTIC IS WAY TOO DESPICABLE!”

“I, in that case, I’ll use it as reference material…”

“Tha, that’s right, I’ll just take a peek then…”

“HIMEJI-SAN, MINAMI, WHAT’S WITH YOU!? YOU DON’T HAVE TO PLAY ALONG WITH NEE-SAN’S SEXUAL HARASSMENT! OR RATHER, I BEG OF YOU, DON’T LOOK!?”

Wouldn’t you know of my fetishes in that case?

“Aki-kun, nee-san has checked through all the ‘reference books’ under your bed. Looks like your focus in studying are more towards big breasts and ponytails.”

“DON’T SAY SUCH THINGS SO CALMLY!? DIDN’T YOU JUST REVEAL MY FETISHES NO MATTER HOW YOU TRY TO TWIST THINGS!?”

“Ponytail…”

“Big breasts…”

Himeji-san and Minami stared at a certain part of each other’s body, and then both of them showed a pondering look.

“I’d say, aren’t you people going to study?”

“Tha, that’s right, Hideyoshi’s right! Alright, we should be studying!”

I snatched the book from Himeji-san’s hands and stuffed a textbook into her hands. Alright, time to study hard, we should be studying seriously.

“Tha, that’s right. We should start studying. Nn…”

“Mi, Mizuki? Why are you tying your hair out of a sudden?”

“No, nothing? I’m tying my hair so that it won’t affect my mood.”

“I’ll help you tie then! I’ll tie it into buns!”

“No, that’s not it. I want to tie it into a ponytail.”

“No! You must tie it into buns!”

“Minami-chan, you’re so evil…”

Minami said that and immediately went behind Himeji-san to tie her hair into buns. They look youthful and eye-catching…

“What’s with you, Muttsurini? I’d say, you look rather quiet.”

“ah, yeah.”

Even with such a book put on the table, Muttsurini didn’t show any interest at all. This really isn’t like Muttsurini. Has he already died from too much nosebleeding?”

“…(Looks around).”

“? What’s wrong, Muttsurini?”

I look at him in a rather worried manner, but Muttsurini still looked calm and continued to look around as if he was searching for something.

“…Akihisa.”

“Nn?”

“…Where’s the remaining 1,999 books?”

“Ehh!? You actually thought that I really had 2,000 ero-books!?”

Amazing! As for what’s amazing, it’s that Muttsurini actually believed that there’s 2,000 ero-books here!

“…I have no interest in ero-books.”

In stark contrast to what he said, Muttsurini obviously looked disappointed as he lowered his shoulders. He looked like a puppy who was begging its own to bring it out for a walk, only to be rejected. Though pitiful, Muttsurini may be rather cute like this.

“Let’s just leave Akihisa’s ero-books aside for now. If we want to study, we better do so fast!”

Yuuji spoke in a reluctant manner. One can tell how scary these guys are when an idiot like Yuuji looks like one with common sense.

“If you want to study, I can teach you.”

“Eh? Onee-san, you will?”

Nee-san’s suggestion caused Himeji-san and the rest to widen their eyes.

Having seen nee-san’s weird actions, it’s obvious that they would show a shocked look.

“Yes. I finished my degree in a certain school in Boston, America, so I should more or less be able to help you out.”

“Bo, Boston university…don’t tell me it’s that world famous Harvard University!?”

“You really do know it. Yes, it’s that school.”

“““EHHH!!!???”””

The strange thing is, nee-san’s abnormally good at studying, but is overwhelmingly lacking in common sense.

“I see, so the good ones were taken…”

“Yuuji, may I know what do you mean by that?”

The sad expression he showed me was really frustrating.

“In that case, please don’t hold back in your questions, like traditional English or things that the Japanese teachers can’t teach us. Nee-san seem to know a lot.”

“…Very reliable.”

“I understand. We’ll start from English then.”

“““We’re in your care!”””

After that, we continued to listen to nee-san’s lessons until 10pm before we disbanded and ended the study group today.

'''Current score [-220 points]'''

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{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume5_The_Second_Question|next=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume5_The_Fourth_Question}}
</noinclude>

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume5 The Second Question

2012-04-10T06:48:48Z

128.189.154.190: Replaced the 11 space characters with   so that the remaining 10 spaces actually show

==The Second Question==

'''Please answer the following English sentence into proper Japanese.'''

“Die Musik gefällt Leuten und bereichert auch den Verstand.”

'''Shimada Minami’s answer:'''

“Music can make people happy and enrich the soul. #This should be German, not English.”

'''Sakamoto Yuuji’s answer:'''

“The question’s in German, not English. I can’t answer that.”

'''Teacher’s comment:'''

I’m really sorry. Sensei made a mistake by mixing up the question. Shimada-san’s translation into Japanese is correct, but this is honestly sensei’s mistake. Thus, sensei decided to award marks to everyone, including those who didn’t write the answer—

'''Tsuchiya Kouta’s answer:'''

“           <-Invisible Ink”

'''Yoshii Akihisa’s answer:'''

“           <-Only idiots can’t see the answer”

'''Teacher’s comment:'''

—I really wanted to give the marks, but you two will be the exceptions, so you two won’t get any marks in this question.

“Can I stay at your house? Tonight, I don't really...feel like going home.”

As I head towards, school, I sent the mail to Yuuji. Yuuji was supposed to come over to my house today to challenge that boxing game, but since nee-san came back, I had to change the plan.

It’s normal to try and make sure other people don’t find out about my sister here when she’s so weird. More importantly, I don’t really want to go back to that house. I should be able to get back my deducted marks before the end-of-term exams. But if I continue to stay at home, maybe she will even deduct points from me for other reasons. So I have to ask Yuuji to let me stay at his house for a few days no matter what, so that I can protect my happy life of living alone.

After checking that the mail was sent, I put the phone back into my pocket.

Just when I was casually walking up the slope leading to a school, a surprised voice called me from behind.

“Nm? Isn’t this Akihisa?”

“Ah, morning, Hideyoshi.”

“Morning.”

Trotting over beside me was my classmate Kinoshita Hideyoshi. He, who’s wearing a male uniform, is really a pretty girl like what everyone can see here. He calls himself a guy, but I heard that the school tailored a female uniform for him.

At this moment, Hideyoshi was starting at my face as if he was inspecting me. Is there something wrong?

“? What’s wrong, Hideyoshi? Why are you staring at my face?”

“No, well…Akihisa, I think you look different somewhat?”

“Ueh? Are, aren’t you thinking too much? I’m the same as before. Nothing changed here, you know?”

I averted my gaze and didn’t dare to look at Hideyoshi’s stare. Was I found out too quickly? But I have to hide the fact that I have a super ridiculous sister even if I have to lie to Hideyoshi!

“I say, I’m referring to how you look chirper than usual. Did you have some instant income and got a good breakfast?”

Sha, sharp…!

Hideyoshi’s right. I’m very energetic this morning, and of course, it’s because I ate breakfast.

While under nee-san’s supervision, I have to pretend that I’m living a normal regular life. Because of that, I had to eat breakfast. I had to sell my beloved games and books to get enough money so that I can live my own life of freedom. I have to create a false impression of a healthy and regular lifestyle.

“Kind, kinda…even I would occasionally have breakfast anyway.”

I couldn’t find any excuse for now, and could only try to end the topic.

“And your shirt and pants look like they were ironed.”

“Tha, that’s because, it’s the start of the week. It’s nothing much anyway.”

“…Very suspicious.”

“I, it’s really nothing!”

There’s a height difference between us, so Hideyoshi’s looking up at my eyes. I really can’t stand Hideyoshi’s probing eyes that seemed to read through everything, and couldn’t help but turn around to avoid Hideyoshi’s stare.

Hideyoshi darted in front of me and continued to stare at my eyes.

“I told you there’s nothing, right?”

I then turned to look in the other direction.

“In that case, it should be alright if you at least talk to me, right?”

Hideyoshi followed me.

“What disgusting thing are you doing so early in the morning?”

“Yoshii-kun, that sempai’s right. I feel that you two have to keep some distance between each other.”

My battle against Hideyoshi was noticed by the upperclassman, one of the Toko-Natsu pair (Tsunemura Yuusaku) and 2-A’s Kubo Toshimitsu, ranked second in our year.

“That’s not it. I didn’t say anything passionate to Akihisa. Besides, including you two, aren’t everyone here guys…”

At that moment, Hideyoshi’s attention was diverted.

“Sorry Hideyoshi! I’ll go ahead first.”

It’s an opportunity I can’t afford to lose. I immediately left Hideyoshi and ran to the school.”

“Ugh, damn it, Akihisa. Are you trying to run away!?”

Hideyoshi didn’t manage to catch up, but we’re classmates, so he might continue to ask when we reach the classroom. What should I do? I have to think of a good reason…

I panted and ran up the slope right in front of the school gate, entered the campus, put on my overshoes, and darted towards the 2-F classroom.

“Morning—oi Yuuji? What’s with you? Why are you in gym pants instead of the normal pants?

As I entered the classroom, I saw my classmate, my super bad friend Sakamoto Yuuji sitting on the cushion in a strange get-up.

“Damned Akihisa. It’s all your fault that I ended up in a super Cool Biz attire on my lower half when I came to school! Repay me with your death, you bastard!!”

“EEHH? What are you going all crazy about? What’s going on!?”

“Shut up! Die! Give me your uniform!”

I couldn’t understand what he was saying. What’s with Yuuji this morning—

“Oi, did you hear about Sakamoto?”

“Ahh, I heard he came to school with only a Y-shirt.”

“Really, got to hand it to him…maybe he saw too much crossdressing, but that was really scary…”

My classmates’ whispering could be head.

“…”

“…”

What should I say now?

“Yuuji…I’m willing to chat with you if something bad happened to you…”

“That, that’s not it! I wasn’t wearing it willing! Also, I managed to salvage my last bit of pride by protecting my boxers!”

“Un un. That’s right. It’s because something tragic happened that caused Yuuji’s mental state to become like that…”

“DIDN’T I SAY THAT IT ISN’T LIKE THAT? IT’S BECAUSE SHOUKO SAW THE MAIL YOU SENT THAT MY PANTS WERE TAKEN BY HER, YOU IDIOT!!”

Yuuji looked to be extremely agitated. Why is it my fault here? What is he talking about?

“Yuuji, what are you saying? Even if it’s Kirishima-san, she can’t possibly mess you up like that just because she saw a guy’s mail, right?”

It’s still understandable if it’s a girl who sent the mail, but how can my mail make her angry? This is really unreasonable.

“No, I’m telling you the truth. Your mail’s really obscene…”

“Obscene? What kind of mail is that?”

The one who suddenly appeared in front of me is Himeji-san, the rare minority of oasis in this class 2-F that’s full of stinking boys. Her cute actions and savage breasts are still very dazzling today.

“That’s just a mail to ask you about something.”

“Hoho, if you really think so, read that mail loud and clearly!”

“? Whatever, I’ll read it then.”

Yuuji looked like he was really concerned about that mail. I took out my phone and opened my mail history.

“Errm, I’m going to read it then—ahem!”

I cleared my throat and loudly read the message I sent to Yuuji.

“Can I stay at your house? Tonight, I don't really...feel like going home.”

GARAKK!!

The moment I read it out, the classroom door was suddenly opened forcefully.

“…”

Standing outside the door was my classmate, Shimada Minami-san.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT AKI’S THINKING ANYMORE!”

“Eh? What’s wrong? Why are you retreating just as you appeared, Minami!?”

My classmate who had the trademarks of the ponytail, nice slender legs and pettanko threw the bag in her hands at me for some reason and ran off.

“Wha, what are you saying, Akihisa-kun!? Shouldn’t that…well…you should be saying that when you become an adult!”

Himeji-san’s words were just as ridiculous. Yuuji would often come over to my house to play too. Even if you ask me to be an adult first, it’s a little…

“You guys are really making noise in the morning like usual…Akihisa just ran by me, and Shimada ran off from the classroom. What happened?”

Hideyoshi was later than me by several minutes and entered the classroom.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“What’s going on? You ran off in front of me. Is there something you’re hiding from me? That, feels kinda lonely…”

Hideyoshi sadly lowered his eyes. What the heck, it’s like there’s a sudden rush of guilt in me!

“Hideyoshi, listen to me. It’s this idiot who publicly made such a declaration that completely violates morality.

“Akihisa…I say, what obscene words are you saying in the morning?”

“That, that’s not it! I won’t do that kind of thing like Muttsurini!”

“…How rude.”

A somewhat dejected whisper came from behind. I turned around, and found that my classmate Tsuchiya Kouta (nicknamed Muttsurini) was already standing at a place where I couldn’t even detect his presence.

“Morning, Muttsurini. What’s going on? You look like you brought lots of baggage here today.”

He was holding his school bag and a large carrier bag. There’s no PE lesson today, so the bags shouldn’t contain gym clothes.

“..Just pillow covers.”

“Pillow covers? Your bag’s really big though.”

“…Not true.”

Muttsurini shook his head to deny my words. The way he’s denying things shows that he has some secret he wants to hide…that’s too suspicious.

“Sorry, Muttsurini. Let me see what’s inside.”

“…Ah.”

I snatched one of the bags from Muttsurini, who was a little slow due to the bags. What’s inside them? Did he get something really nice and was ready to keep it for himself?

“Let me see. What’s inside…hmm…?”

What I took out from the bag was—a printed white background cloth with my picture on it (in sailor uniform).

“…Muttsurini…what’s this?”

“…Just an ordinary cushion cover.”

“Just an ordinary—RIGHT! THERE’S A HUGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PILLOW COVER AND A CUSHION COVER! KNOW THAT WELL! AND WHY IS IT THAT IT HAS MY PHOTO ON IT!?”

“…There’s something called a maniac in this world.”

“What in the world are you saying? How could anyone want a cushion of me—”

KON KON!!

[[Image:1212_057.jpg|thumb]]

“Sorry, is Tsuchiya-kun around? The cushion cover I requested before.”

A-class’ Kubo-kun appeared.

“Arre? It’s rare for you to appear here, Kubo-kun. Why are you looking for Muttsurini?”

“—Nothing. Just thought of something important I have to do. Sorry, I’ll excuse myself.”

The moment I thought about that, he went off without looking at me. What’s going on?

“Muttsurini, do you have some business contact with Kubo-kun?”

“(Nods head)…He became my main client ever since the study camp.”

“That guy’s already revealed himself completely.”

Unbelievably, I seemed to have a chill up my spine whenever I see Kubo-kun nowadays.

“Haa…anyway, Muttsurini, I’m going to confiscate this cushion cover. I’ll confiscate everything else and change the photo to Hideyoshi…”

“Akihisa, don’t think of making a cushion cover of me in this chaos.”

“That’s right, Akihisa-kun. How can you just take other people’s things like that and modify them? …And one of them is mine…”

Really, I’ve been thinking how a poor student like Muttsurini could afford such high-priced materials. So he managed to earn them through this.

“Speaking of which, what were you talking about?”

“Well…where were we?”

So many things happened in quick succession that I couldn’t really remember what I said. Haa, why must I be so busy in the morning…

“We were talking about how I was forced by Akihisa to wear my trunks to school.”

“Akihisa, you…”

“YUUJI! DON’T SAY SUCH MISLEADING STUFF ON PURPOSE!”

No matter how I listen to it, I feel that he left out a lot of parts that’s to be explained!

“Well, that was really a joke though…anyway, the mail Akihisa sent over was misunderstood by Shouko, which is why I ended up with such a tragic fate.”

“Mail? Is it related to how Akihisa’s looking abnormal this morning?”

Hideyoshi’s careless words made me feel that my heart was crushed and that I couldn’t breathe. Damn it! I forgot that Hideyoshi already realized that there’s something different about me!

“Something different about Akihisa-kun? Now that you mention it, he looks chipper than usual, his uniform’s neatly ironed, and his hair isn’t messy…”

“That’s really suspicious. He looks rather healthy for once, but his uniform is even neatly ironed. That’s really weird.”

“…This isn’t like Akihisa at all.”

They actually started analyzing me. This isn’t good if it keeps up.

“At, at least I’ll come to school neatly once in a while! Let’s not talk about that. It should be time for the bell, right? Got to get back to my seat before Ironman comes back! So, I’ll do that!”

I forcefully ended this topic and ran away.

“““Really suspicious…”””

I ignored the piercing stares behind me and head to my seat to get ready for the lessons.

<center>☆</center>

“Yoshii, go to the infirmary.”

This line was said 7 times to me during morning lessons. Is it really strange that I’m taking notes seriously?

“Really, you guys are way too rude…”

I have to get an improvement of at least 20 marks in the upcoming end-of-term exams, or else things will be really bad (wouldn’t that be the case when my sister’s at home?) I had such an idea and studied more seriously than usual…you don’t have to be that amazed.

I was really regretful that the teachers would feel like this as I kept my textbooks and notes from the 4th period. Just when I was about to have lunch, Minami suddenly came to my seat.

“Aki, what happened? You weren’t normal since this morning.”

Minami’s voice really showed concern. I thought that she would hate me for what happened then. But if it’s like what Yuuji and the rest said, Minami reverted back to her old attitude.

“Nothing happened to me. It’s just that I feel that I need to work harder.”

“Aki, lift your head. I have to check whether you have a fever or not.”

“Why is it that everyone thinks that I’m sick when I just want to study hard…”

Minami still reached her hand over as I felt really bothered. She must be trying to touch my forehead and see if I have a fever. Really, aren’t you guys way too concerned—

“Ugh, this won’t do!”

“WAH!”

As I suddenly jumped back, Minami couldn’t help but shriek.

“Oi! What’s with that reaction! It’s rare enough for me to see whether you have a fever!”

“So, sorry! There’s a whole lot of reasons…”

If it was Minami’s sister Hazuki-chan doing this, I don’t think there’ll be too much of an afterthought. But if nee-san saw Minami touching my head to see if I have a fever, I guess it would fall under the definition of ‘Illicit Sexual Relationships’, right? In that case, my points may be deducted by 150. If nee-san knows about it, my happy life of living alone will be even more distant from me. It’s because I don’t know where a certain someone might be hiding that I have to eliminate all possibilities of danger.

“Reasons? What do you mean?”

Minami doesn’t understand my frustrations right now as she stared at me in a puzzled manner.

This is bad. If I explain everything to her, I won’t be able to hide the fact that my sister’s around. Looks like I have to change the topic.

“Uu…erm…o, oh ya, let’s have lunch instead of talking about this! Lunch break will soon be over!”

I hurriedly took out my lunchbox that I prepared from my bag and put it on the table. The way I changed the topic might be a little forced, but Minami will start taking her lunch, I guess?

This was what I expected, but,

“Eh!? Aki, you brought a self-made bento? What happened?”

Unexpectedly, this made Minami even more suspicious.

“Ehh!? Akihisa-kun brought a bento?”

For some reason, Himeji-san came running over and showed a shocked look.

“Eh, you two don’t have to be so surprised…I’m human here, and I may die if I don’t get nutrition once in a while.”

Even though I say that, I’ll spend all my money whenever I get my living expenses.

“That’s right…but today’s really different from before.”

“Yeah. Even if Aki would have lunch in the past, he would mostly bring a bento he bought. But it looks like he brought a handmade one today.”

Both of them widened their eyes and stared hard at the lunch that was put on the table.

This is bad. I didn’t expect them to even scrutinize such minor things.

It’s true that what they said was true. If I had the money to buy lunch, I would mostly buy a bento from a convenience store or a supermarket. It would be more worth it money wise to buy a bento than to make one, but I didn’t do it today.

“Akihisa-kun, why are you having a specially-made bento?”

Himeji-san tilted her head and asked me.

The reason is simple. It’s that I have to pretend that I’m living a healthy life. But if I explain it to them, I have to say that my sister is around. This is something I have to prevent no matter what. What should I do…

“Don’t tell me, someone made this for you?”

Minami narrowed her eyes slightly. Not good, she’s getting ready to attack.

“I really made it for myself.”

To ensure my personal safety, I honestly answered Minami’s question. Besides, there’s no need to hide about this.

But the response I got was,

“Liar.”

“You’re lying.”

WHY IS IT THAT YOU TWO DON’T BELIEVE ME!?

“Aki can’t cook anyway. I advise you to answer honestly. Who made this bento for you?”

“And it looks rather good…the people around Akihisa-kun who can make such nice bentos are—”

“Is it either Sakamoto or Tsuchiya?”

I didn’t even say anything, but the topic just diverged further in a strange direction.

But it doesn’t matter. If they can accept it, it’s fine by me. I’ll just let them guess randomly.

“Oh well…just think whatever you want.”

I showed a nonchalant look and shrugged my shoulders.

“It’s just like what we thought—Aki, have you become so filthy?”

“EH!? WAIT A SEC! MINAMI, WHAT KIND OF UNBEARABLE IMAGINATION ARE YOU HAVING!? AND WHY IS HIMEJI-SAN’S FACE ALL RED NOW!?”

What does she mean by being filthy? I’m really wondering about it, but I just feel that if I hear the answer straight from her mouth, I will be so stunned that I won’t be able to pick myself up.

“Speaking of which, Aki even sent a message to Sakamoto saying ‘I don’t want to go home tonight.”

“In that case, that means, Akihisa-kun and Sakamoto-kun are really…”

Really? What are you trying to say?

“…So Yuuji’s really having an affair with Yoshii.”

Heh? Affair? What topic are we at now?

“Ugh Kirishima-san!? When did you appear?”

“…Only just.”

This pretty and cool girl with such a quiet temperament is the class rep of A class and the valedictorian, Kirishima Shouko-san. She’s great at both studies and athletics, and her appearance and family background are both first class. The only sad thing is that she was only fond of Yuuji, and that’s really a waste.

“Kirishima-san, are you looking for Sakamoto-kun?”

Himeji-san asked Kirishima-san.

“(Nods head)…I want to return Yuuji his pants.”

Hanging from her hand was the pants of the familiar male uniform. Yuuji probably came to school in half-pants this morning because his pants were taken by Kirishima-san.

It looked like she deliberately came over to return Yuuji his pants…but right now, it looks like Kirishima-san’s giving off a strong killing intent and doesn’t looks at peace like how she should be when returning the pants.

“Hn? Shouko? I got it. So you finally found your conscience and decided to return me my pants.”

A familiar voice came from nearby.

As I looked over at where the voice came from, Yuuji was staring at the pants in Kirishima-san’s hand as he walked over.

“…Those who have affairs should be punished.”

That was an icy cold mutter that will almost freeze my spine. This is bad, Yuuji! Hurry up and run away…!

Yuuji was already standing in front of Kirishima-san, completely oblivious to my warning while I deliberately hushed myself down.

“Really, now I can wear my clothes properly—hn? Why aren’t you returning me my pants, Shouko?”

“…Yuuji.”

“What?”

“…I don’t want to do something cruel to Yuuji.”

“You don’t want to do something cruel to me? I don’t understand what you mean, but it’s good that you have such an intention.”

“…That’s why I’m warning you.”

“Warning me?”

“…Hand over your trunks.”

DA!! (Yuuji suddenly dashed off)

“Ahaha. Yuuji’s really an idiot.”

“Erm, Akihisa-kun.”

“Nn? What is it, Himeji-san?”

“Do you want to eat that bento?”

“Un. Of course I’m going to. It’s prepared anyway.”

“Really…I understand. In that case, please compare the taste.”

“Taste?”

“Yes. Actually—I made some special cookies last night…”

DA!! (I suddenly dashed off)

“Ahh! Oi, Aki! Explain your relationship with Sakamoto!”

“Akihisa-kun! Why did you run away without eating? The cookies I made should be more nutritious than Sakamoto-kun’s bento. Please try it!”

“…Yuuji, you two are actually trying to escape. Unforgivable.”

Behind us, the sound of footsteps and killing intent continued to pursue us.

“Akihisa, you damned bastard! Did you say something to Shouko? Why did she suddenly attack me!?”

“How would I know!? I’m about to ask you whether you said anything to Himeji-san and Minami! They look like they have a lot of strange thoughts about me!”

“How would I know, you idiot!? The strange imaginations are all because of your bad behaviour!”

“What did you say!? You scum!? I’ll return these words right back at you!!”

Yuuji and I continued to yell at each other as we continued to dash down the corridor. I don’t have much self-confidence in my physical abilities, but Yuuji's and my running-away speeds are a lot faster than an ordinary person. Let alone Himeji-san, who’s already weak, even the athletic Minami and Kirishima-san can’t possibly catch up—

“You two again! Yoshii, Sakamoto! What are you two arguing about!”

““ACK!!! IRONMAN!!!”

Our sworn enemy appeared in front of us. He’s a devil with muscles all over him, living in modern society—Nishimura-sensei, a.k.a Ironman.

““…””

At that moment, Yuuji and I glanced at each other. From his eyes, I can tell that he’s thinking of what I’m thinking.

((If I can get that that guy to be a sacrifice for Ironman, I will be able to buy some time, right…?))

Such a touching thought, but Ironman’s not the only enemy now. The girls chasing us from behind are huge threats as well.

In other words, though it’s regrettable, even if I want to use that method to live peacefully, there’s too few people for me to sacrifice.

“Can’t be helped! Let’s work together, Akihisa!”

“Okay! Better put our lives as priority!”

At that moment, we made the best decision and got ready to take action. Let’s begin—

“—Activate!”

“—Summon!”

As Yuuji turned on the summoning field, my summoned beast appeared.

Then, we got ready to attack Ironman who’s blocking us.

“Take this, Iron—man…!?”

Suddenly, my summoned beast disappeared vaguely like a blur mist.

“That’s weird? What’s going on?”

The summoned beast didn’t hide itself. Well, to put it, it’s like there was no response at all. I’m rather familiar with controlling a summoned beast, but such a thing never happened before. It’s not like the ‘interference’ from before. What happened?

“Oi, Akihisa! What are you standing around for!?”

“Heh—UOWAAAAHHH!!!”

A sudden gust of wind that caused my hair to be lifted up came flying from beside. Is this Ironman’s fist? I thought it was an iron ball from a shot put tournament being thrown at me!

“You two! I don’t know what you two are arguing about, but you’re using the summoning system to do bad things here! Didn’t I warn you not to use your summoned beast as you wish other than for the summoning battles!? Looks like I have to correct that rotten core of yours!”

EEKK!! Ironman’s angry. Looks like we angered him completely by trying to use the summoned beast to break through.

“Wait, Aki! Eat the cookies Mizuki made and tell us everything.”

“…Yuuji, if you still want to resist, I’ll make you lose all your clothing.”

The voices of the assassins came from behind. Why did a normal casual lunch break became like this!?

“Akihisa!”

“Got it!”

While Ironman’s falling forward with the attack, I used my fastest speed to escape the scene.

We’re stopped on both front and back, but luckily, the stairs are right beside us. Since we’re still not at a dead end, we can continue to run!

Yuuji and I ran down the stairs at the same time.

“Very good, Akihisa! We’ll split once we get down the stairs! I’ll be a bait to lure them away. Hide behind the pillar and run off once they leave!”

“No way, how can I sacrifice you just to save myself, Yuuji! I should be the bait and lure them away. Try hiding and run off secretly, Yuuji!”

“Now’s not the time to think about it! Only one of us can live on!”

“That’s why I want to give the chance to you, Yuuji!”

“Nonono, Akihisa! You should be the one hiding!”

We’re considering our safeties as priority, and naturally, we wouldn’t back off. Just when we continued with this argument, we reached the bottom of the stairs and came to the lowest level.

“Really, you, in that case, I can only force you to hide! (DONK)”

“Ah! Yuuji, what have you done!”

While we’re still at a deadlock, Yuuji suddenly pushed me behind the pillar and ran off in the other direction.

“Yu, Yuuji! That idiot!”

I ducked and hid my body behind the pillar and couldn’t help but think of my classmate that ran away. That idiot’s definitely—

“IRONMAN, SHIMADA! AKIHISA’S HIDING BEHIND THAT PLACE!!”

HE DEFINITELY BETRAYED ME AS EXPECTED, THAT SWINE!

“DAMN YOU, YUUJI! I WON’T FORGET YOUR BETRAYAL!!”

I immediately jumped out from behind the pillar and hurriedly ran off in the opposite direction of where Yuuji ran off to. Damn it! What I intended to do was done by him! It really infuriates me!

“Yoshii! Stop and come and have tea in the remedial classroom!”

“I DON’T WANT TO! I WILL FEEL THAT I’LL BE DRINKING TEA MIXED WITH MY OWN TEARS IF I END UP DRINKING TEA WITH YOU!!”

Yuuji’s hard knock caused my feet to be a little unsteady, and Ironman soon closed in.

Guuu…! I can’t get away now…!

Ironman slowly closed the distance between us, and I’ll be in his demonic clutches a step later.

“End of the line, Yo—Nuohh!!?”

Ironman let out a shocked cry and seemed to trip, while my body felt a mysterious pain. This pain…is it the feedback from the summoned beast?

I turned around to look behind, but didn’t slow down at all.

“Eh? How did…”

I looked closely, and found that about 3m behind me, my summoned beast was lying there, having tripped Ironman.

“Great! I don’t know what’s going on, but I better run!”

To think that such a great chance appeared. Of course I have to make use of this. I’ll just use my obstacle clearing skills to escape through the window. I even ran a little more to shake off those people who were chasing me.

“Speaking of which, why did the summoned beast appear? I didn’t summon in the first place.”

I managed to save my own life, but I just couldn’t help but be concerned about it. The summoned beast I summoned at the upper level disappeared without doing anything…

I continued to think as I ran around the school, and just so happened to see an open window.

“Fuu…I guess they won’t be able to find me if I ran that much.”

I slowed down and stopped running for my life, went near the window, leaned on the window frame, and leaped in.

What room is this? Why do I have a nostalgic feeling…

There’s a sofa and a turn-table for accommodating visitors, and a bookshelf full of special titles that would make me get a migraine. Also—

“Damned brat, what do you want?”

“There’s a strange and ugly old man statue!”

“And you just insulted me on seeing me!? Such a rude damned brat!”

—No, it’s actually the principal.

“Really, you’re really such damned brats that worry me…you two came in without saying hello, and even cursed out at me. Do you want to be suspended again?”

“So, sorry…”

I just stated what I thought.

But isn’t it a little weird? Did she just say…two?

“What the heck, Akihisa! You came hiding here too.”

“Ah, Yuuji. So you came hiding here.”

A familiar voice could be heard beside me.

I didn’t notice his presence as he was blocked by the bookshelf. Yuuji, who split up from me, is hiding in the principal’s office too.

“Because they won’t find us if we hide here.”

“It’s true that they won’t think that we’ll be hiding here.”

But it’s really a coincidence that I came here.

“I don’t know what you two are blabbering, but this isn’t a place you can just come in whenever you want to. The air in here just feel contaminated whenever you two damned ugly brats come in. It’s annoying.”

Now that she mentioned it, we do come in here often. But those rude and humiliating words aren’t exactly something an educator should say. The principal really looked unhappy. Did something happen?

“Yuuji, did you say something that made the principal unhappy?”

“You idiot. Don’t compare me to you who would treat the principal as some strange, ugly and heinous looking person that I can’t stand looking at. I was just a little shocked that I saw a demon in the principal’s office.”

“Yuuji, aren’t those words of yours rather rude? It’s not like the principal wanted to look like a demon.”

“…Looks like there’s a need for you two to know who’s the one with the highest authority in this school.”

Am I thinking too much? It looked like the principal’s mood got worse.

“Humph, I don’t want you two damned brats to critique my looks. You two are the second-year version of the Toko-Natsu pair, and you even have the cheek to talk about me.”

<big>““WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT! YOU DAMNED OLD HAG!!!””</big>

On hearing the worst description ever in this world being used on us, Yuuji and I couldn’t help but roar. However, I’m rather surprised that the principal knew about the Toko-Natsu nickname.

“Okay okay. Really, what do you two want to talk to me about? You can see that I’m busy here.”

The principal said as she looked down at the pile of documents beside her. I don’t really have anything to say to the principal…

“Oh yeah. I have something I want to ask you.”

But Yuuji looked like he had something to say. What can he talk about with the principal?

“We called out a summoned beast just now, but it randomly disappeared for no reason without even doing anything. Did something happen?[http://www.baka-tsuki.net/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume5_Translation_Notes_and_References#]”

So that’s it. I’m rather concerned about how the summoned beast disappeared randomly. Luckily, I managed to escape, but we will be bothered if such a situation happens during the summoning tournament. It’s best to check with the principal.

“Do you two know how to talk? Oh well, honorifics may be too difficult for idiots like you, so I can’t blame you there.”

After a little humiliation on both sides—

“That’s just one of the current problems.”

The principal coldly answered Yuuji’s question.

“Problem…are you talking about my platinum bracelet?”

I nearly forgot that the platinum bracelet will malfunction once in a while. I don’t exactly know what’s going on, but if a student with good grades use it, it may cause a situation where it will go rampant as it can’t be controlled. Speaking of Yuuji’s recent grades, it’s not impossible even if the bracelet breaks. In that case, is it because of that that the summoned beast ended up being weird?

Just when I thought it was like this,

“No, I’m talking about the test summoning system.”

The principal answered with an irritated look. So it’s not like how I imagined.

“Speaking of which, there seemed to be some maintenance or something. Is the summoning system really alright?”

“There’s a little situation at the moment, but there’s no need for you two damned brats to worry. Right now, we’re readjusting, but we should be able to use it again before summer vacation.”

Really? We can use it before summer vacation…in that case, wouldn’t that mean,

“In other words, we would be able to start the summoning war immediately,”

“Can only wait till the next semester.”

“What should we do? We’ll be bothered here!”

Our ‘3 month ban from declaring war’ punishment after having lost in the summoning war will be over soon, and now we have to wait and wilt!

“Can’t you do anything?”

“It’s not that we can’t use it completely…but I just don’t want you two to use it. And I ordered the other teachers to refuse the students’ requests to declare war.”

The principal coldly answered.

“Since it’s not like we can’t use it completely, why ban it! This just feels like some sick joke!”

“It’s not ‘like’. This is a joke I’m playing out of my own bitterness.”

She said something that an educator shouldn’t be saying again.

“Why must you do this? It has nothing to do with letting us use it, right!?”

Seeing me being all agitated, the principal answered coldly.

“Why? Oh, don’t tell me you don’t understand if I don’t explain it clearly to you, is it?”

“Of course I don’t understand! What in the world is this!”

“This requires lots of insight for you to understand. Is that thing above your neck just a decoration? It does look like a flawed item from its appearance.

This, this damned old granny.

“In that case, I’ll tell you directly. The reason’s simple. It’s because you two are usually bad, and I’m not just talking about the faces and the grades.”

Can’t this person talk normally with others without saying ill words?

Just when I was about to open my mouth and argue back, Yuuji, who was behind me, suddenly grabbed my elbow. What’s the matter?

(Calm down, Akihisa.)

Yuuji softly whispered to me.

(Why!? Aren’t you angry that she’s describing you like that!?)

(How can I not be angry? But what help does arguing back in the heat of the moment do? We can’t change the fact that we can’t have a summoning war here.)

(Uu…)

Yuuji’s right. If we make the principal angry at this point, it’ll really do us no good.

(In that case, why don’t we try to get on the old hag’s good side and ask her to remove the ban on the summoning wars? Just endure this for a while.)

It’s unexpected that I will hear the word endure from Yuuji of all people, but to this guy, the current situation is such that we can’t act on our own. Besides, whether we can get the extension of the summoning war here is a battle of life and death now.

(Got it, Yuuji. Now we have to grit our teeth and endure no matter how much she humiliates us.)

(Yeah. We have to do this for the sake of our goals.)

That’s right. No matter how vicious that principal’s mouth is, we have to endure. Endure endure endure…

“Really, no matter how you people adore me, you shouldn’t have gathered all the second year boys to peep on me bathing…”

'''““SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU DAMNED OBNOXIOUS SELF-CENTERED OLD HAG!!!!””'''

We couldn’t help but scream out our thoughts.

“When, when was I being self-centered here? You were excited and started a riot just to peep on me. That’s a fact!”

“YOU CAN SAY ANYTHING ABOUT AKIHISA BEING AN IDIOT, A BUTT UGLY GUY OR GAY, I DON’T CARE SINCE THAT’S A FACT. WHAT I CAN’T ACCEPT THIS THAT YOU ACTUALLY THINK THAT I’LL GET EXCITED AND PERVERSE OVER AN OLD GRANNY!! DAMNED OLD GRANNY, CORRECT THAT!!”

“THAT’S RIGHT! CORRECT THAT! YUUJI’S THE ONLY ONE WHO’S DUMB, UGLY AND WILL GET EXCITED OVER AN OLD GRANNY!”

“Ahh, you two are really noisy! No matter how you ask me, I won’t go about having a romantic relationship with students!”

““I DON’T WANT TO DO IT WITH YOU EITHER!!!””

And that’s it for the casual talk.

“So, why must you ban the summoning war? If it’s just a minor error, you should be able to repair it, right?”

Having regained his calm, Yuuji sat on the sofa and asked.

“Do I have to mention it? Of course it’s because you people have no idea on the real nature of the summoning system.”

“Summoning system’s nature?”

“That’s right. I don’t know what you are mistaken about, but the summoning system in this school was originally meant to ‘increase the drive in students to learn academically’. But tell me, what have you done? Starting with destroying the wall of the school, blowing up the staff room, leading the second-year boys to peep on the girls’ bathroom, and igniting a summoning war commotion—you people didn’t just cross the line as students, you went even further! Have you people been studying hard seriously?”

“Uu…”

Can’t deny that here.

“But after those commotions, our grades did improve. We aren’t going to lessons obediently, but we’ve been having remedials all day long.”

“Ye, yeah. We did do what we have to do well here!”

“This isn’t a question of whether your grades improved, but about how the public would feel about this.”

The principal couldn’t hide her fatigue as she said that.

Fumitzuki Gakuen is being watched by all sorts of people because of the test summoning system. This allowed for a lot of sponsors and lowered the school fees drastically, but there’s the flaw of being debated and criticized. Even if the people in the school can clearly feel the effects of the test summoning system, the school may not be able to continue operating if society can’t agree and accept this. The principal’s probably being bothered by this.

“That’s why I set this ban, and it’s not like you won’t be able to use it forever. In about a week, it’ll be the end-of-term exams, and summer vacation’s after that, isn’t it? The second semester will be here in the blink of that eye.”

The time till the second semester still feels rather far, but to the school, it’s just a mere 3 weeks. It’s really not very long now that she mention it.

“In other words, you actually mean this, right, principal? The summoning system really has some malfunction, but the ceasefire is just something said to the public. You’re banning us from having the summoning war to let the students focus on the end-of-term exams, right?”

“Your observation skills are really sharp. That’s really the case.”

The conversation continued, but I couldn’t catch up anymore.

Errm, that means…?

“Basically, what she meant is ‘the summoning war’s being banned for the time being, so we’re to focus completely on the end-of-term exams and show good grades’.”

Yuuji explained it to me at the right moment. Fm fm, I see, so that’s how it is.

“Even so, even if I ban the summoning war completely, you brats most likely won’t study…”

The principal put her hands below her chin for support and looked like she was thinking.

“If your grades don’t improve with this coming end-of-term exams, we’ll have a special summer remedial then.”

WHAT IDIOTIC WORDS IS THIS DAMNED OLD GRANNY SAYING!?

“Tha, that’s too much, principal! You banned the summoning war, and now you’re going to take our summer vacation away!? Isn’t that too cruel!!”

We can’t have the summoning battles we so wanted, and now we’re forced to study for the end-of-term exams. This may be normal to an ordinary student, but no student will be happy because of that.”

“You damned brats are way too talkative! I might as well finalize the summer vacation remedial and delay the summoning war to the third semester to make you all focus on your studies.”

“Ugh…”

Whatever the case here, please spare us here. A chill went down my spine as I simply imagined that I will have to continue exchanging looks with Ironman in that classroom during this half year. Besides…if Himeji-san’s to have such facilities, it will be too…

“It’s not like I don’t understand your feelings anyway. I intended to announce it tomorrow. It’s not just you brats though, since it’s not hard to imagine the other students protesting against this violently.”

However, the ones protesting will most likely be our F class students.

“So I decided to give some benefit to you and restart the system.”

“Restart the system?”

What kind of benefit is that?

“As there was maintenance before, I intend to reset all the data that exist in the system to zero. You’ll be more motivated, right?”

“Hoo…that’s quite a good idea.”

It seemed that Yuuji understood what the principal meant, but I still couldn’t understand at all. What’s this good proposal?

“You still look like you aren’t sure of what’s going on. This system reset will mean that the summoned beasts’ equipment will be reset to zero.”

“In other words, the marks we get in this end-of-term exams will become the equipment of our summoned beast, and may be even better than before.”

“Eh! Is that so?”

So my summoned beast’s equipment can change from a wooden sword to a real one? Isn’t this great?

“Originally, the equipment of the summoned beasts can only be changed at the end-of-year final exams, so I’ll give this to you as a special benefit.”

The summoned beast equipment we have is exchanged from the scores before the steaming, the first year end-of-year exam. After that, no matter how much I got, my wooden sword was still a wooden sword, and my school uniform couldn’t change into protective armor. This already restricted me a lot. If it can improve, it’ll be really great news for me.

“Studying’s not for anyone’s sake, but for your own hard work. I know this may not be a good thing…but we’ll do things one at a time. This situation is just a little special.”

It’s rare for the principal to actually say something an educator should say.

Studying is for our own sake, and she’s right there, but this added incentive will make us work even harder, which I can’t deny. Also—

“Got it! I’ll do my best for the end-of-term exams!”

“Akihisa, what’s with you? Being so motivated out of a suddenly…”

And also, considering this special benefit, it will be too much of a coincidence. Until now, I forgot that nee-san shifted back as an inspector. If I don’t do well for my end-of-term exams, my happy life of living alone will be over. But with a reward, I can go all out to study. Once I get my results, I’ll definitely…

“Alright! Let’s do our best, Yuuji! If we can get good results during the end-of-year exams, we’ll be able to beat A class decisively in the next term’s summoning war.”

“Ohh, that’s right.”

I have to really work hard here! For the sake of chasing my sister out, and to get the high-class facilities of A class during the next semester!

“It’s great that your dumb brains can understand. Alright, you damned brats. If you have nothing else to do, scram.”

“Yes! We’ll make a move then!”

“Ah, oi! Akihisa! If we run onto the corridor now, those guys may…”

I grabbed Yuuji’s hand and walked out of the principal’s office. In that case, let’s work hard.

KACHANK.

““““Welcome””””

—But right now, it looks like I have to deal with the four people in my way first.

'''Current score [-20 points]'''

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