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If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6

2025-03-27T04:37:09Z

Person72635: /* Flag 6: The Very First Quest */

==Flag 6: The Very First Quest==

After a few days—

As their life together began, the Quest House buddies became more and more united with each passing day.

However, this should be due to the fact that they had pretty good chemistry to begin with.

Only, for especially-low-chemistry Souta, other people actively approaching him was fine, but he would almost never take initiative to talk to others.

For example, while the other four were chatting in the common room furnished with a soft sofa, coffee table, and soft carpet and constantly enticing people to join in, he would look at the happy atmosphere from the hall and directly pass by despondently.

Akane noticed this with her sharp eyes, and while worrying about his sad aura, she thought:

''Are you sad because the coffee table isn’t soft?''

But if even the coffee table was soft, guests might spill their drinks and never come back. No, the current softness ratio was just right so that this wouldn’t happen — Akane would later figure this out. She should have figured it out immediately, right?

Come to think of it, was it right to exclude Souta and just chat there herself? We need to go find him — although they all had this kind of thought, the situation had started with just Akane and Nanami chatting, with Kikuno joining in later and Megumu also joining in. Everything happened naturally, so they definitely didn’t exclude Souta on purpose.

Aside from the aforementioned situation, Souta exuded a sad aura no matter what he did, which always tortured Akane’s girlish heart.

A lonely profile that broke people’s hearts.

Although the amount of times Souta showed that depressing expression when he was with everybody decreased a lot, Akane still wanted to completely eliminate Souta’s sad aura, so she made up her mind.

First, in order to prepare for her operation, Akane consulted Kikuno, who should know Souta best.

“Eh? You want to make Sou-kun happy?”

After hearing Akane explain the important thing they needed to discuss, Kikuno asked this question.

Akane nodded seriously. Kikuno zoned out for a moment, then her whole body trembled as she hugged Akane tightly.

“Kikuno-senpai!?”

“Akane-chan, you’re such a good kid! Welcome to the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance!”

“Huh, there’s an alliance like that?”

“Akane-chan is the esteemed second member!”

Seems like a rather lonely alliance.

“Then, what kind of activities has the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance done so far?”

“Looking at Sou-kun when he’s happy is really soothing for the soul!”

“Its purpose is actually the opposite!?”

When Akane is with normal people, she should always garner retorts. But Kikuno, who’s able to make Akane retort, should really reflect on herself. Maybe she only becomes stupid when encountering something related to her little brother.

“Oh... So you want Sou-kun to be happy. Hmm... Of course a boy’s happiness comes from having a wonderful romance with a girl, I think.”

“Romance?!”

Kikuno proposed an unusually difficult solution, and Akane crossed her arms and pondered it.

She didn’t want to brag, but whether it was because of her innocent nature or her status as a rich heiress, it was difficult for boys to approach her. In her life so far, Akane hadn’t had any fate with love that could be called romance.

“I understand it now! Let’s implement the Souta-kun Romance Operation!”

Speaking of which, the contents of the operation hadn’t been planned out before. In other words, it wasn’t an operation at all.

Even Akane would discover this fact when it was time to implement it. But she couldn’t think of any good ideas, so she consulted Nanami this time.

“…Thou wantest Souta to have a romance?”

Nanami scoffed.

Akane scoffed in response.

“Why is Akane laughing too?!”

“I thought it’s better to laugh than not…”

“We cannot understand your motives!?”

The secret is: Akane didn’t know what her motives were either. But she made it so obvious, one could say it practically wasn’t a secret. Then it isn’t a secret, right?!

“Thou really likest Souta——...”

“I always felt that from the first time I met Souta, my chest tightens and I want to do something for him.”

Seeing Akane become shy, Nanami, who’d half-jokingly made an offhand comment, suddenly frowned.

“… So thou fellest in love at first sight?”

“Huh…?”

“Hast thou never fallen in love at first sight?”

Akane shook her head repeatedly.

“Huh…? Huh…? This is… love at first sight…?”

“……”

Nanami unflinchingly stared at the panicked Akane.

“N-no, no! It must be… I-it’s not like that…”

“Nevermind~ It’s fine, treat it as Our misunderstanding. Let’s not talk about that for now. Why didst thou come to ask Us such a thing?”

“Because Nanami is a charming girl, you’re definitely a love veteran or ''bateren''<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirishitan Japanese word for the first Christian missionaries,] but the meaning isn't really relevant to the joke</ref>.”

Veteran and ''bateren'' sound similar but are different. Why she listed them both, Akane herself didn’t know either. Turns out she really didn’t know.

Unfortunately, thanks to her personality, Nanami still only glared at, belittled, and kicked the boys around her, so her romance power level was almost the same as Akane’s, only five. Huh, pitiful!<ref> [https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Ball_Z_Kai:_Season_1_(Quotes)#:~:text=Raditz%3A%20You%20have%20a%20power,Huh%2C%20pitiful.&text=Raditz%3A%20Huh%2C%20it's%20a%20race%20of%20utter%20weaklings. Raditz quote] from Dragon Ball Z Kai.</ref>

Nanami, who had fought desperately with her pitiful romance power level, said with resentment:

“… Ask boys about a boy’s romance.”

This is surrendering without a fight.

Akane felt as if Nanami had secretly refused to offer her advice and wandered around the dormitory dejectedly.

“Boys… are there any reliable boys…”

“You called, Mahougasawa-san?!”

Megumu jumped out of the laundry room, where he had been washing his clothes in the laundry machine, and Akane let out a strange cry of “Uwaahh!?”

“There is no boy more reliable than this man among men — Touzokuyama Megumu!”

“Um…”

Megumu, dressed in casual clothes, wore a girly knitted sweater, honeycomb shorts, and striped kneesocks. His [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettai_ry%C5%8Diki zettai ryouiki] was very dazzling and brimming with cuteness. Add to that his bow necklace which further enhanced his femininity.

Even Akane seemed to think that his femininity was higher than her own. Rather than Megumu’s reliability, Akane was more confused about whether she could even consider Megumu a boy.

“Come on, if you have a problem, just discuss it with one! Just ask this one — who, because his manly body odor is too strong, relies on washing clothes to remove his manly body odor — known as the boy who always exudes the fragrance of soap and flowers!”

“Megu-chan, that would just increase your femininity, though.”

Megumu’s eyes lost their luster.

What’s more , only he thought it was a manly body odor, but it actually smelled sweet. Therefore, Megumu always exuded a sweet fragrance of soap and flowers.

But if this continued, Megumu would be unwilling to help. In order to try to make Megumu’s eyes regain their brilliance, Akane held Megumu’s hand with a tense smile.

“Uh! Oh! I-I do have something I want to discuss with a boy! A boy! A man among men! Megu-chan, are you willing to lend an ear?!”

“Well… if you don't mind one’s rising femininity, one will just listen to you…”

Although Megumu’s eyes hadn’t completely regained their brilliance, he seemed willing to help out. So Akane asked with a bright smile:

“Actually, it’s this…”

When Akane finished explaining her goals, Megumu’s face turned red. He hid half of both hands in his sleeves and pressed his fingers against his mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. His whole person seemed much cuter.

“O-one isn’t very good at romance…”

“You hate the chewy texture?”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Salmon roe.”

“Why did the topic suddenly turn to salmon roe?!”

“I suddenly brought up the topic of romance and you seemed burdened, so I changed the subject.”

“What kind of weird consideration is this?!”

Anyways, since Megumu seemed only reliable on the topic of salmon roe, Akane gave up on discussing romance with Megumu.

Speaking of fearing romance, Akane herself also… repeated what she did before. Not knowing what to do, she dejectedly wandered around the dorm while crying out “Ah…” or “Ugh~” They say that when Souta saw her, he thought, ''Is that a zombie game…?''

Of course, Souta didn’t particularly go over to show concern. Kikuno, seeing Akane at the same time, was giddy with excitement and said to her:

“I’m telling you, Akane-chan! I thought of many ideas afterwards, and I want to ask Akane-chan to date Sou-kun so that he can open his eyes to romance. What do you think of this idea?”

“N-no, not happening! I think Souta-kun would want to find a more charming girl than me!”

Maybe she learned a new move after seeing Megumu’s, but she hid half of her hands in her sleeves and pressed her fingers against her mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. Her whole person seemed much cuter, her femininity increasing by a huge leap.

“Mmm! Akane-chan is very charming though, and Big Sis thinks you two are a good match... But if that’s the case, how about introducing a charming girl Akane-chan knows to Sou-kun?”

“Good idea!! Or should I say good taste!!”

“Taste...?”

The topic of salmon eggs seemed to still linger somewhere in Akane’s mind.

That night, Akane stopped wandering around and stayed in her room, struggling to write a list of girls to introduce to him.

Upon conjuring up the image of a girl on the list getting along well with Souta and imagining his very happy smile, Akane’s joy slowly surged up like the warmth of basking in the sun during the winter… But—

“…Huh?”

Suddenly—

Akane felt a piercing pain in her chest and stopped writing the list.

However, that only lasted for a moment.

Akane immediately returned to work writing the list…

Swish! With the sound of curtains being drawn, the dazzling morning light shone directly onto Souta’s face. As he gradually regained consciousness due to the light, his body lying on the bed was continuously shaken. Then, a sweet sound, like the chirping of a bird, passed into his ears.

“Good morning!”

“Mm… Good morning…”

“Haaah… Whoa!” Seeing Akane’s face so close to him as she enthusiastically came to wake him up, Souta was immediately startled awake.

“Huh?! What’s going on?! Why is Akane in my room?! Where’s the door lock?!”

“I opened it without permission.”

“You can’t open it without permission, right?!”

Just outside the wide-open door, Nanami came out of her room to take a morning shower and happened to pass by. She poked her head in from the hall and took a peek with sleepy eyes.

“What’s up… Why’s it so noisy this morning…”

“Is it better to be noisy like this during the night?”

“Disturbing people’s sweet dreams!!”

Nanami, no longer sleepy after her roar, looked inside Souta’s room again and found Akane leaning over the bed where Souta was lying.

“This…! Why are ye behaving so outrageously so early in the morning!!”

“No, no! This is French behavior!”

“You’re not French!”

It’s hard to say whether everything French people do is French behavior.

“Th-this is just a step of the operation to wake Souta-kun up and make him happy! I was reading a shoujo manga before, and it said that boys who get woken up by girls in the morning are very happy! Nanami, come and wake Souta-kun up too!”

“Oh, thou art just a Souta, yet thou enjoyest the luxury of being woken up by a beautiful girl…”

In Nanami’s opinion, just waking Souta up was too revolting, so she looked at Souta disdainfully, full of mockery and contempt. She only looks disdainfully at our poor Souta.

“Th-that’s not it! No, I should say, I didn’t ask her to do that! By the way, Akane, how did you open the door of my room?!”

Although Souta’s mood was low, his energy was high. This could be said to be a very unfortunate state.

“I borrowed the spare key from Kikuno-senpai.”

“Huh?! Why does Okiku-nee have a spare key to my room?!”

“She said that was Big Sis’s privilege.”

““Big Sis’s privileges are really terrifying!””

Nanami and Souta shouted in unison. Seeing how close the two were, Akane felt lonely and whispered a complaint.

“Hmph, you guys left me out again, acting so in sync… But it doesn’t matter. I just want Souta-kun to be happy.”

“Yes… But right now, my lock isn’t working at all, and the happiness of staying in bed in the morning is gone. I’m in quite a distressing situation…”

“Dejection…”

Akane’s eyes welled up with tears because she had deprived Souta of happiness.

“Souta, don’t make Akane cry!”

“Oh… what a headache. Ah~ I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I’m really happy. I’m so lucky to have a girl come wake me up in the morning... It’s like, uh, since I’ve almost never tasted the feeling of happiness, I don’t know how to distinguish between happiness and unhappiness.”

Souta was hit in the back of his head by Nanami’s Princess Punch and frantically consoled Akane.

But after hearing his consolation, Akane unexpectedly cheered up.

“Ah! I actually made you worry about me, Souta-kun! But… I really like how Souta-kun and Nanami are so considerate.”

“…I can’t compare to Akane.”

“Heeheehee… ah, I accidentally started to taste happiness. Really, I should be letting unlucky Souta-kun taste it.”

“I don’t need it…”

That said, being told that you have bad luck isn’t very pleasant, and it made Souta a little depressed.

His sad aura emerged, causing Akane to panic.

“Ah?! No problem. Souta-kun has me here. The Souta-kun Happiness Operation exists for this purpose. I want to introduce my charming friend to Souta-kun. She’s the type of… charming girl that you would want to date!”

““…Uh-huh.””

Seeing her abruptly begin to speak unbelievable words again, Souta and Nanami still couldn’t help but look at her in wonder despite the fact they were slowly getting used to her behavior.

“This is the charming girl I recommend, Nanami Knight Bladefield.”

“I’ve already known her for a while!”

Souta complained without even looking at Nanami, who was pushed forward. Because he didn’t need to look at her to know her.

“You’ve got a keen eye for identifying charming girls. You’re really good at it, Souta-kun.”

“……”

''I think it was my keen eyes that were able to recognize Nanami at first…'' Souta began to recall that past. However, because many things happened in this short period of time, when he began to recall it, he even felt that it was a long time ago.

However, Akane interrupted his reminiscence.

“How about it, do you want to date Nanami?”

“Why must We date Souta, nyaa?!”

Akane looked very disappointed.

“Why dost thou have a ‘That’s impossible…’ look on your face? We are the one who should say that’s impossible!!”

“Nanami isn’t an idiot.”<ref> “That’s impossible” and “This idiot” sound similar in Japanese.</ref>

“Who said that to thee—?!”

Nanami roared at Akane, calling her a dumb idiot.

Since the door was open, it was Kikuno’s turn to poke her head in and take a peek at Souta’s incredibly noisy room.

“…I say, you three, I told Megumu to get you because you were late. But he just came back scared and said that there was an early-morning love triangle crisis in Sou-kun’s room, huh?”

“““It’s not a love triangle!!”””

The three people in the room retorted at Kikuno together.

Then, after shouting, Akane covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide.

“Wow!? We were just in sync…!! Finally… I finally did it…!! This way, I am also in sync with Souta-kun and Nanami!!”

Akane then held the two’s hands and started dancing, and the matter was left unsettled just like that. Everyone packed up, ate the Big Sis Breakfast Kikuno made for everyone, and then went to school.

Lunch break.

Souta stood up and left the table alone to go somewhere else...

“Souta-kun, where are you going?”

…But Akane grabbed the corner of his shirt to stop him. As for why she grabbed the corner of his shirt, it wasn’t because she thought, ''Go die, you dirty piece of trash!'' Rather, if she had hugged him from behind and said, ''Where are you going, Sou-kun~?'' it would seem too intimate. Why is this so extreme?

Also, the latter has apparently been patented the doting Big Sis.

“Sou-kun, it’s time for lunch. Where are you going? Is something going on? Do you want Big Sis to come with you?”

Big Sis’s doting was clearly beyond imagination.

“No... I’m just going to buy lunch.”

“There’s bento, though!”

As he said this, Megumu took out a cute tote bag and put it on the table. Incidentally, since he couldn’t carry that bag in the morning, Souta ended up carrying it for him.

“Is there a portion for me…?”

“Yep, I made it with Kikuno-san. Akane-san and Nanami-san also have a portion.”

“You didn’t have to do that… I can eat the bread from the cafeteria..."

Seeing Souta’s reclusive attitude again, Nanami, who had remained silent until now, spoke up:

“Thou art an idiot, Souta! This idiot Souta! Stop talking nonsense and just accept their goodwill! More importantly, if they didn’t have the girlish motive of making lunch boxes for thee, We wouldn't be able to take a share of the spoils!”

“Okay…”

After listening to Nanami's words, Souta sighed helplessly.

However, this sentence made Megumu smile.

"Nanami-kun is so gentle… If only you got one, the gentle Souta-kun would feel bad. You said ‘We want it too’ in order to make it hard for him to refuse, right?”

“Huh?!… Th-that’s not the case…!!”

Souta had taken it literally, thinking that Nanami was selfish and smiling thinly, but now his eyes widened and he stared at Nanami, who blushed and fumbled to deny it.

“Is that so, Nanami?... Look at you, pretending to be an evil bastard.”

Souta, who himself didn’t really have any right to be criticizing people on pretending to be evil, smiled wryly.

“A-are ye idiots? Thinking too highly of me!? W-We ask for a lunchbox out of selfishness…!!”

Regardless of the truth, Nanami, trying so hard to hide her gentleness, ended up making everyone to look at her with warm eyes.

“D-d-d-do nyaat look at me like that—!!”

“Uwaahhh—!!”

Poked in the eye by Nanami, Souta screamed on behalf of everyone.

Souta, who was eating lunch alone a few days ago, found himself having a lively and warm meal with the five members of the Quest House group in the blink of an eye.

“It's better to eat with a lot of people. Even 800 people would be no problem.”

“So many!!”

“If we want 800 people to have lunch together, I think it would be better to hold a banquet.”

“Eh, you’re continuing on that topic?!”

Kikuno unexpectedly brought up Akane’s words again, and this unforeseen situation shocked Megumu.

“The atmosphere at a banquet might be inexplicably awkward, though.”

“So individualism is the way to go after all!”

“Too extreme!!”

The conversation between Miss Heiress and Her Princess Highness, who were very used to banquets, was very high-class.

“'''''One or All, and All or 1.'''''”

“Isn’t it '''''for'''''?” Megumu asked.

“It’s not '''''for'''''.”

“No, it is '''''for''''', though! '''''For''''' has gotta be correct, right?!” Souta exclaimed.

“Looks like the boys like '''''for'''''.”

“This isn’t a matter of preference—!!”

“Sou-kun’s retorts are really no-holds-''baran''…”

The ''baran'' at the end of no-holds-''baran'' doesn’t refer to the green plastic Yamagata leaf that separates the side dishes in the bentos Souta and co. were currently eating. Speaking of which, although ''baran'' is the common name, its official name seems to be ''haran''. If the common name were also ''haran'', why would it take so many lines to explain ''haran''? It’s really a pity to think about this. In any case, we shouldn’t talk about something so off-topic.<ref> ''Baran'' and ''haran'' are alternate pronunciations for the same green plastic Yamagata leaf.</ref>

“By the way, Sou-kun, is the omelette Big Sis made delicious?”

“Yep… I see there are two kinds of omelettes. Why is that?”

“That’s made by one”

“Oh, this is delicious too. Sweet omelette.”

Megumu had been smiling shyly and timidly, perhaps because he wasn’t confident about the taste. But after hearing Souta’s words, he made a cute little “I did it♡” victory pose like a little girl.

“Sorry… I’m sorry, Sou-kun… If I’d known earlier, Big Sis would’ve also made sweet omelettes for Sou-kun… Because Sou-kun liked to eat salty omelettes when he was little, so Big Sis accidentally… I’m such a useless Big Sis who doesn’t understand Sou-kun’s preferences… I’m sorry…”

Megumu was overjoyed, but Kikuno was quite depressed.

''So doting!!''

The doting Big Sis’s words and actions shocked the students who were eating in the classroom.

“Okiku-nee, you’re being too dramatic. Besides, I really like Okiku-nee’s omelette too!”

“Sou-kun... has grown into a kind-hearted little brother…!”

Big Sis was deeply moved.

Akane leaned over from the side.

“How does my omelette taste?”

“Huh? I haven’t eaten it before…?”

“Based on the current conversation, I thought I could get an answer of ‘It’s delicious’, but it was a failure.”

“What’s with this feeling of confrontation…?”

Nanami put an octopus sausage into her mouth and cast a weird look at Akane’s strange behavior.

“By the way, Akane, what happened to the introduction thou wast talking about this morning? We can’t be the only choice, right…?”

“It felt like Nanami would fail, so that was something like a throwaway option.”

“What does that mean…?”

Although she didn’t want to date Souta at all, it was still quite unpleasant to be told as much. This is a woman’s heart.

“Heeheehee… Now comes the main event. I think Souta fits better with girls who are a bit assertive.”

“Ah, Big Sis might also agree with this.”

On this basis, the three or four girls (?) present are all a bit assertive in different respects.

By the way, when Souta saw the defeat flag raised above Akane’s head, he kind of wondered what was up with that; but he just wondered and didn’t take any particular actions.

“I’ve already sent a text, she should almost be here.”

In the blink of an eye—

The classroom door was violently flung open and a female student barged in.

“Fuhahahahahaha, Mahougasawa Akane-kun!! What business do you have with this student president Seiteikouji Mimori?!”

Just then, for some unknown reason, everyone except Akane seemed to see a failure flag above Mimori’s head. But you can roughly tell the reason, so it wasn’t really unknown… So why it said “Just then, for some unknown reason…” is the real unknown.

As the word “unknown” went through Gestaltzerfall<ref> The phenomenon where a word begins to look weird and lose its meaning when you stare at it too long</ref>, Akane pushed Souta forward.

“Please go on a date with Souta-kun around campus.”

“Huh?!”

Mimori froze for a full thirty seconds.

Afterwards, she turned her back to everyone, took out a comb and portable mirror to comb her hair, reapplied lip balm, and secretly made “Ah~ Ah~ Ha! Uh-huh!” sounds to warm up her voice. She also said in a very cute voice “Annoying… everyone’s looking…” After practicing her lines, she thought to herself, ''Very well! Yours truly’s constant daily practicing is all for today!'', struck a victory pose, then faced Souta and co. again.

“Can’t be helped! Since you’re so insistent, how can a student president who exists for the students refuse? What a headache, Akane-kun!”

“You’re laughing so happily and having a headache at the same time!!”

The unprecedented response shocked Akane silly.

Moreover, because Mimori made a cute expression that strayed completely from her original personality, the people around her couldn’t help but take a step away from her.

“N-no big deal. Hatate-kun too, if you had told yours truly earlier, yours truly would’ve helped you embezzle any amount of student council funds when renovating the dorm…”

“No, no, don’t embezzle…”

“Alright, stop dilly-dallying in a place like this, now we’ll let the young people chat on their own!”

Although the matter hadn’t been fully discussed, Souta and Mimori were kicked out of the classroom at Akane’s urging.

Next, not long afterwards—

Souta, feeling particularly tired, saw three or four girls (?) waiting for him with sparkling eyes as he entered the classroom.

Only Nanami pretended to be uninterested, but from the way she kept glancing at Souta, it was clear that she was actually quite interested. Just like how people look at bra straps visible under summer uniforms.

“What’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the student president go?!”

“Not very well…”

Akane asked, ready to lean forward at any moment, and Souta gave a vague response with a pale face.

“Maybe Souta was actually the only one there, completely alone.”

“Then what was with me?!”

“The student president’s ghost.”

“Nooooooooooooo!! Nonononono!! One is super scared of ghosts and stuff—!!”

Megumu screamed super cutely and covered her ears like crazy.

“Then what’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the ghost of the student president go?”

“Megumu’s making so much noise nearby, I can’t hear what Akane said at all.”

“Huh? What? Souta-kun, I can’t hear you at all.”

Looks like the ultrasonic waves emitted by Megumu drowned out all the surrounding sounds.

“Megu-chan, thou art very noisy.”

“Mmph!!”

Nanami stopped Megumu’s paranormal ultrasonic waves by stuffing leftover rice balls from lunch into his mouth. A little later and ghosts would have been attracted by the ultrasonic waves. Really dangerous.

“So, what's the result? Are ye closer? O-oh yeah, We don’t care, but Akane and Kikuno are particularly concerned.”

“It’s passable… I guess.”

Souta’s expression was extremely difficult to describe, but Akane, who was thinking positively, interpreted this vague statement in a positive way. She smiled and said:

“Really? That’s great!”

But—

When the image of Mimori and Souta getting along well with each other appeared in her mind…

…Akane’s chest felt pierced again.

''Strange… why…?''

It seemed very happy...but also seemed very lonely.

She appeared about to cry, but smiled awkwardly. From the head of Akane who was full of confusion—

“…Huh?!”

——Souta saw a love flag raised…

That day, after returning to the dorm, someone knocked on Nanami’s door.

When she opened the door, she saw Souta standing in front of her, not even out of uniform yet.

“What’s wrong? What’s with the sad face? No, Souta always makes this face.”

“……”

Souta couldn’t refute her extremely harsh words and forced a smile.

“That’s it. Just smile a little. Otherwise, even the people looking at it would be infected with depression.”

As they spent more time together, Souta was able to feel the encouragement in Nanami’s harsh words and carefully-crafted evil facade. He knew that it was Nanami’s clumsy expression of gentleness, so he put on a gentle smile.

“…Yeah. Thank you, Nanami.”

“Wh-why art thou thanking me? Weirdo!”

Nanami said this flustered, perhaps not realizing her own gentleness. Souta felt that this clumsiness was also very much like Nanami and quite liked it.

“…So? What dost thou want from me?”

“Hmm… it’s hard to put into words…”

Seeing Souta hesitate, Nanami guessed that it might be something not for others to hear, so she could only reluctantly invite Souta into her room.

“So, what is it? If it’s something trivial, We shall spread word to the News Club that thou art actually a soccer recruit.”

“But as for soccer, I’ve only ever played intramural soccer with my friends before, though?”

“When the time comes, a lot of expectant people will come to thou respectfully and ask you to join the soccer club. Just wait, thou shalt need to explain, deny, and reject them one by one, then suffer.”

“What an incredibly effective way to completely crush someone’s spirits!!”

Souta, whose mind was somewhat drained by the retorts, felt that all his worries were gone and it was easier for him to speak up; however, it was hard to say whether Nanami had considered such a long-term view at the beginning.

“Actually… it’s like this. I hope you don’t tell anyone about this… Akane… just… raised a love flag…”

“……”

Nanami had an indescribably irritated expression on her face.

“Uh, I also recognize that you would think that it’s impossible for someone so popular like Akane to be interested in a guy like me. But the love flag was really raised…”

“Art thou an idiot?”

Nanami still had an irritated expression, frowning even harder as she declared:

“That kind of thing is obvious at a glance.”

“What…?”

“Didst thou not notice…? It’s because thou only carest about looking at flags that thou dost not notice people’s feelings, idiot.”

Nanami sighed as if she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Really…? Was it like that… No, but, didn’t Akane ask me to date Nanami or the student council president…”

“……”

Hearing Souta’s rebuttal, Nanami plopped down on the chair and crossed her arms.

“It was a private conversation between girls, so We didn’t intend to tell you… but forget it.”

Nanami just looked up at the ceiling and told Souta about the conversation during lunch when Souta and Mimori went out and only the girls were left.

……

…………

………………

When Akane packed up her empty bento and took out her dessert bento, Nanami asked something that suddenly occurred to her:

“But, Akane, since thou wantest Souta to be happy so much, why not just date him and make him happy? What’s the point of forcing it on other people?”

“Huh…”

Seeing Akane at a loss for words, Kikuno joined in the conversation as well. She assumed a position with her hands clasped together and her body leaned forward, looking like she wanted to join in very badly.

“That’s right. Big Sis thinks Akane-chan and Sou-kun are a good match– Ah, but Nanami and Sou-kun and Megu-chan and Sou-kun are good matches, though?”

“Thou shalt not think about strange things! We do not fall in love with other people’s lovers, so thou needest not to worry!”

Although Akane felt that this wasn’t entirely the case, she deliberately remained silent, thinking that based on Nanami’s belligerent aura she’d be scolded if she said something wrong.

Megumu was forced into the center of discussion. He was terrified of this situation, but he tried his best to muster up courage, twisted his body cutely, and joined the conversation with a trembling voice:

“One sees Akane-chan do a lot for Souta-kun, so one always thought that Akane-chan likes Souta-kun.”

“N-no, no… I… I…”

“……”

At first, Akane violently shook her hands in denial, then lowered her head slightly, hesitating. Seeing this, everyone waited quietly for her next words.

“I definitely can’t make Souta-kun… No, no matter who I date, I definitely can’t make them happy…”

After saying this, Akane displayed a dejected expression.

Seeing her inexplicably distressed look, Nanami and co. were speechless.

Nanami didn’t know what Akane’s real thoughts were, nor did she know what part of Akane’s words were true. But she figured there must be a reason why Akane was so stubborn.

Nanami always thought that this was Souta’s knot to untie.

………………

…………

…

“…Anyway, that’s what happened.”

Nanami observed Souta’s reaction as she narrated. He seemed to have an idea in his mind.

“There’s a flag next to Akane’s love flag… I think it’s probably a trauma flag… It and the love flag seem to come as a set.”

“…Oh.”

Nanami confirmed that her suspicions weren’t completely wrong, uncrossed her arms, and raised her chin.

“Whenever Akane’s love flag waves grandly and powerfully, the trauma flag also wriggles painfully.”

“After all, falling in love with Souta is a painful thing.”

“……”

On that point, Souta was quite aware of that. Knowing that he can’t be helped being told that, he sighed and leaned against the wall.

“…What do you think I should do, Nanami?”

“Why ask Us?”

“I can’t think it through by myself… I don’t know what I should do. It’s because, for a long time, I haven’t… thought about myself… Though saying this is pretty embarrassing.”

“What can We do~ Everybody comes to Us for help… After all, considering my pedigree and prestige, it can’t be helped!!”

Nanami, self-importantly sticking out her flat chest, was sympathetic, and Souta was unable to respond.

“Getting back to the point… if even thyself doesn’t know what to do, how can other people know?”

“I feel like I’m… just torturing Akane…”

“…Then, dost thou want to try to keep a little distance? After all, Akane has been clinging to thee lately… No, Kikuno and Megumu are the same.”

Nanami didn’t mention herself at all, smiling with slight mockery.

“Keep my distance…? …You’ve got a point.”

While this approach was very passive, this might be the only way to deal with Akane, who can quickly recover even if her flag is actively broken.

Although the question of whether trying to deal with Akane is right or wrong remains up in the air.

After this delicate conversation ended like this, remaining unclear as to whether it had been resolved or not, Nanami and Souta walked out of the room and ran into Akane and Kikuno in the hall.

“Oh? What did you two sneak around and do? Can you tell Big Sis about it too?”

Kikuno approached Souta with a smile, looking like a clingy Big Sis who really wanted to take care of her little brother.

“No… We weren’t sneaking around…”

“Then, what did you do?”

Kikuno asked happily.

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to control her little brother’s actions very badly.

“…Nothing, just talked a bit.”

“Oh? Talk about what? Can you let Big Sis join in~?”

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to improve her relationship with her little brother very badly.

“Nothing… nothing worth mentioning…”

“Huh — so it’s something you can’t tell Big Sis about… Sou-kun left Big Sis and became independent, Big Sis is so lonely…”

Kikuno’s body was full of only sisterly love, making her dejected. Souta was in a dilemma.

"Ah. B-but Big Sis thinks Sou-kun and Nanami are a good match. Aahhh, but Mimori and Akane will be sad… As a big sister, who should I support? Ah, but no matter who Sou-kun chooses in the end, remember that Big Sis will always stand on Sou-kun’s side!"

“Uh…”

Faced with this almost soliloquous sisterly love, not only Souta but also Akane and Nanami took a step back.

“So, Big Sis will keep Sou-kun and Nanami’s passionate affair in the room a secret from Akane-chan.”

“Akane is right beside us though!?”

“…Huh?”

For Big Sis’s great love often ignored everything else except her little brother and was blind to everyone else. How terrifying.

Akane, hearing the secrets being whispered in front of her, seemed to have a little bit of a headache. She looked back and forth between Nanami and Souta and said:

“L-listen… I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that Nanami and Souta-kun were in that kind of relationship…”

“What kind of relationship?!”

At Nanami’s retort, Akane’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.

This blatant misunderstanding of hers was obviously influenced by Kikuno’s words just now.

“If you had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have made a fuss and would’ve given you two my blessings a long time ago!”

“Thou art making a fuss with those random assumptions—!!”

Nanami felt that the conversation between her and Akane was completely unproductive and she couldn’t help but clutch her head in frustration.

''This world is really full of busybodies…'' Souta thought from a distance.

“Hmph! Kikuno-senpai, leave this place to the two young people, let’s excuse ourselves!”

“Y-you’re right! Sorry, Sou-kun! Big Sis is too intrusive!”

As if they would die if the misunderstanding was resolved, Akane and Kikuno did not give people a chance to resolve the misunderstanding. After nodding to each other, they raised their hands to indicate “Please take it slow!” while mouthing “Heehee, being young is great” and jogged away.

“… Why did things turn out like this?”

Having been paired with Souta without her consent, Nanami said, her expression collapsing.

“B-but, anyways, this means there’s hope of keeping my distance from Akane… right? Right?”

“Don’t drag other people into thy own affairs!!”

“Ack!!”

Nanami grabbed Souta’s neck and fiercely threw him to the ground. She glared at Souta resentfully, turned her face away with a harrumph, and left with heavy footsteps.

Kikuno and Akane, who had pretended to leave but had actually hidden in the bathroom to spy on the hall, felt sorry for the two with an “Oof!”

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun, he—!”

“I think it’s because Nanami is jealous that Souta-kun spent a lot of time talking to Kikuno-senpai and me.”

“Of course not!!”

Because the two just happened to be in the direction of Nanami’s movements, Nanami heard their conversation in its entirety, causing her to roar in anger.

That evening—

In the kitchen, Souta was peeling potatoes with full concentration like a chef apprentice. Kikuno, who was cooking nearby, and Akane, who was helping, approached him with a meaningful chuckle like “Heh heh heh…”

“Sou-kun. Big Sis wants to ask Sou-kun for something.”

“…What's up?”

Because he usually found himself being doted on, whenever he meets a doting Big Sis getting ready to spoil him, Souta is completely unable to mount resistance. That is what happens when you fall into a Big Sis’s perfected Control Domain. For a fish, this so-called “Control Domain” is the sea, or maybe a river. Doesn’t matter which of the two.

Or maybe a pond. Didn’t we just say it didn’t matter which?

“Big Sis forgot to buy carrots. Could you run an errand?”

“Okay, no big deal.”

Souta, who had been worried about what he would be asked to do, smiled in relief.

However, Akane interrupted as if it were her turn to take the stage:

“Since you’re going out, why don’t you go with Nanami?”

“Uh…”

“Ah, you’re right! Since it’s dangerous to carry carrots alone! That’s a good idea!”

“……”

It seems asking him to buy carrots was not the goal in and of itself.

Souta, feeling a headache coming on, looked at Nanami — she was currently on the sofa in the common room next to the dining hall next to the kitchen reading a book — and sent a plea for help.

“……”

The conversation that Kikuno and co. were purposely having with a certain person had already long reached Nanami’s ears through the dining hall, but Nanami pretended not to notice.

Looking closely, there was an angry “#” mark on her temple, showing that she had heard something unpleasant. Or maybe her blood pressure was very high. She was clearly still so young.

“So! You and Nanami have to go together, Sou-kun!”

“Coming back late is fine, too!”

“……”

Kikuno and Akane rushed over and stuffed a shopping bag and wallet into Souta’s embarrassed hands

The two urged Souta to “Hurry, hurry, be careful on the road” and pushed his back forcefully, and Souta began to have nowhere else to go. In other words, he was cornered by the animation.<ref> Apparently a marketing slogan used by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantei_Opera_Milky_Holmes ''Tantei Opera Milky Homes''] PSP game referring to its cutscenes when you catch the villains</ref>

Since Kikuno and Akane had expectant attitudes of “I’ve created an opportunity for them!” and both of them had “Cornering Complete” flags raised above their heads, Souta’s escape route was cut off and he had no choice but to walk towards Nanami, who was ignoring him to the end.

“No wonder… Nanami?”

“Whaddaya want?!”

She seems to be angry already. How scary.

“C-can you go shopping with me?”

“Don’t wanna.”

“I thought so…”

Souta was about to go back dejectedly, but when he saw Kikuno and Akane slightly grumpily standing behind him, he gasped “Huh?!”

“No, Sou-kun! Girls are very shy, you have to be more sincere and actively ask her out!”

“That’s right, Souta-kun! Nanami’s a ''tsundere'', you have to work hard before she enters her ''dere'' phase. Though she’s a delinquent tsundere.”

“Who’s the delinquent ''tsundere''?”

Nanami was hit dead-on by the groundless claim. She couldn’t ignore it this time and snapped. This was the ''tsun'' phase. Or maybe the snap phase. The time period when you take and send lots of selfies in that yellow app.<ref> Chinese pun went ''snap (发飙) → snap phase (飙期) → tiger-stripe phase (彪期) → tabby-cat-pattern time period (虎斑花色的时期)'', tabby cat = tiger-striped cat. As a treat for reading this, here is my alternate draft: ''She couldn’t ignore it this time and '''cracked'''. This was the'' tsun ''phase. Or maybe the '''crack''' phase. '''The time period when you like to have Coke.''''' I think the alt version is funnier, but it doesn’t really fit the tone.</ref>

“Sou-kun, why don’t you try asking Nanami again? Oh, do you want Big Sis to ask her with you? Hmm? Hmm?”

''The doting Big Sis… dotes habitually…'' Nanami thought thusly and looked up from the sofa at Souta and Kikuno, fed up.

Souta had a look on his face saying “What should I do?” and pleaded at Nanami for help again.

“Don’t look at Us!”

Nanami was apoplectic. Speaking of which, “apoplectic” has two p’s and two c’s. How complicated. Feels like this issue has been discussed elsewhere already, but for some reason we’ll keep doing it.

“Akane-chan, as a Big Sis, I really want to help Sou-kun! What can I do to convince Nanami?”

A doting Big Sis’s doting on her little brother knows no limit.

“How about an errand fee as bait?”

“That's great! Sou-kun, here’s the errand fee. Use the errand fee as bait, okay?”

Kikuno proudly presented someone else’s proposal, and Souta forced a smile in cold sweat.

“Uh no, I heard it very clearly... Hear that, Nanami? There’s an errand…”

“Don’t want it!!”

Since the distance was very close, if Souta could hear it, Nanami certainly couldn’t fail to hear it, so Nanami immediately refused before Souta finished speaking.

Seeing Nanami glaring at him as if to say “These idiot siblings!”, Souta almost cried. He was willing to ask anyone for help, whether they were a god or a buddha. He must be thinking that he might as well go pray at a temple.

“Jeez, fine! Just need Us to come, right? We will go!”

As a result, Nanami suffered such a fate due to her caring personality of being unable to say no when asked.

“Hey, come on, Souta! What art thou still stalling about for! Stalling Souta! Stall-ta!”

“Don’t give me random nicknames!!”

Stall-ta made an aggrieved cry.

Seeing Nanami walking furiously and taking the lead, Souta desperately followed her. Kikuno shouted at his back:

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun! Hand! Hand! You have to hold hands!”

“We shall absolutely not do that!!"

Before Souta could answer, Nanami replied heatedly. This was the heat phase. Don’t know what that means, but it sounds pretty fiery.

Nanami and Souta left the dormitory and took a bumpy ride on the tram, finally arriving at a place known as the campus shopping street, where there were many shops, half of which were run by students engaged in club activities.

After buying carrots as instructed at the supermarket in the school shopping street, the two left the supermarket.

During this period, the two remained silent.

Either their relationship is so bad that it is irreparable, or they are so indifferent to each other that it is irreparable, or they are so desperate to buy things that it is irreparable. In any case, it can be said that their relationship is irreparable.

“…By the way, Souta.”

On their way back, Nanami finally spoke, her tone clearly indicating her rage. Souta was so frightened that he shook uncontrollably.

“What’s up, Nanami…?”

“We have been curious this whole time.”

“Um…?”

Her roundabout way of speaking made Souta tilt his head in confusion.

“Ever since we left the dorm— what’s up with these two following us this whooooooooooole time?!”

Nanami’s teeth were grinding not because of sleep bruxism<ref> Condition where you grind your teeth uncontrollably in your sleep</ref>, but because she was wholly subjected to an irritation bordering on wrath.

Then, the unrivaled troop of Kikuno and Akane — thinking that they were stalking unnoticed — hid behind the cake shop’s sign board and observed Nanami and Souta.

“Oh! They finally started a conversation, Kikuno-senpai!”

“Them two being so immature is also a problem, Akane-chan!”

“I keep feeling like they’re looking at me.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hands! Hold hands!”

It seems that Big Sis just wants her brother to hold a girl’s hand no matter what.

“Ah, they seem to be coming this way.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hug her from behind!”

“Hugging, my foot!!”

Because they were busy peeping, they didn’t notice that Nanami had already approached them face-to-face.

“Huh?! Nanami, nonono! This isn’t stalking!”

“…Then what is it?”

Akane was fiercely cornered by Nanami. She was cornered by the animation.

“…K-Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like that, isn’t it?”

“Nuh-uh, Akane-chan. Can’t believe you were stalking people. Good thing I came to stop you.”

“An unexpected betrayal!!”

Having been reprimanded by Big Sis with a “Naughty!” gesture, Akane was hit hard.

“Okiku-nee…”

Even Souta couldn’t let them get away with it scot-free. So the two of them sincerely apologized and the four of them went back to the dorm together.

“Ahh!! Everyone’s back! That’s great!”

Seeing Nanami and the others coming back together, Megumu, who was panicking in the dorm kitchen, rushed over to Souta with tears in his eyes and gave him a girl hug.

This so-called girl hug consists of leaning towards someone, holding their chest with both hands, and embracing them. It is an elegant way of hugging.

“Wh-what's wrong, Megumu?”

“When one came back, one saw that the food was half-cooked and felt like there were people there until just now, but there’s nobody there, so it’s just like the ''Mary Celeste''! One was so scared!!”

The ''Mary Celeste'' was a ship involved in a mysterious incident. According to the urban legend — they say that all the people on the ship disappeared into thin air, and it became an unmanned ship drifting on the sea. The half-eaten breakfast on the ship was still hot, as if everyone was still sitting on the ship safely until a moment ago. How terrifying.<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste A real incident]</ref>

Seeing Megumu sob, Nanami also smiled bitterly:

“It’s okay, Megu-chan. You have a very vivid imagination…”

“That’s right, Megu-chan. Do you think that the us that just returned are really the us that Megu-chan knows?”

“What is that? How terrifying!!”

Akane said something strange, scaring Megumu into violent trembling. But was it really strange? If what she said was true… Mulder, you’re sick, you’re not thinking straight.<ref> X-Files reference</ref>

“Or maybe Megu-chan accidentally intruded into our domain?”

“How scary, how scary! Souta-kun, how scary!”

Kikuno also joined Akane’s evil prank. Megumu was trembling all over. He was no longer hugging Souta gracefully, but instead tightly wrapped his hands and legs around Souta's body, holding him in a state of imprint clinginess. Imprint clinginess was also called koala-clinging in the old days, and it was a sleeping technique showing a strong will to never separate.<ref> I don’t really understand what the Chinese used refers to, but I think the image of a baby koala clinging to its mother or baby birds sticking with whatever they imprint on should do the job.</ref>

“Both of you, please stop scaring Megumu… If he gets scared and moves out of the dorm, we’ll have to find a new dormmate again.”

“This means that in Souta’s mind, Megumu is just someone who fills up the dorm population quota.”

“Ah—!!”

Megumu’s spirit was already cornered by the animation, and Nanami added the final straw, causing him to open his mouth and start crying.

“J-just kidding, that was just a joke, okay?! Don’t cry, Megu-chan, why are you crying?!"

“Nanami’s too much.”

“That’s right, bad Nanami!”

“Ye have no right to speak!”

Kikuno, successfully pushing the bad-guy status onto Nanami, patted Megumu's head and said “Good boy, good boy” like a nanny comforting a child.

“I’m sorry, Megu-chan. Nanami can’t stand other girls being close to Sou-kun, so she couldn’t help but make fun of you. Just forgive her, okay?”

“That’s not it——!!”

Nanami was furious at the unfounded rumors.

So Nanami and co. had dinner later than usual — for one, because everyone ended up running out to buy stuff that they really didn’t need to buy; for another, in order to comfort Megumu. But…

“Ah, Souta-kun, you should sit in my seat from now on.”

“Well… I’m fine with that.”

The seats at the table were changed, which made Souta have a question mark in his head for a moment. But when he saw that Nanami, who seemed to be in a bad mood, was next to the new seat, he immediately realized the intention.

Moreover, the chairs were placed so close together that Nanami and Souta's shoulders were almost touching.

“Was going to say, Akane…”

As long as Akane and Souta could keep their distance, Nanami would have originally preferred to ignore it. But perhaps because she was getting annoyed at being paired together for no reason, Nanami sighed deeply and looked at Akane with a stern face.

“Ah! Ah! You don’t have to say it, I know everything, Nanami!”

“Hmm… What dost thou know…”

That might just be the kind of personality Akane has, but ever since she came to this dorm she keeps going a little too far with it — at this thought, Nanami pouted slightly.

“Would it be better for the two of you to sit facing each other at a private table?”

“You don’t know anything at all!!”

The little princess felt dizzy.

“Nanami has entered her ''tsun'' phase…”

“It’s not the ''tsun'' phase, not the ''dere'' phase, nor the dog phase!!”

People in the dog phase will have dog ears, and will pee when they are happy. In other words, drowning<ref> The character for ‘drown’ can also mean ‘to pee’ lmao</ref> in happiness. Although they always feel that they have lost something important from a human perspective, they can’t help it because they are dogs. The most important thing for dogs is bones. When they get bones, they will drown in happiness.

Big Sis Kikuno, ecstatic to see her little brother sitting side by side with a cute girl, poked Souta’s shoulder with a smile.

“Hurry up, Sou-kun. Say ‘Open up~♡’ to feed her, open up♡”

“We will absolutely not eat it!”

Souta obediently picked up some of the beef stew with his chopsticks and was about to bring it to Nanami’s mouth. At the same time, Nanami raged.

“Hey~ Nanami, just eat it. Souta’s so sad…”

“Thou doting Big Sis…”

Nanami glared around angrily. Next to her, Souta absent-mindedly fiddled with his chopsticks and beef stew. He saw Megumu glance at him a few times with big, round eyes, so he said “Open up~♡” and fed Megumu.

“There’s a bromantic taste to it!”

Megumu was talking so giddily that Souta didn’t know how to answer him, so he pretended to be expressionless and nodded vaguely.

After dinner ended in a mess, it was Akane and Nanami’s turn to wash the dishes, but...

“Souta-kun, can you switch with me? The next time it’s your turn to wash the dishes, I’ll do it.”

“… Yeah… I’m fine with that.”

“Then thou shouldst switch with Us, Souta.”

Hearing Nanami was about to change it, Akane hurriedly tried to stop her.

“N-no no. Nanami has to wash the dishes with Souta-kun and say, ‘F-feels like we're newlyweds ♡’!”

“Why did it almost turn Megumu-like?!”<ref> What Akane wanted Nanami to say had an untranslatable verbal tic that Megumu tends to use; incidentally, Nanami has a different verbal tic </ref>

Megumu, who was wiping the table even though it wasn’t his chore, was surprised when his name was suddenly called.

“Anyways, We just don’t want to! We shall absolutely never pretend to be newlyweds with Souta!”

''A tsundere…''

''A tsundere…''

''A tsundere…''

Akane, Kikuno, and Megumu looked at Nanami with inexplicable gazes.

“Ah, but on a related note, after you finish washing the dishes, you two can take a bath together, right?”

“Who would want to take a bath together?!”

Kikuno, who had no authority, abused her non-existent authority to grant permission. But Nanami, the house prefect, vetoed it without using her authority.

“Souta-kun, you’re a pervert!!”

Megumu weakly hit Souta with something between a slap and a push, dealing zero damage. Then, he ran away to his room.

“…Megu-chan’s crying.”

“Sou-kun, a girl’s heart is very delicate. If you don’t treat her with the utmost care, it’ll be bad.”

“Uh, okay…”

Souta thought it was strange that they were worried about Megumu’s girl-heart since he pursued masculinity. Plus, at the end of the day, Kikuno was the one who hurt Souta, so he deliberated how to retort and finally decided to give up on it.

Afterwards, of course, Nanami and Souta did ''not'' take a bath together. However, Souta, who was about to enjoy some barley tea after taking his bath, happened to meet Nanami in the hallway.

Nanami, who had been quite angry recently, saw Souta gently raise his hand to greet her. She turned away with a snort and reached out to grab the door handle of her room. If she was ticked off, that means she isn’t on the list anymore.<ref> Original pun had something to do with Japanese onomatopoeia for peeling sounding similar to the one for being angry, I’m doing something completely different using ‘ticked off’ meaning both ‘angry’ and ‘crossed off a list’</ref>

Anyways, Nanami suddenly stopped as she was about to enter her room. She looked at the unbelievable scene in her room and began to suspect that she was dazzled.

“…Soooouutaaaaaa!”

“What?!”

When his name was suddenly called in a threatening tone, Souta felt his heart palpitate and turned his head at the same time. If instead his liver palpitated, then he’d been drinking too much.

“What’s going on with this—?!”

Nanami’s eyes narrowed as she yelled, and her expression became like a cat whose food was taken away.

“You asked me what’s going on… what’s… going on with what?”

Following Nanami’s finger pointing towards her room, Souta was speechless and froze in place.

In the middle of Nanami's room, which was a bit large because it was originally a double room, there were pink and blue mattresses for two people. The two mattresses were close together, and heart-shaped pillows were placed side by side.

“It wasn’t me…”

“Of course I know that!”

Souta did think, ''Hey, why are you yelling at me?'' But if he said it out loud, it might just add fuel to the fire, so Souta remained silent and turned his eyes from the furious Nanami back to the pair of bedsheets.

“…That bedsheet does come from my room.”

“That one’s my bedsheet! Those guys pulled it off the bed! Akane! Akaneeeeeee!!”

Nanami’s roar echoed through the hall.

“What’s going?”

After a moment, Akane opened the door and poked her head out. Then, Kikuno followed leisurely even though she was not called.

“Thou darest ask ''Us'' what’s going on?! What’s going on with this?!”

(monotone) “Oh my, I didn’t expect you two to have such a close relationship.”

“It’s so monotone, it’s like reading from a script!”

Although the culprit was instantly revealed, the whole world already knew before it was revealed.

“What dost thou intend, Akane!? …No, We already know what thou intendest.”

(monotone) “Haha, I wish you two happiness.”

Akane wasn’t even listening to Nanami.

“That’s enough! If We two can just sleep together lovey-dovey like this, wouldn’t that be weird?!”

“It’s not weird, but…”

“But what?”

“''We two'' sounds like you’ll have many Wiis, too.<ref> Since Nanami’s first-person pronoun is more like “this royal”, the original joke is that there will be many more royals… I hope what I’ve done is a good enough approximation.</ref> It’s really cute.”

“Akaneeeeeeee!”

Akane, who didn’t listen to others carefully, made Nanami angry. By the way, “We two” means “us two”.

Seeing the two arguing, Souta murmured his thoughts:

“By the way, that pillow is a Yes/No pillow…”

The Yes/No pillow is used by lovey-dovey couples. When they want to be affectionate, they turn the Yes pillow to the front. When they want to concentrate on sleeping without even looking at their partner, they turn it to No.

“What art thou looking at now… Why are both of them No?!"

“Yes isn’t good, okay— Big Sis thinks you can’t go to that stage yet.”

Kikuno poked Nanami and Souta’s foreheads with her finger and said, “That’s naughty!”

“It’s all too early, alright?! No, it’s not a matter of earliness! Who would want to use this kind of thing, regardless of whether it’s earlier or later?!”

Nanami gradually went insane… Little by little, Souta began to distance himself from.

Seeing her frantic look, Akane might have become uneasy too. Akane crossed her arms over her chest with a ''Hmm~'', then looked at Kikuno.

“See, Kikuno-senpai. Nanami isn’t Japanese, so putting their sheets side by side doesn’t suit her tastes.”

“Hmm… but I even thought she’d be very touched.”

“That’s not the issue!”

There was a gradual gap between the two sides’ understandings. Souta felt that the matter could no longer be resolved and wanted to take his sheets from Nanami’s room as soon as possible, but he could not find the opportunity and was at the end of his rope.

“That's enough! Now We understand!!”

“You finally understand!”

Although they were probably talking about different things, Akane happily grasped Nanami’s hand.

“Since Akane wants to help Souta find a girlfriend so much, Akane should just date him!!”

““Eh…!!””

Nanami uttered a critical sentence that could be considered an irreversible statement, and Akane and Souta froze together.

Then, they awkwardly looked at each other’s faces.

The countless friendship flags above Akane’s head fell down like dominoes, and were reborn one by one as imposing love flags, standing tall.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Intermission]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
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If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5

2025-03-27T04:36:08Z

Person72635:

==Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules==

After school the next day, Akane and co. moved their luggage into the dormitory and gathered in the dining hall, where the carpets, wallpaper, etc. had barely been renovated.

“Well, then!! Next, let’s hold the first pledge ceremony of the reborn Quest House!!”

“Pledge…?”

“Pledge what?”

Souta and Nanami originally thought it was going to be a housewarming party doubling as a friendship ceremony, so they reacted carefully to Akane’s words.

“That’s exactly what we’re going to discuss in this meeting.”

“That’s not what a pledge ceremony is!”

Souta’s retorts became increasingly heated.

“Alright, alright, Sou-kun. From now on, we're all going to live together as buddies, so our pledge should be unanimous.”

“Then, let’s celebrate our pledge. Cheers, everyone.”

Everybody gathered around a table filled with pizza and cake and made a toast with their non-alcoholic champagne.

“Anyways, although everything is still under construction! But I think we should decide on Quest House’s house prefect while we’re at it!”

“Oh. Thy proposal must indicate that thou wishest to become house prefect. Hmph, as expected of a rich girl. Thou actest cute, but in fact cravest the limelight, huh…! In that case, don’t even think about having your way. We shall also contend for house prefect!!”

“What a coincidence! I think Nanami is most suited to be house prefect, too!”

“…Huh?”

“I also vote for Nanami.”

“Then, one votes the same.”

“Since Sou-kun nominates her, I’ll also vote for Nanami.”

“House Prefect Nanami, please take good care of us.”

Akane bowed her head in salute, while Megumu and Souta applauded in congratulations.

“Eh, ah, uh, um… huh? Strange? I-in Our estimation, ye are trying to push trouble onto Us…!!”

Nanami’s face filled with rage.

“Let’s all work together to solve troublesome matters then.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Eh... weird...? Uh, that… th-thou art right…”

Nanami was made speechless by the excessive kindness, and the Rage Energy in her body had nowhere to vent. If it were Rage Allergy, she would itch all over her body every time she got angry, and she would be both angry and sad. That would be extremely irritating. Just like how a true Edo person says “Aaaa— choo! Go die” when they sneeze.

“I feel like we’re gradually becoming dorm buddies. That’s great, that’s great! The dorm I stayed in before was crowded and noisy. I’m so happy to be part of such a warm little bunch this time. We have great unity!”

“Bunch…”

A group which resembles chili peppers — Quest House.<ref> The Japanese collective noun for chili powder can also be used for people. Basically, the thought process here goes ''bunch [of people]'' → ''bunch of chili peppers''</ref> Its members forced a smile.

“…Being buddies is all well and good, but getting back to the point, this dorm really spoils the mood.”

Nanami looked around at the bare concrete walls and uncarpeted floors and sighed.

“From the beginning, the priority of the renovation was making it liveable. Decoration was secondary, right?”

“Personally, I think keeping it like this is fine.”

After Souta answered Megumu’s question this way, Akane puffed up her cheeks in anger.

“Nope. Souta-kun, you need decorations that cheer you up!”

“Big Sis is so happy that Akane-chan thinks so much about Sou-kun’s well-being.”

Kikuno called herself Big Sis again and doted on Souta.

“Heeheehee, but having said that, making your own living space is a great thing!”

“Yeah... In other words, this place is a blank canvas, and we, as paint, will vividly portray our treasured slices of life…”

Nanami crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and spoke lyrically. Akane beamed at Nanami, eyes sparkling.

“It's Nanami's poet time!!”

Akane responded to the beautiful line of verse as she did before, her eyes twinkling like several small stars, and she tightly clasped Nanami's hands. Nanami, face red as if about to spit fire due to her careless slip of the tongue, struggled to shake off Akane's hands.

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

“One day I’ll compile a collection of Nanami's poems and send it to a society!!"

“If thou doest that, We shall drag Souta down with me and bite my tongue to die—!!”

“Why me?!”

“That said, what kind of society?”

Nobody there could answer Megumu's question. Plus, receiving that kind of thing must be very inconvenient for the society.

“Ah, but being able to choose your own wallpaper is pretty nice. That way, each room can have its own personality. Ah, Sou-kun, do you want to have the same wallpaper as Big Sis?"

“Huh—! How sly! I also want to have the same as Souta-kun!"

“O-one wants that too! One also wants to have the same as Souta-kun!"

“They've thoroughly lost their own personality!!”

Just as Nanami said, each room almost became completely devoid of personality.

“Is Nanami the only one who wants a different wallpaper?”

“We clearly didn’t do anything wrong, so what’s up with this feeling of isolation!!”

Seeing the Souta faction grow abnormally large, Nanami began to be hit hard. If this continued, the dorm would be dyed Souta’s color. Therefore, recruiting others to join the Nanami faction was imperative.

However, Kikuno doted on her little brother and clung to Souta; Akane was also completely captivated by Souta's tragic aura. That left Megumu…

“Megu-chan, why art thou suddenly so close with Souta?”

“This is bromance.”

“Huh?! Art not thou a girl?!”

“……”

Megumu’s eyes lost their luster, and Souta saw the “Join Nanami Faction” flag above Megumu’s head break.

“Since your bromance has deepened, does that mean ye had a heart-to-heart through your fists by the river at dusk?”

“No, we didn’t do anything like that…”

''Her Princess Highness’s mind is really full of mysteries'' — Souta thought that and replied with a faint smile.

“Then a bromance has not been formed.”

“Huh?! How can that be?!”

Akane unexpectedly interrupted, causing Megumu to raise his voice.

“No, one doesn’t want that! S-Souta-kun, sorry, but can one beat you up?”

“No way.”

“Sorry, sorry. One hopes you can just grit your teeth and bear with it for a bit!”

“Didn’t I just say no way?!”

Megumu refused to listen to Souta’s objections.

“08:49, 2 January 2025 (CET)[[User:Person72635|Person72635]] ([[User talk:Person72635|talk]])!”

Megumu yelled “sorry, sorry” in his heart and punched Souta… but—

Seeing the scene of Megumu weakly hammering Souta’s chest, Nanami and co. felt as follows:

“…They’re just a couple flirting with each other.”

“What a coincidence. My thoughts are exactly the same as Nanami’s!”

“In that sense, they seem to have a very good relationship…”

After Megumu beat Souta up with his dainty punches, he panted cutely and gave Souta a smug look.

“Th-this way, we have formed a firm bromance, right?!”

“This is just a one-sided beating, though. How can it count if there isn’t a beating from both sides?”

Nanami retorted on behalf of Souta, who didn’t know how to respond.

“S-… Souta-kun, one hopes you can beat one up!”

“How could I? No matter how hard you think about it, it’s impossible!!”

“Start hitting! Start hitting one now!!”

“Yikes… Megumu… That’s terrifying! The look in your eyes is terrifying!!”

Akane and Kikuno watched anxiously. How will this fierce drama of bromance, this clash of strong wills, develop?

Rather, this feeling was more like the feeling of watching a soap opera where the woman confesses and the man rejects her… Whether those involved knew this is a mystery.

Seeing Megumu's eyes swirling weirdly, Souta grabbed Megumu's head and tried to push him away. But when Souta saw the friendship streamers streaming endlessly from Megumu's head like [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokoroten ''tokoroten'',] his body was gradually overcome by fear.

“Alright, alright! I get it!”

“I'm so glad you understand me!… Come, please.”

Then, Megumu, waiting to be beaten in a praying position with her eyes closed and head slightly tilted upwards, looked like a girl waiting to be kissed.

“……”

His blushing and heart-pounding appearance made Souta flinch.

“No, Sou-kun, since he’s already mustered up his courage, you can’t humiliate him.”

“That’s right, Souta-kun. I do mind, but I won’t take it to heart. Please go ahead and kiss.”

“If not, Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to be your practice partner?”

“That’s right, Souta-kun. I do mind, but I won’t take it to heart. Please go ahead and kiss.”

Based on these sentences, to Kikuno and Akane, Megumu’s appearance as a girl bashfully waiting to be kissed overshadowed everything. For them, the scene had already become a kissing scene.

Moreover, since Kikuno made an outrageous suggestion, Souta couldn’t help but feel frightened. He could only grimace and pretend not to hear it.

If this continued, he would be forced to kiss someone. So Souta, seeing no other way out, raised his fist towards Megumu, who seemed to be waiting for a kiss.

“……!”

Again and again, Souta swung his fist and stopped halfway, swung his fist and stopped halfway, and finally could only poke Megumu's forehead with his fingertip.

“So weak!!”

Nanami was shocked.

More accurately, no matter how you looked at it, those two forehead-flickers looked like a flirting couple. It was the opposite of bromance.

Maybe she had seen enough of the two flirting, or perhaps a little jealousy appeared in some corner of her heart while she was cheerfully watching the sweet atmosphere between Megumu and Souta, but Kikuno suddenly changed the subject:

“Besides the house prefect, there are many other things that should also be decided."

“The house vice-prefect, right?” Akane asked.

“This dorm is really well-organized…”

“After that is the acting house prefect, right?”

“There’s already a house prefect, though!?”

Whether a dorm with only five people needs so many people in charge is an open question.

At the same time, the relative importance of Nanami’s position as house prefect became lower and lower.

“She probably didn’t mean that, but rather something like who would cook each of the three meals, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I heard that we’ll be assigned a house supervisor, but they couldn’t find one right away, so we’ll have to take care of it ourselves for the time being.”

This conversation between Megumu and Kikuno was more in line with common sense. Much appreciated.

“Prepare three meals, huh… Suddenly we’re challenging independent living on high difficulty.”

“We shall not do that. Don’t expect anything from Us.”

For Miss Heiress and Her Princess Highness, the difficulty threshold of this matter was very high — to be specific, it was through the roof. It was no longer a threshold, but more like a lintel.

“Cooking is something Big Sis is good at and loves. Let Big Sis come cook for Sou-kun~”

“Ah, one can also cook a lot of dishes. Let’s take turns then.”

“Big Sis is so happy! It’s like I have a little sister in addition to my little brother!”

“Hahaha.”

Hearing Kikuno’s frank words, devoid of malice, Megumu let out a hollow laugh.

“I’ll also help out where I can. I can do the cleaning or the heavy housework,” Souta said.

“Ah! I can do the cleaning too! I’ll do my best to clean Souta-kun's room! Pack all the things that weren’t cleaned up in cardboard boxes!”

“I literally just moved in, and you immediately start trying to kick me out…”

Souta was dealt a heavy blow by Akane and Kikuno’s multiple attacks. Kikuno patted his head and comforted him:

“It’s okay, Sou-kun. Big Sis will make sure Sou-kun’s luggage is sent to Sou-kun’s room."

“Sending it from your room to your room, how troublesome…”

“While the porter is carrying my luggage, my life will be very troublesome too.”

Souta gradually lost track of what was being joked about and began to feel uneasy about being toyed with.

“Next is the bath order and the trash duty order.”

“… I’m starting to feel the communal life.”

“Logically speaking, it shouldn’t be the princess or the rich heiress who has to take out the trash. One can do it, it’s fine.”

"… I can also take out the trash. Let me help.”

Souta was very grateful that everyone there was willing to fill up the dorm numbers. He would feel awful if he didn’t do anything, so he volunteered to help take out the trash. Hearing Souta speak and become more active, Akane smiled.

“Sou-kun is such a good kid! Big Sis is so touched! Come, everyone, praise Sou-kun, praise Sou-kun!!”

Kikuno proudly patted her little brother’s head with all her might and pushed him forward.

“Souta-kun is awesome! It's like he was born to take out the trash!”

“Just imagining Souta-kun taking out the trash turns a man’s sadness into energy. How admirable!”

“Uhhh… yes yes yes, Souta, thanks, thanks.”

An inconceivable phenomenon occurred: Nanami’s casual words caused the least emotional damage. Souta immediately moved on to the next topic.

“…Then what else do we need to decide?”

“As for the bath order, one thinks that of course ladies should go first!”

Megumu listened to Souta's words and remembered the other thing he had brought up earlier. He made a proposal with clenched his fist cutely, wanting to show his manliness.

“Wanting to bathe first, Megu-chan is a girl after all!”

“……”

Megumu’s fist drooped limply.

In this way, Nanami and co. continued to discuss even after finishing their dinner. But it was pretty late, so it was almost time to go into the new, sparkling bathroom.

The three girls came out of their rooms with clothes and bathing supplies. When they passed by the dining hall, they stuck their heads inside and said:

“Sou-kun, do you want to take a bath together?”

“Take a bath together? How brave!”

Hearing Kikuno, whom nobody knew how serious she was, laugh and chuckle, Akane immediately covered her fully-clothed body with her bath towel.

“I can’t do it!!”

There was only one bath, and it had just been decided that girls could use it before nine o'clock and boys could use it after nine o'clock. The girls’ camp immediately said they wanted to use the new bath.

“Big Sis is so lonely~ we clearly used to take showers together.”

“That happened?!”

Just as Nanami was about to shake off the others and go in the bath first, her two feet stopped with furious speed. Her feet are really agile.

“Th-that was before! It was a really long time ago, though?! When I was in kindergarten or just starting elementary school!”

“W-what? So it was like that…”

“Ah! Ah! Nanami’s actually jealous!? Nanami is jealous, right?! You can call me Big Sis though, Nanami?!”

“Why art thou so happy?! We shall not call thee that!”

Kikuno was like a grandmother looking forward to having a grandchild. She seemed to contract the “I want my little brother’s first date to call me ‘Big Sis’” syndrome.

“Let's not talk about this for now, let’s just take our bath quickly. Speaking of which, boys should bathe with other boys.”

““Huh, huh, huh?!””

Megumu and Souta cried out together.

Especially Megumu — the expression on his face was like a fully nude girl being locked in the boys judo club's locker room.

Akane and co. hurried into the bath, leaving Megumu trembling and almost crying and Souta on his guard against Megumu.

“…A-anyways, there’s no need to force ourselves to take a bath together, right? You can still leisurely have it all to yourself.”

“Y-you want one’s body all for yourself…?”

“The bath all for yourself!!”

Megumu could no longer hear what other people say! Souta forced a smile at his slightly insane friend.

“Oh, right… the bath… we were just talking about taking a bath…”

How much Megumu, his eyes swirling, understood was a mystery.

Even more mysterious was that for some reason there was an awkward atmosphere at that moment. Souta wanted to find a way to break the silence and tried to change the subject.

“Speaking of men… shouldn’t every healthy man want to sneak a peek?”

Megumu’s eyes lit up at the keyword “man” and he stood up suddenly.

“Souta-kun, let’s go sneak a peek!!”

“Huh…?!”

A destruction flag could be seen above Megumu’s head.

“…Megumu, you want to sneak a peek?”

“We need to be like men, peeking openly and morally!”

“That’s already a crime!!”

Note: Any form of peeking is a crime.

“But… think about it carefully! A real man would never peek!”

The formula ''man < real man = Souta'' instantly emerged in Megumu's mind.

“You can’t peek, Souta-kun! This isn’t like you at all!!”

“Huh?! Me?!”

At some point, Souta became the one actively trying to sneak a peek, which scared Souta.

“……”

Then, Akane, coming back out to get the shampoo she had forgotten and only hearing the last part of the conversation, blushed and covered her key parts with the shampoo bottle.

“Souta-kun wants to peek…!!”

“Akane!? N-no, th-that’s not it…!!”

“Souta-kun is a peeping tom!!”

“Why do you look so happy?!”

Akane let out a sound of unparalleled delight. Without listening to Souta speak, she swiftly and elegantly ran towards the changing room in the knock-kneed posture of a rich heiress.

“…………”

Souta stared at her with an odd expression and froze.

After being frozen for a while, Souta despondently squatted on a folding chair in the common room next to the dining hall while Megumu comforted him.

But not long after, Nanami, skin white, rosy, and glistening having just taken a bath, cursed at Souta, “Take this, damn peeping tom!” and sprayed conditioner into his face. A bit of the conditioner went into Souta’s eyes, causing him to show off his superb skills and roll around in pain on the chair.

Kikuno, who similarly became more sexy, held her cheek and looked at the scene with a chuckle.

“Sou-kun has grown into a healthy boy, Big Sis is so happy.”

“Souta-kun, is it true that healthy men should sneak a peek?!”

After hearing Kikuno's words, Megumu, as if waking up from a dream, said this. Souta was busy rolling around because of the conditioner-induced damage to his eyes, so he didn’t hear this. However, Nanami heard it; thus she added more conditioner, and Souta rolled around even more. Please use conditioner correctly.

Having rolled around for a while, Souta was the last one to finish his bath after Megumu and went back to his room. Akane was hiding in the corner of the corridor, tiptoeing and sneaking a look at him.

“What art thou doing, Akane?”

“Ah!? No, nothing!? I wasn’t sneaking a peek! Please don’t spray me with conditioner!"

Nanami has gradually become like an unfathomable monster in this dorm — as long as someone was sneaking a peek, she would unconditionally spray conditioner at them.

“We won’t scold thou…”

“You’re already able to control it?”

“Is that some kind of symptom?!... Back to the point. What art thou doing sneaking around in a place like this?"

“M-me? I-I wouldn’t do anything inappropriate like going into a boy’s room at this kind of time!”

“Oh, so you're wondering whether to go to Souta's room…” After Nanami figured it out, she smiled at the blushing, bashful Akane.

As for Akane, she was anxious about being scolded by Nanami since she remembered that Nanami was house prefect. This was the reality.

“…Thou wantest to go find Souta, right? Isn’t this very good?”

“Uh… no, but…”

Precisely because she was already hesitant in the first place, once she successfully obtained permission she backed out at the last minute.

“That guy wouldn’t do anything to thee. We are not familiar with him either, but it’s obvious that he doesn’t have the guts to do that. That guy needs a friend or lover, so it’s actually better if thou gettest close with and takest care of that guy.”

“Love-...!” Akane was speechless for a moment, then said with slightly red cheeks:

“Nana-Nanami, do you want to come too?”

“Why must We get close with that guy…”

After saying this, Nanami waved her hand and went into her room.

Although Akane felt even more embarrassed to go, she hesitated for two or three times before raising her hand and knocking on the door... but there was no response. She knocked again, but still no response.

“……Ah, I knocked on my own door.”

If there was a response, it would shake things up and change it into a supernatural event. That said, saying ‘shake up and change’ is fine, but ‘warm up and change’ sounds weird. Would that mean that it was a premeditated change? How terrifying.

Akane pulled herself together and knocked on Souta’s door. This time there was a response and the door opened.

“Akane? What's wrong?”

“Is Souta-kun going to sleep already?”

“No. I'm not going to sleep yet…”

“Th-then, I want to talk to you!”

“…Well, that’s fine.”

Standing in the corridor and talking was not an option, so Souta invited Akane into the room.

“It’s very clean.”

“Because the luggage has barely been unpacked…”

It felt a bit inappropriate, but since there was no other place to sit, Souta asked Akane to sit on the edge of the bed while he himself sat on a folding chair. After he sat down, he thought that their seats should be reversed, but by then it was too late.

“By the way, I haven’t fulfilled my promise to clean your room yet.”

“Yeah... since we’ve been tied up with other things lately.”

“Souta-kun is either tied up or flailing around.”

''You make me sound like a bug...'' Souta thought to himself, responding with a stiff smile.

“Right, you wanted to tell me something, yeah?!”

“Chat about what?! What do you want to chat about?!”

Souta didn’t expect the choice to be up to him. He was slightly shocked and his smile became even stiffer.

“Huh… well… let’s just chat about whatever Akane wants to chat about.”

“Me? Isn’t there anything Souta-kun wants to say?”

“I don’t have anything to say to Akane…”

Souta finally took action to break the flag waving above Akane's head.

“Could it be that Souta-kun is very unwilling to deal with me…?”

Akane’s flag broke, and tears were about to flow. She dejectedly drooped her shoulders and jabbed her index fingers together.

“I want to hear Akane talk about herself. I want to make an effort to understand Akane better!!”

However, Souta also hated making girls cry because of him.

“Really?!”

Akane immediately showed a sunny smile. Her quick response and the flag’s extraordinary speed of recovery made Souta’s smile tighten.

“But I’d rather learn more about Souta-kun.”

“Me…?”

“Why does Souta-kun distance himself from other people?”

Akane asked thusly. She moved to the corner of the bed — beside Souta — and looked Souta’s eyes up and down, even to the depths of his heart… with a gentle voice, gentle eyes, and gentle heart, Akane lightly touched the fear in his heart.

“……”

“……”

Silence flowed between the two people, so close they could feel each other’s breath.

“……”

Souta looked mournfully into her clear eyes that reflected his figure.

Specifically, he was looking at the indistinct object above his head that was reflected in her eyes…

“I… am…”

Souta slowly, slowly opened his mouth. Akane didn’t rush him at all, waited patiently, her expression as gentle and peaceful as a loving mother’s.

…Unexpectedly—

“Sou-kun, Big Sis peeled an apple. Do you want to eat it? I cut the peel into rabbit ear… Ack!”

Because it was the room of the little brother she was very familiar with, Kikuno opened Souta's door without knocking and poked her head in. When she saw Akane and Souta close together, she thought she saw something she wasn’t supposed to see. She shut her mouth and said loudly:

“S-Sorry, Big Sis couldn’t imagine that Sou-kun would be like that even in her dreams!! I-I didn't mean to disturb you! Please do as you wish! Continue what you were doing!!”

Nobody knows how Kikuno interpreted the situation where Akane and Souta’s faces were less than two fists apart. She looked in another direction, face flushed, and she said this in a strange tone, almost shouting.

“Oh god… Okiku-nee…?”

Souta frowned, not understanding what she was saying.

“I-it’s fine! Big Sis totally approves of that kind of thing! Sou-kun is a bit of a late bloomer, so Akane-chan, you have to guide him, alright?!”

Seeing Kikuno clench her fists, Akane and Souta looked at each other. After noticing how close they were, they finally realized the implication of Kikuno’s words and jumped back at the same time.

“N-no, no! Kikuno-senpai, this is a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!!”

“Th-that’s right, Okiku-nee! It’s not what you think…!!”

“No problem! Big Sis won’t tell anyone! Big Sis will keep it a secret for you! Especially not Nanami and Megu-chan, right!!”

Kikuno chattered on, not giving Souta a chance to retort “Huh, why? What can’t be told to anyone? And why specifically can’t you tell those people?”

“Sou-kun is leaving Big Sis behind and becoming an adult first… Even so, remember that Big Sis is still Big Sis though, Sou-kun!”

Kikuno was filled with emotion and shed a tear, which she wiped away with her fingertips.

“If you run into any trouble, call Big Sis, okay?! Also, wh-when it’s over, you two should eat together, okay?!”

Kikuno put the plate of apples cut into the shape of rabbits onto the bed with difficulty and left the room with his cheeks still red and his movements stiff.

“What do you mean by ‘over’?!”

Souta’s question was naturally unanswered, left aside just like that.

“The rabbit apples are delicious.”

“You’re already eating!?… Is something over? Something is over, right?”

“For example, Souta-kun's life?”

“It was forced to end! It's all because you ate the apples immediately!”

Akane smiled and thought, "Souta-kun is so interesting when he's full of energy" while carefully chewing her apple.

Because it would soon be midnight, Akane decided to retreat from the room after ending Souta's life and the conversation. ''I really wanted to talk a bit more…'' Although she harbored such thoughts in her heart, the opportunity would come again in the future.

From now on, they were dorm buddies. There was no need to rush, there would be plenty of opportunities to improve their relationship. Smiling at the thought, Akane said goodnight to Souta.

Souta, left alone in the room, swallowed the words he was about to say to Akane along with the apple, and fell back on the bed.

“……”

He stared at the ceiling in deep thought for a rather long time. Although he gradually became sleepier and almost fell asleep, he still got up and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

It seemed to be lights-out time already, so the hall was dimly lit with night lights. The bathroom at the front of the hall was brightly lit, and it was obvious that someone was already there.

“…Nanami.”

“Wah uh huh huh huh huh.”

Nanami was brushing her teeth in her pajamas, and whatever she said was completely unintelligible. If what you said while brushing your teeth could be understood, there would usually be toothpaste dripping out of your mouth. That gets pretty messy. As for which is better, it’s '''''case by case'''''. That is, container buy container.”<ref> ‘Case by case’ is written in English, and ‘container buy container’ is a mistranslation using the wrong meaning of ‘case’ and the wrong ‘by’</ref>

The sight of the two of them talking to each other with toothpaste flowing out of their mouths would be rather crazy, so they brushed their teeth side by side in silence to avoid that situation.

Souta didn’t want to look at his mirror image... Strictly speaking, he didn’t want to look above his head, so he glanced at Nanami through the mirror.

“……”

At this time, Souta finally realized something strange.

''Huh...?''

He noticed something about Nanami that he had never really paid attention to until now.

Once he noticed it, he even wondered why he didn’t think about it earlier.

''Nanami’s… flag, I’ve never… seen it even once.''

No matter who it was, they would raise a flag at least once or twice. Love flag, death flag, defeat flag, disagreement flag, reunion flag, attack flag…

As long as they lived together for two or three days, he would still see some.

However, Nanami was the only one who couldn’t raise any kind of flag.

“No... that’s not right... it shouldn’t be. It’s not that she can’t raise a flag. It’s probably…”

Nanami finally noticed Souta’s suspicious behavior of freezing with his toothbrush in his mouth. She gargled out her mouthwash, wiped the corners of her mouth with a towel, and asked warily:

“What? Why is thy expression like that of a guy who transferred to another school and found out that the girl who was one year older than him who he admired like a big sister is now his classmate?”

“That’s the true story though?!”

Because he hadn’t gargled it out yet, toothpaste dripped down from Souta’s mouth. Why haven’t you gargled it out yet?

“Thou art so messy!”

Because Nanami scolded him, Souta washed his mouth and gargled. Specifically, it was gargle gargle gargle puh. Why did you gargle three times?

While doing these things, Souta gradually came to a conclusion.

It’s not that Nanami’s flag can’t be raised.

''I’m afraid... I’m afraid that Nanami's flag is the only one I can’t see…”

Seeing Souta staring at her with wide eyes again, Nanami retreated slightly.

“Wh-What…?”

That fleeting, unbelievable thought urged Souta to gaze at Nanami intensely and say:

“Nanami… might be someone special to me.”

“Wh-…!? What does that mean?!"

Nanami's face instantly turned red, as if she was about to spit fire and gas, and she raised her voice. It’s best not to spit gas along with fire; that’s dangerous.

“Exactly, Sou-kun! How are you going to explain this to Akane-chan?!”

“Okiku-nee!?”

Kikuno came to the bathroom with toothbrushes at the perfect time, and her incomprehensible question scared Souta silly.

“Ah! Uh! Sorry! I’m sorry, Sou-kun!! Big Sis didn’t mean to blame you! A-and yeah, changing your mind is just human nature, you can’t be blamed for that! Big Sis is just too narrow-minded!!”

“No, Okiku-nee, what are you talking about…”

Big Sis’ heart was as wide as the sea, but she would raise up waves to sweep up Souta’s words, dragging them to the depths of the ocean trenches so that they can never come back. Thus it was common for their communication to fail.

“It’s okay! You don’t need to say anything, Sou-kun! It’s okay! Big Sis will help you explain it to Akane-chan! Akane-chan is a good kid, she will definitely understand, Sou-kun!”

But Big Sis didn’t understand at all.

“Ugh… Oh god…”

What Kikuno would explain to Akane remained a mystery, but Souta didn’t think he could see a bright future.

But on the other hand, no matter what she explained to Akane, Akane seemed to listen with feigned understanding and give a completely unrelated positive explanation. So you could say it was no harm no foul.

“Then Big Sis will go, okay? Sou-kun can rest assured and be happy! Just like Big Sis, Akane-chan should also want Sou-kun to be happy! Y’know?”

After saying this, Kikuno made Nanami and Souta hold each other’s hands tightly and then left the bathroom brimming with self-satisfaction. As you all know, she didn’t gargle. Because she hadn’t brushed her teeth yet. After all, it’d be weird to gargle when you clearly haven’t brushed your teeth.

Anyways, the two of them were once again stunned into place thanks to Kikuno.

“…We are tired. We shall go to bed…”

“Oh, okay. Goodnight, Nanami.”

Souta looked above the back of Nanami’s head as she returned to her room...

While wondering whether there was an invisible flag planted there.

Is the problem with Nanami or Souta?

Enveloped by the aforementioned mysteries, their life in Quest House and the academy passed by smoothly and peacefully…

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Intermission]]
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</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3

2025-03-27T01:55:35Z

Person72635: /* Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner/priest?, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear. */

==Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base<ref> As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear.</ref>==
“Um… I live in a dorm. What about it…?”

As Souta slung his backpack over his shoulders at the end of the school day, Akane had asked, “Souta-kun, where do you live?” After Souta answered, she nodded in feigned understanding.

“Can we go play there?”

“No.”

Hearing Souta’s response, Akane’s eyes welled up in tears. She blubbered “Oh~”, her friendship flag breaking in reply.

''He’s still as rough with the flags as before…'' Nanami watched the conversation in her peripheral vision as she put her stationery in her school bag.

“That kind of place isn’t suitable for girls to visit.”

“Like the boy’s bathroom?”

“What kind of dorm would that be?!”

Akane’s off-putting question resulted in a rare Souta retort.

“Like your room’s in a stall?”

“Even prisoners live better than that, right…?”

''No, since it’s Miss Heiress, the toilet in her mansion might be quite big.'' With this thought process, Souta decided it was pointless to hide it, so he told the truth.

“How do I put it? It’s because my dorm’s messy, it’s a total wreck.”

“Then we’ll go clean it up! Don’t look at Akane that way, but Akane really does love to be clean though? Mm-hmm!<ref> It’s supposed to be the noise Hirasawa Yui makes in ''K-On!''. Again, I haven’t watched it, so apologies if it isn’t entirely accurate.</ref>”

As usual, another one of Akane’s friendship flags was raised immediately. Souta’s feelings about them had already begun to gradually move from fear to admiration.

Despite Akane’s enthusiastic proposal, Souta still crossed his arms and sighed in contemplation. “Hmmmm…”

On the other hand, Akane was really motivated. For some reason, she was wiping an imaginary window with exaggerated movements, as if she were practicing boxing. Although, even if she was wiping a window, it was more like ‘Wax on, wax off.’<ref> Karate Kid reference</ref>

“Huh?! Huh?! What happened? Souta and Akane, why did you guys suddenly become so close without Big Sis’s consent?!”

Kikuno, not knowing what had happened during lunch, protested with her eyes welling up in tears. She seemed to blame Souta, her expression a little accusatory.

“That requires consent…?”

Nanami, having become a bystander, murmured to herself with a faint smile.

“We just ate together during the lunch break, we’re not actually as close as you say…”

Kikuno puffed her cheeks angrily, as cute as a child no older than one. Souta comforted her while explaining what had happened.

After listening to Souta’s explanation, Kikuno nodded with a slight smile, feigning understanding.

“Really? Akane-chan is a really good kid, Big Sis strongly approves of your friendship!”

It seems consent has been acquired.

Kikuno turned and faced Akane with a deep bow.

“Please take care of Sou-kun.”

“D-don’t be like that, Okiku-nee…!”

“Yeah, Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like I’m an outsider.”

“Huh?! You’re already family?! Sou-kun, why didn’t you discuss this with Big Sis first?! Big Sis feels so lonely!!”

It seems consent has not been fully acquired.

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

Big Sis’s logic was too unpredictable and Souta was at a loss, but Akane, the central subject, was still smiling brightly.

“... Speaking of which, Akane just referred to Okiku-nee as ‘senpai’, right?”

Although Kikuno was supposed to be a year older than them, calling a classmate ‘senpai’ is still pretty strange.

“Ah, um. Senpai guided me when I came to this school last year. Since she was Senpai at the time, it feels a bit weird to change it now…”

“Ah, but, at the time, I already knew I would become a freshman a year late.”

The senpai in the same grade seemed a bit shy.

It’s unclear whether this resolves the subject, but Akane, who wasn’t especially paying attention, returned to the original subject.

“Then, since we got your Big Sis’s approval, we can go to Souta’s dorm now! Mm-hmm!”

“... She approved?”

“Big Sis also wants to go! Mm-hmm!”

Kikuno, even more free-spirited than Akane, raised her hands with this declaration, cutting off Souta’s question.

Met with inexplicable enthusiasm, Souta was then patted on the waist from behind, startling him.

“!?”

He turned to look, but there was nobody behind him… Then he found that it came from below.

To Souta, who was 170 cm tall, the other person was a girl 50 cm shorter than him. Not only her height, but her appearance looked young. Although she looked like an elementary school student, her uniform revealed her to be a student in the same grade. That said, the other students had called her ‘Grandmother’ during the lunch break, even asking her for advice.

“Give up, young Souta.”<ref> Tsumugi technically calls others 'little brother/sister *name*', but I think 'young' fits better.</ref>

“Young?!”

The young girl, who seemed not to wear anything on her lower half, spoke to Souta in a wizened tone, as if he were a little rascal or devil.<ref> The Chinese translation I’m using uses 萝卜头 and 鬼头 (lit. ‘carrot-head’ and ‘devil-head’), which are somewhat xenophobic terms in Cantonese referring to Japanese people and Westerners respectively… no idea what the original intention was.</ref> As a result, Souta couldn’t help but raise his voice.

“Young Akane has a disease where she just can’t leave tragic beings alone, you could say she’s in a critical condition. If you continue having this kind of tragic aura, you’ll always be stuck with her, okay? Plus, young Kikuno is also very stubborn.”

The little girl chuckled and went on her way home.

Akane followed the silhouette with her eyes, and told the dumbstruck Souta:

“She’s Grandmother Tsumugi.”

“‘Grandmother’...? … Is she an old lady?”

They say that humans will gradually shrink when they pass a certain age, so maybe she was like that? But whether it’s her delicate skin or her facial features, she looks indistinguishable from a young girl. Or is she just an old-fashioned little girl who skipped a few grades? The mysteries surrounding her identity increased.

“She’s the Living Dictionary of the academy. They say that our academy doesn’t have students who don’t listen to Grandmother Tsumugi’s words.”

“What happens if you don’t listen?”

“You’ll be cursed.”

“That isn’t the same as a living dictionary, right?!”

Akane was pretty much just saying random things, but Souta didn’t know whether to take the rumor seriously or lose to Akane’s enthusiasm or even think that Tsumugi’s advice did indeed make sense. Regardless, Souta sighed deeply, forced a smile, and said to Akane:

“Nevermind. Since you want to come over so much, come. But I’m not kidding that the dorm is messy, alright?”

“Mm-hmm!! I’ll take the chance to show my great skills! It’ll be my first time cleaning up a boy’s room!!”

“B-Big Sis also wants to clean up!!”

“Let’s team up!! Attack as a team!”

They actually wanted to attack…? Souta’s mood dimmed, and he looked at the ‘Inexplicably Motivated’ flag sticking up on Akane’s head with a strained smile.

“It’s highly-anticipated, right, Nanami?”

“Huh? Why ask me?”

As Nanami zipped up her backpack, she was suddenly thrown into the fray by Akane. Nanami frowned in suspicion.

“Because we’re going together~”

“Why…?”

“I’ll tell you after we get there.”

“There’s basically no point in telling Us after we get there!!”

Nanami somehow discovered Akane’s trap. Mahougasawa Akane… How did you think that she wouldn’t notice?

“... Nevermind, there’s nothing to do anyways. Plus, the Big Sis isn’t very responsible, and giving the kind of guy Souta a chance to be by himself is dangerous, so there’s no harm in having Us accompany you.”

“After all, Souta-kun would explode.”

“Am I really that dangerous?!”

This requires a Level 5 hazardous waste management license. In other words, a nitroglycerine person; or, perhaps, human nitroglycerin?<ref> lmfao Bakugo??</ref> Anyways, there’s no difference.

And so, the four-person group of Akane, Nanami, Kikuno, and Souta was formed, heading towards the dorm where Souta lived.

Hatagaya Academy’s huge campus was encircled by a total of four [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-Bahn H-Bahn sky train] stations; namely, Yoyogi Uehara Station to the southwest of the academy, Yoyogi Park Station to the southeast, Hatagaya North Station to the northwest, and Hatsudai North Station to the northeast.

The high school division was near Yoyogi Park Station, while Souta’s dorm was near Hatsudai North Station.

Although these were walkable distances, students of Hatagaya Academy can freely get on and off these four stations so long as they present their student IDs, so of course they choose to take the trains.

“I thought the dorms were all concentrated on the main road. Turns out there are some here as well.”

“Yep… For the sake of caution, I’ll confirm once again: the dorms are really messy, are you guys absolutely sure you want to come?”

“Hey Souta, thou hath only transferred for two days, and your room is already messy enough that it’s not to be seen by others…?”

“If you have any complaints, then just don’t come…”

Before Nanami could counter Souta’s already exhausted words, Akane interjected cheerfully:

“It’s definitely just that your luggage hasn’t been completely sorted yet and is in a messy pile, right? Just leave it to me!”

Akane’s ‘motivated’ flag was still flying strong.

The four got off at the academy’s Hatsudai North Station and, after walking a short distance, gradually saw farms and pastures.

“... What is this? The countryside?” Nanami asked.

“If I remember correctly… this is the farm of the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club.”

“Horticulture…?”

The landscape looked bucolic from a distance, and it felt considerably large. Nanami frowned, wondering if it was part of a backup plan adopted by farmers afraid of the production reduction policy.<ref> Might be referring to Japan’s [https://www.tokyofoundation.org/research/detail.php?id=86 Rice Acreage-Reduction Policy]</ref>

Behind the farms was a dense stretch of woods, actually more like a forest than woods. Walking in there felt like being showered by forest.

“... There’s a dorm in this place?”

“Awesome, your home is in a forest.”

Compared to Nanami’s unhappy expression of “there should be a limit to how remote this is”, Akane smiled as she always did, thinking positively.

Souta, leading them, had a different attitude and plodded on.

And then, in a small clearing in the forest—

A building stood quietly.

The edge of the roof had fallen, and not only was part of the wall collapsed, it was also covered with vines. The door had almost rotted through, the windows were broken, and the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds.

Even by the lowest standards, it still looked like…

“Ruins…?”

“What…? What’s going on with this tattered dorm…”

“Are these not ruins? Souta, thou didst not go to the wrong place, right?”

“See? What did I say?”

Souta showed the dorm’s certification page in the student handbook. It said ‘Quest House’. Nanami looked at the moldy dorm plaque and knit her brows.

“This is indeed ‘Quest House’...”

“So you live… here…?”

Akane’s eyes lost their light, frozen in shock. However, Souta smiled and nodded with a hint of self-deprecation.

“For a lonely, poor person like me with dead parents, what could I expect? I have nowhere to go, and no home to go back to… The academy now not only gives me shelter from the elements, but also a scholarship. If I ask for too much and get kicked out, wouldn’t I be in an even more tragic state?”

“But… even if it’s like that, to live in this kind of place is…”

“After all, this is my situation, so I’m pretty easy to take advantage of. But taking in somebody like me makes it easier for the academy to raise money… Although, the fact of the matter is, they only need to take me in. Nobody really cares how it’s handled afterward.”

“How can this be… That’s too much…”

Souta’s attitude might have been due to all the tragedies he’d experienced. This attitude, coupled with his situation, made Akane even more worried.

But before Akane’s feelings burst out, Kikuno’s tear glands had already let loose.

“It’s too much… It’s too much… So it’s like this… they actually want Sou-kun to live in this kind of place…!!”

Kikuno’s tears streamed down her face as she cried. Souta was taken aback.

“Hey… Wh-why does Okiku-nee need to cry? I… I don’t really mind.”

“Anywhere is fine… Poor Souta-kun…”

“Even Akane is crying?!”

Next to Kikuno, Akane followed suit, her tears pouring down like a waterfall. In this atmosphere, Souta was already in no position to prevent this.

“... Souta, didst thou plan to let the peerless Miss Heiress clean this place up? Instead of cleaning it up, is it not faster to raze it to the ground and rebuild it again…?”

At least, Nanami wouldn’t want to step foot into this dorm.

“Why… Why did Sou-kun have to meet this kind of treatment…”

“Waaah~ It’s too much… It’s too unfair…”

Kikuno and Akane, who erupted into tears, and Souta, who had been struggling to deal with Akane, didn’t hear Nanami speak at all.

Especially the always indifferent Souta — although he didn’t care about hurting himself, when he met girls who felt sad for him, he didn’t know what to do. Since he had no clue how to deal with Akane, he looked to Nanami for help, almost crying himself.

Having never encountered such mayhem before, Nanami retreated on the spot.

“Uh…! … This… E-enough! Crying for what? Think of a solution instead! Doing anything else would be better than this!”

Nanami already stopped holding back, pretty much ready to ride to battle at this point. Akane stopped crying, beamed, and hugged Nanami.

“Nanami really is a good person!”

“Whoa… Hey! Stop hugging, stop sticking to Us! Quick, Souta, come save Us!”

Nanami, who couldn’t stand Akane rubbing her cheeks, issued an SOS signal. Souta mocked instead:

“Isn’t this great? I think you guys are closer friends with each other than with me, yeah?”

Souta, who originally had a sad smile, didn’t mean anything bad when he said this. However, facing the wrong direction, Kikuno’s super-sensitive Sisterly Love Radar received the wrong signals at that moment and she rushed over to Souta.

“D-don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will help you ask Akane to be your friend! You don’t have to feel lonely!”

“Huh…? No… Okiku-nee, what are you…!”

“Akane, please also be friends with Souta!”

Kikuno, ignoring Souta’s attempt at stopping her and with her sisterly doting reaching its peak, sincerely pleaded.

Receiving her plea, Akane’s frequently-used Loneliness Sensor revved to its max. She let go of Nanami, clasped Souta’s hand, and said:

“I’m sorry, Souta! I’m your friend, but I made you feel lonely; I’m unworthy of being a friend! Souta-kun’s my good friend, though! Please don’t feel lonely! Akane and Nanami and Kikuno-senpai and Souta-kun are a very close group of four!”

Akane made Kikuno hold the hands of Nanami and Souta, and took the two’s empty other hands herself, forming a circle. The four started spinning circles, but only Akane laughed aloud: “Ahahahahaha!”

After spinning for a while, Akane, albeit dizzy and unsteady, faced Souta and said:

“Look! I also can’t let poor Souta go uncared for!”

“Souta’s on the other side, Akane.”

Because she was dizzy and unsteady, she didn’t face Souta.

“Mother once said, ‘Close friends are magic staffs’ and ‘That’s the magic that makes you feel like you can do anything’. In my mind, Souta-kun and Nanami are wonderful, bright magic.”

Akane clasped Souta’s hand again, smiling. As if infected by the poetic lines, Nanami grinned slightly and added a sentence of her thoughts:

“Put simply, Akane is a magician specializing in summoning gentle fairies~”

“Nanami, you’re a poet!”

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

Nanami, snapping out of it, thought she said something embarrassing, and her face heated up.

“I want to hear more of Nanami’s poems!”

“Do not mention poetry!!”

“What does that matter, this is the privilege of youth! Everyone, let’s abuse this privilege together and run around the seaside asking for trouble at dusk!”

“Do nyaat<ref> If you remember from Chapter 1, Nanami makes cat sounds when distressed</ref> waste your youth!”

''The atmosphere’s getting better and better…'' Souta thought as he watched Akane and Nanami with a strained smile. He then inadvertently looked at the top of Akane’s head…

“Souta-kun also needs to waste our youth with us.”

Akane’s ‘can’t leave pitiful people alone’ attitude completely switched on, and friendship flags raised in an overwhelming frenzy

Seeing the flags raise everywhere, Souta thought, ''Was it me?! Did I do something wrong?! God… please, don’t do this anymore.'' He couldn’t help but take three steps backwards. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that within the pile of friendship flags stood a singular pink flag with a heart symbol…

“... Then, what should we do to fix the dorm?”

“That’s what We want to ask!”

Sitting on the train on their way back, Akane triumphantly turned her neck and asked. Nanami then roared back, as if attacked.

The group consisting of Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress, who were a little ignorant of the world, plus the newly transferred Souta, crossed their arms and looked to the sky in deep thought.

Watching this group of youngsters with a smile, Kikuno picked the right opportunity, raised her index finger, and said:

“When in a predicament, the saying goes that only old ginger is spicy.”

Rumor has it, the person who looks like a little girl and sips green tea at the Tea Ceremony Club might be the “old” ginger.

“The tattered dorm? Quest House? After all, it was built when the academy was founded. Even if you tidied it up, it still wouldn’t become clean.”

It was the academy’s Living Dictionary. After listening to Akane and co. speak, Tsumugi put a [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Rakugan ''rakugan''] in her mouth and said:

“Would it not indeed be faster to rebuild it from the ground?”

Although Nanami asserted that her earlier joke wasn’t far from the answer, Tsumugi took a sip of her tea and then poured cold water over her.

“I heard that the school management is in dire straits due to the declining birthrate. Would they be willing to pay for it?”

“Can’t we… think of a way?!”

“Students these days are too dependent on other people. They just don’t understand taking matters into their own hands…”

Seeing Tsumugi enter preaching mode, the four all inched back slowly, smiling stiffly.

“Speaking of which, it’s just a little worn out, but you immediately lose heart, proving that recent young people lack perseverance. It’s not like we elders like saying this…”

Akane and co. quietly slid open the paper [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoji ''shoji''] of the Tea Ceremony Club. Meanwhile, Tsumugi was still ranting with her eyes closed.

After leaving the Tea Ceremony Club, they sat down on the benches on the sidewalk, hopelessly sipping on juice boxes.

“Then, would we get in trouble if we rebuilt without permission?”

“It’d be surprising not to…”

Nanami, relatively less demoralized, asked a sincere question and was immediately rejected by Souta.

“Then there’s no other way… Souta, please get in trouble.”

“You’re planning to rebuild in secret?!”

Souta was scared silly.

“Don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will get in trouble in your stead!

“Doting to this extent…!”

Big Sis’s sisterly love made Nanami retreat.

Meanwhile, Souta was afraid of Akane, whose tears had broken the surface tension of her eyes.

“... Every time I watch [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sara ''Princess Sara''] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_of_Flanders_(TV_series) ''Dog of Flanders''], I always can’t stop crying, can’t stop crying, can’t bear to keep watching! When I imagine Souta in that position… in a tattered dorm, in a snowstorm… dying… I just…”

A huge teardrop streamed down Akane’s face again.

“Don’t make people cry!!”

“S-sorry… I-I’ll be fine. See~ Speaking of which, I’d probably be more like Perrine or Lassie.”<ref> The main characters of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Perrine ''The Story of Perrine''] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Dog_Lassie ''Famous Dog Lassie.''] The four anime referenced in this section are old-school anime adaptations of Western children’s classics and part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Masterpiece_Theater ''World Masterpiece Theater''], running from the mid 70s to the late 90s.</ref>

“More like an animal…”

“Sou-kun, you’re so cute!”

“Souta-kun, so you’re actually a beast!!”

Disregarding the discrepancy in opinion between sister and friend, Souta felt aggrieved at being called a beast.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Souta beast’s house or a dog’s house. The point is that, even if we wanted to remodel, we would have to overcome the issue of finances.”

“Nanami called her friend a beast or dog, that’s too over-the-top!”

“Thou clearly saidst it first, thou clearly saidst it first!!”

As Akane and Nanami chattered, Souta, at his tender age, discovered that being called a beast or dog by the female sex really hurt.

“Souta, dost thou want to try begging? Since Akane is a rich heiress, she could definitely provide funds.”

“Huh?! Souta, you want to beg me?! That’s more than I could ever wish for! It’d be the first time a boy begged me! Go ahead, go ahead, please! Mm-hmm!”

“......”

Seeing Akane move her arms like a wrestler before a match, expressing her enthusiasm by bringing both elbows horizontally in front of her chest while breathing heavily,<ref>The signature move of Japanese wrestler [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyonobori Michiharu Toyonobori.] I think it’s the arm-wavy thing at 1:07 in the video Gorilla Monsoon vs. Toyonobori - 3/28/1963 (I can’t embed youtube links apparently), I watched a couple clips and he seems to do it pretty often.</ref> the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched.

If Souta refused to beg Akane now, Souta’s tragic plight would not be resolved, Akane would continue to be sad, and Nanami would continue blaming Souta for making Akane sad. In this spiral of sorrow and pain, it was ultimately Souta who got hurt.

Additionally, he also thought that the most important thing was avoiding Akane’s expectant smile. So, after thoroughly preparing himself, Souta finally said:

“Akane, please build me a new dorm.”

“Huh— how ordinary—”

“Couldn’t thou have acted more flattering, Souta?”

Reprimanded by the two girls, the young man instantly lost his foothold.

“Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to help you beg?”

With even the doting Big Sis saying something, even getting a toehold was unthinkable, not to mention a foothold.

At this point, Souta steeled himself, forced out a dazzling smile, and said to Akane:

“Could you please help poor little old me build a new dorm, o mesmerizing Akane-chan? You are the angel of my heart, the only one I can beg.”

“Souta-kun, you sound like a player.”

“Souta, thou art thoroughly rotten.”

“You two were the ones who wanted me to say it, though!!

Souta was hit hard, hugging his knees and shouting into them on the bench.

“Big Sis knows her Sou-kun isn’t that kind of child!”

Doting Big Sis’s trust was unnecessarily heavy.

“But, I wouldn’t be a woman if I couldn’t respond to a man’s whole-hearted plea. I want to do something for him… however—”

“However?”

Seeing Akane stop talking, Nanami was puzzled.

“I, don't have money…”

“Huh? Art not thou Miss Heiress?”

“To be honest… When I came here to live in a dorm, I accepted my family’s condition: unless it’s an urgent emergency, I must do my best to deal with it without depending on my family. So…”

“So it’s like that. Allowing freedom, but requiring self-sufficiency… It’s like that everywhere.”

Nanami smiled wryly, clenching her empty juice box.

“Huh?”

“It’s okay. However, this is a headache. Our principality is also very poor… To ask for money is to ask the impossible…”

Akane and Nanami cast Souta aside and started their own discussion. This allowed Souta to suddenly regain his senses.

“Excuse me… That said, what exactly did I just do that for then…?”

“Souta-kun’s efforts will not be wasted. Someday that effort will bear fruit, and its harvest will be taken for foodstuff and displayed in a storefront.”

Although he felt he was gradually being taken for foodstuff, since Akane’s coy laugh of “Heeheehee” was really cute and he didn’t feel any malicious intent, Souta could only deal with it with a sigh in the end.

“Before Souta-kun is taken for foodstuff, we must do our best to help him, Nanami!”

“Huh…? We need to too…?”

Both hands held tightly by Akane, Nanami frowned, troubled.

Although, Akane just seemed to like the uncommonly used word ‘foodstuff’, so she really wanted to use it.

“Big Sis will come too, Sou-kun!”

What Big Sis would do afterwards was unclear.

In the end, they didn’t think of a good idea that day, so the meeting was adjourned… The next morning—

Souta entered the classroom and sat down in his seat. Nanami turned, sitting on the side of her chair, and said good morning while getting to the point.

“We asked the housemasters at Our dorm, and it seems that the boys’ dorms are full to the point they’re about to burst.”

“Ah, then… me being put there, might not have been entirely out of malicious intent.”

Looking closely, while Souta’s uniform and school bag were obviously brand new, they seemed to be covered with a layer of dust.

“It might genuinely be better for thou to live in a tent.”

“I can’t put one up though…”

“You guys are planning to go camping without inviting me?! It would be my first time living in a tent. I always live in a villa, homestay, or vacation apartment and such!”

Akane popped in between the two.

“Thy head is only filled with thoughts about playing…”

Nanami smiled lightly, and Akane continued to ask her, “Are you going to the mountains? Or the beach?”

“Thou misunderstandest. We’re talking about Souta’s dorm.”

“Oh… Everyone should forget about the dorm business, and go play together?”

“Thy optimism is too exaggerated!!”

Incidentally, when you get tired of playing and go home, there is a trap of ‘remembering reality and falling into despair’ waiting for you.

“Hey~ What’s up with the dorm?”

The classmate with blonde hair and pierced ears who gave Souta his seat earlier heard the exchange and asked frivolously.

After Souta explained, he looked at the sky with an “Umm--”, and, after a long while, he said:

“Would you like to come to our dormitory? I think it’d be okay as long as you explain everything. Although crowding a fifth person into a room meant for four might be a little tight.”

''He’s obviously a frivolous guy who would cheat girls everywhere, but he’s still kind regardless'' The surrounding students lamented that this guy really didn’t match his appearance.

But, Souta looked at the frivolous classmate’s head, and immediately replied:

“I can’t sleep if I’m not alone.”

“Really? Then it can’t be helped.”

He gave up and walked back to his seat.

“We said that thou art not allowed to break flags!”

Nanami saw everything, and mercilessly awarded Souta a hand chop.

“Flag…?”

Akane tilted her head suspiciously, and Souta hurriedly covered it up with a “Nothing, nothing.”

However, either because Souta didn’t cover it up correctly or his agitation wasn’t very natural, Akane felt that something wasn’t right with Souta’s series of actions.

“What’s going on… Is he awkward? Or… afraid?... Just like that time… like with me… if it’s really like that… if it’s really like that… then there’s even more reasons why I can’t just leave him alone!”

Akane’s mind strengthened Souta’s sorry impression, and her flags stood up more fiercely on her head.

Souta saw this and tiredly exhibited a pained expression.

… At this time, the dainty classmate Ryuukishibara Tsumugi<ref> Tsumugi’s surname indicates that her ‘class’ is dragon rider</ref> and Kikuno walked into the classroom with a young girl wearing a uniform with a strangely colored bow tie, equipped with shoulder pads and arm guards, dressed quite strangely.

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai… and Grandmother.”

“You lot, you left yesterday without listening to all of my words?! Young people nowadays are really…”

“Okay okay, Grandmother, pointless ramblings don’t really count.”

The female classmate brought by Tsumugi let out a heroic laugh of “Bwahahahahaha!” and stopped Tsumugi’s rant.

“You just said something silly…”

“Excuse me, Grandmother… This person is…?”

Akane asked this, and saw the mysterious girl catch everyone’s attention by unnecessarily flipping her hair and stepping forward.

“Yours truly<ref> Mimori literally refers to herself using ‘this person’ (本人), so I’m gonna use ‘yours truly’.</ref> waited for someone to ask before introducing myself, that was really Discord…<ref> The Chinese says ‘oolong’, but that doesn’t even sound remotely close to what she corrected herself to say… I changed it to sound more like a slip of the tongue</ref> correction, that was really discourteous of yours truly. Yours truly Hatagaya Academy’s student president, Seiteikouji Mimori<ref> Mimori’s surname contains the words for ‘holy emperor’; given the armor she likes to wear her ‘class’ is probably paladin</ref>!”

“The student president…”

“This academy attaches great importance to student autonomy. Seek the Student Council if you are in need of assistance. In fact, the Student Council is also responsible for dormitory affairs, and yours truly is the person in charge.”

“Eh?! So she’s the one who put Souta-kun in that kind of dorm?!”

Akane’s and Nanami’s gazes were mixed with some hostility.

“Yours truly was accidentally on autopilot and put him in an empty dorm~ But I hear it’s very shabby, right? Yours truly will observe the situation after school, and then we’ll go on from there. And Grandmother asked yours truly to do what I can to help!”

“Huh… Didn’t Grandmother say that we were too dependent on others yesterday…?”

“I did say to take matters into your own hands. But I never said I wouldn’t help? The short-temperedness of young people isn’t good.”

Tsumugi crossed her arms and pursed her lips. Purely in terms of appearance, she looked like a pouting young girl.

But, her raised arms exuded so much senseless good intentions that Akane happily put her hands together.

“Grandmother is so reliable!!”

“Although it should be that yours truly is more reliable!!”

Mimori pointlessly and unreasonably refused to be outdone, making Nanami laugh.

“The student president is so childish…”

“... And, since young Kikuno was full of sisterly love and pleaded tearfully, it can’t be helped. You, sir, have a good sister, young Souta.”

Although, said sister was really just a sisterly neighbor who lived nearby and loved to take care of people. However, Souta couldn’t say anything about that in this kind of atmosphere.

“Thank you, Okiku-nee.”

“Why so polite? As Big Sis, helping Sou-kun goes without saying!”

However, those who knew the truth strained a smile. The only person at the scene who wasn’t straining a smile but rather smiling from ear to ear was Akane.

“Great, Souta-kun!”

“I don’t really care… but, since Akane and Okiku-nee won’t be sad, then so be it, I guess?

Regardless of his real thoughts, Souta naturally smiled a little as he said this, making Akane ecstatic and feel as if all her pores had opened.

''Souta-kun’s smile… as expected, it’s mesmerizing…! I want to see it more!''

Seeing the flag on Akane’s head twinkle, Souta’s smile instantly clouded over, and Akane nearly cried.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
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</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3

2025-03-27T01:50:01Z

==Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base<ref> As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner/priest?, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear.</ref>==
“Um… I live in a dorm. What about it…?”

As Souta slung his backpack over his shoulders at the end of the school day, Akane had asked, “Souta-kun, where do you live?” After Souta answered, she nodded in feigned understanding.

“Can we go play there?”

“No.”

Hearing Souta’s response, Akane’s eyes welled up in tears. She blubbered “Oh~”, her friendship flag breaking in reply.

''He’s still as rough with the flags as before…'' Nanami watched the conversation in her peripheral vision as she put her stationery in her school bag.

“That kind of place isn’t suitable for girls to visit.”

“Like the boy’s bathroom?”

“What kind of dorm would that be?!”

Akane’s off-putting question resulted in a rare Souta retort.

“Like your room’s in a stall?”

“Even prisoners live better than that, right…?”

''No, since it’s Miss Heiress, the toilet in her mansion might be quite big.'' With this thought process, Souta decided it was pointless to hide it, so he told the truth.

“How do I put it? It’s because my dorm’s messy, it’s a total wreck.”

“Then we’ll go clean it up! Don’t look at Akane that way, but Akane really does love to be clean though? Mm-hmm!<ref> It’s supposed to be the noise Hirasawa Yui makes in ''K-On!''. Again, I haven’t watched it, so apologies if it isn’t entirely accurate.</ref>”

As usual, another one of Akane’s friendship flags was raised immediately. Souta’s feelings about them had already begun to gradually move from fear to admiration.

Despite Akane’s enthusiastic proposal, Souta still crossed his arms and sighed in contemplation. “Hmmmm…”

On the other hand, Akane was really motivated. For some reason, she was wiping an imaginary window with exaggerated movements, as if she were practicing boxing. Although, even if she was wiping a window, it was more like ‘Wax on, wax off.’<ref> Karate Kid reference</ref>

“Huh?! Huh?! What happened? Souta and Akane, why did you guys suddenly become so close without Big Sis’s consent?!”

Kikuno, not knowing what had happened during lunch, protested with her eyes welling up in tears. She seemed to blame Souta, her expression a little accusatory.

“That requires consent…?”

Nanami, having become a bystander, murmured to herself with a faint smile.

“We just ate together during the lunch break, we’re not actually as close as you say…”

Kikuno puffed her cheeks angrily, as cute as a child no older than one. Souta comforted her while explaining what had happened.

After listening to Souta’s explanation, Kikuno nodded with a slight smile, feigning understanding.

“Really? Akane-chan is a really good kid, Big Sis strongly approves of your friendship!”

It seems consent has been acquired.

Kikuno turned and faced Akane with a deep bow.

“Please take care of Sou-kun.”

“D-don’t be like that, Okiku-nee…!”

“Yeah, Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like I’m an outsider.”

“Huh?! You’re already family?! Sou-kun, why didn’t you discuss this with Big Sis first?! Big Sis feels so lonely!!”

It seems consent has not been fully acquired.

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

Big Sis’s logic was too unpredictable and Souta was at a loss, but Akane, the central subject, was still smiling brightly.

“... Speaking of which, Akane just referred to Okiku-nee as ‘senpai’, right?”

Although Kikuno was supposed to be a year older than them, calling a classmate ‘senpai’ is still pretty strange.

“Ah, um. Senpai guided me when I came to this school last year. Since she was Senpai at the time, it feels a bit weird to change it now…”

“Ah, but, at the time, I already knew I would become a freshman a year late.”

The senpai in the same grade seemed a bit shy.

It’s unclear whether this resolves the subject, but Akane, who wasn’t especially paying attention, returned to the original subject.

“Then, since we got your Big Sis’s approval, we can go to Souta’s dorm now! Mm-hmm!”

“... She approved?”

“Big Sis also wants to go! Mm-hmm!”

Kikuno, even more free-spirited than Akane, raised her hands with this declaration, cutting off Souta’s question.

Met with inexplicable enthusiasm, Souta was then patted on the waist from behind, startling him.

“!?”

He turned to look, but there was nobody behind him… Then he found that it came from below.

To Souta, who was 170 cm tall, the other person was a girl 50 cm shorter than him. Not only her height, but her appearance looked young. Although she looked like an elementary school student, her uniform revealed her to be a student in the same grade. That said, the other students had called her ‘Grandmother’ during the lunch break, even asking her for advice.

“Give up, young Souta.”<ref> Tsumugi technically calls others 'little brother/sister *name*', but I think 'young' fits better.</ref>

“Young?!”

The young girl, who seemed not to wear anything on her lower half, spoke to Souta in a wizened tone, as if he were a little rascal or devil.<ref> The Chinese translation I’m using uses 萝卜头 and 鬼头 (lit. ‘carrot-head’ and ‘devil-head’), which are somewhat xenophobic terms in Cantonese referring to Japanese people and Westerners respectively… no idea what the original intention was.</ref> As a result, Souta couldn’t help but raise his voice.

“Young Akane has a disease where she just can’t leave tragic beings alone, you could say she’s in a critical condition. If you continue having this kind of tragic aura, you’ll always be stuck with her, okay? Plus, young Kikuno is also very stubborn.”

The little girl chuckled and went on her way home.

Akane followed the silhouette with her eyes, and told the dumbstruck Souta:

“She’s Grandmother Tsumugi.”

“‘Grandmother’...? … Is she an old lady?”

They say that humans will gradually shrink when they pass a certain age, so maybe she was like that? But whether it’s her delicate skin or her facial features, she looks indistinguishable from a young girl. Or is she just an old-fashioned little girl who skipped a few grades? The mysteries surrounding her identity increased.

“She’s the Living Dictionary of the academy. They say that our academy doesn’t have students who don’t listen to Grandmother Tsumugi’s words.”

“What happens if you don’t listen?”

“You’ll be cursed.”

“That isn’t the same as a living dictionary, right?!”

Akane was pretty much just saying random things, but Souta didn’t know whether to take the rumor seriously or lose to Akane’s enthusiasm or even think that Tsumugi’s advice did indeed make sense. Regardless, Souta sighed deeply, forced a smile, and said to Akane:

“Nevermind. Since you want to come over so much, come. But I’m not kidding that the dorm is messy, alright?”

“Mm-hmm!! I’ll take the chance to show my great skills! It’ll be my first time cleaning up a boy’s room!!”

“B-Big Sis also wants to clean up!!”

“Let’s team up!! Attack as a team!”

They actually wanted to attack…? Souta’s mood dimmed, and he looked at the ‘Inexplicably Motivated’ flag sticking up on Akane’s head with a strained smile.

“It’s highly-anticipated, right, Nanami?”

“Huh? Why ask me?”

As Nanami zipped up her backpack, she was suddenly thrown into the fray by Akane. Nanami frowned in suspicion.

“Because we’re going together~”

“Why…?”

“I’ll tell you after we get there.”

“There’s basically no point in telling Us after we get there!!”

Nanami somehow discovered Akane’s trap. Mahougasawa Akane… How did you think that she wouldn’t notice?

“... Nevermind, there’s nothing to do anyways. Plus, the Big Sis isn’t very responsible, and giving the kind of guy Souta a chance to be by himself is dangerous, so there’s no harm in having Us accompany you.”

“After all, Souta-kun would explode.”

“Am I really that dangerous?!”

This requires a Level 5 hazardous waste management license. In other words, a nitroglycerine person; or, perhaps, human nitroglycerin?<ref> lmfao Bakugo??</ref> Anyways, there’s no difference.

And so, the four-person group of Akane, Nanami, Kikuno, and Souta was formed, heading towards the dorm where Souta lived.

Hatagaya Academy’s huge campus was encircled by a total of four [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-Bahn H-Bahn sky train] stations; namely, Yoyogi Uehara Station to the southwest of the academy, Yoyogi Park Station to the southeast, Hatagaya North Station to the northwest, and Hatsudai North Station to the northeast.

The high school division was near Yoyogi Park Station, while Souta’s dorm was near Hatsudai North Station.

Although these were walkable distances, students of Hatagaya Academy can freely get on and off these four stations so long as they present their student IDs, so of course they choose to take the trains.

“I thought the dorms were all concentrated on the main road. Turns out there are some here as well.”

“Yep… For the sake of caution, I’ll confirm once again: the dorms are really messy, are you guys absolutely sure you want to come?”

“Hey Souta, thou hath only transferred for two days, and your room is already messy enough that it’s not to be seen by others…?”

“If you have any complaints, then just don’t come…”

Before Nanami could counter Souta’s already exhausted words, Akane interjected cheerfully:

“It’s definitely just that your luggage hasn’t been completely sorted yet and is in a messy pile, right? Just leave it to me!”

Akane’s ‘motivated’ flag was still flying strong.

The four got off at the academy’s Hatsudai North Station and, after walking a short distance, gradually saw farms and pastures.

“... What is this? The countryside?” Nanami asked.

“If I remember correctly… this is the farm of the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club.”

“Horticulture…?”

The landscape looked bucolic from a distance, and it felt considerably large. Nanami frowned, wondering if it was part of a backup plan adopted by farmers afraid of the production reduction policy.<ref> Might be referring to Japan’s [https://www.tokyofoundation.org/research/detail.php?id=86 Rice Acreage-Reduction Policy]</ref>

Behind the farms was a dense stretch of woods, actually more like a forest than woods. Walking in there felt like being showered by forest.

“... There’s a dorm in this place?”

“Awesome, your home is in a forest.”

Compared to Nanami’s unhappy expression of “there should be a limit to how remote this is”, Akane smiled as she always did, thinking positively.

Souta, leading them, had a different attitude and plodded on.

And then, in a small clearing in the forest—

A building stood quietly.

The edge of the roof had fallen, and not only was part of the wall collapsed, it was also covered with vines. The door had almost rotted through, the windows were broken, and the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds.

Even by the lowest standards, it still looked like…

“Ruins…?”

“What…? What’s going on with this tattered dorm…”

“Are these not ruins? Souta, thou didst not go to the wrong place, right?”

“See? What did I say?”

Souta showed the dorm’s certification page in the student handbook. It said ‘Quest House’. Nanami looked at the moldy dorm plaque and knit her brows.

“This is indeed ‘Quest House’...”

“So you live… here…?”

Akane’s eyes lost their light, frozen in shock. However, Souta smiled and nodded with a hint of self-deprecation.

“For a lonely, poor person like me with dead parents, what could I expect? I have nowhere to go, and no home to go back to… The academy now not only gives me shelter from the elements, but also a scholarship. If I ask for too much and get kicked out, wouldn’t I be in an even more tragic state?”

“But… even if it’s like that, to live in this kind of place is…”

“After all, this is my situation, so I’m pretty easy to take advantage of. But taking in somebody like me makes it easier for the academy to raise money… Although, the fact of the matter is, they only need to take me in. Nobody really cares how it’s handled afterward.”

“How can this be… That’s too much…”

Souta’s attitude might have been due to all the tragedies he’d experienced. This attitude, coupled with his situation, made Akane even more worried.

But before Akane’s feelings burst out, Kikuno’s tear glands had already let loose.

“It’s too much… It’s too much… So it’s like this… they actually want Sou-kun to live in this kind of place…!!”

Kikuno’s tears streamed down her face as she cried. Souta was taken aback.

“Hey… Wh-why does Okiku-nee need to cry? I… I don’t really mind.”

“Anywhere is fine… Poor Souta-kun…”

“Even Akane is crying?!”

Next to Kikuno, Akane followed suit, her tears pouring down like a waterfall. In this atmosphere, Souta was already in no position to prevent this.

“... Souta, didst thou plan to let the peerless Miss Heiress clean this place up? Instead of cleaning it up, is it not faster to raze it to the ground and rebuild it again…?”

At least, Nanami wouldn’t want to step foot into this dorm.

“Why… Why did Sou-kun have to meet this kind of treatment…”

“Waaah~ It’s too much… It’s too unfair…”

Kikuno and Akane, who erupted into tears, and Souta, who had been struggling to deal with Akane, didn’t hear Nanami speak at all.

Especially the always indifferent Souta — although he didn’t care about hurting himself, when he met girls who felt sad for him, he didn’t know what to do. Since he had no clue how to deal with Akane, he looked to Nanami for help, almost crying himself.

Having never encountered such mayhem before, Nanami retreated on the spot.

“Uh…! … This… E-enough! Crying for what? Think of a solution instead! Doing anything else would be better than this!”

Nanami already stopped holding back, pretty much ready to ride to battle at this point. Akane stopped crying, beamed, and hugged Nanami.

“Nanami really is a good person!”

“Whoa… Hey! Stop hugging, stop sticking to Us! Quick, Souta, come save Us!”

Nanami, who couldn’t stand Akane rubbing her cheeks, issued an SOS signal. Souta mocked instead:

“Isn’t this great? I think you guys are closer friends with each other than with me, yeah?”

Souta, who originally had a sad smile, didn’t mean anything bad when he said this. However, facing the wrong direction, Kikuno’s super-sensitive Sisterly Love Radar received the wrong signals at that moment and she rushed over to Souta.

“D-don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will help you ask Akane to be your friend! You don’t have to feel lonely!”

“Huh…? No… Okiku-nee, what are you…!”

“Akane, please also be friends with Souta!”

Kikuno, ignoring Souta’s attempt at stopping her and with her sisterly doting reaching its peak, sincerely pleaded.

Receiving her plea, Akane’s frequently-used Loneliness Sensor revved to its max. She let go of Nanami, clasped Souta’s hand, and said:

“I’m sorry, Souta! I’m your friend, but I made you feel lonely; I’m unworthy of being a friend! Souta-kun’s my good friend, though! Please don’t feel lonely! Akane and Nanami and Kikuno-senpai and Souta-kun are a very close group of four!”

Akane made Kikuno hold the hands of Nanami and Souta, and took the two’s empty other hands herself, forming a circle. The four started spinning circles, but only Akane laughed aloud: “Ahahahahaha!”

After spinning for a while, Akane, albeit dizzy and unsteady, faced Souta and said:

“Look! I also can’t let poor Souta go uncared for!”

“Souta’s on the other side, Akane.”

Because she was dizzy and unsteady, she didn’t face Souta.

“Mother once said, ‘Close friends are magic staffs’ and ‘That’s the magic that makes you feel like you can do anything’. In my mind, Souta-kun and Nanami are wonderful, bright magic.”

Akane clasped Souta’s hand again, smiling. As if infected by the poetic lines, Nanami grinned slightly and added a sentence of her thoughts:

“Put simply, Akane is a magician specializing in summoning gentle fairies~”

“Nanami, you’re a poet!”

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

Nanami, snapping out of it, thought she said something embarrassing, and her face heated up.

“I want to hear more of Nanami’s poems!”

“Do not mention poetry!!”

“What does that matter, this is the privilege of youth! Everyone, let’s abuse this privilege together and run around the seaside asking for trouble at dusk!”

“Do nyaat<ref> If you remember from Chapter 1, Nanami makes cat sounds when distressed</ref> waste your youth!”

''The atmosphere’s getting better and better…'' Souta thought as he watched Akane and Nanami with a strained smile. He then inadvertently looked at the top of Akane’s head…

“Souta-kun also needs to waste our youth with us.”

Akane’s ‘can’t leave pitiful people alone’ attitude completely switched on, and friendship flags raised in an overwhelming frenzy

Seeing the flags raise everywhere, Souta thought, ''Was it me?! Did I do something wrong?! God… please, don’t do this anymore.'' He couldn’t help but take three steps backwards. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that within the pile of friendship flags stood a singular pink flag with a heart symbol…

“... Then, what should we do to fix the dorm?”

“That’s what We want to ask!”

Sitting on the train on their way back, Akane triumphantly turned her neck and asked. Nanami then roared back, as if attacked.

The group consisting of Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress, who were a little ignorant of the world, plus the newly transferred Souta, crossed their arms and looked to the sky in deep thought.

Watching this group of youngsters with a smile, Kikuno picked the right opportunity, raised her index finger, and said:

“When in a predicament, the saying goes that only old ginger is spicy.”

Rumor has it, the person who looks like a little girl and sips green tea at the Tea Ceremony Club might be the “old” ginger.

“The tattered dorm? Quest House? After all, it was built when the academy was founded. Even if you tidied it up, it still wouldn’t become clean.”

It was the academy’s Living Dictionary. After listening to Akane and co. speak, Tsumugi put a [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Rakugan ''rakugan''] in her mouth and said:

“Would it not indeed be faster to rebuild it from the ground?”

Although Nanami asserted that her earlier joke wasn’t far from the answer, Tsumugi took a sip of her tea and then poured cold water over her.

“I heard that the school management is in dire straits due to the declining birthrate. Would they be willing to pay for it?”

“Can’t we… think of a way?!”

“Students these days are too dependent on other people. They just don’t understand taking matters into their own hands…”

Seeing Tsumugi enter preaching mode, the four all inched back slowly, smiling stiffly.

“Speaking of which, it’s just a little worn out, but you immediately lose heart, proving that recent young people lack perseverance. It’s not like we elders like saying this…”

Akane and co. quietly slid open the paper [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoji ''shoji''] of the Tea Ceremony Club. Meanwhile, Tsumugi was still ranting with her eyes closed.

After leaving the Tea Ceremony Club, they sat down on the benches on the sidewalk, hopelessly sipping on juice boxes.

“Then, would we get in trouble if we rebuilt without permission?”

“It’d be surprising not to…”

Nanami, relatively less demoralized, asked a sincere question and was immediately rejected by Souta.

“Then there’s no other way… Souta, please get in trouble.”

“You’re planning to rebuild in secret?!”

Souta was scared silly.

“Don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will get in trouble in your stead!

“Doting to this extent…!”

Big Sis’s sisterly love made Nanami retreat.

Meanwhile, Souta was afraid of Akane, whose tears had broken the surface tension of her eyes.

“... Every time I watch [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sara ''Princess Sara''] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_of_Flanders_(TV_series) ''Dog of Flanders''], I always can’t stop crying, can’t stop crying, can’t bear to keep watching! When I imagine Souta in that position… in a tattered dorm, in a snowstorm… dying… I just…”

A huge teardrop streamed down Akane’s face again.

“Don’t make people cry!!”

“S-sorry… I-I’ll be fine. See~ Speaking of which, I’d probably be more like Perrine or Lassie.”<ref> The main characters of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Perrine ''The Story of Perrine''] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Dog_Lassie ''Famous Dog Lassie.''] The four anime referenced in this section are old-school anime adaptations of Western children’s classics and part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Masterpiece_Theater ''World Masterpiece Theater''], running from the mid 70s to the late 90s.</ref>

“More like an animal…”

“Sou-kun, you’re so cute!”

“Souta-kun, so you’re actually a beast!!”

Disregarding the discrepancy in opinion between sister and friend, Souta felt aggrieved at being called a beast.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Souta beast’s house or a dog’s house. The point is that, even if we wanted to remodel, we would have to overcome the issue of finances.”

“Nanami called her friend a beast or dog, that’s too over-the-top!”

“Thou clearly saidst it first, thou clearly saidst it first!!”

As Akane and Nanami chattered, Souta, at his tender age, discovered that being called a beast or dog by the female sex really hurt.

“Souta, dost thou want to try begging? Since Akane is a rich heiress, she could definitely provide funds.”

“Huh?! Souta, you want to beg me?! That’s more than I could ever wish for! It’d be the first time a boy begged me! Go ahead, go ahead, please! Mm-hmm!”

“......”

Seeing Akane move her arms like a wrestler before a match, expressing her enthusiasm by bringing both elbows horizontally in front of her chest while breathing heavily,<ref>The signature move of Japanese wrestler [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyonobori Michiharu Toyonobori.] I think it’s the arm-wavy thing at 1:07 in the video Gorilla Monsoon vs. Toyonobori - 3/28/1963 (I can’t embed youtube links apparently), I watched a couple clips and he seems to do it pretty often.</ref> the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched.

If Souta refused to beg Akane now, Souta’s tragic plight would not be resolved, Akane would continue to be sad, and Nanami would continue blaming Souta for making Akane sad. In this spiral of sorrow and pain, it was ultimately Souta who got hurt.

Additionally, he also thought that the most important thing was avoiding Akane’s expectant smile. So, after thoroughly preparing himself, Souta finally said:

“Akane, please build me a new dorm.”

“Huh— how ordinary—”

“Couldn’t thou have acted more flattering, Souta?”

Reprimanded by the two girls, the young man instantly lost his foothold.

“Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to help you beg?”

With even the doting Big Sis saying something, even getting a toehold was unthinkable, not to mention a foothold.

At this point, Souta steeled himself, forced out a dazzling smile, and said to Akane:

“Could you please help poor little old me build a new dorm, o mesmerizing Akane-chan? You are the angel of my heart, the only one I can beg.”

“Souta-kun, you sound like a player.”

“Souta, thou art thoroughly rotten.”

“You two were the ones who wanted me to say it, though!!

Souta was hit hard, hugging his knees and shouting into them on the bench.

“Big Sis knows her Sou-kun isn’t that kind of child!”

Doting Big Sis’s trust was unnecessarily heavy.

“But, I wouldn’t be a woman if I couldn’t respond to a man’s whole-hearted plea. I want to do something for him… however—”

“However?”

Seeing Akane stop talking, Nanami was puzzled.

“I, don't have money…”

“Huh? Art not thou Miss Heiress?”

“To be honest… When I came here to live in a dorm, I accepted my family’s condition: unless it’s an urgent emergency, I must do my best to deal with it without depending on my family. So…”

“So it’s like that. Allowing freedom, but requiring self-sufficiency… It’s like that everywhere.”

Nanami smiled wryly, clenching her empty juice box.

“Huh?”

“It’s okay. However, this is a headache. Our principality is also very poor… To ask for money is to ask the impossible…”

Akane and Nanami cast Souta aside and started their own discussion. This allowed Souta to suddenly regain his senses.

“Excuse me… That said, what exactly did I just do that for then…?”

“Souta-kun’s efforts will not be wasted. Someday that effort will bear fruit, and its harvest will be taken for foodstuff and displayed in a storefront.”

Although he felt he was gradually being taken for foodstuff, since Akane’s coy laugh of “Heeheehee” was really cute and he didn’t feel any malicious intent, Souta could only deal with it with a sigh in the end.

“Before Souta-kun is taken for foodstuff, we must do our best to help him, Nanami!”

“Huh…? We need to too…?”

Both hands held tightly by Akane, Nanami frowned, troubled.

Although, Akane just seemed to like the uncommonly used word ‘foodstuff’, so she really wanted to use it.

“Big Sis will come too, Sou-kun!”

What Big Sis would do afterwards was unclear.

In the end, they didn’t think of a good idea that day, so the meeting was adjourned… The next morning—

Souta entered the classroom and sat down in his seat. Nanami turned, sitting on the side of her chair, and said good morning while getting to the point.

“We asked the housemasters at Our dorm, and it seems that the boys’ dorms are full to the point they’re about to burst.”

“Ah, then… me being put there, might not have been entirely out of malicious intent.”

Looking closely, while Souta’s uniform and school bag were obviously brand new, they seemed to be covered with a layer of dust.

“It might genuinely be better for thou to live in a tent.”

“I can’t put one up though…”

“You guys are planning to go camping without inviting me?! It would be my first time living in a tent. I always live in a villa, homestay, or vacation apartment and such!”

Akane popped in between the two.

“Thy head is only filled with thoughts about playing…”

Nanami smiled lightly, and Akane continued to ask her, “Are you going to the mountains? Or the beach?”

“Thou misunderstandest. We’re talking about Souta’s dorm.”

“Oh… Everyone should forget about the dorm business, and go play together?”

“Thy optimism is too exaggerated!!”

Incidentally, when you get tired of playing and go home, there is a trap of ‘remembering reality and falling into despair’ waiting for you.

“Hey~ What’s up with the dorm?”

The classmate with blonde hair and pierced ears who gave Souta his seat earlier heard the exchange and asked frivolously.

After Souta explained, he looked at the sky with an “Umm--”, and, after a long while, he said:

“Would you like to come to our dormitory? I think it’d be okay as long as you explain everything. Although crowding a fifth person into a room meant for four might be a little tight.”

''He’s obviously a frivolous guy who would cheat girls everywhere, but he’s still kind regardless'' The surrounding students lamented that this guy really didn’t match his appearance.

But, Souta looked at the frivolous classmate’s head, and immediately replied:

“I can’t sleep if I’m not alone.”

“Really? Then it can’t be helped.”

He gave up and walked back to his seat.

“We said that thou art not allowed to break flags!”

Nanami saw everything, and mercilessly awarded Souta a hand chop.

“Flag…?”

Akane tilted her head suspiciously, and Souta hurriedly covered it up with a “Nothing, nothing.”

However, either because Souta didn’t cover it up correctly or his agitation wasn’t very natural, Akane felt that something wasn’t right with Souta’s series of actions.

“What’s going on… Is he awkward? Or… afraid?... Just like that time… like with me… if it’s really like that… if it’s really like that… then there’s even more reasons why I can’t just leave him alone!”

Akane’s mind strengthened Souta’s sorry impression, and her flags stood up more fiercely on her head.

Souta saw this and tiredly exhibited a pained expression.

… At this time, the dainty classmate Ryuukishibara Tsumugi<ref> Tsumugi’s surname indicates that her ‘class’ is dragon rider</ref> and Kikuno walked into the classroom with a young girl wearing a uniform with a strangely colored bow tie, equipped with shoulder pads and arm guards, dressed quite strangely.

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai… and Grandmother.”

“You lot, you left yesterday without listening to all of my words?! Young people nowadays are really…”

“Okay okay, Grandmother, pointless ramblings don’t really count.”

The female classmate brought by Tsumugi let out a heroic laugh of “Bwahahahahaha!” and stopped Tsumugi’s rant.

“You just said something silly…”

“Excuse me, Grandmother… This person is…?”

Akane asked this, and saw the mysterious girl catch everyone’s attention by unnecessarily flipping her hair and stepping forward.

“Yours truly<ref> Mimori literally refers to herself using ‘this person’ (本人), so I’m gonna use ‘yours truly’.</ref> waited for someone to ask before introducing myself, that was really Discord…<ref> The Chinese says ‘oolong’, but that doesn’t even sound remotely close to what she corrected herself to say… I changed it to sound more like a slip of the tongue</ref> correction, that was really discourteous of yours truly. Yours truly Hatagaya Academy’s student president, Seiteikouji Mimori<ref> Mimori’s surname contains the words for ‘holy emperor’; given the armor she likes to wear her ‘class’ is probably paladin</ref>!”

“The student president…”

“This academy attaches great importance to student autonomy. Seek the Student Council if you are in need of assistance. In fact, the Student Council is also responsible for dormitory affairs, and yours truly is the person in charge.”

“Eh?! So she’s the one who put Souta-kun in that kind of dorm?!”

Akane’s and Nanami’s gazes were mixed with some hostility.

“Yours truly was accidentally on autopilot and put him in an empty dorm~ But I hear it’s very shabby, right? Yours truly will observe the situation after school, and then we’ll go on from there. And Grandmother asked yours truly to do what I can to help!”

“Huh… Didn’t Grandmother say that we were too dependent on others yesterday…?”

“I did say to take matters into your own hands. But I never said I wouldn’t help? The short-temperedness of young people isn’t good.”

Tsumugi crossed her arms and pursed her lips. Purely in terms of appearance, she looked like a pouting young girl.

But, her raised arms exuded so much senseless good intentions that Akane happily put her hands together.

“Grandmother is so reliable!!”

“Although it should be that yours truly is more reliable!!”

Mimori pointlessly and unreasonably refused to be outdone, making Nanami laugh.

“The student president is so childish…”

“... And, since young Kikuno was full of sisterly love and pleaded tearfully, it can’t be helped. You, sir, have a good sister, young Souta.”

Although, said sister was really just a sisterly neighbor who lived nearby and loved to take care of people. However, Souta couldn’t say anything about that in this kind of atmosphere.

“Thank you, Okiku-nee.”

“Why so polite? As Big Sis, helping Sou-kun goes without saying!”

However, those who knew the truth strained a smile. The only person at the scene who wasn’t straining a smile but rather smiling from ear to ear was Akane.

“Great, Souta-kun!”

“I don’t really care… but, since Akane and Okiku-nee won’t be sad, then so be it, I guess?

Regardless of his real thoughts, Souta naturally smiled a little as he said this, making Akane ecstatic and feel as if all her pores had opened.

''Souta-kun’s smile… as expected, it’s mesmerizing…! I want to see it more!''

Seeing the flag on Akane’s head twinkle, Souta’s smile instantly clouded over, and Akane nearly cried.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
|-
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</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3

2025-03-27T01:49:34Z

Person72635: /* Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear. */

==Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base<ref> As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner/priest?, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear.</ref>==
“Um… I live in a dorm. What about it…?”

As Souta slung his backpack over his shoulders at the end of the school day, Akane had asked, “Souta-kun, where do you live?” After Souta answered, she nodded in feigned understanding.

“Can we go play there?”

“No.”

Hearing Souta’s response, Akane’s eyes welled up in tears. She blubbered “Oh~”, her friendship flag breaking in reply.

''He’s still as rough with the flags as before…'' Nanami watched the conversation in her peripheral vision as she put her stationery in her school bag.

“That kind of place isn’t suitable for girls to visit.”

“Like the boy’s bathroom?”

“What kind of dorm would that be?!”

Akane’s off-putting question resulted in a rare Souta retort.

“Like your room’s in a stall?”

“Even prisoners live better than that, right…?”

''No, since it’s Miss Heiress, the toilet in her mansion might be quite big.'' With this thought process, Souta decided it was pointless to hide it, so he told the truth.

“How do I put it? It’s because my dorm’s messy, it’s a total wreck.”

“Then we’ll go clean it up! Don’t look at Akane that way, but Akane really does love to be clean though? Mm-hmm!<ref> It’s supposed to be the noise Hirasawa Yui makes in ''K-On!''. Again, I haven’t watched it, so apologies if it isn’t entirely accurate.</ref>”

As usual, another one of Akane’s friendship flags was raised immediately. Souta’s feelings about them had already begun to gradually move from fear to admiration.

Despite Akane’s enthusiastic proposal, Souta still crossed his arms and sighed in contemplation. “Hmmmm…”

On the other hand, Akane was really motivated. For some reason, she was wiping an imaginary window with exaggerated movements, as if she were practicing boxing. Although, even if she was wiping a window, it was more like ‘Wax on, wax off.’<ref> Karate Kid reference</ref>

“Huh?! Huh?! What happened? Souta and Akane, why did you guys suddenly become so close without Big Sis’s consent?!”

Kikuno, not knowing what had happened during lunch, protested with her eyes welling up in tears. She seemed to blame Souta, her expression a little accusatory.

“That requires consent…?”

Nanami, having become a bystander, murmured to herself with a faint smile.

“We just ate together during the lunch break, we’re not actually as close as you say…”

Kikuno puffed her cheeks angrily, as cute as a child no older than one. Souta comforted her while explaining what had happened.

After listening to Souta’s explanation, Kikuno nodded with a slight smile, feigning understanding.

“Really? Akane-chan is a really good kid, Big Sis strongly approves of your friendship!”

It seems consent has been acquired.

Kikuno turned and faced Akane with a deep bow.

“Please take care of Sou-kun.”

“D-don’t be like that, Okiku-nee…!”

“Yeah, Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like I’m an outsider.”

“Huh?! You’re already family?! Sou-kun, why didn’t you discuss this with Big Sis first?! Big Sis feels so lonely!!”

It seems consent has not been fully acquired.

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

Big Sis’s logic was too unpredictable and Souta was at a loss, but Akane, the central subject, was still smiling brightly.

“... Speaking of which, Akane just referred to Okiku-nee as ‘senpai’, right?”

Although Kikuno was supposed to be a year older than them, calling a classmate ‘senpai’ is still pretty strange.

“Ah, um. Senpai guided me when I came to this school last year. Since she was Senpai at the time, it feels a bit weird to change it now…”

“Ah, but, at the time, I already knew I would become a freshman a year late.”

The senpai in the same grade seemed a bit shy.

It’s unclear whether this resolves the subject, but Akane, who wasn’t especially paying attention, returned to the original subject.

“Then, since we got your Big Sis’s approval, we can go to Souta’s dorm now! Mm-hmm!”

“... She approved?”

“Big Sis also wants to go! Mm-hmm!”

Kikuno, even more free-spirited than Akane, raised her hands with this declaration, cutting off Souta’s question.

Met with inexplicable enthusiasm, Souta was then patted on the waist from behind, startling him.

“!?”

He turned to look, but there was nobody behind him… Then he found that it came from below.

To Souta, who was 170 cm tall, the other person was a girl 50 cm shorter than him. Not only her height, but her appearance looked young. Although she looked like an elementary school student, her uniform revealed her to be a student in the same grade. That said, the other students had called her ‘Grandmother’ during the lunch break, even asking her for advice.

“Give up, young Souta.”<ref> Tsumugi technically calls others 'little brother/sister *name*', but I think 'young' fits better.</ref>

“Young?!”

The young girl, who seemed not to wear anything on her lower half, spoke to Souta in a wizened tone, as if he were a little rascal or devil.<ref> The Chinese translation I’m using uses 萝卜头 and 鬼头 (lit. ‘carrot-head’ and ‘devil-head’), which are somewhat xenophobic terms in Cantonese referring to Japanese people and Westerners respectively… no idea what the original intention was.</ref> As a result, Souta couldn’t help but raise his voice.

“Young Akane has a disease where she just can’t leave tragic beings alone, you could say she’s in a critical condition. If you continue having this kind of tragic aura, you’ll always be stuck with her, okay? Plus, young Kikuno is also very stubborn.”

The little girl chuckled and went on her way home.

Akane followed the silhouette with her eyes, and told the dumbstruck Souta:

“She’s Grandmother Tsumugi.”

“‘Grandmother’...? … Is she an old lady?”

They say that humans will gradually shrink when they pass a certain age, so maybe she was like that? But whether it’s her delicate skin or her facial features, she looks indistinguishable from a young girl. Or is she just an old-fashioned little girl who skipped a few grades? The mysteries surrounding her identity increased.

“She’s the Living Dictionary of the academy. They say that our academy doesn’t have students who don’t listen to Grandmother Tsumugi’s words.”

“What happens if you don’t listen?”

“You’ll be cursed.”

“That isn’t the same as a living dictionary, right?!”

Akane was pretty much just saying random things, but Souta didn’t know whether to take the rumor seriously or lose to Akane’s enthusiasm or even think that Tsumugi’s advice did indeed make sense. Regardless, Souta sighed deeply, forced a smile, and said to Akane:

“Nevermind. Since you want to come over so much, come. But I’m not kidding that the dorm is messy, alright?”

“Mm-hmm!! I’ll take the chance to show my great skills! It’ll be my first time cleaning up a boy’s room!!”

“B-Big Sis also wants to clean up!!”

“Let’s team up!! Attack as a team!”

They actually wanted to attack…? Souta’s mood dimmed, and he looked at the ‘Inexplicably Motivated’ flag sticking up on Akane’s head with a strained smile.

“It’s highly-anticipated, right, Nanami?”

“Huh? Why ask me?”

As Nanami zipped up her backpack, she was suddenly thrown into the fray by Akane. Nanami frowned in suspicion.

“Because we’re going together~”

“Why…?”

“I’ll tell you after we get there.”

“There’s basically no point in telling Us after we get there!!”

Nanami somehow discovered Akane’s trap. Mahougasawa Akane… How did you think that she wouldn’t notice?

“... Nevermind, there’s nothing to do anyways. Plus, the Big Sis isn’t very responsible, and giving the kind of guy Souta a chance to be by himself is dangerous, so there’s no harm in having Us accompany you.”

“After all, Souta-kun would explode.”

“Am I really that dangerous?!”

This requires a Level 5 hazardous waste management license. In other words, a nitroglycerine person; or, perhaps, human nitroglycerin?<ref> lmfao Bakugo??</ref> Anyways, there’s no difference.

And so, the four-person group of Akane, Nanami, Kikuno, and Souta was formed, heading towards the dorm where Souta lived.

Hatagaya Academy’s huge campus was encircled by a total of four [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-Bahn H-Bahn sky train] stations; namely, Yoyogi Uehara Station to the southwest of the academy, Yoyogi Park Station to the southeast, Hatagaya North Station to the northwest, and Hatsudai North Station to the northeast.

The high school division was near Yoyogi Park Station, while Souta’s dorm was near Hatsudai North Station.

Although these were walkable distances, students of Hatagaya Academy can freely get on and off these four stations so long as they present their student IDs, so of course they choose to take the trains.

“I thought the dorms were all concentrated on the main road. Turns out there are some here as well.”

“Yep… For the sake of caution, I’ll confirm once again: the dorms are really messy, are you guys absolutely sure you want to come?”

“Hey Souta, thou hath only transferred for two days, and your room is already messy enough that it’s not to be seen by others…?”

“If you have any complaints, then just don’t come…”

Before Nanami could counter Souta’s already exhausted words, Akane interjected cheerfully:

“It’s definitely just that your luggage hasn’t been completely sorted yet and is in a messy pile, right? Just leave it to me!”

Akane’s ‘motivated’ flag was still flying strong.

The four got off at the academy’s Hatsudai North Station and, after walking a short distance, gradually saw farms and pastures.

“... What is this? The countryside?” Nanami asked.

“If I remember correctly… this is the farm of the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club.”

“Horticulture…?”

The landscape looked bucolic from a distance, and it felt considerably large. Nanami frowned, wondering if it was part of a backup plan adopted by farmers afraid of the production reduction policy.<ref> Might be referring to Japan’s [https://www.tokyofoundation.org/research/detail.php?id=86 Rice Acreage-Reduction Policy]</ref>

Behind the farms was a dense stretch of woods, actually more like a forest than woods. Walking in there felt like being showered by forest.

“... There’s a dorm in this place?”

“Awesome, your home is in a forest.”

Compared to Nanami’s unhappy expression of “there should be a limit to how remote this is”, Akane smiled as she always did, thinking positively.

Souta, leading them, had a different attitude and plodded on.

And then, in a small clearing in the forest—

A building stood quietly.

The edge of the roof had fallen, and not only was part of the wall collapsed, it was also covered with vines. The door had almost rotted through, the windows were broken, and the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds.

Even by the lowest standards, it still looked like…

“Ruins…?”

“What…? What’s going on with this tattered dorm…”

“Are these not ruins? Souta, thou didst not go to the wrong place, right?”

“See? What did I say?”

Souta showed the dorm’s certification page in the student handbook. It said ‘Quest House’. Nanami looked at the moldy dorm plaque and knit her brows.

“This is indeed ‘Quest House’...”

“So you live… here…?”

Akane’s eyes lost their light, frozen in shock. However, Souta smiled and nodded with a hint of self-deprecation.

“For a lonely, poor person like me with dead parents, what could I expect? I have nowhere to go, and no home to go back to… The academy now not only gives me shelter from the elements, but also a scholarship. If I ask for too much and get kicked out, wouldn’t I be in an even more tragic state?”

“But… even if it’s like that, to live in this kind of place is…”

“After all, this is my situation, so I’m pretty easy to take advantage of. But taking in somebody like me makes it easier for the academy to raise money… Although, the fact of the matter is, they only need to take me in. Nobody really cares how it’s handled afterward.”

“How can this be… That’s too much…”

Souta’s attitude might have been due to all the tragedies he’d experienced. This attitude, coupled with his situation, made Akane even more worried.

But before Akane’s feelings burst out, Kikuno’s tear glands had already let loose.

“It’s too much… It’s too much… So it’s like this… they actually want Sou-kun to live in this kind of place…!!”

Kikuno’s tears streamed down her face as she cried. Souta was taken aback.

“Hey… Wh-why does Okiku-nee need to cry? I… I don’t really mind.”

“Anywhere is fine… Poor Souta-kun…”

“Even Akane is crying?!”

Next to Kikuno, Akane followed suit, her tears pouring down like a waterfall. In this atmosphere, Souta was already in no position to prevent this.

“... Souta, didst thou plan to let the peerless Miss Heiress clean this place up? Instead of cleaning it up, is it not faster to raze it to the ground and rebuild it again…?”

At least, Nanami wouldn’t want to step foot into this dorm.

“Why… Why did Sou-kun have to meet this kind of treatment…”

“Waaah~ It’s too much… It’s too unfair…”

Kikuno and Akane, who erupted into tears, and Souta, who had been struggling to deal with Akane, didn’t hear Nanami speak at all.

Especially the always indifferent Souta — although he didn’t care about hurting himself, when he met girls who felt sad for him, he didn’t know what to do. Since he had no clue how to deal with Akane, he looked to Nanami for help, almost crying himself.

Having never encountered such mayhem before, Nanami retreated on the spot.

“Uh…! … This… E-enough! Crying for what? Think of a solution instead! Doing anything else would be better than this!”

Nanami already stopped holding back, pretty much ready to ride to battle at this point. Akane stopped crying, beamed, and hugged Nanami.

“Nanami really is a good person!”

“Whoa… Hey! Stop hugging, stop sticking to Us! Quick, Souta, come save Us!”

Nanami, who couldn’t stand Akane rubbing her cheeks, issued an SOS signal. Souta mocked instead:

“Isn’t this great? I think you guys are closer friends with each other than with me, yeah?”

Souta, who originally had a sad smile, didn’t mean anything bad when he said this. However, facing the wrong direction, Kikuno’s super-sensitive Sisterly Love Radar received the wrong signals at that moment and she rushed over to Souta.

“D-don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will help you ask Akane to be your friend! You don’t have to feel lonely!”

“Huh…? No… Okiku-nee, what are you…!”

“Akane, please also be friends with Souta!”

Kikuno, ignoring Souta’s attempt at stopping her and with her sisterly doting reaching its peak, sincerely pleaded.

Receiving her plea, Akane’s frequently-used Loneliness Sensor revved to its max. She let go of Nanami, clasped Souta’s hand, and said:

“I’m sorry, Souta! I’m your friend, but I made you feel lonely; I’m unworthy of being a friend! Souta-kun’s my good friend, though! Please don’t feel lonely! Akane and Nanami and Kikuno-senpai and Souta-kun are a very close group of four!”

Akane made Kikuno hold the hands of Nanami and Souta, and took the two’s empty other hands herself, forming a circle. The four started spinning circles, but only Akane laughed aloud: “Ahahahahaha!”

After spinning for a while, Akane, albeit dizzy and unsteady, faced Souta and said:

“Look! I also can’t let poor Souta go uncared for!”

“Souta’s on the other side, Akane.”

Because she was dizzy and unsteady, she didn’t face Souta.

“Mother once said, ‘Close friends are magic staffs’ and ‘That’s the magic that makes you feel like you can do anything’. In my mind, Souta-kun and Nanami are wonderful, bright magic.”

Akane clasped Souta’s hand again, smiling. As if infected by the poetic lines, Nanami grinned slightly and added a sentence of her thoughts:

“Put simply, Akane is a magician specializing in summoning gentle fairies~”

“Nanami, you’re a poet!”

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

Nanami, snapping out of it, thought she said something embarrassing, and her face heated up.

“I want to hear more of Nanami’s poems!”

“Do not mention poetry!!”

“What does that matter, this is the privilege of youth! Everyone, let’s abuse this privilege together and run around the seaside asking for trouble at dusk!”

“Do nyaat<ref> If you remember from Chapter 1, Nanami makes cat sounds when distressed</ref> waste your youth!”

''The atmosphere’s getting better and better…'' Souta thought as he watched Akane and Nanami with a strained smile. He then inadvertently looked at the top of Akane’s head…

“Souta-kun also needs to waste our youth with us.”

Akane’s ‘can’t leave pitiful people alone’ attitude completely switched on, and friendship flags raised in an overwhelming frenzy

Seeing the flags raise everywhere, Souta thought, ''Was it me?! Did I do something wrong?! God… please, don’t do this anymore.'' He couldn’t help but take three steps backwards. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that within the pile of friendship flags stood a singular pink flag with a heart symbol…

“... Then, what should we do to fix the dorm?”

“That’s what We want to ask!”

Sitting on the train on their way back, Akane triumphantly turned her neck and asked. Nanami then roared back, as if attacked.

The group consisting of Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress, who were a little ignorant of the world, plus the newly transferred Souta, crossed their arms and looked to the sky in deep thought.

Watching this group of youngsters with a smile, Kikuno picked the right opportunity, raised her index finger, and said:

“When in a predicament, the saying goes that only old ginger is spicy.”

Rumor has it, the person who looks like a little girl and sips green tea at the Tea Ceremony Club might be the “old” ginger.

“The tattered dorm? Quest House? After all, it was built when the academy was founded. Even if you tidied it up, it still wouldn’t become clean.”

It was the academy’s Living Dictionary. After listening to Akane and co. speak, Tsumugi put a [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Rakugan ''rakugan''] in her mouth and said:

“Would it not indeed be faster to rebuild it from the ground?”

Although Nanami asserted that her earlier joke wasn’t far from the answer, Tsumugi took a sip of her tea and then poured cold water over her.

“I heard that the school management is in dire straits due to the declining birthrate. Would they be willing to pay for it?”

“Can’t we… think of a way?!”

“Students these days are too dependent on other people. They just don’t understand taking matters into their own hands…”

Seeing Tsumugi enter preaching mode, the four all inched back slowly, smiling stiffly.

“Speaking of which, it’s just a little worn out, but you immediately lose heart, proving that recent young people lack perseverance. It’s not like we elders like saying this…”

Akane and co. quietly slid open the paper [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoji ''shoji''] of the Tea Ceremony Club. Meanwhile, Tsumugi was still ranting with her eyes closed.

After leaving the Tea Ceremony Club, they sat down on the benches on the sidewalk, hopelessly sipping on juice boxes.

“Then, would we get in trouble if we rebuilt without permission?”

“It’d be surprising not to…”

Nanami, relatively less demoralized, asked a sincere question and was immediately rejected by Souta.

“Then there’s no other way… Souta, please get in trouble.”

“You’re planning to rebuild in secret?!”

Souta was scared silly.

“Don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will get in trouble in your stead!

“Doting to this extent…!”

Big Sis’s sisterly love made Nanami retreat.

Meanwhile, Souta was afraid of Akane, whose tears had broken the surface tension of her eyes.

“... Every time I watch [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sara ''Princess Sara''] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_of_Flanders_(TV_series) ''Dog of Flanders''], I always can’t stop crying, can’t stop crying, can’t bear to keep watching! When I imagine Souta in that position… in a tattered dorm, in a snowstorm… dying… I just…”

A huge teardrop streamed down Akane’s face again.

“Don’t make people cry!!”

“S-sorry… I-I’ll be fine. See~ Speaking of which, I’d probably be more like Perrine or Lassie.”<ref> The main characters of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Perrine ''The Story of Perrine''] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Dog_Lassie ''Famous Dog Lassie.''] The four anime referenced in this section are old-school anime adaptations of Western children’s classics and part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Masterpiece_Theater ''World Masterpiece Theater''], running from the mid 70s to the late 90s.</ref>

“More like an animal…”

“Sou-kun, you’re so cute!”

“Souta-kun, so you’re actually a beast!!”

Disregarding the discrepancy in opinion between sister and friend, Souta felt aggrieved at being called a beast.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Souta beast’s house or a dog’s house. The point is that, even if we wanted to remodel, we would have to overcome the issue of finances.”

“Nanami called her friend a beast or dog, that’s too over-the-top!”

“Thou clearly saidst it first, thou clearly saidst it first!!”

As Akane and Nanami chattered, Souta, at his tender age, discovered that being called a beast or dog by the female sex really hurt.

“Souta, dost thou want to try begging? Since Akane is a rich heiress, she could definitely provide funds.”

“Huh?! Souta, you want to beg me?! That’s more than I could ever wish for! It’d be the first time a boy begged me! Go ahead, go ahead, please! Mm-hmm!”

“......”

Seeing Akane move her arms like a wrestler before a match, expressing her enthusiasm by bringing both elbows horizontally in front of her chest while breathing heavily,<ref>The signature move of Japanese wrestler [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyonobori Michiharu Toyonobori.] I think it’s the arm-wavy thing at 1:07 in the video Gorilla Monsoon vs. Toyonobori - 3/28/1963 (I can’t embed youtube links apparently), I watched a couple clips and he seems to do it pretty often.</ref> the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched.

If Souta refused to beg Akane now, Souta’s tragic plight would not be resolved, Akane would continue to be sad, and Nanami would continue blaming Souta for making Akane sad. In this spiral of sorrow and pain, it was ultimately Souta who got hurt.

Additionally, he also thought that the most important thing was avoiding Akane’s expectant smile. So, after thoroughly preparing himself, Souta finally said:

“Akane, please build me a new dorm.”

“Huh— how ordinary—”

“Couldn’t thou have acted more flattering, Souta?”

Reprimanded by the two girls, the young man instantly lost his foothold.

“Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to help you beg?”

With even the doting Big Sis saying something, even getting a toehold was unthinkable, not to mention a foothold.

At this point, Souta steeled himself, forced out a dazzling smile, and said to Akane:

“Could you please help poor little old me build a new dorm, o mesmerizing Akane-chan? You are the angel of my heart, the only one I can beg.”

“Souta-kun, you sound like a player.”

“Souta, thou art thoroughly rotten.”

“You two were the ones who wanted me to say it, though!!

Souta was hit hard, hugging his knees and shouting into them on the bench.

“Big Sis knows her Sou-kun isn’t that kind of child!”

Doting Big Sis’s trust was unnecessarily heavy.

“But, I wouldn’t be a woman if I couldn’t respond to a man’s whole-hearted plea. I want to do something for him… however—”

“However?”

Seeing Akane stop talking, Nanami was puzzled.

“I, don't have money…”

“Huh? Art not thou Miss Heiress?”

“To be honest… When I came here to live in a dorm, I accepted my family’s condition: unless it’s an urgent emergency, I must do my best to deal with it without depending on my family. So…”

“So it’s like that. Allowing freedom, but requiring self-sufficiency… It’s like that everywhere.”

Nanami smiled wryly, clenching her empty juice box.

“Huh?”

“It’s okay. However, this is a headache. Our principality is also very poor… To ask for money is to ask the impossible…”

Akane and Nanami cast Souta aside and started their own discussion. This allowed Souta to suddenly regain his senses.

“Excuse me… That said, what exactly did I just do that for then…?”

“Souta-kun’s efforts will not be wasted. Someday that effort will bear fruit, and its harvest will be taken for foodstuff and displayed in a storefront.”

Although he felt he was gradually being taken for foodstuff, since Akane’s coy laugh of “Heeheehee” was really cute and he didn’t feel any malicious intent, Souta could only deal with it with a sigh in the end.

“Before Souta-kun is taken for foodstuff, we must do our best to help him, Nanami!”

“Huh…? We need to too…?”

Both hands held tightly by Akane, Nanami frowned, troubled.

Although, Akane just seemed to like the uncommonly used word ‘foodstuff’, so she really wanted to use it.

“Big Sis will come too, Sou-kun!”

What Big Sis would do afterwards was unclear.

In the end, they didn’t think of a good idea that day, so the meeting was adjourned… The next morning—

Souta entered the classroom and sat down in his seat. Nanami turned, sitting on the side of her chair, and said good morning while getting to the point.

“We asked the housemasters at Our dorm, and it seems that the boys’ dorms are full to the point they’re about to burst.”

“Ah, then… me being put there, might not have been entirely out of malicious intent.”

Looking closely, while Souta’s uniform and school bag were obviously brand new, they seemed to be covered with a layer of dust.

“It might genuinely be better for thou to live in a tent.”

“I can’t put one up though…”

“You guys are planning to go camping without inviting me?! It would be my first time living in a tent. I always live in a villa, homestay, or vacation apartment and such!”

Akane popped in between the two.

“Thy head is only filled with thoughts about playing…”

Nanami smiled lightly, and Akane continued to ask her, “Are you going to the mountains? Or the beach?”

“Thou misunderstandest. We’re talking about Souta’s dorm.”

“Oh… Everyone should forget about the dorm business, and go play together?”

“Thy optimism is too exaggerated!!”

Incidentally, when you get tired of playing and go home, there is a trap of ‘remembering reality and falling into despair’ waiting for you.

“Hey~ What’s up with the dorm?”

The classmate with blonde hair and pierced ears who gave Souta his seat earlier heard the exchange and asked frivolously.

After Souta explained, he looked at the sky with an “Umm--”, and, after a long while, he said:

“Would you like to come to our dormitory? I think it’d be okay as long as you explain everything. Although crowding a fifth person into a room meant for four might be a little tight.”

''He’s obviously a frivolous guy who would cheat girls everywhere, but he’s still kind regardless'' The surrounding students lamented that this guy really didn’t match his appearance.

But, Souta looked at the frivolous classmate’s head, and immediately replied:

“I can’t sleep if I’m not alone.”

“Really? Then it can’t be helped.”

He gave up and walked back to his seat.

“We said that thou art not allowed to break flags!”

Nanami saw everything, and mercilessly awarded Souta a hand chop.

“Flag…?”

Akane tilted her head suspiciously, and Souta hurriedly covered it up with a “Nothing, nothing.”

However, either because Souta didn’t cover it up correctly or his agitation wasn’t very natural, Akane felt that something wasn’t right with Souta’s series of actions.

“What’s going on… Is he awkward? Or… afraid?... Just like that time… like with me… if it’s really like that… if it’s really like that… then there’s even more reasons why I can’t just leave him alone!”

Akane’s mind strengthened Souta’s sorry impression, and her flags stood up more fiercely on her head.

Souta saw this and tiredly exhibited a pained expression.

… At this time, the dainty classmate Ryuukishibara Tsumugi</ref> Tsumugi’s surname indicates that her ‘class’ is dragon rider</ref> and Kikuno walked into the classroom with a young girl wearing a uniform with a strangely colored bow tie, equipped with shoulder pads and arm guards, dressed quite strangely.

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai… and Grandmother.”

“You lot, you left yesterday without listening to all of my words?! Young people nowadays are really…”

“Okay okay, Grandmother, pointless ramblings don’t really count.”

The female classmate brought by Tsumugi let out a heroic laugh of “Bwahahahahaha!” and stopped Tsumugi’s rant.

“You just said something silly…”

“Excuse me, Grandmother… This person is…?”

Akane asked this, and saw the mysterious girl catch everyone’s attention by unnecessarily flipping her hair and stepping forward.

“Yours truly<ref> Mimori literally refers to herself using ‘this person’ (本人), so I’m gonna use ‘yours truly’.</ref> waited for someone to ask before introducing myself, that was really Discord…<ref> The Chinese says ‘oolong’, but that doesn’t even sound remotely close to what she corrected herself to say… I changed it to sound more like a slip of the tongue</ref> correction, that was really discourteous of yours truly. Yours truly Hatagaya Academy’s student president, Seiteikouji Mimori<ref> Mimori’s surname contains the words for ‘holy emperor’; given the armor she likes to wear her ‘class’ is probably paladin</ref>!”

“The student president…”

“This academy attaches great importance to student autonomy. Seek the Student Council if you are in need of assistance. In fact, the Student Council is also responsible for dormitory affairs, and yours truly is the person in charge.”

“Eh?! So she’s the one who put Souta-kun in that kind of dorm?!”

Akane’s and Nanami’s gazes were mixed with some hostility.

“Yours truly was accidentally on autopilot and put him in an empty dorm~ But I hear it’s very shabby, right? Yours truly will observe the situation after school, and then we’ll go on from there. And Grandmother asked yours truly to do what I can to help!”

“Huh… Didn’t Grandmother say that we were too dependent on others yesterday…?”

“I did say to take matters into your own hands. But I never said I wouldn’t help? The short-temperedness of young people isn’t good.”

Tsumugi crossed her arms and pursed her lips. Purely in terms of appearance, she looked like a pouting young girl.

But, her raised arms exuded so much senseless good intentions that Akane happily put her hands together.

“Grandmother is so reliable!!”

“Although it should be that yours truly is more reliable!!”

Mimori pointlessly and unreasonably refused to be outdone, making Nanami laugh.

“The student president is so childish…”

“... And, since young Kikuno was full of sisterly love and pleaded tearfully, it can’t be helped. You, sir, have a good sister, young Souta.”

Although, said sister was really just a sisterly neighbor who lived nearby and loved to take care of people. However, Souta couldn’t say anything about that in this kind of atmosphere.

“Thank you, Okiku-nee.”

“Why so polite? As Big Sis, helping Sou-kun goes without saying!”

However, those who knew the truth strained a smile. The only person at the scene who wasn’t straining a smile but rather smiling from ear to ear was Akane.

“Great, Souta-kun!”

“I don’t really care… but, since Akane and Okiku-nee won’t be sad, then so be it, I guess?

Regardless of his real thoughts, Souta naturally smiled a little as he said this, making Akane ecstatic and feel as if all her pores had opened.

''Souta-kun’s smile… as expected, it’s mesmerizing…! I want to see it more!''

Seeing the flag on Akane’s head twinkle, Souta’s smile instantly clouded over, and Akane nearly cried.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3

2025-03-27T01:48:11Z

Person72635: /* Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear. */

==Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base<ref> As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear.</ref>==
“Um… I live in a dorm. What about it…?”

As Souta slung his backpack over his shoulders at the end of the school day, Akane had asked, “Souta-kun, where do you live?” After Souta answered, she nodded in feigned understanding.

“Can we go play there?”

“No.”

Hearing Souta’s response, Akane’s eyes welled up in tears. She blubbered “Oh~”, her friendship flag breaking in reply.

''He’s still as rough with the flags as before…'' Nanami watched the conversation in her peripheral vision as she put her stationery in her school bag.

“That kind of place isn’t suitable for girls to visit.”

“Like the boy’s bathroom?”

“What kind of dorm would that be?!”

Akane’s off-putting question resulted in a rare Souta retort.

“Like your room’s in a stall?”

“Even prisoners live better than that, right…?”

''No, since it’s Miss Heiress, the toilet in her mansion might be quite big.'' With this thought process, Souta decided it was pointless to hide it, so he told the truth.

“How do I put it? It’s because my dorm’s messy, it’s a total wreck.”

“Then we’ll go clean it up! Don’t look at Akane that way, but Akane really does love to be clean though? Mm-hmm!<ref> It’s supposed to be the noise Hirasawa Yui makes in ''K-On!''. Again, I haven’t watched it, so apologies if it isn’t entirely accurate.</ref>”

As usual, another one of Akane’s friendship flags was raised immediately. Souta’s feelings about them had already begun to gradually move from fear to admiration.

Despite Akane’s enthusiastic proposal, Souta still crossed his arms and sighed in contemplation. “Hmmmm…”

On the other hand, Akane was really motivated. For some reason, she was wiping an imaginary window with exaggerated movements, as if she were practicing boxing. Although, even if she was wiping a window, it was more like ‘Wax on, wax off.’<ref> Karate Kid reference</ref>

“Huh?! Huh?! What happened? Souta and Akane, why did you guys suddenly become so close without Big Sis’s consent?!”

Kikuno, not knowing what had happened during lunch, protested with her eyes welling up in tears. She seemed to blame Souta, her expression a little accusatory.

“That requires consent…?”

Nanami, having become a bystander, murmured to herself with a faint smile.

“We just ate together during the lunch break, we’re not actually as close as you say…”

Kikuno puffed her cheeks angrily, as cute as a child no older than one. Souta comforted her while explaining what had happened.

After listening to Souta’s explanation, Kikuno nodded with a slight smile, feigning understanding.

“Really? Akane-chan is a really good kid, Big Sis strongly approves of your friendship!”

It seems consent has been acquired.

Kikuno turned and faced Akane with a deep bow.

“Please take care of Sou-kun.”

“D-don’t be like that, Okiku-nee…!”

“Yeah, Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like I’m an outsider.”

“Huh?! You’re already family?! Sou-kun, why didn’t you discuss this with Big Sis first?! Big Sis feels so lonely!!”

It seems consent has not been fully acquired.

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

Big Sis’s logic was too unpredictable and Souta was at a loss, but Akane, the central subject, was still smiling brightly.

“... Speaking of which, Akane just referred to Okiku-nee as ‘senpai’, right?”

Although Kikuno was supposed to be a year older than them, calling a classmate ‘senpai’ is still pretty strange.

“Ah, um. Senpai guided me when I came to this school last year. Since she was Senpai at the time, it feels a bit weird to change it now…”

“Ah, but, at the time, I already knew I would become a freshman a year late.”

The senpai in the same grade seemed a bit shy.

It’s unclear whether this resolves the subject, but Akane, who wasn’t especially paying attention, returned to the original subject.

“Then, since we got your Big Sis’s approval, we can go to Souta’s dorm now! Mm-hmm!”

“... She approved?”

“Big Sis also wants to go! Mm-hmm!”

Kikuno, even more free-spirited than Akane, raised her hands with this declaration, cutting off Souta’s question.

Met with inexplicable enthusiasm, Souta was then patted on the waist from behind, startling him.

“!?”

He turned to look, but there was nobody behind him… Then he found that it came from below.

To Souta, who was 170 cm tall, the other person was a girl 50 cm shorter than him. Not only her height, but her appearance looked young. Although she looked like an elementary school student, her uniform revealed her to be a student in the same grade. That said, the other students had called her ‘Grandmother’ during the lunch break, even asking her for advice.

“Give up, young Souta.”<ref> Tsumugi technically calls others 'little brother/sister *name*', but I think 'young' fits better.</ref>

“Young?!”

The young girl, who seemed not to wear anything on her lower half, spoke to Souta in a wizened tone, as if he were a little rascal or devil.<ref> The Chinese translation I’m using uses 萝卜头 and 鬼头 (lit. ‘carrot-head’ and ‘devil-head’), which are somewhat xenophobic terms in Cantonese referring to Japanese people and Westerners respectively… no idea what the original intention was.</ref> As a result, Souta couldn’t help but raise his voice.

“Young Akane has a disease where she just can’t leave tragic beings alone, you could say she’s in a critical condition. If you continue having this kind of tragic aura, you’ll always be stuck with her, okay? Plus, young Kikuno is also very stubborn.”

The little girl chuckled and went on her way home.

Akane followed the silhouette with her eyes, and told the dumbstruck Souta:

“She’s Grandmother Tsumugi.”

“‘Grandmother’...? … Is she an old lady?”

They say that humans will gradually shrink when they pass a certain age, so maybe she was like that? But whether it’s her delicate skin or her facial features, she looks indistinguishable from a young girl. Or is she just an old-fashioned little girl who skipped a few grades? The mysteries surrounding her identity increased.

“She’s the Living Dictionary of the academy. They say that our academy doesn’t have students who don’t listen to Grandmother Tsumugi’s words.”

“What happens if you don’t listen?”

“You’ll be cursed.”

“That isn’t the same as a living dictionary, right?!”

Akane was pretty much just saying random things, but Souta didn’t know whether to take the rumor seriously or lose to Akane’s enthusiasm or even think that Tsumugi’s advice did indeed make sense. Regardless, Souta sighed deeply, forced a smile, and said to Akane:

“Nevermind. Since you want to come over so much, come. But I’m not kidding that the dorm is messy, alright?”

“Mm-hmm!! I’ll take the chance to show my great skills! It’ll be my first time cleaning up a boy’s room!!”

“B-Big Sis also wants to clean up!!”

“Let’s team up!! Attack as a team!”

They actually wanted to attack…? Souta’s mood dimmed, and he looked at the ‘Inexplicably Motivated’ flag sticking up on Akane’s head with a strained smile.

“It’s highly-anticipated, right, Nanami?”

“Huh? Why ask me?”

As Nanami zipped up her backpack, she was suddenly thrown into the fray by Akane. Nanami frowned in suspicion.

“Because we’re going together~”

“Why…?”

“I’ll tell you after we get there.”

“There’s basically no point in telling Us after we get there!!”

Nanami somehow discovered Akane’s trap. Mahougasawa Akane… How did you think that she wouldn’t notice?

“... Nevermind, there’s nothing to do anyways. Plus, the Big Sis isn’t very responsible, and giving the kind of guy Souta a chance to be by himself is dangerous, so there’s no harm in having Us accompany you.”

“After all, Souta-kun would explode.”

“Am I really that dangerous?!”

This requires a Level 5 hazardous waste management license. In other words, a nitroglycerine person; or, perhaps, human nitroglycerin?<ref> lmfao Bakugo??</ref> Anyways, there’s no difference.

And so, the four-person group of Akane, Nanami, Kikuno, and Souta was formed, heading towards the dorm where Souta lived.

Hatagaya Academy’s huge campus was encircled by a total of four [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-Bahn H-Bahn sky train] stations; namely, Yoyogi Uehara Station to the southwest of the academy, Yoyogi Park Station to the southeast, Hatagaya North Station to the northwest, and Hatsudai North Station to the northeast.

The high school division was near Yoyogi Park Station, while Souta’s dorm was near Hatsudai North Station.

Although these were walkable distances, students of Hatagaya Academy can freely get on and off these four stations so long as they present their student IDs, so of course they choose to take the trains.

“I thought the dorms were all concentrated on the main road. Turns out there are some here as well.”

“Yep… For the sake of caution, I’ll confirm once again: the dorms are really messy, are you guys absolutely sure you want to come?”

“Hey Souta, thou hath only transferred for two days, and your room is already messy enough that it’s not to be seen by others…?”

“If you have any complaints, then just don’t come…”

Before Nanami could counter Souta’s already exhausted words, Akane interjected cheerfully:

“It’s definitely just that your luggage hasn’t been completely sorted yet and is in a messy pile, right? Just leave it to me!”

Akane’s ‘motivated’ flag was still flying strong.

The four got off at the academy’s Hatsudai North Station and, after walking a short distance, gradually saw farms and pastures.

“... What is this? The countryside?” Nanami asked.

“If I remember correctly… this is the farm of the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club.”

“Horticulture…?”

The landscape looked bucolic from a distance, and it felt considerably large. Nanami frowned, wondering if it was part of a backup plan adopted by farmers afraid of the production reduction policy.<ref> Might be referring to Japan’s [https://www.tokyofoundation.org/research/detail.php?id=86 Rice Acreage-Reduction Policy]</ref>

Behind the farms was a dense stretch of woods, actually more like a forest than woods. Walking in there felt like being showered by forest.

“... There’s a dorm in this place?”

“Awesome, your home is in a forest.”

Compared to Nanami’s unhappy expression of “there should be a limit to how remote this is”, Akane smiled as she always did, thinking positively.

Souta, leading them, had a different attitude and plodded on.

And then, in a small clearing in the forest—

A building stood quietly.

The edge of the roof had fallen, and not only was part of the wall collapsed, it was also covered with vines. The door had almost rotted through, the windows were broken, and the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds.

Even by the lowest standards, it still looked like…

“Ruins…?”

“What…? What’s going on with this tattered dorm…”

“Are these not ruins? Souta, thou didst not go to the wrong place, right?”

“See? What did I say?”

Souta showed the dorm’s certification page in the student handbook. It said ‘Quest House’. Nanami looked at the moldy dorm plaque and knit her brows.

“This is indeed ‘Quest House’...”

“So you live… here…?”

Akane’s eyes lost their light, frozen in shock. However, Souta smiled and nodded with a hint of self-deprecation.

“For a lonely, poor person like me with dead parents, what could I expect? I have nowhere to go, and no home to go back to… The academy now not only gives me shelter from the elements, but also a scholarship. If I ask for too much and get kicked out, wouldn’t I be in an even more tragic state?”

“But… even if it’s like that, to live in this kind of place is…”

“After all, this is my situation, so I’m pretty easy to take advantage of. But taking in somebody like me makes it easier for the academy to raise money… Although, the fact of the matter is, they only need to take me in. Nobody really cares how it’s handled afterward.”

“How can this be… That’s too much…”

Souta’s attitude might have been due to all the tragedies he’d experienced. This attitude, coupled with his situation, made Akane even more worried.

But before Akane’s feelings burst out, Kikuno’s tear glands had already let loose.

“It’s too much… It’s too much… So it’s like this… they actually want Sou-kun to live in this kind of place…!!”

Kikuno’s tears streamed down her face as she cried. Souta was taken aback.

“Hey… Wh-why does Okiku-nee need to cry? I… I don’t really mind.”

“Anywhere is fine… Poor Souta-kun…”

“Even Akane is crying?!”

Next to Kikuno, Akane followed suit, her tears pouring down like a waterfall. In this atmosphere, Souta was already in no position to prevent this.

“... Souta, didst thou plan to let the peerless Miss Heiress clean this place up? Instead of cleaning it up, is it not faster to raze it to the ground and rebuild it again…?”

At least, Nanami wouldn’t want to step foot into this dorm.

“Why… Why did Sou-kun have to meet this kind of treatment…”

“Waaah~ It’s too much… It’s too unfair…”

Kikuno and Akane, who erupted into tears, and Souta, who had been struggling to deal with Akane, didn’t hear Nanami speak at all.

Especially the always indifferent Souta — although he didn’t care about hurting himself, when he met girls who felt sad for him, he didn’t know what to do. Since he had no clue how to deal with Akane, he looked to Nanami for help, almost crying himself.

Having never encountered such mayhem before, Nanami retreated on the spot.

“Uh…! … This… E-enough! Crying for what? Think of a solution instead! Doing anything else would be better than this!”

Nanami already stopped holding back, pretty much ready to ride to battle at this point. Akane stopped crying, beamed, and hugged Nanami.

“Nanami really is a good person!”

“Whoa… Hey! Stop hugging, stop sticking to Us! Quick, Souta, come save Us!”

Nanami, who couldn’t stand Akane rubbing her cheeks, issued an SOS signal. Souta mocked instead:

“Isn’t this great? I think you guys are closer friends with each other than with me, yeah?”

Souta, who originally had a sad smile, didn’t mean anything bad when he said this. However, facing the wrong direction, Kikuno’s super-sensitive Sisterly Love Radar received the wrong signals at that moment and she rushed over to Souta.

“D-don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will help you ask Akane to be your friend! You don’t have to feel lonely!”

“Huh…? No… Okiku-nee, what are you…!”

“Akane, please also be friends with Souta!”

Kikuno, ignoring Souta’s attempt at stopping her and with her sisterly doting reaching its peak, sincerely pleaded.

Receiving her plea, Akane’s frequently-used Loneliness Sensor revved to its max. She let go of Nanami, clasped Souta’s hand, and said:

“I’m sorry, Souta! I’m your friend, but I made you feel lonely; I’m unworthy of being a friend! Souta-kun’s my good friend, though! Please don’t feel lonely! Akane and Nanami and Kikuno-senpai and Souta-kun are a very close group of four!”

Akane made Kikuno hold the hands of Nanami and Souta, and took the two’s empty other hands herself, forming a circle. The four started spinning circles, but only Akane laughed aloud: “Ahahahahaha!”

After spinning for a while, Akane, albeit dizzy and unsteady, faced Souta and said:

“Look! I also can’t let poor Souta go uncared for!”

“Souta’s on the other side, Akane.”

Because she was dizzy and unsteady, she didn’t face Souta.

“Mother once said, ‘Close friends are magic staffs’ and ‘That’s the magic that makes you feel like you can do anything’. In my mind, Souta-kun and Nanami are wonderful, bright magic.”

Akane clasped Souta’s hand again, smiling. As if infected by the poetic lines, Nanami grinned slightly and added a sentence of her thoughts:

“Put simply, Akane is a magician specializing in summoning gentle fairies~”

“Nanami, you’re a poet!”

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

Nanami, snapping out of it, thought she said something embarrassing, and her face heated up.

“I want to hear more of Nanami’s poems!”

“Do not mention poetry!!”

“What does that matter, this is the privilege of youth! Everyone, let’s abuse this privilege together and run around the seaside asking for trouble at dusk!”

“Do nyaat<ref> If you remember from Chapter 1, Nanami makes cat sounds when distressed</ref> waste your youth!”

''The atmosphere’s getting better and better…'' Souta thought as he watched Akane and Nanami with a strained smile. He then inadvertently looked at the top of Akane’s head…

“Souta-kun also needs to waste our youth with us.”

Akane’s ‘can’t leave pitiful people alone’ attitude completely switched on, and friendship flags raised in an overwhelming frenzy

Seeing the flags raise everywhere, Souta thought, ''Was it me?! Did I do something wrong?! God… please, don’t do this anymore.'' He couldn’t help but take three steps backwards. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that within the pile of friendship flags stood a singular pink flag with a heart symbol…

“... Then, what should we do to fix the dorm?”

“That’s what We want to ask!”

Sitting on the train on their way back, Akane triumphantly turned her neck and asked. Nanami then roared back, as if attacked.

The group consisting of Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress, who were a little ignorant of the world, plus the newly transferred Souta, crossed their arms and looked to the sky in deep thought.

Watching this group of youngsters with a smile, Kikuno picked the right opportunity, raised her index finger, and said:

“When in a predicament, the saying goes that only old ginger is spicy.”

Rumor has it, the person who looks like a little girl and sips green tea at the Tea Ceremony Club might be the “old” ginger.

“The tattered dorm? Quest House? After all, it was built when the academy was founded. Even if you tidied it up, it still wouldn’t become clean.”

It was the academy’s Living Dictionary. After listening to Akane and co. speak, Tsumugi put a [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Rakugan ''rakugan''] in her mouth and said:

“Would it not indeed be faster to rebuild it from the ground?”

Although Nanami asserted that her earlier joke wasn’t far from the answer, Tsumugi took a sip of her tea and then poured cold water over her.

“I heard that the school management is in dire straits due to the declining birthrate. Would they be willing to pay for it?”

“Can’t we… think of a way?!”

“Students these days are too dependent on other people. They just don’t understand taking matters into their own hands…”

Seeing Tsumugi enter preaching mode, the four all inched back slowly, smiling stiffly.

“Speaking of which, it’s just a little worn out, but you immediately lose heart, proving that recent young people lack perseverance. It’s not like we elders like saying this…”

Akane and co. quietly slid open the paper [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoji ''shoji''] of the Tea Ceremony Club. Meanwhile, Tsumugi was still ranting with her eyes closed.

After leaving the Tea Ceremony Club, they sat down on the benches on the sidewalk, hopelessly sipping on juice boxes.

“Then, would we get in trouble if we rebuilt without permission?”

“It’d be surprising not to…”

Nanami, relatively less demoralized, asked a sincere question and was immediately rejected by Souta.

“Then there’s no other way… Souta, please get in trouble.”

“You’re planning to rebuild in secret?!”

Souta was scared silly.

“Don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will get in trouble in your stead!

“Doting to this extent…!”

Big Sis’s sisterly love made Nanami retreat.

Meanwhile, Souta was afraid of Akane, whose tears had broken the surface tension of her eyes.

“... Every time I watch [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sara ''Princess Sara''] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_of_Flanders_(TV_series) ''Dog of Flanders''], I always can’t stop crying, can’t stop crying, can’t bear to keep watching! When I imagine Souta in that position… in a tattered dorm, in a snowstorm… dying… I just…”

A huge teardrop streamed down Akane’s face again.

“Don’t make people cry!!”

“S-sorry… I-I’ll be fine. See~ Speaking of which, I’d probably be more like Perrine or Lassie.”<ref> The main characters of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Perrine ''The Story of Perrine''] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Dog_Lassie ''Famous Dog Lassie.''] The four anime referenced in this section are old-school anime adaptations of Western children’s classics and part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Masterpiece_Theater ''World Masterpiece Theater''], running from the mid 70s to the late 90s.</ref>

“More like an animal…”

“Sou-kun, you’re so cute!”

“Souta-kun, so you’re actually a beast!!”

Disregarding the discrepancy in opinion between sister and friend, Souta felt aggrieved at being called a beast.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Souta beast’s house or a dog’s house. The point is that, even if we wanted to remodel, we would have to overcome the issue of finances.”

“Nanami called her friend a beast or dog, that’s too over-the-top!”

“Thou clearly saidst it first, thou clearly saidst it first!!”

As Akane and Nanami chattered, Souta, at his tender age, discovered that being called a beast or dog by the female sex really hurt.

“Souta, dost thou want to try begging? Since Akane is a rich heiress, she could definitely provide funds.”

“Huh?! Souta, you want to beg me?! That’s more than I could ever wish for! It’d be the first time a boy begged me! Go ahead, go ahead, please! Mm-hmm!”

“......”

Seeing Akane move her arms like a wrestler before a match, expressing her enthusiasm by bringing both elbows horizontally in front of her chest while breathing heavily,<ref>The signature move of Japanese wrestler [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyonobori Michiharu Toyonobori.] I think it’s the arm-wavy thing at 1:07 in the video Gorilla Monsoon vs. Toyonobori - 3/28/1963 (I can’t embed youtube links apparently), I watched a couple clips and he seems to do it pretty often.</ref> the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched.

If Souta refused to beg Akane now, Souta’s tragic plight would not be resolved, Akane would continue to be sad, and Nanami would continue blaming Souta for making Akane sad. In this spiral of sorrow and pain, it was ultimately Souta who got hurt.

Additionally, he also thought that the most important thing was avoiding Akane’s expectant smile. So, after thoroughly preparing himself, Souta finally said:

“Akane, please build me a new dorm.”

“Huh— how ordinary—”

“Couldn’t thou have acted more flattering, Souta?”

Reprimanded by the two girls, the young man instantly lost his foothold.

“Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to help you beg?”

With even the doting Big Sis saying something, even getting a toehold was unthinkable, not to mention a foothold.

At this point, Souta steeled himself, forced out a dazzling smile, and said to Akane:

“Could you please help poor little old me build a new dorm, o mesmerizing Akane-chan? You are the angel of my heart, the only one I can beg.”

“Souta-kun, you sound like a player.”

“Souta, thou art thoroughly rotten.”

“You two were the ones who wanted me to say it, though!!

Souta was hit hard, hugging his knees and shouting into them on the bench.

“Big Sis knows her Sou-kun isn’t that kind of child!”

Doting Big Sis’s trust was unnecessarily heavy.

“But, I wouldn’t be a woman if I couldn’t respond to a man’s whole-hearted plea. I want to do something for him… however—”

“However?”

Seeing Akane stop talking, Nanami was puzzled.

“I, don't have money…”

“Huh? Art not thou Miss Heiress?”

“To be honest… When I came here to live in a dorm, I accepted my family’s condition: unless it’s an urgent emergency, I must do my best to deal with it without depending on my family. So…”

“So it’s like that. Allowing freedom, but requiring self-sufficiency… It’s like that everywhere.”

Nanami smiled wryly, clenching her empty juice box.

“Huh?”

“It’s okay. However, this is a headache. Our principality is also very poor… To ask for money is to ask the impossible…”

Akane and Nanami cast Souta aside and started their own discussion. This allowed Souta to suddenly regain his senses.

“Excuse me… That said, what exactly did I just do that for then…?”

“Souta-kun’s efforts will not be wasted. Someday that effort will bear fruit, and its harvest will be taken for foodstuff and displayed in a storefront.”

Although he felt he was gradually being taken for foodstuff, since Akane’s coy laugh of “Heeheehee” was really cute and he didn’t feel any malicious intent, Souta could only deal with it with a sigh in the end.

“Before Souta-kun is taken for foodstuff, we must do our best to help him, Nanami!”

“Huh…? We need to too…?”

Both hands held tightly by Akane, Nanami frowned, troubled.

Although, Akane just seemed to like the uncommonly used word ‘foodstuff’, so she really wanted to use it.

“Big Sis will come too, Sou-kun!”

What Big Sis would do afterwards was unclear.

In the end, they didn’t think of a good idea that day, so the meeting was adjourned… The next morning—

Souta entered the classroom and sat down in his seat. Nanami turned, sitting on the side of her chair, and said good morning while getting to the point.

“We asked the housemasters at Our dorm, and it seems that the boys’ dorms are full to the point they’re about to burst.”

“Ah, then… me being put there, might not have been entirely out of malicious intent.”

Looking closely, while Souta’s uniform and school bag were obviously brand new, they seemed to be covered with a layer of dust.

“It might genuinely be better for thou to live in a tent.”

“I can’t put one up though…”

“You guys are planning to go camping without inviting me?! It would be my first time living in a tent. I always live in a villa, homestay, or vacation apartment and such!”

Akane popped in between the two.

“Thy head is only filled with thoughts about playing…”

Nanami smiled lightly, and Akane continued to ask her, “Are you going to the mountains? Or the beach?”

“Thou misunderstandest. We’re talking about Souta’s dorm.”

“Oh… Everyone should forget about the dorm business, and go play together?”

“Thy optimism is too exaggerated!!”

Incidentally, when you get tired of playing and go home, there is a trap of ‘remembering reality and falling into despair’ waiting for you.

“Hey~ What’s up with the dorm?”

The classmate with blonde hair and pierced ears who gave Souta his seat earlier heard the exchange and asked frivolously.

After Souta explained, he looked at the sky with an “Umm--”, and, after a long while, he said:

“Would you like to come to our dormitory? I think it’d be okay as long as you explain everything. Although crowding a fifth person into a room meant for four might be a little tight.”

''He’s obviously a frivolous guy who would cheat girls everywhere, but he’s still kind regardless'' The surrounding students lamented that this guy really didn’t match his appearance.

But, Souta looked at the frivolous classmate’s head, and immediately replied:

“I can’t sleep if I’m not alone.”

“Really? Then it can’t be helped.”

He gave up and walked back to his seat.

“We said that thou art not allowed to break flags!”

Nanami saw everything, and mercilessly awarded Souta a hand chop.

“Flag…?”

Akane tilted her head suspiciously, and Souta hurriedly covered it up with a “Nothing, nothing.”

However, either because Souta didn’t cover it up correctly or his agitation wasn’t very natural, Akane felt that something wasn’t right with Souta’s series of actions.

“What’s going on… Is he awkward? Or… afraid?... Just like that time… like with me… if it’s really like that… if it’s really like that… then there’s even more reasons why I can’t just leave him alone!”

Akane’s mind strengthened Souta’s sorry impression, and her flags stood up more fiercely on her head.

Souta saw this and tiredly exhibited a pained expression.

… At this time, the dainty classmate Ryuukishibara Tsumugi</ref> Tsumugi’s surname indicates that her ‘class’ is dragon rider</ref> and Kikuno walked into the classroom with a young girl wearing a uniform with a strangely colored bow tie, equipped with shoulder pads and arm guards, dressed quite strangely.

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai… and Grandmother.”

“You lot, you left yesterday without listening to all of my words?! Young people nowadays are really…”

“Okay okay, Grandmother, pointless ramblings don’t really count.”

The female classmate brought by Tsumugi let out a heroic laugh of “Bwahahahahaha!” and stopped Tsumugi’s rant.

“You just said something silly…”

“Excuse me, Grandmother… This person is…?”

Akane asked this, and saw the mysterious girl catch everyone’s attention by unnecessarily flipping her hair and stepping forward.

“Yours truly<ref> Mimori literally refers to herself using ‘this person’ (本人), so I’m gonna use ‘yours truly’.</ref> waited for someone to ask before introducing myself, that was really Discord…<ref> The Chinese says ‘oolong’, but that doesn’t even sound remotely close to what she corrected herself to say… I changed it to sound more like a slip of the tongue</ref> correction, that was really discourteous of yours truly. Yours truly Hatagaya Academy’s student president, Seiteikouji Mimori<ref> Mimori’s surname contains the words for ‘holy emperor’; given the armor she likes to wear her ‘class’ is probably paladin</ref>!”

“The student president…”

“This academy attaches great importance to student autonomy. Seek the Student Council if you are in need of assistance. In fact, the Student Council is also responsible for dormitory affairs, and yours truly is the person in charge.”

“Eh?! So she’s the one who put Souta-kun in that kind of dorm?!”

Akane’s and Nanami’s gazes were mixed with some hostility.

“Yours truly was accidentally on autopilot and put him in an empty dorm~ But I hear it’s very shabby, right? Yours truly will observe the situation after school, and then we’ll go on from there. And Grandmother asked yours truly to do what I can to help!”

“Huh… Didn’t Grandmother say that we were too dependent on others yesterday…?”

“I did say to take matters into your own hands. But I never said I wouldn’t help? The short-temperedness of young people isn’t good.”

Tsumugi crossed her arms and pursed her lips. Purely in terms of appearance, she looked like a pouting young girl.

But, her raised arms exuded so much senseless good intentions that Akane happily put her hands together.

“Grandmother is so reliable!!”

“Although it should be that yours truly is more reliable!!”

Mimori pointlessly and unreasonably refused to be outdone, making Nanami laugh.

“The student president is so childish…”

“... And, since young Kikuno was full of sisterly love and pleaded tearfully, it can’t be helped. You, sir, have a good sister, young Souta.”

Although, said sister was really just a sisterly neighbor who lived nearby and loved to take care of people. However, Souta couldn’t say anything about that in this kind of atmosphere.

“Thank you, Okiku-nee.”

“Why so polite? As Big Sis, helping Sou-kun goes without saying!”

However, those who knew the truth strained a smile. The only person at the scene who wasn’t straining a smile but rather smiling from ear to ear was Akane.

“Great, Souta-kun!”

“I don’t really care… but, since Akane and Okiku-nee won’t be sad, then so be it, I guess?

Regardless of his real thoughts, Souta naturally smiled a little as he said this, making Akane ecstatic and feel as if all her pores had opened.

''Souta-kun’s smile… as expected, it’s mesmerizing…! I want to see it more!''

Seeing the flag on Akane’s head twinkle, Souta’s smile instantly clouded over, and Akane nearly cried.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4

2025-03-27T01:12:59Z

Person72635: /* Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off */

==Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off==
After school.

Under Akane’s leadership, the student president, Tsumugi, and the other classmates who came to see the commotion lined up in front of the dilapidated dormitory.

“It’s really decrepit—”

“Wouldn’t it be better to say nearly collapsed?”

“Actually living in such a place… too tragic.”

“If we can take better care of him, this kind of thing might not happen…”

The students expressed their thoughts, all of them gazing at Souta with pity and raising sympathy flags without exception. Souta almost raised a ‘fainting flag’.

“Rebuilding would still be faster, huh, young Mimori?”

Tsumugi looked up at the student president standing beside her only to see Mimori burst into laughter as if to sweep away the gloomy atmosphere of the scene.

“Bwahahahahahahaha!! As long as it’s handled by this Student President Seiteikouji Mimori, everything will be A-OK!! Just divert student council funds and build a huge building!! No problem! Just leave it to the so-called unparalleled ability passed down among generations of student presidents to create falsified accou—”

“Someone come get the president to shut up.”

Seeing the students begin to retreat after seeing the dark side of the academy, Tsumugi ruthlessly cut off Mimori’s words.

That said, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Mimori had changed the depressed atmosphere in one fell swoop. Tsumugi silently praised Mimori for having some skill.

Since although the students wore strained smiles, at least they were smiling.

“Let’s not take misappropriation of public funds into consideration yet… Right, young Akane, could you provide some financial assistance? Ah, you should still have '''''pocket money''''',<ref> Words that are bolded and italicized are said in English.</ref> no?”

Tsumugi mixed some English into her question, and Nanami was embarrassed for Akane.

“This child is said not to receive family assistance.”

“Yes, even if it’s '''''pocket money'''''... It’s only one million yen a month…”

““““““““““That’s more than enough!!””””””””””

Everyone present replied.

“Huh, really? That much is enough? Building a house is so cheap. That’s got to be way under market price, right?!”

Hearing this rich girl say these ‘Where did this rich girl come from?’ kinds of words, everybody there held in their laughter save for one person.

That exception, Nanami, was currently pinching Akane’s nose.

“Thou art too spoiled!! Art not thou supporting thyself, girl oblivious to worldly affairs?!”

“Huh? Huh?”

Student President Mimori stared at the two people who seemed to have a good relationship with her arms crossed and put on a serious expression again.

“Anyways, whether it’s rebuilding or remodeling, just ask the professionals of this school, ladies and gentlemen!”

“Professionals… of this school?”

Seeing Souta’s disbelief, the one who answered him was Tsumugi, standing next to Mimori.

“The Civil Engineering Club.”

“The Civil Engineering Club…”

Hearing this strange and unknown club name, Nanami's expression was strange.

“They say it was influenced by a certain manga.”<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABkyoku_Ch%C5%8Djin_R Kyukyoku Chojin R], apparently</ref>

“Let’s call them over right now!!”

Student President Mimori called over members of the Civil Engineering Club and laughed her ‘Bwahahahahaha’. What was so funny, nobody knew.

Accompanying the well-built club members coming to the scene was the short-haired, baseball-cap-wearing president of the Civil Engineering Club. His first words were:

“What is it, President?! What’d you break this time?!”

“Could you not say that like yours truly is always impulsively causing destruction everywhere?!”

Unfortunately, the objections of Mimori, who frequently caused destruction on impulse, went in one ear of the Civil Engineering Club president and out the other. He lifted his chin to ask ‘Is this it?’ and looked at the ruins of Quest Dorm.

“You can really cause destruction…”

“It wasn’t yours truly!!”

But rather than caring about who did it, the Civil Engineering Club president’s interest had already shifted to the building itself, and he ignored Mimori’s protests.

Rebuild or remodel— the club members seemed to also disagree over those two options, and a younger club member asked the president:

“President, what should we do?”

“I told you to call me Craftsman!” <ref> Apparently a reference to the Japanese home renovation show ‘‘Makeover! Dramatic Before and After’’.</ref>

This is just too incredible. A craftsman’s subtle artistry is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures. <ref> A famous quote from ‘‘Makeover! Dramatic Before and After’’. I probably translated both of them differently than they should have.</ref>

“If possible, I hope for this child to live here as soon as possible…”

Kikuno cut in from beside Souta only to see the craftsman crack his fists and say:

“Okay! Then let’s remodel!!”

The president displayed his enthusiasm, and the club members all forced a smile.

“The president likes to remodel…”

“Didn’t I tell you to call me Craftsman?!”

This is just too incredible. A craftsman’s subtle artistry is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures.

“How long until someone can live here?”

“Well~ it’ll be quite difficult, so at least a month…”

The craftsman answered Tsumugi’s question, and Nanami eyed him suspiciously. He didn’t seem to be acting.

“That’s too long! So being a craftsman isn’t something all that amazing after all?”

“With enough manpower, it can be done in a week!!”

This is just too incredible! A craftsman’s subtle persistence is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures.

“Then what if it’s just for one person to live in?”

“For one person, huh… Then two, three days…”

Akane stepped up to use the carrot and the stick, and as a result— This is just too incredible! A craftsman’s backbone is also reflected in this kind of place.

“Then it’s just a matter of where we can get manpower… Should we get schoolmates…”

“It’s your life, take matters into your own hands! This academy promotes the spirit of student independence; asking alumni is against its ethos! Don’t you know shame!!”

Although the craftsman was expressing goodwill, he was still shot down by the student president who found fault with it for some reason.<ref> In Chinese, the same word can be used for both ‘schoolmates’ and ‘alumni,’ so the misunderstanding might be based there.</ref> But since he was quite used to Mimori’s rampages, plus the fact that Mimori apologized and said “Sorry, yours truly crossed the line.” after being scolded by Tsumugi-baba-sama, the craftsman could only mutter “I don’t know what to do with her…”

“You need manpower… It happens that there is a group of people who seem to be doing nothing.”

Tsumugi looked at the lively class.

The classmates could have found it troublesome and played dead, but each one was nicer than the last, wanting to help the poor Souta. The sentiment quickly spread, and the ‘I want to help, I want to help, I want to help’ attitude was clear at a glance.

“Great! Then let’s start by removing the rotten boards--”

As everybody immediately started working, Akane walked up to the front and said:

“I-I want to say something!!... Thank you everybody for being willing to help with my selfish project!”

Seeing Akane bow with all her might, Kikuno also joined in.

“Ah! Please let me thank everybody too! Our Sou-kun will be in your care.”

Seeing the two girls bow and thank everyone for him, plus Nanami poking him from behind and glaring at him as if to hint ‘Are you really going to stand by and do nothing while these girls do this for you?’, Souta was sandwiched by the pressure of the atmosphere and could not help but bow and say:

“Uh… I owe everybody one…”

“What kind of low-spirited thanks is that?!”

This was Nanami’s fierce retort upon not receiving real thanks. But the counter-reaction wasn’t even from Souta himself, but Kikuno.

“Th-that’s not it, that’s not it! Sou-kun’s very awkward, so he accidentally said it that way, but Big Sis thinks that he is very grateful to everyone! So… so I hope everybody doesn’t misunderstand him!!”

Souta’s thanks wasn’t great nor terrible, but Kikuno still patted his head as if saying ‘Good boy, you’ve worked hard’ while protecting him with those words.

''How spoiled.''

''Way too spoiled.''

''So doting.''

''Oh well…''

Then Akane provided the final, fatal hit--

“Th-that’s right! And… And, how do I say this, if Souta-kun smiled and provided lively thanks, it wouldn’t be his style and everyone would be disappointed!”

Akane’s extremely negative image of him made Souta depressingly realize ''So I look that gloomy in the eyes of others…''

Anyways, Souta’s plaintiveness made everyone raise ‘motivated’ flags. The Civil Engineering Club members let out an understanding “Ah…”, kindly saying “It’s okay.” and “Don’t take it to heart.”

But only the craftsman’s face went red. She looked the other way with a “Hmph!”

“I-I’m not doing it for you!”

Emerging from the craftsman…

“It’s not what you think!”

“Don’t get the wrong idea!”

“But if you don’t feel grateful, then I won’t spare you!”

This guy had just been heartily telling him not to mind things but suddenly began to say these kinds of statements one by one. This continued until he left for his post.

Souta didn’t understand what was going on with this scene, so Mimori explained to him:

“That girl’s personality is why the confession failure record keeps constantly getting broken.
But she’s the academy’s best at remodeling too, so rest at ease, '''''yo'''''!”

“‘That girl’?? So she’s actually female?!”

“If she were male, I wouldn’t have said ‘girl’.”

''Good point'' Souta silently agreed, observing the craftsman again. Could you say she’s gender neutral? If you said she was a girl with very short hair, then she did indeed seem like a girl.

Akane suddenly approached from nearby to look at Souta’s face.

“That’s so great, Souta-kun.”

“... It’s all thanks to the good fortune provided by Okiku-nee and Akane.”

Seeing Souta look a bit uncomfortable and avert his eyes, Akane smiled and laughed, thinking that he was really cute.

“My mother once said that I should pay for my friends, so that they can be proud that they had such a friend.”

“Your mom is really great.”

“Yeah.” Akane nodded, gazing up at the blue sky.

“I always thought that doing that was to make friends, to become closer with friends. But I now find that not to be the case.”

“?”

“Because, because, you see, Souta-kun, just seeing your happiness also makes me as happy, joyful, and full of anticipation!”

Akane pressed her hands to her chest, spinning in circles.

“It’s my first time understanding that by bringing happiness to the people around you, you yourself will also feel as happy as they feel!”

“Akane, that’s because you’re really considerate.”

Hearing the conversation between Akane and Souta, Nanami, with a gentle expression mixed with a little sarcasm, interjected:

“Seeing Akane’s joy, We consequently feel joy as well. Akane is just like an exquisite cake made of happiness.”

“Nanami… You’re a poet!!”

As if discovering a beautiful line of verse, Akane’s eyes twinkled like several small stars. She tightly clasped both of Nanami’s hands with a sparkling, bright expression, happy as can be.

But Nanami realized that she made a serious slip of the tongue, her shy face burning as she struggled to shake off Akane’s hands.

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

“Nanami’s youthful poetry is my favorite! Being friends with Nanami is great! We must abuse the privilege of youth to run towards the sun!”

“Enough! Do nyaat waste your youth!!”

Nanami ran away after saying this, waving a huge hammer brought by the Civil Engineering Club and furiously destroying the rotten dormitory wall scheduled to be taken down, rather heroically covering up her embarrassment in this way.

“That girl is quite cut out for destroying things…”

Nearby, Tsumugi laid a waterproof cloth, set up a cushion on it, and leisurely sipped tea as if retiring with glory while looking at Nanami’s liveliness from afar and muttering to herself.

“Then, Big Sis will do her part for Sou-kun, too!”

“I’ll also go help.”

Kikuno and Akane swayed their bodies side to side, happily walking away. Souta was about to chase them, but Tsumugi suddenly stopped him from behind.

“Young Souta.”

“?”

Souta turned his head and saw Tsumugi’s kindly expression like a mother dog gazing at a puppy. Observing at the students excitedly absorbed into their work, she explained to Souta:

“Look closely, then engrave it into your heart. This isn’t a debt, but kindness. Kindness should be repaid with kindness. Put it in your heart, cultivate it little by little, absorb it. This way, one day, young Souta, you will also be a person able to express kindness as naturally as breathing.”

“Ah…”

Souta was about to respond with ‘Okay’, but Mimori came out from nowhere and cut him off, grabbing his shoulders and coolly pointing to the sky.

“This is the academy’s soul! The academy’s style!”

“Whoa, you scared me!”

Tsumugi smiled wryly at Mimori’s sudden appearance, saying persuasively:

“... In this regard, your spiritual practice is not good enough yet, young Mimori.”

“Grandmother is so strict…”

After letting off steam discontentedly, Mimori said the horrifying words like “Then, I’ll go forge documents and pretend that I received an application for rebuilding this dorm” and left the scene.

At the same time, Nanami, probably tired from waving the hammer, came back for tea.

“Hey, Souta. Don’t be lazy, shouldn’t thou help? This is where thou willst live, right?”

“Oh, sor… ry?”

As Nanami immediately gulped down the wheat tea Tsumugi poured for her, she noticed Souta apologize halfway and freeze with his head slightly raised. This intriguing movement made her frown.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… on top of the dorm… there’s a flag.”

“Huh? Something non-human can have flags too?!”

“It’s my first time seeing this, too…”

On the roof flew a ‘new role debut’ flag.

Souta, who could see it, and Nanami, who couldn’t, looked up at that unfamiliar flag together.

This time, Akane jogged back.

“Souta-kun, the people inside said they needed a boy’s help and wanted you to come over… Huh, what’s wrong? Why are you two staring at the roof? If you’re worried about spirits, aren’t they more likely ghosts?”

““Huh?! There are ghosts?!””

Akane’s unexpected comment startled Nanami and Souta, and they yelped sharply, forming beautiful harmony.

“... Only you two are that close. Not fair.”

“Is now the time to care about that kind of problem?!”

“Huh?! What?! They’re really like that?!”

Kikuno, never knowing the right time to come up behind Souta’s back, startled Souta and made him jump in surprise.

“Whoa, you scared me!”

“Sou-kun, which one are you closer with? Which one do you like?! Secretly tell Big Sis, please? Okay? Okay?”

Kikuno, delighted at the prospect of her little brother’s first love, put her hand by her ear, approaching Souta with a “Hmmm~?”

“No, even if you ask which one I like…”

“Is it the gentle Akane? Or~ Nanami? Since you call her by first name~ you’re very close… Ah, or you like both of them?”

Kikuno, giggling, might have intended to talk secrets with Souta quietly, but since the people in question were very close by, Akane and Nanami both heard this clear as day.

The one who reacted violently wasn’t Souta, but the red-faced Nanami.

“Come here, Souta!”

Nanami pulled Souta’s ear and brought him some distance away from Kikuno and co.

“Canst not thou do anything to deal with that freak sister?”

“I can’t do anything even if I wanted to…”

The little brother had already fallen into the bad habit of absolutely obeying his sister. Kikuno had, year in and year out, used a non-violent means known as doting to crush Souta’s resistance.

“......”

Nanami looked with disgust at Souta being spoiled by Big Sis, suddenly noticed something, and said:

“... Hey, thy sister doesn’t have a flag?”

So far, since Kikuno’s presence was so strong, Souta forgot to be afraid of flags. He recalled the top of Kikuno’s head, and said, almost to himself:

“Yeah… Now that you mention it, there is a flag.”

“What kind of flag?”

“I think it’s… the sisterly love flag.”

The scope of that flag seemed way too narrow. But considering Kikuno’s love for her little brother, it seemed to contain infinite possibilities.

At the same time, Nanami thought, as long as that flag broke, perhaps it would curb Kikuno’s desire to randomly speculate about her little brother’s relationships with girls.

“Try to break thy sister’s flag.”

“Huh?!”

“Try to break thy sister’s flag, try to break thy sister’s flag.”

“Why’d you say it twice…? Hey Nanami, don’t you usually tell me not to break them…”

Of course Souta only chose to listen now. Nanami let loose an angry, intimidating “Tch!!”

“Do not ask so many questions! If thou continues like this, thou willst always be a little brother to that woman, okay?!”

“... What’s wrong with that?”

“Enough! Thou hath completely fallen into the habit of a little brother!”

He’s already completely brainwashed by Kikuno! This time, Nanami growled “Grrr!”

Nanami became more and more like an animal. She might not have had an ‘evolve into a human’ flag, but hopefully it gets raised soon.

“Think about it, theoretically, two people have always felt like a big sister and little brother, and one day develop a relationship between a man and woman… something like that!”

Nanami became more and more embarrassed as she said this, and talked really quickly at the end.

“You read too much manga and watch too many dramas, Nanami…”

“What didst thou say?!”

“And, we don’t have that kind of relationship.”

Souta said this without blushing or missing a beat. Nanami glared at him, the look in her eyes neither dumbfounded nor angry nor irritated.

“Stop spouting nonsense, just break it already! If thou dost not break it, We will break thy arm!!”

“......”

Under Nanami’s intimidation, Souta told himself that since he keeps getting teased about it anyway, taking advantage of this situation to change his relationship with Kikuno might be better. After he reminded himself of this, he went back to Kikuno.

“Heeheeheeheehee. What kind of secrets did you talk about? Sou-kun, is there a secret between you and Nanami that you can’t tell Big Sis? As I thought… you’re in that kind of relationship? Did Big Sis guess it right? Can you tell Big Sis? Nanami can also call me Big Sis, okay?”

“Gaaaaaaaaaaah!! Souta!!”

Almost getting another sister out of nowhere, Nanami deepened the misunderstanding and angrily stomped her feet.

“A-alright…”

Under the pressure of Nanami’s hand signals, Souta nodded his head reluctantly and faced Kikuno.

“I’m not a kid anymore, so always sticking together isn't cool…”

“Ah…?!”

Hearing Souta’s flag-breaking words, Kikuno suffered a terrible shock.

“Big Sis understands!”

She seemed to understand.

“Sou-kun wants to maintain a cool image in front of the girl you like, right~?”

She didn’t understand at all.

Nanami realized this, pulled Souta’s ear, and yelled quietly.

“Hey, Souta! It didn’t break at all, did it?!”

“Rather, the flag dodged…”

“Dodged…?”

“Yeah, dodged with extreme speed…”

Nanami and Souta both trembled at Kikuno’s unfathomable potential, retreating and looking at Kikuno together.

“?”

A question mark appeared above Kikuno’s head, and she tilted her head in confusion.

Seeing her like that, disregarding the fact Souta’s fighting spirit was almost zero from the beginning, Nanami’s fighting spirit ignited again.

“Couldn’t thou have simply broken it more bluntly?!”

“...”

Nanami took silence as an answer, once again pushing Souta in front of Kikuno.

Glancing at the flag on Kikuno’s head, Souta forced a smile and tested the waters.

“That’s not what I meant. I just thought, shouldn’t we get rid of this brother-sister relationship already?”

“Ah…!!”

Hearing Souta’s flag-breaking words, Kikuno suffered a terrible shock.

“Big Sis understands!”

This time she seemed to really understand.

“Nanami made you say that. Heehee, don’t worry, Nanami. Souta and I aren’t like that. No need to fret, I won’t steal Souta away.

This time she still didn’t understand at all.

“We are also not like that, alright?!”

Seeing Nanami roar, Kikuno thought, ''She became shy, she became shy!'' and was still extremely happy.

“The flag dodged with godlike speed again…”

“That kind of thing exists?”

Having seen the existence of a special flag surpassing human imagination, Souta had the same question. He replied, a little out of it:

“It’s also the first time I’ve seen this.”

Seeing the terrifying creature known as ‘Big Sis’ in person made Nanami and Souta get goosebumps.

At some point, Akane, already working in the dorm, stuck her hand out the taken-down window and waved, breaking the peculiar atmosphere.

“Souta-kun— they’re asking ‘Why hasn’t a boy come yet?’ already—”

‘Yet’ followed by ‘already’, so strange… Souta thought about unrelated things, leaving Nanami and Kikuno behind to enter the dorm.

Upon Souta’s entry, the craftsman immediately said to Souta: “I just want you to clean up the decaying cabinet in the locker room in front of the bathroom, don’t get me wrong!!” But it’s quite difficult to figure out which part of the sentence could be misunderstood.

As proven by the fact that Souta didn’t get it wrong at all and went straight to the locker room.

A loud rattling sound came from inside the bathroom. As he got to work, Souta just glanced around briefly before returning to the task at hand, finding the old cabinet.

But no matter how you look at it, that cabinet didn’t seem like something one person could move alone. Just as Souta racked his brain for a solution, a male classmate happened to pass by the hallway. Souta hurriedly called out to him.

“Excuse me, I need a boy’s help over here, can you help me?”

The male classmate he just called to wore a boys’ uniform on his upper body and shorts and striped knee socks on his lower body. Even if he was disguised as a girl, he was wearing a male uniform, so he should be a boy… That said, his appearance and temperance, even if he was a pretty boy, was too girlish: If you asked whether he was more like a pretty boy or a beautiful girl with short hair rolled into a man bun, obviously it would be the latter — this was the reality.

As if embodying that kind of indistinguishability, the dainty male (?) classmate said “A boy…?” and looked around.

“A boy, a boy, a boy… one<ref> This guy refers to himself in third person.</ref>?!”

Since nobody else could be found nearby, and Souta had been looking at him for a while, the male classmate seemed to finally realize that it was directed at him.

Seeing his suspicious behavior, Souta worried that he made a mistake, asking with his heart in his mouth:

“So you’re not a boy…? Then my sincerest apologies. Because during PE class, I saw you on the boys’ side… Sorry, I always thought you were male…”

“...!!”

Souta recalled being thoroughly shocked at seeing striped kneesocks during PE class that day as he added an apology. The male (?) classmate seemed to have taken a heavy hit, his knees knocked together, arms pressed tight against his body, and his whole body shaking.

“Uh, hey…”

“O-one… one… ! One is a boy!! That’s correct!!”

So he claimed.

Although he claimed so, his knees knocked to the point that they practically fused together, and his hands and fists were placed almost in a boxing position, moving erratically in a cute way, pretty much contradicting himself.

“For one… it’s one’s first time meeting someone who treats one as a boy! And, because of one’s features, even those who know one only treat one as a girl… But, Souta-kun treats one as a boy, so one is very happy!”

The male classmate raised friendship flags.

Right, it was raised… but…

“What’s going on here…?”

Spouting from the male classmate’s head, while still a flag, were countless flags tied together joined to the sky like streamers, extending endlessly upwards and slightly backwards, weaving across the wall.

“Streamers…streamers? F-… flag?... This a flag?”

It was also Souta’s first time seeing a flag in this kind of mystical shape, so it was hard to cover up his confusion.

If it wasn’t a flag, it would mean Souta could see things other than flags. That would be terrifying. So terrifying that he didn’t want to keep thinking about it, so he just assumed that he could only see flags.

The male classmate had followed Souta’s gaze to the top of his head and was looking up at the sky, but he suddenly remembered something and tapped his palm with his fist.

“Ah, one hasn’t introduced oneself. One’s name is Touzokuyama Megumu</ref> Megumu’s surname indicates that his ‘class’ is thief</ref>.”

Megumu squatted cutely, sliding his hand on the dusty floorboard. After demonstrating how to write his name, he smiled shyly.

“I am…”

Souta nodded, thinking that his surname was a little over-the-top.<ref> Imagine meeting a guy named John Thief lol</ref> As he decided to introduce himself to Megumu, Megumu cut him off.

“You must be Hatate-kun. One knows because one saw you introduce yourself when you transferred.”

“Just call me Souta.”

“O-one too! Just call one Megumu.”

He said this excitedly as streamers of friendship flags fluttered on his head. Perhaps that ‘people should get along no matter what country they’re from’ mentality was because of these streamers.<ref> The phrase I’m translating as ‘streamer’ literally means ‘ten thousand country flags’ [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%87%E5%9B%BD%E6%97%97#/media/File:Sports-Fest2.jpg (万国旗)]</ref>

“One thinks one can establish a manly friendship with Souta-kun!”

Souta’s first reaction of him had been a perplexed ‘Why is there a girl mixed in with the boys’ PE class…?’, so he remembered her clearly... no, him. But Souta couldn’t say that. In order to hide his thoughts, he hurriedly changed the subject.

“Really… Speaking of which, the name ‘Megumu’ is... really cool.”

“Th-that’s not true. One kind of hates this feminine name. Everyone likes to call one by one’s nickname, Megu-chan, so it seems even more feminine.”

“Yours is still relatively good, unlike my name Souta. My kindergarten nickname was ‘Missus’ <ref> In Chinese at least, doubling the last character in Souta’s name (太) creates the phrase for ‘wife’ or ‘old lady’.</ref>”

“Souta-kun’s really cute♡”

Megumu clutched his sides and lightly covered his mouth, his entire body shaking with laughter. No matter how you look at it, Megumu’s a cute girl.

Perhaps out of guilt, the conversation was very accommodating towards Megumu. Although Souta thought his personality would only hurt Megumu, as luck would have it, they still had a good conversation.

“... I’ll call you Megu-chan too.”

“Hey~! Souta-kun, you bully!!”

Confronted with having accidentally said something very feminine, Megumu pouted cutely, puffing his cheeks.

“That said, Megumu, I just want to know one thing…”

“Ah! One has been working out before bed to become more manly, so one is a bit stronger now, okay?”

Megumu flexed his biceps after saying so. Souta asked Megumu ‘Can I touch it?’ and was given permission. He touched it and found that the muscle was so soft that it made him feel guilty. However, because the ‘Nnngh~!’ sound that Megumu made as he flexed was too cute, Souta gave up on his retort. More to the point, Souta wasn’t even asking about that.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I wanted to ask about the bottom half of your uniform.”

“... Oh.”

Megumu’s weak reply was mixed with a sigh, and he lifted the lower hem of his uniform coat. Since they were both male, there clearly wasn’t any reason to look twice. Nevertheless, Souta blushed and his heart rate sped up.

“This is…”

“N-nevermind, sorry. I didn’t offend you, right? Everyone has different hobbies. It’s fine, and it really suits you…”

Seeing the fluttering streamers fall weakly, Souta anxiously mediated.

“No! No no no! No no!!”

Megumu lightly hammered Souta’s chest with unmatched cuteness.

“This is because… Big Sis said this way was definitely cuter… said it was approved by the academy… My Big Sis is responsible for designing this uniform… so…”

The phrase ‘Big Sis’ scared Souta and made him flinch.

“The student handbook also says that, starting this year, this outfit is approved as a uniform.”

“Really?!”

Souta brought out a student handbook from his chest pocket to confirm. Listed next to the normal boys’ and girls’ uniform, there really was an illustration identical to what Megumu was wearing at the moment.

“It’s true!!... Speaking of which, does anyone else wear it like this?”

“... Somewhere in this vast world.”

“That’s already not about this academy’s uniforms anymore!?”

Megumu’s eyes became empty.

“This outfit isn’t only conspicuous, but people also say it looks like a girls’, so one hates it. But Big Sis cried, saying that it’s definitely cute, and made me wear it…”

“Since your Big Sis cried and begged, there’s nothing you can do about it…”

As a fellow comrade who loses unconditionally to his older sister, Souta’s heartstrings tugged with sympathy for his fellow sufferer.

“Yeah… and one is the youngest of four siblings, with sisters all above me.”

“Your life is so hard… I understand how you feel, Megumu…”

Megumu was usually surrounded by people jealous of his beautiful sisters, so when he heard Souta’s gentle words, his chest couldn’t help but tighten with a ‘squeeze♡’.

“Thank you!! Only Souta-kun understands me!! Thank you! Really, thank you so much, Souta-kun!!”

Megumu rushed to hug Souta, as if pushing people out of the way.

Megumu’s body was unusually slender. Souta could actually support him quite easily, but something other than weight made Souta dizzy.

“Whoa!! Megumu, why is your body so fragrant?! And super soft?!”

“Huh?” Megumu, his height only up to Souta’s neck, raised his watery eyes to look at Souta in a way that made Souta even dizzier.

At this time, Akane reached out her head.

“Souta-kun, what’s the situation? Can one person handle it? Hey, whoa!? S-sorry, I… w-will support you guys!!”

“What are you talking about, Akane?!”

Akane, covering her face, stared at the hugging scene through the gaps between her fingers.

“I-I’m good at supporting people’s love! The couples I support always welcome new love under my leadership, with plentiful concrete results! Just leave it to Akane!”

“You mean it’s failure, Akane!”

“Failure is the mother of success! It’s fine as long as the new love succeeds.”

“Everything really depends on how you explain it anyways…”

Akane’s headache-inducing enthusiasm made Megumu and Souta force a smile.

“Let’s save that for later. How come you guys suddenly became so intimate?”

Akane anxiously looked at Megumu and Souta, who had kept hugging. Her words finally made the two come to their senses, and their bodies instantly separated.

“N-no, no!! This and that are different things!!”

“Th-that’s right. How do we put it… ah! We were just confirming our friendship, hmm, yeah.”

Regarding believing people, Akane was unbelievably simple. ‘So that’s how it was!’ She believed the two without any doubts.

“Oh. Friendship, huh… Souta-kun just refuses to demonstrate such warm friendship with me.”

Seeing Akane’s dejection, Souta busily tried to find an escape.

“I-it’s because Akane’s a girl… So it’s not appropriate.”

“Yeah, this is a privilege of bromance!!”

“???”

Megumu revealed a tremendously cute smile because being treated like a boy by the confused Akane made him very happy. Please note that this does not mean tremblingly cute. Speaking of tremblingly cute ~ it was so cute that it made people tremble… wait, is that even cute then? Wouldn’t it be scary?<ref> Original Japanese pun had something to do with ‘unusually cute’ and ‘flying kick cute’ being off by one syllable.</ref>

“Y-yeah…”

Anyways, facing Megumu’s sparkling eyes, the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched as he nodded.

Speaking of which, does bromance really involve that kind of intimate hug? Of course, this kind of question never appeared in Akane’s mind, she was just jealous.

“How nice, how nice… But, I’m really happy to see that Souta-kun’s friend count increased!”

As Akane said this, satisfaction replaced her original envy. Seeing her like this, overflowing with thoughtfulness and kindness, Souta experienced a warm feeling in his heart that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Right. Akane, did you check on me because you were worried? There’s no problem here. I already found a boy to help me.”

“Really?... But, where is he?”

Akane showed a natural expression like ○△○, carefully looking around the locker room.

Seeing that Akane’s natural manner was completely devoid of malice, or rather, it was unfortunately absolutely devoid of malice, Megumu almost cried. He apprehensively raised his small, cute hand.

“Th-that… is oneself.”

“Huh?! Megu-chan’s a girl~ Souta-kun, why are you guys always saying weird things?”

Based on Akane’s innocent laughter, it was clear that she wasn’t bullying; rather, that was what she deeply believed. After all, she was an ‘if she believes it, then she will deeply believe it without any doubt to an unbelievable degree’ kind of girl.

“... Akane, Megumu’s a boy though?”

“Nyaahahaha, stop joking-”

Akane even let out laughter she normally wouldn’t have, causing Megumu to tear up cutely. At this point, Akane finally began to understand the situation.

“Huh? Huh? I-it’s really true…? But-but, because, but-but, because, that’s not a boy’s uniform.”

“Oh… But this isn’t a girl’s uniform either, right? When you think about it, it’s actually more like a boy’s uniform.”

“You really ''can'' notice that!!”

To Akane, this was an earth-shattering revelation.

“So that’s what it was… That’s why I didn’t see Megu-chan in the girl’s PE class… Excuse my lack of manners. This mistake does not befit me.”

“No, in a way, it’s something very much like what Akane would do…”

“... Does this mean, Souta-kun is actually a girl?”

“Hey, you don’t need to overcompensate, Akane…”

Akane nodded emotionally, faced Megumu — he had bent the second knuckle of his index finger at a right angle and was cutely wiping tears from the corner of his eye — and lowered her head in apology.

“Sorry, Megu-chan. I didn’t think you had this kind of secret that even I, Mahougasawa Akane, could not see through.”

“I don’t remember treating this as a secret at all, but it’s fine as long as you understand.”

Akane seemed to think that the world was packed with many secrets. But the vast majority are packed to the brim, so one could say that they’re over-packed.

Anyways, although it was an earth-shattering revelation to Akane, she now thought back to what she was saying before and inadvertently exclaimed “Ah!”

“Hmph!! I almost started supporting your rocky romance!! Why did things become like this?!”

That’s what Megumu and Souta wanted to ask her. But they chose to remain silent, their smiles strained.

“I’ll go ask Nanami!!”

““Why did things become like this?!””

Megumu and Souta voiced in perfect harmony. Akane had a ‘These two are really close, I got left out again…’ kind of resentful expression, and ran to find Nanami.

He really didn’t know how it would be spun… Souta held back his low spirits and smiled slightly at Megumu.

“Th-then, let’s just get started.”

“Th-that’s right.”

They seemed to have finally remembered their original purpose. But because they had digressed too far, it almost made one doubt whether or not they really remembered.

“I’ll lift this side. Megumu, can you help lift the other side?”

“Leave it to me! It’s finally time to show my ability to break single-use chopsticks!!”

Souta felt a bit uneasy.

“Then… Ready, go!’

“Hahh… hup!”

Upon lifting it, he realized that the cabinet wasn’t as heavy as it seemed… as far as Souta was concerned.

As for Megumu, he couldn’t even stand steady. Dangerous, really dangerous.

Furthermore, there were two more exhausting phases to endure. As if to demonstrate, Megumu’s face reddened as he exerted all his strength. Souta was dumbfounded.

“I-I said… Megumu…? If you can’t move it, I can find other guys…”

“No!! It would waste Souta-kun’s surety that one was a man and subsequent request for help. If one were to give up, one would fail to live up to Souta-kun’s kindness!!”

“No… it’s not that serious…”

Megumu almost cried. But while his steps were unsteady, he still displayed a staunch willpower.

This atmosphere made it difficult for Souta to open his mouth and say that he could probably move it alone. Thus he could only do his best to carefully prevent Megumu from bearing too much weight as they moved. As a result, Souta’s own strength and stamina was depleted anyways.

There was now one more cabinet on the hill of scrap wood used by the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club. Megumu put his hands on his hips and bent forward slightly, He cutely faced Souta, who was wiping sweat off his forehead, and said:

“Thank you, Souta-kun!”

“Huh? It should be me thanking you, right?”

The words seemed to make Megumu a little uncomfortable. Megumu spoke guiltily and shook his head.

“No, you took particular trouble not to let one bear weight, right? Clearly it would’ve been easier for you to move it alone. But one kept clamoring about being a man and as a result persisted in pointlessly hurting you…”

“It wasn’t pointless.”

“Huh…?”

“This kind of persistence in becoming your ideal self… I don’t think it’s pointless.”

“... Souta-kun♡”

Souta empathized and respected the feeling of wanting to be a man, bringing tears to Megumu’s eyes.

“Souta-kun, you’re so considerate…”

Megumu’s mouth formed a dazzling smile, like a flower bursting into full bloom.

Souta, fostering a bromance, worked while Megumu deliberately stuck to him. By the time he met up with Kikuno and Nanami, the sun had almost set.

“Big Sis looks away for a moment and Sou-kun brings another girl back!! Big Sis is very concerned!!”

“Okiku-nee… Megumu isn’t a girl…”

“Nyaahahaha, stop joking~”

Kikuno even let out laughter she normally wouldn’t have, and Souta felt a sense of deja vu.

“Look, his uniform is more like a boy’s?”

“You really ''can'' notice that!!”

To Kikuno, this was an earth-shattering revelation.

Megumu’s gender was unbeknownst to everyone. Really made you wonder whether he had blurted out that he was a girl upon introducing himself as a new student…

“Huh~ I thought Megu-chan was a girl. Since Megu-chan always uses the girls’ bathroom.”

“Megumu?!”

Souta thought that this piece of information would be really difficult to explain.

“B-because, many boys complained that one going to the boys’ bathroom made them very uncomfortable. It became a big problem, and then the girls said ‘Megu-chan can use the girls’ bathroom’...”

“......”

This whole situation was hard to determine right from wrong. Souta was left speechless, and decided to change the subject.

“... But anyways, there seems to be more people… was there this many people from the start?”

Aside from the members of the Civil Engineering Club, everyone was getting ready to go home. But looking at the sea of people, it seemed there were a lot more people than before.

“Oh, that’s because the student president, Grandmother, me, and Akane-chan called a lot of friends to come.”

“Huh…?! I feel bad… all this just for someone like me…”

“I begged them, saying that it was for my precious little brother, and everyone came.”

That’s why the group of senpais observing from afar were whispering to each other: ''“So it’s him?”'' ''“Is the girl wearing shorts beside him his girlfriend?”'' ''“What a cute couple.”'' All the while gazing inquisitively.

Souta wholeheartedly wished to escape the scrutinizing eyes. He shifted the conversation towards Nanami, pretending he didn’t hear anything.

“Did Nanami also help call people to come?...... My apologies. Princesses are just different, maybe it’s their moral prestige?”

“......”

“Nanami?”

Nanami lowered her head, her whole body trembling. Souta approached, looking at her face.

“We…”

“We?”

“W-We didn’t call anybody here, alright?! That is, We don’t have any acquaintances to call at all!! ''My apologies'', princesses clearly don't have moral prestige!!”

“Ah, Nanami, let’s go eat the red bean dumpling soup that the volunteers made for everyone.” Akane said.

“Nanami, you’ve already made up for that with your effort, so it’s all right.” Kikuno said.

“After all, you’re in a remote foreign country. Not having any acquaintances is something that can’t be helped, it’s actually very normal. Don’t worry, Nanami.” Souta said.

“D-… do nyaat console so much!!”

Nanami became angry out of embarrassment.

Because the dorm was in the middle of construction and living there would be dangerous, Souta temporarily resided in ‘The Most Dangerous Boys’ Dorm Room, Challenging the Limits of Rationality’, aka Megumu’s room. After personally experiencing the meaning of danger, the day of his much-anticipated return to Quest House arrived. It seems that this school is flooded with danger.

After working through days and nights, the reborn Quest House…

““““““““““This is just too incredible!!”””””””””

… Anyone who saw it would inadvertently say this. It was reborn reborn. Repeating the word ‘reborn’ twice expresses how much this rebirth changed it. Definitely not because the author’s literary powers have dried up. Hope everybody understands this point.<ref> Smooth, author-sensei, real smooth</ref>

“So amazing… it’s not just unrecognizable, it’s basically a different thing entirely.”

“Praise it a bit more!!”

Suddenly appearing, Student President Mimori proudly — really proudly — stuck out her chest.

“President didn’t do any of the actual work, okay?!”

The Civil Engineering Club president — the Craftsman — Yuzurihakami Mimori.<ref> Her name is 杠上美森. She’s not on the wiki, nor is her name mentioned in the anime, so I had to guess the pronunciation. The last two characters are the same as Mimori’s. As for the first two, I just pieced together some surname readings for 杠 and 上 that I found on Jisho. Incidentally, her name doesn’t contain a ‘class,’ so she probably won’t appear much if at all in the future.</ref>

“Because yours truly has [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_building_syndrome Sick Building Syndrome.”]

“Stop talking nonsense!! Also, this time the renovation used a lot of eco-friendly materials, so how can it trigger Sick Building Syndrome?!”

“Because yours truly has Eco-Friendly Building Syndrome…”

''Looks like this person cannot live indoors no matter what…'' As Souta thought this, Akane, who was beside him, smiled delightedly at him.

“It became a liveable place in one fell swoop.”

“Mmm.”

“It became a place unfit for ghosts.”

“There are ghosts?!”

“Heeheehee, I’m just saying random things.” Akane’s laughter even sounded like random consolation. How terrifying.

“Anyways, according to our original plan, I need to show my skills and clean up Souta-kun’s room!”

“We just finished renovating, I don’t think there would be anywhere to clean, though?!”

Akane jabbed her index fingers together, depressed like Judgement Day had come. Seeing her state, Souta hastily added:

“Uh— but if you could help me unpack my luggage, that would be a big help!”

“Ah, s-sorry, Souta-kun. I’ve troubled you.”

“Big Sis too! Big Sis also wants to unpack luggage together!!”

Seeing Kikuno raise her hand and join this heartwarming topic, Nanami pursed her lips.

“This Big Sis, couldn’t be more close, huh…”

Nearby, Megumu, doing squats for no reason, was so tired his legs almost fell off by the sixth rep.

Seeing that the group’s mood was as warm as tempura right out of the oven, the pensive President Mimori muttered. ‘Tempura right out of the oven’ because the Cooking Research Club was frying it outside to celebrate the rebirth of Quest House, not because Souta and co were heating it up. The tempura looked really delicious, though this has nothing to do with the aforementioned situation.

“But, this headache…”

“What’s wrong, President?”

In truth, this was because a sentence about ‘mood and tempura’ was accidentally written, but one has to make the best of it when at the end of one’s rope… Anyways, Mimori and Tsumugi didn’t care about this at all, sneaking some fried sweet potatoes while emotionally looking at the brand-new dorm.

“According to the rules, dorms with only one resident must be taken down.”

““““““““““And you say that now?!””””””””””

Hearing a sentence they couldn’t ignore, the surrounding people cried in unison.

“Yours truly is Seiteikouji Mimori, the so-called unparalleled king of late reactions. Nobody would dare to accept my challenge!”

“Somebody shut up the president.”

At Tsumugi’s shouted order, Mimori had many strips of tape pasted over her mouth. After tearing off the tape in tears, Mimori yelled, half angry out of embarrassment:

“Rules are rules! Since it’s been completed, it needs to be taken down!”

“Are thou a demon?!”

Nanami couldn’t help but roar back.

Reacting sharper than anyone else to the imminent sad situation in front of her, Akane also stepped in to salvage the situation:

“E-excuse me! How many people does it need to house at minimum?!”

“... Four…?”

“Why are you so unsure?”

Mimori, her memory extremely muddled, remembered after searching the depths of her memory.

“Correction, it’s five people.”

“Five people, huh…”

“Luckily, I heard that we were able to take preventive measures and renovate a few extra rooms thanks to the increase in manpower, so now the amount of usable rooms numbers about ten… gathering just four friends is easy enough, right?”

Mimori chuckled, and Nanami and Akane filled with rage at that.

“How can thy words be so over-the-top?!”

“That’s to say, you’ve crossed the line!!”

“... S-sorry.”

“Even if Sou-kun doesn’t have any friends, you still have Big Sis, okay? Okay?”

Because Nanami and the others spoke up for him, while the student president apologized, Souta seemed even more pitiful. The atmosphere became very indescribable.

“But, even if we didn’t need to gather four more people to live here, one person living by themselves in such a big place is a bit lonely…”

“... No problem. I’m used to being lonely.”

“Nuh-uh, nuh-uh!! Being like that… being very lonely… is very sad, too sad!!”

Looks like Akane, with her can’t-leave-sad-people-alone sickness, lost her temper.

If she left this alone, Akane would probably cry again, so Souta sighed, reluctantly nodding.

“But… if someone does want to live here, I’m okay with it.”

Akane’s eyes brightened, and she clenched her fist.

“Souta-kun needs dormmates, right? Because he’d be lonely, right? Of course! This is not okay! I know! I, Mahougasawa Akane, shall move into this dorm!”

“Hey, isn’t this a boys’ dorm?!”

“Is it?”

Akane looked at Tsumugi, her movements indicating that matters regarding the academy should be asked to the living dictionary.

“This was originally a faculty dormitory. I think it did not particularly differentiate men and women…”

“Then it’s '''''no problem'''''!”

“God… Hey, President, you should say something, too!”

Souta thought that boys and girls living under the same roof was definitely not '''''no problem''''', and he hastily begged Mimori to advise Akane to change her mind.

“Boys and girls living under the same roof is very romantic!!”

“Somebody shut this rascal up.”

Finally, even Tsumugi couldn’t be polite.

“But wasn’t it Akane who sponsored the reconstruction of the dorm out of her own pocket? Is it okay to disregard the sponsor’s ideas…”

“Nanami, I’m begging you not to say so much!”

“This is the sponsor’s authority!”

“Since it’s the sponsor’s authority, the student president’s authority can only permit it!”

Mimori, who was almost shut up but didn’t shut up, asserted. This is because her ability to not shut up is especially profound.

“But! However! Isn’t a boy and a girl inappropriate?!”

Souta retorted.

Kikuno raised her hand to retort back.

“Then Big Sis will also move in!”

“I see, so a boy and two girls wouldn’t be inappropriate.”

“Isn’t it more inappropriate?!”

The student president approved Kikuno’s idea, then retorted Kikuno’s retort to Souta’s retort. Now it’s already impossible to tell right from left.

“E-excuse me!! C-can one also come with?!”

“I said, Megumu…”

“Okay, this way we have balanced it out with one boy and three girls!”

“Where, how? Where is the balance?”

Leaving aside Souta’s retort towards Mimori, Megumu, having been regarded as a girl, lost the light in his eyes, and his small, half-open mouth drifted into an empty smile.

“Still missing one person.”

“......”

“There isn’t anyone else who will move here anymore.”

“......”

“That’s right… Why don’t we find one of Big Sis’s friends…”

“......”

Every time Akane, Souta, and Kikuno muttered their thoughts, Nanami coughed quietly.

“How about the craftsman?”

“How about the president?”

“How about Grandmother, Sou-kun?”

“......”

Nanami started wordlessly kicking the door post of Quest House. They say door post and '''''want you''''' sound very similar,<ref> That is, the Japanese pronunciation for ‘door post’ is similar to how Japanese people would pronounce ‘want you’ in English, as they’re only off by one phoneme (monchyou vs wonchyou)</ref> though this has nothing to do with this situation.

“... Miss Princess of Bladefield is almost crying, everyone…”

Megumu, not knowing the right time to come back to life, saw Nanami crouch and shudder with tear-filled eyes, and his sympathetic heart almost broke.

“Come on, we’re just kidding, Nanami. You’re willing to move here, right?”

“Yeah, the last person has to be Nanami since she’s very close with Sou-kun.”

“That’s right, there’s nobody else to choose but Nanami.”

“As long as Nanami is here, Big Sis will also be relieved.”

After Akane and Kikuno continuously took turns and finished speaking, Nanami stood up, her mood having rapidly improved.

“I a-a-a-a-a-absolutely was not about to cry. But since, in any event, ye are persistent and want Us to come, We will also…”

Before Nanami, who a-a-a-a-a-absolutely did not wipe her tears with her sleeves, could finish her sentence, Souta accidentally asked Akane and Kikuno:

“Hey, you guys were just kidding?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Failure flags were raised on the heads of tongue-tied Akane and Kikuno. Nanami’s eyes filled with tears again and she angrily stamped her feet.

“Absolutely not! Unless it’s the room at the very edge, or else I won’t live here!!”

“I want the room next to Sou-kun!”

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai, you’re so sly! I also want to live next to Souta-kun!”

“Th-then, I want to live in the room opposite Souta-kun.”

Looks like that area’s population density is very high.

“Only Nanami’s room is super far away.”

“Ye group of idiots—!”

Souta was inexplicably hammered many times by the unwilling-to-be-alone Nanami.

“... I understand it now. I just need to move near Nanami’s room, right…”

“Sou-kun is so considerate!! No wonder he’s Big Sis’s good little brother!!”

Souta thought with a smile, ''Not bad, I’ll have to bring in the luggage again anyways.'' Kikuno was so touched by her little brother that she hugged him tightly.

“Whoa… Okiku-nee, everyone’s watching! They’re all watching!”

Souta, panicking and trying to escape Kikuno’s smothering chest, was given an envious look by everyone.

“I-I’m next! I want to hug!”

Pretending to be jealous of Souta but actually jealous of Kikuno, Akane lined up behind Kikuno.

“O-one too…”

Megumu lined up behind Akane.

Mimori smiled at the close boarders of the new Quest Dorm.

“In short, we have gathered five people. One boy and four girls is fine, right?”

“No problem!”

“It is a huge problem…”

Akane agreed, but Tsumugi showed signs of reluctance.

“The problem has expanded, right?! You don’t think that it’s pretty much become a girls’ dorm?!”

“Leave it to yours truly, Mimori, the so-called unparalleled problem concealer!! Bwahahahahaha!!”

What was so funny remained a mystery. But anyways, Mimori, who seemed like she really did to conceal the problem, burst into laughter.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4

2025-03-27T01:10:52Z

Person72635: /* Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off */

==Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off==
After school.

Under Akane’s leadership, the student president, Tsumugi, and the other classmates who came to see the commotion lined up in front of the dilapidated dormitory.

“It’s really decrepit—”

“Wouldn’t it be better to say nearly collapsed?”

“Actually living in such a place… too tragic.”

“If we can take better care of him, this kind of thing might not happen…”

The students expressed their thoughts, all of them gazing at Souta with pity and raising sympathy flags without exception. Souta almost raised a ‘fainting flag’.

“Rebuilding would still be faster, huh, young Mimori?”

Tsumugi looked up at the student president standing beside her only to see Mimori burst into laughter as if to sweep away the gloomy atmosphere of the scene.

“Bwahahahahahahaha!! As long as it’s handled by this Student President Seiteikouji Mimori, everything will be A-OK!! Just divert student council funds and build a huge building!! No problem! Just leave it to the so-called unparalleled ability passed down among generations of student presidents to create falsified accou—”

“Someone come get the president to shut up.”

Seeing the students begin to retreat after seeing the dark side of the academy, Tsumugi ruthlessly cut off Mimori’s words.

That said, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Mimori had changed the depressed atmosphere in one fell swoop. Tsumugi silently praised Mimori for having some skill.

Since although the students wore strained smiles, at least they were smiling.

“Let’s not take misappropriation of public funds into consideration yet… Right, young Akane, could you provide some financial assistance? Ah, you should still have '''''pocket money''''',<ref> Words that are bolded and italicized are said in English.</ref> no?”

Tsumugi mixed some English into her question, and Nanami was embarrassed for Akane.

“This child is said not to receive family assistance.”

“Yes, even if it’s '''''pocket money'''''... It’s only one million yen a month…”

““““““““““That’s more than enough!!””””””””””

Everyone present replied.

“Huh, really? That much is enough? Building a house is so cheap. That’s got to be way under market price, right?!”

Hearing this rich girl say these ‘Where did this rich girl come from?’ kinds of words, everybody there held in their laughter save for one person.

That exception, Nanami, was currently pinching Akane’s nose.

“Thou art too spoiled!! Art not thou supporting thyself, girl oblivious to worldly affairs?!”

“Huh? Huh?”

Student President Mimori stared at the two people who seemed to have a good relationship with her arms crossed and put on a serious expression again.

“Anyways, whether it’s rebuilding or remodeling, just ask the professionals of this school, ladies and gentlemen!”

“Professionals… of this school?”

Seeing Souta’s disbelief, the one who answered him was Tsumugi, standing next to Mimori.

“The Civil Engineering Club.”

“The Civil Engineering Club…”

Hearing this strange and unknown club name, Nanami's expression was strange.

“They say it was influenced by a certain manga.”<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABkyoku_Ch%C5%8Djin_R Kyukyoku Chojin R], apparently</ref>

“Let’s call them over right now!!”

Student President Mimori called over members of the Civil Engineering Club and laughed her ‘Bwahahahahaha’. What was so funny, nobody knew.

Accompanying the well-built club members coming to the scene was the short-haired, baseball-cap-wearing president of the Civil Engineering Club. His first words were:

“What is it, President?! What’d you break this time?!”

“Could you not say that like yours truly is always impulsively causing destruction everywhere?!”

Unfortunately, the objections of Mimori, who frequently caused destruction on impulse, went in one ear of the Civil Engineering Club president and out the other. He lifted his chin to ask ‘Is this it?’ and looked at the ruins of Quest Dorm.

“You can really cause destruction…”

“It wasn’t yours truly!!”

But rather than caring about who did it, the Civil Engineering Club president’s interest had already shifted to the building itself, and he ignored Mimori’s protests.

Rebuild or remodel— the club members seemed to also disagree over those two options, and a younger club member asked the president:

“President, what should we do?”

“I told you to call me Craftsman!” <ref> Apparently a reference to the Japanese home renovation show ‘‘Makeover! Dramatic Before and After’’.</ref>

This is just too incredible. A craftsman’s subtle artistry is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures. <ref> A famous quote from ‘‘Makeover! Dramatic Before and After’’. I probably translated both of them differently than they should have.</ref>

“If possible, I hope for this child to live here as soon as possible…”

Kikuno cut in from beside Souta only to see the craftsman crack his fists and say:

“Okay! Then let’s remodel!!”

The president displayed his enthusiasm, and the club members all forced a smile.

“The president likes to remodel…”

“Didn’t I tell you to call me Craftsman?!”

This is just too incredible. A craftsman’s subtle artistry is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures.

“How long until someone can live here?”

“Well~ it’ll be quite difficult, so at least a month…”

The craftsman answered Tsumugi’s question, and Nanami eyed him suspiciously. He didn’t seem to be acting.

“That’s too long! So being a craftsman isn’t something all that amazing after all?”

“With enough manpower, it can be done in a week!!”

This is just too incredible! A craftsman’s subtle persistence is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures.

“Then what if it’s just for one person to live in?”

“For one person, huh… Then two, three days…”

Akane stepped up to use the carrot and the stick, and as a result— This is just too incredible! A craftsman’s backbone is also reflected in this kind of place.

“Then it’s just a matter of where we can get manpower… Should we get schoolmates…”

“It’s your life, take matters into your own hands! This academy promotes the spirit of student independence; asking alumni is against its ethos! Don’t you know shame!!”

Although the craftsman was expressing goodwill, he was still shot down by the student president who found fault with it for some reason.<ref> In Chinese, the same word can be used for both ‘schoolmates’ and ‘alumni,’ so the misunderstanding might be based there.</ref> But since he was quite used to Mimori’s rampages, plus the fact that Mimori apologized and said “Sorry, yours truly crossed the line.” after being scolded by Tsumugi-baba-sama, the craftsman could only mutter “I don’t know what to do with her…”

“You need manpower… It happens that there is a group of people who seem to be doing nothing.”

Tsumugi looked at the lively class.

The classmates could have found it troublesome and played dead, but each one was nicer than the last, wanting to help the poor Souta. The sentiment quickly spread, and the ‘I want to help, I want to help, I want to help’ attitude was clear at a glance.

“Great! Then let’s start by removing the rotten boards--”

As everybody immediately started working, Akane walked up to the front and said:

“I-I want to say something!!... Thank you everybody for being willing to help with my selfish project!”

Seeing Akane bow with all her might, Kikuno also joined in.

“Ah! Please let me thank everybody too! Our Sou-kun will be in your care.”

Seeing the two girls bow and thank everyone for him, plus Nanami poking him from behind and glaring at him as if to hint ‘Are you really going to stand by and do nothing while these girls do this for you?’, Souta was sandwiched by the pressure of the atmosphere and could not help but bow and say:

“Uh… I owe everybody one…”

“What kind of low-spirited thanks is that?!”

This was Nanami’s fierce retort upon not receiving real thanks. But the counter-reaction wasn’t even from Souta himself, but Kikuno.

“Th-that’s not it, that’s not it! Sou-kun’s very awkward, so he accidentally said it that way, but Big Sis thinks that he is very grateful to everyone! So… so I hope everybody doesn’t misunderstand him!!”

Souta’s thanks wasn’t great nor terrible, but Kikuno still patted his head as if saying ‘Good boy, you’ve worked hard’ while protecting him with those words.

''How spoiled.''

''Way too spoiled.''

''So doting.''

''Oh well…''

Then Akane provided the final, fatal hit--

“Th-that’s right! And… And, how do I say this, if Souta-kun smiled and provided lively thanks, it wouldn’t be his style and everyone would be disappointed!”

Akane’s extremely negative image of him made Souta depressingly realize ''So I look that gloomy in the eyes of others…''

Anyways, Souta’s plaintiveness made everyone raise ‘motivated’ flags. The Civil Engineering Club members let out an understanding “Ah…”, kindly saying “It’s okay.” and “Don’t take it to heart.”

But only the craftsman’s face went red. She looked the other way with a “Hmph!”

“I-I’m not doing it for you!”

Emerging from the craftsman…

“It’s not what you think!”

“Don’t get the wrong idea!”

“But if you don’t feel grateful, then I won’t spare you!”

This guy had just been heartily telling him not to mind things but suddenly began to say these kinds of statements one by one. This continued until he left for his post.

Souta didn’t understand what was going on with this scene, so Mimori explained to him:

“That girl’s personality is why the confession failure record keeps constantly getting broken.
But she’s the academy’s best at remodeling too, so rest at ease, '''''yo'''''!”

“‘That girl’?? So she’s actually female?!”

“If she were male, I wouldn’t have said ‘girl’.”

''Good point'' Souta silently agreed, observing the craftsman again. Could you say she’s gender neutral? If you said her to be a girl with very short hair, then she did indeed seem like a girl.

Akane suddenly approached from nearby to look at Souta’s face.

“That’s so great, Souta-kun.”

“... It’s all thanks to the good fortune provided by Okiku-nee and Akane.”

Seeing Souta look a bit uncomfortable and avert his eyes, Akane smiled and laughed, thinking that he was really cute.

“My mother once said that I should pay for my friends, so that they can be proud that they had such a friend.”

“Your mom is really great.”

“Yeah.” Akane nodded, gazing up at the blue sky.

“I always thought that doing that was to make friends, to become closer with friends. But I now find that not to be the case.”

“?”

“Because, because, you see, Souta-kun, just seeing your happiness also makes me as happy, joyful, and full of anticipation!”

Akane pressed her hands to her chest, spinning in circles.

“It’s my first time understanding that by bringing happiness to the people around you, you yourself will also feel as happy as they feel!”

“Akane, that’s because you’re really considerate.”

Hearing the conversation between Akane and Souta, Nanami, with a gentle expression mixed with a little sarcasm, interjected:

“Seeing Akane’s joy, We consequently feel joy as well. Akane is just like an exquisite cake made of happiness.”

“Nanami… You’re a poet!!”

As if discovering a beautiful line of verse, Akane’s eyes twinkled like several small stars. She tightly clasped both of Nanami’s hands with a sparkling, bright expression, happy as can be.

But Nanami realized that she made a serious slip of the tongue, her shy face burning as she struggled to shake off Akane’s hands.

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

“Nanami’s youthful poetry is my favorite! Being friends with Nanami is great! We must abuse the privilege of youth to run towards the sun!”

“Enough! Do nyaat waste your youth!!”

Nanami ran away after saying this, waving a huge hammer brought by the Civil Engineering Club and furiously destroying the rotten dormitory wall scheduled to be taken down, rather heroically covering up her embarrassment in this way.

“That girl is quite cut out for destroying things…”

Nearby, Tsumugi laid a waterproof cloth, set up a cushion on it, and leisurely sipped tea as if retiring with glory while looking at Nanami’s liveliness from afar and muttering to herself.

“Then, Big Sis will do her part for Sou-kun, too!”

“I’ll also go help.”

Kikuno and Akane swayed their bodies side to side, happily walking away. Souta was about to chase them, but Tsumugi suddenly stopped him from behind.

“Young Souta.”

“?”

Souta turned his head and saw Tsumugi’s kindly expression like a mother dog gazing at a puppy. Observing at the students excitedly absorbed into their work, she explained to Souta:

“Look closely, then engrave it into your heart. This isn’t a debt, but kindness. Kindness should be repaid with kindness. Put it in your heart, cultivate it little by little, absorb it. This way, one day, young Souta, you will also be a person able to express kindness as naturally as breathing.”

“Ah…”

Souta was about to respond with ‘Okay’, but Mimori came out from nowhere and cut him off, grabbing his shoulders and coolly pointing to the sky.

“This is the academy’s soul! The academy’s style!”

“Whoa, you scared me!”

Tsumugi smiled wryly at Mimori’s sudden appearance, saying persuasively:

“... In this regard, your spiritual practice is not good enough yet, young Mimori.”

“Grandmother is so strict…”

After letting off steam discontentedly, Mimori said the horrifying words like “Then, I’ll go forge documents and pretend that I received an application for rebuilding this dorm” and left the scene.

At the same time, Nanami, probably tired from waving the hammer, came back for tea.

“Hey, Souta. Don’t be lazy, shouldn’t thou help? This is where thou willst live, right?”

“Oh, sor… ry?”

As Nanami immediately gulped down the wheat tea Tsumugi poured for her, she noticed Souta apologize halfway and freeze with his head slightly raised. This intriguing movement made her frown.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… on top of the dorm… there’s a flag.”

“Huh? Something non-human can have flags too?!”

“It’s my first time seeing this, too…”

On the roof flew a ‘new role debut’ flag.

Souta, who could see it, and Nanami, who couldn’t, looked up at that unfamiliar flag together.

This time, Akane jogged back.

“Souta-kun, the people inside said they needed a boy’s help and wanted you to come over… Huh, what’s wrong? Why are you two staring at the roof? If you’re worried about spirits, aren’t they more likely ghosts?”

““Huh?! There are ghosts?!””

Akane’s unexpected comment startled Nanami and Souta, and they yelped sharply, forming beautiful harmony.

“... Only you two are that close. Not fair.”

“Is now the time to care about that kind of problem?!”

“Huh?! What?! They’re really like that?!”

Kikuno, never knowing the right time to come up behind Souta’s back, startled Souta and made him jump in surprise.

“Whoa, you scared me!”

“Sou-kun, which one are you closer with? Which one do you like?! Secretly tell Big Sis, please? Okay? Okay?”

Kikuno, delighted at the prospect of her little brother’s first love, put her hand by her ear, approaching Souta with a “Hmmm~?”

“No, even if you ask which one I like…”

“Is it the gentle Akane? Or~ Nanami? Since you call her by first name~ you’re very close… Ah, or you like both of them?”

Kikuno, giggling, might have intended to talk secrets with Souta quietly, but since the people in question were very close by, Akane and Nanami both heard this clear as day.

The one who reacted violently wasn’t Souta, but the red-faced Nanami.

“Come here, Souta!”

Nanami pulled Souta’s ear and brought him some distance away from Kikuno and co.

“Canst not thou do anything to deal with that freak sister?”

“I can’t do anything even if I wanted to…”

The little brother had already fallen into the bad habit of absolutely obeying his sister. Kikuno had, year in and year out, used a non-violent means known as doting to crush Souta’s resistance.

“......”

Nanami looked with disgust at Souta being spoiled by Big Sis, suddenly noticed something, and said:

“... Hey, thy sister doesn’t have a flag?”

So far, since Kikuno’s presence was so strong, Souta forgot to be afraid of flags. He recalled the top of Kikuno’s head, and said, almost to himself:

“Yeah… Now that you mention it, there is a flag.”

“What kind of flag?”

“I think it’s… the sisterly love flag.”

The scope of that flag seemed way too narrow. But considering Kikuno’s love for her little brother, it seemed to contain infinite possibilities.

At the same time, Nanami thought, as long as that flag broke, perhaps it would curb Kikuno’s desire to randomly speculate about her little brother’s relationships with girls.

“Try to break thy sister’s flag.”

“Huh?!”

“Try to break thy sister’s flag, try to break thy sister’s flag.”

“Why’d you say it twice…? Hey Nanami, don’t you usually tell me not to break them…”

Of course Souta only chose to listen now. Nanami let loose an angry, intimidating “Tch!!”

“Do not ask so many questions! If thou continues like this, thou willst always be a little brother to that woman, okay?!”

“... What’s wrong with that?”

“Enough! Thou hath completely fallen into the habit of a little brother!”

He’s already completely brainwashed by Kikuno! This time, Nanami growled “Grrr!”

Nanami became more and more like an animal. She might not have had an ‘evolve into a human’ flag, but hopefully it gets raised soon.

“Think about it, theoretically, two people have always felt like a big sister and little brother, and one day develop a relationship between a man and woman… something like that!”

Nanami became more and more embarrassed as she said this, and talked really quickly at the end.

“You read too much manga and watch too many dramas, Nanami…”

“What didst thou say?!”

“And, we don’t have that kind of relationship.”

Souta said this without blushing or missing a beat. Nanami glared at him, the look in her eyes neither dumbfounded nor angry nor irritated.

“Stop spouting nonsense, just break it already! If thou dost not break it, We will break thy arm!!”

“......”

Under Nanami’s intimidation, Souta told himself that since he keeps getting teased about it anyway, taking advantage of this situation to change his relationship with Kikuno might be better. After he reminded himself of this, he went back to Kikuno.

“Heeheeheeheehee. What kind of secrets did you talk about? Sou-kun, is there a secret between you and Nanami that you can’t tell Big Sis? As I thought… you’re in that kind of relationship? Did Big Sis guess it right? Can you tell Big Sis? Nanami can also call me Big Sis, okay?”

“Gaaaaaaaaaaah!! Souta!!”

Almost getting another sister out of nowhere, Nanami deepened the misunderstanding and angrily stomped her feet.

“A-alright…”

Under the pressure of Nanami’s hand signals, Souta nodded his head reluctantly and faced Kikuno.

“I’m not a kid anymore, so always sticking together isn't cool…”

“Ah…?!”

Hearing Souta’s flag-breaking words, Kikuno suffered a terrible shock.

“Big Sis understands!”

She seemed to understand.

“Sou-kun wants to maintain a cool image in front of the girl you like, right~?”

She didn’t understand at all.

Nanami realized this, pulled Souta’s ear, and yelled quietly.

“Hey, Souta! It didn’t break at all, did it?!”

“Rather, the flag dodged…”

“Dodged…?”

“Yeah, dodged with extreme speed…”

Nanami and Souta both trembled at Kikuno’s unfathomable potential, retreating and looking at Kikuno together.

“?”

A question mark appeared above Kikuno’s head, and she tilted her head in confusion.

Seeing her like that, disregarding the fact Souta’s fighting spirit was almost zero from the beginning, Nanami’s fighting spirit ignited again.

“Couldn’t thou have simply broken it more bluntly?!”

“...”

Nanami took silence as an answer, once again pushing Souta in front of Kikuno.

Glancing at the flag on Kikuno’s head, Souta forced a smile and tested the waters.

“That’s not what I meant. I just thought, shouldn’t we get rid of this brother-sister relationship already?”

“Ah…!!”

Hearing Souta’s flag-breaking words, Kikuno suffered a terrible shock.

“Big Sis understands!”

This time she seemed to really understand.

“Nanami made you say that. Heehee, don’t worry, Nanami. Souta and I aren’t like that. No need to fret, I won’t steal Souta away.

This time she still didn’t understand at all.

“We are also not like that, alright?!”

Seeing Nanami roar, Kikuno thought, ''She became shy, she became shy!'' and was still extremely happy.

“The flag dodged with godlike speed again…”

“That kind of thing exists?”

Having seen the existence of a special flag surpassing human imagination, Souta had the same question. He replied, a little out of it:

“It’s also the first time I’ve seen this.”

Seeing the terrifying creature known as ‘Big Sis’ in person made Nanami and Souta get goosebumps.

At some point, Akane, already working in the dorm, stuck her hand out the taken-down window and waved, breaking the peculiar atmosphere.

“Souta-kun— they’re asking ‘Why hasn’t a boy come yet?’ already—”

‘Yet’ followed by ‘already’, so strange… Souta thought about unrelated things, leaving Nanami and Kikuno behind to enter the dorm.

Upon Souta’s entry, the craftsman immediately said to Souta: “I just want you to clean up the decaying cabinet in the locker room in front of the bathroom, don’t get me wrong!!” But it’s quite difficult to figure out which part of the sentence could be misunderstood.

As proven by the fact that Souta didn’t get it wrong at all and went straight to the locker room.

A loud rattling sound came from inside the bathroom. As he got to work, Souta just glanced around briefly before returning to the task at hand, finding the old cabinet.

But no matter how you look at it, that cabinet didn’t seem like something one person could move alone. Just as Souta racked his brain for a solution, a male classmate happened to pass by the hallway. Souta hurriedly called out to him.

“Excuse me, I need a boy’s help over here, can you help me?”

The male classmate he just called to wore a boys’ uniform on his upper body and shorts and striped knee socks on his lower body. Even if he was disguised as a girl, he was wearing a male uniform, so he should be a boy… That said, his appearance and temperance, even if he was a pretty boy, was too girlish: If you asked whether he was more like a pretty boy or a beautiful girl with short hair rolled into a man bun, obviously it would be the latter — this was the reality.

As if embodying that kind of indistinguishability, the dainty male (?) classmate said “A boy…?” and looked around.

“A boy, a boy, a boy… one<ref> This guy refers to himself in third person.</ref>?!”

Since nobody else could be found nearby, and Souta had been looking at him for a while, the male classmate seemed to finally realize that it was directed at him.

Seeing his suspicious behavior, Souta worried that he made a mistake, asking with his heart in his mouth:

“So you’re not a boy…? Then my sincerest apologies. Because during PE class, I saw you on the boys’ side… Sorry, I always thought you were male…”

“...!!”

Souta recalled being thoroughly shocked at seeing striped kneesocks during PE class that day as he added an apology. The male (?) classmate seemed to have taken a heavy hit, his knees knocked together, arms pressed tight against his body, and his whole body shaking.

“Uh, hey…”

“O-one… one… ! One is a boy!! That’s correct!!”

So he claimed.

Although he claimed so, his knees knocked to the point that they practically fused together, and his hands and fists were placed almost in a boxing position, moving erratically in a cute way, pretty much contradicting himself.

“For one… it’s one’s first time meeting someone who treats one as a boy! And, because of one’s features, even those who know one only treat one as a girl… But, Souta-kun treats one as a boy, so one is very happy!”

The male classmate raised friendship flags.

Right, it was raised… but…

“What’s going on here…?”

Spouting from the male classmate’s head, while still a flag, were countless flags tied together joined to the sky like streamers, extending endlessly upwards and slightly backwards, weaving across the wall.

“Streamers…streamers? F-… flag?... This a flag?”

It was also Souta’s first time seeing a flag in this kind of mystical shape, so it was hard to cover up his confusion.

If it wasn’t a flag, it would mean Souta could see things other than flags. That would be terrifying. So terrifying that he didn’t want to keep thinking about it, so he just assumed that he could only see flags.

The male classmate had followed Souta’s gaze to the top of his head and was looking up at the sky, but he suddenly remembered something and tapped his palm with his fist.

“Ah, one hasn’t introduced oneself. One’s name is Touzokuyama Megumu</ref> Megumu’s surname indicates that his ‘class’ is thief</ref>.”

Megumu squatted cutely, sliding his hand on the dusty floorboard. After demonstrating how to write his name, he smiled shyly.

“I am…”

Souta nodded, thinking that his surname was a little over-the-top.<ref> Imagine meeting a guy named John Thief lol</ref> As he decided to introduce himself to Megumu, Megumu cut him off.

“You must be Hatate-kun. One knows because one saw you introduce yourself when you transferred.”

“Just call me Souta.”

“O-one too! Just call one Megumu.”

He said this excitedly as streamers of friendship flags fluttered on his head. Perhaps that ‘people should get along no matter what country they’re from’ mentality was because of these streamers.<ref> The phrase I’m translating as ‘streamer’ literally means ‘ten thousand country flags’ [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%87%E5%9B%BD%E6%97%97#/media/File:Sports-Fest2.jpg (万国旗)]</ref>

“One thinks one can establish a manly friendship with Souta-kun!”

Souta’s first reaction of him had been a perplexed ‘Why is there a girl mixed in with the boys’ PE class…?’, so he remembered her clearly... no, him. But Souta couldn’t say that. In order to hide his thoughts, he hurriedly changed the subject.

“Really… Speaking of which, the name ‘Megumu’ is... really cool.”

“Th-that’s not true. One kind of hates this feminine name. Everyone likes to call one by one’s nickname, Megu-chan, so it seems even more feminine.”

“Yours is still relatively good, unlike my name Souta. My kindergarten nickname was ‘Missus’ <ref> In Chinese at least, doubling the last character in Souta’s name (太) creates the phrase for ‘wife’ or ‘old lady’.</ref>”

“Souta-kun’s really cute♡”

Megumu clutched his sides and lightly covered his mouth, his entire body shaking with laughter. No matter how you look at it, Megumu’s a cute girl.

Perhaps out of guilt, the conversation was very accommodating towards Megumu. Although Souta thought his personality would only hurt Megumu, as luck would have it, they still had a good conversation.

“... I’ll call you Megu-chan too.”

“Hey~! Souta-kun, you bully!!”

Confronted with having accidentally said something very feminine, Megumu pouted cutely, puffing his cheeks.

“That said, Megumu, I just want to know one thing…”

“Ah! One has been working out before bed to become more manly, so one is a bit stronger now, okay?”

Megumu flexed his biceps after saying so. Souta asked Megumu ‘Can I touch it?’ and was given permission. He touched it and found that the muscle was so soft that it made him feel guilty. However, because the ‘Nnngh~!’ sound that Megumu made as he flexed was too cute, Souta gave up on his retort. More to the point, Souta wasn’t even asking about that.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I wanted to ask about the bottom half of your uniform.”

“... Oh.”

Megumu’s weak reply was mixed with a sigh, and he lifted the lower hem of his uniform coat. Since they were both male, there clearly wasn’t any reason to look twice. Nevertheless, Souta blushed and his heart rate sped up.

“This is…”

“N-nevermind, sorry. I didn’t offend you, right? Everyone has different hobbies. It’s fine, and it really suits you…”

Seeing the fluttering streamers fall weakly, Souta anxiously mediated.

“No! No no no! No no!!”

Megumu lightly hammered Souta’s chest with unmatched cuteness.

“This is because… Big Sis said this way was definitely cuter… said it was approved by the academy… My Big Sis is responsible for designing this uniform… so…”

The phrase ‘Big Sis’ scared Souta and made him flinch.

“The student handbook also says that, starting this year, this outfit is approved as a uniform.”

“Really?!”

Souta brought out a student handbook from his chest pocket to confirm. Listed next to the normal boys’ and girls’ uniform, there really was an illustration identical to what Megumu was wearing at the moment.

“It’s true!!... Speaking of which, does anyone else wear it like this?”

“... Somewhere in this vast world.”

“That’s already not about this academy’s uniforms anymore!?”

Megumu’s eyes became empty.

“This outfit isn’t only conspicuous, but people also say it looks like a girls’, so one hates it. But Big Sis cried, saying that it’s definitely cute, and made me wear it…”

“Since your Big Sis cried and begged, there’s nothing you can do about it…”

As a fellow comrade who loses unconditionally to his older sister, Souta’s heartstrings tugged with sympathy for his fellow sufferer.

“Yeah… and one is the youngest of four siblings, with sisters all above me.”

“Your life is so hard… I understand how you feel, Megumu…”

Megumu was usually surrounded by people jealous of his beautiful sisters, so when he heard Souta’s gentle words, his chest couldn’t help but tighten with a ‘squeeze♡’.

“Thank you!! Only Souta-kun understands me!! Thank you! Really, thank you so much, Souta-kun!!”

Megumu rushed to hug Souta, as if pushing people out of the way.

Megumu’s body was unusually slender. Souta could actually support him quite easily, but something other than weight made Souta dizzy.

“Whoa!! Megumu, why is your body so fragrant?! And super soft?!”

“Huh?” Megumu, his height only up to Souta’s neck, raised his watery eyes to look at Souta in a way that made Souta even dizzier.

At this time, Akane reached out her head.

“Souta-kun, what’s the situation? Can one person handle it? Hey, whoa!? S-sorry, I… w-will support you guys!!”

“What are you talking about, Akane?!”

Akane, covering her face, stared at the hugging scene through the gaps between her fingers.

“I-I’m good at supporting people’s love! The couples I support always welcome new love under my leadership, with plentiful concrete results! Just leave it to Akane!”

“You mean it’s failure, Akane!”

“Failure is the mother of success! It’s fine as long as the new love succeeds.”

“Everything really depends on how you explain it anyways…”

Akane’s headache-inducing enthusiasm made Megumu and Souta force a smile.

“Let’s save that for later. How come you guys suddenly became so intimate?”

Akane anxiously looked at Megumu and Souta, who had kept hugging. Her words finally made the two come to their senses, and their bodies instantly separated.

“N-no, no!! This and that are different things!!”

“Th-that’s right. How do we put it… ah! We were just confirming our friendship, hmm, yeah.”

Regarding believing people, Akane was unbelievably simple. ‘So that’s how it was!’ She believed the two without any doubts.

“Oh. Friendship, huh… Souta-kun just refuses to demonstrate such warm friendship with me.”

Seeing Akane’s dejection, Souta busily tried to find an escape.

“I-it’s because Akane’s a girl… So it’s not appropriate.”

“Yeah, this is a privilege of bromance!!”

“???”

Megumu revealed a tremendously cute smile because being treated like a boy by the confused Akane made him very happy. Please note that this does not mean tremblingly cute. Speaking of tremblingly cute ~ it was so cute that it made people tremble… wait, is that even cute then? Wouldn’t it be scary?<ref> Original Japanese pun had something to do with ‘unusually cute’ and ‘flying kick cute’ being off by one syllable.</ref>

“Y-yeah…”

Anyways, facing Megumu’s sparkling eyes, the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched as he nodded.

Speaking of which, does bromance really involve that kind of intimate hug? Of course, this kind of question never appeared in Akane’s mind, she was just jealous.

“How nice, how nice… But, I’m really happy to see that Souta-kun’s friend count increased!”

As Akane said this, satisfaction replaced her original envy. Seeing her like this, overflowing with thoughtfulness and kindness, Souta experienced a warm feeling in his heart that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Right. Akane, did you check on me because you were worried? There’s no problem here. I already found a boy to help me.”

“Really?... But, where is he?”

Akane showed a natural expression like ○△○, carefully looking around the locker room.

Seeing that Akane’s natural manner was completely devoid of malice, or rather, it was unfortunately absolutely devoid of malice, Megumu almost cried. He apprehensively raised his small, cute hand.

“Th-that… is oneself.”

“Huh?! Megu-chan’s a girl~ Souta-kun, why are you guys always saying weird things?”

Based on Akane’s innocent laughter, it was clear that she wasn’t bullying; rather, that was what she deeply believed. After all, she was an ‘if she believes it, then she will deeply believe it without any doubt to an unbelievable degree’ kind of girl.

“... Akane, Megumu’s a boy though?”

“Nyaahahaha, stop joking-”

Akane even let out laughter she normally wouldn’t have, causing Megumu to tear up cutely. At this point, Akane finally began to understand the situation.

“Huh? Huh? I-it’s really true…? But-but, because, but-but, because, that’s not a boy’s uniform.”

“Oh… But this isn’t a girl’s uniform either, right? When you think about it, it’s actually more like a boy’s uniform.”

“You really ''can'' notice that!!”

To Akane, this was an earth-shattering revelation.

“So that’s what it was… That’s why I didn’t see Megu-chan in the girl’s PE class… Excuse my lack of manners. This mistake does not befit me.”

“No, in a way, it’s something very much like what Akane would do…”

“... Does this mean, Souta-kun is actually a girl?”

“Hey, you don’t need to overcompensate, Akane…”

Akane nodded emotionally, faced Megumu — he had bent the second knuckle of his index finger at a right angle and was cutely wiping tears from the corner of his eye — and lowered her head in apology.

“Sorry, Megu-chan. I didn’t think you had this kind of secret that even I, Mahougasawa Akane, could not see through.”

“I don’t remember treating this as a secret at all, but it’s fine as long as you understand.”

Akane seemed to think that the world was packed with many secrets. But the vast majority are packed to the brim, so one could say that they’re over-packed.

Anyways, although it was an earth-shattering revelation to Akane, she now thought back to what she was saying before and inadvertently exclaimed “Ah!”

“Hmph!! I almost started supporting your rocky romance!! Why did things become like this?!”

That’s what Megumu and Souta wanted to ask her. But they chose to remain silent, their smiles strained.

“I’ll go ask Nanami!!”

““Why did things become like this?!””

Megumu and Souta voiced in perfect harmony. Akane had a ‘These two are really close, I got left out again…’ kind of resentful expression, and ran to find Nanami.

He really didn’t know how it would be spun… Souta held back his low spirits and smiled slightly at Megumu.

“Th-then, let’s just get started.”

“Th-that’s right.”

They seemed to have finally remembered their original purpose. But because they had digressed too far, it almost made one doubt whether or not they really remembered.

“I’ll lift this side. Megumu, can you help lift the other side?”

“Leave it to me! It’s finally time to show my ability to break single-use chopsticks!!”

Souta felt a bit uneasy.

“Then… Ready, go!’

“Hahh… hup!”

Upon lifting it, he realized that the cabinet wasn’t as heavy as it seemed… as far as Souta was concerned.

As for Megumu, he couldn’t even stand steady. Dangerous, really dangerous.

Furthermore, there were two more exhausting phases to endure. As if to demonstrate, Megumu’s face reddened as he exerted all his strength. Souta was dumbfounded.

“I-I said… Megumu…? If you can’t move it, I can find other guys…”

“No!! It would waste Souta-kun’s surety that one was a man and subsequent request for help. If one were to give up, one would fail to live up to Souta-kun’s kindness!!”

“No… it’s not that serious…”

Megumu almost cried. But while his steps were unsteady, he still displayed a staunch willpower.

This atmosphere made it difficult for Souta to open his mouth and say that he could probably move it alone. Thus he could only do his best to carefully prevent Megumu from bearing too much weight as they moved. As a result, Souta’s own strength and stamina was depleted anyways.

There was now one more cabinet on the hill of scrap wood used by the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club. Megumu put his hands on his hips and bent forward slightly, He cutely faced Souta, who was wiping sweat off his forehead, and said:

“Thank you, Souta-kun!”

“Huh? It should be me thanking you, right?”

The words seemed to make Megumu a little uncomfortable. Megumu spoke guiltily and shook his head.

“No, you took particular trouble not to let one bear weight, right? Clearly it would’ve been easier for you to move it alone. But one kept clamoring about being a man and as a result persisted in pointlessly hurting you…”

“It wasn’t pointless.”

“Huh…?”

“This kind of persistence in becoming your ideal self… I don’t think it’s pointless.”

“... Souta-kun♡”

Souta empathized and respected the feeling of wanting to be a man, bringing tears to Megumu’s eyes.

“Souta-kun, you’re so considerate…”

Megumu’s mouth formed a dazzling smile, like a flower bursting into full bloom.

Souta, fostering a bromance, worked while Megumu deliberately stuck to him. By the time he met up with Kikuno and Nanami, the sun had almost set.

“Big Sis looks away for a moment and Sou-kun brings another girl back!! Big Sis is very concerned!!”

“Okiku-nee… Megumu isn’t a girl…”

“Nyaahahaha, stop joking~”

Kikuno even let out laughter she normally wouldn’t have, and Souta felt a sense of deja vu.

“Look, his uniform is more like a boy’s?”

“You really ''can'' notice that!!”

To Kikuno, this was an earth-shattering revelation.

Megumu’s gender was unbeknownst to everyone. Really made you wonder whether he had blurted out that he was a girl upon introducing himself as a new student…

“Huh~ I thought Megu-chan was a girl. Since Megu-chan always uses the girls’ bathroom.”

“Megumu?!”

Souta thought that this piece of information would be really difficult to explain.

“B-because, many boys complained that one going to the boys’ bathroom made them very uncomfortable. It became a big problem, and then the girls said ‘Megu-chan can use the girls’ bathroom’...”

“......”

This whole situation was hard to determine right from wrong. Souta was left speechless, and decided to change the subject.

“... But anyways, there seems to be more people… was there this many people from the start?”

Aside from the members of the Civil Engineering Club, everyone was getting ready to go home. But looking at the sea of people, it seemed there were a lot more people than before.

“Oh, that’s because the student president, Grandmother, me, and Akane-chan called a lot of friends to come.”

“Huh…?! I feel bad… all this just for someone like me…”

“I begged them, saying that it was for my precious little brother, and everyone came.”

That’s why the group of senpais observing from afar were whispering to each other: ''“So it’s him?”'' ''“Is the girl wearing shorts beside him his girlfriend?”'' ''“What a cute couple.”'' All the while gazing inquisitively.

Souta wholeheartedly wished to escape the scrutinizing eyes. He shifted the conversation towards Nanami, pretending he didn’t hear anything.

“Did Nanami also help call people to come?...... My apologies. Princesses are just different, maybe it’s their moral prestige?”

“......”

“Nanami?”

Nanami lowered her head, her whole body trembling. Souta approached, looking at her face.

“We…”

“We?”

“W-We didn’t call anybody here, alright?! That is, We don’t have any acquaintances to call at all!! ''My apologies'', princesses clearly don't have moral prestige!!”

“Ah, Nanami, let’s go eat the red bean dumpling soup that the volunteers made for everyone.” Akane said.

“Nanami, you’ve already made up for that with your effort, so it’s all right.” Kikuno said.

“After all, you’re in a remote foreign country. Not having any acquaintances is something that can’t be helped, it’s actually very normal. Don’t worry, Nanami.” Souta said.

“D-… do nyaat console so much!!”

Nanami became angry out of embarrassment.

Because the dorm was in the middle of construction and living there would be dangerous, Souta temporarily resided in ‘The Most Dangerous Boys’ Dorm Room, Challenging the Limits of Rationality’, aka Megumu’s room. After personally experiencing the meaning of danger, the day of his much-anticipated return to Quest House arrived. It seems that this school is flooded with danger.

After working through days and nights, the reborn Quest House…

““““““““““This is just too incredible!!”””””””””

… Anyone who saw it would inadvertently say this. It was reborn reborn. Repeating the word ‘reborn’ twice expresses how much this rebirth changed it. Definitely not because the author’s literary powers have dried up. Hope everybody understands this point.<ref> Smooth, author-sensei, real smooth</ref>

“So amazing… it’s not just unrecognizable, it’s basically a different thing entirely.”

“Praise it a bit more!!”

Suddenly appearing, Student President Mimori proudly — really proudly — stuck out her chest.

“President didn’t do any of the actual work, okay?!”

The Civil Engineering Club president — the Craftsman — Yuzurihakami Mimori.<ref> Her name is 杠上美森. She’s not on the wiki, nor is her name mentioned in the anime, so I had to guess the pronunciation. The last two characters are the same as Mimori’s. As for the first two, I just pieced together some surname readings for 杠 and 上 that I found on Jisho. Incidentally, her name doesn’t contain a ‘class,’ so she probably won’t appear much if at all in the future.</ref>

“Because yours truly has [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_building_syndrome Sick Building Syndrome.”]

“Stop talking nonsense!! Also, this time the renovation used a lot of eco-friendly materials, so how can it trigger Sick Building Syndrome?!”

“Because yours truly has Eco-Friendly Building Syndrome…”

''Looks like this person cannot live indoors no matter what…'' As Souta thought this, Akane, who was beside him, smiled delightedly at him.

“It became a liveable place in one fell swoop.”

“Mmm.”

“It became a place unfit for ghosts.”

“There are ghosts?!”

“Heeheehee, I’m just saying random things.” Akane’s laughter even sounded like random consolation. How terrifying.

“Anyways, according to our original plan, I need to show my skills and clean up Souta-kun’s room!”

“We just finished renovating, I don’t think there would be anywhere to clean, though?!”

Akane jabbed her index fingers together, depressed like Judgement Day had come. Seeing her state, Souta hastily added:

“Uh— but if you could help me unpack my luggage, that would be a big help!”

“Ah, s-sorry, Souta-kun. I’ve troubled you.”

“Big Sis too! Big Sis also wants to unpack luggage together!!”

Seeing Kikuno raise her hand and join this heartwarming topic, Nanami pursed her lips.

“This Big Sis, couldn’t be more close, huh…”

Nearby, Megumu, doing squats for no reason, was so tired his legs almost fell off by the sixth rep.

Seeing that the group’s mood was as warm as tempura right out of the oven, the pensive President Mimori muttered. ‘Tempura right out of the oven’ because the Cooking Research Club was frying it outside to celebrate the rebirth of Quest House, not because Souta and co were heating it up. The tempura looked really delicious, though this has nothing to do with the aforementioned situation.

“But, this headache…”

“What’s wrong, President?”

In truth, this was because a sentence about ‘mood and tempura’ was accidentally written, but one has to make the best of it when at the end of one’s rope… Anyways, Mimori and Tsumugi didn’t care about this at all, sneaking some fried sweet potatoes while emotionally looking at the brand-new dorm.

“According to the rules, dorms with only one resident must be taken down.”

““““““““““And you say that now?!””””””””””

Hearing a sentence they couldn’t ignore, the surrounding people cried in unison.

“Yours truly is Seiteikouji Mimori, the so-called unparalleled king of late reactions. Nobody would dare to accept my challenge!”

“Somebody shut up the president.”

At Tsumugi’s shouted order, Mimori had many strips of tape pasted over her mouth. After tearing off the tape in tears, Mimori yelled, half angry out of embarrassment:

“Rules are rules! Since it’s been completed, it needs to be taken down!”

“Are thou a demon?!”

Nanami couldn’t help but roar back.

Reacting sharper than anyone else to the imminent sad situation in front of her, Akane also stepped in to salvage the situation:

“E-excuse me! How many people does it need to house at minimum?!”

“... Four…?”

“Why are you so unsure?”

Mimori, her memory extremely muddled, remembered after searching the depths of her memory.

“Correction, it’s five people.”

“Five people, huh…”

“Luckily, I heard that we were able to take preventive measures and renovate a few extra rooms thanks to the increase in manpower, so now the amount of usable rooms numbers about ten… gathering just four friends is easy enough, right?”

Mimori chuckled, and Nanami and Akane filled with rage at that.

“How can thy words be so over-the-top?!”

“That’s to say, you’ve crossed the line!!”

“... S-sorry.”

“Even if Sou-kun doesn’t have any friends, you still have Big Sis, okay? Okay?”

Because Nanami and the others spoke up for him, while the student president apologized, Souta seemed even more pitiful. The atmosphere became very indescribable.

“But, even if we didn’t need to gather four more people to live here, one person living by themselves in such a big place is a bit lonely…”

“... No problem. I’m used to being lonely.”

“Nuh-uh, nuh-uh!! Being like that… being very lonely… is very sad, too sad!!”

Looks like Akane, with her can’t-leave-sad-people-alone sickness, lost her temper.

If she left this alone, Akane would probably cry again, so Souta sighed, reluctantly nodding.

“But… if someone does want to live here, I’m okay with it.”

Akane’s eyes brightened, and she clenched her fist.

“Souta-kun needs dormmates, right? Because he’d be lonely, right? Of course! This is not okay! I know! I, Mahougasawa Akane, shall move into this dorm!”

“Hey, isn’t this a boys’ dorm?!”

“Is it?”

Akane looked at Tsumugi, her movements indicating that matters regarding the academy should be asked to the living dictionary.

“This was originally a faculty dormitory. I think it did not particularly differentiate men and women…”

“Then it’s '''''no problem'''''!”

“God… Hey, President, you should say something, too!”

Souta thought that boys and girls living under the same roof was definitely not '''''no problem''''', and he hastily begged Mimori to advise Akane to change her mind.

“Boys and girls living under the same roof is very romantic!!”

“Somebody shut this rascal up.”

Finally, even Tsumugi couldn’t be polite.

“But wasn’t it Akane who sponsored the reconstruction of the dorm out of her own pocket? Is it okay to disregard the sponsor’s ideas…”

“Nanami, I’m begging you not to say so much!”

“This is the sponsor’s authority!”

“Since it’s the sponsor’s authority, the student president’s authority can only permit it!”

Mimori, who was almost shut up but didn’t shut up, asserted. This is because her ability to not shut up is especially profound.

“But! However! Isn’t a boy and a girl inappropriate?!”

Souta retorted.

Kikuno raised her hand to retort back.

“Then Big Sis will also move in!”

“I see, so a boy and two girls wouldn’t be inappropriate.”

“Isn’t it more inappropriate?!”

The student president approved Kikuno’s idea, then retorted Kikuno’s retort to Souta’s retort. Now it’s already impossible to tell right from left.

“E-excuse me!! C-can one also come with?!”

“I said, Megumu…”

“Okay, this way we have balanced it out with one boy and three girls!”

“Where, how? Where is the balance?”

Leaving aside Souta’s retort towards Mimori, Megumu, having been regarded as a girl, lost the light in his eyes, and his small, half-open mouth drifted into an empty smile.

“Still missing one person.”

“......”

“There isn’t anyone else who will move here anymore.”

“......”

“That’s right… Why don’t we find one of Big Sis’s friends…”

“......”

Every time Akane, Souta, and Kikuno muttered their thoughts, Nanami coughed quietly.

“How about the craftsman?”

“How about the president?”

“How about Grandmother, Sou-kun?”

“......”

Nanami started wordlessly kicking the door post of Quest House. They say door post and '''''want you''''' sound very similar,<ref> That is, the Japanese pronunciation for ‘door post’ is similar to how Japanese people would pronounce ‘want you’ in English, as they’re only off by one phoneme (monchyou vs wonchyou)</ref> though this has nothing to do with this situation.

“... Miss Princess of Bladefield is almost crying, everyone…”

Megumu, not knowing the right time to come back to life, saw Nanami crouch and shudder with tear-filled eyes, and his sympathetic heart almost broke.

“Come on, we’re just kidding, Nanami. You’re willing to move here, right?”

“Yeah, the last person has to be Nanami since she’s very close with Sou-kun.”

“That’s right, there’s nobody else to choose but Nanami.”

“As long as Nanami is here, Big Sis will also be relieved.”

After Akane and Kikuno continuously took turns and finished speaking, Nanami stood up, her mood having rapidly improved.

“I a-a-a-a-a-absolutely was not about to cry. But since, in any event, ye are persistent and want Us to come, We will also…”

Before Nanami, who a-a-a-a-a-absolutely did not wipe her tears with her sleeves, could finish her sentence, Souta accidentally asked Akane and Kikuno:

“Hey, you guys were just kidding?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Failure flags were raised on the heads of tongue-tied Akane and Kikuno. Nanami’s eyes filled with tears again and she angrily stamped her feet.

“Absolutely not! Unless it’s the room at the very edge, or else I won’t live here!!”

“I want the room next to Sou-kun!”

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai, you’re so sly! I also want to live next to Souta-kun!”

“Th-then, I want to live in the room opposite Souta-kun.”

Looks like that area’s population density is very high.

“Only Nanami’s room is super far away.”

“Ye group of idiots—!”

Souta was inexplicably hammered many times by the unwilling-to-be-alone Nanami.

“... I understand it now. I just need to move near Nanami’s room, right…”

“Sou-kun is so considerate!! No wonder he’s Big Sis’s good little brother!!”

Souta thought with a smile, ''Not bad, I’ll have to bring in the luggage again anyways.'' Kikuno was so touched by her little brother that she hugged him tightly.

“Whoa… Okiku-nee, everyone’s watching! They’re all watching!”

Souta, panicking and trying to escape Kikuno’s smothering chest, was given an envious look by everyone.

“I-I’m next! I want to hug!”

Pretending to be jealous of Souta but actually jealous of Kikuno, Akane lined up behind Kikuno.

“O-one too…”

Megumu lined up behind Akane.

Mimori smiled at the close boarders of the new Quest Dorm.

“In short, we have gathered five people. One boy and four girls is fine, right?”

“No problem!”

“It is a huge problem…”

Akane agreed, but Tsumugi showed signs of reluctance.

“The problem has expanded, right?! You don’t think that it’s pretty much become a girls’ dorm?!”

“Leave it to yours truly, Mimori, the so-called unparalleled problem concealer!! Bwahahahahaha!!”

What was so funny remained a mystery. But anyways, Mimori, who seemed like she really did to conceal the problem, burst into laughter.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6

2025-03-26T18:10:43Z

Person72635: /* Flag 6: The Very First Quest */

==Flag 6: The Very First Quest==

After a few days—

As their life together began, the Quest House buddies became more and more united with each passing day.

However, this should be due to the fact that they had pretty good chemistry to begin with.

Only, for especially-low-chemistry Souta, other people actively approaching him was fine, but he would almost never take initiative to talk to others.

For example, while the other four were chatting in the living room furnished with a soft sofa, coffee table, and soft carpet and constantly enticing people to join in, he would look at the happy atmosphere from the hall and directly pass by despondently.

Akane noticed this with her sharp eyes, and while worrying about his sad aura, she thought:

''Are you sad because the coffee table isn’t soft?''

But if even the coffee table was soft, guests might spill their drinks and never come back. No, the current softness ratio was just right so that this wouldn’t happen — Akane would later figure this out. She should have figured it out immediately, right?

Come to think of it, was it right to exclude Souta and just chat there herself? We need to go find him — although they all had this kind of thought, the situation had started with just Akane and Nanami chatting, with Kikuno joining in later and Megumu also joining in. Everything happened naturally, so they definitely didn’t exclude Souta on purpose.

Aside from the aforementioned situation, Souta exuded a sad aura no matter what he did, which always tortured Akane’s girlish heart.

A lonely profile that broke people’s hearts.

Although the amount of times Souta showed that depressing expression when he was with everybody decreased a lot, Akane still wanted to completely eliminate Souta’s sad aura, so she made up her mind.

First, in order to prepare for her operation, Akane consulted Kikuno, who should know Souta best.

“Eh? You want to make Sou-kun happy?”

After hearing Akane explain the important thing they needed to discuss, Kikuno asked this question.

Akane nodded seriously. Kikuno zoned out for a moment, then her whole body trembled as she hugged Akane tightly.

“Kikuno-senpai!?”

“Akane-chan, you’re such a good kid! Welcome to the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance!”

“Huh, there’s an alliance like that?”

“Akane-chan is the esteemed second member!”

Seems like a rather lonely alliance.

“Then, what kind of activities has the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance done so far?”

“Looking at Sou-kun when he’s happy is really soothing for the soul!”

“Its purpose is actually the opposite!?”

When Akane is with normal people, she should always garner retorts. But Kikuno, who’s able to make Akane retort, should really reflect on herself. Maybe she only becomes stupid when encountering something related to her little brother.

“Oh... So you want Sou-kun to be happy. Hmm... Of course a boy’s happiness comes from having a wonderful romance with a girl, I think.”

“Romance?!”

Kikuno proposed an unusually difficult solution, and Akane crossed her arms and pondered it.

She didn’t want to brag, but whether it was because of her innocent nature or her status as a rich heiress, it was difficult for boys to approach her. In her life so far, Akane hadn’t had any fate with love that could be called romance.

“I understand it now! Let’s implement the Souta-kun Romance Operation!”

Speaking of which, the contents of the operation hadn’t been planned out before. In other words, it wasn’t an operation at all.

Even Akane would discover this fact when it was time to implement it. But she couldn’t think of any good ideas, so she consulted Nanami this time.

“…Thou wantest Souta to have a romance?”

Nanami scoffed.

Akane scoffed in response.

“Why is Akane laughing too?!”

“I thought it’s better to laugh than not…”

“We cannot understand your motives!?”

The secret is: Akane didn’t know what her motives were either. But she made it so obvious, one could say it practically wasn’t a secret. Then it isn’t a secret, right?!

“Thou really likest Souta——...”

“I always felt that from the first time I met Souta, my chest tightens and I want to do something for him.”

Seeing Akane become shy, Nanami, who’d half-jokingly made an offhand comment, suddenly frowned.

“… So thou fellest in love at first sight?”

“Huh…?”

“Hast thou never fallen in love at first sight?”

Akane shook her head repeatedly.

“Huh…? Huh…? This is… love at first sight…?”

“……”

Nanami unflinchingly stared at the panicked Akane.

“N-no, no! It must be… I-it’s not like that…”

“Nevermind~ It’s fine, treat it as Our misunderstanding. Let’s not talk about that for now. Why didst thou come to ask Us such a thing?”

“Because Nanami is a charming girl, you’re definitely a love veteran or ''bateren''<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirishitan Japanese word for the first Christian missionaries,] but the meaning isn't really relevant to the joke</ref>.”

Veteran and ''bateren'' sound similar but are different. Why she listed them both, Akane herself didn’t know either. Turns out she really didn’t know.

Unfortunately, thanks to her personality, Nanami still only glared at, belittled, and kicked the boys around her, so her romance power level was almost the same as Akane’s, only five. Huh, pitiful!<ref> [https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Ball_Z_Kai:_Season_1_(Quotes)#:~:text=Raditz%3A%20You%20have%20a%20power,Huh%2C%20pitiful.&text=Raditz%3A%20Huh%2C%20it's%20a%20race%20of%20utter%20weaklings. Raditz quote] from Dragon Ball Z Kai.</ref>

Nanami, who had fought desperately with her pitiful romance power level, said with resentment:

“… Ask boys about a boy’s romance.”

This is surrendering without a fight.

Akane felt as if Nanami had secretly refused to offer her advice and wandered around the dormitory dejectedly.

“Boys… are there any reliable boys…”

“You called, Mahougasawa-san?!”

Megumu jumped out of the laundry room, where he had been washing his clothes in the laundry machine, and Akane let out a strange cry of “Uwaahh!?”

“There is no boy more reliable than this man among men — Touzokuyama Megumu!”

“Um…”

Megumu, dressed in casual clothes, wore a girly knitted sweater, honeycomb shorts, and striped kneesocks. His [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettai_ry%C5%8Diki zettai ryouiki] was very dazzling and brimming with cuteness. Add to that his bow necklace which further enhanced his femininity.

Even Akane seemed to think that his femininity was higher than her own. Rather than Megumu’s reliability, Akane was more confused about whether she could even consider Megumu a boy.

“Come on, if you have a problem, just discuss it with one! Just ask this one — who, because his manly body odor is too strong, relies on washing clothes to remove his manly body odor — known as the boy who always exudes the fragrance of soap and flowers!”

“Megu-chan, that would just increase your femininity, though.”

Megumu’s eyes lost their luster.

What’s more , only he thought it was a manly body odor, but it actually smelled sweet. Therefore, Megumu always exuded a sweet fragrance of soap and flowers.

But if this continued, Megumu would be unwilling to help. In order to try to make Megumu’s eyes regain their brilliance, Akane held Megumu’s hand with a tense smile.

“Uh! Oh! I-I do have something I want to discuss with a boy! A boy! A man among men! Megu-chan, are you willing to lend an ear?!”

“Well… if you don't mind one’s rising femininity, one will just listen to you…”

Although Megumu’s eyes hadn’t completely regained their brilliance, he seemed willing to help out. So Akane asked with a bright smile:

“Actually, it’s this…”

When Akane finished explaining her goals, Megumu’s face turned red. He hid half of both hands in his sleeves and pressed his fingers against his mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. His whole person seemed much cuter.

“O-one isn’t very good at romance…”

“You hate the chewy texture?”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Salmon roe.”

“Why did the topic suddenly turn to salmon roe?!”

“I suddenly brought up the topic of romance and you seemed burdened, so I changed the subject.”

“What kind of weird consideration is this?!”

Anyways, since Megumu seemed only reliable on the topic of salmon roe, Akane gave up on discussing romance with Megumu.

Speaking of fearing romance, Akane herself also… repeated what she did before. Not knowing what to do, she dejectedly wandered around the dorm while crying out “Ah…” or “Ugh~” They say that when Souta saw her, he thought, ''Is that a zombie game…?''

Of course, Souta didn’t particularly go over to show concern. Kikuno, seeing Akane at the same time, was giddy with excitement and said to her:

“I’m telling you, Akane-chan! I thought of many ideas afterwards, and I want to ask Akane-chan to date Sou-kun so that he can open his eyes to romance. What do you think of this idea?”

“N-no, not happening! I think Souta-kun would want to find a more charming girl than me!”

Maybe she learned a new move after seeing Megumu’s, but she hid half of her hands in her sleeves and pressed her fingers against her mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. Her whole person seemed much cuter, her femininity increasing by a huge leap.

“Mmm! Akane-chan is very charming though, and Big Sis thinks you two are a good match... But if that’s the case, how about introducing a charming girl Akane-chan knows to Sou-kun?”

“Good idea!! Or should I say good taste!!”

“Taste...?”

The topic of salmon eggs seemed to still linger somewhere in Akane’s mind.

That night, Akane stopped wandering around and stayed in her room, struggling to write a list of girls to introduce to him.

Upon conjuring up the image of a girl on the list getting along well with Souta and imagining his very happy smile, Akane’s joy slowly surged up like the warmth of basking in the sun during the winter… But—

“…Huh?”

Suddenly—

Akane felt a piercing pain in her chest and stopped writing the list.

However, that only lasted for a moment.

Akane immediately returned to work writing the list…

Swish! With the sound of curtains being drawn, the dazzling morning light shone directly onto Souta’s face. As he gradually regained consciousness due to the light, his body lying on the bed was continuously shaken. Then, a sweet sound, like the chirping of a bird, passed into his ears.

“Good morning!”

“Mm… Good morning…”

“Haaah… Whoa!” Seeing Akane’s face so close to him as she enthusiastically came to wake him up, Souta was immediately startled awake.

“Huh?! What’s going on?! Why is Akane in my room?! Where’s the door lock?!”

“I opened it without permission.”

“You can’t open it without permission, right?!”

Just outside the wide-open door, Nanami came out of her room to take a morning shower and happened to pass by. She poked her head in from the hall and took a peek with sleepy eyes.

“What’s up… Why’s it so noisy this morning…”

“Is it better to be noisy like this during the night?”

“Disturbing people’s sweet dreams!!”

Nanami, no longer sleepy after her roar, looked inside Souta’s room again and found Akane leaning over the bed where Souta was lying.

“This…! Why are ye behaving so outrageously so early in the morning!!”

“No, no! This is French behavior!”

“You’re not French!”

It’s hard to say whether everything French people do is French behavior.

“Th-this is just a step of the operation to wake Souta-kun up and make him happy! I was reading a shoujo manga before, and it said that boys who get woken up by girls in the morning are very happy! Nanami, come and wake Souta-kun up too!”

“Oh, thou art just a Souta, yet thou enjoyest the luxury of being woken up by a beautiful girl…”

In Nanami’s opinion, just waking Souta up was too revolting, so she looked at Souta disdainfully, full of mockery and contempt. She only looks disdainfully at our poor Souta.

“Th-that’s not it! No, I should say, I didn’t ask her to do that! By the way, Akane, how did you open the door of my room?!”

Although Souta’s mood was low, his energy was high. This could be said to be a very unfortunate state.

“I borrowed the spare key from Kikuno-senpai.”

“Huh?! Why does Okiku-nee have a spare key to my room?!”

“She said that was Big Sis’s privilege.”

““Big Sis’s privileges are really terrifying!””

Nanami and Souta shouted in unison. Seeing how close the two were, Akane felt lonely and whispered a complaint.

“Hmph, you guys left me out again, acting so in sync… But it doesn’t matter. I just want Souta-kun to be happy.”

“Yes… But right now, my lock isn’t working at all, and the happiness of staying in bed in the morning is gone. I’m in quite a distressing situation…”

“Dejection…”

Akane’s eyes welled up with tears because she had deprived Souta of happiness.

“Souta, don’t make Akane cry!”

“Oh… what a headache. Ah~ I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I’m really happy. I’m so lucky to have a girl come wake me up in the morning... It’s like, uh, since I’ve almost never tasted the feeling of happiness, I don’t know how to distinguish between happiness and unhappiness.”

Souta was hit in the back of his head by Nanami’s Princess Punch and frantically consoled Akane.

But after hearing his consolation, Akane unexpectedly cheered up.

“Ah! I actually made you worry about me, Souta-kun! But… I really like how Souta-kun and Nanami are so considerate.”

“…I can’t compare to Akane.”

“Heeheehee… ah, I accidentally started to taste happiness. Really, I should be letting unlucky Souta-kun taste it.”

“I don’t need it…”

That said, being told that you have bad luck isn’t very pleasant, and it made Souta a little depressed.

His sad aura emerged, causing Akane to panic.

“Ah?! No problem. Souta-kun has me here. The Souta-kun Happiness Operation exists for this purpose. I want to introduce my charming friend to Souta-kun. She’s the type of… charming girl that you would want to date!”

““…Uh-huh.””

Seeing her abruptly begin to speak unbelievable words again, Souta and Nanami still couldn’t help but look at her in wonder despite the fact they were slowly getting used to her behavior.

“This is the charming girl I recommend, Nanami Knight Bladefield.”

“I’ve already known her for a while!”

Souta complained without even looking at Nanami, who was pushed forward. Because he didn’t need to look at her to know her.

“You’ve got a keen eye for identifying charming girls. You’re really good at it, Souta-kun.”

“……”

''I think it was my keen eyes that were able to recognize Nanami at first…'' Souta began to recall that past. However, because many things happened in this short period of time, when he began to recall it, he even felt that it was a long time ago.

However, Akane interrupted his reminiscence.

“How about it, do you want to date Nanami?”

“Why must We date Souta, nyaa?!”

Akane looked very disappointed.

“Why dost thou have a ‘That’s impossible…’ look on your face? We are the one who should say that’s impossible!!”

“Nanami isn’t an idiot.”<ref> “That’s impossible” and “This idiot” sound similar in Japanese.</ref>

“Who said that to thee—?!”

Nanami roared at Akane, calling her a dumb idiot.

Since the door was open, it was Kikuno’s turn to poke her head in and take a peek at Souta’s incredibly noisy room.

“…I say, you three, I told Megumu to get you because you were late. But he just came back scared and said that there was an early-morning love triangle crisis in Sou-kun’s room, huh?”

“““It’s not a love triangle!!”””

The three people in the room retorted at Kikuno together.

Then, after shouting, Akane covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide.

“Wow!? We were just in sync…!! Finally… I finally did it…!! This way, I am also in sync with Souta-kun and Nanami!!”

Akane then held the two’s hands and started dancing, and the matter was left unsettled just like that. Everyone packed up, ate the Big Sis Breakfast Kikuno made for everyone, and then went to school.

Lunch break.

Souta stood up and left the table alone to go somewhere else...

“Souta-kun, where are you going?”

…But Akane grabbed the corner of his shirt to stop him. As for why she grabbed the corner of his shirt, it wasn’t because she thought, ''Go die, you dirty piece of trash!'' Rather, if she had hugged him from behind and said, ''Where are you going, Sou-kun~?'' it would seem too intimate. Why is this so extreme?

Also, the latter has apparently been patented the doting Big Sis.

“Sou-kun, it’s time for lunch. Where are you going? Is something going on? Do you want Big Sis to come with you?”

Big Sis’s doting was clearly beyond imagination.

“No... I’m just going to buy lunch.”

“There’s bento, though!”

As he said this, Megumu took out a cute tote bag and put it on the table. Incidentally, since he couldn’t carry that bag in the morning, Souta ended up carrying it for him.

“Is there a portion for me…?”

“Yep, I made it with Kikuno-san. Akane-san and Nanami-san also have a portion.”

“You didn’t have to do that… I can eat the bread from the cafeteria..."

Seeing Souta’s reclusive attitude again, Nanami, who had remained silent until now, spoke up:

“Thou art an idiot, Souta! This idiot Souta! Stop talking nonsense and just accept their goodwill! More importantly, if they didn’t have the girlish motive of making lunch boxes for thee, We wouldn't be able to take a share of the spoils!”

“Okay…”

After listening to Nanami's words, Souta sighed helplessly.

However, this sentence made Megumu smile.

"Nanami-kun is so gentle… If only you got one, the gentle Souta-kun would feel bad. You said ‘We want it too’ in order to make it hard for him to refuse, right?”

“Huh?!… Th-that’s not the case…!!”

Souta had taken it literally, thinking that Nanami was selfish and smiling thinly, but now his eyes widened and he stared at Nanami, who blushed and fumbled to deny it.

“Is that so, Nanami?... Look at you, pretending to be an evil bastard.”

Souta, who himself didn’t really have any right to be criticizing people on pretending to be evil, smiled wryly.

“A-are ye idiots? Thinking too highly of me!? W-We ask for a lunchbox out of selfishness…!!”

Regardless of the truth, Nanami, trying so hard to hide her gentleness, ended up making everyone to look at her with warm eyes.

“D-d-d-do nyaat look at me like that—!!”

“Uwaahhh—!!”

Poked in the eye by Nanami, Souta screamed on behalf of everyone.

Souta, who was eating lunch alone a few days ago, found himself having a lively and warm meal with the five members of the Quest House group in the blink of an eye.

“It's better to eat with a lot of people. Even 800 people would be no problem.”

“So many!!”

“If we want 800 people to have lunch together, I think it would be better to hold a banquet.”

“Eh, you’re continuing on that topic?!”

Kikuno unexpectedly brought up Akane’s words again, and this unforeseen situation shocked Megumu.

“The atmosphere at a banquet might be inexplicably awkward, though.”

“So individualism is the way to go after all!”

“Too extreme!!”

The conversation between Miss Heiress and Her Princess Highness, who were very used to banquets, was very high-class.

“'''''One or All, and All or 1.'''''”

“Isn’t it '''''for'''''?” Megumu asked.

“It’s not '''''for'''''.”

“No, it is '''''for''''', though! '''''For''''' has gotta be correct, right?!” Souta exclaimed.

“Looks like the boys like '''''for'''''.”

“This isn’t a matter of preference—!!”

“Sou-kun’s retorts are really no-holds-''baran''…”

The ''baran'' at the end of no-holds-''baran'' doesn’t refer to the green plastic Yamagata leaf that separates the side dishes in the bentos Souta and co. were currently eating. Speaking of which, although ''baran'' is the common name, its official name seems to be ''haran''. If the common name were also ''haran'', why would it take so many lines to explain ''haran''? It’s really a pity to think about this. In any case, we shouldn’t talk about something so off-topic.<ref> ''Baran'' and ''haran'' are alternate pronunciations for the same green plastic Yamagata leaf.</ref>

“By the way, Sou-kun, is the omelette Big Sis made delicious?”

“Yep… I see there are two kinds of omelettes. Why is that?”

“That’s made by one”

“Oh, this is delicious too. Sweet omelette.”

Megumu had been smiling shyly and timidly, perhaps because he wasn’t confident about the taste. But after hearing Souta’s words, he made a cute little “I did it♡” victory pose like a little girl.

“Sorry… I’m sorry, Sou-kun… If I’d known earlier, Big Sis would’ve also made sweet omelettes for Sou-kun… Because Sou-kun liked to eat salty omelettes when he was little, so Big Sis accidentally… I’m such a useless Big Sis who doesn’t understand Sou-kun’s preferences… I’m sorry…”

Megumu was overjoyed, but Kikuno was quite depressed.

''So doting!!''

The doting Big Sis’s words and actions shocked the students who were eating in the classroom.

“Okiku-nee, you’re being too dramatic. Besides, I really like Okiku-nee’s omelette too!”

“Sou-kun... has grown into a kind-hearted little brother…!”

Big Sis was deeply moved.

Akane leaned over from the side.

“How does my omelette taste?”

“Huh? I haven’t eaten it before…?”

“Based on the current conversation, I thought I could get an answer of ‘It’s delicious’, but it was a failure.”

“What’s with this feeling of confrontation…?”

Nanami put an octopus sausage into her mouth and cast a weird look at Akane’s strange behavior.

“By the way, Akane, what happened to the introduction thou wast talking about this morning? We can’t be the only choice, right…?”

“It felt like Nanami would fail, so that was something like a throwaway option.”

“What does that mean…?”

Although she didn’t want to date Souta at all, it was still quite unpleasant to be told as much. This is a woman’s heart.

“Heeheehee… Now comes the main event. I think Souta fits better with girls who are a bit assertive.”

“Ah, Big Sis might also agree with this.”

On this basis, the three or four girls (?) present are all a bit assertive in different respects.

By the way, when Souta saw the defeat flag raised above Akane’s head, he kind of wondered what was up with that; but he just wondered and didn’t take any particular actions.

“I’ve already sent a text, she should almost be here.”

In the blink of an eye—

The classroom door was violently flung open and a female student barged in.

“Fuhahahahahaha, Mahougasawa Akane-kun!! What business do you have with this student president Seiteikouji Mimori?!”

Just then, for some unknown reason, everyone except Akane seemed to see a failure flag above Mimori’s head. But you can roughly tell the reason, so it wasn’t really unknown… So why it said “Just then, for some unknown reason…” is the real unknown.

As the word “unknown” went through Gestaltzerfall<ref> The phenomenon where a word begins to look weird and lose its meaning when you stare at it too long</ref>, Akane pushed Souta forward.

“Please go on a date with Souta-kun around campus.”

“Huh?!”

Mimori froze for a full thirty seconds.

Afterwards, she turned her back to everyone, took out a comb and portable mirror to comb her hair, reapplied lip balm, and secretly made “Ah~ Ah~ Ha! Uh-huh!” sounds to warm up her voice. She also said in a very cute voice “Annoying… everyone’s looking…” After practicing her lines, she thought to herself, ''Very well! Yours truly’s constant daily practicing is all for today!'', struck a victory pose, then faced Souta and co. again.

“Can’t be helped! Since you’re so insistent, how can a student president who exists for the students refuse? What a headache, Akane-kun!”

“You’re laughing so happily and having a headache at the same time!!”

The unprecedented response shocked Akane silly.

Moreover, because Mimori made a cute expression that strayed completely from her original personality, the people around her couldn’t help but take a step away from her.

“N-no big deal. Hatate-kun too, if you had told yours truly earlier, yours truly would’ve helped you embezzle any amount of student council funds when renovating the dorm…”

“No, no, don’t embezzle…”

“Alright, stop dilly-dallying in a place like this, now we’ll let the young people chat on their own!”

Although the matter hadn’t been fully discussed, Souta and Mimori were kicked out of the classroom at Akane’s urging.

Next, not long afterwards—

Souta, feeling particularly tired, saw three or four girls (?) waiting for him with sparkling eyes as he entered the classroom.

Only Nanami pretended to be uninterested, but from the way she kept glancing at Souta, it was clear that she was actually quite interested. Just like how people look at bra straps visible under summer uniforms.

“What’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the student president go?!”

“Not very well…”

Akane asked, ready to lean forward at any moment, and Souta gave a vague response with a pale face.

“Maybe Souta was actually the only one there, completely alone.”

“Then what was with me?!”

“The student president’s ghost.”

“Nooooooooooooo!! Nonononono!! One is super scared of ghosts and stuff—!!”

Megumu screamed super cutely and covered her ears like crazy.

“Then what’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the ghost of the student president go?”

“Megumu’s making so much noise nearby, I can’t hear what Akane said at all.”

“Huh? What? Souta-kun, I can’t hear you at all.”

Looks like the ultrasonic waves emitted by Megumu drowned out all the surrounding sounds.

“Megu-chan, thou art very noisy.”

“Mmph!!”

Nanami stopped Megumu’s paranormal ultrasonic waves by stuffing leftover rice balls from lunch into his mouth. A little later and ghosts would have been attracted by the ultrasonic waves. Really dangerous.

“So, what's the result? Are ye closer? O-oh yeah, We don’t care, but Akane and Kikuno are particularly concerned.”

“It’s passable… I guess.”

Souta’s expression was extremely difficult to describe, but Akane, who was thinking positively, interpreted this vague statement in a positive way. She smiled and said:

“Really? That’s great!”

But—

When the image of Mimori and Souta getting along well with each other appeared in her mind…

…Akane’s chest felt pierced again.

''Strange… why…?''

It seemed very happy...but also seemed very lonely.

She appeared about to cry, but smiled awkwardly. From the head of Akane who was full of confusion—

“…Huh?!”

——Souta saw a love flag raised…

That day, after returning to the dorm, someone knocked on Nanami’s door.

When she opened the door, she saw Souta standing in front of her, not even out of uniform yet.

“What’s wrong? What’s with the sad face? No, Souta always makes this face.”

“……”

Souta couldn’t refute her extremely harsh words and forced a smile.

“That’s it. Just smile a little. Otherwise, even the people looking at it would be infected with depression.”

As they spent more time together, Souta was able to feel the encouragement in Nanami’s harsh words and carefully-crafted evil facade. He knew that it was Nanami’s clumsy expression of gentleness, so he put on a gentle smile.

“…Yeah. Thank you, Nanami.”

“Wh-why art thou thanking me? Weirdo!”

Nanami said this flustered, perhaps not realizing her own gentleness. Souta felt that this clumsiness was also very much like Nanami and quite liked it.

“…So? What dost thou want from me?”

“Hmm… it’s hard to put into words…”

Seeing Souta hesitate, Nanami guessed that it might be something not for others to hear, so she could only reluctantly invite Souta into her room.

“So, what is it? If it’s something trivial, We shall spread word to the News Club that thou art actually a soccer recruit.”

“But as for soccer, I’ve only ever played intramural soccer with my friends before, though?”

“When the time comes, a lot of expectant people will come to thou respectfully and ask you to join the soccer club. Just wait, thou shalt need to explain, deny, and reject them one by one, then suffer.”

“What an incredibly effective way to completely crush someone’s spirits!!”

Souta, whose mind was somewhat drained by the retorts, felt that all his worries were gone and it was easier for him to speak up; however, it was hard to say whether Nanami had considered such a long-term view at the beginning.

“Actually… it’s like this. I hope you don’t tell anyone about this… Akane… just… raised a love flag…”

“……”

Nanami had an indescribably irritated expression on her face.

“Uh, I also recognize that you would think that it’s impossible for someone so popular like Akane to be interested in a guy like me. But the love flag was really raised…”

“Art thou an idiot?”

Nanami still had an irritated expression, frowning even harder as she declared:

“That kind of thing is obvious at a glance.”

“What…?”

“Didst thou not notice…? It’s because thou only carest about looking at flags that thou dost not notice people’s feelings, idiot.”

Nanami sighed as if she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Really…? Was it like that… No, but, didn’t Akane ask me to date Nanami or the student council president…”

“……”

Hearing Souta’s rebuttal, Nanami plopped down on the chair and crossed her arms.

“It was a private conversation between girls, so We didn’t intend to tell you… but forget it.”

Nanami just looked up at the ceiling and told Souta about the conversation during lunch when Souta and Mimori went out and only the girls were left.

……

…………

………………

When Akane packed up her empty bento and took out her dessert bento, Nanami asked something that suddenly occurred to her:

“But, Akane, since thou wantest Souta to be happy so much, why not just date him and make him happy? What’s the point of forcing it on other people?”

“Huh…”

Seeing Akane at a loss for words, Kikuno joined in the conversation as well. She assumed a position with her hands clasped together and her body leaned forward, looking like she wanted to join in very badly.

“That’s right. Big Sis thinks Akane-chan and Sou-kun are a good match– Ah, but Nanami and Sou-kun and Megu-chan and Sou-kun are good matches, though?”

“Thou shalt not think about strange things! We do not fall in love with other people’s lovers, so thou needest not to worry!”

Although Akane felt that this wasn’t entirely the case, she deliberately remained silent, thinking that based on Nanami’s belligerent aura she’d be scolded if she said something wrong.

Megumu was forced into the center of discussion. He was terrified of this situation, but he tried his best to muster up courage, twisted his body cutely, and joined the conversation with a trembling voice:

“One sees Akane-chan do a lot for Souta-kun, so one always thought that Akane-chan likes Souta-kun.”

“N-no, no… I… I…”

“……”

At first, Akane violently shook her hands in denial, then lowered her head slightly, hesitating. Seeing this, everyone waited quietly for her next words.

“I definitely can’t make Souta-kun… No, no matter who I date, I definitely can’t make them happy…”

After saying this, Akane displayed a dejected expression.

Seeing her inexplicably distressed look, Nanami and co. were speechless.

Nanami didn’t know what Akane’s real thoughts were, nor did she know what part of Akane’s words were true. But she figured there must be a reason why Akane was so stubborn.

Nanami always thought that this was Souta’s knot to untie.

………………

…………

…

“…Anyway, that’s what happened.”

Nanami observed Souta’s reaction as she narrated. He seemed to have an idea in his mind.

“There’s a flag next to Akane’s love flag… I think it’s probably a trauma flag… It and the love flag seem to come as a set.”

“…Oh.”

Nanami confirmed that her suspicions weren’t completely wrong, uncrossed her arms, and raised her chin.

“Whenever Akane’s love flag waves grandly and powerfully, the trauma flag also wriggles painfully.”

“After all, falling in love with Souta is a painful thing.”

“……”

On that point, Souta was quite aware of that. Knowing that he can’t be helped being told that, he sighed and leaned against the wall.

“…What do you think I should do, Nanami?”

“Why ask Us?”

“I can’t think it through by myself… I don’t know what I should do. It’s because, for a long time, I haven’t… thought about myself… Though saying this is pretty embarrassing.”

“What can We do~ Everybody comes to Us for help… After all, considering my pedigree and prestige, it can’t be helped!!”

Nanami, self-importantly sticking out her flat chest, was sympathetic, and Souta was unable to respond.

“Getting back to the point… if even thyself doesn’t know what to do, how can other people know?”

“I feel like I’m… just torturing Akane…”

“…Then, dost thou want to try to keep a little distance? After all, Akane has been clinging to thee lately… No, Kikuno and Megumu are the same.”

Nanami didn’t mention herself at all, smiling with slight mockery.

“Keep my distance…? …You’ve got a point.”

While this approach was very passive, this might be the only way to deal with Akane, who can quickly recover even if her flag is actively broken.

Although the question of whether trying to deal with Akane is right or wrong remains up in the air.

After this delicate conversation ended like this, remaining unclear as to whether it had been resolved or not, Nanami and Souta walked out of the room and ran into Akane and Kikuno in the hall.

“Oh? What did you two sneak around and do? Can you tell Big Sis about it too?”

Kikuno approached Souta with a smile, looking like a clingy Big Sis who really wanted to take care of her little brother.

“No… We weren’t sneaking around…”

“Then, what did you do?”

Kikuno asked happily.

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to control her little brother’s actions very badly.

“…Nothing, just talked a bit.”

“Oh? Talk about what? Can you let Big Sis join in~?”

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to improve her relationship with her little brother very badly.

“Nothing… nothing worth mentioning…”

“Huh — so it’s something you can’t tell Big Sis about… Sou-kun left Big Sis and became independent, Big Sis is so lonely…”

Kikuno’s body was full of only sisterly love, making her dejected. Souta was in a dilemma.

"Ah. B-but Big Sis thinks Sou-kun and Nanami are a good match. Aahhh, but Mimori and Akane will be sad… As a big sister, who should I support? Ah, but no matter who Sou-kun chooses in the end, remember that Big Sis will always stand on Sou-kun’s side!"

“Uh…”

Faced with this almost soliloquous sisterly love, not only Souta but also Akane and Nanami took a step back.

“So, Big Sis will keep Sou-kun and Nanami’s passionate affair in the room a secret from Akane-chan.”

“Akane is right beside us though!?”

“…Huh?”

For Big Sis’s great love often ignored everything else except her little brother and was blind to everyone else. How terrifying.

Akane, hearing the secrets being whispered in front of her, seemed to have a little bit of a headache. She looked back and forth between Nanami and Souta and said:

“L-listen… I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that Nanami and Souta-kun were in that kind of relationship…”

“What kind of relationship?!”

At Nanami’s retort, Akane’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.

This blatant misunderstanding of hers was obviously influenced by Kikuno’s words just now.

“If you had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have made a fuss and would’ve given you two my blessings a long time ago!”

“Thou art making a fuss with those random assumptions—!!”

Nanami felt that the conversation between her and Akane was completely unproductive and she couldn’t help but clutch her head in frustration.

''This world is really full of busybodies…'' Souta thought from a distance.

“Hmph! Kikuno-senpai, leave this place to the two young people, let’s excuse ourselves!”

“Y-you’re right! Sorry, Sou-kun! Big Sis is too intrusive!”

As if they would die if the misunderstanding was resolved, Akane and Kikuno did not give people a chance to resolve the misunderstanding. After nodding to each other, they raised their hands to indicate “Please take it slow!” while mouthing “Heehee, being young is great” and jogged away.

“… Why did things turn out like this?”

Having been paired with Souta without her consent, Nanami said, her expression collapsing.

“B-but, anyways, this means there’s hope of keeping my distance from Akane… right? Right?”

“Don’t drag other people into thy own affairs!!”

“Ack!!”

Nanami grabbed Souta’s neck and fiercely threw him to the ground. She glared at Souta resentfully, turned her face away with a harrumph, and left with heavy footsteps.

Kikuno and Akane, who had pretended to leave but had actually hidden in the bathroom to spy on the hall, felt sorry for the two with an “Oof!”

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun, he—!”

“I think it’s because Nanami is jealous that Souta-kun spent a lot of time talking to Kikuno-senpai and me.”

“Of course not!!”

Because the two just happened to be in the direction of Nanami’s movements, Nanami heard their conversation in its entirety, causing her to roar in anger.

That evening—

In the kitchen, Souta was peeling potatoes with full concentration like a chef apprentice. Kikuno, who was cooking nearby, and Akane, who was helping, approached him with a meaningful chuckle like “Heh heh heh…”

“Sou-kun. Big Sis wants to ask Sou-kun for something.”

“…What's up?”

Because he usually found himself being doted on, whenever he meets a doting Big Sis getting ready to spoil him, Souta is completely unable to mount resistance. That is what happens when you fall into a Big Sis’s perfected Control Domain. For a fish, this so-called “Control Domain” is the sea, or maybe a river. Doesn’t matter which of the two.

Or maybe a pond. Didn’t we just say it didn’t matter which?

“Big Sis forgot to buy carrots. Could you run an errand?”

“Okay, no big deal.”

Souta, who had been worried about what he would be asked to do, smiled in relief.

However, Akane interrupted as if it were her turn to take the stage:

“Since you’re going out, why don’t you go with Nanami?”

“Uh…”

“Ah, you’re right! Since it’s dangerous to carry carrots alone! That’s a good idea!”

“……”

It seems asking him to buy carrots was not the goal in and of itself.

Souta, feeling a headache coming on, looked at Nanami — she was currently on the sofa in the living room next to the dining room next to the kitchen reading a book — and sent a plea for help.

“……”

The conversation that Kikuno and co. were purposely having with a certain person had already long reached Nanami’s ears through the dining room, but Nanami pretended not to notice.

Looking closely, there was an angry “#” mark on her temple, showing that she had heard something unpleasant. Or maybe her blood pressure was very high. She was clearly still so young.

“So! You and Nanami have to go together, Sou-kun!”

“Coming back late is fine, too!”

“……”

Kikuno and Akane rushed over and stuffed a shopping bag and wallet into Souta’s embarrassed hands

The two urged Souta to “Hurry, hurry, be careful on the road” and pushed his back forcefully, and Souta began to have nowhere else to go. In other words, he was cornered by the animation.<ref> Apparently a marketing slogan used by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantei_Opera_Milky_Holmes ''Tantei Opera Milky Homes''] PSP game referring to its cutscenes when you catch the villains</ref>

Since Kikuno and Akane had expectant attitudes of “I’ve created an opportunity for them!” and both of them had “Cornering Complete” flags raised above their heads, Souta’s escape route was cut off and he had no choice but to walk towards Nanami, who was ignoring him to the end.

“No wonder… Nanami?”

“Whaddaya want?!”

She seems to be angry already. How scary.

“C-can you go shopping with me?”

“Don’t wanna.”

“I thought so…”

Souta was about to go back dejectedly, but when he saw Kikuno and Akane slightly grumpily standing behind him, he gasped “Huh?!”

“No, Sou-kun! Girls are very shy, you have to be more sincere and actively ask her out!”

“That’s right, Souta-kun! Nanami’s a ''tsundere'', you have to work hard before she enters her ''dere'' phase. Though she’s a delinquent tsundere.”

“Who’s the delinquent ''tsundere''?”

Nanami was hit dead-on by the groundless claim. She couldn’t ignore it this time and snapped. This was the ''tsun'' phase. Or maybe the snap phase. The time period when you take and send lots of selfies in that yellow app.<ref> Chinese pun went ''snap (发飙) → snap phase (飙期) → tiger-stripe phase (彪期) → tabby-cat-pattern time period (虎斑花色的时期)'', tabby cat = tiger-striped cat. As a treat for reading this, here is my alternate draft: ''She couldn’t ignore it this time and '''cracked'''. This was the'' tsun ''phase. Or maybe the '''crack''' phase. '''The time period when you like to have Coke.''''' I think the alt version is funnier, but it doesn’t really fit the tone.</ref>

“Sou-kun, why don’t you try asking Nanami again? Oh, do you want Big Sis to ask her with you? Hmm? Hmm?”

''The doting Big Sis… dotes habitually…'' Nanami thought thusly and looked up from the sofa at Souta and Kikuno, fed up.

Souta had a look on his face saying “What should I do?” and pleaded at Nanami for help again.

“Don’t look at Us!”

Nanami was apoplectic. Speaking of which, “apoplectic” has two p’s and two c’s. How complicated. Feels like this issue has been discussed elsewhere already, but for some reason we’ll keep doing it.

“Akane-chan, as a Big Sis, I really want to help Sou-kun! What can I do to convince Nanami?”

A doting Big Sis’s doting on her little brother knows no limit.

“How about an errand fee as bait?”

“That's great! Sou-kun, here’s the errand fee. Use the errand fee as bait, okay?”

Kikuno proudly presented someone else’s proposal, and Souta forced a smile in cold sweat.

“Uh no, I heard it very clearly... Hear that, Nanami? There’s an errand…”

“Don’t want it!!”

Since the distance was very close, if Souta could hear it, Nanami certainly couldn’t fail to hear it, so Nanami immediately refused before Souta finished speaking.

Seeing Nanami glaring at him as if to say “These idiot siblings!”, Souta almost cried. He was willing to ask anyone for help, whether they were a god or a buddha. He must be thinking that he might as well go pray at a temple.

“Jeez, fine! Just need Us to come, right? We will go!”

As a result, Nanami suffered such a fate due to her caring personality of being unable to say no when asked.

“Hey, come on, Souta! What art thou still stalling about for! Stalling Souta! Stall-ta!”

“Don’t give me random nicknames!!”

Stall-ta made an aggrieved cry.

Seeing Nanami walking furiously and taking the lead, Souta desperately followed her. Kikuno shouted at his back:

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun! Hand! Hand! You have to hold hands!”

“We shall absolutely not do that!!"

Before Souta could answer, Nanami replied heatedly. This was the heat phase. Don’t know what that means, but it sounds pretty fiery.

Nanami and Souta left the dormitory and took a bumpy ride on the tram, finally arriving at a place known as the campus shopping street, where there were many shops, half of which were run by students engaged in club activities.

After buying carrots as instructed at the supermarket in the school shopping street, the two left the supermarket.

During this period, the two remained silent.

Either their relationship is so bad that it is irreparable, or they are so indifferent to each other that it is irreparable, or they are so desperate to buy things that it is irreparable. In any case, it can be said that their relationship is irreparable.

“…By the way, Souta.”

On their way back, Nanami finally spoke, her tone clearly indicating her rage. Souta was so frightened that he shook uncontrollably.

“What’s up, Nanami…?”

“We have been curious this whole time.”

“Um…?”

Her roundabout way of speaking made Souta tilt his head in confusion.

“Ever since we left the dorm— what’s up with these two following us this whooooooooooole time?!”

Nanami’s teeth were grinding not because of sleep bruxism<ref> Condition where you grind your teeth uncontrollably in your sleep</ref>, but because she was wholly subjected to an irritation bordering on wrath.

Then, the unrivaled troop of Kikuno and Akane — thinking that they were stalking unnoticed — hid behind the cake shop’s sign board and observed Nanami and Souta.

“Oh! They finally started a conversation, Kikuno-senpai!”

“Them two being so immature is also a problem, Akane-chan!”

“I keep feeling like they’re looking at me.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hands! Hold hands!”

It seems that Big Sis just wants her brother to hold a girl’s hand no matter what.

“Ah, they seem to be coming this way.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hug her from behind!”

“Hugging, my foot!!”

Because they were busy peeping, they didn’t notice that Nanami had already approached them face-to-face.

“Huh?! Nanami, nonono! This isn’t stalking!”

“…Then what is it?”

Akane was fiercely cornered by Nanami. She was cornered by the animation.

“…K-Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like that, isn’t it?”

“Nuh-uh, Akane-chan. Can’t believe you were stalking people. Good thing I came to stop you.”

“An unexpected betrayal!!”

Having been reprimanded by Big Sis with a “Naughty!” gesture, Akane was hit hard.

“Okiku-nee…”

Even Souta couldn’t let them get away with it scot-free. So the two of them sincerely apologized and the four of them went back to the dorm together.

“Ahh!! Everyone’s back! That’s great!”

Seeing Nanami and the others coming back together, Megumu, who was panicking in the dorm kitchen, rushed over to Souta with tears in his eyes and gave him a girl hug.

This so-called girl hug consists of leaning towards someone, holding their chest with both hands, and embracing them. It is an elegant way of hugging.

“Wh-what's wrong, Megumu?”

“When one came back, one saw that the food was half-cooked and felt like there were people there until just now, but there’s nobody there, so it’s just like the ''Mary Celeste''! One was so scared!!”

The ''Mary Celeste'' was a ship involved in a mysterious incident. According to the urban legend — they say that all the people on the ship disappeared into thin air, and it became an unmanned ship drifting on the sea. The half-eaten breakfast on the ship was still hot, as if everyone was still sitting on the ship safely until a moment ago. How terrifying.<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste A real incident]</ref>

Seeing Megumu sob, Nanami also smiled bitterly:

“It’s okay, Megu-chan. You have a very vivid imagination…”

“That’s right, Megu-chan. Do you think that the us that just returned are really the us that Megu-chan knows?”

“What is that? How terrifying!!”

Akane said something strange, scaring Megumu into violent trembling. But was it really strange? If what she said was true… Mulder, you’re sick, you’re not thinking straight.<ref> X-Files reference</ref>

“Or maybe Megu-chan accidentally intruded into our domain?”

“How scary, how scary! Souta-kun, how scary!”

Kikuno also joined Akane’s evil prank. Megumu was trembling all over. He was no longer hugging Souta gracefully, but instead tightly wrapped his hands and legs around Souta's body, holding him in a state of imprint clinginess. Imprint clinginess was also called koala-clinging in the old days, and it was a sleeping technique showing a strong will to never separate.<ref> I don’t really understand what the Chinese used refers to, but I think the image of a baby koala clinging to its mother or baby birds sticking with whatever they imprint on should do the job.</ref>

“Both of you, please stop scaring Megumu… If he gets scared and moves out of the dorm, we’ll have to find a new dormmate again.”

“This means that in Souta’s mind, Megumu is just someone who fills up the dorm population quota.”

“Ah—!!”

Megumu’s spirit was already cornered by the animation, and Nanami added the final straw, causing him to open his mouth and start crying.

“J-just kidding, that was just a joke, okay?! Don’t cry, Megu-chan, why are you crying?!"

“Nanami’s too much.”

“That’s right, bad Nanami!”

“Ye have no right to speak!”

Kikuno, successfully pushing the bad-guy status onto Nanami, patted Megumu's head and said “Good boy, good boy” like a nanny comforting a child.

“I’m sorry, Megu-chan. Nanami can’t stand other girls being close to Sou-kun, so she couldn’t help but make fun of you. Just forgive her, okay?”

“That’s not it——!!”

Nanami was furious at the unfounded rumors.

So Nanami and co. had dinner later than usual — for one, because everyone ended up running out to buy stuff that they really didn’t need to buy; for another, in order to comfort Megumu. But…

“Ah, Souta-kun, you should sit in my seat from now on.”

“Well… I’m fine with that.”

The seats at the table were changed, which made Souta have a question mark in his head for a moment. But when he saw that Nanami, who seemed to be in a bad mood, was next to the new seat, he immediately realized the intention.

Moreover, the chairs were placed so close together that Nanami and Souta's shoulders were almost touching.

“Was going to say, Akane…”

As long as Akane and Souta could keep their distance, Nanami would have originally preferred to ignore it. But perhaps because she was getting annoyed at being paired together for no reason, Nanami sighed deeply and looked at Akane with a stern face.

“Ah! Ah! You don’t have to say it, I know everything, Nanami!”

“Hmm… What dost thou know…”

That might just be the kind of personality Akane has, but ever since she came to this dorm she keeps going a little too far with it — at this thought, Nanami pouted slightly.

“Would it be better for the two of you to sit facing each other at a private table?”

“You don’t know anything at all!!”

The little princess felt dizzy.

“Nanami has entered her ''tsun'' phase…”

“It’s not the ''tsun'' phase, not the ''dere'' phase, nor the dog phase!!”

People in the dog phase will have dog ears, and will pee when they are happy. In other words, drowning<ref> The character for ‘drown’ can also mean ‘to pee’ lmao</ref> in happiness. Although they always feel that they have lost something important from a human perspective, they can’t help it because they are dogs. The most important thing for dogs is bones. When they get bones, they will drown in happiness.

Big Sis Kikuno, ecstatic to see her little brother sitting side by side with a cute girl, poked Souta’s shoulder with a smile.

“Hurry up, Sou-kun. Say ‘Open up~♡’ to feed her, open up♡”

“We will absolutely not eat it!”

Souta obediently picked up some of the beef stew with his chopsticks and was about to bring it to Nanami’s mouth. At the same time, Nanami raged.

“Hey~ Nanami, just eat it. Souta’s so sad…”

“Thou doting Big Sis…”

Nanami glared around angrily. Next to her, Souta absent-mindedly fiddled with his chopsticks and beef stew. He saw Megumu glance at him a few times with big, round eyes, so he said “Open up~♡” and fed Megumu.

“There’s a bromantic taste to it!”

Megumu was talking so giddily that Souta didn’t know how to answer him, so he pretended to be expressionless and nodded vaguely.

After dinner ended in a mess, it was Akane and Nanami’s turn to wash the dishes, but...

“Souta-kun, can you switch with me? The next time it’s your turn to wash the dishes, I’ll do it.”

“… Yeah… I’m fine with that.”

“Then thou shouldst switch with Us, Souta.”

Hearing Nanami was about to change it, Akane hurriedly tried to stop her.

“N-no no. Nanami has to wash the dishes with Souta-kun and say, ‘F-feels like we're newlyweds ♡’!”

“Why did it almost turn Megumu-like?!”<ref> What Akane wanted Nanami to say had an untranslatable verbal tic that Megumu tends to use; incidentally, Nanami has a different verbal tic </ref>

Megumu, who was wiping the table even though it wasn’t his chore, was surprised when his name was suddenly called.

“Anyways, We just don’t want to! We shall absolutely never pretend to be newlyweds with Souta!”

''A tsundere…''

''A tsundere…''

''A tsundere…''

Akane, Kikuno, and Megumu looked at Nanami with inexplicable gazes.

“Ah, but on a related note, after you finish washing the dishes, you two can take a bath together, right?”

“Who would want to take a bath together?!”

Kikuno, who had no authority, abused her non-existent authority to grant permission. But Nanami, the house prefect, vetoed it without using her authority.

“Souta-kun, you’re a pervert!!”

Megumu weakly hit Souta with something between a slap and a push, dealing zero damage. Then, he ran away to his room.

“…Megu-chan’s crying.”

“Sou-kun, a girl’s heart is very delicate. If you don’t treat her with the utmost care, it’ll be bad.”

“Uh, okay…”

Souta thought it was strange that they were worried about Megumu’s girl-heart since he pursued masculinity. Plus, at the end of the day, Kikuno was the one who hurt Souta, so he deliberated how to retort and finally decided to give up on it.

Afterwards, of course, Nanami and Souta did ''not'' take a bath together. However, Souta, who was about to enjoy some barley tea after taking his bath, happened to meet Nanami in the hallway.

Nanami, who had been quite angry recently, saw Souta gently raise his hand to greet her. She turned away with a snort and reached out to grab the door handle of her room. If she was ticked off, that means she isn’t on the list anymore.<ref> Original pun had something to do with Japanese onomatopoeia for peeling sounding similar to the one for being angry, I’m doing something completely different using ‘ticked off’ meaning both ‘angry’ and ‘crossed off a list’</ref>

Anyways, Nanami suddenly stopped as she was about to enter her room. She looked at the unbelievable scene in her room and began to suspect that she was dazzled.

“…Soooouutaaaaaa!”

“What?!”

When his name was suddenly called in a threatening tone, Souta felt his heart palpitate and turned his head at the same time. If instead his liver palpitated, then he’d been drinking too much.

“What’s going on with this—?!”

Nanami’s eyes narrowed as she yelled, and her expression became like a cat whose food was taken away.

“You asked me what’s going on… what’s… going on with what?”

Following Nanami’s finger pointing towards her room, Souta was speechless and froze in place.

In the middle of Nanami's room, which was a bit large because it was originally a double room, there were pink and blue mattresses for two people. The two mattresses were close together, and heart-shaped pillows were placed side by side.

“It wasn’t me…”

“Of course I know that!”

Souta did think, ''Hey, why are you yelling at me?'' But if he said it out loud, it might just add fuel to the fire, so Souta remained silent and turned his eyes from the furious Nanami back to the pair of bedsheets.

“…That bedsheet does come from my room.”

“That one’s my bedsheet! Those guys pulled it off the bed! Akane! Akaneeeeeee!!”

Nanami’s roar echoed through the hall.

“What’s going?”

After a moment, Akane opened the door and poked her head out. Then, Kikuno followed leisurely even though she was not called.

“Thou darest ask ''Us'' what’s going on?! What’s going on with this?!”

(monotone) “Oh my, I didn’t expect you two to have such a close relationship.”

“It’s so monotone, it’s like reading from a script!”

Although the culprit was instantly revealed, the whole world already knew before it was revealed.

“What dost thou intend, Akane!? …No, We already know what thou intendest.”

(monotone) “Haha, I wish you two happiness.”

Akane wasn’t even listening to Nanami.

“That’s enough! If We two can just sleep together lovey-dovey like this, wouldn’t that be weird?!”

“It’s not weird, but…”

“But what?”

“''We two'' sounds like you’ll have many Wiis, too.<ref> Since Nanami’s first-person pronoun is more like “this royal”, the original joke is that there will be many more royals… I hope what I’ve done is a good enough approximation.</ref> It’s really cute.”

“Akaneeeeeeee!”

Akane, who didn’t listen to others carefully, made Nanami angry. By the way, “We two” means “us two”.

Seeing the two arguing, Souta murmured his thoughts:

“By the way, that pillow is a Yes/No pillow…”

The Yes/No pillow is used by lovey-dovey couples. When they want to be affectionate, they turn the Yes pillow to the front. When they want to concentrate on sleeping without even looking at their partner, they turn it to No.

“What art thou looking at now… Why are both of them No?!"

“Yes isn’t good, okay— Big Sis thinks you can’t go to that stage yet.”

Kikuno poked Nanami and Souta’s foreheads with her finger and said, “That’s naughty!”

“It’s all too early, alright?! No, it’s not a matter of earliness! Who would want to use this kind of thing, regardless of whether it’s earlier or later?!”

Nanami gradually went insane… Little by little, Souta began to distance himself from.

Seeing her frantic look, Akane might have become uneasy too. Akane crossed her arms over her chest with a ''Hmm~'', then looked at Kikuno.

“See, Kikuno-senpai. Nanami isn’t Japanese, so putting their sheets side by side doesn’t suit her tastes.”

“Hmm… but I even thought she’d be very touched.”

“That’s not the issue!”

There was a gradual gap between the two sides’ understandings. Souta felt that the matter could no longer be resolved and wanted to take his sheets from Nanami’s room as soon as possible, but he could not find the opportunity and was at the end of his rope.

“That's enough! Now We understand!!”

“You finally understand!”

Although they were probably talking about different things, Akane happily grasped Nanami’s hand.

“Since Akane wants to help Souta find a girlfriend so much, Akane should just date him!!”

““Eh…!!””

Nanami uttered a critical sentence that could be considered an irreversible statement, and Akane and Souta froze together.

Then, they awkwardly looked at each other’s faces.

The countless friendship flags above Akane’s head fell down like dominoes, and were reborn one by one as imposing love flags, standing tall.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Intermission]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6

2025-03-26T16:21:35Z

Person72635: /* Flag 6: The Very First Quest */

==Flag 6: The Very First Quest==

After a few days—

As their life together began, the Quest House buddies became more and more united with each passing day.

However, this should be due to the fact that they had pretty good chemistry to begin with.

Only, for especially-low-chemistry Souta, other people actively approaching him was fine, but he would almost never take initiative to talk to others.

For example, while the other four were chatting in the living room furnished with a soft sofa, coffee table, and soft carpet and constantly enticing people to join in, he would look at the happy atmosphere from the hall and directly pass by despondently.

Akane noticed this with her sharp eyes, and while worrying about his sad aura, she thought:

''Are you sad because the coffee table isn’t soft?''

But if even the coffee table was soft, guests might spill their drinks and never come back. No, the current softness ratio was just right so that this wouldn’t happen — Akane would later figure this out. She should have figured it out immediately, right?

Come to think of it, was it right to exclude Souta and just chat there herself? We need to go find him — although they all had this kind of thought, the situation had started with just Akane and Nanami chatting, with Kikuno joining in later and Megumu also joining in. Everything happened naturally, so they definitely didn’t exclude Souta on purpose.

Aside from the aforementioned situation, Souta exuded a sad aura no matter what he did, which always tortured Akane’s girlish heart.

A lonely profile that broke people’s hearts.

Although the amount of times Souta showed that depressing expression when he was with everybody decreased a lot, Akane still wanted to completely eliminate Souta’s sad aura, so she made up her mind.

First, in order to prepare for her operation, Akane consulted Kikuno, who should know Souta best.

“Eh? You want to make Sou-kun happy?”

After hearing Akane explain the important thing they needed to discuss, Kikuno asked this question.

Akane nodded seriously. Kikuno zoned out for a moment, then her whole body trembled as she hugged Akane tightly.

“Kikuno-senpai!?”

“Akane-chan, you’re such a good kid! Welcome to the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance!”

“Huh, there’s an alliance like that?”

“Akane-chan is the esteemed second member!”

Seems like a rather lonely alliance.

“Then, what kind of activities has the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance done so far?”

“Looking at Sou-kun when he’s happy is really soothing for the soul!”

“Its purpose is actually the opposite!?”

When Akane is with normal people, she should always garner retorts. But Kikuno, who’s able to make Akane retort, should really reflect on herself. Maybe she only becomes stupid when encountering something related to her little brother.

“Oh... So you want Sou-kun to be happy. Hmm... Of course a boy’s happiness comes from having a wonderful romance with a girl, I think.”

“Romance?!”

Kikuno proposed an unusually difficult solution, and Akane crossed her arms and pondered it.

She didn’t want to brag, but whether it was because of her innocent nature or her status as a rich heiress, it was difficult for boys to approach her. In her life so far, Akane hadn’t had any fate with love that could be called romance.

“I understand it now! Let’s implement the Souta-kun Romance Operation!”

Speaking of which, the contents of the operation hadn’t been planned out before. In other words, it wasn’t an operation at all.

Even Akane would discover this fact when it was time to implement it. But she couldn’t think of any good ideas, so she consulted Nanami this time.

“…Thou wantest Souta to have a romance?”

Nanami scoffed.

Akane scoffed in response.

“Why is Akane laughing too?!”

“I thought it’s better to laugh than not…”

“We cannot understand your motives!?”

The secret is: Akane didn’t know what her motives were either. But she made it so obvious, one could say it practically wasn’t a secret. Then it isn’t a secret, right?!

“Thou really likest Souta——...”

“I always felt that from the first time I met Souta, my chest tightens and I want to do something for him.”

Seeing Akane become shy, Nanami, who’d half-jokingly made an offhand comment, suddenly frowned.

“… So thou fellest in love at first sight?”

“Huh…?”

“Hast thou never fallen in love at first sight?”

Akane shook her head repeatedly.

“Huh…? Huh…? This is… love at first sight…?”

“……”

Nanami unflinchingly stared at the panicked Akane.

“N-no, no! It must be… I-it’s not like that…”

“Nevermind~ It’s fine, treat it as Our misunderstanding. Let’s not talk about that for now. Why didst thou come to ask Us such a thing?”

“Because Nanami is a charming girl, you’re definitely a love veteran or ''bateren''<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirishitan Japanese word for the first Christian missionaries,] but the meaning isn't really relevant to the joke</ref>.”

Veteran and ''bateren'' sound similar but are different. Why she listed them both, Akane herself didn’t know either. Turns out she really didn’t know.

Unfortunately, thanks to her personality, Nanami still only glared at, belittled, and kicked the boys around her, so her romance power level was almost the same as Akane’s, only five. Huh, pitiful!<ref> [https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Ball_Z_Kai:_Season_1_(Quotes)#:~:text=Raditz%3A%20You%20have%20a%20power,Huh%2C%20pitiful.&text=Raditz%3A%20Huh%2C%20it's%20a%20race%20of%20utter%20weaklings. Raditz quote] from Dragon Ball Z Kai.</ref>

Nanami, who had fought desperately with her pitiful romance power level, said with resentment:

“… Ask boys about a boy’s romance.”

This is surrendering without a fight.

Akane felt as if Nanami had secretly refused to offer her advice and wandered around the dormitory dejectedly.

“Boys… are there any reliable boys…”

“You called, Mahougasawa-san?!”

Megumu jumped out of the laundry room, where he had been washing his clothes in the laundry machine, and Akane let out a strange cry of “Uwaahh!?”

“There is no boy more reliable than this man among men — Touzokuyama Megumu!”

“Um…”

Megumu, dressed in casual clothes, wore a girly knitted sweater, honeycomb shorts, and striped kneesocks. His [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettai_ry%C5%8Diki zettai ryouiki] was very dazzling and brimming with cuteness. Add to that his bow necklace which further enhanced his femininity.

Even Akane seemed to think that his femininity was higher than her own. Rather than Megumu’s reliability, Akane was more confused about whether she could even consider Megumu a boy.

“Come on, if you have a problem, just discuss it with one! Just ask this one — who, because his manly body odor is too strong, relies on washing clothes to remove his manly body odor — known as the boy who always exudes the fragrance of soap and flowers!”

“Megu-chan, that would just increase your femininity, though.”

Megumu’s eyes lost their luster.

What’s more , only he thought it was a manly body odor, but it actually smelled sweet. Therefore, Megumu always exuded a sweet fragrance of soap and flowers.

But if this continued, Megumu would be unwilling to help. In order to try to make Megumu’s eyes regain their brilliance, Akane held Megumu’s hand with a tense smile.

“Uh! Oh! I-I do have something I want to discuss with a boy! A boy! A man among men! Megu-chan, are you willing to lend an ear?!”

“Well… if you don't mind one’s rising femininity, one will just listen to you…”

Although Megumu’s eyes hadn’t completely regained their brilliance, he seemed willing to help out. So Akane asked with a bright smile:

“Actually, it’s this…”

When Akane finished explaining her goals, Megumu’s face turned red. He hid half of both hands in his sleeves and pressed his fingers against his mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. His whole person seemed much cuter.

“O-one isn’t very good at romance…”

“You hate the chewy texture?”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Salmon roe.”

“Why did the topic suddenly turn to salmon roe?!”

“I suddenly brought up the topic of romance and you seemed burdened, so I changed the subject.”

“What kind of weird consideration is this?!”

Anyways, since Megumu seemed only reliable on the topic of salmon roe, Akane gave up on discussing romance with Megumu.

Speaking of fearing romance, Akane herself also… repeated what she did before. Not knowing what to do, she dejectedly wandered around the dorm while crying out “Ah…” or “Ugh~” They say that when Souta saw her, he thought, ''Is that a zombie game…?''

Of course, Souta didn’t particularly go over to show concern. Kikuno, seeing Akane at the same time, was giddy with excitement and said to her:

“I’m telling you, Akane-chan! I thought of many ideas afterwards, and I want to ask Akane-chan to date Sou-kun so that he can open his eyes to romance. What do you think of this idea?”

“N-no, not happening! I think Souta-kun would want to find a more charming girl than me!”

Maybe she learned a new move after seeing Megumu’s, but she hid half of her hands in her sleeves and pressed her fingers against her mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. Her whole person seemed much cuter, her femininity increasing by a huge leap.

“Mmm! Akane-chan is very charming though, and Big Sis thinks you two are a good match... But if that’s the case, how about introducing a charming girl Akane-chan knows to Sou-kun?”

“Good idea!! Or should I say good taste!!”

“Taste...?”

The topic of salmon eggs seemed to still linger somewhere in Akane’s mind.

That night, Akane stopped wandering around and stayed in her room, struggling to write a list of girls to introduce to him.

Upon conjuring up the image of a girl on the list getting along well with Souta and imagining his very happy smile, Akane’s joy slowly surged up like the warmth of basking in the sun during the winter… But—

“…Huh?”

Suddenly—

Akane felt a piercing pain in her chest and stopped writing the list.

However, that only lasted for a moment.

Akane immediately returned to work writing the list…

Swish! With the sound of curtains being drawn, the dazzling morning light shone directly onto Souta’s face. As he gradually regained consciousness due to the light, his body lying on the bed was continuously shaken. Then, a sweet sound, like the chirping of a bird, passed into his ears.

“Good morning!”

“Mm… Good morning…”

“Haaah… Whoa!” Seeing Akane’s face so close to him as she enthusiastically came to wake him up, Souta was immediately startled awake.

“Huh?! What’s going on?! Why is Akane in my room?! Where’s the door lock?!”

“I opened it without permission.”

“You can’t open it without permission, right?!”

Just outside the wide-open door, Nanami came out of her room to take a morning shower and happened to pass by. She poked her head in from the hall and took a peek with sleepy eyes.

“What’s up… Why’s it so noisy this morning…”

“Is it better to be noisy like this during the night?”

“Disturbing people’s sweet dreams!!”

Nanami, no longer sleepy after her roar, looked inside Souta’s room again and found Akane leaning over the bed where Souta was lying.

“This…! Why are ye behaving so outrageously so early in the morning!!”

“No, no! This is French behavior!”

“You’re not French!”

It’s hard to say whether everything French people do is French behavior.

“Th-this is just a step of the operation to wake Souta-kun up and make him happy! I was reading a shoujo manga before, and it said that boys who get woken up by girls in the morning are very happy! Nanami, come and wake Souta-kun up too!”

“Oh, thou art just a Souta, yet thou enjoyest the luxury of being woken up by a beautiful girl…”

In Nanami’s opinion, just waking Souta up was too revolting, so she looked at Souta disdainfully, full of mockery and contempt. She only looks disdainfully at our poor Souta.

“Th-that’s not it! No, I should say, I didn’t ask her to do that! By the way, Akane, how did you open the door of my room?!”

Although Souta’s mood was low, his energy was high. This could be said to be a very unfortunate state.

“I borrowed the spare key from Kikuno-senpai.”

“Huh?! Why does Okiku-nee have a spare key to my room?!”

“She said that was Big Sis’s privilege.”

““Big Sis’s privileges are really terrifying!””

Nanami and Souta shouted in unison. Seeing how close the two were, Akane felt lonely and whispered a complaint.

“Hmph, you guys left me out again, acting so in sync… But it doesn’t matter. I just want Souta-kun to be happy.”

“Yes… But right now, my lock isn’t working at all, and the happiness of staying in bed in the morning is gone. I’m in quite a distressing situation…”

“Dejection…”

Akane’s eyes welled up with tears because she had deprived Souta of happiness.

“Souta, don’t make Akane cry!”

“Oh… what a headache. Ah~ I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I’m really happy. I’m so lucky to have a girl come wake me up in the morning... It’s like, uh, since I’ve almost never tasted the feeling of happiness, I don’t know how to distinguish between happiness and unhappiness.”

Souta was hit in the back of his head by Nanami’s Princess Punch and frantically consoled Akane.

But after hearing his consolation, Akane unexpectedly cheered up.

“Ah! I actually made you worry about me, Souta-kun! But… I really like how Souta-kun and Nanami are so considerate.”

“…I can’t compare to Akane.”

“Heeheehee… ah, I accidentally started to taste happiness. Really, I should be letting unlucky Souta-kun taste it.”

“I don’t need it…”

That said, being told that you have bad luck isn’t very pleasant, and it made Souta a little depressed.

His sad aura emerged, causing Akane to panic.

“Ah?! No problem. Souta-kun has me here. The Souta-kun Happiness Operation exists for this purpose. I want to introduce my charming friend to Souta-kun. She’s the type of… charming girl that you would want to date!”

““…Uh-huh.””

Seeing her abruptly begin to speak unbelievable words again, Souta and Nanami still couldn’t help but look at her in wonder despite the fact they were slowly getting used to her behavior.

“This is the charming girl I recommend, Nanami Knight Bladefield.”

“I’ve already known her for a while!”

Souta complained without even looking at Nanami, who was pushed forward. Because he didn’t need to look at her to know her.

“You’ve got a keen eye for identifying charming girls. You’re really good at it, Souta-kun.”

“……”

''I think it was my keen eyes that were able to recognize Nanami at first…'' Souta began to recall that past. However, because many things happened in this short period of time, when he began to recall it, he even felt that it was a long time ago.

However, Akane interrupted his reminiscence.

“How about it, do you want to date Nanami?”

“Why must We date Souta, nyaa?!”

Akane looked very disappointed.

“Why dost thou have a ‘That’s impossible…’ look on your face? We are the one who should say that’s impossible!!”

“Nanami isn’t an idiot.”<ref> “That’s impossible” and “This idiot” sound similar in Japanese.</ref>

“Who said that to thee—?!”

Nanami roared at Akane, calling her a dumb idiot.

Since the door was open, it was Kikuno’s turn to poke her head in and take a peek at Souta’s incredibly noisy room.

“…I say, you three, I told Megumu to get you because you were late. But he just came back scared and said that there was an early-morning love triangle crisis in Sou-kun’s room, huh?”

“““It’s not a love triangle!!”””

The three people in the room retorted at Kikuno together.

Then, after shouting, Akane covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide.

“Wow!? We were just in sync…!! Finally… I finally did it…!! This way, I am also in sync with Souta-kun and Nanami!!”

Akane then held the two’s hands and started dancing, and the matter was left unsettled just like that. Everyone packed up, ate the Big Sis Breakfast Kikuno made for everyone, and then went to school.

Lunch break.

Souta stood up and left the table alone to go somewhere else...

“Souta-kun, where are you going?”

…But Akane grabbed the corner of his shirt to stop him. As for why she grabbed the corner of his shirt, it wasn’t because she thought, ''Go die, you dirty piece of trash!'' Rather, if she had hugged him from behind and said, ''Where are you going, Sou-kun~?'' it would seem too intimate. Why is this so extreme?

Also, the latter has apparently been patented the doting Big Sis.

“Sou-kun, it’s time for lunch. Where are you going? Is something going on? Do you want Big Sis to come with you?”

Big Sis’s doting was clearly beyond imagination.

“No... I’m just going to buy lunch.”

“There’s bento, though!”

As he said this, Megumu took out a cute tote bag and put it on the table. Incidentally, since he couldn’t carry that bag in the morning, Souta ended up carrying it for him.

“Is there a portion for me…?”

“Yep, I made it with Kikuno-san. Akane-san and Nanami-san also have a portion.”

“You didn’t have to do that… I can eat the bread from the cafeteria..."

Seeing Souta’s reclusive attitude again, Nanami, who had remained silent until now, spoke up:

“Thou art an idiot, Souta! This idiot Souta! Stop talking nonsense and just accept their goodwill! More importantly, if they didn’t have the girlish motive of making lunch boxes for thee, We wouldn't be able to take a share of the spoils!”

“Okay…”

After listening to Nanami's words, Souta sighed helplessly.

However, this sentence made Megumu smile.

"Nanami-kun is so gentle… If only you got one, the gentle Souta-kun would feel bad. You said ‘We want it too’ in order to make it hard for him to refuse, right?”

“Huh?!… Th-that’s not the case…!!”

Souta had taken it literally, thinking that Nanami was selfish and smiling thinly, but now his eyes widened and he stared at Nanami, who blushed and fumbled to deny it.

“Is that so, Nanami?... Look at you, pretending to be an evil bastard.”

Souta, who himself didn’t really have any right to be criticizing people on pretending to be evil, smiled wryly.

“A-are ye idiots? Thinking too highly of me!? W-We ask for a lunchbox out of selfishness…!!”

Regardless of the truth, Nanami, trying so hard to hide her gentleness, ended up making everyone to look at her with warm eyes.

“D-d-d-do nyaat look at me like that—!!”

“Uwaahhh—!!”

Poked in the eye by Nanami, Souta screamed on behalf of everyone.

Souta, who was eating lunch alone a few days ago, found himself having a lively and warm meal with the five members of the Quest House group in the blink of an eye.

“It's better to eat with a lot of people. Even 800 people would be no problem.”

“So many!!”

“If we want 800 people to have lunch together, I think it would be better to hold a banquet.”

“Eh, you’re continuing on that topic?!”

Kikuno unexpectedly brought up Akane’s words again, and this unforeseen situation shocked Megumu.

“The atmosphere at a banquet might be inexplicably awkward, though.”

“So individualism is the way to go after all!”

“Too extreme!!”

The conversation between Miss Heiress and Her Princess Highness, who were very used to banquets, was very high-class.

“'''''One or All, and All or 1.'''''”

“Isn’t it '''''for'''''?” Megumu asked.

“It’s not '''''for'''''.”

“No, it is '''''for''''', though! '''''For''''' has gotta be correct, right?!” Souta exclaimed.

“Looks like the boys like '''''for'''''.”

“This isn’t a matter of preference—!!”

“Sou-kun’s retorts are really no-holds-''baran''…”

The ''baran'' at the end of no-holds-''baran'' doesn’t refer to the green plastic Yamagata leaf that separates the side dishes in the bentos Souta and co. were currently eating. Speaking of which, although ''baran'' is the common name, its official name seems to be ''haran''. If the common name were also ''haran'', why would it take so many lines to explain ''haran''? It’s really a pity to think about this. In any case, we shouldn’t talk about something so off-topic.<ref> ''Baran'' and ''haran'' are alternate pronunciations for the same green plastic Yamagata leaf.</ref>

“By the way, Sou-kun, is the omelette Big Sis made delicious?”

“Yep… I see there are two kinds of omelettes. Why is that?”

“That’s made by one”

“Oh, this is delicious too. Sweet omelette.”

Megumu had been smiling shyly and timidly, perhaps because he wasn’t confident about the taste. But after hearing Souta’s words, he made a cute little “I did it♡” victory pose like a little girl.

“Sorry… I’m sorry, Sou-kun… If I’d known earlier, Big Sis would’ve also made sweet omelettes for Sou-kun… Because Sou-kun liked to eat salty omelettes when he was little, so Big Sis accidentally… I’m such a useless Big Sis who doesn’t understand Sou-kun’s preferences… I’m sorry…”

Megumu was overjoyed, but Kikuno was quite depressed.

''So doting!!''

The doting Big Sis’s words and actions shocked the students who were eating in the classroom.

“Okiku-nee, you’re being too dramatic. Besides, I really like Okiku-nee’s omelette too!”

“Sou-kun... has grown into a kind-hearted little brother…!”

Big Sis was deeply moved.

Akane leaned over from the side.

“How does my omelette taste?”

“Huh? I haven’t eaten it before…?”

“Based on the current conversation, I thought I could get an answer of ‘It’s delicious’, but it was a failure.”

“What’s with this feeling of confrontation…?”

Nanami put an octopus sausage into her mouth and cast a weird look at Akane’s strange behavior.

“By the way, Akane, what happened to the introduction thou wast talking about this morning? We can’t be the only choice, right…?”

“It felt like Nanami would fail, so that was something like a throwaway option.”

“What does that mean…?”

Although she didn’t want to date Souta at all, it was still quite unpleasant to be told as much. This is a woman’s heart.

“Heeheehee… Now comes the main event. I think Souta fits better with girls who are a bit assertive.”

“Ah, Big Sis might also agree with this.”

On this basis, the three or four girls (?) present are all a bit assertive in different respects.

By the way, when Souta saw the defeat flag raised above Akane’s head, he kind of wondered what was up with that; but he just wondered and didn’t take any particular actions.

“I’ve already sent a text, she should almost be here.”

In the blink of an eye—

The classroom door was violently flung open and a female student barged in.

“Fuhahahahahaha, Mahougasawa Akane-kun!! What business do you have with this student president Seiteikouji Mimori?!”

Just then, for some unknown reason, everyone except Akane seemed to see a failure flag above Mimori’s head. But you can roughly tell the reason, so it wasn’t really unknown… So why it said “Just then, for some unknown reason…” is the real unknown.

As the word “unknown” went through Gestaltzerfall<ref> The phenomenon where a word begins to look weird and lose its meaning when you stare at it too long</ref>, Akane pushed Souta forward.

“Please go on a date with Souta-kun around campus.”

“Huh?!”

Mimori froze for a full thirty seconds.

Afterwards, she turned her back to everyone, took out a comb and portable mirror to comb her hair, reapplied lip balm, and secretly made “Ah~ Ah~ Ha! Uh-huh!” sounds to warm up her voice. She also said in a very cute voice “Annoying… everyone’s looking…” After practicing her lines, she thought to herself, ''Very well! Yours truly’s constant daily practicing is all for today!'', struck a victory pose, then faced Souta and co. again.

“Can’t be helped! Since you’re so insistent, how can a student president who exists for the students refuse? What a headache, Akane-kun!”

“You’re laughing so happily and having a headache at the same time!!”

The unprecedented response shocked Akane silly.

Moreover, because Mimori made a cute expression that strayed completely from her original personality, the people around her couldn’t help but take a step away from her.

“N-no big deal. Hatate-kun too, if you had told yours truly earlier, yours truly would’ve helped you embezzle any amount of student council funds when renovating the dorm…”

“No, no, don’t embezzle…”

“Alright, stop dilly-dallying in a place like this, now we’ll let the young people chat on their own!”

Although the matter hadn’t been fully discussed, Souta and Mimori were kicked out of the classroom at Akane’s urging.

Next, not long afterwards—

Souta, feeling particularly tired, saw three or four girls (?) waiting for him with sparkling eyes as he entered the classroom.

Only Nanami pretended to be uninterested, but from the way she kept glancing at Souta, it was clear that she was actually quite interested. Just like how people look at bra straps visible under summer uniforms.

“What’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the student president go?!”

“Not very well…”

Akane asked, ready to lean forward at any moment, and Souta gave a vague response with a pale face.

“Maybe Souta was actually the only one there, completely alone.”

“Then what was with me?!”

“The student president’s ghost.”

“Nooooooooooooo!! Nonononono!! One is super scared of ghosts and stuff—!!”

Megumu screamed super cutely and covered her ears like crazy.

“Then what’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the ghost of the student president go?”

“Megumu’s making so much noise nearby, I can’t hear what Akane said at all.”

“Huh? What? Souta-kun, I can’t hear you at all.”

Looks like the ultrasonic waves emitted by Megumu drowned out all the surrounding sounds.

“Megu-chan, thou art very noisy.”

“Mmph!!”

Nanami stopped Megumu’s paranormal ultrasonic waves by stuffing leftover rice balls from lunch into his mouth. A little later and ghosts would have been attracted by the ultrasonic waves. Really dangerous.

“So, what's the result? Are ye closer? O-oh yeah, We don’t care, but Akane and Kikuno are particularly concerned.”

“It’s passable… I guess.”

Souta’s expression was extremely difficult to describe, but Akane, who was thinking positively, interpreted this vague statement in a positive way. She smiled and said:

“Really? That’s great!”

But—

When the image of Mimori and Souta getting along well with each other appeared in her mind…

…Akane’s chest felt pierced again.

''Strange… why…?''

It seemed very happy...but also seemed very lonely.

She appeared about to cry, but smiled awkwardly. From the head of Akane who was full of confusion—

“…Huh?!”

——Souta saw a love flag raised…

That day, after returning to the dorm, someone knocked on Nanami’s door.

When she opened the door, she saw Souta standing in front of her, not even out of uniform yet.

“What’s wrong? What’s with the sad face? No, Souta always makes this face.”

“……”

Souta couldn’t refute her extremely harsh words and forced a smile.

“That’s it. Just smile a little. Otherwise, even the people looking at it would be infected with depression.”

As they spent more time together, Souta was able to feel the encouragement in Nanami’s harsh words and carefully-crafted evil facade. He knew that it was Nanami’s clumsy expression of gentleness, so he put on a gentle smile.

“…Yeah. Thank you, Nanami.”

“Wh-why art thou thanking me? Weirdo!”

Nanami said this flustered, perhaps not realizing her own gentleness. Souta felt that this clumsiness was also very much like Nanami and quite liked it.

“…So? What dost thou want from me?”

“Hmm… it’s hard to put into words…”

Seeing Souta hesitate, Nanami guessed that it might be something not for others to hear, so she could only reluctantly invite Souta into her room.

“So, what is it? If it’s something trivial, We shall spread word to the News Club that thou art actually a soccer recruit.”

“But as for soccer, I’ve only ever played intramural soccer with my friends before, though?”

“When the time comes, a lot of expectant people will come to thou respectfully and ask you to join the soccer club. Just wait, thou shalt need to explain, deny, and reject them one by one, then suffer.”

“What an incredibly effective way to completely crush someone’s spirits!!”

Souta, whose mind was somewhat drained by the retorts, felt that all his worries were gone and it was easier for him to speak up; however, it was hard to say whether Nanami had considered such a long-term view at the beginning.

“Actually… it’s like this. I hope you don’t tell anyone about this… Akane… just… raised a love flag…”

“……”

Nanami had an indescribably irritated expression on her face.

“Uh, I also recognize that you would think that it’s impossible for someone so popular like Akane to be interested in a guy like me. But the love flag was really raised…”

“Art thou an idiot?”

Nanami still had an irritated expression, frowning even harder as she declared:

“That kind of thing is obvious at a glance.”

“What…?”

“Didst thou not notice…? It’s because thou only carest about looking at flags that thou dost not notice people’s feelings, idiot.”

Nanami sighed as if she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Really…? Was it like that… No, but, didn’t Akane ask me to date Nanami or the student council president…”

“……”

Hearing Souta’s rebuttal, Nanami plopped down on the chair and crossed her arms.

“It was a private conversation between girls, so We didn’t intend to tell you… but forget it.”

Nanami just looked up at the ceiling and told Souta about the conversation during lunch when Souta and Mimori went out and only the girls were left.

……

…………

………………

When Akane packed up her empty bento and took out her dessert bento, Nanami asked something that suddenly occurred to her:

“But, Akane, since thou wantest Souta to be happy so much, why not just date him and make him happy? What’s the point of forcing it on other people?”

“Huh…”

Seeing Akane at a loss for words, Kikuno joined in the conversation as well. She assumed a position with her hands clasped together and her body leaned forward, looking like she wanted to join in very badly.

“That’s right. Big Sis thinks Akane-chan and Sou-kun are a good match– Ah, but Nanami and Sou-kun and Megu-chan and Sou-kun are good matches, though?”

“Thou shalt not think about strange things! We do not fall in love with other people’s lovers, so thou needest not to worry!”

Although Akane felt that this wasn’t entirely the case, she deliberately remained silent, thinking that based on Nanami’s belligerent aura she’d be scolded if she said something wrong.

Megumu was forced into the center of discussion. He was terrified of this situation, but he tried his best to muster up courage, twisted his body cutely, and joined the conversation with a trembling voice:

“One sees Akane-chan do a lot for Souta-kun, so one always thought that Akane-chan likes Souta-kun.”

“N-no, no… I… I…”

“……”

At first, Akane violently shook her hands in denial, then lowered her head slightly, hesitating. Seeing this, everyone waited quietly for her next words.

“I definitely can’t make Souta-kun… No, no matter who I date, I definitely can’t make them happy…”

After saying this, Akane displayed a dejected expression.

Seeing her inexplicably distressed look, Nanami and co. were speechless.

Nanami didn’t know what Akane’s real thoughts were, nor did she know what part of Akane’s words were true. But she figured there must be a reason why Akane was so stubborn.

Nanami always thought that this was Souta’s knot to untie.

………………

…………

…

“…Anyway, that’s what happened.”

Nanami observed Souta’s reaction as she narrated. He seemed to have an idea in his mind.

“There’s a flag next to Akane’s love flag… I think it’s probably a trauma flag… It and the love flag seem to come as a set.”

“…Oh.”

Nanami confirmed that her suspicions weren’t completely wrong, uncrossed her arms, and raised her chin.

“Whenever Akane’s love flag waves grandly and powerfully, the trauma flag also wriggles painfully.”

“After all, falling in love with Souta is a painful thing.”

“……”

On that point, Souta was quite aware of that. Knowing that he can’t be helped being told that, he sighed and leaned against the wall.

“…What do you think I should do, Nanami?”

“Why ask Us?”

“I can’t think it through by myself… I don’t know what I should do. It’s because, for a long time, I haven’t… thought about myself… Though saying this is pretty embarrassing.”

“What can We do~ Everybody comes to Us for help… After all, considering my pedigree and prestige, it can’t be helped!!”

Nanami, self-importantly sticking out her flat chest, was sympathetic, and Souta was unable to respond.

“Getting back to the point… if even thyself doesn’t know what to do, how can other people know?”

“I feel like I’m… just torturing Akane…”

“…Then, dost thou want to try to keep a little distance? After all, Akane has been clinging to thee lately… No, Kikuno and Megumu are the same.”

Nanami didn’t mention herself at all, smiling with slight mockery.

“Keep my distance…? …You’ve got a point.”

While this approach was very passive, this might be the only way to deal with Akane, who can quickly recover even if her flag is actively broken.

Although the question of whether trying to deal with Akane is right or wrong remains up in the air.

After this delicate conversation ended like this, remaining unclear as to whether it had been resolved or not, Nanami and Souta walked out of the room and ran into Akane and Kikuno in the hall.

“Oh? What did you two sneak around and do? Can you tell Big Sis about it too?”

Kikuno approached Souta with a smile, looking like a clingy Big Sis who really wanted to take care of her little brother.

“No… We weren’t sneaking around…”

“Then, what did you do?”

Kikuno asked happily.

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to control her little brother’s actions very badly.

“…Nothing, just talked a bit.”

“Oh? Talk about what? Can you let Big Sis join in~?”

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to improve her relationship with her little brother very badly.

“Nothing… nothing worth mentioning…”

“Huh — so it’s something you can’t tell Big Sis about… Sou-kun left Big Sis and became independent, Big Sis is so lonely…”

Kikuno’s body was full of only sisterly love, making her dejected. Souta was in a dilemma.

"Ah. B-but Big Sis thinks Sou-kun and Nanami are a good match. Aahhh, but Mimori and Akane will be sad… As a big sister, who should I support? Ah, but no matter who Sou-kun chooses in the end, remember that Big Sis will always stand on Sou-kun’s side!"

“Uh…”

Faced with this almost soliloquous sisterly love, not only Souta but also Akane and Nanami took a step back.

“So, Big Sis will keep Sou-kun and Nanami’s passionate affair in the room a secret from Akane-chan.”

“Akane is right beside us though!?”

“…Huh?”

For Big Sis’s great love often ignored everything else except her little brother and was blind to everyone else. How terrifying.

Akane, hearing the secrets being whispered in front of her, seemed to have a little bit of a headache. She looked back and forth between Nanami and Souta and said:

“L-listen… I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that Nanami and Souta-kun were in that kind of relationship…”

“What kind of relationship?!”

At Nanami’s retort, Akane’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.

This blatant misunderstanding of hers was obviously influenced by Kikuno’s words just now.

“If you had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have made a fuss and would’ve given you two my blessings a long time ago!”

“Thou art making a fuss with those random assumptions—!!”

Nanami felt that the conversation between her and Akane was completely unproductive and she couldn’t help but clutch her head in frustration.

''This world is really full of busybodies…'' Souta thought from a distance.

“Hmph! Kikuno-senpai, leave this place to the two young people, let’s excuse ourselves!”

“Y-you’re right! Sorry, Sou-kun! Big Sis is too intrusive!”

As if they would die if the misunderstanding was resolved, Akane and Kikuno did not give people a chance to resolve the misunderstanding. After nodding to each other, they raised their hands to indicate “Please take it slow!” while mouthing “Heehee, being young is great” and jogged away.

“… Why did things turn out like this?”

Having been paired with Souta without her consent, Nanami said, her expression collapsing.

“B-but, anyways, this means there’s hope of keeping my distance from Akane… right? Right?”

“Don’t drag other people into thy own affairs!!”

“Ack!!”

Nanami grabbed Souta’s neck and fiercely threw him to the ground. She glared at Souta resentfully, turned her face away with a harrumph, and left with heavy footsteps.

Kikuno and Akane, who had pretended to leave but had actually hidden in the bathroom to spy on the hall, felt sorry for the two with an “Oof!”

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun, he—!”

“I think it’s because Nanami is jealous that Souta-kun spent a lot of time talking to Kikuno-senpai and me.”

“Of course not!!”

Because the two just happened to be in the direction of Nanami’s movements, Nanami heard their conversation in its entirety, causing her to roar in anger.

That evening—

In the kitchen, Souta was peeling potatoes with full concentration like a chef apprentice. Kikuno, who was cooking nearby, and Akane, who was helping, approached him with a meaningful chuckle like “Heh heh heh…”

“Sou-kun. Big Sis wants to ask Sou-kun for something.”

“…What's up?”

Because he usually found himself being doted on, whenever he meets a doting Big Sis getting ready to spoil him, Souta is completely unable to mount resistance. That is what happens when you fall into a Big Sis’s perfected Control Domain. For a fish, this so-called “Control Domain” is the sea, or maybe a river. Doesn’t matter which of the two.

Or maybe a pond. Didn’t we just say it didn’t matter which?

“Big Sis forgot to buy carrots. Could you run an errand?”

“Okay, no big deal.”

Souta, who had been worried about what he would be asked to do, smiled in relief.

However, Akane interrupted as if it were her turn to take the stage:

“Since you’re going out, why don’t you go with Nanami?”

“Uh…”

“Ah, you’re right! Since it’s dangerous to carry carrots alone! That’s a good idea!”

“……”

It seems asking him to buy carrots was not the goal in and of itself.

Souta, feeling a headache coming on, looked at Nanami — she was currently on the sofa in the living room next to the dining room next to the kitchen reading a book — and sent a plea for help.

“……”

The conversation that Kikuno and co. were purposely having with a certain person had already long reached Nanami’s ears through the dining room, but Nanami pretended not to notice.

Looking closely, there was an angry “#” mark on her temple, showing that she had heard something unpleasant. Or maybe her blood pressure was very high. She was clearly still so young.

“So! You and Nanami have to go together, Sou-kun!”

“Coming back late is fine, too!”

“……”

Kikuno and Akane rushed over and stuffed a shopping bag and wallet into Souta’s embarrassed hands

The two urged Souta to “Hurry, hurry, be careful on the road” and pushed his back forcefully, and Souta began to have nowhere else to go. In other words, he was cornered by the animation.<ref> Apparently a marketing slogan used by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantei_Opera_Milky_Holmes ''Tantei Opera Milky Homes''] PSP game referring to its cutscenes when you catch the villains</ref>

Since Kikuno and Akane had expectant attitudes of “I’ve created an opportunity for them!” and both of them had “Cornering Complete” flags raised above their heads, Souta’s escape route was cut off and he had no choice but to walk towards Nanami, who was ignoring him to the end.

“No wonder… Nanami?”

“Whaddaya want?!”

She seems to be angry already. How scary.

“C-can you go shopping with me?”

“Don’t wanna.”

“I thought so…”

Souta was about to go back dejectedly, but when he saw Kikuno and Akane slightly grumpily standing behind him, he gasped “Huh?!”

“No, Sou-kun! Girls are very shy, you have to be more sincere and actively ask her out!”

“That’s right, Souta-kun! Nanami’s a ''tsundere'', you have to work hard before she enters her ''dere'' phase. Though she’s a delinquent tsundere.”

“Who’s the delinquent ''tsundere''?”

Nanami was hit dead-on by the groundless claim. She couldn’t ignore it this time and snapped. This was the ''tsun'' phase. Or maybe the snap phase. The time period when you take and send lots of selfies in that yellow app.<ref> Chinese pun went ''snap (发飙) → snap phase (飙期) → tiger-stripe phase (彪期) → tabby-cat-pattern time period (虎斑花色的时期)'', tabby cat = tiger-striped cat. As a treat for reading this, here is my alternate draft: ''She couldn’t ignore it this time and '''cracked'''. This was the'' tsun ''phase. Or maybe the '''crack''' phase. '''The time period when you like to have Coke.''''' I think the alt version is funnier, but it doesn’t really fit the tone.</ref>

“Sou-kun, why don’t you try asking Nanami again? Oh, do you want Big Sis to ask her with you? Hmm? Hmm?”

''The doting Big Sis… dotes habitually…'' Nanami thought thusly and looked up from the sofa at Souta and Kikuno, fed up.

Souta had a look on his face saying “What should I do?” and pleaded at Nanami for help again.

“Don’t look at Us!”

Nanami was apoplectic. Speaking of which, “apoplectic” has two p’s and two c’s. How complicated. Feels like this issue has been discussed elsewhere already, but for some reason we’ll keep doing it.

“Akane-chan, as a Big Sis, I really want to help Sou-kun! What can I do to convince Nanami?”

A doting Big Sis’s doting on her little brother knows no limit.

“How about an errand fee as bait?”

“That's great! Sou-kun, here’s the errand fee. Use the errand fee as bait, okay?”

Kikuno proudly presented someone else’s proposal, and Souta forced a smile in cold sweat.

“Uh no, I heard it very clearly... Hear that, Nanami? There’s an errand…”

“Don’t want it!!”

Since the distance was very close, if Souta could hear it, Nanami certainly couldn’t fail to hear it, so Nanami immediately refused before Souta finished speaking.

Seeing Nanami glaring at him as if to say “These idiot siblings!”, Souta almost cried. He was willing to ask anyone for help, whether they were a god or a buddha. He must be thinking that he might as well go pray at a temple.

“Jeez, fine! Just need Us to come, right? We will go!”

As a result, Nanami suffered such a fate due to her caring personality of being unable to say no when asked.

“Hey, come on, Souta! What art thou still stalling about for! Stalling Souta! Stall-ta!”

“Don’t give me random nicknames!!”

Stall-ta made an aggrieved cry.

Seeing Nanami walking furiously and taking the lead, Souta desperately followed her. Kikuno shouted at his back:

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun! Hand! Hand! You have to hold hands!”

“We shall absolutely not do that!!"

Before Souta could answer, Nanami replied heatedly. This was the heat phase. Don’t know what that means, but it sounds pretty fiery.

Nanami and Souta left the dormitory and took a bumpy ride on the tram, finally arriving at a place known as the campus shopping street, where there were many shops, half of which were run by students engaged in club activities.

After buying carrots as instructed at the supermarket in the school shopping street, the two left the supermarket.

During this period, the two remained silent.

Either their relationship is so bad that it is irreparable, or they are so indifferent to each other that it is irreparable, or they are so desperate to buy things that it is irreparable. In any case, it can be said that their relationship is irreparable.

“…By the way, Souta.”

On their way back, Nanami finally spoke, her tone clearly indicating her rage. Souta was so frightened that he shook uncontrollably.

“What’s up, Nanami…?”

“We have been curious this whole time.”

“Um…?”

Her roundabout way of speaking made Souta tilt his head in confusion.

“Ever since we left the dorm— what’s up with these two following us this whooooooooooole time?!”

Nanami’s teeth were grinding not because of sleep bruxism<ref> Condition where you grind your teeth uncontrollably in your sleep</ref>, but because she was wholly subjected to an irritation bordering on wrath.

Then, the unrivaled troop of Kikuno and Akane — thinking that they were stalking unnoticed — hid behind the cake shop’s sign board and observed Nanami and Souta.

“Oh! They finally started a conversation, Kikuno-senpai!”

“Them two being so immature is also a problem, Akane-chan!”

“I keep feeling like they’re looking at me.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hands! Hold hands!”

It seems that Big Sis just wants her brother to hold a girl’s hand no matter what.

“Ah, they seem to be coming this way.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hug her from behind!”

“Hugging, my foot!!”

Because they were busy peeping, they didn’t notice that Nanami had already approached them face-to-face.

“Huh?! Nanami, nonono! This isn’t stalking!”

“…Then what is it?”

Akane was fiercely cornered by Nanami. She was cornered by the animation.

“…K-Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like that, isn’t it?”

“Nuh-uh, Akane-chan. Can’t believe you were stalking people. Good thing I came to stop you.”

“An unexpected betrayal!!”

Having been reprimanded by Big Sis with a “Naughty!” gesture, Akane was hit hard.

“Okiku-nee…”

Even Souta couldn’t let them get away with it scot-free. So the two of them sincerely apologized and the four of them went back to the dorm together.

“Ahh!! Everyone’s back! That’s great!”

Seeing Nanami and the others coming back together, Megumu, who was panicking in the dorm kitchen, rushed over to Souta with tears in his eyes and gave him a girl hug.

This so-called girl hug consists of leaning towards someone, holding their chest with both hands, and embracing them. It is an elegant way of hugging.

“Wh-what's wrong, Megumu?”

“When one came back, one saw that the food was half-cooked and felt like there were people there until just now, but there’s nobody there, so it’s just like the ''Mary Celeste''! One was so scared!!”

The ''Mary Celeste'' was a ship involved in a mysterious incident. According to the urban legend — they say that all the people on the ship disappeared into thin air, and it became an unmanned ship drifting on the sea. The half-eaten breakfast on the ship was still hot, as if everyone was still sitting on the ship safely until a moment ago. How terrifying.<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste A real incident]</ref>

Seeing Megumu sob, Nanami also smiled bitterly:

“It’s okay, Megu-chan. You have a very vivid imagination…”

“That’s right, Megu-chan. Do you think that the us that just returned are really the us that Megu-chan knows?”

“What is that? How terrifying!!”

Akane said something strange, scaring Megumu into violent trembling. But was it really strange? If what she said was true… Mulder, you’re sick, you’re not thinking straight.<ref> X-Files reference</ref>

“Or maybe Megu-chan accidentally intruded into our domain?”

“How scary, how scary! Souta-kun, how scary!”

Kikuno also joined Akane’s evil prank. Megumu was trembling all over. He was no longer hugging Souta gracefully, but instead tightly wrapped his hands and legs around Souta's body, holding him in a state of imprint clinginess. Imprint clinginess was also called koala-clinging in the old days, and it was a sleeping technique showing a strong will to never separate.<ref> I don’t really understand what the Chinese used refers to, but I think the image of a baby koala clinging to its mother or baby birds sticking with whatever they imprint on should do the job.</ref>

“Both of you, please stop scaring Megumu… If he gets scared and moves out of the dorm, we’ll have to find a new dormmate again.”

“This means that in Souta’s mind, Megumu is just someone who fills up the dorm population quota.”

“Ah—!!”

Megumu’s spirit was already cornered by the animation, and Nanami added the final straw, causing him to open his mouth and start crying.

“J-just kidding, that was just a joke, okay?! Don’t cry, Megu-chan, why are you crying?!"

“Nanami’s too much.”

“That’s right, bad Nanami!”

“Ye have no right to speak!”

Kikuno, successfully pushing the bad-guy status onto Nanami, patted Megumu's head and said “Good boy, good boy” like a nanny comforting a child.

“I’m sorry, Megu-chan. Nanami can’t stand other girls being close to Sou-kun, so she couldn’t help but make fun of you. Just forgive her, okay?”

“That’s not it——!!”

Nanami was furious at the unfounded rumors.

So Nanami and co. had dinner later than usual — for one, because everyone ended up running out to buy stuff that they really didn’t need to buy; for another, in order to comfort Megumu. But…

“Ah, Souta-kun, you should sit in my seat from now on.”

“Well… I’m fine with that.”

The seats at the table were changed, which made Souta have a question mark in his head for a moment. But when he saw that Nanami, who seemed to be in a bad mood, was next to the new seat, he immediately realized the intention.

Moreover, the chairs were placed so close together that Nanami and Souta's shoulders were almost touching.

“Was going to say, Akane…”

As long as Akane and Souta could keep their distance, Nanami would have originally preferred to ignore it. But perhaps because she was getting annoyed at being paired together for no reason, Nanami sighed deeply and looked at Akane with a stern face.

“Ah! Ah! You don’t have to say it, I know everything, Nanami!”

“Hmm… What dost thou know…”

That might just be the kind of personality Akane has, but ever since she came to this dorm she keeps going a little too far with it — at this thought, Nanami pouted slightly.

“Would it be better for the two of you to sit facing each other at a private table?”

“You don’t know anything at all!!”

The little princess felt dizzy.

“Nanami has entered her ''tsun'' phase…”

“It’s not the ''tsun'' phase, not the ''dere'' phase, nor the dog phase!!”

People in the dog phase will have dog ears, and will pee when they are happy. In other words, drowning<ref> The character for ‘drown’ can also mean ‘to pee’ lmao</ref> in happiness. Although they always feel that they have lost something important from a human perspective, they can’t help it because they are dogs. The most important thing for dogs is bones. When they get bones, they will drown in happiness.

Big Sis Kikuno, ecstatic to see her little brother sitting side by side with a cute girl, poked Souta’s shoulder with a smile.

“Hurry up, Sou-kun. Say ‘Open up~♡’ to feed her, open up♡”

“We will absolutely not eat it!”

Souta obediently picked up some of the beef stew with his chopsticks and was about to bring it to Nanami’s mouth. At the same time, Nanami raged.

“Hey~ Nanami, just eat it. Souta’s so sad…”

“Thou doting Big Sis…”

Nanami glared around angrily. Next to her, Souta absent-mindedly fiddled with his chopsticks and beef stew. He saw Megumu glance at him a few times with big, round eyes, so he said “Open up~♡” and fed Megumu.

“There’s a bromantic taste to it!”

Megumu was talking so giddily that Souta didn’t know how to answer him, so he pretended to be expressionless and nodded vaguely.

After dinner ended in a mess, it was Akane and Nanami’s turn to wash the dishes, but...

“Souta-kun, can you switch with me? The next time it’s your turn to wash the dishes, I’ll do it.”

“… Yeah… I’m fine with that.”

“Then thou shouldst switch with Us, Souta.”

Hearing Nanami was about to change it, Akane hurriedly tried to stop her.

“N-no no. Nanami has to wash the dishes with Souta-kun and say, ‘F-feels like we're newlyweds ♡’!”

“Why did it almost turn Megumu-like?!”<ref> What Akane wanted Nanami to say had an untranslatable verbal tic that Megumu tends to use; incidentally, Nanami has a different verbal tic </ref>

Megumu, who was wiping the table even though it wasn’t his chore, was surprised when his name was suddenly called.

“Anyways, We just don’t want to! We shall absolutely never pretend to be newlyweds with Souta!”

''A tsundere…''

''A tsundere…''

''A tsundere…''

Akane, Kikuno, and Megumu looked at Nanami with inexplicable gazes.

“Ah, but on a related note, after you finish washing the dishes, you two can take a bath together, right?”

“Who would want to take a bath together?!”

Kikuno, who had no authority, abused her non-existent authority to grant permission. But Nanami, the house prefect, vetoed it without using her authority.

“Souta-kun, you’re a pervert!!”

Megumu weakly hit Souta with something between a slap and a push, dealing zero damage. Then, he ran away to his room.

“…Megu-chan’s crying.”

“Sou-kun, a girl’s heart is very delicate. If you don’t treat her with the utmost care, it’ll be bad.”

“Uh, okay…”

Souta thought it was strange that they were worried about Megumu’s girl-heart since he pursued masculinity. Plus, at the end of the day, Kikuno was the one who hurt Souta, so he deliberated how to retort and finally decided to give up on it.

Afterwards, of course, Nanami and Souta did ''not'' take a bath together. However, Souta, who was about to enjoy some barley tea after taking his bath, happened to meet Nanami in the hallway.

Nanami, who had been quite angry recently, saw Souta gently raise his hand to greet her. She turned away with a snort and reached out to grab the door handle of her room. If she was ticked off, that means she isn’t on the list anymore.<ref> Original pun had something to do with Japanese onomatopoeia for peeling sounding similar to the one for being angry, I’m doing something completely different using ‘ticked off’ meaning both ‘angry’ and ‘crossed off a list’</ref>

Anyways, Nanami suddenly stopped as she was about to enter her room. She looked at the unbelievable scene in her room and began to suspect that she was dazzled.

“…Soooouutaaaaaa!”

“What?!”

When his name was suddenly called in a threatening tone, Souta felt his heart palpitate and turned his head at the same time. If instead his liver palpitated, then he’d been drinking too much.

“What’s going on with this—?!”

Nanami’s eyes narrowed as she yelled, and her expression became like a cat whose food was taken away.

“You asked me what’s going on… what’s… going on with what?”

Following Nanami’s finger pointing towards her room, Souta was speechless and froze in place.

In the middle of Nanami's room, which was a bit large because it was originally a double room, there were pink and blue mattresses for two people. The two mattresses were close together, and heart-shaped pillows were placed side by side.

“It wasn’t me…”

“Of course I know that!”

Souta did think, ''Hey, why are you yelling at me?'' But if he said it out loud, it might just add fuel to the fire, so Souta remained silent and turned his eyes from the furious Nanami back to the paired futons.

“…That futon does come from my room.”

“That one’s my futon! Those guys pulled it off the bed! Akane! Akaneeeeeee!!”

Nanami’s roar echoed through the hall.

“What’s going?”

After a moment, Akane opened the door and poked her head out. Then, Kikuno followed leisurely even though she was not called.

“Thou darest ask ''Us'' what’s going on?! What’s going on with this?!”

(monotone) “Oh my, I didn’t expect you two to have such a close relationship.”

“It’s so monotone, it’s like reading from a script!”

Although the culprit was instantly revealed, the whole world already knew before it was revealed.

“What dost thou intend, Akane!? …No, We already know what thou intendest.”

(monotone) “Haha, I wish you two happiness.”

Akane wasn’t even listening to Nanami.

“That’s enough! If We two can just sleep together lovey-dovey like this, wouldn’t that be weird?!”

“It’s not weird, but…”

“But what?”

“''We two'' sounds like you’ll have many Wiis, too.<ref> Since Nanami’s first-person pronoun is more like “this royal”, the original joke is that there will be many more royals… I hope what I’ve done is a good enough approximation.</ref> It’s really cute.”

“Akaneeeeeeee!”

Akane, who didn’t listen to others carefully, made Nanami angry. By the way, “We two” means “us two”.

Seeing the two arguing, Souta murmured his thoughts:

“By the way, that pillow is a Yes/No pillow…”

The Yes/No pillow is used by lovey-dovey couples. When they want to be affectionate, they turn the Yes pillow to the front. When they want to concentrate on sleeping without even looking at their partner, they turn it to No.

“What art thou looking at now… Why are both of them No?!"

“Yes isn’t good, okay— Big Sis thinks you can’t go to that stage yet.”

Kikuno poked Nanami and Souta’s foreheads with her finger and said, “That’s naughty!”

“It’s all too early, alright?! No, it’s not a matter of earliness! Who would want to use this kind of thing, regardless of whether it’s earlier or later?!”

Nanami gradually went insane… Little by little, Souta began to distance himself from.

Seeing her frantic look, Akane might have become uneasy too. Akane crossed her arms over her chest with a ''Hmm~'', then looked at Kikuno.

“See, Kikuno-senpai. Nanami isn’t Japanese, so putting their bedding side by side doesn’t suit her tastes.”

“Hmm… but I even thought she’d be very touched.”

“That’s not the issue!”

There was a gradual gap between the two sides’ understandings. Souta felt that the matter could no longer be resolved and wanted to take his futon from Nanami’s room as soon as possible, but he could not find the opportunity and was at the end of his rope.

“That's enough! Now We understand!!”

“You finally understand!”

Although they were probably talking about different things, Akane happily grasped Nanami’s hand.

“Since Akane wants to help Souta find a girlfriend so much, Akane should just date him!!”

““Eh…!!””

Nanami uttered a critical sentence that could be considered an irreversible statement, and Akane and Souta froze together.

Then, they awkwardly looked at each other’s faces.

The countless friendship flags above Akane’s head fell down like dominoes, and were reborn one by one as imposing love flags, standing tall.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Intermission]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)

2025-03-26T16:21:04Z

Person72635: /* {{pad|160px}}Volume 1: After I Transfer This Time, I Will Go Home and Marry This Girl */

<vote type=1 /><small>{{furigana|'''Do you follow this series? Rate it!'''|Only available to registered users. [[Special:CreateAccount|Register here]]}}</small><br>

{{Status|Active}}
{{Teaser|English}}

[[File:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|thumb|Volume 1 Cover]]

If Her Flag Breaks (彼女がフラグをおられたら, Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara, or Gaworare for short) is a light novel series written by Touka Takei and illustrated by Cuteg. Kodansha published 16 volumes from December 2011 to September 2016. A manga and two spin-offs were serialized in Kodansha's magazines. An anime adaptation aired from April to June 2014, covering the first 6-ish volumes with significant alterations to the ending.

== Story Synopsis ==
Souta Hatate, a new transfer student to the Hatagaya School, has the ability to see the futures of those around him in the form of flags. He is able to affect those flags based on his interactions with the person in question. He ends up living in a small dorm with many beautiful girls. When he finds a flag of death on himself, Souta learns that in order to be able to change his fate, he has to find and bring together four people: a princess knight, a magician, a cleric, and a shinobi. (Taken from Wikipedia)

== Translation ==
=== [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|Registration]] ===
'''Translators are asked to [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|register]] which chapters they're working on'''

=== Format Standards ===
'''Every Chapter (after editing) must conform to the general format guidelines.'''
* [[Format guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

=== Feedback ===
Use the [[Talk:Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|project talk page]] or [[User talk:Person72635|Person72635's talk page]]

== Updates ==
* March 25th, 2025 - Chapter 6 complete.
* January 2nd, 2025 - Chapter 5 and Intermission complete.
* December 27th, 2024 - Chapters 0-4 re-translated.
* October 24th, 2020 - Chapter 4 complete.
* June 24th, 2020 - Chapter 3 complete.
* June 19th, 2020 - Chapter 2 complete.
* June 15th, 2020 - Chapter 1 complete.
* June 13th, 2020 - Project page created and Chapter 0 complete.

==''Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)'' by Touka Takei ==
==={{pad|160px}}Volume 1: After I Transfer This Time, I Will Go Home and Marry This Girl===
[[image:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|left|160px|border]]
<table border=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td>
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Novel Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 0|Flag 0: The Magic That Started It All]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Flag 1: The Day the Knight Raised the Flag]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Side Quest Flag: The Mysterion Mystery 1]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6|Flag 6: The Very First Quest]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Epilogue|Epilogue]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Afterword|Afterword]]
</td></tr></table><br style="clear:both"/>

== Project Staff ==
* Project Administrator: 
* Project Manager: [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Translators ===
ACTIVE<br>
:* [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Editors ===
:* 

== Series Overview ==
* Volume 1 - ''Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara: Ore, Kono Tenkō ga Owattara, Ano Ko to Kekkon Surun da (彼女がフラグをおられたら俺、この転校が終わったら、あの娘と結婚するんだ)'', December 2, 2011, ISBN 978-4-06-375205-2

User:Person72635

2025-03-26T03:34:07Z

Person72635:

Hello!

I'm translating [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara]] and worked a bit on [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru|OreShura]] Volume 7.1
Comments are welcome.
I'll be translating from the Chinese version of the original Japanese light novel.
My Chinese isn't too great. (Around 4th-5th grade level in Mainland China maybe?)

Sorry if my translations are bad and have too many references.

''She couldn’t ignore it this time and '''cracked'''. This was the'' tsun ''phase. Or maybe the '''crack''' phase. '''The time period when you like to have Coke.''''' — Person72635 at 1 am trying to translate a pun, circa 2025

Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)

2025-03-26T03:32:07Z

Person72635: /* Updates */

<vote type=1 /><small>{{furigana|'''Do you follow this series? Rate it!'''|Only available to registered users. [[Special:CreateAccount|Register here]]}}</small><br>

{{Status|Active}}
{{Teaser|English}}

[[File:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|thumb|Volume 1 Cover]]

If Her Flag Breaks (彼女がフラグをおられたら, Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara, or Gaworare for short) is a light novel series written by Touka Takei and illustrated by Cuteg. Kodansha published 16 volumes from December 2011 to September 2016. A manga and two spin-offs were serialized in Kodansha's magazines. An anime adaptation aired from April to June 2014, covering the first 6-ish volumes with significant alterations to the ending.

== Story Synopsis ==
Souta Hatate, a new transfer student to the Hatagaya School, has the ability to see the futures of those around him in the form of flags. He is able to affect those flags based on his interactions with the person in question. He ends up living in a small dorm with many beautiful girls. When he finds a flag of death on himself, Souta learns that in order to be able to change his fate, he has to find and bring together four people: a princess knight, a magician, a cleric, and a shinobi. (Taken from Wikipedia)

== Translation ==
=== [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|Registration]] ===
'''Translators are asked to [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|register]] which chapters they're working on'''

=== Format Standards ===
'''Every Chapter (after editing) must conform to the general format guidelines.'''
* [[Format guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

=== Feedback ===
Use the [[Talk:Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|project talk page]] or [[User talk:Person72635|Person72635's talk page]]

== Updates ==
* March 25th, 2025 - Chapter 6 complete.
* January 2nd, 2025 - Chapter 5 and Intermission complete.
* December 27th, 2024 - Chapters 0-4 re-translated.
* October 24th, 2020 - Chapter 4 complete.
* June 24th, 2020 - Chapter 3 complete.
* June 19th, 2020 - Chapter 2 complete.
* June 15th, 2020 - Chapter 1 complete.
* June 13th, 2020 - Project page created and Chapter 0 complete.

==''Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)'' by Touka Takei ==
==={{pad|160px}}Volume 1: After I Transfer This Time, I Will Go Home and Marry This Girl===
[[image:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|left|160px|border]]
<table border=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td>
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Novel Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 0|Flag 0: The Magic That Started It All]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Flag 1: The Day the Knight Raised the Flag]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Side Quest Flag: The Mysterion Mystery 1]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Epilogue|Epilogue]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Afterword|Afterword]]
</td></tr></table><br style="clear:both"/>

== Project Staff ==
* Project Administrator: 
* Project Manager: [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Translators ===
ACTIVE<br>
:* [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Editors ===
:* 

== Series Overview ==
* Volume 1 - ''Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara: Ore, Kono Tenkō ga Owattara, Ano Ko to Kekkon Surun da (彼女がフラグをおられたら俺、この転校が終わったら、あの娘と結婚するんだ)'', December 2, 2011, ISBN 978-4-06-375205-2

Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)

2025-03-26T03:30:04Z

Person72635: /* Updates */

<vote type=1 /><small>{{furigana|'''Do you follow this series? Rate it!'''|Only available to registered users. [[Special:CreateAccount|Register here]]}}</small><br>

{{Status|Active}}
{{Teaser|English}}

[[File:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|thumb|Volume 1 Cover]]

If Her Flag Breaks (彼女がフラグをおられたら, Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara, or Gaworare for short) is a light novel series written by Touka Takei and illustrated by Cuteg. Kodansha published 16 volumes from December 2011 to September 2016. A manga and two spin-offs were serialized in Kodansha's magazines. An anime adaptation aired from April to June 2014, covering the first 6-ish volumes with significant alterations to the ending.

== Story Synopsis ==
Souta Hatate, a new transfer student to the Hatagaya School, has the ability to see the futures of those around him in the form of flags. He is able to affect those flags based on his interactions with the person in question. He ends up living in a small dorm with many beautiful girls. When he finds a flag of death on himself, Souta learns that in order to be able to change his fate, he has to find and bring together four people: a princess knight, a magician, a cleric, and a shinobi. (Taken from Wikipedia)

== Translation ==
=== [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|Registration]] ===
'''Translators are asked to [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|register]] which chapters they're working on'''

=== Format Standards ===
'''Every Chapter (after editing) must conform to the general format guidelines.'''
* [[Format guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

=== Feedback ===
Use the [[Talk:Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|project talk page]] or [[User talk:Person72635|Person72635's talk page]]

== Updates ==
* March 25th, 2025 - Chapter 6 complete.
* January 2nd, 2025 - Chapter 5 and Intermission complete.
* December 27th, 2024 - Chapters 0-4 re-translated.

<noinclude>
* October 24th, 2020 - Chapter 4 complete.
* June 24th, 2020 - Chapter 3 complete.
* June 19th, 2020 - Chapter 2 complete.
* June 15th, 2020 - Chapter 1 complete.
* June 13th, 2020 - Project page created and Chapter 0 complete.
<noinclude>

==''Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)'' by Touka Takei ==
==={{pad|160px}}Volume 1: After I Transfer This Time, I Will Go Home and Marry This Girl===
[[image:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|left|160px|border]]
<table border=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td>
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Novel Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 0|Flag 0: The Magic That Started It All]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Flag 1: The Day the Knight Raised the Flag]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Side Quest Flag: The Mysterion Mystery 1]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Epilogue|Epilogue]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Afterword|Afterword]]
</td></tr></table><br style="clear:both"/>

== Project Staff ==
* Project Administrator: 
* Project Manager: [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Translators ===
ACTIVE<br>
:* [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Editors ===
:* 

== Series Overview ==
* Volume 1 - ''Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara: Ore, Kono Tenkō ga Owattara, Ano Ko to Kekkon Surun da (彼女がフラグをおられたら俺、この転校が終わったら、あの娘と結婚するんだ)'', December 2, 2011, ISBN 978-4-06-375205-2

Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)

2025-03-26T03:29:34Z

Person72635: /* Updates */

<vote type=1 /><small>{{furigana|'''Do you follow this series? Rate it!'''|Only available to registered users. [[Special:CreateAccount|Register here]]}}</small><br>

{{Status|Active}}
{{Teaser|English}}

[[File:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|thumb|Volume 1 Cover]]

If Her Flag Breaks (彼女がフラグをおられたら, Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara, or Gaworare for short) is a light novel series written by Touka Takei and illustrated by Cuteg. Kodansha published 16 volumes from December 2011 to September 2016. A manga and two spin-offs were serialized in Kodansha's magazines. An anime adaptation aired from April to June 2014, covering the first 6-ish volumes with significant alterations to the ending.

== Story Synopsis ==
Souta Hatate, a new transfer student to the Hatagaya School, has the ability to see the futures of those around him in the form of flags. He is able to affect those flags based on his interactions with the person in question. He ends up living in a small dorm with many beautiful girls. When he finds a flag of death on himself, Souta learns that in order to be able to change his fate, he has to find and bring together four people: a princess knight, a magician, a cleric, and a shinobi. (Taken from Wikipedia)

== Translation ==
=== [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|Registration]] ===
'''Translators are asked to [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|register]] which chapters they're working on'''

=== Format Standards ===
'''Every Chapter (after editing) must conform to the general format guidelines.'''
* [[Format guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

=== Feedback ===
Use the [[Talk:Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|project talk page]] or [[User talk:Person72635|Person72635's talk page]]

== Updates ==
* March 25th, 2025 - Chapter 6 complete.
* January 2nd, 2025 - Chapter 5 and Intermission complete.
* December 27th, 2024 - Chapters 0-4 re-translated.
* October 24th, 2020 - Chapter 4 complete.
* June 24th, 2020 - Chapter 3 complete.
* June 19th, 2020 - Chapter 2 complete.
* June 15th, 2020 - Chapter 1 complete.
* June 13th, 2020 - Project page created and Chapter 0 complete.

==''Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)'' by Touka Takei ==
==={{pad|160px}}Volume 1: After I Transfer This Time, I Will Go Home and Marry This Girl===
[[image:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|left|160px|border]]
<table border=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td>
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Novel Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 0|Flag 0: The Magic That Started It All]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Flag 1: The Day the Knight Raised the Flag]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Side Quest Flag: The Mysterion Mystery 1]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Epilogue|Epilogue]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Afterword|Afterword]]
</td></tr></table><br style="clear:both"/>

== Project Staff ==
* Project Administrator: 
* Project Manager: [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Translators ===
ACTIVE<br>
:* [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Editors ===
:* 

== Series Overview ==
* Volume 1 - ''Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara: Ore, Kono Tenkō ga Owattara, Ano Ko to Kekkon Surun da (彼女がフラグをおられたら俺、この転校が終わったら、あの娘と結婚するんだ)'', December 2, 2011, ISBN 978-4-06-375205-2

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6

2025-03-26T03:28:46Z

Person72635: /* Flag 6: The Very First Quest */

==Flag 6: The Very First Quest==

After a few days—

As their life together began, the Quest House buddies became more and more united with each passing day.

However, this should be due to the fact that they had pretty good chemistry to begin with.

Only, for especially-low-chemistry Souta, other people actively approaching him was fine, but he would almost never take initiative to talk to others.

For example, while the other four were chatting in the living room furnished with a soft sofa, coffee table, and soft carpet and constantly enticing people to join in, he would look at the happy atmosphere from the hall and directly pass by despondently.

Akane noticed this with her sharp eyes, and while worrying about his sad aura, she thought:

''Are you sad because the coffee table isn’t soft?''

But if even the coffee table was soft, guests might spill their drinks and never come back. No, the current softness ratio was just right so that this wouldn’t happen — Akane would later figure this out. She should have figured it out immediately, right?

Come to think of it, was it right to exclude Souta and just chat there herself? We need to go find him — although they all had this kind of thought, the situation had started with just Akane and Nanami chatting, with Kikuno joining in later and Megumu also joining in. Everything happened naturally, so they definitely didn’t exclude Souta on purpose.

Aside from the aforementioned situation, Souta exuded a sad aura no matter what he did, which always tortured Akane’s girlish heart.

A lonely profile that broke people’s hearts.

Although the amount of times Souta showed that depressing expression when he was with everybody decreased a lot, Akane still wanted to completely eliminate Souta’s sad aura, so she made up her mind.

First, in order to prepare for her operation, Akane consulted Kikuno, who should know Souta best.

“Eh? You want to make Sou-kun happy?”

After hearing Akane explain the important thing they needed to discuss, Kikuno asked this question.

Akane nodded seriously. Kikuno zoned out for a moment, then her whole body trembled as she hugged Akane tightly.

“Kikuno-senpai!?”

“Akane-chan, you’re such a good kid! Welcome to the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance!”

“Huh, there’s an alliance like that?”

“Akane-chan is the esteemed second member!”

Seems like a rather lonely alliance.

“Then, what kind of activities has the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance done so far?”

“Looking at Sou-kun when he’s happy is really soothing for the soul!”

“Its purpose is actually the opposite!?”

When Akane is with normal people, she should always garner retorts. But Kikuno, who’s able to make Akane retort, should really reflect on herself. Maybe she only becomes stupid when encountering something related to her little brother.

“Oh... So you want Sou-kun to be happy. Hmm... Of course a boy’s happiness comes from having a wonderful romance with a girl, I think.”

“Romance?!”

Kikuno proposed an unusually difficult solution, and Akane crossed her arms and pondered it.

She didn’t want to brag, but whether it was because of her innocent nature or her status as a rich heiress, it was difficult for boys to approach her. In her life so far, Akane hadn’t had any fate with love that could be called romance.

“I understand it now! Let’s implement the Souta-kun Romance Operation!”

Speaking of which, the contents of the operation hadn’t been planned out before. In other words, it wasn’t an operation at all.

Even Akane would discover this fact when it was time to implement it. But she couldn’t think of any good ideas, so she consulted Nanami this time.

“…Thou wantest Souta to have a romance?”

Nanami scoffed.

Akane scoffed in response.

“Why is Akane laughing too?!”

“I thought it’s better to laugh than not…”

“We cannot understand your motives!?”

The secret is: Akane didn’t know what her motives were either. But she made it so obvious, one could say it practically wasn’t a secret. Then it isn’t a secret, right?!

“Thou really likest Souta——...”

“I always felt that from the first time I met Souta, my chest tightens and I want to do something for him.”

Seeing Akane become shy, Nanami, who’d half-jokingly made an offhand comment, suddenly frowned.

“… So thou fellest in love at first sight?”

“Huh…?”

“Hast thou never fallen in love at first sight?”

Akane shook her head repeatedly.

“Huh…? Huh…? This is… love at first sight…?”

“……”

Nanami unflinchingly stared at the panicked Akane.

“N-no, no! It must be… I-it’s not like that…”

“Nevermind~ It’s fine, treat it as Our misunderstanding. Let’s not talk about that for now. Why didst thou come to ask Us such a thing?”

“Because Nanami is an charming girl, you’re definitely a love veteran or ''bateren''<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirishitan Japanese word for the first Christian missionaries,] but the meaning isn't really relevant to the joke</ref>.”

Veteran and ''bateren'' sound similar but are different. Why she listed them both, Akane herself didn’t know either. Turns out she really didn’t know.

Unfortunately, thanks to her personality, Nanami still only glared at, belittled, and kicked the boys around her, so her romance power level was almost the same as Akane’s, only five. Huh, pitiful!<ref> [https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Ball_Z_Kai:_Season_1_(Quotes)#:~:text=Raditz%3A%20You%20have%20a%20power,Huh%2C%20pitiful.&text=Raditz%3A%20Huh%2C%20it's%20a%20race%20of%20utter%20weaklings. Raditz quote] from Dragon Ball Z Kai.</ref>

Nanami, who had fought desperately with her pitiful romance power level, said with resentment:

“… Ask boys about a boy’s romance.”

This is surrendering without a fight.

Akane felt as if Nanami had secretly refused to offer her advice and wandered around the dormitory dejectedly.

“Boys… are there any reliable boys…”

“You called, Mahougasawa-san?!”

Megumu jumped out of the laundry room, where he had been washing his clothes in the laundry machine, and Akane let out a strange cry of “Uwaahh!?”

“There is no boy more reliable than this man among men — Touzokuyama Megumu!”

“Um…”

Megumu, dressed in casual clothes, wore a girly knitted sweater, honeycomb shorts, and striped kneesocks. His [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettai_ry%C5%8Diki zettai ryouiki] was very dazzling and brimming with cuteness. Add to that his bow necklace which further enhanced his femininity.

Even Akane seemed to think that his femininity was higher than her own. Rather than Megumu’s reliability, Akane was more confused about whether she could even consider Megumu a boy.

“Come on, if you have a problem, just discuss it with one! Just ask this one — who, because his manly body odor is too strong, relies on washing clothes to remove his manly body odor — known as the boy who always exudes the fragrance of soap and flowers!”

“Megu-chan, that would just increase your femininity, though.”

Megumu’s eyes lost their luster.

What’s more , only he thought it was a manly body odor, but it actually smelled sweet. Therefore, Megumu always exuded a sweet fragrance of soap and flowers.

But if this continued, Megumu would be unwilling to help. In order to try to make Megumu’s eyes regain their brilliance, Akane held Megumu’s hand with a tense smile.

“Uh! Oh! I-I do have something I want to discuss with a boy! A boy! A man among men! Megu-chan, are you willing to lend an ear?!”

“Well… if you don't mind one’s rising femininity, one will just listen to you…”

Although Megumu’s eyes hadn’t completely regained their brilliance, he seemed willing to help out. So Akane asked with a bright smile:

“Actually, it’s this…”

When Akane finished explaining her goals, Megumu’s face turned red. He hid half of both hands in his sleeves and pressed his fingers against his mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. His whole person seemed much cuter.

“O-one isn’t very good at romance…”

“You hate the chewy texture?”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Salmon roe.”

“Why did the topic suddenly turn to salmon roe?!”

“I suddenly brought up the topic of romance and you seemed burdened, so I changed the subject.”

“What kind of weird consideration is this?!”

Anyways, since Megumu seemed only reliable on the topic of salmon roe, Akane gave up on discussing romance with Megumu.

Speaking of fearing romance, Akane herself also… repeated what she did before. Not knowing what to do, she dejectedly wandered around the dorm while crying out “Ah…” or “Ugh~” They say that when Souta saw her, he thought, ''Is that a zombie game…?''

Of course, Souta didn’t particularly go over to show concern. Kikuno, seeing Akane at the same time, was giddy with excitement and said to her:

“I’m telling you, Akane-chan! I thought of many ideas afterwards, and I want to ask Akane-chan to date Sou-kun so that he can open his eyes to romance. What do you think of this idea?”

“N-no, not happening! I think Souta-kun would want to find a more charming girl than me!”

Maybe she learned a new move after seeing Megumu’s, but she hid half of her hands in her sleeves and pressed her fingers against her mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. Her whole person seemed much cuter, her femininity increasing by a huge leap.

“Mmm! Akane-chan is very charming though, and Big Sis thinks you two are a good match... But if that’s the case, how about introducing an charming girl Akane-chan knows to Sou-kun?”

“Good idea!! Or should I say good taste!!”

“Taste...?”

The topic of salmon eggs seemed to still linger somewhere in Akane’s mind.

That night, Akane stopped wandering around and stayed in her room, struggling to write a list of girls to introduce to him.

Upon conjuring up the image of a girl on the list getting along well with Souta and imagining his very happy smile, Akane’s joy slowly surged up like the warmth of basking in the sun during the winter… But—

“…Huh?”

Suddenly—

Akane felt a piercing pain in her chest and stopped writing the list.

However, that only lasted for a moment.

Akane immediately returned to work writing the list…

Swish! With the sound of curtains being drawn, the dazzling morning light shone directly onto Souta’s face. As he gradually regained consciousness due to the light, his body lying on the bed was continuously shaken. Then, a sweet sound, like the chirping of a bird, passed into his ears.

“Good morning!”

“Mm… Good morning…”

“Haaah… Whoa!” Seeing Akane’s face so close to him as she enthusiastically came to wake him up, Souta was immediately startled awake.

“Huh?! What’s going on?! Why is Akane in my room?! Where’s the door lock?!”

“I opened it without permission.”

“You can’t open it without permission, right?!”

Just outside the wide-open door, Nanami came out of her room to take a morning shower and happened to pass by. She poked her head in from the hall and took a peek with sleepy eyes.

“What’s up… Why’s it so noisy this morning…”

“Is it better to be noisy like this during the night?”

“Disturbing people’s sweet dreams!!”

Nanami, no longer sleepy after her roar, looked inside Souta’s room again and found Akane leaning over the bed where Souta was lying.

“This…! Why are ye behaving so outrageously so early in the morning!!”

“No, no! This is French behavior!”

“You’re not French!”

It’s hard to say whether everything French people do is French behavior.

“Th-this is just a step of the operation to wake Souta-kun up and make him happy! I was reading a shoujo manga before, and it said that boys who get woken up by girls in the morning are very happy! Nanami, come and wake Souta-kun up too!”

“Oh, thou art just a Souta, yet thou enjoyest the luxury of being woken up by a beautiful girl…”

In Nanami’s opinion, just waking Souta up was too revolting, so she looked at Souta disdainfully, full of mockery and contempt. She only looks disdainfully at our poor Souta.

“Th-that’s not it! No, I should say, I didn’t ask her to do that! By the way, Akane, how did you open the door of my room?!”

Although Souta’s mood was low, his energy was high. This could be said to be a very unfortunate state.

“I borrowed the spare key from Kikuno-senpai.”

“Huh?! Why does Okiku-nee have a spare key to my room?!”

“She said that was Big Sis’s privilege.”

““Big Sis’s privileges are really terrifying!””

Nanami and Souta shouted in unison. Seeing how close the two were, Akane felt lonely and whispered a complaint.

“Hmph, you guys left me out again, acting so in sync… But it doesn’t matter. I just want Souta-kun to be happy.”

“Yes… But right now, my lock isn’t working at all, and the happiness of staying in bed in the morning is gone. I’m in quite a distressing situation…”

“Dejection…”

Akane’s eyes welled up with tears because she had deprived Souta of happiness.

“Souta, don’t make Akane cry!”

“Oh… what a headache. Ah~ I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I’m really happy. I’m so lucky to have a girl come wake me up in the morning... It’s like, uh, since I’ve almost never tasted the feeling of happiness, I don’t know how to distinguish between happiness and unhappiness.”

Souta was hit in the back of his head by Nanami’s Princess Punch and frantically consoled Akane.

But after hearing his consolation, Akane unexpectedly cheered up.

“Ah! I actually made you worry about me, Souta-kun! But… I really like how Souta-kun and Nanami are so considerate.”

“…I can’t compare to Akane.”

“Heeheehee… ah, I accidentally started to taste happiness. Really, I should be letting unlucky Souta-kun taste it.”

“I don’t need it…”

That said, being told that you have bad luck isn’t very pleasant, and it made Souta a little depressed.

His sad aura emerged, causing Akane to panic.

“Ah?! No problem. Souta-kun has me here. The Souta-kun Happiness Operation exists for this purpose. I want to introduce my charming friend to Souta-kun. She’s the type of… charming girl that you would want to date!”

““…Uh-huh.””

Seeing her abruptly begin to speak unbelievable words again, Souta and Nanami still couldn’t help but look at her in wonder despite the fact they were slowly getting used to her behavior.

“This is the charming girl I recommend, Nanami Knight Bladefield.”

“I’ve already known her for a while!”

Souta complained without even looking at Nanami, who was pushed forward. Because he didn’t need to look at her to know her.

“You’ve got a keen eye for identifying charming girls. You’re really good at it, Souta-kun.”

“……”

''I think it was my keen eyes that were able to recognize Nanami at first…'' Souta began to recall that past. However, because many things happened in this short period of time, when he began to recall it, he even felt that it was a long time ago.

However, Akane interrupted his reminiscence.

“How about it, do you want to date Nanami?”

“Why must We date Souta, nyaa?!”

Akane looked very disappointed.

“Why dost thou have a ‘That’s impossible…’ look on your face? We are the one who should say that’s impossible!!”

“Nanami isn’t an idiot.”<ref> “That’s impossible” and “This idiot” sound similar in Japanese.</ref>

“Who said that to thee—?!”

Nanami roared at Akane, calling her a dumb idiot.

Since the door was open, it was Kikuno’s turn to poke her head in and take a peek at Souta’s incredibly noisy room.

“…I say, you three, I told Megumu to get you because you were late. But he just came back scared and said that there was an early-morning love triangle crisis in Sou-kun’s room, huh?”

“““It’s not a love triangle!!”””

The three people in the room retorted at Kikuno together.

Then, after shouting, Akane covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide.

“Wow!? We were just in sync…!! Finally… I finally did it…!! This way, I am also in sync with Souta-kun and Nanami!!”

Akane then held the two’s hands and started dancing, and the matter was left unsettled just like that. Everyone packed up, ate the Big Sis Breakfast Kikuno made for everyone, and then went to school.

Lunch break.

Souta stood up and left the table alone to go somewhere else...

“Souta-kun, where are you going?”

…But Akane grabbed the corner of his shirt to stop him. As for why she grabbed the corner of his shirt, it wasn’t because she thought, ''Go die, you dirty piece of trash!'' Rather, if she had hugged him from behind and said, ''Where are you going, Sou-kun~?'' it would seem too intimate. Why is this so extreme?

Also, the latter has apparently been patented the doting Big Sis.

“Sou-kun, it’s time for lunch. Where are you going? Is something going on? Do you want Big Sis to come with you?”

Big Sis’s doting was clearly beyond imagination.

“No... I’m just going to buy lunch.”

“There’s bento, though!”

As he said this, Megumu took out a cute tote bag and put it on the table. Incidentally, since he couldn’t carry that bag in the morning, Souta ended up carrying it for him.

“Is there a portion for me…?”

“Yep, I made it with Kikuno-san. Akane-san and Nanami-san also have a portion.”

“You didn’t have to do that… I can eat the bread from the cafeteria..."

Seeing Souta’s reclusive attitude again, Nanami, who had remained silent until now, spoke up:

“Thou art an idiot, Souta! This idiot Souta! Stop talking nonsense and just accept their goodwill! More importantly, if they didn’t have the girlish motive of making lunch boxes for thee, We wouldn't be able to take a share of the spoils!”

“Okay…”

After listening to Nanami's words, Souta sighed helplessly.

However, this sentence made Megumu smile.

"Nanami-kun is so gentle… If only you got one, the gentle Souta-kun would feel bad. You said ‘We want it too’ in order to make it hard for him to refuse, right?”

“Huh?!… Th-that’s not the case…!!”

Souta had taken it literally, thinking that Nanami was selfish and smiling thinly, but now his eyes widened and he stared at Nanami, who blushed and fumbled to deny it.

“Is that so, Nanami?... Look at you, pretending to be an evil bastard.”

Souta, who himself didn’t really have any right to be criticizing people on pretending to be evil, smiled wryly.

“A-are ye idiots? Thinking too highly of me!? W-We ask for a lunchbox out of selfishness…!!”

Regardless of the truth, Nanami, trying so hard to hide her gentleness, ended up making everyone to look at her with warm eyes.

“D-d-d-do nyaat look at me like that—!!”

“Uwaahhh—!!”

Poked in the eye by Nanami, Souta screamed on behalf of everyone.

Souta, who was eating lunch alone a few days ago, found himself having a lively and warm meal with the five members of the Quest House group in the blink of an eye.

“It's better to eat with a lot of people. Even 800 people would be no problem.”

“So many!!”

“If we want 800 people to have lunch together, I think it would be better to hold a banquet.”

“Eh, you’re continuing on that topic?!”

Kikuno unexpectedly brought up Akane’s words again, and this unforeseen situation shocked Megumu.

“The atmosphere at a banquet might be inexplicably awkward, though.”

“So individualism is the way to go after all!”

“Too extreme!!”

The conversation between Miss Heiress and Her Princess Highness, who were very used to banquets, was very high-class.

“'''''One or All, and All or 1.'''''”

“Isn’t it '''''for'''''?” Megumu asked.

“It’s not '''''for'''''.”

“No, it is '''''for''''', though! '''''For''''' has gotta be correct, right?!” Souta exclaimed.

“Looks like the boys like '''''for'''''.”

“This isn’t a matter of preference—!!”

“Sou-kun’s retorts are really no-holds-''baran''…”

The ''baran'' at the end of no-holds-''baran'' doesn’t refer to the green plastic Yamagata leaf that separates the side dishes in the bentos Souta and co. were currently eating. Speaking of which, although ''baran'' is the common name, its official name seems to be ''haran''. If the common name were also ''haran'', why would it take so many lines to explain ''haran''? It’s really a pity to think about this. In any case, we shouldn’t talk about something so off-topic.<ref> ''Baran'' and ''haran'' are alternate pronunciations for the same green plastic Yamagata leaf.</ref>

“By the way, Sou-kun, is the omelette Big Sis made delicious?”

“Yep… I see there are two kinds of omelettes. Why is that?”

“That’s made by one”

“Oh, this is delicious too. Sweet omelette.”

Megumu had been smiling shyly and timidly, perhaps because he wasn’t confident about the taste. But after hearing Souta’s words, he made a cute little “I did it♡” victory pose like a little girl.

“Sorry… I’m sorry, Sou-kun… If I’d known earlier, Big Sis would’ve also made sweet omelettes for Sou-kun… Because Sou-kun liked to eat salty omelettes when he was little, so Big Sis accidentally… I’m such a useless Big Sis who doesn’t understand Sou-kun’s preferences… I’m sorry…”

Megumu was overjoyed, but Kikuno was quite depressed.

''So doting!!''

The doting Big Sis’s words and actions shocked the students who were eating in the classroom.

“Okiku-nee, you’re being too dramatic. Besides, I really like Okiku-nee’s omelette too!”

“Sou-kun... has grown into a kind-hearted little brother…!”

Big Sis was deeply moved.

Akane leaned over from the side.

“How does my omelette taste?”

“Huh? I haven’t eaten it before…?”

“Based on the current conversation, I thought I could get an answer of ‘It’s delicious’, but it was a failure.”

“What’s with this feeling of confrontation…?”

Nanami put an octopus sausage into her mouth and cast a weird look at Akane’s strange behavior.

“By the way, Akane, what happened to the introduction thou wast talking about this morning? We can’t be the only choice, right…?”

“It felt like Nanami would fail, so that was something like a throwaway option.”

“What does that mean…?”

Although she didn’t want to date Souta at all, it was still quite unpleasant to be told as much. This is a woman’s heart.

“Heeheehee… Now comes the main event. I think Souta fits better with girls who are a bit assertive.”

“Ah, Big Sis might also agree with this.”

On this basis, the three or four girls (?) present are all a bit assertive in different respects.

By the way, when Souta saw the defeat flag raised above Akane’s head, he kind of wondered what was up with that; but he just wondered and didn’t take any particular actions.

“I’ve already sent a text, she should almost be here.”

In the blink of an eye—

The classroom door was violently flung open and a female student barged in.

“Fuhahahahahaha, Mahougasawa Akane-kun!! What business do you have with this student president Seiteikouji Mimori?!”

Just then, for some unknown reason, everyone except Akane seemed to see a failure flag above Mimori’s head. But you can roughly tell the reason, so it wasn’t really unknown… So why it said “Just then, for some unknown reason…” is the real unknown.

As the word “unknown” went through Gestaltzerfall<ref> The phenomenon where a word begins to look weird and lose its meaning when you stare at it too long</ref>, Akane pushed Souta forward.

“Please go on a date with Souta-kun around campus.”

“Huh?!”

Mimori froze for a full thirty seconds.

Afterwards, she turned her back to everyone, took out a comb and portable mirror to comb her hair, reapplied lip balm, and secretly made “Ah~ Ah~ Ha! Uh-huh!” sounds to warm up her voice. She also said in a very cute voice “Annoying… everyone’s looking…” After practicing her lines, she thought to herself, ''Very well! Yours truly’s constant daily practicing is all for today!'', struck a victory pose, then faced Souta and co. again.

“Can’t be helped! Since you’re so insistent, how can a student president who exists for the students refuse? What a headache, Akane-kun!”

“You’re laughing so happily and having a headache at the same time!!”

The unprecedented response shocked Akane silly.

Moreover, because Mimori made a cute expression that strayed completely from her original personality, the people around her couldn’t help but take a step away from her.

“N-no big deal. Hatate-kun too, if you had told yours truly earlier, yours truly would’ve helped you embezzle any amount of student council funds when renovating the dorm…”

“No, no, don’t embezzle…”

“Alright, stop dilly-dallying in a place like this, now we’ll let the young people chat on their own!”

Although the matter hadn’t been fully discussed, Souta and Mimori were kicked out of the classroom at Akane’s urging.

Next, not long afterwards—

Souta, feeling particularly tired, saw three or four girls (?) waiting for him with sparkling eyes as he entered the classroom.

Only Nanami pretended to be uninterested, but from the way she kept glancing at Souta, it was clear that she was actually quite interested. Just like how people look at bra straps visible under summer uniforms.

“What’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the student president go?!”

“Not very well…”

Akane asked, ready to lean forward at any moment, and Souta gave a vague response with a pale face.

“Maybe Souta was actually the only one there, completely alone.”

“Then what was with me?!”

“The student president’s ghost.”

“Nooooooooooooo!! Nonononono!! One is super scared of ghosts and stuff—!!”

Megumu screamed super cutely and covered her ears like crazy.

“Then what’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the ghost of the student president go?”

“Megumu’s making so much noise nearby, I can’t hear what Akane said at all.”

“Huh? What? Souta-kun, I can’t hear you at all.”

Looks like the ultrasonic waves emitted by Megumu drowned out all the surrounding sounds.

“Megu-chan, thou art very noisy.”

“Mmph!!”

Nanami stopped Megumu’s paranormal ultrasonic waves by stuffing leftover rice balls from lunch into his mouth. A little later and ghosts would have been attracted by the ultrasonic waves. Really dangerous.

“So, what's the result? Are ye closer? O-oh yeah, We don’t care, but Akane and Kikuno are particularly concerned.”

“It’s passable… I guess.”

Souta’s expression was extremely difficult to describe, but Akane, who was thinking positively, interpreted this vague statement in a positive way. She smiled and said:

“Really? That’s great!”

But—

When the image of Mimori and Souta getting along well with each other appeared in her mind…

…Akane’s chest felt pierced again.

''Strange… why…?''

It seemed very happy...but also seemed very lonely.

She appeared about to cry, but smiled awkwardly. From the head of Akane who was full of confusion—

“…Huh?!”

——Souta saw a love flag raised…

That day, after returning to the dorm, someone knocked on Nanami’s door.

When she opened the door, she saw Souta standing in front of her, not even out of uniform yet.

“What’s wrong? What’s with the sad face? No, Souta always makes this face.”

“……”

Souta couldn’t refute her extremely harsh words and forced a smile.

“That’s it. Just smile a little. Otherwise, even the people looking at it would be infected with depression.”

As they spent more time together, Souta was able to feel the encouragement in Nanami’s harsh words and carefully-crafted evil facade. He knew that it was Nanami’s clumsy expression of gentleness, so he put on a gentle smile.

“…Yeah. Thank you, Nanami.”

“Wh-why art thou thanking me? Weirdo!”

Nanami said this flustered, perhaps not realizing her own gentleness. Souta felt that this clumsiness was also very much like Nanami and quite liked it.

“…So? What dost thou want from me?”

“Hmm… it’s hard to put into words…”

Seeing Souta hesitate, Nanami guessed that it might be something not for others to hear, so she could only reluctantly invite Souta into her room.

“So, what is it? If it’s something trivial, We shall spread word to the News Club that thou art actually a soccer recruit.”

“But as for soccer, I’ve only ever played intramural soccer with my friends before, though?”

“When the time comes, a lot of expectant people will come to thou respectfully and ask you to join the soccer club. Just wait, thou shalt need to explain, deny, and reject them one by one, then suffer.”

“What an incredibly effective way to completely crush someone’s spirits!!”

Souta, whose mind was somewhat drained by the retorts, felt that all his worries were gone and it was easier for him to speak up; however, it was hard to say whether Nanami had considered such a long-term view at the beginning.

“Actually… it’s like this. I hope you don’t tell anyone about this… Akane… just… raised a love flag…”

“……”

Nanami had an indescribably irritated expression on her face.

“Uh, I also recognize that you would think that it’s impossible for someone so popular like Akane to be interested in a guy like me. But the love flag was really raised…”

“Art thou an idiot?”

Nanami still had an irritated expression, frowning even harder as she declared:

“That kind of thing is obvious at a glance.”

“What…?”

“Didst thou not notice…? It’s because thou only carest about looking at flags that thou dost not notice people’s feelings, idiot.”

Nanami sighed as if she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Really…? Was it like that… No, but, didn’t Akane ask me to date Nanami or the student council president…”

“……”

Hearing Souta’s rebuttal, Nanami plopped down on the chair and crossed her arms.

“It was a private conversation between girls, so We didn’t intend to tell you… but forget it.”

Nanami just looked up at the ceiling and told Souta about the conversation during lunch when Souta and Mimori went out and only the girls were left.

……

…………

………………

When Akane packed up her empty bento and took out her dessert bento, Nanami asked something that suddenly occurred to her:

“But, Akane, since thou wantest Souta to be happy so much, why not just date him and make him happy? What’s the point of forcing it on other people?”

“Huh…”

Seeing Akane at a loss for words, Kikuno joined in the conversation as well. She assumed a position with her hands clasped together and her body leaned forward, looking like she wanted to join in very badly.

“That’s right. Big Sis thinks Akane-chan and Sou-kun are a good match– Ah, but Nanami and Sou-kun and Megu-chan and Sou-kun are good matches, though?”

“Thou shalt not think about strange things! We do not fall in love with other people’s lovers, so thou needest not to worry!”

Although Akane felt that this wasn’t entirely the case, she deliberately remained silent, thinking that based on Nanami’s belligerent aura she’d be scolded if she said something wrong.

Megumu was forced into the center of discussion. He was terrified of this situation, but he tried his best to muster up courage, twisted his body cutely, and joined the conversation with a trembling voice:

“One sees Akane-chan do a lot for Souta-kun, so one always thought that Akane-chan likes Souta-kun.”

“N-no, no… I… I…”

“……”

At first, Akane violently shook her hands in denial, then lowered her head slightly, hesitating. Seeing this, everyone waited quietly for her next words.

“I definitely can’t make Souta-kun… No, no matter who I date, I definitely can’t make them happy…”

After saying this, Akane displayed a dejected expression.

Seeing her inexplicably distressed look, Nanami and co. were speechless.

Nanami didn’t know what Akane’s real thoughts were, nor did she know what part of Akane’s words were true. But she figured there must be a reason why Akane was so stubborn.

Nanami always thought that this was Souta’s knot to untie.

………………

…………

…

“…Anyway, that’s what happened.”

Nanami observed Souta’s reaction as she narrated. He seemed to have an idea in his mind.

“There’s a flag next to Akane’s love flag… I think it’s probably a trauma flag… It and the love flag seem to come as a set.”

“…Oh.”

Nanami confirmed that her suspicions weren’t completely wrong, uncrossed her arms, and raised her chin.

“Whenever Akane’s love flag waves grandly and powerfully, the trauma flag also wriggles painfully.”

“After all, falling in love with Souta is a painful thing.”

“……”

On that point, Souta was quite aware of that. Knowing that he can’t be helped being told that, he sighed and leaned against the wall.

“…What do you think I should do, Nanami?”

“Why ask Us?”

“I can’t think it through by myself… I don’t know what I should do. It’s because, for a long time, I haven’t… thought about myself… Though saying this is pretty embarrassing.”

“What can We do~ Everybody comes to Us for help… After all, considering my pedigree and prestige, it can’t be helped!!”

Nanami, self-importantly sticking out her flat chest, was sympathetic, and Souta was unable to respond.

“Getting back to the point… if even thyself doesn’t know what to do, how can other people know?”

“I feel like I’m… just torturing Akane…”

“…Then, dost thou want to try to keep a little distance? After all, Akane has been clinging to thee lately… No, Kikuno and Megumu are the same.”

Nanami didn’t mention herself at all, smiling with slight mockery.

“Keep my distance…? …You’ve got a point.”

While this approach was very passive, this might be the only way to deal with Akane, who can quickly recover even if her flag is actively broken.

Although the question of whether trying to deal with Akane is right or wrong remains up in the air.

After this delicate conversation ended like this, remaining unclear as to whether it had been resolved or not, Nanami and Souta walked out of the room and ran into Akane and Kikuno in the hall.

“Oh? What did you two sneak around and do? Can you tell Big Sis about it too?”

Kikuno approached Souta with a smile, looking like a clingy Big Sis who really wanted to take care of her little brother.

“No… We weren’t sneaking around…”

“Then, what did you do?”

Kikuno asked happily.

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to control her little brother’s actions very badly.

“…Nothing, just talked a bit.”

“Oh? Talk about what? Can you let Big Sis join in~?”

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to improve her relationship with her little brother very badly.

“Nothing… nothing worth mentioning…”

“Huh — so it’s something you can’t tell Big Sis about… Sou-kun left Big Sis and became independent, Big Sis is so lonely…”

Kikuno’s body was full of only sisterly love, making her dejected. Souta was in a dilemma.

"Ah. B-but Big Sis thinks Sou-kun and Nanami are a good match. Aahhh, but Mimori and Akane will be sad… As a big sister, who should I support? Ah, but no matter who Sou-kun chooses in the end, remember that Big Sis will always stand on Sou-kun’s side!"

“Uh…”

Faced with this almost soliloquous sisterly love, not only Souta but also Akane and Nanami took a step back.

“So, Big Sis will keep Sou-kun and Nanami’s passionate affair in the room a secret from Akane-chan.”

“Akane is right beside us though!?”

“…Huh?”

For Big Sis’s great love often ignored everything else except her little brother and was blind to everyone else. How terrifying.

Akane, hearing the secrets being whispered in front of her, seemed to have a little bit of a headache. She looked back and forth between Nanami and Souta and said:

“L-listen… I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that Nanami and Souta-kun were in that kind of relationship…”

“What kind of relationship?!”

At Nanami’s retort, Akane’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.

This blatant misunderstanding of hers was obviously influenced by Kikuno’s words just now.

“If you had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have made a fuss and would’ve given you two my blessings a long time ago!”

“Thou art making a fuss with those random assumptions—!!”

Nanami felt that the conversation between her and Akane was completely unproductive and she couldn’t help but clutch her head in frustration.

''This world is really full of busybodies…'' Souta thought from a distance.

“Hmph! Kikuno-senpai, leave this place to the two young people, let’s excuse ourselves!”

“Y-you’re right! Sorry, Sou-kun! Big Sis is too intrusive!”

As if they would die if the misunderstanding was resolved, Akane and Kikuno did not give people a chance to resolve the misunderstanding. After nodding to each other, they raised their hands to indicate “Please take it slow!” while mouthing “Heehee, being young is great” and jogged away.

“… Why did things turn out like this?”

Having been paired with Souta without her consent, Nanami said, her expression collapsing.

“B-but, anyways, this means there’s hope of keeping my distance from Akane… right? Right?”

“Don’t drag other people into thy own affairs!!”

“Ack!!”

Nanami grabbed Souta’s neck and fiercely threw him to the ground. She glared at Souta resentfully, turned her face away with a harrumph, and left with heavy footsteps.

Kikuno and Akane, who had pretended to leave but had actually hidden in the bathroom to spy on the hall, felt sorry for the two with an “Oof!”

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun, he—!”

“I think it’s because Nanami is jealous that Souta-kun spent a lot of time talking to Kikuno-senpai and me.”

“Of course not!!”

Because the two just happened to be in the direction of Nanami’s movements, Nanami heard their conversation in its entirety, causing her to roar in anger.

That evening—

In the kitchen, Souta was peeling potatoes with full concentration like a chef apprentice. Kikuno, who was cooking nearby, and Akane, who was helping, approached him with a meaningful chuckle like “Heh heh heh…”

“Sou-kun. Big Sis wants to ask Sou-kun for something.”

“…What's up?”

Because he usually found himself being doted on, whenever he meets a doting Big Sis getting ready to spoil him, Souta is completely unable to mount resistance. That is what happens when you fall into a Big Sis’s perfected Control Domain. For a fish, this so-called “Control Domain” is the sea, or maybe a river. Doesn’t matter which of the two.

Or maybe a pond. Didn’t we just say it didn’t matter which?

“Big Sis forgot to buy carrots. Could you run an errand?”

“Okay, no big deal.”

Souta, who had been worried about what he would be asked to do, smiled in relief.

However, Akane interrupted as if it were her turn to take the stage:

“Since you’re going out, why don’t you go with Nanami?”

“Uh…”

“Ah, you’re right! Since it’s dangerous to carry carrots alone! That’s a good idea!”

“……”

It seems asking him to buy carrots was not the goal in and of itself.

Souta, feeling a headache coming on, looked at Nanami — she was currently on the sofa in the living room next to the dining room next to the kitchen reading a book — and sent a plea for help.

“……”

The conversation that Kikuno and co. were purposely having with a certain person had already long reached Nanami’s ears through the dining room, but Nanami pretended not to notice.

Looking closely, there was an angry “#” mark on her temple, showing that she had heard something unpleasant. Or maybe her blood pressure was very high. She was clearly still so young.

“So! You and Nanami have to go together, Sou-kun!”

“Coming back late is fine, too!”

“……”

Kikuno and Akane rushed over and stuffed a shopping bag and wallet into Souta’s embarrassed hands

The two urged Souta to “Hurry, hurry, be careful on the road” and pushed his back forcefully, and Souta began to have nowhere else to go. In other words, he was cornered by the animation.<ref> Apparently a marketing slogan used by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantei_Opera_Milky_Holmes ''Tantei Opera Milky Homes''] PSP game referring to its cutscenes when you catch the villains</ref>

Since Kikuno and Akane had expectant attitudes of “I’ve created an opportunity for them!” and both of them had “Cornering Complete” flags raised above their heads, Souta’s escape route was cut off and he had no choice but to walk towards Nanami, who was ignoring him to the end.

“No wonder… Nanami?”

“Whaddaya want?!”

She seems to be angry already. How scary.

“C-can you go shopping with me?”

“Don’t wanna.”

“I thought so…”

Souta was about to go back dejectedly, but when he saw Kikuno and Akane slightly grumpily standing behind him, he gasped “Huh?!”

“No, Sou-kun! Girls are very shy, you have to be more sincere and actively ask her out!”

“That’s right, Souta-kun! Nanami’s a ''tsundere'', you have to work hard before she enters her ''dere'' phase. Though she’s a delinquent tsundere.”

“Who’s the delinquent ''tsundere''?”

Nanami was hit dead-on by the groundless claim. She couldn’t ignore it this time and snapped. This was the ''tsun'' phase. Or maybe the snap phase. The time period when you take and send lots of selfies in that yellow app.<ref> Chinese pun went ''snap (发飙) → snap phase (飙期) → tiger-stripe phase (彪期) → tabby-cat-pattern time period (虎斑花色的时期)'', tabby cat = tiger-striped cat. As a treat for reading this, here is my alternate draft: ''She couldn’t ignore it this time and '''cracked'''. This was the'' tsun ''phase. Or maybe the '''crack''' phase. '''The time period when you like to have Coke.''''' I think the alt version is funnier, but it doesn’t really fit the tone.</ref>

“Sou-kun, why don’t you try asking Nanami again? Oh, do you want Big Sis to ask her with you? Hmm? Hmm?”

''The doting Big Sis… dotes habitually…'' Nanami thought thusly and looked up from the sofa at Souta and Kikuno, fed up.

Souta had a look on his face saying “What should I do?” and pleaded at Nanami for help again.

“Don’t look at Us!”

Nanami was apoplectic. Speaking of which, “apoplectic” has two p’s and two c’s. How complicated. Feels like this issue has been discussed elsewhere already, but for some reason we’ll keep doing it.

“Akane-chan, as a Big Sis, I really want to help Sou-kun! What can I do to convince Nanami?”

A doting Big Sis’s doting on her little brother knows no limit.

“How about an errand fee as bait?”

“That's great! Sou-kun, here’s the errand fee. Use the errand fee as bait, okay?”

Kikuno proudly presented someone else’s proposal, and Souta forced a smile in cold sweat.

“Uh no, I heard it very clearly... Hear that, Nanami? There’s an errand…”

“Don’t want it!!”

Since the distance was very close, if Souta could hear it, Nanami certainly couldn’t fail to hear it, so Nanami immediately refused before Souta finished speaking.

Seeing Nanami glaring at him as if to say “These idiot siblings!”, Souta almost cried. He was willing to ask anyone for help, whether they were a god or a buddha. He must be thinking that he might as well go pray at a temple.

“Jeez, fine! Just need Us to come, right? We will go!”

As a result, Nanami suffered such a fate due to her caring personality of being unable to say no when asked.

“Hey, come on, Souta! What art thou still stalling about for! Stalling Souta! Stall-ta!”

“Don’t give me random nicknames!!”

Stall-ta made an aggrieved cry.

Seeing Nanami walking furiously and taking the lead, Souta desperately followed her. Kikuno shouted at his back:

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun! Hand! Hand! You have to hold hands!”

“We shall absolutely not do that!!"

Before Souta could answer, Nanami replied heatedly. This was the heat phase. Don’t know what that means, but it sounds pretty fiery.

Nanami and Souta left the dormitory and took a bumpy ride on the tram, finally arriving at a place known as the campus shopping street, where there were many shops, half of which were run by students engaged in club activities.

After buying carrots as instructed at the supermarket in the school shopping street, the two left the supermarket.

During this period, the two remained silent.

Either their relationship is so bad that it is irreparable, or they are so indifferent to each other that it is irreparable, or they are so desperate to buy things that it is irreparable. In any case, it can be said that their relationship is irreparable.

“…By the way, Souta.”

On their way back, Nanami finally spoke, her tone clearly indicating her rage. Souta was so frightened that he shook uncontrollably.

“What’s up, Nanami…?”

“We have been curious this whole time.”

“Um…?”

Her roundabout way of speaking made Souta tilt his head in confusion.

“Ever since we left the dorm— what’s up with these two following us this whooooooooooole time?!”

Nanami’s teeth were grinding not because of sleep bruxism<ref> Condition where you grind your teeth uncontrollably in your sleep</ref>, but because she was wholly subjected to an irritation bordering on wrath.

Then, the unrivaled troop of Kikuno and Akane — thinking that they were stalking unnoticed — hid behind the cake shop’s sign board and observed Nanami and Souta.

“Oh! They finally started a conversation, Kikuno-senpai!”

“Them two being so immature is also a problem, Akane-chan!”

“I keep feeling like they’re looking at me.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hands! Hold hands!”

It seems that Big Sis just wants her brother to hold a girl’s hand no matter what.

“Ah, they seem to be coming this way.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hug her from behind!”

“Hugging, my foot!!”

Because they were busy peeping, they didn’t notice that Nanami had already approached them face-to-face.

“Huh?! Nanami, nonono! This isn’t stalking!”

“…Then what is it?”

Akane was fiercely cornered by Nanami. She was cornered by the animation.

“…K-Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like that, isn’t it?”

“Nuh-uh, Akane-chan. Can’t believe you were stalking people. Good thing I came to stop you.”

“An unexpected betrayal!!”

Having been reprimanded by Big Sis with a “Naughty!” gesture, Akane was hit hard.

“Okiku-nee…”

Even Souta couldn’t let them get away with it scot-free. So the two of them sincerely apologized and the four of them went back to the dorm together.

“Ahh!! Everyone’s back! That’s great!”

Seeing Nanami and the others coming back together, Megumu, who was panicking in the dorm kitchen, rushed over to Souta with tears in his eyes and gave him a girl hug.

This so-called girl hug consists of leaning towards someone, holding their chest with both hands, and embracing them. It is an elegant way of hugging.

“Wh-what's wrong, Megumu?”

“When one came back, one saw that the food was half-cooked and felt like there were people there until just now, but there’s nobody there, so it’s just like the ''Mary Celeste''! One was so scared!!”

The ''Mary Celeste'' was a ship involved in a mysterious incident. According to the urban legend — they say that all the people on the ship disappeared into thin air, and it became an unmanned ship drifting on the sea. The half-eaten breakfast on the ship was still hot, as if everyone was still sitting on the ship safely until a moment ago. How terrifying.<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste A real incident]</ref>

Seeing Megumu sob, Nanami also smiled bitterly:

“It’s okay, Megu-chan. You have a very vivid imagination…”

“That’s right, Megu-chan. Do you think that the us that just returned are really the us that Megu-chan knows?”

“What is that? How terrifying!!”

Akane said something strange, scaring Megumu into violent trembling. But was it really strange? If what she said was true… Mulder, you’re sick, you’re not thinking straight.<ref> X-Files reference</ref>

“Or maybe Megu-chan accidentally intruded into our domain?”

“How scary, how scary! Souta-kun, how scary!”

Kikuno also joined Akane’s evil prank. Megumu was trembling all over. He was no longer hugging Souta gracefully, but instead tightly wrapped his hands and legs around Souta's body, holding him in a state of imprint clinginess. Imprint clinginess was also called koala-clinging in the old days, and it was a sleeping technique showing a strong will to never separate.<ref> I don’t really understand what the Chinese used refers to, but I think the image of a baby koala clinging to its mother or baby birds sticking with whatever they imprint on should do the job.</ref>

“Both of you, please stop scaring Megumu… If he gets scared and moves out of the dorm, we’ll have to find a new dormmate again.”

“This means that in Souta’s mind, Megumu is just someone who fills up the dorm population quota.”

“Ah—!!”

Megumu’s spirit was already cornered by the animation, and Nanami added the final straw, causing him to open his mouth and start crying.

“J-just kidding, that was just a joke, okay?! Don’t cry, Megu-chan, why are you crying?!"

“Nanami’s too much.”

“That’s right, bad Nanami!”

“Ye have no right to speak!”

Kikuno, successfully pushing the bad-guy status onto Nanami, patted Megumu's head and said “Good boy, good boy” like a nanny comforting a child.

“I’m sorry, Megu-chan. Nanami can’t stand other girls being close to Sou-kun, so she couldn’t help but make fun of you. Just forgive her, okay?”

“That’s not it——!!”

Nanami was furious at the unfounded rumors.

So Nanami and co. had dinner later than usual — for one, because everyone ended up running out to buy stuff that they really didn’t need to buy; for another, in order to comfort Megumu. But…

“Ah, Souta-kun, you should sit in my seat from now on.”

“Well… I’m fine with that.”

The seats at the table were changed, which made Souta have a question mark in his head for a moment. But when he saw that Nanami, who seemed to be in a bad mood, was next to the new seat, he immediately realized the intention.

Moreover, the chairs were placed so close together that Nanami and Souta's shoulders were almost touching.

“Was going to say, Akane…”

As long as Akane and Souta could keep their distance, Nanami would have originally preferred to ignore it. But perhaps because she was getting annoyed at being paired together for no reason, Nanami sighed deeply and looked at Akane with a stern face.

“Ah! Ah! You don’t have to say it, I know everything, Nanami!”

“Hmm… What dost thou know…”

That might just be the kind of personality Akane has, but ever since she came to this dorm she keeps going a little too far with it — at this thought, Nanami pouted slightly.

“Would it be better for the two of you to sit facing each other at a private table?”

“You don’t know anything at all!!”

The little princess felt dizzy.

“Nanami has entered her ''tsun'' phase…”

“It’s not the ''tsun'' phase, not the ''dere'' phase, nor the dog phase!!”

People in the dog phase will have dog ears, and will pee when they are happy. In other words, drowning<ref> The character for ‘drown’ can also mean ‘to pee’ lmao</ref> in happiness. Although they always feel that they have lost something important from a human perspective, they can’t help it because they are dogs. The most important thing for dogs is bones. When they get bones, they will drown in happiness.

Big Sis Kikuno, ecstatic to see her little brother sitting side by side with a cute girl, poked Souta’s shoulder with a smile.

“Hurry up, Sou-kun. Say ‘Open up~♡’ to feed her, open up♡”

“We will absolutely not eat it!”

Souta obediently picked up some of the beef stew with his chopsticks and was about to bring it to Nanami’s mouth. At the same time, Nanami raged.

“Hey~ Nanami, just eat it. Souta’s so sad…”

“Thou doting Big Sis…”

Nanami glared around angrily. Next to her, Souta absent-mindedly fiddled with his chopsticks and beef stew. He saw Megumu glance at him a few times with big, round eyes, so he said “Open up~♡” and fed Megumu.

“There’s a bromantic taste to it!”

Megumu was talking so giddily that Souta didn’t know how to answer him, so he pretended to be expressionless and nodded vaguely.

After dinner ended in a mess, it was Akane and Nanami’s turn to wash the dishes, but...

“Souta-kun, can you switch with me? The next time it’s your turn to wash the dishes, I’ll do it.”

“… Yeah… I’m fine with that.”

“Then thou shouldst switch with Us, Souta.”

Hearing Nanami was about to change it, Akane hurriedly tried to stop her.

“N-no no. Nanami has to wash the dishes with Souta-kun and say, ‘F-feels like we're newlyweds ♡’!”

“Why did it almost turn Megumu-like?!”<ref> What Akane wanted Nanami to say had an untranslatable verbal tic that Megumu tends to use; incidentally, Nanami has a different verbal tic </ref>

Megumu, who was wiping the table even though it wasn’t his chore, was surprised when his name was suddenly called.

“Anyways, We just don’t want to! We shall absolutely never pretend to be newlyweds with Souta!”

''A tsundere…''

''A tsundere…''

''A tsundere…''

Akane, Kikuno, and Megumu looked at Nanami with inexplicable gazes.

“Ah, but on a related note, after you finish washing the dishes, you two can take a bath together, right?”

“Who would want to take a bath together?!”

Kikuno, who had no authority, abused her non-existent authority to grant permission. But Nanami, the house prefect, vetoed it without using her authority.

“Souta-kun, you’re a pervert!!”

Megumu weakly hit Souta with something between a slap and a push, dealing zero damage. Then, he ran away to his room.

“…Megu-chan’s crying.”

“Sou-kun, a girl’s heart is very delicate. If you don’t treat her with the utmost care, it’ll be bad.”

“Uh, okay…”

Souta thought it was strange that they were worried about Megumu’s girl-heart since he pursued masculinity. Plus, at the end of the day, Kikuno was the one who hurt Souta, so he deliberated how to retort and finally decided to give up on it.

Afterwards, of course, Nanami and Souta did ''not'' take a bath together. However, Souta, who was about to enjoy some barley tea after taking his bath, happened to meet Nanami in the hallway.

Nanami, who had been quite angry recently, saw Souta gently raise his hand to greet her. She turned away with a snort and reached out to grab the door handle of her room. If she was ticked off, that means she isn’t on the list anymore.<ref> Original pun had something to do with Japanese onomatopoeia for peeling sounding similar to the one for being angry, I’m doing something completely different using ‘ticked off’ meaning both ‘angry’ and ‘crossed off a list’</ref>

Anyways, Nanami suddenly stopped as she was about to enter her room. She looked at the unbelievable scene in her room and began to suspect that she was dazzled.

“…Soooouutaaaaaa!”

“What?!”

When his name was suddenly called in a threatening tone, Souta felt his heart palpitate and turned his head at the same time. If instead his liver palpitated, then he’d been drinking too much.

“What’s going on with this—?!”

Nanami’s eyes narrowed as she yelled, and her expression became like a cat whose food was taken away.

“You asked me what’s going on… what’s… going on with what?”

Following Nanami’s finger pointing towards her room, Souta was speechless and froze in place.

In the middle of Nanami's room, which was a bit large because it was originally a double room, there were pink and blue mattresses for two people. The two mattresses were close together, and heart-shaped pillows were placed side by side.

“It wasn’t me…”

“Of course I know that!”

Souta did think, ''Hey, why are you yelling at me?'' But if he said it out loud, it might just add fuel to the fire, so Souta remained silent and turned his eyes from the furious Nanami back to the paired futons.

“…That futon does come from my room.”

“That one’s my futon! Those guys pulled it off the bed! Akane! Akaneeeeeee!!”

Nanami’s roar echoed through the hall.

“What’s going?”

After a moment, Akane opened the door and poked her head out. Then, Kikuno followed leisurely even though she was not called.

“Thou darest ask ''Us'' what’s going on?! What’s going on with this?!”

(monotone) “Oh my, I didn’t expect you two to have such a close relationship.”

“It’s so monotone, it’s like reading from a script!”

Although the culprit was instantly revealed, the whole world already knew before it was revealed.

“What dost thou intend, Akane!? …No, We already know what thou intendest.”

(monotone) “Haha, I wish you two happiness.”

Akane wasn’t even listening to Nanami.

“That’s enough! If We two can just sleep together lovey-dovey like this, wouldn’t that be weird?!”

“It’s not weird, but…”

“But what?”

“''We two'' sounds like you’ll have many Wiis, too.<ref> Since Nanami’s first-person pronoun is more like “this royal”, the original joke is that there will be many more royals… I hope what I’ve done is a good enough approximation.</ref> It’s really cute.”

“Akaneeeeeeee!”

Akane, who didn’t listen to others carefully, made Nanami angry. By the way, “We two” means “us two”.

Seeing the two arguing, Souta murmured his thoughts:

“By the way, that pillow is a Yes/No pillow…”

The Yes/No pillow is used by lovey-dovey couples. When they want to be affectionate, they turn the Yes pillow to the front. When they want to concentrate on sleeping without even looking at their partner, they turn it to No.

“What art thou looking at now… Why are both of them No?!"

“Yes isn’t good, okay— Big Sis thinks you can’t go to that stage yet.”

Kikuno poked Nanami and Souta’s foreheads with her finger and said, “That’s naughty!”

“It’s all too early, alright?! No, it’s not a matter of earliness! Who would want to use this kind of thing, regardless of whether it’s earlier or later?!”

Nanami gradually went insane… Little by little, Souta began to distance himself from.

Seeing her frantic look, Akane might have become uneasy too. Akane crossed her arms over her chest with a ''Hmm~'', then looked at Kikuno.

“See, Kikuno-senpai. Nanami isn’t Japanese, so putting their bedding side by side doesn’t suit her tastes.”

“Hmm… but I even thought she’d be very touched.”

“That’s not the issue!”

There was a gradual gap between the two sides’ understandings. Souta felt that the matter could no longer be resolved and wanted to take his futon from Nanami’s room as soon as possible, but he could not find the opportunity and was at the end of his rope.

“That's enough! Now We understand!!”

“You finally understand!”

Although they were probably talking about different things, Akane happily grasped Nanami’s hand.

“Since Akane wants to help Souta find a girlfriend so much, Akane should just date him!!”

““Eh…!!””

Nanami uttered a critical sentence that could be considered an irreversible statement, and Akane and Souta froze together.

Then, they awkwardly looked at each other’s faces.

The countless friendship flags above Akane’s head fell down like dominoes, and were reborn one by one as imposing love flags, standing tall.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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|-
| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Intermission]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6

2025-03-26T03:27:32Z

Person72635: /* Flag 6: The Very First Quest */

==Flag 6: The Very First Quest==

After a few days—

As their life together began, the Quest House buddies became more and more united with each passing day.

However, this should be due to the fact that they had pretty good chemistry to begin with.

Only, for especially-low-chemistry Souta, other people actively approaching him was fine, but he would almost never take initiative to talk to others.

For example, while the other four were chatting in the living room furnished with a soft sofa, coffee table, and soft carpet and constantly enticing people to join in, he would look at the happy atmosphere from the hall and directly pass by despondently.

Akane noticed this with her sharp eyes, and while worrying about his sad aura, she thought:

''Are you sad because the coffee table isn’t soft?''

But if even the coffee table was soft, guests might spill their drinks and never come back. No, the current softness ratio was just right so that this wouldn’t happen — Akane would later figure this out. She should have figured it out immediately, right?

Come to think of it, was it right to exclude Souta and just chat there herself? We need to go find him — although they all had this kind of thought, the situation had started with just Akane and Nanami chatting, with Kikuno joining in later and Megumu also joining in. Everything happened naturally, so they definitely didn’t exclude Souta on purpose.

Aside from the aforementioned situation, Souta exuded a sad aura no matter what he did, which always tortured Akane’s girlish heart.

A lonely profile that broke people’s hearts.

Although the amount of times Souta showed that depressing expression when he was with everybody decreased a lot, Akane still wanted to completely eliminate Souta’s sad aura, so she made up her mind.

First, in order to prepare for her operation, Akane consulted Kikuno, who should know Souta best.

“Eh? You want to make Sou-kun happy?”

After hearing Akane explain the important thing they needed to discuss, Kikuno asked this question.

Akane nodded seriously. Kikuno zoned out for a moment, then her whole body trembled as she hugged Akane tightly.

“Kikuno-senpai!?”

“Akane-chan, you’re such a good kid! Welcome to the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance!”

“Huh, there’s an alliance like that?”

“Akane-chan is the esteemed second member!”

Seems like a rather lonely alliance.

“Then, what kind of activities has the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance done so far?”

“Looking at Sou-kun when he’s happy is really soothing for the soul!”

“Its purpose is actually the opposite!?”

When Akane is with normal people, she should always garner retorts. But Kikuno, who’s able to make Akane retort, should really reflect on herself. Maybe she only becomes stupid when encountering something related to her little brother.

“Oh... So you want Sou-kun to be happy. Hmm... Of course a boy’s happiness comes from having a wonderful romance with a girl, I think.”

“Romance?!”

Kikuno proposed an unusually difficult solution, and Akane crossed her arms and pondered it.

She didn’t want to brag, but whether it was because of her innocent nature or her status as a rich heiress, it was difficult for boys to approach her. In her life so far, Akane hadn’t had any fate with love that could be called romance.

“I understand it now! Let’s implement the Souta-kun Romance Operation!”

Speaking of which, the contents of the operation hadn’t been planned out before. In other words, it wasn’t an operation at all.

Even Akane would discover this fact when it was time to implement it. But she couldn’t think of any good ideas, so she consulted Nanami this time.

“…Thou wantest Souta to have a romance?”

Nanami scoffed.

Akane scoffed in response.

“Why is Akane laughing too?!”

“I thought it’s better to laugh than not…”

“We cannot understand your motives!?”

The secret is: Akane didn’t know what her motives were either. But she made it so obvious, one could say it practically wasn’t a secret. Then it isn’t a secret, right?!

“Thou really likest Souta——...”

“I always felt that from the first time I met Souta, my chest tightens and I want to do something for him.”

Seeing Akane become shy, Nanami, who’d half-jokingly made an offhand comment, suddenly frowned.

“… So thou fellest in love at first sight?”

“Huh…?”

“Hast thou never fallen in love at first sight?”

Akane shook her head repeatedly.

“Huh…? Huh…? This is… love at first sight…?”

“……”

Nanami unflinchingly stared at the panicked Akane.

“N-no, no! It must be… I-it’s not like that…”

“Nevermind~ It’s fine, treat it as Our misunderstanding. Let’s not talk about that for now. Why didst thou come to ask Us such a thing?”

“Because Nanami is an charming girl, you’re definitely a love veteran or ''bateren''<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirishitan Japanese word for the first Christian missionaries] </ref>.”

Veteran and ''bateren'' sound similar but are different. Why she listed them both, Akane herself didn’t know either. Turns out she really didn’t know.

Unfortunately, thanks to her personality, Nanami still only glared at, belittled, and kicked the boys around her, so her romance power level was almost the same as Akane’s, only five. Huh, pitiful!<ref> [https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Ball_Z_Kai:_Season_1_(Quotes)#:~:text=Raditz%3A%20You%20have%20a%20power,Huh%2C%20pitiful.&text=Raditz%3A%20Huh%2C%20it's%20a%20race%20of%20utter%20weaklings. Raditz quote] from Dragon Ball Z Kai.</ref>

Nanami, who had fought desperately with her pitiful romance power level, said with resentment:

“… Ask boys about a boy’s romance.”

This is surrendering without a fight.

Akane felt as if Nanami had secretly refused to offer her advice and wandered around the dormitory dejectedly.

“Boys… are there any reliable boys…”

“You called, Mahougasawa-san?!”

Megumu jumped out of the laundry room, where he had been washing his clothes in the laundry machine, and Akane let out a strange cry of “Uwaahh!?”

“There is no boy more reliable than this man among men — Touzokuyama Megumu!”

“Um…”

Megumu, dressed in casual clothes, wore a girly knitted sweater, honeycomb shorts, and striped kneesocks. His [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettai_ry%C5%8Diki zettai ryouiki] was very dazzling and brimming with cuteness. Add to that his bow necklace which further enhanced his femininity.

Even Akane seemed to think that his femininity was higher than her own. Rather than Megumu’s reliability, Akane was more confused about whether she could even consider Megumu a boy.

“Come on, if you have a problem, just discuss it with one! Just ask this one — who, because his manly body odor is too strong, relies on washing clothes to remove his manly body odor — known as the boy who always exudes the fragrance of soap and flowers!”

“Megu-chan, that would just increase your femininity, though.”

Megumu’s eyes lost their luster.

What’s more , only he thought it was a manly body odor, but it actually smelled sweet. Therefore, Megumu always exuded a sweet fragrance of soap and flowers.

But if this continued, Megumu would be unwilling to help. In order to try to make Megumu’s eyes regain their brilliance, Akane held Megumu’s hand with a tense smile.

“Uh! Oh! I-I do have something I want to discuss with a boy! A boy! A man among men! Megu-chan, are you willing to lend an ear?!”

“Well… if you don't mind one’s rising femininity, one will just listen to you…”

Although Megumu’s eyes hadn’t completely regained their brilliance, he seemed willing to help out. So Akane asked with a bright smile:

“Actually, it’s this…”

When Akane finished explaining her goals, Megumu’s face turned red. He hid half of both hands in his sleeves and pressed his fingers against his mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. His whole person seemed much cuter.

“O-one isn’t very good at romance…”

“You hate the chewy texture?”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Salmon roe.”

“Why did the topic suddenly turn to salmon roe?!”

“I suddenly brought up the topic of romance and you seemed burdened, so I changed the subject.”

“What kind of weird consideration is this?!”

Anyways, since Megumu seemed only reliable on the topic of salmon roe, Akane gave up on discussing romance with Megumu.

Speaking of fearing romance, Akane herself also… repeated what she did before. Not knowing what to do, she dejectedly wandered around the dorm while crying out “Ah…” or “Ugh~” They say that when Souta saw her, he thought, ''Is that a zombie game…?''

Of course, Souta didn’t particularly go over to show concern. Kikuno, seeing Akane at the same time, was giddy with excitement and said to her:

“I’m telling you, Akane-chan! I thought of many ideas afterwards, and I want to ask Akane-chan to date Sou-kun so that he can open his eyes to romance. What do you think of this idea?”

“N-no, not happening! I think Souta-kun would want to find a more charming girl than me!”

Maybe she learned a new move after seeing Megumu’s, but she hid half of her hands in her sleeves and pressed her fingers against her mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. Her whole person seemed much cuter, her femininity increasing by a huge leap.

“Mmm! Akane-chan is very charming though, and Big Sis thinks you two are a good match... But if that’s the case, how about introducing an charming girl Akane-chan knows to Sou-kun?”

“Good idea!! Or should I say good taste!!”

“Taste...?”

The topic of salmon eggs seemed to still linger somewhere in Akane’s mind.

That night, Akane stopped wandering around and stayed in her room, struggling to write a list of girls to introduce to him.

Upon conjuring up the image of a girl on the list getting along well with Souta and imagining his very happy smile, Akane’s joy slowly surged up like the warmth of basking in the sun during the winter… But—

“…Huh?”

Suddenly—

Akane felt a piercing pain in her chest and stopped writing the list.

However, that only lasted for a moment.

Akane immediately returned to work writing the list…

Swish! With the sound of curtains being drawn, the dazzling morning light shone directly onto Souta’s face. As he gradually regained consciousness due to the light, his body lying on the bed was continuously shaken. Then, a sweet sound, like the chirping of a bird, passed into his ears.

“Good morning!”

“Mm… Good morning…”

“Haaah… Whoa!” Seeing Akane’s face so close to him as she enthusiastically came to wake him up, Souta was immediately startled awake.

“Huh?! What’s going on?! Why is Akane in my room?! Where’s the door lock?!”

“I opened it without permission.”

“You can’t open it without permission, right?!”

Just outside the wide-open door, Nanami came out of her room to take a morning shower and happened to pass by. She poked her head in from the hall and took a peek with sleepy eyes.

“What’s up… Why’s it so noisy this morning…”

“Is it better to be noisy like this during the night?”

“Disturbing people’s sweet dreams!!”

Nanami, no longer sleepy after her roar, looked inside Souta’s room again and found Akane leaning over the bed where Souta was lying.

“This…! Why are ye behaving so outrageously so early in the morning!!”

“No, no! This is French behavior!”

“You’re not French!”

It’s hard to say whether everything French people do is French behavior.

“Th-this is just a step of the operation to wake Souta-kun up and make him happy! I was reading a shoujo manga before, and it said that boys who get woken up by girls in the morning are very happy! Nanami, come and wake Souta-kun up too!”

“Oh, thou art just a Souta, yet thou enjoyest the luxury of being woken up by a beautiful girl…”

In Nanami’s opinion, just waking Souta up was too revolting, so she looked at Souta disdainfully, full of mockery and contempt. She only looks disdainfully at our poor Souta.

“Th-that’s not it! No, I should say, I didn’t ask her to do that! By the way, Akane, how did you open the door of my room?!”

Although Souta’s mood was low, his energy was high. This could be said to be a very unfortunate state.

“I borrowed the spare key from Kikuno-senpai.”

“Huh?! Why does Okiku-nee have a spare key to my room?!”

“She said that was Big Sis’s privilege.”

““Big Sis’s privileges are really terrifying!””

Nanami and Souta shouted in unison. Seeing how close the two were, Akane felt lonely and whispered a complaint.

“Hmph, you guys left me out again, acting so in sync… But it doesn’t matter. I just want Souta-kun to be happy.”

“Yes… But right now, my lock isn’t working at all, and the happiness of staying in bed in the morning is gone. I’m in quite a distressing situation…”

“Dejection…”

Akane’s eyes welled up with tears because she had deprived Souta of happiness.

“Souta, don’t make Akane cry!”

“Oh… what a headache. Ah~ I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I’m really happy. I’m so lucky to have a girl come wake me up in the morning... It’s like, uh, since I’ve almost never tasted the feeling of happiness, I don’t know how to distinguish between happiness and unhappiness.”

Souta was hit in the back of his head by Nanami’s Princess Punch and frantically consoled Akane.

But after hearing his consolation, Akane unexpectedly cheered up.

“Ah! I actually made you worry about me, Souta-kun! But… I really like how Souta-kun and Nanami are so considerate.”

“…I can’t compare to Akane.”

“Heeheehee… ah, I accidentally started to taste happiness. Really, I should be letting unlucky Souta-kun taste it.”

“I don’t need it…”

That said, being told that you have bad luck isn’t very pleasant, and it made Souta a little depressed.

His sad aura emerged, causing Akane to panic.

“Ah?! No problem. Souta-kun has me here. The Souta-kun Happiness Operation exists for this purpose. I want to introduce my charming friend to Souta-kun. She’s the type of… charming girl that you would want to date!”

““…Uh-huh.””

Seeing her abruptly begin to speak unbelievable words again, Souta and Nanami still couldn’t help but look at her in wonder despite the fact they were slowly getting used to her behavior.

“This is the charming girl I recommend, Nanami Knight Bladefield.”

“I’ve already known her for a while!”

Souta complained without even looking at Nanami, who was pushed forward. Because he didn’t need to look at her to know her.

“You’ve got a keen eye for identifying charming girls. You’re really good at it, Souta-kun.”

“……”

''I think it was my keen eyes that were able to recognize Nanami at first…'' Souta began to recall that past. However, because many things happened in this short period of time, when he began to recall it, he even felt that it was a long time ago.

However, Akane interrupted his reminiscence.

“How about it, do you want to date Nanami?”

“Why must We date Souta, nyaa?!”

Akane looked very disappointed.

“Why dost thou have a ‘That’s impossible…’ look on your face? We are the one who should say that’s impossible!!”

“Nanami isn’t an idiot.”<ref> “That’s impossible” and “This idiot” sound similar in Japanese.</ref>

“Who said that to thee—?!”

Nanami roared at Akane, calling her a dumb idiot.

Since the door was open, it was Kikuno’s turn to poke her head in and take a peek at Souta’s incredibly noisy room.

“…I say, you three, I told Megumu to get you because you were late. But he just came back scared and said that there was an early-morning love triangle crisis in Sou-kun’s room, huh?”

“““It’s not a love triangle!!”””

The three people in the room retorted at Kikuno together.

Then, after shouting, Akane covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide.

“Wow!? We were just in sync…!! Finally… I finally did it…!! This way, I am also in sync with Souta-kun and Nanami!!”

Akane then held the two’s hands and started dancing, and the matter was left unsettled just like that. Everyone packed up, ate the Big Sis Breakfast Kikuno made for everyone, and then went to school.

Lunch break.

Souta stood up and left the table alone to go somewhere else...

“Souta-kun, where are you going?”

…But Akane grabbed the corner of his shirt to stop him. As for why she grabbed the corner of his shirt, it wasn’t because she thought, ''Go die, you dirty piece of trash!'' Rather, if she had hugged him from behind and said, ''Where are you going, Sou-kun~?'' it would seem too intimate. Why is this so extreme?

Also, the latter has apparently been patented the doting Big Sis.

“Sou-kun, it’s time for lunch. Where are you going? Is something going on? Do you want Big Sis to come with you?”

Big Sis’s doting was clearly beyond imagination.

“No... I’m just going to buy lunch.”

“There’s bento, though!”

As he said this, Megumu took out a cute tote bag and put it on the table. Incidentally, since he couldn’t carry that bag in the morning, Souta ended up carrying it for him.

“Is there a portion for me…?”

“Yep, I made it with Kikuno-san. Akane-san and Nanami-san also have a portion.”

“You didn’t have to do that… I can eat the bread from the cafeteria..."

Seeing Souta’s reclusive attitude again, Nanami, who had remained silent until now, spoke up:

“Thou art an idiot, Souta! This idiot Souta! Stop talking nonsense and just accept their goodwill! More importantly, if they didn’t have the girlish motive of making lunch boxes for thee, We wouldn't be able to take a share of the spoils!”

“Okay…”

After listening to Nanami's words, Souta sighed helplessly.

However, this sentence made Megumu smile.

"Nanami-kun is so gentle… If only you got one, the gentle Souta-kun would feel bad. You said ‘We want it too’ in order to make it hard for him to refuse, right?”

“Huh?!… Th-that’s not the case…!!”

Souta had taken it literally, thinking that Nanami was selfish and smiling thinly, but now his eyes widened and he stared at Nanami, who blushed and fumbled to deny it.

“Is that so, Nanami?... Look at you, pretending to be an evil bastard.”

Souta, who himself didn’t really have any right to be criticizing people on pretending to be evil, smiled wryly.

“A-are ye idiots? Thinking too highly of me!? W-We ask for a lunchbox out of selfishness…!!”

Regardless of the truth, Nanami, trying so hard to hide her gentleness, ended up making everyone to look at her with warm eyes.

“D-d-d-do nyaat look at me like that—!!”

“Uwaahhh—!!”

Poked in the eye by Nanami, Souta screamed on behalf of everyone.

Souta, who was eating lunch alone a few days ago, found himself having a lively and warm meal with the five members of the Quest House group in the blink of an eye.

“It's better to eat with a lot of people. Even 800 people would be no problem.”

“So many!!”

“If we want 800 people to have lunch together, I think it would be better to hold a banquet.”

“Eh, you’re continuing on that topic?!”

Kikuno unexpectedly brought up Akane’s words again, and this unforeseen situation shocked Megumu.

“The atmosphere at a banquet might be inexplicably awkward, though.”

“So individualism is the way to go after all!”

“Too extreme!!”

The conversation between Miss Heiress and Her Princess Highness, who were very used to banquets, was very high-class.

“'''''One or All, and All or 1.'''''”

“Isn’t it '''''for'''''?” Megumu asked.

“It’s not '''''for'''''.”

“No, it is '''''for''''', though! '''''For''''' has gotta be correct, right?!” Souta exclaimed.

“Looks like the boys like '''''for'''''.”

“This isn’t a matter of preference—!!”

“Sou-kun’s retorts are really no-holds-''baran''…”

The ''baran'' at the end of no-holds-''baran'' doesn’t refer to the green plastic Yamagata leaf that separates the side dishes in the bentos Souta and co. were currently eating. Speaking of which, although ''baran'' is the common name, its official name seems to be ''haran''. If the common name were also ''haran'', why would it take so many lines to explain ''haran''? It’s really a pity to think about this. In any case, we shouldn’t talk about something so off-topic.<ref> ''Baran'' and ''haran'' are alternate pronunciations for the same green plastic Yamagata leaf.</ref>

“By the way, Sou-kun, is the omelette Big Sis made delicious?”

“Yep… I see there are two kinds of omelettes. Why is that?”

“That’s made by one”

“Oh, this is delicious too. Sweet omelette.”

Megumu had been smiling shyly and timidly, perhaps because he wasn’t confident about the taste. But after hearing Souta’s words, he made a cute little “I did it♡” victory pose like a little girl.

“Sorry… I’m sorry, Sou-kun… If I’d known earlier, Big Sis would’ve also made sweet omelettes for Sou-kun… Because Sou-kun liked to eat salty omelettes when he was little, so Big Sis accidentally… I’m such a useless Big Sis who doesn’t understand Sou-kun’s preferences… I’m sorry…”

Megumu was overjoyed, but Kikuno was quite depressed.

''So doting!!''

The doting Big Sis’s words and actions shocked the students who were eating in the classroom.

“Okiku-nee, you’re being too dramatic. Besides, I really like Okiku-nee’s omelette too!”

“Sou-kun... has grown into a kind-hearted little brother…!”

Big Sis was deeply moved.

Akane leaned over from the side.

“How does my omelette taste?”

“Huh? I haven’t eaten it before…?”

“Based on the current conversation, I thought I could get an answer of ‘It’s delicious’, but it was a failure.”

“What’s with this feeling of confrontation…?”

Nanami put an octopus sausage into her mouth and cast a weird look at Akane’s strange behavior.

“By the way, Akane, what happened to the introduction thou wast talking about this morning? We can’t be the only choice, right…?”

“It felt like Nanami would fail, so that was something like a throwaway option.”

“What does that mean…?”

Although she didn’t want to date Souta at all, it was still quite unpleasant to be told as much. This is a woman’s heart.

“Heeheehee… Now comes the main event. I think Souta fits better with girls who are a bit assertive.”

“Ah, Big Sis might also agree with this.”

On this basis, the three or four girls (?) present are all a bit assertive in different respects.

By the way, when Souta saw the defeat flag raised above Akane’s head, he kind of wondered what was up with that; but he just wondered and didn’t take any particular actions.

“I’ve already sent a text, she should almost be here.”

In the blink of an eye—

The classroom door was violently flung open and a female student barged in.

“Fuhahahahahaha, Mahougasawa Akane-kun!! What business do you have with this student president Seiteikouji Mimori?!”

Just then, for some unknown reason, everyone except Akane seemed to see a failure flag above Mimori’s head. But you can roughly tell the reason, so it wasn’t really unknown… So why it said “Just then, for some unknown reason…” is the real unknown.

As the word “unknown” went through Gestaltzerfall<ref> The phenomenon where a word begins to look weird and lose its meaning when you stare at it too long</ref>, Akane pushed Souta forward.

“Please go on a date with Souta-kun around campus.”

“Huh?!”

Mimori froze for a full thirty seconds.

Afterwards, she turned her back to everyone, took out a comb and portable mirror to comb her hair, reapplied lip balm, and secretly made “Ah~ Ah~ Ha! Uh-huh!” sounds to warm up her voice. She also said in a very cute voice “Annoying… everyone’s looking…” After practicing her lines, she thought to herself, ''Very well! Yours truly’s constant daily practicing is all for today!'', struck a victory pose, then faced Souta and co. again.

“Can’t be helped! Since you’re so insistent, how can a student president who exists for the students refuse? What a headache, Akane-kun!”

“You’re laughing so happily and having a headache at the same time!!”

The unprecedented response shocked Akane silly.

Moreover, because Mimori made a cute expression that strayed completely from her original personality, the people around her couldn’t help but take a step away from her.

“N-no big deal. Hatate-kun too, if you had told yours truly earlier, yours truly would’ve helped you embezzle any amount of student council funds when renovating the dorm…”

“No, no, don’t embezzle…”

“Alright, stop dilly-dallying in a place like this, now we’ll let the young people chat on their own!”

Although the matter hadn’t been fully discussed, Souta and Mimori were kicked out of the classroom at Akane’s urging.

Next, not long afterwards—

Souta, feeling particularly tired, saw three or four girls (?) waiting for him with sparkling eyes as he entered the classroom.

Only Nanami pretended to be uninterested, but from the way she kept glancing at Souta, it was clear that she was actually quite interested. Just like how people look at bra straps visible under summer uniforms.

“What’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the student president go?!”

“Not very well…”

Akane asked, ready to lean forward at any moment, and Souta gave a vague response with a pale face.

“Maybe Souta was actually the only one there, completely alone.”

“Then what was with me?!”

“The student president’s ghost.”

“Nooooooooooooo!! Nonononono!! One is super scared of ghosts and stuff—!!”

Megumu screamed super cutely and covered her ears like crazy.

“Then what’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the ghost of the student president go?”

“Megumu’s making so much noise nearby, I can’t hear what Akane said at all.”

“Huh? What? Souta-kun, I can’t hear you at all.”

Looks like the ultrasonic waves emitted by Megumu drowned out all the surrounding sounds.

“Megu-chan, thou art very noisy.”

“Mmph!!”

Nanami stopped Megumu’s paranormal ultrasonic waves by stuffing leftover rice balls from lunch into his mouth. A little later and ghosts would have been attracted by the ultrasonic waves. Really dangerous.

“So, what's the result? Are ye closer? O-oh yeah, We don’t care, but Akane and Kikuno are particularly concerned.”

“It’s passable… I guess.”

Souta’s expression was extremely difficult to describe, but Akane, who was thinking positively, interpreted this vague statement in a positive way. She smiled and said:

“Really? That’s great!”

But—

When the image of Mimori and Souta getting along well with each other appeared in her mind…

…Akane’s chest felt pierced again.

''Strange… why…?''

It seemed very happy...but also seemed very lonely.

She appeared about to cry, but smiled awkwardly. From the head of Akane who was full of confusion—

“…Huh?!”

——Souta saw a love flag raised…

That day, after returning to the dorm, someone knocked on Nanami’s door.

When she opened the door, she saw Souta standing in front of her, not even out of uniform yet.

“What’s wrong? What’s with the sad face? No, Souta always makes this face.”

“……”

Souta couldn’t refute her extremely harsh words and forced a smile.

“That’s it. Just smile a little. Otherwise, even the people looking at it would be infected with depression.”

As they spent more time together, Souta was able to feel the encouragement in Nanami’s harsh words and carefully-crafted evil facade. He knew that it was Nanami’s clumsy expression of gentleness, so he put on a gentle smile.

“…Yeah. Thank you, Nanami.”

“Wh-why art thou thanking me? Weirdo!”

Nanami said this flustered, perhaps not realizing her own gentleness. Souta felt that this clumsiness was also very much like Nanami and quite liked it.

“…So? What dost thou want from me?”

“Hmm… it’s hard to put into words…”

Seeing Souta hesitate, Nanami guessed that it might be something not for others to hear, so she could only reluctantly invite Souta into her room.

“So, what is it? If it’s something trivial, We shall spread word to the News Club that thou art actually a soccer recruit.”

“But as for soccer, I’ve only ever played intramural soccer with my friends before, though?”

“When the time comes, a lot of expectant people will come to thou respectfully and ask you to join the soccer club. Just wait, thou shalt need to explain, deny, and reject them one by one, then suffer.”

“What an incredibly effective way to completely crush someone’s spirits!!”

Souta, whose mind was somewhat drained by the retorts, felt that all his worries were gone and it was easier for him to speak up; however, it was hard to say whether Nanami had considered such a long-term view at the beginning.

“Actually… it’s like this. I hope you don’t tell anyone about this… Akane… just… raised a love flag…”

“……”

Nanami had an indescribably irritated expression on her face.

“Uh, I also recognize that you would think that it’s impossible for someone so popular like Akane to be interested in a guy like me. But the love flag was really raised…”

“Art thou an idiot?”

Nanami still had an irritated expression, frowning even harder as she declared:

“That kind of thing is obvious at a glance.”

“What…?”

“Didst thou not notice…? It’s because thou only carest about looking at flags that thou dost not notice people’s feelings, idiot.”

Nanami sighed as if she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Really…? Was it like that… No, but, didn’t Akane ask me to date Nanami or the student council president…”

“……”

Hearing Souta’s rebuttal, Nanami plopped down on the chair and crossed her arms.

“It was a private conversation between girls, so We didn’t intend to tell you… but forget it.”

Nanami just looked up at the ceiling and told Souta about the conversation during lunch when Souta and Mimori went out and only the girls were left.

……

…………

………………

When Akane packed up her empty bento and took out her dessert bento, Nanami asked something that suddenly occurred to her:

“But, Akane, since thou wantest Souta to be happy so much, why not just date him and make him happy? What’s the point of forcing it on other people?”

“Huh…”

Seeing Akane at a loss for words, Kikuno joined in the conversation as well. She assumed a position with her hands clasped together and her body leaned forward, looking like she wanted to join in very badly.

“That’s right. Big Sis thinks Akane-chan and Sou-kun are a good match– Ah, but Nanami and Sou-kun and Megu-chan and Sou-kun are good matches, though?”

“Thou shalt not think about strange things! We do not fall in love with other people’s lovers, so thou needest not to worry!”

Although Akane felt that this wasn’t entirely the case, she deliberately remained silent, thinking that based on Nanami’s belligerent aura she’d be scolded if she said something wrong.

Megumu was forced into the center of discussion. He was terrified of this situation, but he tried his best to muster up courage, twisted his body cutely, and joined the conversation with a trembling voice:

“One sees Akane-chan do a lot for Souta-kun, so one always thought that Akane-chan likes Souta-kun.”

“N-no, no… I… I…”

“……”

At first, Akane violently shook her hands in denial, then lowered her head slightly, hesitating. Seeing this, everyone waited quietly for her next words.

“I definitely can’t make Souta-kun… No, no matter who I date, I definitely can’t make them happy…”

After saying this, Akane displayed a dejected expression.

Seeing her inexplicably distressed look, Nanami and co. were speechless.

Nanami didn’t know what Akane’s real thoughts were, nor did she know what part of Akane’s words were true. But she figured there must be a reason why Akane was so stubborn.

Nanami always thought that this was Souta’s knot to untie.

………………

…………

…

“…Anyway, that’s what happened.”

Nanami observed Souta’s reaction as she narrated. He seemed to have an idea in his mind.

“There’s a flag next to Akane’s love flag… I think it’s probably a trauma flag… It and the love flag seem to come as a set.”

“…Oh.”

Nanami confirmed that her suspicions weren’t completely wrong, uncrossed her arms, and raised her chin.

“Whenever Akane’s love flag waves grandly and powerfully, the trauma flag also wriggles painfully.”

“After all, falling in love with Souta is a painful thing.”

“……”

On that point, Souta was quite aware of that. Knowing that he can’t be helped being told that, he sighed and leaned against the wall.

“…What do you think I should do, Nanami?”

“Why ask Us?”

“I can’t think it through by myself… I don’t know what I should do. It’s because, for a long time, I haven’t… thought about myself… Though saying this is pretty embarrassing.”

“What can We do~ Everybody comes to Us for help… After all, considering my pedigree and prestige, it can’t be helped!!”

Nanami, self-importantly sticking out her flat chest, was sympathetic, and Souta was unable to respond.

“Getting back to the point… if even thyself doesn’t know what to do, how can other people know?”

“I feel like I’m… just torturing Akane…”

“…Then, dost thou want to try to keep a little distance? After all, Akane has been clinging to thee lately… No, Kikuno and Megumu are the same.”

Nanami didn’t mention herself at all, smiling with slight mockery.

“Keep my distance…? …You’ve got a point.”

While this approach was very passive, this might be the only way to deal with Akane, who can quickly recover even if her flag is actively broken.

Although the question of whether trying to deal with Akane is right or wrong remains up in the air.

After this delicate conversation ended like this, remaining unclear as to whether it had been resolved or not, Nanami and Souta walked out of the room and ran into Akane and Kikuno in the hall.

“Oh? What did you two sneak around and do? Can you tell Big Sis about it too?”

Kikuno approached Souta with a smile, looking like a clingy Big Sis who really wanted to take care of her little brother.

“No… We weren’t sneaking around…”

“Then, what did you do?”

Kikuno asked happily.

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to control her little brother’s actions very badly.

“…Nothing, just talked a bit.”

“Oh? Talk about what? Can you let Big Sis join in~?”

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to improve her relationship with her little brother very badly.

“Nothing… nothing worth mentioning…”

“Huh — so it’s something you can’t tell Big Sis about… Sou-kun left Big Sis and became independent, Big Sis is so lonely…”

Kikuno’s body was full of only sisterly love, making her dejected. Souta was in a dilemma.

"Ah. B-but Big Sis thinks Sou-kun and Nanami are a good match. Aahhh, but Mimori and Akane will be sad… As a big sister, who should I support? Ah, but no matter who Sou-kun chooses in the end, remember that Big Sis will always stand on Sou-kun’s side!"

“Uh…”

Faced with this almost soliloquous sisterly love, not only Souta but also Akane and Nanami took a step back.

“So, Big Sis will keep Sou-kun and Nanami’s passionate affair in the room a secret from Akane-chan.”

“Akane is right beside us though!?”

“…Huh?”

For Big Sis’s great love often ignored everything else except her little brother and was blind to everyone else. How terrifying.

Akane, hearing the secrets being whispered in front of her, seemed to have a little bit of a headache. She looked back and forth between Nanami and Souta and said:

“L-listen… I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that Nanami and Souta-kun were in that kind of relationship…”

“What kind of relationship?!”

At Nanami’s retort, Akane’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.

This blatant misunderstanding of hers was obviously influenced by Kikuno’s words just now.

“If you had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have made a fuss and would’ve given you two my blessings a long time ago!”

“Thou art making a fuss with those random assumptions—!!”

Nanami felt that the conversation between her and Akane was completely unproductive and she couldn’t help but clutch her head in frustration.

''This world is really full of busybodies…'' Souta thought from a distance.

“Hmph! Kikuno-senpai, leave this place to the two young people, let’s excuse ourselves!”

“Y-you’re right! Sorry, Sou-kun! Big Sis is too intrusive!”

As if they would die if the misunderstanding was resolved, Akane and Kikuno did not give people a chance to resolve the misunderstanding. After nodding to each other, they raised their hands to indicate “Please take it slow!” while mouthing “Heehee, being young is great” and jogged away.

“… Why did things turn out like this?”

Having been paired with Souta without her consent, Nanami said, her expression collapsing.

“B-but, anyways, this means there’s hope of keeping my distance from Akane… right? Right?”

“Don’t drag other people into thy own affairs!!”

“Ack!!”

Nanami grabbed Souta’s neck and fiercely threw him to the ground. She glared at Souta resentfully, turned her face away with a harrumph, and left with heavy footsteps.

Kikuno and Akane, who had pretended to leave but had actually hidden in the bathroom to spy on the hall, felt sorry for the two with an “Oof!”

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun, he—!”

“I think it’s because Nanami is jealous that Souta-kun spent a lot of time talking to Kikuno-senpai and me.”

“Of course not!!”

Because the two just happened to be in the direction of Nanami’s movements, Nanami heard their conversation in its entirety, causing her to roar in anger.

That evening—

In the kitchen, Souta was peeling potatoes with full concentration like a chef apprentice. Kikuno, who was cooking nearby, and Akane, who was helping, approached him with a meaningful chuckle like “Heh heh heh…”

“Sou-kun. Big Sis wants to ask Sou-kun for something.”

“…What's up?”

Because he usually found himself being doted on, whenever he meets a doting Big Sis getting ready to spoil him, Souta is completely unable to mount resistance. That is what happens when you fall into a Big Sis’s perfected Control Domain. For a fish, this so-called “Control Domain” is the sea, or maybe a river. Doesn’t matter which of the two.

Or maybe a pond. Didn’t we just say it didn’t matter which?

“Big Sis forgot to buy carrots. Could you run an errand?”

“Okay, no big deal.”

Souta, who had been worried about what he would be asked to do, smiled in relief.

However, Akane interrupted as if it were her turn to take the stage:

“Since you’re going out, why don’t you go with Nanami?”

“Uh…”

“Ah, you’re right! Since it’s dangerous to carry carrots alone! That’s a good idea!”

“……”

It seems asking him to buy carrots was not the goal in and of itself.

Souta, feeling a headache coming on, looked at Nanami — she was currently on the sofa in the living room next to the dining room next to the kitchen reading a book — and sent a plea for help.

“……”

The conversation that Kikuno and co. were purposely having with a certain person had already long reached Nanami’s ears through the dining room, but Nanami pretended not to notice.

Looking closely, there was an angry “#” mark on her temple, showing that she had heard something unpleasant. Or maybe her blood pressure was very high. She was clearly still so young.

“So! You and Nanami have to go together, Sou-kun!”

“Coming back late is fine, too!”

“……”

Kikuno and Akane rushed over and stuffed a shopping bag and wallet into Souta’s embarrassed hands

The two urged Souta to “Hurry, hurry, be careful on the road” and pushed his back forcefully, and Souta began to have nowhere else to go. In other words, he was cornered by the animation.<ref> Apparently a marketing slogan used by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantei_Opera_Milky_Holmes ''Tantei Opera Milky Homes''] PSP game referring to its cutscenes when you catch the villains</ref>

Since Kikuno and Akane had expectant attitudes of “I’ve created an opportunity for them!” and both of them had “Cornering Complete” flags raised above their heads, Souta’s escape route was cut off and he had no choice but to walk towards Nanami, who was ignoring him to the end.

“No wonder… Nanami?”

“Whaddaya want?!”

She seems to be angry already. How scary.

“C-can you go shopping with me?”

“Don’t wanna.”

“I thought so…”

Souta was about to go back dejectedly, but when he saw Kikuno and Akane slightly grumpily standing behind him, he gasped “Huh?!”

“No, Sou-kun! Girls are very shy, you have to be more sincere and actively ask her out!”

“That’s right, Souta-kun! Nanami’s a ''tsundere'', you have to work hard before she enters her ''dere'' phase. Though she’s a delinquent tsundere.”

“Who’s the delinquent ''tsundere''?”

Nanami was hit dead-on by the groundless claim. She couldn’t ignore it this time and snapped. This was the ''tsun'' phase. Or maybe the snap phase. The time period when you take and send lots of selfies in that yellow app.<ref> Chinese pun went ''snap (发飙) → snap phase (飙期) → tiger-stripe phase (彪期) → tabby-cat-pattern time period (虎斑花色的时期)'', tabby cat = tiger-striped cat. As a treat for reading this, here is my alternate draft: ''She couldn’t ignore it this time and '''cracked'''. This was the'' tsun ''phase. Or maybe the '''crack''' phase. '''The time period when you like to have Coke.''''' I think the alt version is funnier, but it doesn’t really fit the tone.</ref>

“Sou-kun, why don’t you try asking Nanami again? Oh, do you want Big Sis to ask her with you? Hmm? Hmm?”

''The doting Big Sis… dotes habitually…'' Nanami thought thusly and looked up from the sofa at Souta and Kikuno, fed up.

Souta had a look on his face saying “What should I do?” and pleaded at Nanami for help again.

“Don’t look at Us!”

Nanami was apoplectic. Speaking of which, “apoplectic” has two p’s and two c’s. How complicated. Feels like this issue has been discussed elsewhere already, but for some reason we’ll keep doing it.

“Akane-chan, as a Big Sis, I really want to help Sou-kun! What can I do to convince Nanami?”

A doting Big Sis’s doting on her little brother knows no limit.

“How about an errand fee as bait?”

“That's great! Sou-kun, here’s the errand fee. Use the errand fee as bait, okay?”

Kikuno proudly presented someone else’s proposal, and Souta forced a smile in cold sweat.

“Uh no, I heard it very clearly... Hear that, Nanami? There’s an errand…”

“Don’t want it!!”

Since the distance was very close, if Souta could hear it, Nanami certainly couldn’t fail to hear it, so Nanami immediately refused before Souta finished speaking.

Seeing Nanami glaring at him as if to say “These idiot siblings!”, Souta almost cried. He was willing to ask anyone for help, whether they were a god or a buddha. He must be thinking that he might as well go pray at a temple.

“Jeez, fine! Just need Us to come, right? We will go!”

As a result, Nanami suffered such a fate due to her caring personality of being unable to say no when asked.

“Hey, come on, Souta! What art thou still stalling about for! Stalling Souta! Stall-ta!”

“Don’t give me random nicknames!!”

Stall-ta made an aggrieved cry.

Seeing Nanami walking furiously and taking the lead, Souta desperately followed her. Kikuno shouted at his back:

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun! Hand! Hand! You have to hold hands!”

“We shall absolutely not do that!!"

Before Souta could answer, Nanami replied heatedly. This was the heat phase. Don’t know what that means, but it sounds pretty fiery.

Nanami and Souta left the dormitory and took a bumpy ride on the tram, finally arriving at a place known as the campus shopping street, where there were many shops, half of which were run by students engaged in club activities.

After buying carrots as instructed at the supermarket in the school shopping street, the two left the supermarket.

During this period, the two remained silent.

Either their relationship is so bad that it is irreparable, or they are so indifferent to each other that it is irreparable, or they are so desperate to buy things that it is irreparable. In any case, it can be said that their relationship is irreparable.

“…By the way, Souta.”

On their way back, Nanami finally spoke, her tone clearly indicating her rage. Souta was so frightened that he shook uncontrollably.

“What’s up, Nanami…?”

“We have been curious this whole time.”

“Um…?”

Her roundabout way of speaking made Souta tilt his head in confusion.

“Ever since we left the dorm— what’s up with these two following us this whooooooooooole time?!”

Nanami’s teeth were grinding not because of sleep bruxism<ref> Condition where you grind your teeth uncontrollably in your sleep</ref>, but because she was wholly subjected to an irritation bordering on wrath.

Then, the unrivaled troop of Kikuno and Akane — thinking that they were stalking unnoticed — hid behind the cake shop’s sign board and observed Nanami and Souta.

“Oh! They finally started a conversation, Kikuno-senpai!”

“Them two being so immature is also a problem, Akane-chan!”

“I keep feeling like they’re looking at me.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hands! Hold hands!”

It seems that Big Sis just wants her brother to hold a girl’s hand no matter what.

“Ah, they seem to be coming this way.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hug her from behind!”

“Hugging, my foot!!”

Because they were busy peeping, they didn’t notice that Nanami had already approached them face-to-face.

“Huh?! Nanami, nonono! This isn’t stalking!”

“…Then what is it?”

Akane was fiercely cornered by Nanami. She was cornered by the animation.

“…K-Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like that, isn’t it?”

“Nuh-uh, Akane-chan. Can’t believe you were stalking people. Good thing I came to stop you.”

“An unexpected betrayal!!”

Having been reprimanded by Big Sis with a “Naughty!” gesture, Akane was hit hard.

“Okiku-nee…”

Even Souta couldn’t let them get away with it scot-free. So the two of them sincerely apologized and the four of them went back to the dorm together.

“Ahh!! Everyone’s back! That’s great!”

Seeing Nanami and the others coming back together, Megumu, who was panicking in the dorm kitchen, rushed over to Souta with tears in his eyes and gave him a girl hug.

This so-called girl hug consists of leaning towards someone, holding their chest with both hands, and embracing them. It is an elegant way of hugging.

“Wh-what's wrong, Megumu?”

“When one came back, one saw that the food was half-cooked and felt like there were people there until just now, but there’s nobody there, so it’s just like the ''Mary Celeste''! One was so scared!!”

The ''Mary Celeste'' was a ship involved in a mysterious incident. According to the urban legend — they say that all the people on the ship disappeared into thin air, and it became an unmanned ship drifting on the sea. The half-eaten breakfast on the ship was still hot, as if everyone was still sitting on the ship safely until a moment ago. How terrifying.<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste A real incident]</ref>

Seeing Megumu sob, Nanami also smiled bitterly:

“It’s okay, Megu-chan. You have a very vivid imagination…”

“That’s right, Megu-chan. Do you think that the us that just returned are really the us that Megu-chan knows?”

“What is that? How terrifying!!”

Akane said something strange, scaring Megumu into violent trembling. But was it really strange? If what she said was true… Mulder, you’re sick, you’re not thinking straight.<ref> X-Files reference</ref>

“Or maybe Megu-chan accidentally intruded into our domain?”

“How scary, how scary! Souta-kun, how scary!”

Kikuno also joined Akane’s evil prank. Megumu was trembling all over. He was no longer hugging Souta gracefully, but instead tightly wrapped his hands and legs around Souta's body, holding him in a state of imprint clinginess. Imprint clinginess was also called koala-clinging in the old days, and it was a sleeping technique showing a strong will to never separate.<ref> I don’t really understand what the Chinese used refers to, but I think the image of a baby koala clinging to its mother or baby birds sticking with whatever they imprint on should do the job.</ref>

“Both of you, please stop scaring Megumu… If he gets scared and moves out of the dorm, we’ll have to find a new dormmate again.”

“This means that in Souta’s mind, Megumu is just someone who fills up the dorm population quota.”

“Ah—!!”

Megumu’s spirit was already cornered by the animation, and Nanami added the final straw, causing him to open his mouth and start crying.

“J-just kidding, that was just a joke, okay?! Don’t cry, Megu-chan, why are you crying?!"

“Nanami’s too much.”

“That’s right, bad Nanami!”

“Ye have no right to speak!”

Kikuno, successfully pushing the bad-guy status onto Nanami, patted Megumu's head and said “Good boy, good boy” like a nanny comforting a child.

“I’m sorry, Megu-chan. Nanami can’t stand other girls being close to Sou-kun, so she couldn’t help but make fun of you. Just forgive her, okay?”

“That’s not it——!!”

Nanami was furious at the unfounded rumors.

So Nanami and co. had dinner later than usual — for one, because everyone ended up running out to buy stuff that they really didn’t need to buy; for another, in order to comfort Megumu. But…

“Ah, Souta-kun, you should sit in my seat from now on.”

“Well… I’m fine with that.”

The seats at the table were changed, which made Souta have a question mark in his head for a moment. But when he saw that Nanami, who seemed to be in a bad mood, was next to the new seat, he immediately realized the intention.

Moreover, the chairs were placed so close together that Nanami and Souta's shoulders were almost touching.

“Was going to say, Akane…”

As long as Akane and Souta could keep their distance, Nanami would have originally preferred to ignore it. But perhaps because she was getting annoyed at being paired together for no reason, Nanami sighed deeply and looked at Akane with a stern face.

“Ah! Ah! You don’t have to say it, I know everything, Nanami!”

“Hmm… What dost thou know…”

That might just be the kind of personality Akane has, but ever since she came to this dorm she keeps going a little too far with it — at this thought, Nanami pouted slightly.

“Would it be better for the two of you to sit facing each other at a private table?”

“You don’t know anything at all!!”

The little princess felt dizzy.

“Nanami has entered her ''tsun'' phase…”

“It’s not the ''tsun'' phase, not the ''dere'' phase, nor the dog phase!!”

People in the dog phase will have dog ears, and will pee when they are happy. In other words, drowning<ref> The character for ‘drown’ can also mean ‘to pee’ lmao</ref> in happiness. Although they always feel that they have lost something important from a human perspective, they can’t help it because they are dogs. The most important thing for dogs is bones. When they get bones, they will drown in happiness.

Big Sis Kikuno, ecstatic to see her little brother sitting side by side with a cute girl, poked Souta’s shoulder with a smile.

“Hurry up, Sou-kun. Say ‘Open up~♡’ to feed her, open up♡”

“We will absolutely not eat it!”

Souta obediently picked up some of the beef stew with his chopsticks and was about to bring it to Nanami’s mouth. At the same time, Nanami raged.

“Hey~ Nanami, just eat it. Souta’s so sad…”

“Thou doting Big Sis…”

Nanami glared around angrily. Next to her, Souta absent-mindedly fiddled with his chopsticks and beef stew. He saw Megumu glance at him a few times with big, round eyes, so he said “Open up~♡” and fed Megumu.

“There’s a bromantic taste to it!”

Megumu was talking so giddily that Souta didn’t know how to answer him, so he pretended to be expressionless and nodded vaguely.

After dinner ended in a mess, it was Akane and Nanami’s turn to wash the dishes, but...

“Souta-kun, can you switch with me? The next time it’s your turn to wash the dishes, I’ll do it.”

“… Yeah… I’m fine with that.”

“Then thou shouldst switch with Us, Souta.”

Hearing Nanami was about to change it, Akane hurriedly tried to stop her.

“N-no no. Nanami has to wash the dishes with Souta-kun and say, ‘F-feels like we're newlyweds ♡’!”

“Why did it almost turn Megumu-like?!”<ref> What Akane wanted Nanami to say had an untranslatable verbal tic that Megumu tends to use; incidentally, Nanami has a different verbal tic </ref>

Megumu, who was wiping the table even though it wasn’t his chore, was surprised when his name was suddenly called.

“Anyways, We just don’t want to! We shall absolutely never pretend to be newlyweds with Souta!”

''A tsundere…''

''A tsundere…''

''A tsundere…''

Akane, Kikuno, and Megumu looked at Nanami with inexplicable gazes.

“Ah, but on a related note, after you finish washing the dishes, you two can take a bath together, right?”

“Who would want to take a bath together?!”

Kikuno, who had no authority, abused her non-existent authority to grant permission. But Nanami, the house prefect, vetoed it without using her authority.

“Souta-kun, you’re a pervert!!”

Megumu weakly hit Souta with something between a slap and a push, dealing zero damage. Then, he ran away to his room.

“…Megu-chan’s crying.”

“Sou-kun, a girl’s heart is very delicate. If you don’t treat her with the utmost care, it’ll be bad.”

“Uh, okay…”

Souta thought it was strange that they were worried about Megumu’s girl-heart since he pursued masculinity. Plus, at the end of the day, Kikuno was the one who hurt Souta, so he deliberated how to retort and finally decided to give up on it.

Afterwards, of course, Nanami and Souta did ''not'' take a bath together. However, Souta, who was about to enjoy some barley tea after taking his bath, happened to meet Nanami in the hallway.

Nanami, who had been quite angry recently, saw Souta gently raise his hand to greet her. She turned away with a snort and reached out to grab the door handle of her room. If she was ticked off, that means she isn’t on the list anymore.<ref> Original pun had something to do with Japanese onomatopoeia for peeling sounding similar to the one for being angry, I’m doing something completely different using ‘ticked off’ meaning both ‘angry’ and ‘crossed off a list’</ref>

Anyways, Nanami suddenly stopped as she was about to enter her room. She looked at the unbelievable scene in her room and began to suspect that she was dazzled.

“…Soooouutaaaaaa!”

“What?!”

When his name was suddenly called in a threatening tone, Souta felt his heart palpitate and turned his head at the same time. If instead his liver palpitated, then he’d been drinking too much.

“What’s going on with this—?!”

Nanami’s eyes narrowed as she yelled, and her expression became like a cat whose food was taken away.

“You asked me what’s going on… what’s… going on with what?”

Following Nanami’s finger pointing towards her room, Souta was speechless and froze in place.

In the middle of Nanami's room, which was a bit large because it was originally a double room, there were pink and blue mattresses for two people. The two mattresses were close together, and heart-shaped pillows were placed side by side.

“It wasn’t me…”

“Of course I know that!”

Souta did think, ''Hey, why are you yelling at me?'' But if he said it out loud, it might just add fuel to the fire, so Souta remained silent and turned his eyes from the furious Nanami back to the paired futons.

“…That futon does come from my room.”

“That one’s my futon! Those guys pulled it off the bed! Akane! Akaneeeeeee!!”

Nanami’s roar echoed through the hall.

“What’s going?”

After a moment, Akane opened the door and poked her head out. Then, Kikuno followed leisurely even though she was not called.

“Thou darest ask ''Us'' what’s going on?! What’s going on with this?!”

(monotone) “Oh my, I didn’t expect you two to have such a close relationship.”

“It’s so monotone, it’s like reading from a script!”

Although the culprit was instantly revealed, the whole world already knew before it was revealed.

“What dost thou intend, Akane!? …No, We already know what thou intendest.”

(monotone) “Haha, I wish you two happiness.”

Akane wasn’t even listening to Nanami.

“That’s enough! If We two can just sleep together lovey-dovey like this, wouldn’t that be weird?!”

“It’s not weird, but…”

“But what?”

“''We two'' sounds like you’ll have many Wiis, too.<ref> Since Nanami’s first-person pronoun is more like “this royal”, the original joke is that there will be many more royals… I hope what I’ve done is a good enough approximation.</ref> It’s really cute.”

“Akaneeeeeeee!”

Akane, who didn’t listen to others carefully, made Nanami angry. By the way, “We two” means “us two”.

Seeing the two arguing, Souta murmured his thoughts:

“By the way, that pillow is a Yes/No pillow…”

The Yes/No pillow is used by lovey-dovey couples. When they want to be affectionate, they turn the Yes pillow to the front. When they want to concentrate on sleeping without even looking at their partner, they turn it to No.

“What art thou looking at now… Why are both of them No?!"

“Yes isn’t good, okay— Big Sis thinks you can’t go to that stage yet.”

Kikuno poked Nanami and Souta’s foreheads with her finger and said, “That’s naughty!”

“It’s all too early, alright?! No, it’s not a matter of earliness! Who would want to use this kind of thing, regardless of whether it’s earlier or later?!”

Nanami gradually went insane… Little by little, Souta began to distance himself from.

Seeing her frantic look, Akane might have become uneasy too. Akane crossed her arms over her chest with a ''Hmm~'', then looked at Kikuno.

“See, Kikuno-senpai. Nanami isn’t Japanese, so putting their bedding side by side doesn’t suit her tastes.”

“Hmm… but I even thought she’d be very touched.”

“That’s not the issue!”

There was a gradual gap between the two sides’ understandings. Souta felt that the matter could no longer be resolved and wanted to take his futon from Nanami’s room as soon as possible, but he could not find the opportunity and was at the end of his rope.

“That's enough! Now We understand!!”

“You finally understand!”

Although they were probably talking about different things, Akane happily grasped Nanami’s hand.

“Since Akane wants to help Souta find a girlfriend so much, Akane should just date him!!”

““Eh…!!””

Nanami uttered a critical sentence that could be considered an irreversible statement, and Akane and Souta froze together.

Then, they awkwardly looked at each other’s faces.

The countless friendship flags above Akane’s head fell down like dominoes, and were reborn one by one as imposing love flags, standing tall.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Intermission]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6

2025-03-26T03:26:25Z

Person72635: Created page with "==Flag 6: The Very First Quest== After a few days— As their life together began, the Quest House buddies became more and more united with each passing day. However, this..."

==Flag 6: The Very First Quest==

After a few days—

As their life together began, the Quest House buddies became more and more united with each passing day.

However, this should be due to the fact that they had pretty good chemistry to begin with.

Only, for especially-low-chemistry Souta, other people actively approaching him was fine, but he would almost never take initiative to talk to others.

For example, while the other four were chatting in the living room furnished with a soft sofa, coffee table, and soft carpet and constantly enticing people to join in, he would look at the happy atmosphere from the hall and directly pass by despondently.

Akane noticed this with her sharp eyes, and while worrying about his sad aura, she thought:

''Are you sad because the coffee table isn’t soft?''

But if even the coffee table was soft, guests might spill their drinks and never come back. No, the current softness ratio was just right so that this wouldn’t happen — Akane would later figure this out. She should have figured it out immediately, right?

Come to think of it, was it right to exclude Souta and just chat there herself? We need to go find him — although they all had this kind of thought, the situation had started with just Akane and Nanami chatting, with Kikuno joining in later and Megumu also joining in. Everything happened naturally, so they definitely didn’t exclude Souta on purpose.

Aside from the aforementioned situation, Souta exuded a sad aura no matter what he did, which always tortured Akane’s girlish heart.

A lonely profile that broke people’s hearts.

Although the amount of times Souta showed that depressing expression when he was with everybody decreased a lot, Akane still wanted to completely eliminate Souta’s sad aura, so she made up her mind.

First, in order to prepare for her operation, Akane consulted Kikuno, who should know Souta best.

“Eh? You want to make Sou-kun happy?”

After hearing Akane explain the important thing they needed to discuss, Kikuno asked this question.

Akane nodded seriously. Kikuno zoned out for a moment, then her whole body trembled as she hugged Akane tightly.

“Kikuno-senpai!?”

“Akane-chan, you’re such a good kid! Welcome to the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance!”

“Huh, there’s an alliance like that?”

“Akane-chan is the esteemed second member!”

Seems like a rather lonely alliance.

“Then, what kind of activities has the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance done so far?”

“Looking at Sou-kun when he’s happy is really soothing for the soul!”

“Its purpose is actually the opposite!?”

When Akane is with normal people, she should always garner retorts. But Kikuno, who’s able to make Akane retort, should really reflect on herself. Maybe she only becomes stupid when encountering something related to her little brother.

“Oh... So you want Sou-kun to be happy. Hmm... Of course a boy’s happiness comes from having a wonderful romance with a girl, I think.”

“Romance?!”

Kikuno proposed an unusually difficult solution, and Akane crossed her arms and pondered it.

She didn’t want to brag, but whether it was because of her innocent nature or her status as a rich heiress, it was difficult for boys to approach her. In her life so far, Akane hadn’t had any fate with love that could be called romance.

“I understand it now! Let’s implement the Souta-kun Romance Operation!”

Speaking of which, the contents of the operation hadn’t been planned out before. In other words, it wasn’t an operation at all.

Even Akane would discover this fact when it was time to implement it. But she couldn’t think of any good ideas, so she consulted Nanami this time.

“…Thou wantest Souta to have a romance?”

Nanami scoffed.

Akane scoffed in response.

“Why is Akane laughing too?!”

“I thought it’s better to laugh than not…”

“We cannot understand your motives!?”

The secret is: Akane didn’t know what her motives were either. But she made it so obvious, one could say it practically wasn’t a secret. Then it isn’t a secret, right?!

“Thou really likest Souta——...”

“I always felt that from the first time I met Souta, my chest tightens and I want to do something for him.”

Seeing Akane become shy, Nanami, who’d half-jokingly made an offhand comment, suddenly frowned.

“… So thou fellest in love at first sight?”

“Huh…?”

“Hast thou never fallen in love at first sight?”

Akane shook her head repeatedly.

“Huh…? Huh…? This is… love at first sight…?”

“……”

Nanami unflinchingly stared at the panicked Akane.

“N-no, no! It must be… I-it’s not like that…”

“Nevermind~ It’s fine, treat it as Our misunderstanding. Let’s not talk about that for now. Why didst thou come to ask Us such a thing?”

“Because Nanami is an charming girl, you’re definitely a love veteran or ''bateren''<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirishitan Japanese word for the first Christian missionaries].”

Veteran and ''bateren'' sound similar but are different. Why she listed them both, Akane herself didn’t know either. Turns out she really didn’t know.

Unfortunately, thanks to her personality, Nanami still only glared at, belittled, and kicked the boys around her, so her romance power level was almost the same as Akane’s, only five. Huh, pitiful!<ref> [https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Ball_Z_Kai:_Season_1_(Quotes)#:~:text=Raditz%3A%20You%20have%20a%20power,Huh%2C%20pitiful.&text=Raditz%3A%20Huh%2C%20it's%20a%20race%20of%20utter%20weaklings. Raditz quote] from Dragon Ball Z Kai.</ref>

Nanami, who had fought desperately with her pitiful romance power level, said with resentment:

“… Ask boys about a boy’s romance.”

This is surrendering without a fight.

Akane felt as if Nanami had secretly refused to offer her advice and wandered around the dormitory dejectedly.

“Boys… are there any reliable boys…”

“You called, Mahougasawa-san?!”

Megumu jumped out of the laundry room, where he had been washing his clothes in the laundry machine, and Akane let out a strange cry of “Uwaahh!?”

“There is no boy more reliable than this man among men — Touzokuyama Megumu!”

“Um…”

Megumu, dressed in casual clothes, wore a girly knitted sweater, honeycomb shorts, and striped kneesocks. His [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettai_ry%C5%8Diki zettai ryouiki] was very dazzling and brimming with cuteness. Add to that his bow necklace which further enhanced his femininity.

Even Akane seemed to think that his femininity was higher than her own. Rather than Megumu’s reliability, Akane was more confused about whether she could even consider Megumu a boy.

“Come on, if you have a problem, just discuss it with one! Just ask this one — who, because his manly body odor is too strong, relies on washing clothes to remove his manly body odor — known as the boy who always exudes the fragrance of soap and flowers!”

“Megu-chan, that would just increase your femininity, though.”

Megumu’s eyes lost their luster.

What’s more , only he thought it was a manly body odor, but it actually smelled sweet. Therefore, Megumu always exuded a sweet fragrance of soap and flowers.

But if this continued, Megumu would be unwilling to help. In order to try to make Megumu’s eyes regain their brilliance, Akane held Megumu’s hand with a tense smile.

“Uh! Oh! I-I do have something I want to discuss with a boy! A boy! A man among men! Megu-chan, are you willing to lend an ear?!”

“Well… if you don't mind one’s rising femininity, one will just listen to you…”

Although Megumu’s eyes hadn’t completely regained their brilliance, he seemed willing to help out. So Akane asked with a bright smile:

“Actually, it’s this…”

When Akane finished explaining her goals, Megumu’s face turned red. He hid half of both hands in his sleeves and pressed his fingers against his mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. His whole person seemed much cuter.

“O-one isn’t very good at romance…”

“You hate the chewy texture?”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Salmon roe.”

“Why did the topic suddenly turn to salmon roe?!”

“I suddenly brought up the topic of romance and you seemed burdened, so I changed the subject.”

“What kind of weird consideration is this?!”

Anyways, since Megumu seemed only reliable on the topic of salmon roe, Akane gave up on discussing romance with Megumu.

Speaking of fearing romance, Akane herself also… repeated what she did before. Not knowing what to do, she dejectedly wandered around the dorm while crying out “Ah…” or “Ugh~” They say that when Souta saw her, he thought, ''Is that a zombie game…?''

Of course, Souta didn’t particularly go over to show concern. Kikuno, seeing Akane at the same time, was giddy with excitement and said to her:

“I’m telling you, Akane-chan! I thought of many ideas afterwards, and I want to ask Akane-chan to date Sou-kun so that he can open his eyes to romance. What do you think of this idea?”

“N-no, not happening! I think Souta-kun would want to find a more charming girl than me!”

Maybe she learned a new move after seeing Megumu’s, but she hid half of her hands in her sleeves and pressed her fingers against her mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. Her whole person seemed much cuter, her femininity increasing by a huge leap.

“Mmm! Akane-chan is very charming though, and Big Sis thinks you two are a good match... But if that’s the case, how about introducing an charming girl Akane-chan knows to Sou-kun?”

“Good idea!! Or should I say good taste!!”

“Taste...?”

The topic of salmon eggs seemed to still linger somewhere in Akane’s mind.

That night, Akane stopped wandering around and stayed in her room, struggling to write a list of girls to introduce to him.

Upon conjuring up the image of a girl on the list getting along well with Souta and imagining his very happy smile, Akane’s joy slowly surged up like the warmth of basking in the sun during the winter… But—

“…Huh?”

Suddenly—

Akane felt a piercing pain in her chest and stopped writing the list.

However, that only lasted for a moment.

Akane immediately returned to work writing the list…

Swish! With the sound of curtains being drawn, the dazzling morning light shone directly onto Souta’s face. As he gradually regained consciousness due to the light, his body lying on the bed was continuously shaken. Then, a sweet sound, like the chirping of a bird, passed into his ears.

“Good morning!”

“Mm… Good morning…”

“Haaah… Whoa!” Seeing Akane’s face so close to him as she enthusiastically came to wake him up, Souta was immediately startled awake.

“Huh?! What’s going on?! Why is Akane in my room?! Where’s the door lock?!”

“I opened it without permission.”

“You can’t open it without permission, right?!”

Just outside the wide-open door, Nanami came out of her room to take a morning shower and happened to pass by. She poked her head in from the hall and took a peek with sleepy eyes.

“What’s up… Why’s it so noisy this morning…”

“Is it better to be noisy like this during the night?”

“Disturbing people’s sweet dreams!!”

Nanami, no longer sleepy after her roar, looked inside Souta’s room again and found Akane leaning over the bed where Souta was lying.

“This…! Why are ye behaving so outrageously so early in the morning!!”

“No, no! This is French behavior!”

“You’re not French!”

It’s hard to say whether everything French people do is French behavior.

“Th-this is just a step of the operation to wake Souta-kun up and make him happy! I was reading a shoujo manga before, and it said that boys who get woken up by girls in the morning are very happy! Nanami, come and wake Souta-kun up too!”

“Oh, thou art just a Souta, yet thou enjoyest the luxury of being woken up by a beautiful girl…”

In Nanami’s opinion, just waking Souta up was too revolting, so she looked at Souta disdainfully, full of mockery and contempt. She only looks disdainfully at our poor Souta.

“Th-that’s not it! No, I should say, I didn’t ask her to do that! By the way, Akane, how did you open the door of my room?!”

Although Souta’s mood was low, his energy was high. This could be said to be a very unfortunate state.

“I borrowed the spare key from Kikuno-senpai.”

“Huh?! Why does Okiku-nee have a spare key to my room?!”

“She said that was Big Sis’s privilege.”

““Big Sis’s privileges are really terrifying!””

Nanami and Souta shouted in unison. Seeing how close the two were, Akane felt lonely and whispered a complaint.

“Hmph, you guys left me out again, acting so in sync… But it doesn’t matter. I just want Souta-kun to be happy.”

“Yes… But right now, my lock isn’t working at all, and the happiness of staying in bed in the morning is gone. I’m in quite a distressing situation…”

“Dejection…”

Akane’s eyes welled up with tears because she had deprived Souta of happiness.

“Souta, don’t make Akane cry!”

“Oh… what a headache. Ah~ I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I’m really happy. I’m so lucky to have a girl come wake me up in the morning... It’s like, uh, since I’ve almost never tasted the feeling of happiness, I don’t know how to distinguish between happiness and unhappiness.”

Souta was hit in the back of his head by Nanami’s Princess Punch and frantically consoled Akane.

But after hearing his consolation, Akane unexpectedly cheered up.

“Ah! I actually made you worry about me, Souta-kun! But… I really like how Souta-kun and Nanami are so considerate.”

“…I can’t compare to Akane.”

“Heeheehee… ah, I accidentally started to taste happiness. Really, I should be letting unlucky Souta-kun taste it.”

“I don’t need it…”

That said, being told that you have bad luck isn’t very pleasant, and it made Souta a little depressed.

His sad aura emerged, causing Akane to panic.

“Ah?! No problem. Souta-kun has me here. The Souta-kun Happiness Operation exists for this purpose. I want to introduce my charming friend to Souta-kun. She’s the type of… charming girl that you would want to date!”

““…Uh-huh.””

Seeing her abruptly begin to speak unbelievable words again, Souta and Nanami still couldn’t help but look at her in wonder despite the fact they were slowly getting used to her behavior.

“This is the charming girl I recommend, Nanami Knight Bladefield.”

“I’ve already known her for a while!”

Souta complained without even looking at Nanami, who was pushed forward. Because he didn’t need to look at her to know her.

“You’ve got a keen eye for identifying charming girls. You’re really good at it, Souta-kun.”

“……”

''I think it was my keen eyes that were able to recognize Nanami at first…'' Souta began to recall that past. However, because many things happened in this short period of time, when he began to recall it, he even felt that it was a long time ago.

However, Akane interrupted his reminiscence.

“How about it, do you want to date Nanami?”

“Why must We date Souta, nyaa?!”

Akane looked very disappointed.

“Why dost thou have a ‘That’s impossible…’ look on your face? We are the one who should say that’s impossible!!”

“Nanami isn’t an idiot.”<ref> “That’s impossible” and “This idiot” sound similar in Japanese.</ref>

“Who said that to thee—?!”

Nanami roared at Akane, calling her a dumb idiot.

Since the door was open, it was Kikuno’s turn to poke her head in and take a peek at Souta’s incredibly noisy room.

“…I say, you three, I told Megumu to get you because you were late. But he just came back scared and said that there was an early-morning love triangle crisis in Sou-kun’s room, huh?”

“““It’s not a love triangle!!”””

The three people in the room retorted at Kikuno together.

Then, after shouting, Akane covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide.

“Wow!? We were just in sync…!! Finally… I finally did it…!! This way, I am also in sync with Souta-kun and Nanami!!”

Akane then held the two’s hands and started dancing, and the matter was left unsettled just like that. Everyone packed up, ate the Big Sis Breakfast Kikuno made for everyone, and then went to school.

Lunch break.

Souta stood up and left the table alone to go somewhere else...

“Souta-kun, where are you going?”

…But Akane grabbed the corner of his shirt to stop him. As for why she grabbed the corner of his shirt, it wasn’t because she thought, ''Go die, you dirty piece of trash!'' Rather, if she had hugged him from behind and said, ''Where are you going, Sou-kun~?'' it would seem too intimate. Why is this so extreme?

Also, the latter has apparently been patented the doting Big Sis.

“Sou-kun, it’s time for lunch. Where are you going? Is something going on? Do you want Big Sis to come with you?”

Big Sis’s doting was clearly beyond imagination.

“No... I’m just going to buy lunch.”

“There’s bento, though!”

As he said this, Megumu took out a cute tote bag and put it on the table. Incidentally, since he couldn’t carry that bag in the morning, Souta ended up carrying it for him.

“Is there a portion for me…?”

“Yep, I made it with Kikuno-san. Akane-san and Nanami-san also have a portion.”

“You didn’t have to do that… I can eat the bread from the cafeteria..."

Seeing Souta’s reclusive attitude again, Nanami, who had remained silent until now, spoke up:

“Thou art an idiot, Souta! This idiot Souta! Stop talking nonsense and just accept their goodwill! More importantly, if they didn’t have the girlish motive of making lunch boxes for thee, We wouldn't be able to take a share of the spoils!”

“Okay…”

After listening to Nanami's words, Souta sighed helplessly.

However, this sentence made Megumu smile.

"Nanami-kun is so gentle… If only you got one, the gentle Souta-kun would feel bad. You said ‘We want it too’ in order to make it hard for him to refuse, right?”

“Huh?!… Th-that’s not the case…!!”

Souta had taken it literally, thinking that Nanami was selfish and smiling thinly, but now his eyes widened and he stared at Nanami, who blushed and fumbled to deny it.

“Is that so, Nanami?... Look at you, pretending to be an evil bastard.”

Souta, who himself didn’t really have any right to be criticizing people on pretending to be evil, smiled wryly.

“A-are ye idiots? Thinking too highly of me!? W-We ask for a lunchbox out of selfishness…!!”

Regardless of the truth, Nanami, trying so hard to hide her gentleness, ended up making everyone to look at her with warm eyes.

“D-d-d-do nyaat look at me like that—!!”

“Uwaahhh—!!”

Poked in the eye by Nanami, Souta screamed on behalf of everyone.

Souta, who was eating lunch alone a few days ago, found himself having a lively and warm meal with the five members of the Quest House group in the blink of an eye.

“It's better to eat with a lot of people. Even 800 people would be no problem.”

“So many!!”

“If we want 800 people to have lunch together, I think it would be better to hold a banquet.”

“Eh, you’re continuing on that topic?!”

Kikuno unexpectedly brought up Akane’s words again, and this unforeseen situation shocked Megumu.

“The atmosphere at a banquet might be inexplicably awkward, though.”

“So individualism is the way to go after all!”

“Too extreme!!”

The conversation between Miss Heiress and Her Princess Highness, who were very used to banquets, was very high-class.

“'''''One or All, and All or 1.'''''”

“Isn’t it '''''for'''''?” Megumu asked.

“It’s not '''''for'''''.”

“No, it is '''''for''''', though! '''''For''''' has gotta be correct, right?!” Souta exclaimed.

“Looks like the boys like '''''for'''''.”

“This isn’t a matter of preference—!!”

“Sou-kun’s retorts are really no-holds-''baran''…”

The ''baran'' at the end of no-holds-''baran'' doesn’t refer to the green plastic Yamagata leaf that separates the side dishes in the bentos Souta and co. were currently eating. Speaking of which, although ''baran'' is the common name, its official name seems to be ''haran''. If the common name were also ''haran'', why would it take so many lines to explain ''haran''? It’s really a pity to think about this. In any case, we shouldn’t talk about something so off-topic.<ref> ''Baran'' and ''haran'' are alternate pronunciations for the same green plastic Yamagata leaf.</ref>

“By the way, Sou-kun, is the omelette Big Sis made delicious?”

“Yep… I see there are two kinds of omelettes. Why is that?”

“That’s made by one”

“Oh, this is delicious too. Sweet omelette.”

Megumu had been smiling shyly and timidly, perhaps because he wasn’t confident about the taste. But after hearing Souta’s words, he made a cute little “I did it♡” victory pose like a little girl.

“Sorry… I’m sorry, Sou-kun… If I’d known earlier, Big Sis would’ve also made sweet omelettes for Sou-kun… Because Sou-kun liked to eat salty omelettes when he was little, so Big Sis accidentally… I’m such a useless Big Sis who doesn’t understand Sou-kun’s preferences… I’m sorry…”

Megumu was overjoyed, but Kikuno was quite depressed.

''So doting!!''

The doting Big Sis’s words and actions shocked the students who were eating in the classroom.

“Okiku-nee, you’re being too dramatic. Besides, I really like Okiku-nee’s omelette too!”

“Sou-kun... has grown into a kind-hearted little brother…!”

Big Sis was deeply moved.

Akane leaned over from the side.

“How does my omelette taste?”

“Huh? I haven’t eaten it before…?”

“Based on the current conversation, I thought I could get an answer of ‘It’s delicious’, but it was a failure.”

“What’s with this feeling of confrontation…?”

Nanami put an octopus sausage into her mouth and cast a weird look at Akane’s strange behavior.

“By the way, Akane, what happened to the introduction thou wast talking about this morning? We can’t be the only choice, right…?”

“It felt like Nanami would fail, so that was something like a throwaway option.”

“What does that mean…?”

Although she didn’t want to date Souta at all, it was still quite unpleasant to be told as much. This is a woman’s heart.

“Heeheehee… Now comes the main event. I think Souta fits better with girls who are a bit assertive.”

“Ah, Big Sis might also agree with this.”

On this basis, the three or four girls (?) present are all a bit assertive in different respects.

By the way, when Souta saw the defeat flag raised above Akane’s head, he kind of wondered what was up with that; but he just wondered and didn’t take any particular actions.

“I’ve already sent a text, she should almost be here.”

In the blink of an eye—

The classroom door was violently flung open and a female student barged in.

“Fuhahahahahaha, Mahougasawa Akane-kun!! What business do you have with this student president Seiteikouji Mimori?!”

Just then, for some unknown reason, everyone except Akane seemed to see a failure flag above Mimori’s head. But you can roughly tell the reason, so it wasn’t really unknown… So why it said “Just then, for some unknown reason…” is the real unknown.

As the word “unknown” went through Gestaltzerfall<ref> The phenomenon where a word begins to look weird and lose its meaning when you stare at it too long</ref>, Akane pushed Souta forward.

“Please go on a date with Souta-kun around campus.”

“Huh?!”

Mimori froze for a full thirty seconds.

Afterwards, she turned her back to everyone, took out a comb and portable mirror to comb her hair, reapplied lip balm, and secretly made “Ah~ Ah~ Ha! Uh-huh!” sounds to warm up her voice. She also said in a very cute voice “Annoying… everyone’s looking…” After practicing her lines, she thought to herself, ''Very well! Yours truly’s constant daily practicing is all for today!'', struck a victory pose, then faced Souta and co. again.

“Can’t be helped! Since you’re so insistent, how can a student president who exists for the students refuse? What a headache, Akane-kun!”

“You’re laughing so happily and having a headache at the same time!!”

The unprecedented response shocked Akane silly.

Moreover, because Mimori made a cute expression that strayed completely from her original personality, the people around her couldn’t help but take a step away from her.

“N-no big deal. Hatate-kun too, if you had told yours truly earlier, yours truly would’ve helped you embezzle any amount of student council funds when renovating the dorm…”

“No, no, don’t embezzle…”

“Alright, stop dilly-dallying in a place like this, now we’ll let the young people chat on their own!”

Although the matter hadn’t been fully discussed, Souta and Mimori were kicked out of the classroom at Akane’s urging.

Next, not long afterwards—

Souta, feeling particularly tired, saw three or four girls (?) waiting for him with sparkling eyes as he entered the classroom.

Only Nanami pretended to be uninterested, but from the way she kept glancing at Souta, it was clear that she was actually quite interested. Just like how people look at bra straps visible under summer uniforms.

“What’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the student president go?!”

“Not very well…”

Akane asked, ready to lean forward at any moment, and Souta gave a vague response with a pale face.

“Maybe Souta was actually the only one there, completely alone.”

“Then what was with me?!”

“The student president’s ghost.”

“Nooooooooooooo!! Nonononono!! One is super scared of ghosts and stuff—!!”

Megumu screamed super cutely and covered her ears like crazy.

“Then what’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the ghost of the student president go?”

“Megumu’s making so much noise nearby, I can’t hear what Akane said at all.”

“Huh? What? Souta-kun, I can’t hear you at all.”

Looks like the ultrasonic waves emitted by Megumu drowned out all the surrounding sounds.

“Megu-chan, thou art very noisy.”

“Mmph!!”

Nanami stopped Megumu’s paranormal ultrasonic waves by stuffing leftover rice balls from lunch into his mouth. A little later and ghosts would have been attracted by the ultrasonic waves. Really dangerous.

“So, what's the result? Are ye closer? O-oh yeah, We don’t care, but Akane and Kikuno are particularly concerned.”

“It’s passable… I guess.”

Souta’s expression was extremely difficult to describe, but Akane, who was thinking positively, interpreted this vague statement in a positive way. She smiled and said:

“Really? That’s great!”

But—

When the image of Mimori and Souta getting along well with each other appeared in her mind…

…Akane’s chest felt pierced again.

''Strange… why…?''

It seemed very happy...but also seemed very lonely.

She appeared about to cry, but smiled awkwardly. From the head of Akane who was full of confusion—

“…Huh?!”

——Souta saw a love flag raised…

That day, after returning to the dorm, someone knocked on Nanami’s door.

When she opened the door, she saw Souta standing in front of her, not even out of uniform yet.

“What’s wrong? What’s with the sad face? No, Souta always makes this face.”

“……”

Souta couldn’t refute her extremely harsh words and forced a smile.

“That’s it. Just smile a little. Otherwise, even the people looking at it would be infected with depression.”

As they spent more time together, Souta was able to feel the encouragement in Nanami’s harsh words and carefully-crafted evil facade. He knew that it was Nanami’s clumsy expression of gentleness, so he put on a gentle smile.

“…Yeah. Thank you, Nanami.”

“Wh-why art thou thanking me? Weirdo!”

Nanami said this flustered, perhaps not realizing her own gentleness. Souta felt that this clumsiness was also very much like Nanami and quite liked it.

“…So? What dost thou want from me?”

“Hmm… it’s hard to put into words…”

Seeing Souta hesitate, Nanami guessed that it might be something not for others to hear, so she could only reluctantly invite Souta into her room.

“So, what is it? If it’s something trivial, We shall spread word to the News Club that thou art actually a soccer recruit.”

“But as for soccer, I’ve only ever played intramural soccer with my friends before, though?”

“When the time comes, a lot of expectant people will come to thou respectfully and ask you to join the soccer club. Just wait, thou shalt need to explain, deny, and reject them one by one, then suffer.”

“What an incredibly effective way to completely crush someone’s spirits!!”

Souta, whose mind was somewhat drained by the retorts, felt that all his worries were gone and it was easier for him to speak up; however, it was hard to say whether Nanami had considered such a long-term view at the beginning.

“Actually… it’s like this. I hope you don’t tell anyone about this… Akane… just… raised a love flag…”

“……”

Nanami had an indescribably irritated expression on her face.

“Uh, I also recognize that you would think that it’s impossible for someone so popular like Akane to be interested in a guy like me. But the love flag was really raised…”

“Art thou an idiot?”

Nanami still had an irritated expression, frowning even harder as she declared:

“That kind of thing is obvious at a glance.”

“What…?”

“Didst thou not notice…? It’s because thou only carest about looking at flags that thou dost not notice people’s feelings, idiot.”

Nanami sighed as if she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Really…? Was it like that… No, but, didn’t Akane ask me to date Nanami or the student council president…”

“……”

Hearing Souta’s rebuttal, Nanami plopped down on the chair and crossed her arms.

“It was a private conversation between girls, so We didn’t intend to tell you… but forget it.”

Nanami just looked up at the ceiling and told Souta about the conversation during lunch when Souta and Mimori went out and only the girls were left.

……

…………

………………

When Akane packed up her empty bento and took out her dessert bento, Nanami asked something that suddenly occurred to her:

“But, Akane, since thou wantest Souta to be happy so much, why not just date him and make him happy? What’s the point of forcing it on other people?”

“Huh…”

Seeing Akane at a loss for words, Kikuno joined in the conversation as well. She assumed a position with her hands clasped together and her body leaned forward, looking like she wanted to join in very badly.

“That’s right. Big Sis thinks Akane-chan and Sou-kun are a good match– Ah, but Nanami and Sou-kun and Megu-chan and Sou-kun are good matches, though?”

“Thou shalt not think about strange things! We do not fall in love with other people’s lovers, so thou needest not to worry!”

Although Akane felt that this wasn’t entirely the case, she deliberately remained silent, thinking that based on Nanami’s belligerent aura she’d be scolded if she said something wrong.

Megumu was forced into the center of discussion. He was terrified of this situation, but he tried his best to muster up courage, twisted his body cutely, and joined the conversation with a trembling voice:

“One sees Akane-chan do a lot for Souta-kun, so one always thought that Akane-chan likes Souta-kun.”

“N-no, no… I… I…”

“……”

At first, Akane violently shook her hands in denial, then lowered her head slightly, hesitating. Seeing this, everyone waited quietly for her next words.

“I definitely can’t make Souta-kun… No, no matter who I date, I definitely can’t make them happy…”

After saying this, Akane displayed a dejected expression.

Seeing her inexplicably distressed look, Nanami and co. were speechless.

Nanami didn’t know what Akane’s real thoughts were, nor did she know what part of Akane’s words were true. But she figured there must be a reason why Akane was so stubborn.

Nanami always thought that this was Souta’s knot to untie.

………………

…………

…

“…Anyway, that’s what happened.”

Nanami observed Souta’s reaction as she narrated. He seemed to have an idea in his mind.

“There’s a flag next to Akane’s love flag… I think it’s probably a trauma flag… It and the love flag seem to come as a set.”

“…Oh.”

Nanami confirmed that her suspicions weren’t completely wrong, uncrossed her arms, and raised her chin.

“Whenever Akane’s love flag waves grandly and powerfully, the trauma flag also wriggles painfully.”

“After all, falling in love with Souta is a painful thing.”

“……”

On that point, Souta was quite aware of that. Knowing that he can’t be helped being told that, he sighed and leaned against the wall.

“…What do you think I should do, Nanami?”

“Why ask Us?”

“I can’t think it through by myself… I don’t know what I should do. It’s because, for a long time, I haven’t… thought about myself… Though saying this is pretty embarrassing.”

“What can We do~ Everybody comes to Us for help… After all, considering my pedigree and prestige, it can’t be helped!!”

Nanami, self-importantly sticking out her flat chest, was sympathetic, and Souta was unable to respond.

“Getting back to the point… if even thyself doesn’t know what to do, how can other people know?”

“I feel like I’m… just torturing Akane…”

“…Then, dost thou want to try to keep a little distance? After all, Akane has been clinging to thee lately… No, Kikuno and Megumu are the same.”

Nanami didn’t mention herself at all, smiling with slight mockery.

“Keep my distance…? …You’ve got a point.”

While this approach was very passive, this might be the only way to deal with Akane, who can quickly recover even if her flag is actively broken.

Although the question of whether trying to deal with Akane is right or wrong remains up in the air.

After this delicate conversation ended like this, remaining unclear as to whether it had been resolved or not, Nanami and Souta walked out of the room and ran into Akane and Kikuno in the hall.

“Oh? What did you two sneak around and do? Can you tell Big Sis about it too?”

Kikuno approached Souta with a smile, looking like a clingy Big Sis who really wanted to take care of her little brother.

“No… We weren’t sneaking around…”

“Then, what did you do?”

Kikuno asked happily.

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to control her little brother’s actions very badly.

“…Nothing, just talked a bit.”

“Oh? Talk about what? Can you let Big Sis join in~?”

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to improve her relationship with her little brother very badly.

“Nothing… nothing worth mentioning…”

“Huh — so it’s something you can’t tell Big Sis about… Sou-kun left Big Sis and became independent, Big Sis is so lonely…”

Kikuno’s body was full of only sisterly love, making her dejected. Souta was in a dilemma.

"Ah. B-but Big Sis thinks Sou-kun and Nanami are a good match. Aahhh, but Mimori and Akane will be sad… As a big sister, who should I support? Ah, but no matter who Sou-kun chooses in the end, remember that Big Sis will always stand on Sou-kun’s side!"

“Uh…”

Faced with this almost soliloquous sisterly love, not only Souta but also Akane and Nanami took a step back.

“So, Big Sis will keep Sou-kun and Nanami’s passionate affair in the room a secret from Akane-chan.”

“Akane is right beside us though!?”

“…Huh?”

For Big Sis’s great love often ignored everything else except her little brother and was blind to everyone else. How terrifying.

Akane, hearing the secrets being whispered in front of her, seemed to have a little bit of a headache. She looked back and forth between Nanami and Souta and said:

“L-listen… I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that Nanami and Souta-kun were in that kind of relationship…”

“What kind of relationship?!”

At Nanami’s retort, Akane’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.

This blatant misunderstanding of hers was obviously influenced by Kikuno’s words just now.

“If you had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have made a fuss and would’ve given you two my blessings a long time ago!”

“Thou art making a fuss with those random assumptions—!!”

Nanami felt that the conversation between her and Akane was completely unproductive and she couldn’t help but clutch her head in frustration.

''This world is really full of busybodies…'' Souta thought from a distance.

“Hmph! Kikuno-senpai, leave this place to the two young people, let’s excuse ourselves!”

“Y-you’re right! Sorry, Sou-kun! Big Sis is too intrusive!”

As if they would die if the misunderstanding was resolved, Akane and Kikuno did not give people a chance to resolve the misunderstanding. After nodding to each other, they raised their hands to indicate “Please take it slow!” while mouthing “Heehee, being young is great” and jogged away.

“… Why did things turn out like this?”

Having been paired with Souta without her consent, Nanami said, her expression collapsing.

“B-but, anyways, this means there’s hope of keeping my distance from Akane… right? Right?”

“Don’t drag other people into thy own affairs!!”

“Ack!!”

Nanami grabbed Souta’s neck and fiercely threw him to the ground. She glared at Souta resentfully, turned her face away with a harrumph, and left with heavy footsteps.

Kikuno and Akane, who had pretended to leave but had actually hidden in the bathroom to spy on the hall, felt sorry for the two with an “Oof!”

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun, he—!”

“I think it’s because Nanami is jealous that Souta-kun spent a lot of time talking to Kikuno-senpai and me.”

“Of course not!!”

Because the two just happened to be in the direction of Nanami’s movements, Nanami heard their conversation in its entirety, causing her to roar in anger.

That evening—

In the kitchen, Souta was peeling potatoes with full concentration like a chef apprentice. Kikuno, who was cooking nearby, and Akane, who was helping, approached him with a meaningful chuckle like “Heh heh heh…”

“Sou-kun. Big Sis wants to ask Sou-kun for something.”

“…What's up?”

Because he usually found himself being doted on, whenever he meets a doting Big Sis getting ready to spoil him, Souta is completely unable to mount resistance. That is what happens when you fall into a Big Sis’s perfected Control Domain. For a fish, this so-called “Control Domain” is the sea, or maybe a river. Doesn’t matter which of the two.

Or maybe a pond. Didn’t we just say it didn’t matter which?

“Big Sis forgot to buy carrots. Could you run an errand?”

“Okay, no big deal.”

Souta, who had been worried about what he would be asked to do, smiled in relief.

However, Akane interrupted as if it were her turn to take the stage:

“Since you’re going out, why don’t you go with Nanami?”

“Uh…”

“Ah, you’re right! Since it’s dangerous to carry carrots alone! That’s a good idea!”

“……”

It seems asking him to buy carrots was not the goal in and of itself.

Souta, feeling a headache coming on, looked at Nanami — she was currently on the sofa in the living room next to the dining room next to the kitchen reading a book — and sent a plea for help.

“……”

The conversation that Kikuno and co. were purposely having with a certain person had already long reached Nanami’s ears through the dining room, but Nanami pretended not to notice.

Looking closely, there was an angry “#” mark on her temple, showing that she had heard something unpleasant. Or maybe her blood pressure was very high. She was clearly still so young.

“So! You and Nanami have to go together, Sou-kun!”

“Coming back late is fine, too!”

“……”

Kikuno and Akane rushed over and stuffed a shopping bag and wallet into Souta’s embarrassed hands

The two urged Souta to “Hurry, hurry, be careful on the road” and pushed his back forcefully, and Souta began to have nowhere else to go. In other words, he was cornered by the animation.<ref> Apparently a marketing slogan used by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantei_Opera_Milky_Holmes ''Tantei Opera Milky Homes''] PSP game referring to its cutscenes when you catch the villains</ref>

Since Kikuno and Akane had expectant attitudes of “I’ve created an opportunity for them!” and both of them had “Cornering Complete” flags raised above their heads, Souta’s escape route was cut off and he had no choice but to walk towards Nanami, who was ignoring him to the end.

“No wonder… Nanami?”

“Whaddaya want?!”

She seems to be angry already. How scary.

“C-can you go shopping with me?”

“Don’t wanna.”

“I thought so…”

Souta was about to go back dejectedly, but when he saw Kikuno and Akane slightly grumpily standing behind him, he gasped “Huh?!”

“No, Sou-kun! Girls are very shy, you have to be more sincere and actively ask her out!”

“That’s right, Souta-kun! Nanami’s a ''tsundere'', you have to work hard before she enters her ''dere'' phase. Though she’s a delinquent tsundere.”

“Who’s the delinquent ''tsundere''?”

Nanami was hit dead-on by the groundless claim. She couldn’t ignore it this time and snapped. This was the ''tsun'' phase. Or maybe the snap phase. The time period when you take and send lots of selfies in that yellow app.<ref> Chinese pun went ''snap (发飙) → snap phase (飙期) → tiger-stripe phase (彪期) → tabby-cat-pattern time period (虎斑花色的时期)'', tabby cat = tiger-striped cat. As a treat for reading this, here is my alternate draft: ''She couldn’t ignore it this time and '''cracked'''. This was the'' tsun ''phase. Or maybe the '''crack''' phase. '''The time period when you like to have Coke.''''' I think the alt version is funnier, but it doesn’t really fit the tone.</ref>

“Sou-kun, why don’t you try asking Nanami again? Oh, do you want Big Sis to ask her with you? Hmm? Hmm?”

''The doting Big Sis… dotes habitually…'' Nanami thought thusly and looked up from the sofa at Souta and Kikuno, fed up.

Souta had a look on his face saying “What should I do?” and pleaded at Nanami for help again.

“Don’t look at Us!”

Nanami was apoplectic. Speaking of which, “apoplectic” has two p’s and two c’s. How complicated. Feels like this issue has been discussed elsewhere already, but for some reason we’ll keep doing it.

“Akane-chan, as a Big Sis, I really want to help Sou-kun! What can I do to convince Nanami?”

A doting Big Sis’s doting on her little brother knows no limit.

“How about an errand fee as bait?”

“That's great! Sou-kun, here’s the errand fee. Use the errand fee as bait, okay?”

Kikuno proudly presented someone else’s proposal, and Souta forced a smile in cold sweat.

“Uh no, I heard it very clearly... Hear that, Nanami? There’s an errand…”

“Don’t want it!!”

Since the distance was very close, if Souta could hear it, Nanami certainly couldn’t fail to hear it, so Nanami immediately refused before Souta finished speaking.

Seeing Nanami glaring at him as if to say “These idiot siblings!”, Souta almost cried. He was willing to ask anyone for help, whether they were a god or a buddha. He must be thinking that he might as well go pray at a temple.

“Jeez, fine! Just need Us to come, right? We will go!”

As a result, Nanami suffered such a fate due to her caring personality of being unable to say no when asked.

“Hey, come on, Souta! What art thou still stalling about for! Stalling Souta! Stall-ta!”

“Don’t give me random nicknames!!”

Stall-ta made an aggrieved cry.

Seeing Nanami walking furiously and taking the lead, Souta desperately followed her. Kikuno shouted at his back:

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun! Hand! Hand! You have to hold hands!”

“We shall absolutely not do that!!"

Before Souta could answer, Nanami replied heatedly. This was the heat phase. Don’t know what that means, but it sounds pretty fiery.

Nanami and Souta left the dormitory and took a bumpy ride on the tram, finally arriving at a place known as the campus shopping street, where there were many shops, half of which were run by students engaged in club activities.

After buying carrots as instructed at the supermarket in the school shopping street, the two left the supermarket.

During this period, the two remained silent.

Either their relationship is so bad that it is irreparable, or they are so indifferent to each other that it is irreparable, or they are so desperate to buy things that it is irreparable. In any case, it can be said that their relationship is irreparable.

“…By the way, Souta.”

On their way back, Nanami finally spoke, her tone clearly indicating her rage. Souta was so frightened that he shook uncontrollably.

“What’s up, Nanami…?”

“We have been curious this whole time.”

“Um…?”

Her roundabout way of speaking made Souta tilt his head in confusion.

“Ever since we left the dorm— what’s up with these two following us this whooooooooooole time?!”

Nanami’s teeth were grinding not because of sleep bruxism<ref> Condition where you grind your teeth uncontrollably in your sleep</ref>, but because she was wholly subjected to an irritation bordering on wrath.

Then, the unrivaled troop of Kikuno and Akane — thinking that they were stalking unnoticed — hid behind the cake shop’s sign board and observed Nanami and Souta.

“Oh! They finally started a conversation, Kikuno-senpai!”

“Them two being so immature is also a problem, Akane-chan!”

“I keep feeling like they’re looking at me.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hands! Hold hands!”

It seems that Big Sis just wants her brother to hold a girl’s hand no matter what.

“Ah, they seem to be coming this way.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hug her from behind!”

“Hugging, my foot!!”

Because they were busy peeping, they didn’t notice that Nanami had already approached them face-to-face.

“Huh?! Nanami, nonono! This isn’t stalking!”

“…Then what is it?”

Akane was fiercely cornered by Nanami. She was cornered by the animation.

“…K-Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like that, isn’t it?”

“Nuh-uh, Akane-chan. Can’t believe you were stalking people. Good thing I came to stop you.”

“An unexpected betrayal!!”

Having been reprimanded by Big Sis with a “Naughty!” gesture, Akane was hit hard.

“Okiku-nee…”

Even Souta couldn’t let them get away with it scot-free. So the two of them sincerely apologized and the four of them went back to the dorm together.

“Ahh!! Everyone’s back! That’s great!”

Seeing Nanami and the others coming back together, Megumu, who was panicking in the dorm kitchen, rushed over to Souta with tears in his eyes and gave him a girl hug.

This so-called girl hug consists of leaning towards someone, holding their chest with both hands, and embracing them. It is an elegant way of hugging.

“Wh-what's wrong, Megumu?”

“When one came back, one saw that the food was half-cooked and felt like there were people there until just now, but there’s nobody there, so it’s just like the ''Mary Celeste''! One was so scared!!”

The ''Mary Celeste'' was a ship involved in a mysterious incident. According to the urban legend — they say that all the people on the ship disappeared into thin air, and it became an unmanned ship drifting on the sea. The half-eaten breakfast on the ship was still hot, as if everyone was still sitting on the ship safely until a moment ago. How terrifying.<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste A real incident]</ref>

Seeing Megumu sob, Nanami also smiled bitterly:

“It’s okay, Megu-chan. You have a very vivid imagination…”

“That’s right, Megu-chan. Do you think that the us that just returned are really the us that Megu-chan knows?”

“What is that? How terrifying!!”

Akane said something strange, scaring Megumu into violent trembling. But was it really strange? If what she said was true… Mulder, you’re sick, you’re not thinking straight.<ref> X-Files reference</ref>

“Or maybe Megu-chan accidentally intruded into our domain?”

“How scary, how scary! Souta-kun, how scary!”

Kikuno also joined Akane’s evil prank. Megumu was trembling all over. He was no longer hugging Souta gracefully, but instead tightly wrapped his hands and legs around Souta's body, holding him in a state of imprint clinginess. Imprint clinginess was also called koala-clinging in the old days, and it was a sleeping technique showing a strong will to never separate.<ref> I don’t really understand what the Chinese used refers to, but I think the image of a baby koala clinging to its mother or baby birds sticking with whatever they imprint on should do the job.</ref>

“Both of you, please stop scaring Megumu… If he gets scared and moves out of the dorm, we’ll have to find a new dormmate again.”

“This means that in Souta’s mind, Megumu is just someone who fills up the dorm population quota.”

“Ah—!!”

Megumu’s spirit was already cornered by the animation, and Nanami added the final straw, causing him to open his mouth and start crying.

“J-just kidding, that was just a joke, okay?! Don’t cry, Megu-chan, why are you crying?!"

“Nanami’s too much.”

“That’s right, bad Nanami!”

“Ye have no right to speak!”

Kikuno, successfully pushing the bad-guy status onto Nanami, patted Megumu's head and said “Good boy, good boy” like a nanny comforting a child.

“I’m sorry, Megu-chan. Nanami can’t stand other girls being close to Sou-kun, so she couldn’t help but make fun of you. Just forgive her, okay?”

“That’s not it——!!”

Nanami was furious at the unfounded rumors.

So Nanami and co. had dinner later than usual — for one, because everyone ended up running out to buy stuff that they really didn’t need to buy; for another, in order to comfort Megumu. But…

“Ah, Souta-kun, you should sit in my seat from now on.”

“Well… I’m fine with that.”

The seats at the table were changed, which made Souta have a question mark in his head for a moment. But when he saw that Nanami, who seemed to be in a bad mood, was next to the new seat, he immediately realized the intention.

Moreover, the chairs were placed so close together that Nanami and Souta's shoulders were almost touching.

“Was going to say, Akane…”

As long as Akane and Souta could keep their distance, Nanami would have originally preferred to ignore it. But perhaps because she was getting annoyed at being paired together for no reason, Nanami sighed deeply and looked at Akane with a stern face.

“Ah! Ah! You don’t have to say it, I know everything, Nanami!”

“Hmm… What dost thou know…”

That might just be the kind of personality Akane has, but ever since she came to this dorm she keeps going a little too far with it — at this thought, Nanami pouted slightly.

“Would it be better for the two of you to sit facing each other at a private table?”

“You don’t know anything at all!!”

The little princess felt dizzy.

“Nanami has entered her ''tsun'' phase…”

“It’s not the ''tsun'' phase, not the ''dere'' phase, nor the dog phase!!”

People in the dog phase will have dog ears, and will pee when they are happy. In other words, drowning<ref> The character for ‘drown’ can also mean ‘to pee’ lmao</ref> in happiness. Although they always feel that they have lost something important from a human perspective, they can’t help it because they are dogs. The most important thing for dogs is bones. When they get bones, they will drown in happiness.

Big Sis Kikuno, ecstatic to see her little brother sitting side by side with a cute girl, poked Souta’s shoulder with a smile.

“Hurry up, Sou-kun. Say ‘Open up~♡’ to feed her, open up♡”

“We will absolutely not eat it!”

Souta obediently picked up some of the beef stew with his chopsticks and was about to bring it to Nanami’s mouth. At the same time, Nanami raged.

“Hey~ Nanami, just eat it. Souta’s so sad…”

“Thou doting Big Sis…”

Nanami glared around angrily. Next to her, Souta absent-mindedly fiddled with his chopsticks and beef stew. He saw Megumu glance at him a few times with big, round eyes, so he said “Open up~♡” and fed Megumu.

“There’s a bromantic taste to it!”

Megumu was talking so giddily that Souta didn’t know how to answer him, so he pretended to be expressionless and nodded vaguely.

After dinner ended in a mess, it was Akane and Nanami’s turn to wash the dishes, but...

“Souta-kun, can you switch with me? The next time it’s your turn to wash the dishes, I’ll do it.”

“… Yeah… I’m fine with that.”

“Then thou shouldst switch with Us, Souta.”

Hearing Nanami was about to change it, Akane hurriedly tried to stop her.

“N-no no. Nanami has to wash the dishes with Souta-kun and say, ‘F-feels like we're newlyweds ♡’!”

“Why did it almost turn Megumu-like?!”<ref> What Akane wanted Nanami to say had an untranslatable verbal tic that Megumu tends to use; incidentally, Nanami has a different verbal tic </ref>

Megumu, who was wiping the table even though it wasn’t his chore, was surprised when his name was suddenly called.

“Anyways, We just don’t want to! We shall absolutely never pretend to be newlyweds with Souta!”

''A tsundere…''

''A tsundere…''

''A tsundere…''

Akane, Kikuno, and Megumu looked at Nanami with inexplicable gazes.

“Ah, but on a related note, after you finish washing the dishes, you two can take a bath together, right?”

“Who would want to take a bath together?!”

Kikuno, who had no authority, abused her non-existent authority to grant permission. But Nanami, the house prefect, vetoed it without using her authority.

“Souta-kun, you’re a pervert!!”

Megumu weakly hit Souta with something between a slap and a push, dealing zero damage. Then, he ran away to his room.

“…Megu-chan’s crying.”

“Sou-kun, a girl’s heart is very delicate. If you don’t treat her with the utmost care, it’ll be bad.”

“Uh, okay…”

Souta thought it was strange that they were worried about Megumu’s girl-heart since he pursued masculinity. Plus, at the end of the day, Kikuno was the one who hurt Souta, so he deliberated how to retort and finally decided to give up on it.

Afterwards, of course, Nanami and Souta did ''not'' take a bath together. However, Souta, who was about to enjoy some barley tea after taking his bath, happened to meet Nanami in the hallway.

Nanami, who had been quite angry recently, saw Souta gently raise his hand to greet her. She turned away with a snort and reached out to grab the door handle of her room. If she was ticked off, that means she isn’t on the list anymore.<ref> Original pun had something to do with Japanese onomatopoeia for peeling sounding similar to the one for being angry, I’m doing something completely different using ‘ticked off’ meaning both ‘angry’ and ‘crossed off a list’</ref>

Anyways, Nanami suddenly stopped as she was about to enter her room. She looked at the unbelievable scene in her room and began to suspect that she was dazzled.

“…Soooouutaaaaaa!”

“What?!”

When his name was suddenly called in a threatening tone, Souta felt his heart palpitate and turned his head at the same time. If instead his liver palpitated, then he’d been drinking too much.

“What’s going on with this—?!”

Nanami’s eyes narrowed as she yelled, and her expression became like a cat whose food was taken away.

“You asked me what’s going on… what’s… going on with what?”

Following Nanami’s finger pointing towards her room, Souta was speechless and froze in place.

In the middle of Nanami's room, which was a bit large because it was originally a double room, there were pink and blue mattresses for two people. The two mattresses were close together, and heart-shaped pillows were placed side by side.

“It wasn’t me…”

“Of course I know that!”

Souta did think, ''Hey, why are you yelling at me?'' But if he said it out loud, it might just add fuel to the fire, so Souta remained silent and turned his eyes from the furious Nanami back to the paired futons.

“…That futon does come from my room.”

“That one’s my futon! Those guys pulled it off the bed! Akane! Akaneeeeeee!!”

Nanami’s roar echoed through the hall.

“What’s going?”

After a moment, Akane opened the door and poked her head out. Then, Kikuno followed leisurely even though she was not called.

“Thou darest ask ''Us'' what’s going on?! What’s going on with this?!”

(monotone) “Oh my, I didn’t expect you two to have such a close relationship.”

“It’s so monotone, it’s like reading from a script!”

Although the culprit was instantly revealed, the whole world already knew before it was revealed.

“What dost thou intend, Akane!? …No, We already know what thou intendest.”

(monotone) “Haha, I wish you two happiness.”

Akane wasn’t even listening to Nanami.

“That’s enough! If We two can just sleep together lovey-dovey like this, wouldn’t that be weird?!”

“It’s not weird, but…”

“But what?”

“''We two'' sounds like you’ll have many Wiis, too.<ref> Since Nanami’s first-person pronoun is more like “this royal”, the original joke is that there will be many more royals… I hope what I’ve done is a good enough approximation.</ref> It’s really cute.”

“Akaneeeeeeee!”

Akane, who didn’t listen to others carefully, made Nanami angry. By the way, “We two” means “us two”.

Seeing the two arguing, Souta murmured his thoughts:

“By the way, that pillow is a Yes/No pillow…”

The Yes/No pillow is used by lovey-dovey couples. When they want to be affectionate, they turn the Yes pillow to the front. When they want to concentrate on sleeping without even looking at their partner, they turn it to No.

“What art thou looking at now… Why are both of them No?!"

“Yes isn’t good, okay— Big Sis thinks you can’t go to that stage yet.”

Kikuno poked Nanami and Souta’s foreheads with her finger and said, “That’s naughty!”

“It’s all too early, alright?! No, it’s not a matter of earliness! Who would want to use this kind of thing, regardless of whether it’s earlier or later?!”

Nanami gradually went insane… Little by little, Souta began to distance himself from.

Seeing her frantic look, Akane might have become uneasy too. Akane crossed her arms over her chest with a ''Hmm~'', then looked at Kikuno.

“See, Kikuno-senpai. Nanami isn’t Japanese, so putting their bedding side by side doesn’t suit her tastes.”

“Hmm… but I even thought she’d be very touched.”

“That’s not the issue!”

There was a gradual gap between the two sides’ understandings. Souta felt that the matter could no longer be resolved and wanted to take his futon from Nanami’s room as soon as possible, but he could not find the opportunity and was at the end of his rope.

“That's enough! Now We understand!!”

“You finally understand!”

Although they were probably talking about different things, Akane happily grasped Nanami’s hand.

“Since Akane wants to help Souta find a girlfriend so much, Akane should just date him!!”

““Eh…!!””

Nanami uttered a critical sentence that could be considered an irreversible statement, and Akane and Souta froze together.

Then, they awkwardly looked at each other’s faces.

The countless friendship flags above Akane’s head fell down like dominoes, and were reborn one by one as imposing love flags, standing tall.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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|-
| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Intermission]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5

2025-03-26T01:22:00Z

Person72635: /* Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules */

==Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules==

After school the next day, Akane and co. moved their luggage into the dormitory and gathered in the dining room, where the carpets, wallpaper, etc. had barely been renovated.

“Well, then!! Next, let’s hold the first pledge ceremony of the reborn Quest House!!”

“Pledge…?”

“Pledge what?”

Souta and Nanami originally thought it was going to be a housewarming party doubling as a friendship ceremony, so they reacted carefully to Akane’s words.

“That’s exactly what we’re going to discuss in this meeting.”

“That’s not what a pledge ceremony is!”

Souta’s retorts became increasingly heated.

“Alright, alright, Sou-kun. From now on, we're all going to live together as buddies, so our pledge should be unanimous.”

“Then, let’s celebrate our pledge. Cheers, everyone.”

Everybody gathered around a table filled with pizza and cake and made a toast with their non-alcoholic champagne.

“Anyways, although everything is still under construction! But I think we should decide on Quest House’s house prefect while we’re at it!”

“Oh. Thy proposal must indicate that thou wishest to become house prefect. Hmph, as expected of a rich girl. Thou actest cute, but in fact cravest the limelight, huh…! In that case, don’t even think about having your way. We shall also contend for house prefect!!”

“What a coincidence! I think Nanami is most suited to be house prefect, too!”

“…Huh?”

“I also vote for Nanami.”

“Then, one votes the same.”

“Since Sou-kun nominates her, I’ll also vote for Nanami.”

“House Prefect Nanami, please take good care of us.”

Akane bowed her head in salute, while Megumu and Souta applauded in congratulations.

“Eh, ah, uh, um… huh? Strange? I-in Our estimation, ye are trying to push trouble onto Us…!!”

Nanami’s face filled with rage.

“Let’s all work together to solve troublesome matters then.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Eh... weird...? Uh, that… th-thou art right…”

Nanami was made speechless by the excessive kindness, and the Rage Energy in her body had nowhere to vent. If it were Rage Allergy, she would itch all over her body every time she got angry, and she would be both angry and sad. That would be extremely irritating. Just like how a true Edo person says “Aaaa— choo! Go die” when they sneeze.

“I feel like we’re gradually becoming dorm buddies. That’s great, that’s great! The dorm I stayed in before was crowded and noisy. I’m so happy to be part of such a warm little bunch this time. We have great unity!”

“Bunch…”

A group which resembles chili peppers — Quest House.<ref> The Japanese collective noun for chili powder can also be used for people. Basically, the thought process here goes ''bunch [of people]'' → ''bunch of chili peppers''</ref> Its members forced a smile.

“…Being buddies is all well and good, but getting back to the point, this dorm really spoils the mood.”

Nanami looked around at the bare concrete walls and uncarpeted floors and sighed.

“From the beginning, the priority of the renovation was making it liveable. Decoration was secondary, right?”

“Personally, I think keeping it like this is fine.”

After Souta answered Megumu’s question this way, Akane puffed up her cheeks in anger.

“Nope. Souta-kun, you need decorations that cheer you up!”

“Big Sis is so happy that Akane-chan thinks so much about Sou-kun’s well-being.”

Kikuno called herself Big Sis again and doted on Souta.

“Heeheehee, but having said that, making your own living space is a great thing!”

“Yeah... In other words, this place is a blank canvas, and we, as paint, will vividly portray our treasured slices of life…”

Nanami crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and spoke lyrically. Akane beamed at Nanami, eyes sparkling.

“It's Nanami's poet time!!”

Akane responded to the beautiful line of verse as she did before, her eyes twinkling like several small stars, and she tightly clasped Nanami's hands. Nanami, face red as if about to spit fire due to her careless slip of the tongue, struggled to shake off Akane's hands.

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

“One day I’ll compile a collection of Nanami's poems and send it to a society!!"

“If thou doest that, We shall drag Souta down with me and bite my tongue to die—!!”

“Why me?!”

“That said, what kind of society?”

Nobody there could answer Megumu's question. Plus, receiving that kind of thing must be very inconvenient for the society.

“Ah, but being able to choose your own wallpaper is pretty nice. That way, each room can have its own personality. Ah, Sou-kun, do you want to have the same wallpaper as Big Sis?"

“Huh—! How sly! I also want to have the same as Souta-kun!"

“O-one wants that too! One also wants to have the same as Souta-kun!"

“They've thoroughly lost their own personality!!”

Just as Nanami said, each room almost became completely devoid of personality.

“Is Nanami the only one who wants a different wallpaper?”

“We clearly didn’t do anything wrong, so what’s up with this feeling of isolation!!”

Seeing the Souta faction grow abnormally large, Nanami began to be hit hard. If this continued, the dorm would be dyed Souta’s color. Therefore, recruiting others to join the Nanami faction was imperative.

However, Kikuno doted on her little brother and clung to Souta; Akane was also completely captivated by Souta's tragic aura. That left Megumu…

“Megu-chan, why art thou suddenly so close with Souta?”

“This is bromance.”

“Huh?! Art not thou a girl?!”

“……”

Megumu’s eyes lost their luster, and Souta saw the “Join Nanami Faction” flag above Megumu’s head break.

“Since your bromance has deepened, does that mean ye had a heart-to-heart through your fists by the river at dusk?”

“No, we didn’t do anything like that…”

''Her Princess Highness’s mind is really full of mysteries'' — Souta thought that and replied with a faint smile.

“Then a bromance has not been formed.”

“Huh?! How can that be?!”

Akane unexpectedly interrupted, causing Megumu to raise his voice.

“No, one doesn’t want that! S-Souta-kun, sorry, but can one beat you up?”

“No way.”

“Sorry, sorry. One hopes you can just grit your teeth and bear with it for a bit!”

“Didn’t I just say no way?!”

Megumu refused to listen to Souta’s objections.

“08:49, 2 January 2025 (CET)[[User:Person72635|Person72635]] ([[User talk:Person72635|talk]])!”

Megumu yelled “sorry, sorry” in his heart and punched Souta… but—

Seeing the scene of Megumu weakly hammering Souta’s chest, Nanami and co. felt as follows:

“…They’re just a couple flirting with each other.”

“What a coincidence. My thoughts are exactly the same as Nanami’s!”

“In that sense, they seem to have a very good relationship…”

After Megumu beat Souta up with his dainty punches, he panted cutely and gave Souta a smug look.

“Th-this way, we have formed a firm bromance, right?!”

“This is just a one-sided beating, though. How can it count if there isn’t a beating from both sides?”

Nanami retorted on behalf of Souta, who didn’t know how to respond.

“S-… Souta-kun, one hopes you can beat one up!”

“How could I? No matter how hard you think about it, it’s impossible!!”

“Start hitting! Start hitting one now!!”

“Yikes… Megumu… That’s terrifying! The look in your eyes is terrifying!!”

Akane and Kikuno watched anxiously. How will this fierce drama of bromance, this clash of strong wills, develop?

Rather, this feeling was more like the feeling of watching a soap opera where the woman confesses and the man rejects her… Whether those involved knew this is a mystery.

Seeing Megumu's eyes swirling weirdly, Souta grabbed Megumu's head and tried to push him away. But when Souta saw the friendship streamers streaming endlessly from Megumu's head like [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokoroten ''tokoroten'',] his body was gradually overcome by fear.

“Alright, alright! I get it!”

“I'm so glad you understand me!… Come, please.”

Then, Megumu, waiting to be beaten in a praying position with her eyes closed and head slightly tilted upwards, looked like a girl waiting to be kissed.

“……”

His blushing and heart-pounding appearance made Souta flinch.

“No, Sou-kun, since he’s already mustered up his courage, you can’t humiliate him.”

“That’s right, Souta-kun. I do mind, but I won’t take it to heart. Please go ahead and kiss.”

“If not, Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to be your practice partner?”

“That’s right, Souta-kun. I do mind, but I won’t take it to heart. Please go ahead and kiss.”

Based on these sentences, to Kikuno and Akane, Megumu’s appearance as a girl bashfully waiting to be kissed overshadowed everything. For them, the scene had already become a kissing scene.

Moreover, since Kikuno made an outrageous suggestion, Souta couldn’t help but feel frightened. He could only grimace and pretend not to hear it.

If this continued, he would be forced to kiss someone. So Souta, seeing no other way out, raised his fist towards Megumu, who seemed to be waiting for a kiss.

“……!”

Again and again, Souta swung his fist and stopped halfway, swung his fist and stopped halfway, and finally could only poke Megumu's forehead with his fingertip.

“So weak!!”

Nanami was shocked.

More accurately, no matter how you looked at it, those two forehead-flickers looked like a flirting couple. It was the opposite of bromance.

Maybe she had seen enough of the two flirting, or perhaps a little jealousy appeared in some corner of her heart while she was cheerfully watching the sweet atmosphere between Megumu and Souta, but Kikuno suddenly changed the subject:

“Besides the house prefect, there are many other things that should also be decided."

“The house vice-prefect, right?” Akane asked.

“This dorm is really well-organized…”

“After that is the acting house prefect, right?”

“There’s already a house prefect, though!?”

Whether a dorm with only five people needs so many people in charge is an open question.

At the same time, the relative importance of Nanami’s position as house prefect became lower and lower.

“She probably didn’t mean that, but rather something like who would cook each of the three meals, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I heard that we’ll be assigned a house supervisor, but they couldn’t find one right away, so we’ll have to take care of it ourselves for the time being.”

This conversation between Megumu and Kikuno was more in line with common sense. Much appreciated.

“Prepare three meals, huh… Suddenly we’re challenging independent living on high difficulty.”

“We shall not do that. Don’t expect anything from Us.”

For Miss Heiress and Her Princess Highness, the difficulty threshold of this matter was very high — to be specific, it was through the roof. It was no longer a threshold, but more like a lintel.

“Cooking is something Big Sis is good at and loves. Let Big Sis come cook for Sou-kun~”

“Ah, one can also cook a lot of dishes. Let’s take turns then.”

“Big Sis is so happy! It’s like I have a little sister in addition to my little brother!”

“Hahaha.”

Hearing Kikuno’s frank words, devoid of malice, Megumu let out a hollow laugh.

“I’ll also help out where I can. I can do the cleaning or the heavy housework,” Souta said.

“Ah! I can do the cleaning too! I’ll do my best to clean Souta-kun's room! Pack all the things that weren’t cleaned up in cardboard boxes!”

“I literally just moved in, and you immediately start trying to kick me out…”

Souta was dealt a heavy blow by Akane and Kikuno’s multiple attacks. Kikuno patted his head and comforted him:

“It’s okay, Sou-kun. Big Sis will make sure Sou-kun’s luggage is sent to Sou-kun’s room."

“Sending it from your room to your room, how troublesome…”

“While the porter is carrying my luggage, my life will be very troublesome too.”

Souta gradually lost track of what was being joked about and began to feel uneasy about being toyed with.

“Next is the bath order and the trash duty order.”

“… I’m starting to feel the communal life.”

“Logically speaking, it shouldn’t be the princess or the rich heiress who has to take out the trash. One can do it, it’s fine.”

"… I can also take out the trash. Let me help.”

Souta was very grateful that everyone there was willing to fill up the dorm numbers. He would feel awful if he didn’t do anything, so he volunteered to help take out the trash. Hearing Souta speak and become more active, Akane smiled.

“Sou-kun is such a good kid! Big Sis is so touched! Come, everyone, praise Sou-kun, praise Sou-kun!!”

Kikuno proudly patted her little brother’s head with all her might and pushed him forward.

“Souta-kun is awesome! It's like he was born to take out the trash!”

“Just imagining Souta-kun taking out the trash turns a man’s sadness into energy. How admirable!”

“Uhhh… yes yes yes, Souta, thanks, thanks.”

An inconceivable phenomenon occurred: Nanami’s casual words caused the least emotional damage. Souta immediately moved on to the next topic.

“…Then what else do we need to decide?”

“As for the bath order, one thinks that of course ladies should go first!”

Megumu listened to Souta's words and remembered the other thing he had brought up earlier. He made a proposal with clenched his fist cutely, wanting to show his manliness.

“Wanting to bathe first, Megu-chan is a girl after all!”

“……”

Megumu’s fist drooped limply.

In this way, Nanami and co. continued to discuss even after finishing their dinner. But it was pretty late, so it was almost time to go into the new, sparkling bathroom.

The three girls came out of their rooms with clothes and bathing supplies. When they passed by the dining room, they stuck their heads inside and said:

“Sou-kun, do you want to take a bath together?”

“Take a bath together? How brave!”

Hearing Kikuno, whom nobody knew how serious she was, laugh and chuckle, Akane immediately covered her fully-clothed body with her bath towel.

“I can’t do it!!”

There was only one bath, and it had just been decided that girls could use it before nine o'clock and boys could use it after nine o'clock. The girls’ camp immediately said they wanted to use the new bath.

“Big Sis is so lonely~ we clearly used to take showers together.”

“That happened?!”

Just as Nanami was about to shake off the others and go in the bath first, her two feet stopped with furious speed. Her feet are really agile.

“Th-that was before! It was a really long time ago, though?! When I was in kindergarten or just starting elementary school!”

“W-what? So it was like that…”

“Ah! Ah! Nanami’s actually jealous!? Nanami is jealous, right?! You can call me Big Sis though, Nanami?!”

“Why art thou so happy?! We shall not call thee that!”

Kikuno was like a grandmother looking forward to having a grandchild. She seemed to contract the “I want my little brother’s first date to call me ‘Big Sis’” syndrome.

“Let's not talk about this for now, let’s just take our bath quickly. Speaking of which, boys should bathe with other boys.”

““Huh, huh, huh?!””

Megumu and Souta cried out together.

Especially Megumu — the expression on his face was like a fully nude girl being locked in the boys judo club's locker room.

Akane and co. hurried into the bath, leaving Megumu trembling and almost crying and Souta on his guard against Megumu.

“…A-anyways, there’s no need to force ourselves to take a bath together, right? You can still leisurely have it all to yourself.”

“Y-you want one’s body all for yourself…?”

“The bath all for yourself!!”

Megumu could no longer hear what other people say! Souta forced a smile at his slightly insane friend.

“Oh, right… the bath… we were just talking about taking a bath…”

How much Megumu, his eyes swirling, understood was a mystery.

Even more mysterious was that for some reason there was an awkward atmosphere at that moment. Souta wanted to find a way to break the silence and tried to change the subject.

“Speaking of men… shouldn’t every healthy man want to sneak a peek?”

Megumu’s eyes lit up at the keyword “man” and he stood up suddenly.

“Souta-kun, let’s go sneak a peek!!”

“Huh…?!”

A destruction flag could be seen above Megumu’s head.

“…Megumu, you want to sneak a peek?”

“We need to be like men, peeking openly and morally!”

“That’s already a crime!!”

Note: Any form of peeking is a crime.

“But… think about it carefully! A real man would never peek!”

The formula ''man < real man = Souta'' instantly emerged in Megumu's mind.

“You can’t peek, Souta-kun! This isn’t like you at all!!”

“Huh?! Me?!”

At some point, Souta became the one actively trying to sneak a peek, which scared Souta.

“……”

Then, Akane, coming back out to get the shampoo she had forgotten and only hearing the last part of the conversation, blushed and covered her key parts with the shampoo bottle.

“Souta-kun wants to peek…!!”

“Akane!? N-no, th-that’s not it…!!”

“Souta-kun is a peeping tom!!”

“Why do you look so happy?!”

Akane let out a sound of unparalleled delight. Without listening to Souta speak, she swiftly and elegantly ran towards the changing room in the knock-kneed posture of a rich heiress.

“…………”

Souta stared at her with an odd expression and froze.

After being frozen for a while, Souta despondently squatted on a folding chair in the living room next to the cafeteria while Megumu comforted him.

But not long after, Nanami, skin white, rosy, and glistening having just taken a bath, cursed at Souta, “Take this, damn peeping tom!” and sprayed conditioner into his face. A bit of the conditioner went into Souta’s eyes, causing him to show off his superb skills and roll around in pain on the chair.

Kikuno, who similarly became more sexy, held her cheek and looked at the scene with a chuckle.

“Sou-kun has grown into a healthy boy, Big Sis is so happy.”

“Souta-kun, is it true that healthy men should sneak a peek?!”

After hearing Kikuno's words, Megumu, as if waking up from a dream, said this. Souta was busy rolling around because of the conditioner-induced damage to his eyes, so he didn’t hear this. However, Nanami heard it; thus she added more conditioner, and Souta rolled around even more. Please use conditioner correctly.

Having rolled around for a while, Souta was the last one to finish his bath after Megumu and went back to his room. Akane was hiding in the corner of the corridor, tiptoeing and sneaking a look at him.

“What art thou doing, Akane?”

“Ah!? No, nothing!? I wasn’t sneaking a peek! Please don’t spray me with conditioner!"

Nanami has gradually become like an unfathomable monster in this dorm — as long as someone was sneaking a peek, she would unconditionally spray conditioner at them.

“We won’t scold thou…”

“You’re already able to control it?”

“Is that some kind of symptom?!... Back to the point. What art thou doing sneaking around in a place like this?"

“M-me? I-I wouldn’t do anything inappropriate like going into a boy’s room at this kind of time!”

“Oh, so you're wondering whether to go to Souta's room…” After Nanami figured it out, she smiled at the blushing, bashful Akane.

As for Akane, she was anxious about being scolded by Nanami since she remembered that Nanami was house prefect. This was the reality.

“…Thou wantest to go find Souta, right? Isn’t this very good?”

“Uh… no, but…”

Precisely because she was already hesitant in the first place, once she successfully obtained permission she backed out at the last minute.

“That guy wouldn’t do anything to thee. We are not familiar with him either, but it’s obvious that he doesn’t have the guts to do that. That guy needs a friend or lover, so it’s actually better if thou gettest close with and takest care of that guy.”

“Love-...!” Akane was speechless for a moment, then said with slightly red cheeks:

“Nana-Nanami, do you want to come too?”

“Why must We get close with that guy…”

After saying this, Nanami waved her hand and went into her room.

Although Akane felt even more embarrassed to go, she hesitated for two or three times before raising her hand and knocking on the door... but there was no response. She knocked again, but still no response.

“……Ah, I knocked on my own door.”

If there was a response, it would shake things up and change it into a supernatural event. That said, saying ‘shake up and change’ is fine, but ‘warm up and change’ sounds weird. Would that mean that it was a premeditated change? How terrifying.

Akane pulled herself together and knocked on Souta’s door. This time there was a response and the door opened.

“Akane? What's wrong?”

“Is Souta-kun going to sleep already?”

“No. I'm not going to sleep yet…”

“Th-then, I want to talk to you!”

“…Well, that’s fine.”

Standing in the corridor and talking was not an option, so Souta invited Akane into the room.

“It’s very clean.”

“Because the luggage has barely been unpacked…”

It felt a bit inappropriate, but since there was no other place to sit, Souta asked Akane to sit on the edge of the bed while he himself sat on a folding chair. After he sat down, he thought that their seats should be reversed, but by then it was too late.

“By the way, I haven’t fulfilled my promise to clean your room yet.”

“Yeah... since we’ve been tied up with other things lately.”

“Souta-kun is either tied up or flailing around.”

''You make me sound like a bug...'' Souta thought to himself, responding with a stiff smile.

“Right, you wanted to tell me something, yeah?!”

“Chat about what?! What do you want to chat about?!”

Souta didn’t expect the choice to be up to him. He was slightly shocked and his smile became even stiffer.

“Huh… well… let’s just chat about whatever Akane wants to chat about.”

“Me? Isn’t there anything Souta-kun wants to say?”

“I don’t have anything to say to Akane…”

Souta finally took action to break the flag waving above Akane's head.

“Could it be that Souta-kun is very unwilling to deal with me…?”

Akane’s flag broke, and tears were about to flow. She dejectedly drooped her shoulders and jabbed her index fingers together.

“I want to hear Akane talk about herself. I want to make an effort to understand Akane better!!”

However, Souta also hated making girls cry because of him.

“Really?!”

Akane immediately showed a sunny smile. Her quick response and the flag’s extraordinary speed of recovery made Souta’s smile tighten.

“But I’d rather learn more about Souta-kun.”

“Me…?”

“Why does Souta-kun distance himself from other people?”

Akane asked thusly. She moved to the corner of the bed — beside Souta — and looked Souta’s eyes up and down, even to the depths of his heart… with a gentle voice, gentle eyes, and gentle heart, Akane lightly touched the fear in his heart.

“……”

“……”

Silence flowed between the two people, so close they could feel each other’s breath.

“……”

Souta looked mournfully into her clear eyes that reflected his figure.

Specifically, he was looking at the indistinct object above his head that was reflected in her eyes…

“I… am…”

Souta slowly, slowly opened his mouth. Akane didn’t rush him at all, waited patiently, her expression as gentle and peaceful as a loving mother’s.

…Unexpectedly—

“Sou-kun, Big Sis peeled an apple. Do you want to eat it? I cut the peel into rabbit ear… Ack!”

Because it was the room of the little brother she was very familiar with, Kikuno opened Souta's door without knocking and poked her head in. When she saw Akane and Souta close together, she thought she saw something she wasn’t supposed to see. She shut her mouth and said loudly:

“S-Sorry, Big Sis couldn’t imagine that Sou-kun would be like that even in her dreams!! I-I didn't mean to disturb you! Please do as you wish! Continue what you were doing!!”

Nobody knows how Kikuno interpreted the situation where Akane and Souta’s faces were less than two fists apart. She looked in another direction, face flushed, and she said this in a strange tone, almost shouting.

“Oh god… Okiku-nee…?”

Souta frowned, not understanding what she was saying.

“I-it’s fine! Big Sis totally approves of that kind of thing! Sou-kun is a bit of a late bloomer, so Akane-chan, you have to guide him, alright?!”

Seeing Kikuno clench her fists, Akane and Souta looked at each other. After noticing how close they were, they finally realized the implication of Kikuno’s words and jumped back at the same time.

“N-no, no! Kikuno-senpai, this is a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!!”

“Th-that’s right, Okiku-nee! It’s not what you think…!!”

“No problem! Big Sis won’t tell anyone! Big Sis will keep it a secret for you! Especially not Nanami and Megu-chan, right!!”

Kikuno chattered on, not giving Souta a chance to retort “Huh, why? What can’t be told to anyone? And why specifically can’t you tell those people?”

“Sou-kun is leaving Big Sis behind and becoming an adult first… Even so, remember that Big Sis is still Big Sis though, Sou-kun!”

Kikuno was filled with emotion and shed a tear, which she wiped away with her fingertips.

“If you run into any trouble, call Big Sis, okay?! Also, wh-when it’s over, you two should eat together, okay?!”

Kikuno put the plate of apples cut into the shape of rabbits onto the bed with difficulty and left the room with his cheeks still red and his movements stiff.

“What do you mean by ‘over’?!”

Souta’s question was naturally unanswered, left aside just like that.

“The rabbit apples are delicious.”

“You’re already eating!?… Is something over? Something is over, right?”

“For example, Souta-kun's life?”

“It was forced to end! It's all because you ate the apples immediately!”

Akane smiled and thought, "Souta-kun is so interesting when he's full of energy" while carefully chewing her apple.

Because it would soon be midnight, Akane decided to retreat from the room after ending Souta's life and the conversation. ''I really wanted to talk a bit more…'' Although she harbored such thoughts in her heart, the opportunity would come again in the future.

From now on, they were dorm buddies. There was no need to rush, there would be plenty of opportunities to improve their relationship. Smiling at the thought, Akane said goodnight to Souta.

Souta, left alone in the room, swallowed the words he was about to say to Akane along with the apple, and fell back on the bed.

“……”

He stared at the ceiling in deep thought for a rather long time. Although he gradually became sleepier and almost fell asleep, he still got up and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

It seemed to be lights-out time already, so the hall was dimly lit with night lights. The bathroom at the front of the hall was brightly lit, and it was obvious that someone was already there.

“…Nanami.”

“Wah uh huh huh huh huh.”

Nanami was brushing her teeth in her pajamas, and whatever she said was completely unintelligible. If what you said while brushing your teeth could be understood, there would usually be toothpaste dripping out of your mouth. That gets pretty messy. As for which is better, it’s '''''case by case'''''. That is, container buy container.”<ref> ‘Case by case’ is written in English, and ‘container buy container’ is a mistranslation using the wrong meaning of ‘case’ and the wrong ‘by’</ref>

The sight of the two of them talking to each other with toothpaste flowing out of their mouths would be rather crazy, so they brushed their teeth side by side in silence to avoid that situation.

Souta didn’t want to look at his mirror image... Strictly speaking, he didn’t want to look above his head, so he glanced at Nanami through the mirror.

“……”

At this time, Souta finally realized something strange.

''Huh...?''

He noticed something about Nanami that he had never really paid attention to until now.

Once he noticed it, he even wondered why he didn’t think about it earlier.

''Nanami’s… flag, I’ve never… seen it even once.''

No matter who it was, they would raise a flag at least once or twice. Love flag, death flag, defeat flag, disagreement flag, reunion flag, attack flag…

As long as they lived together for two or three days, he would still see some.

However, Nanami was the only one who couldn’t raise any kind of flag.

“No... that’s not right... it shouldn’t be. It’s not that she can’t raise a flag. It’s probably…”

Nanami finally noticed Souta’s suspicious behavior of freezing with his toothbrush in his mouth. She gargled out her mouthwash, wiped the corners of her mouth with a towel, and asked warily:

“What? Why is thy expression like that of a guy who transferred to another school and found out that the girl who was one year older than him who he admired like a big sister is now his classmate?”

“That’s the true story though?!”

Because he hadn’t gargled it out yet, toothpaste dripped down from Souta’s mouth. Why haven’t you gargled it out yet?

“Thou art so messy!”

Because Nanami scolded him, Souta washed his mouth and gargled. Specifically, it was gargle gargle gargle puh. Why did you gargle three times?

While doing these things, Souta gradually came to a conclusion.

It’s not that Nanami’s flag can’t be raised.

''I’m afraid... I’m afraid that Nanami's flag is the only one I can’t see…”

Seeing Souta staring at her with wide eyes again, Nanami retreated slightly.

“Wh-What…?”

That fleeting, unbelievable thought urged Souta to gaze at Nanami intensely and say:

“Nanami… might be someone special to me.”

“Wh-…!? What does that mean?!"

Nanami's face instantly turned red, as if she was about to spit fire and gas, and she raised her voice. It’s best not to spit gas along with fire; that’s dangerous.

“Exactly, Sou-kun! How are you going to explain this to Akane-chan?!”

“Okiku-nee!?”

Kikuno came to the bathroom with toothbrushes at the perfect time, and her incomprehensible question scared Souta silly.

“Ah! Uh! Sorry! I’m sorry, Sou-kun!! Big Sis didn’t mean to blame you! A-and yeah, changing your mind is just human nature, you can’t be blamed for that! Big Sis is just too narrow-minded!!”

“No, Okiku-nee, what are you talking about…”

Big Sis’ heart was as wide as the sea, but she would raise up waves to sweep up Souta’s words, dragging them to the depths of the ocean trenches so that they can never come back. Thus it was common for their communication to fail.

“It’s okay! You don’t need to say anything, Sou-kun! It’s okay! Big Sis will help you explain it to Akane-chan! Akane-chan is a good kid, she will definitely understand, Sou-kun!”

But Big Sis didn’t understand at all.

“Ugh… Oh god…”

What Kikuno would explain to Akane remained a mystery, but Souta didn’t think he could see a bright future.

But on the other hand, no matter what she explained to Akane, Akane seemed to listen with feigned understanding and give a completely unrelated positive explanation. So you could say it was no harm no foul.

“Then Big Sis will go, okay? Sou-kun can rest assured and be happy! Just like Big Sis, Akane-chan should also want Sou-kun to be happy! Y’know?”

After saying this, Kikuno made Nanami and Souta hold each other’s hands tightly and then left the bathroom brimming with self-satisfaction. As you all know, she didn’t gargle. Because she hadn’t brushed her teeth yet. After all, it’d be weird to gargle when you clearly haven’t brushed your teeth.

Anyways, the two of them were once again stunned into place thanks to Kikuno.

“…We are tired. We shall go to bed…”

“Oh, okay. Goodnight, Nanami.”

Souta looked above the back of Nanami’s head as she returned to her room...

While wondering whether there was an invisible flag planted there.

Is the problem with Nanami or Souta?

Enveloped by the aforementioned mysteries, their life in Quest House and the academy passed by smoothly and peacefully…

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Intermission]]
|-
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</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4

2025-03-26T01:21:09Z

Person72635: /* Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off */

==Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off==
After school.

Under Akane’s leadership, the student president, Tsumugi, and the other classmates who came to see the commotion lined up in front of the dilapidated dormitory.

“It’s really decrepit—”

“Wouldn’t it be better to say nearly collapsed?”

“Actually living in such a place… too tragic.”

“If we can take better care of him, this kind of thing might not happen…”

The students expressed their thoughts, all of them gazing at Souta with pity and raising sympathy flags without exception. Souta almost raised a ‘fainting flag’.

“Rebuilding would still be faster, huh, young Mimori?”

Tsumugi looked up at the student president standing beside her only to see Mimori burst into laughter as if to sweep away the gloomy atmosphere of the scene.

“Bwahahahahahahaha!! As long as it’s handled by this Student President Seiteikouji Mimori, everything will be A-OK!! Just divert student council funds and build a huge building!! No problem! Just leave it to the so-called unparalleled ability passed down among generations of student presidents to create falsified accou—”

“Someone come get the president to shut up.”

Seeing the students begin to retreat after seeing the dark side of the academy, Tsumugi ruthlessly cut off Mimori’s words.

That said, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Mimori had changed the depressed atmosphere in one fell swoop. Tsumugi silently praised Mimori for having some skill.

Since although the students wore strained smiles, at least they were smiling.

“Let’s not take misappropriation of public funds into consideration yet… Right, young Akane, could you provide some financial assistance? Ah, you should still have '''''pocket money''''',<ref> Words that are bolded and italicized are said in English.</ref> no?”

Tsumugi mixed some English into her question, and Nanami was embarrassed for Akane.

“This child is said not to receive family assistance.”

“Yes, even if it’s '''''pocket money'''''... It’s only one million yen a month…”

““““““““““That’s more than enough!!””””””””””

Everyone present replied.

“Huh, really? That much is enough? Building a house is so cheap. That’s got to be way under market price, right?!”

Hearing this rich girl say these ‘Where did this rich girl come from?’ kinds of words, everybody there held in their laughter save for one person.

That exception, Nanami, was currently pinching Akane’s nose.

“Thou art too spoiled!! Art not thou supporting thyself, girl oblivious to worldly affairs?!”

“Huh? Huh?”

Student President Mimori stared at the two people who seemed to have a good relationship with her arms crossed and put on a serious expression again.

“Anyways, whether it’s rebuilding or remodeling, just ask the professionals of this school, ladies and gentlemen!”

“Professionals… of this school?”

Seeing Souta’s disbelief, the one who answered him was Tsumugi, standing next to Mimori.

“The Civil Engineering Club.”

“The Civil Engineering Club…”

Hearing this strange and unknown club name, Nanami's expression was strange.

“They say it was influenced by a certain manga.”<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABkyoku_Ch%C5%8Djin_R Kyukyoku Chojin R], apparently</ref>

“Let’s call them over right now!!”

Student President Mimori called over members of the Civil Engineering Club and laughed her ‘Bwahahahahaha’. What was so funny, nobody knew.

Accompanying the well-built club members coming to the scene was the short-haired, baseball-cap-wearing president of the Civil Engineering Club. His first words were:

“What is it, President?! What’d you break this time?!”

“Could you not say that like yours truly is always impulsively causing destruction everywhere?!”

Unfortunately, the objections of Mimori, who frequently caused destruction on impulse, went in one ear of the Civil Engineering Club president and out the other. He lifted his chin to ask ‘Is this it?’ and looked at the ruins of Quest Dorm.

“You can really cause destruction…”

“It wasn’t yours truly!!”

But rather than caring about who did it, the Civil Engineering Club president’s interest had already shifted to the building itself, and he ignored Mimori’s protests.

Rebuild or remodel— the club members seemed to also disagree over those two options, and a younger club member asked the president:

“President, what should we do?”

“I told you to call me Craftsman!” <ref> Apparently a reference to the Japanese home renovation show ‘‘Makeover! Dramatic Before and After’’.</ref>

How magical. A craftsman’s subtle artistry is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures. <ref> A famous quote from ‘‘Makeover! Dramatic Before and After’’. I probably translated both of them differently than they should have.</ref>

“If possible, I hope for this child to live here as soon as possible…”

Kikuno cut in from beside Souta only to see the craftsman crack his fists and say:

“Okay! Then let’s remodel!!”

The president displayed his enthusiasm, and the club members all forced a smile.

“The president likes to remodel…”

“Didn’t I tell you to call me Craftsman?!”

How magical. A craftsman’s subtle artistry is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures.

“How long until someone can live here?”

“Well~ it’ll be quite difficult, so at least a month…”

The craftsman answered Tsumugi’s question, and Nanami eyed him suspiciously. He didn’t seem to be acting.

“That’s too long! So being a craftsman isn’t something all that amazing after all?”

“With enough manpower, it can be done in a week!!”

How amazing! A craftsman’s subtle persistence is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures.

“Then what if it’s just for one person to live in?”

“For one person, huh… Then two, three days…”

Akane stepped up to use the carrot and the stick, and as a result— How magical! A craftsman’s backbone is also reflected in this kind of place.

“Then it’s just a matter of where we can get manpower… Should we get schoolmates…”

“It’s your life, take matters into your own hands! This academy promotes the spirit of student independence; asking alumni is against its ethos! Don’t you know shame!!”

Although the craftsman was expressing goodwill, he was still shot down by the student president who found fault with it for some reason.<ref> In Chinese, the same word can be used for both ‘schoolmates’ and ‘alumni,’ so the misunderstanding might be based there.</ref> But since he was quite used to Mimori’s rampages, plus the fact that Mimori apologized and said “Sorry, yours truly crossed the line.” after being scolded by Tsumugi-baba-sama, the craftsman could only mutter “I don’t know what to do with her…”

“You need manpower… It happens that there is a group of people who seem to be doing nothing.”

Tsumugi looked at the lively class.

The classmates could have found it troublesome and played dead, but each one was nicer than the last, wanting to help the poor Souta. The sentiment quickly spread, and the ‘I want to help, I want to help, I want to help’ attitude was clear at a glance.

“Great! Then let’s start by removing the rotten boards--”

As everybody immediately started working, Akane walked up to the front and said:

“I-I want to say something!!... Thank you everybody for being willing to help with my selfish project!”

Seeing Akane bow with all her might, Kikuno also joined in.

“Ah! Please let me thank everybody too! Our Sou-kun will be in your care.”

Seeing the two girls bow and thank everyone for him, plus Nanami poking him from behind and glaring at him as if to hint ‘Are you really going to stand by and do nothing while these girls do this for you?’, Souta was sandwiched by the pressure of the atmosphere and could not help but bow and say:

“Uh… I owe everybody one…”

“What kind of low-spirited thanks is that?!”

This was Nanami’s fierce retort upon not receiving real thanks. But the counter-reaction wasn’t even from Souta himself, but Kikuno.

“Th-that’s not it, that’s not it! Sou-kun’s very awkward, so he accidentally said it that way, but Big Sis thinks that he is very grateful to everyone! So… so I hope everybody doesn’t misunderstand him!!”

Souta’s thanks wasn’t great nor terrible, but Kikuno still patted his head as if saying ‘Good boy, you’ve worked hard’ while protecting him with those words.

''How spoiled.''

''Way too spoiled.''

''So doting.''

''Oh well…''

Then Akane provided the final, fatal hit--

“Th-that’s right! And… And, how do I say this, if Souta-kun smiled and provided lively thanks, it wouldn’t be his style and everyone would be disappointed!”

Akane’s extremely negative image of him made Souta depressingly realize ''So I look that gloomy in the eyes of others…''

Anyways, Souta’s plaintiveness made everyone raise ‘motivated’ flags. The Civil Engineering Club members let out an understanding “Ah…”, kindly saying “It’s okay.” and “Don’t take it to heart.”

But only the craftsman’s face went red. She looked the other way with a “Hmph!”

“I-I’m not doing it for you!”

Emerging from the craftsman…

“It’s not what you think!”

“Don’t get the wrong idea!”

“But if you don’t feel grateful, then I won’t spare you!”

This guy had just been heartily telling him not to mind things but suddenly began to say these kinds of statements one by one. This continued until he left for his post.

Souta didn’t understand what was going on with this scene, so Mimori explained to him:

“That girl’s personality is why the confession failure record keeps constantly getting broken.
But she’s the academy’s best at remodeling too, so rest at ease, '''''yo'''''!”

“‘That girl’?? So she’s actually female?!”

“If she were male, I wouldn’t have said ‘girl’.”

''Good point'' Souta silently agreed, observing the craftsman again. Could you say she’s gender neutral? If you said her to be a girl with very short hair, then she did indeed seem like a girl.

Akane suddenly approached from nearby to look at Souta’s face.

“That’s so great, Souta-kun.”

“... It’s all thanks to the good fortune provided by Okiku-nee and Akane.”

Seeing Souta look a bit uncomfortable and avert his eyes, Akane smiled and laughed, thinking that he was really cute.

“My mother once said that I should pay for my friends, so that they can be proud that they had such a friend.”

“Your mom is really great.”

“Yeah.” Akane nodded, gazing up at the blue sky.

“I always thought that doing that was to make friends, to become closer with friends. But I now find that not to be the case.”

“?”

“Because, because, you see, Souta-kun, just seeing your happiness also makes me as happy, joyful, and full of anticipation!”

Akane pressed her hands to her chest, spinning in circles.

“It’s my first time understanding that by bringing happiness to the people around you, you yourself will also feel as happy as they feel!”

“Akane, that’s because you’re really considerate.”

Hearing the conversation between Akane and Souta, Nanami, with a gentle expression mixed with a little sarcasm, interjected:

“Seeing Akane’s joy, We consequently feel joy as well. Akane is just like an exquisite cake made of happiness.”

“Nanami… You’re a poet!!”

As if discovering a beautiful line of verse, Akane’s eyes twinkled like several small stars. She tightly clasped both of Nanami’s hands with a sparkling, bright expression, happy as can be.

But Nanami realized that she made a serious slip of the tongue, her shy face burning as she struggled to shake off Akane’s hands.

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

“Nanami’s youthful poetry is my favorite! Being friends with Nanami is great! We must abuse the privilege of youth to run towards the sun!”

“Enough! Do nyaat waste your youth!!”

Nanami ran away after saying this, waving a huge hammer brought by the Civil Engineering Club and furiously destroying the rotten dormitory wall scheduled to be taken down, rather heroically covering up her embarrassment in this way.

“That girl is quite cut out for destroying things…”

Nearby, Tsumugi laid a waterproof cloth, set up a cushion on it, and leisurely sipped tea as if retiring with glory while looking at Nanami’s liveliness from afar and muttering to herself.

“Then, Big Sis will do her part for Sou-kun, too!”

“I’ll also go help.”

Kikuno and Akane swayed their bodies side to side, happily walking away. Souta was about to chase them, but Tsumugi suddenly stopped him from behind.

“Young Souta.”

“?”

Souta turned his head and saw Tsumugi’s kindly expression like a mother dog gazing at a puppy. Observing at the students excitedly absorbed into their work, she explained to Souta:

“Look closely, then engrave it into your heart. This isn’t a debt, but kindness. Kindness should be repaid with kindness. Put it in your heart, cultivate it little by little, absorb it. This way, one day, young Souta, you will also be a person able to express kindness as naturally as breathing.”

“Ah…”

Souta was about to respond with ‘Okay’, but Mimori came out from nowhere and cut him off, grabbing his shoulders and coolly pointing to the sky.

“This is the academy’s soul! The academy’s style!”

“Whoa, you scared me!”

Tsumugi smiled wryly at Mimori’s sudden appearance, saying persuasively:

“... In this regard, your spiritual practice is not good enough yet, young Mimori.”

“Grandmother is so strict…”

After letting off steam discontentedly, Mimori said the horrifying words like “Then, I’ll go forge documents and pretend that I received an application for rebuilding this dorm” and left the scene.

At the same time, Nanami, probably tired from waving the hammer, came back for tea.

“Hey, Souta. Don’t be lazy, shouldn’t thou help? This is where thou willst live, right?”

“Oh, sor… ry?”

As Nanami immediately gulped down the wheat tea Tsumugi poured for her, she noticed Souta apologize halfway and freeze with his head slightly raised. This intriguing movement made her frown.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… on top of the dorm… there’s a flag.”

“Huh? Something non-human can have flags too?!”

“It’s my first time seeing this, too…”

On the roof flew a ‘new role debut’ flag.

Souta, who could see it, and Nanami, who couldn’t, looked up at that unfamiliar flag together.

This time, Akane jogged back.

“Souta-kun, the people inside said they needed a boy’s help and wanted you to come over… Huh, what’s wrong? Why are you two staring at the roof? If you’re worried about spirits, aren’t they more likely ghosts?”

““Huh?! There are ghosts?!””

Akane’s unexpected comment startled Nanami and Souta, and they yelped sharply, forming beautiful harmony.

“... Only you two are that close. Not fair.”

“Is now the time to care about that kind of problem?!”

“Huh?! What?! They’re really like that?!”

Kikuno, never knowing the right time to come up behind Souta’s back, startled Souta and made him jump in surprise.

“Whoa, you scared me!”

“Sou-kun, which one are you closer with? Which one do you like?! Secretly tell Big Sis, please? Okay? Okay?”

Kikuno, delighted at the prospect of her little brother’s first love, put her hand by her ear, approaching Souta with a “Hmmm~?”

“No, even if you ask which one I like…”

“Is it the gentle Akane? Or~ Nanami? Since you call her by first name~ you’re very close… Ah, or you like both of them?”

Kikuno, giggling, might have intended to talk secrets with Souta quietly, but since the people in question were very close by, Akane and Nanami both heard this clear as day.

The one who reacted violently wasn’t Souta, but the red-faced Nanami.

“Come here, Souta!”

Nanami pulled Souta’s ear and brought him some distance away from Kikuno and co.

“Canst not thou do anything to deal with that freak sister?”

“I can’t do anything even if I wanted to…”

The little brother had already fallen into the bad habit of absolutely obeying his sister. Kikuno had, year in and year out, used a non-violent means known as doting to crush Souta’s resistance.

“......”

Nanami looked with disgust at Souta being spoiled by Big Sis, suddenly noticed something, and said:

“... Hey, thy sister doesn’t have a flag?”

So far, since Kikuno’s presence was so strong, Souta forgot to be afraid of flags. He recalled the top of Kikuno’s head, and said, almost to himself:

“Yeah… Now that you mention it, there is a flag.”

“What kind of flag?”

“I think it’s… the sisterly love flag.”

The scope of that flag seemed way too narrow. But considering Kikuno’s love for her little brother, it seemed to contain infinite possibilities.

At the same time, Nanami thought, as long as that flag broke, perhaps it would curb Kikuno’s desire to randomly speculate about her little brother’s relationships with girls.

“Try to break thy sister’s flag.”

“Huh?!”

“Try to break thy sister’s flag, try to break thy sister’s flag.”

“Why’d you say it twice…? Hey Nanami, don’t you usually tell me not to break them…”

Of course Souta only chose to listen now. Nanami let loose an angry, intimidating “Tch!!”

“Do not ask so many questions! If thou continues like this, thou willst always be a little brother to that woman, okay?!”

“... What’s wrong with that?”

“Enough! Thou hath completely fallen into the habit of a little brother!”

He’s already completely brainwashed by Kikuno! This time, Nanami growled “Grrr!”

Nanami became more and more like an animal. She might not have had an ‘evolve into a human’ flag, but hopefully it gets raised soon.

“Think about it, theoretically, two people have always felt like a big sister and little brother, and one day develop a relationship between a man and woman… something like that!”

Nanami became more and more embarrassed as she said this, and talked really quickly at the end.

“You read too much manga and watch too many dramas, Nanami…”

“What didst thou say?!”

“And, we don’t have that kind of relationship.”

Souta said this without blushing or missing a beat. Nanami glared at him, the look in her eyes neither dumbfounded nor angry nor irritated.

“Stop spouting nonsense, just break it already! If thou dost not break it, We will break thy arm!!”

“......”

Under Nanami’s intimidation, Souta told himself that since he keeps getting teased about it anyway, taking advantage of this situation to change his relationship with Kikuno might be better. After he reminded himself of this, he went back to Kikuno.

“Heeheeheeheehee. What kind of secrets did you talk about? Sou-kun, is there a secret between you and Nanami that you can’t tell Big Sis? As I thought… you’re in that kind of relationship? Did Big Sis guess it right? Can you tell Big Sis? Nanami can also call me Big Sis, okay?”

“Gaaaaaaaaaaah!! Souta!!”

Almost getting another sister out of nowhere, Nanami deepened the misunderstanding and angrily stomped her feet.

“A-alright…”

Under the pressure of Nanami’s hand signals, Souta nodded his head reluctantly and faced Kikuno.

“I’m not a kid anymore, so always sticking together isn't cool…”

“Ah…?!”

Hearing Souta’s flag-breaking words, Kikuno suffered a terrible shock.

“Big Sis understands!”

She seemed to understand.

“Sou-kun wants to maintain a cool image in front of the girl you like, right~?”

She didn’t understand at all.

Nanami realized this, pulled Souta’s ear, and yelled quietly.

“Hey, Souta! It didn’t break at all, did it?!”

“Rather, the flag dodged…”

“Dodged…?”

“Yeah, dodged with extreme speed…”

Nanami and Souta both trembled at Kikuno’s unfathomable potential, retreating and looking at Kikuno together.

“?”

A question mark appeared above Kikuno’s head, and she tilted her head in confusion.

Seeing her like that, disregarding the fact Souta’s fighting spirit was almost zero from the beginning, Nanami’s fighting spirit ignited again.

“Couldn’t thou have simply broken it more bluntly?!”

“...”

Nanami took silence as an answer, once again pushing Souta in front of Kikuno.

Glancing at the flag on Kikuno’s head, Souta forced a smile and tested the waters.

“That’s not what I meant. I just thought, shouldn’t we get rid of this brother-sister relationship already?”

“Ah…!!”

Hearing Souta’s flag-breaking words, Kikuno suffered a terrible shock.

“Big Sis understands!”

This time she seemed to really understand.

“Nanami made you say that. Heehee, don’t worry, Nanami. Souta and I aren’t like that. No need to fret, I won’t steal Souta away.

This time she still didn’t understand at all.

“We are also not like that, alright?!”

Seeing Nanami roar, Kikuno thought, ''She became shy, she became shy!'' and was still extremely happy.

“The flag dodged with godlike speed again…”

“That kind of thing exists?”

Having seen the existence of a special flag surpassing human imagination, Souta had the same question. He replied, a little out of it:

“It’s also the first time I’ve seen this.”

Seeing the terrifying creature known as ‘Big Sis’ in person made Nanami and Souta get goosebumps.

At some point, Akane, already working in the dorm, stuck her hand out the taken-down window and waved, breaking the peculiar atmosphere.

“Souta-kun— they’re asking ‘Why hasn’t a boy come yet?’ already—”

‘Yet’ followed by ‘already’, so strange… Souta thought about unrelated things, leaving Nanami and Kikuno behind to enter the dorm.

Upon Souta’s entry, the craftsman immediately said to Souta: “I just want you to clean up the decaying cabinet in the locker room in front of the bathroom, don’t get me wrong!!” But it’s quite difficult to figure out which part of the sentence could be misunderstood.

As proven by the fact that Souta didn’t get it wrong at all and went straight to the locker room.

A loud rattling sound came from inside the bathroom. As he got to work, Souta just glanced around briefly before returning to the task at hand, finding the old cabinet.

But no matter how you look at it, that cabinet didn’t seem like something one person could move alone. Just as Souta racked his brain for a solution, a male classmate happened to pass by the hallway. Souta hurriedly called out to him.

“Excuse me, I need a boy’s help over here, can you help me?”

The male classmate he just called to wore a boys’ uniform on his upper body and shorts and striped knee socks on his lower body. Even if he was disguised as a girl, he was wearing a male uniform, so he should be a boy… That said, his appearance and temperance, even if he was a pretty boy, was too girlish: If you asked whether he was more like a pretty boy or a beautiful girl with short hair rolled into a man bun, obviously it would be the latter — this was the reality.

As if embodying that kind of indistinguishability, the dainty male (?) classmate said “A boy…?” and looked around.

“A boy, a boy, a boy… one<ref> This guy refers to himself in third person.</ref>?!”

Since nobody else could be found nearby, and Souta had been looking at him for a while, the male classmate seemed to finally realize that it was directed at him.

Seeing his suspicious behavior, Souta worried that he made a mistake, asking with his heart in his mouth:

“So you’re not a boy…? Then my sincerest apologies. Because during PE class, I saw you on the boys’ side… Sorry, I always thought you were male…”

“...!!”

Souta recalled being thoroughly shocked at seeing striped kneesocks during PE class that day as he added an apology. The male (?) classmate seemed to have taken a heavy hit, his knees knocked together, arms pressed tight against his body, and his whole body shaking.

“Uh, hey…”

“O-one… one… ! One is a boy!! That’s correct!!”

So he claimed.

Although he claimed so, his knees knocked to the point that they practically fused together, and his hands and fists were placed almost in a boxing position, moving erratically in a cute way, pretty much contradicting himself.

“For one… it’s one’s first time meeting someone who treats one as a boy! And, because of one’s features, even those who know one only treat one as a girl… But, Souta-kun treats one as a boy, so one is very happy!”

The male classmate raised friendship flags.

Right, it was raised… but…

“What’s going on here…?”

Spouting from the male classmate’s head, while still a flag, were countless flags tied together joined to the sky like streamers, extending endlessly upwards and slightly backwards, weaving across the wall.

“Streamers…streamers? F-… flag?... This a flag?”

It was also Souta’s first time seeing a flag in this kind of mystical shape, so it was hard to cover up his confusion.

If it wasn’t a flag, it would mean Souta could see things other than flags. That would be terrifying. So terrifying that he didn’t want to keep thinking about it, so he just assumed that he could only see flags.

The male classmate had followed Souta’s gaze to the top of his head and was looking up at the sky, but he suddenly remembered something and tapped his palm with his fist.

“Ah, one hasn’t introduced oneself. One’s name is Touzokuyama Megumu</ref> Megumu’s surname indicates that his ‘class’ is thief</ref>.”

Megumu squatted cutely, sliding his hand on the dusty floorboard. After demonstrating how to write his name, he smiled shyly.

“I am…”

Souta nodded, thinking that his surname was a little over-the-top.<ref> Imagine meeting a guy named John Thief lol</ref> As he decided to introduce himself to Megumu, Megumu cut him off.

“You must be Hatate-kun. One knows because one saw you introduce yourself when you transferred.”

“Just call me Souta.”

“O-one too! Just call one Megumu.”

He said this excitedly as streamers of friendship flags fluttered on his head. Perhaps that ‘people should get along no matter what country they’re from’ mentality was because of these streamers.<ref> The phrase I’m translating as ‘streamer’ literally means ‘ten thousand country flags’ [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%87%E5%9B%BD%E6%97%97#/media/File:Sports-Fest2.jpg (万国旗)]</ref>

“One thinks one can establish a manly friendship with Souta-kun!”

Souta’s first reaction of him had been a perplexed ‘Why is there a girl mixed in with the boys’ PE class…?’, so he remembered her clearly... no, him. But Souta couldn’t say that. In order to hide his thoughts, he hurriedly changed the subject.

“Really… Speaking of which, the name ‘Megumu’ is... really cool.”

“Th-that’s not true. One kind of hates this feminine name. Everyone likes to call one by one’s nickname, Megu-chan, so it seems even more feminine.”

“Yours is still relatively good, unlike my name Souta. My kindergarten nickname was ‘Missus’ <ref> In Chinese at least, doubling the last character in Souta’s name (太) creates the phrase for ‘wife’ or ‘old lady’.</ref>”

“Souta-kun’s really cute♡”

Megumu clutched his sides and lightly covered his mouth, his entire body shaking with laughter. No matter how you look at it, Megumu’s a cute girl.

Perhaps out of guilt, the conversation was very accommodating towards Megumu. Although Souta thought his personality would only hurt Megumu, as luck would have it, they still had a good conversation.

“... I’ll call you Megu-chan too.”

“Hey~! Souta-kun, you bully!!”

Confronted with having accidentally said something very feminine, Megumu pouted cutely, puffing his cheeks.

“That said, Megumu, I just want to know one thing…”

“Ah! One has been working out before bed to become more manly, so one is a bit stronger now, okay?”

Megumu flexed his biceps after saying so. Souta asked Megumu ‘Can I touch it?’ and was given permission. He touched it and found that the muscle was so soft that it made him feel guilty. However, because the ‘Nnngh~!’ sound that Megumu made as he flexed was too cute, Souta gave up on his retort. More to the point, Souta wasn’t even asking about that.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I wanted to ask about the bottom half of your uniform.”

“... Oh.”

Megumu’s weak reply was mixed with a sigh, and he lifted the lower hem of his uniform coat. Since they were both male, there clearly wasn’t any reason to look twice. Nevertheless, Souta blushed and his heart rate sped up.

“This is…”

“N-nevermind, sorry. I didn’t offend you, right? Everyone has different hobbies. It’s fine, and it really suits you…”

Seeing the fluttering streamers fall weakly, Souta anxiously mediated.

“No! No no no! No no!!”

Megumu lightly hammered Souta’s chest with unmatched cuteness.

“This is because… Big Sis said this way was definitely cuter… said it was approved by the academy… My Big Sis is responsible for designing this uniform… so…”

The phrase ‘Big Sis’ scared Souta and made him flinch.

“The student handbook also says that, starting this year, this outfit is approved as a uniform.”

“Really?!”

Souta brought out a student handbook from his chest pocket to confirm. Listed next to the normal boys’ and girls’ uniform, there really was an illustration identical to what Megumu was wearing at the moment.

“It’s true!!... Speaking of which, does anyone else wear it like this?”

“... Somewhere in this vast world.”

“That’s already not about this academy’s uniforms anymore!?”

Megumu’s eyes became empty.

“This outfit isn’t only conspicuous, but people also say it looks like a girls’, so one hates it. But Big Sis cried, saying that it’s definitely cute, and made me wear it…”

“Since your Big Sis cried and begged, there’s nothing you can do about it…”

As a fellow comrade who loses unconditionally to his older sister, Souta’s heartstrings tugged with sympathy for his fellow sufferer.

“Yeah… and one is the youngest of four siblings, with sisters all above me.”

“Your life is so hard… I understand how you feel, Megumu…”

Megumu was usually surrounded by people jealous of his beautiful sisters, so when he heard Souta’s gentle words, his chest couldn’t help but tighten with a ‘squeeze♡’.

“Thank you!! Only Souta-kun understands me!! Thank you! Really, thank you so much, Souta-kun!!”

Megumu rushed to hug Souta, as if pushing people out of the way.

Megumu’s body was unusually slender. Souta could actually support him quite easily, but something other than weight made Souta dizzy.

“Whoa!! Megumu, why is your body so fragrant?! And super soft?!”

“Huh?” Megumu, his height only up to Souta’s neck, raised his watery eyes to look at Souta in a way that made Souta even dizzier.

At this time, Akane reached out her head.

“Souta-kun, what’s the situation? Can one person handle it? Hey, whoa!? S-sorry, I… w-will support you guys!!”

“What are you talking about, Akane?!”

Akane, covering her face, stared at the hugging scene through the gaps between her fingers.

“I-I’m good at supporting people’s love! The couples I support always welcome new love under my leadership, with plentiful concrete results! Just leave it to Akane!”

“You mean it’s failure, Akane!”

“Failure is the mother of success! It’s fine as long as the new love succeeds.”

“Everything really depends on how you explain it anyways…”

Akane’s headache-inducing enthusiasm made Megumu and Souta force a smile.

“Let’s save that for later. How come you guys suddenly became so intimate?”

Akane anxiously looked at Megumu and Souta, who had kept hugging. Her words finally made the two come to their senses, and their bodies instantly separated.

“N-no, no!! This and that are different things!!”

“Th-that’s right. How do we put it… ah! We were just confirming our friendship, hmm, yeah.”

Regarding believing people, Akane was unbelievably simple. ‘So that’s how it was!’ She believed the two without any doubts.

“Oh. Friendship, huh… Souta-kun just refuses to demonstrate such warm friendship with me.”

Seeing Akane’s dejection, Souta busily tried to find an escape.

“I-it’s because Akane’s a girl… So it’s not appropriate.”

“Yeah, this is a privilege of bromance!!”

“???”

Megumu revealed a tremendously cute smile because being treated like a boy by the confused Akane made him very happy. Please note that this does not mean tremblingly cute. Speaking of tremblingly cute ~ it was so cute that it made people tremble… wait, is that even cute then? Wouldn’t it be scary?<ref> Original Japanese pun had something to do with ‘unusually cute’ and ‘flying kick cute’ being off by one syllable.</ref>

“Y-yeah…”

Anyways, facing Megumu’s sparkling eyes, the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched as he nodded.

Speaking of which, does bromance really involve that kind of intimate hug? Of course, this kind of question never appeared in Akane’s mind, she was just jealous.

“How nice, how nice… But, I’m really happy to see that Souta-kun’s friend count increased!”

As Akane said this, satisfaction replaced her original envy. Seeing her like this, overflowing with thoughtfulness and kindness, Souta experienced a warm feeling in his heart that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Right. Akane, did you check on me because you were worried? There’s no problem here. I already found a boy to help me.”

“Really?... But, where is he?”

Akane showed a natural expression like ○△○, carefully looking around the locker room.

Seeing that Akane’s natural manner was completely devoid of malice, or rather, it was unfortunately absolutely devoid of malice, Megumu almost cried. He apprehensively raised his small, cute hand.

“Th-that… is oneself.”

“Huh?! Megu-chan’s a girl~ Souta-kun, why are you guys always saying weird things?”

Based on Akane’s innocent laughter, it was clear that she wasn’t bullying; rather, that was what she deeply believed. After all, she was an ‘if she believes it, then she will deeply believe it without any doubt to an unbelievable degree’ kind of girl.

“... Akane, Megumu’s a boy though?”

“Nyaahahaha, stop joking-”

Akane even let out laughter she normally wouldn’t have, causing Megumu to tear up cutely. At this point, Akane finally began to understand the situation.

“Huh? Huh? I-it’s really true…? But-but, because, but-but, because, that’s not a boy’s uniform.”

“Oh… But this isn’t a girl’s uniform either, right? When you think about it, it’s actually more like a boy’s uniform.”

“You really ''can'' notice that!!”

To Akane, this was an earth-shattering revelation.

“So that’s what it was… That’s why I didn’t see Megu-chan in the girl’s PE class… Excuse my lack of manners. This mistake does not befit me.”

“No, in a way, it’s something very much like what Akane would do…”

“... Does this mean, Souta-kun is actually a girl?”

“Hey, you don’t need to overcompensate, Akane…”

Akane nodded emotionally, faced Megumu — he had bent the second knuckle of his index finger at a right angle and was cutely wiping tears from the corner of his eye — and lowered her head in apology.

“Sorry, Megu-chan. I didn’t think you had this kind of secret that even I, Mahougasawa Akane, could not see through.”

“I don’t remember treating this as a secret at all, but it’s fine as long as you understand.”

Akane seemed to think that the world was packed with many secrets. But the vast majority are packed to the brim, so one could say that they’re over-packed.

Anyways, although it was an earth-shattering revelation to Akane, she now thought back to what she was saying before and inadvertently exclaimed “Ah!”

“Hmph!! I almost started supporting your rocky romance!! Why did things become like this?!”

That’s what Megumu and Souta wanted to ask her. But they chose to remain silent, their smiles strained.

“I’ll go ask Nanami!!”

““Why did things become like this?!””

Megumu and Souta voiced in perfect harmony. Akane had a ‘These two are really close, I got left out again…’ kind of resentful expression, and ran to find Nanami.

He really didn’t know how it would be spun… Souta held back his low spirits and smiled slightly at Megumu.

“Th-then, let’s just get started.”

“Th-that’s right.”

They seemed to have finally remembered their original purpose. But because they had digressed too far, it almost made one doubt whether or not they really remembered.

“I’ll lift this side. Megumu, can you help lift the other side?”

“Leave it to me! It’s finally time to show my ability to break single-use chopsticks!!”

Souta felt a bit uneasy.

“Then… Ready, go!’

“Hahh… hup!”

Upon lifting it, he realized that the cabinet wasn’t as heavy as it seemed… as far as Souta was concerned.

As for Megumu, he couldn’t even stand steady. Dangerous, really dangerous.

Furthermore, there were two more exhausting phases to endure. As if to demonstrate, Megumu’s face reddened as he exerted all his strength. Souta was dumbfounded.

“I-I said… Megumu…? If you can’t move it, I can find other guys…”

“No!! It would waste Souta-kun’s surety that one was a man and subsequent request for help. If one were to give up, one would fail to live up to Souta-kun’s kindness!!”

“No… it’s not that serious…”

Megumu almost cried. But while his steps were unsteady, he still displayed a staunch willpower.

This atmosphere made it difficult for Souta to open his mouth and say that he could probably move it alone. Thus he could only do his best to carefully prevent Megumu from bearing too much weight as they moved. As a result, Souta’s own strength and stamina was depleted anyways.

There was now one more cabinet on the hill of scrap wood used by the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club. Megumu put his hands on his hips and bent forward slightly, He cutely faced Souta, who was wiping sweat off his forehead, and said:

“Thank you, Souta-kun!”

“Huh? It should be me thanking you, right?”

The words seemed to make Megumu a little uncomfortable. Megumu spoke guiltily and shook his head.

“No, you took particular trouble not to let one bear weight, right? Clearly it would’ve been easier for you to move it alone. But one kept clamoring about being a man and as a result persisted in pointlessly hurting you…”

“It wasn’t pointless.”

“Huh…?”

“This kind of persistence in becoming your ideal self… I don’t think it’s pointless.”

“... Souta-kun♡”

Souta empathized and respected the feeling of wanting to be a man, bringing tears to Megumu’s eyes.

“Souta-kun, you’re so considerate…”

Megumu’s mouth formed a dazzling smile, like a flower bursting into full bloom.

Souta, fostering a bromance, worked while Megumu deliberately stuck to him. By the time he met up with Kikuno and Nanami, the sun had almost set.

“Big Sis looks away for a moment and Sou-kun brings another girl back!! Big Sis is very concerned!!”

“Okiku-nee… Megumu isn’t a girl…”

“Nyaahahaha, stop joking~”

Kikuno even let out laughter she normally wouldn’t have, and Souta felt a sense of deja vu.

“Look, his uniform is more like a boy’s?”

“You really ''can'' notice that!!”

To Kikuno, this was an earth-shattering revelation.

Megumu’s gender was unbeknownst to everyone. Really made you wonder whether he had blurted out that he was a girl upon introducing himself as a new student…

“Huh~ I thought Megu-chan was a girl. Since Megu-chan always uses the girls’ bathroom.”

“Megumu?!”

Souta thought that this piece of information would be really difficult to explain.

“B-because, many boys complained that one going to the boys’ bathroom made them very uncomfortable. It became a big problem, and then the girls said ‘Megu-chan can use the girls’ bathroom’...”

“......”

This whole situation was hard to determine right from wrong. Souta was left speechless, and decided to change the subject.

“... But anyways, there seems to be more people… was there this many people from the start?”

Aside from the members of the Civil Engineering Club, everyone was getting ready to go home. But looking at the sea of people, it seemed there were a lot more people than before.

“Oh, that’s because the student president, Grandmother, me, and Akane-chan called a lot of friends to come.”

“Huh…?! I feel bad… all this just for someone like me…”

“I begged them, saying that it was for my precious little brother, and everyone came.”

That’s why the group of senpais observing from afar were whispering to each other: ''“So it’s him?”'' ''“Is the girl wearing shorts beside him his girlfriend?”'' ''“What a cute couple.”'' All the while gazing inquisitively.

Souta wholeheartedly wished to escape the scrutinizing eyes. He shifted the conversation towards Nanami, pretending he didn’t hear anything.

“Did Nanami also help call people to come?...... My apologies. Princesses are just different, maybe it’s their moral prestige?”

“......”

“Nanami?”

Nanami lowered her head, her whole body trembling. Souta approached, looking at her face.

“We…”

“We?”

“W-We didn’t call anybody here, alright?! That is, We don’t have any acquaintances to call at all!! ''My apologies'', princesses clearly don't have moral prestige!!”

“Ah, Nanami, let’s go eat the red bean dumpling soup that the volunteers made for everyone.” Akane said.

“Nanami, you’ve already made up for that with your effort, so it’s all right.” Kikuno said.

“After all, you’re in a remote foreign country. Not having any acquaintances is something that can’t be helped, it’s actually very normal. Don’t worry, Nanami.” Souta said.

“D-… do nyaat console so much!!”

Nanami became angry out of embarrassment.

Because the dorm was in the middle of construction and living there would be dangerous, Souta temporarily resided in ‘The Most Dangerous Boys’ Dorm Room, Challenging the Limits of Rationality’, aka Megumu’s room. After personally experiencing the meaning of danger, the day of his much-anticipated return to Quest House arrived. It seems that this school is flooded with danger.

After working through days and nights, the reborn Quest House…

““““““““““It’s really too magical!!”””””””””

… Anyone who saw it would inadvertently say this. It was reborn reborn. Repeating the word ‘reborn’ twice expresses how much this rebirth changed it. Definitely not because the author’s literary powers have dried up. Hope everybody understands this point.<ref> Smooth, author-sensei, real smooth</ref>

“So amazing… it’s not just unrecognizable, it’s basically a different thing entirely.”

“Praise it a bit more!!”

Suddenly appearing, Student President Mimori proudly — really proudly — stuck out her chest.

“President didn’t do any of the actual work, okay?!”

The Civil Engineering Club president — the Craftsman — Yuzurihakami Mimori.<ref> Her name is 杠上美森. She’s not on the wiki, nor is her name mentioned in the anime, so I had to guess the pronunciation. The last two characters are the same as Mimori’s. As for the first two, I just pieced together some surname readings for 杠 and 上 that I found on Jisho. Incidentally, her name doesn’t contain a ‘class,’ so she probably won’t appear much if at all in the future.</ref>

“Because yours truly has [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_building_syndrome Sick Building Syndrome.”]

“Stop talking nonsense!! Also, this time the renovation used a lot of eco-friendly materials, so how can it trigger Sick Building Syndrome?!”

“Because yours truly has Eco-Friendly Building Syndrome…”

''Looks like this person cannot live indoors no matter what…'' As Souta thought this, Akane, who was beside him, smiled delightedly at him.

“It became a liveable place in one fell swoop.”

“Mmm.”

“It became a place unfit for ghosts.”

“There are ghosts?!”

“Heeheehee, I’m just saying random things.” Akane’s laughter even sounded like random consolation. How terrifying.

“Anyways, according to our original plan, I need to show my skills and clean up Souta-kun’s room!”

“We just finished renovating, I don’t think there would be anywhere to clean, though?!”

Akane jabbed her index fingers together, depressed like Judgement Day had come. Seeing her state, Souta hastily added:

“Uh— but if you could help me unpack my luggage, that would be a big help!”

“Ah, s-sorry, Souta-kun. I’ve troubled you.”

“Big Sis too! Big Sis also wants to unpack luggage together!!”

Seeing Kikuno raise her hand and join this heartwarming topic, Nanami pursed her lips.

“This Big Sis, couldn’t be more close, huh…”

Nearby, Megumu, doing squats for no reason, was so tired his legs almost fell off by the sixth rep.

Seeing that the group’s mood was as warm as tempura right out of the oven, the pensive President Mimori muttered. ‘Tempura right out of the oven’ because the Cooking Research Club was frying it outside to celebrate the rebirth of Quest House, not because Souta and co were heating it up. The tempura looked really delicious, though this has nothing to do with the aforementioned situation.

“But, this headache…”

“What’s wrong, President?”

In truth, this was because a sentence about ‘mood and tempura’ was accidentally written, but one has to make the best of it when at the end of one’s rope… Anyways, Mimori and Tsumugi didn’t care about this at all, sneaking some fried sweet potatoes while emotionally looking at the brand-new dorm.

“According to the rules, dorms with only one resident must be taken down.”

““““““““““And you say that now?!””””””””””

Hearing a sentence they couldn’t ignore, the surrounding people cried in unison.

“Yours truly is Seiteikouji Mimori, the so-called unparalleled king of late reactions. Nobody would dare to accept my challenge!”

“Somebody shut up the president.”

At Tsumugi’s shouted order, Mimori had many strips of tape pasted over her mouth. After tearing off the tape in tears, Mimori yelled, half angry out of embarrassment:

“Rules are rules! Since it’s been completed, it needs to be taken down!”

“Are thou a demon?!”

Nanami couldn’t help but roar back.

Reacting sharper than anyone else to the imminent sad situation in front of her, Akane also stepped in to salvage the situation:

“E-excuse me! How many people does it need to house at minimum?!”

“... Four…?”

“Why are you so unsure?”

Mimori, her memory extremely muddled, remembered after searching the depths of her memory.

“Correction, it’s five people.”

“Five people, huh…”

“Luckily, I heard that we were able to take preventive measures and renovate a few extra rooms thanks to the increase in manpower, so now the amount of usable rooms numbers about ten… gathering just four friends is easy enough, right?”

Mimori chuckled, and Nanami and Akane filled with rage at that.

“How can thy words be so over-the-top?!”

“That’s to say, you’ve crossed the line!!”

“... S-sorry.”

“Even if Sou-kun doesn’t have any friends, you still have Big Sis, okay? Okay?”

Because Nanami and the others spoke up for him, while the student president apologized, Souta seemed even more pitiful. The atmosphere became very indescribable.

“But, even if we didn’t need to gather four more people to live here, one person living by themselves in such a big place is a bit lonely…”

“... No problem. I’m used to being lonely.”

“Nuh-uh, nuh-uh!! Being like that… being very lonely… is very sad, too sad!!”

Looks like Akane, with her can’t-leave-sad-people-alone sickness, lost her temper.

If she left this alone, Akane would probably cry again, so Souta sighed, reluctantly nodding.

“But… if someone does want to live here, I’m okay with it.”

Akane’s eyes brightened, and she clenched her fist.

“Souta-kun needs dormmates, right? Because he’d be lonely, right? Of course! This is not okay! I know! I, Mahougasawa Akane, shall move into this dorm!”

“Hey, isn’t this a boys’ dorm?!”

“Is it?”

Akane looked at Tsumugi, her movements indicating that matters regarding the academy should be asked to the living dictionary.

“This was originally a faculty dormitory. I think it did not particularly differentiate men and women…”

“Then it’s '''''no problem'''''!”

“God… Hey, President, you should say something, too!”

Souta thought that boys and girls living under the same roof was definitely not '''''no problem''''', and he hastily begged Mimori to advise Akane to change her mind.

“Boys and girls living under the same roof is very romantic!!”

“Somebody shut this rascal up.”

Finally, even Tsumugi couldn’t be polite.

“But wasn’t it Akane who sponsored the reconstruction of the dorm out of her own pocket? Is it okay to disregard the sponsor’s ideas…”

“Nanami, I’m begging you not to say so much!”

“This is the sponsor’s authority!”

“Since it’s the sponsor’s authority, the student president’s authority can only permit it!”

Mimori, who was almost shut up but didn’t shut up, asserted. This is because her ability to not shut up is especially profound.

“But! However! Isn’t a boy and a girl inappropriate?!”

Souta retorted.

Kikuno raised her hand to retort back.

“Then Big Sis will also move in!”

“I see, so a boy and two girls wouldn’t be inappropriate.”

“Isn’t it more inappropriate?!”

The student president approved Kikuno’s idea, then retorted Kikuno’s retort to Souta’s retort. Now it’s already impossible to tell right from left.

“E-excuse me!! C-can one also come with?!”

“I said, Megumu…”

“Okay, this way we have balanced it out with one boy and three girls!”

“Where, how? Where is the balance?”

Leaving aside Souta’s retort towards Mimori, Megumu, having been regarded as a girl, lost the light in his eyes, and his small, half-open mouth drifted into an empty smile.

“Still missing one person.”

“......”

“There isn’t anyone else who will move here anymore.”

“......”

“That’s right… Why don’t we find one of Big Sis’s friends…”

“......”

Every time Akane, Souta, and Kikuno muttered their thoughts, Nanami coughed quietly.

“How about the craftsman?”

“How about the president?”

“How about Grandmother, Sou-kun?”

“......”

Nanami started wordlessly kicking the door post of Quest House. They say door post and '''''want you''''' sound very similar,<ref> That is, the Japanese pronunciation for ‘door post’ is similar to how Japanese people would pronounce ‘want you’ in English, as they’re only off by one phoneme (monchyou vs wonchyou)</ref> though this has nothing to do with this situation.

“... Miss Princess of Bladefield is almost crying, everyone…”

Megumu, not knowing the right time to come back to life, saw Nanami crouch and shudder with tear-filled eyes, and his sympathetic heart almost broke.

“Come on, we’re just kidding, Nanami. You’re willing to move here, right?”

“Yeah, the last person has to be Nanami since she’s very close with Sou-kun.”

“That’s right, there’s nobody else to choose but Nanami.”

“As long as Nanami is here, Big Sis will also be relieved.”

After Akane and Kikuno continuously took turns and finished speaking, Nanami stood up, her mood having rapidly improved.

“I a-a-a-a-a-absolutely was not about to cry. But since, in any event, ye are persistent and want Us to come, We will also…”

Before Nanami, who a-a-a-a-a-absolutely did not wipe her tears with her sleeves, could finish her sentence, Souta accidentally asked Akane and Kikuno:

“Hey, you guys were just kidding?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Failure flags were raised on the heads of tongue-tied Akane and Kikuno. Nanami’s eyes filled with tears again and she angrily stamped her feet.

“Absolutely not! Unless it’s the room at the very edge, or else I won’t live here!!”

“I want the room next to Sou-kun!”

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai, you’re so sly! I also want to live next to Souta-kun!”

“Th-then, I want to live in the room opposite Souta-kun.”

Looks like that area’s population density is very high.

“Only Nanami’s room is super far away.”

“Ye group of idiots—!”

Souta was inexplicably hammered many times by the unwilling-to-be-alone Nanami.

“... I understand it now. I just need to move near Nanami’s room, right…”

“Sou-kun is so considerate!! No wonder he’s Big Sis’s good little brother!!”

Souta thought with a smile, ''Not bad, I’ll have to bring in the luggage again anyways.'' Kikuno was so touched by her little brother that she hugged him tightly.

“Whoa… Okiku-nee, everyone’s watching! They’re all watching!”

Souta, panicking and trying to escape Kikuno’s smothering chest, was given an envious look by everyone.

“I-I’m next! I want to hug!”

Pretending to be jealous of Souta but actually jealous of Kikuno, Akane lined up behind Kikuno.

“O-one too…”

Megumu lined up behind Akane.

Mimori smiled at the close boarders of the new Quest Dorm.

“In short, we have gathered five people. One boy and four girls is fine, right?”

“No problem!”

“It is a huge problem…”

Akane agreed, but Tsumugi showed signs of reluctance.

“The problem has expanded, right?! You don’t think that it’s pretty much become a girls’ dorm?!”

“Leave it to yours truly, Mimori, the so-called unparalleled problem concealer!! Bwahahahahaha!!”

What was so funny remained a mystery. But anyways, Mimori, who seemed like she really did to conceal the problem, burst into laughter.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

User:Person72635

2025-01-04T06:52:43Z

Person72635:

Hello!

I'm translating [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara]] and [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru|OreShura]] Volume 7.1
It's my first shot at translation, so excuse its crappiness. Comments are welcome.
I'll be translating from the Chinese version of the original Japanese light novel.
My Chinese isn't too great. (Around 4th-5th grade level in Mainland China maybe?)

Sorry if my translations are bad and have too many references.

''She couldn’t ignore it this time and '''cracked'''. This was the'' tsun ''phase. Or maybe the '''crack''' phase. '''The time period when you like to have Coke.''''' — Person72635 at 1 am trying to translate a pun, circa 2025

User:Person72635

2025-01-04T06:51:09Z

Person72635:

Hello!

I'm translating [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara]] and [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru|OreShura]] Volume 7.1
It's my first shot at translation, so excuse its crappiness. Comments are welcome.
I'll be translating from the Chinese version of the original Japanese light novel.
My Chinese isn't too great. (Around 4th-5th grade level in Mainland China maybe?)

Sorry if my translations are bad and have too many references.

''She couldn’t ignore it this time and '''cracked'''. This was the'' tsun ''phase. Or maybe the '''crack''' phase. '''That time period when you like to have Coke.''''' — Person72635 at 1 am trying to translate a pun, circa 2025

User:Person72635

2025-01-04T06:50:19Z

Person72635:

Hello!

I'm translating [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara]] and [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru|OreShura]] Volume 7.1
It's my first shot at translation, so excuse its crappiness. Comments are welcome.
I'll be translating from the Chinese version of the original Japanese light novel.
My Chinese isn't too great. (Around 4th-5th grade level in Mainland China maybe?)

Sorry if my translations are bad and have too many references.

''She couldn’t ignore it this time and '''cracked'''. This was the'' tsun ''phase. Or maybe the '''crack''' phase. '''That time period when you like to have Coke.''' — Person72635 at 1 am trying to translate a pun, circa 2025

User:Person72635

2025-01-04T06:49:58Z

Person72635:

Hello!

I'm translating [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara]] and [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru|OreShura]] Volume 7.1
It's my first shot at translation, so excuse its crappiness. Comments are welcome.
I'll be translating from the Chinese version of the original Japanese light novel.
My Chinese isn't too great. (Around 4th-5th grade level in Mainland China maybe?)

Sorry if my translations are bad and have too many references.

''She couldn’t ignore it this time and '''cracked'''. This is the'' tsun ''phase. Or maybe the '''crack''' phase. '''That time period when you like to have Coke.''' — Person72635 at 1 am trying to translate a pun, circa 2025

User:Person72635

2025-01-04T06:48:52Z

Person72635:

Hello!

I'm translating [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara]] and [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru|OreShura]] Volume 7.1
It's my first shot at translation, so excuse its crappiness. Comments are welcome.
I'll be translating from the Chinese version of the original Japanese light novel.
My Chinese isn't too great. (Around 4th-5th grade level in Mainland China maybe?)

Sorry if my translations are bad and have too many references.

''She couldn’t ignore it this time and '''cracked'''. This is the'' tsun ''phase. Or maybe the '''crack''' phase. '''That time period when you like to have Coke.'''

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4

2025-01-04T02:10:06Z

Person72635: /* Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off */

==Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off==
After school.

Under Akane’s leadership, the student president, Tsumugi, and the other classmates who came to see the commotion lined up in front of the dilapidated dormitory.

“It’s really decrepit—”

“Wouldn’t it be better to say nearly collapsed?”

“Actually living in such a place… too tragic.”

“If we can take better care of him, this kind of thing might not happen…”

The students expressed their thoughts, all of them gazing at Souta with pity and raising sympathy flags without exception. Souta almost raised a ‘fainting flag’.

“Rebuilding would still be faster, huh, young Mimori?”

Tsumugi looked up at the student president standing beside her only to see Mimori burst into laughter as if to sweep away the gloomy atmosphere of the scene.

“Bwahahahahahahaha!! As long as it’s handled by this Student President Seiteikouji Mimori, everything will be A-OK!! Just divert student council funds and build a huge building!! No problem! Just leave it to the so-called unparalleled ability passed down among generations of student presidents to create falsified accou—”

“Someone come get the president to shut up.”

Seeing the students begin to retreat after seeing the dark side of the academy, Tsumugi ruthlessly cut off Mimori’s words.

That said, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Mimori had changed the depressed atmosphere in one fell swoop. Tsumugi silently praised Mimori for having some skill.

Since although the students wore strained smiles, at least they were smiling.

“Let’s not take misappropriation of public funds into consideration yet… Right, young Akane, could you provide some financial assistance? Ah, you should still have '''''pocket money''''',<ref> Words that are bolded and italicized are said in English.</ref> no?”

Tsumugi mixed some English into her question, and Nanami was embarrassed for Akane.

“This child is said not to receive family assistance.”

“Yes, even if it’s '''''pocket money'''''... It’s only one million yen a month…”

““““““““““That’s more than enough!!””””””””””

Everyone present replied.

“Huh, really? That much is enough? Building a house is so cheap. That’s got to be way under market price, right?!”

Hearing this rich girl say these ‘Where did this rich girl come from?’ kinds of words, everybody there held in their laughter save for one person.

That exception, Nanami, was currently pinching Akane’s nose.

“Thou art too spoiled!! Art not thou supporting thyself, girl oblivious to worldly affairs?!”

“Huh? Huh?”

Student President Mimori stared at the two people who seemed to have a good relationship with her arms crossed and put on a serious expression again.

“Anyways, whether it’s rebuilding or remodeling, just ask the professionals of this school, ladies and gentlemen!”

“Professionals… of this school?”

Seeing Souta’s disbelief, the one who answered him was Tsumugi, standing next to Mimori.

“The Civil Engineering Club.”

“The Civil Engineering Club…”

Hearing this strange and unknown club name, Nanami's expression was strange.

“They say it was influenced by a certain manga.”<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABkyoku_Ch%C5%8Djin_R Kyukyoku Chojin R], apparently</ref>

“Let’s call them over right now!!”

Student President Mimori called over members of the Civil Engineering Club and laughed her ‘Bwahahahahaha’. What was so funny, nobody knew.

Accompanying the well-built club members coming to the scene was the short-haired, baseball-cap-wearing president of the Civil Engineering Club. His first words were:

“What is it, President?! What’d you break this time?!”

“Could you not say that like yours truly is always impulsively causing destruction everywhere?!”

Unfortunately, the objections of Mimori, who frequently caused destruction on impulse, went in one ear of the Civil Engineering Club president and out the other. He lifted his chin to ask ‘Is this it?’ and looked at the ruins of Quest Dorm.

“You can really cause destruction…”

“It wasn’t yours truly!!”

But rather than caring about who did it, the Civil Engineering Club president’s interest had already shifted to the building itself, and he ignored Mimori’s protests.

Rebuild or remodel— the club members seemed to also disagree over those two options, and a younger club member asked the president:

“President, what should we do?”

“I told you to call me Craftsman!” <ref> Apparently a reference to the Japanese home renovation show ‘‘Makeover! Dramatic Before and After’’.</ref>

How magical. A craftsman’s subtle artistry is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures. <ref> A famous quote from ‘‘Makeover! Dramatic Before and After’’. I probably translated both of them differently than they should have.</ref>

“If possible, I hope for this child to live here as soon as possible…”

Kikuno cut in from beside Souta only to see the craftsman crack his fists and say:

“Okay! Then let’s remodel!!”

The president displayed his enthusiasm, and the club members all forced a smile.

“The president likes to remodel…”

“Didn’t I tell you to call me Craftsman?!”

How magical. A craftsman’s subtle artistry is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures.

“How long until someone can live here?”

“Well~ it’ll be quite difficult, so at least a month…”

The craftsman answered Tsumugi’s question, and Nanami eyed him suspiciously. He didn’t seem to be acting.

“That’s too long! So being a craftsman isn’t something all that amazing after all?”

“With enough manpower, it can be done in a week!!”

How amazing! A craftsman’s subtle persistence is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures.

“Then what if it’s just for one person to live in?”

“For one person, huh… Then two, three days…”

Akane stepped up to use the carrot and the stick, and as a result— How magical! A craftsman’s backbone is also reflected in this kind of place.

“Then it’s just a matter of where we can get manpower… Should we get schoolmates…”

“It’s your life, take matters into your own hands! This academy promotes the spirit of student independence; asking alumni is against its ethos! Don’t you know shame!!”

Although the craftsman was expressing goodwill, he was still shot down by the student president who found fault with it for some reason.<ref> In Chinese, the same word can be used for both ‘schoolmates’ and ‘alumni,’ so the misunderstanding might be based there.</ref> But since he was quite used to Mimori’s rampages, plus the fact that Mimori apologized and said “Sorry, yours truly crossed the line.” after being scolded by Tsumugi-baba-sama, the craftsman could only mutter “I don’t know what to do with her…”

“You need manpower… It happens that there is a group of people who seem to be doing nothing.”

Tsumugi looked at the lively class.

The classmates could have found it troublesome and played dead, but each one was nicer than the last, wanting to help the poor Souta. The sentiment quickly spread, and the ‘I want to help, I want to help, I want to help’ attitude was clear at a glance.

“Great! Then let’s start by removing the rotten boards--”

As everybody immediately started working, Akane walked up to the front and said:

“I-I want to say something!!... Thank you everybody for being willing to help with my selfish project!”

Seeing Akane bow with all her might, Kikuno also joined in.

“Ah! Please let me thank everybody too! Our Sou-kun will be in your care.”

Seeing the two girls bow and thank everyone for him, plus Nanami poking him from behind and glaring at him as if to hint ‘Are you really going to stand by and do nothing while these girls do this for you?’, Souta was sandwiched by the pressure of the atmosphere and could not help but bow and say:

“Uh… I owe everybody one…”

“What kind of low-spirited thanks is that?!”

This was Nanami’s fierce retort upon not receiving real thanks. But the counter-reaction wasn’t even from Souta himself, but Kikuno.

“Th-that’s not it, that’s not it! Sou-kun’s very awkward, so he accidentally said it that way, but Big Sis thinks that he is very grateful to everyone! So… so I hope everybody doesn’t misunderstand him!!”

Souta’s thanks wasn’t great nor terrible, but Kikuno still patted his head as if saying ‘Good boy, you’ve worked hard’ while protecting him with those words.

''How spoiled.''

''Way too spoiled.''

''So doting.''

''Oh well…''

Then Akane provided the final, fatal hit--

“Th-that’s right! And… And, how do I say this, if Souta-kun smiled and provided lively thanks, it wouldn’t be his style and everyone would be disappointed!”

Akane’s extremely negative image of him made Souta depressingly realize ''So I look that gloomy in the eyes of others…''

Anyways, Souta’s plaintiveness made everyone raise ‘motivated’ flags. The Civil Engineering Club members let out an understanding “Ah…”, kindly saying “It’s okay.” and “Don’t take it to heart.”

But only the craftsman’s face went red. She looked the other way with a “Hmph!”

“I-I’m not doing it for you!”

Emerging from the craftsman…

“It’s not what you think!”

“Don’t get the wrong idea!”

“But if you don’t feel grateful, then I won’t spare you!”

This guy had just been heartily telling him not to mind things but suddenly began to say these kinds of statements one by one. This continued until he left for his post.

Souta didn’t understand what was going on with this scene, so Mimori explained to him:

“That girl’s personality is why the confession failure record keeps constantly getting broken.
But she’s the academy’s best at remodeling too, so rest at ease, '''''yo'''''!”

“‘That girl’?? So she’s actually female?!”

“If she were male, I wouldn’t have said ‘girl’.”

''Good point'' Souta silently agreed, observing the craftsman again. Could you say she’s gender neutral? If you said her to be a girl with very short hair, then she did indeed seem like a girl.

Akane suddenly approached from nearby to look at Souta’s face.

“That’s so great, Souta-kun.”

“... It’s all thanks to the good fortune provided by Okiku-nee and Akane.”

Seeing Souta look a bit uncomfortable and avert his eyes, Akane smiled and laughed, thinking that he was really cute.

“My mother once said that I should pay for my friends, so that they can be proud that they had such a friend.”

“Your mom is really great.”

“Yeah.” Akane nodded, gazing up at the blue sky.

“I always thought that doing that was to make friends, to become closer with friends. But I now find that not to be the case.”

“?”

“Because, because, you see, Souta-kun, just seeing your happiness also makes me as happy, joyful, and full of anticipation!”

Akane pressed her hands to her chest, spinning in circles.

“It’s my first time understanding that by bringing happiness to the people around you, you yourself will also feel as happy as they feel!”

“Akane, that’s because you’re really considerate.”

Hearing the conversation between Akane and Souta, Nanami, with a gentle expression mixed with a little sarcasm, interjected:

“Seeing Akane’s joy, We consequently feel joy as well. Akane is just like an exquisite cake made of happiness.”

“Nanami… You’re a poet!!”

As if discovering a beautiful line of verse, Akane’s eyes twinkled like several small stars. She tightly clasped both of Nanami’s hands with a sparkling, bright expression, happy as can be.

But Nanami realized that she made a serious slip of the tongue, her shy face burning as she struggled to shake off Akane’s hands.

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

“Nanami’s youthful poetry is my favorite! Being friends with Nanami is great! We must abuse the privilege of youth to run towards the sun!”

“Enough! Do nyaat waste your youth!!”

Nanami ran away after saying this, waving a huge hammer brought by the Civil Engineering Club and furiously destroying the rotten dormitory wall scheduled to be taken down, rather heroically covering up her embarrassment in this way.

“That girl is quite cut out for destroying things…”

Nearby, Tsumugi laid a waterproof cloth, set up a cushion on it, and leisurely sipped tea as if retiring with glory while looking at Nanami’s liveliness from afar and muttering to herself.

“Then, Big Sis will do her part for Sou-kun, too!”

“I’ll also go help.”

Kikuno and Akane swayed their bodies side to side, happily walking away. Souta was about to chase them, but Tsumugi suddenly stopped him from behind.

“Young Souta.”

“?”

Souta turned his head and saw Tsumugi’s kindly expression like a mother dog gazing at a puppy. Observing at the students excitedly absorbed into their work, she explained to Souta:

“Look closely, then engrave it into your heart. This isn’t a debt, but kindness. Kindness should be repaid with kindness. Put it in your heart, cultivate it little by little, absorb it. This way, one day, young Souta, you will also be a person able to express kindness as naturally as breathing.”

“Ah…”

Souta was about to respond with ‘Okay’, but Mimori came out from nowhere and cut him off, grabbing his shoulders and coolly pointing to the sky.

“This is the academy’s soul! The academy’s style!”

“Whoa, you scared me!”

Tsumugi smiled wryly at Mimori’s sudden appearance, saying persuasively:

“... In this regard, your spiritual practice is not good enough yet, young Mimori.”

“Grandmother is so strict…”

After letting off steam discontentedly, Mimori said the horrifying words like “Then, I’ll go forge documents and pretend that I received an application for rebuilding this dorm” and left the scene.

At the same time, Nanami, probably tired from waving the hammer, came back for tea.

“Hey, Souta. Don’t be lazy, shouldn’t thou help? This is where thou willst live, right?”

“Oh, sor… ry?”

As Nanami immediately gulped down the wheat tea Tsumugi poured for her, she noticed Souta apologize halfway and freeze with his head slightly raised. This intriguing movement made her frown.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… on top of the dorm… there’s a flag.”

“Huh? Something non-human can have flags too?!”

“It’s my first time seeing this, too…”

On the roof flew a ‘new role debut’ flag.

Souta, who could see it, and Nanami, who couldn’t, looked up at that unfamiliar flag together.

This time, Akane jogged back.

“Souta-kun, the people inside said they needed a boy’s help and wanted you to come over… Huh, what’s wrong? Why are you two staring at the roof? If you’re worried about spirits, aren’t they more likely ghosts?”

““Huh?! There are ghosts?!””

Akane’s unexpected comment startled Nanami and Souta, and they yelped sharply, forming beautiful harmony.

“... Only you two are that close. Not fair.”

“Is now the time to care about that kind of problem?!”

“Huh?! What?! They’re really like that?!”

Kikuno, never knowing the right time to come up behind Souta’s back, startled Souta and made him jump in surprise.

“Whoa, you scared me!”

“Sou-kun, which one are you closer with? Which one do you like?! Secretly tell Big Sis, please? Okay? Okay?”

Kikuno, delighted at the prospect of her little brother’s first love, put her hand by her ear, approaching Souta with a “Hmmm~?”

“No, even if you ask which one I like…”

“Is it the gentle Akane? Or~ Nanami? Since you call her by first name~ you’re very close… Ah, or you like both of them?”

Kikuno, giggling, might have intended to talk secrets with Souta quietly, but since the people in question were very close by, Akane and Nanami both heard this clear as day.

The one who reacted violently wasn’t Souta, but the red-faced Nanami.

“Come here, Souta!”

Nanami pulled Souta’s ear and brought him some distance away from Kikuno and co.

“Canst not thou do anything to deal with that freak sister?”

“I can’t do anything even if I wanted to…”

The little brother had already fallen into the bad habit of absolutely obeying his sister. Kikuno had, year in and year out, used a non-violent means known as doting to crush Souta’s resistance.

“......”

Nanami looked with disgust at Souta being spoiled by Big Sis, suddenly noticed something, and said:

“... Hey, thy sister doesn’t have a flag?”

So far, since Kikuno’s presence was so strong, Souta forgot to be afraid of flags. He recalled the top of Kikuno’s head, and said, almost to himself:

“Yeah… Now that you mention it, there is a flag.”

“What kind of flag?”

“I think it’s… the sisterly love flag.”

The scope of that flag seemed way too narrow. But considering Kikuno’s love for her little brother, it seemed to contain infinite possibilities.

At the same time, Nanami thought, as long as that flag broke, perhaps it would curb Kikuno’s desire to randomly speculate about her little brother’s relationships with girls.

“Try to break thy sister’s flag.”

“Huh?!”

“Try to break thy sister’s flag, try to break thy sister’s flag.”

“Why’d you say it twice…? Hey Nanami, don’t you usually tell me not to break them…”

Of course Souta only chose to listen now. Nanami let loose an angry, intimidating “Tch!!”

“Do not ask so many questions! If thou continues like this, thou willst always be a little brother to that woman, okay?!”

“... What’s wrong with that?”

“Enough! Thou hath completely fallen into the habit of a little brother!”

He’s already completely brainwashed by Kikuno! This time, Nanami growled “Grrr!”

Nanami became more and more like an animal. She might not have had an ‘evolve into a human’ flag, but hopefully it gets raised soon.

“Think about it, theoretically, two people have always felt like a big sister and little brother, and one day develop a relationship between a man and woman… something like that!”

Nanami became more and more embarrassed as she said this, and talked really quickly at the end.

“You read too much manga and watch too many dramas, Nanami…”

“What didst thou say?!”

“And, we don’t have that kind of relationship.”

Souta said this without blushing or missing a beat. Nanami glared at him, the look in her eyes neither dumbfounded nor angry nor irritated.

“Stop spouting nonsense, just break it already! If thou dost not break it, We will break thy arm!!”

“......”

Under Nanami’s intimidation, Souta told himself that since he keeps getting teased about it anyway, taking advantage of this situation to change his relationship with Kikuno might be better. After he reminded himself of this, he went back to Kikuno.

“Heeheeheeheehee. What kind of secrets did you talk about? Sou-kun, is there a secret between you and Nanami that you can’t tell Big Sis? As I thought… you’re in that kind of relationship? Did Big Sis guess it right? Can you tell Big Sis? Nanami can also call me Big Sis, okay?”

“Gaaaaaaaaaaah!! Souta!!”

Almost getting another sister out of nowhere, Nanami deepened the misunderstanding and angrily stomped her feet.

“A-alright…”

Under the pressure of Nanami’s hand signals, Souta nodded his head reluctantly and faced Kikuno.

“I’m not a kid anymore, so always sticking together isn't cool…”

“Ah…?!”

Hearing Souta’s flag-breaking words, Kikuno suffered a terrible shock.

“Big Sis understands!”

She seemed to understand.

“Sou-kun wants to maintain a cool image in front of the girl you like, right~?”

She didn’t understand at all.

Nanami realized this, pulled Souta’s ear, and yelled quietly.

“Hey, Souta! It didn’t break at all, did it?!”

“Rather, the flag dodged…”

“Dodged…?”

“Yeah, dodged with extreme speed…”

Nanami and Souta both trembled at Kikuno’s unfathomable potential, retreating and looking at Kikuno together.

“?”

A question mark appeared above Kikuno’s head, and she tilted her head in confusion.

Seeing her like that, disregarding the fact Souta’s fighting spirit was almost zero from the beginning, Nanami’s fighting spirit ignited again.

“Couldn’t thou have simply broken it more bluntly?!”

“...”

Nanami took silence as an answer, once again pushing Souta in front of Kikuno.

Glancing at the flag on Kikuno’s head, Souta forced a smile and tested the waters.

“That’s not what I meant. I just thought, shouldn’t we get rid of this brother-sister relationship already?”

“Ah…!!”

Hearing Souta’s flag-breaking words, Kikuno suffered a terrible shock.

“Big Sis understands!”

This time she seemed to really understand.

“Nanami made you say that. Heehee, don’t worry, Nanami. Souta and I aren’t like that. No need to fret, I won’t steal Souta away.

This time she still didn’t understand at all.

“We are also not like that, alright?!”

Seeing Nanami roar, Kikuno thought, ''She became shy, she became shy!'' and was still extremely happy.

“The flag dodged with godlike speed again…”

“That kind of thing exists?”

Having seen the existence of a special flag surpassing human imagination, Souta had the same question. He replied, a little out of it:

“It’s also the first time I’ve seen this.”

Seeing the terrifying creature known as ‘Big Sis’ in person made Nanami and Souta get goosebumps.

At some point, Akane, already working in the dorm, stuck her hand out the taken-down window and waved, breaking the peculiar atmosphere.

“Souta-kun— they’re asking ‘Why hasn’t a boy come yet?’ already—”

‘Yet’ followed by ‘already’, so strange… Souta thought about unrelated things, leaving Nanami and Kikuno behind to enter the dorm.

Upon Souta’s entry, the craftsman immediately said to Souta: “I just want you to clean up the decaying cabinet in the locker room in front of the bathroom, don’t get me wrong!!” But it’s quite difficult to figure out which part of the sentence could be misunderstood.

As proven by the fact that Souta didn’t get it wrong at all and went straight to the locker room.

A loud rattling sound came from inside the bathroom. As he got to work, Souta just glanced around briefly before returning to the task at hand, finding the old cabinet.

But no matter how you look at it, that cabinet didn’t seem like something one person could move alone. Just as Souta racked his brain for a solution, a male classmate happened to pass by the hallway. Souta hurriedly called out to him.

“Excuse me, I need a boy’s help over here, can you help me?”

The male classmate he just called to wore a boys’ uniform on his upper body and shorts and striped knee socks on his lower body. Even if he was disguised as a girl, he was wearing a male uniform, so he should be a boy… That said, his appearance and temperance, even if he was a pretty boy, was too girlish: If you asked whether he was more like a pretty boy or a beautiful girl with short hair rolled into a man bun, obviously it would be the latter — this was the reality.

As if embodying that kind of indistinguishability, the dainty male (?) classmate said “A boy…?” and looked around.

“A boy, a boy, a boy… one<ref> This guy refers to himself in third person.</ref>?!”

Since nobody else could be found nearby, and Souta had been looking at him for a while, the male classmate seemed to finally realize that it was directed at him.

Seeing his suspicious behavior, Souta worried that he made a mistake, asking with his heart in his mouth:

“So you’re not a boy…? Then my sincerest apologies. Because during PE class, I saw you on the boys’ side… Sorry, I always thought you were male…”

“...!!”

Souta recalled being thoroughly shocked at seeing striped kneesocks during PE class that day as he added an apology. The male (?) classmate seemed to have taken a heavy hit, his knees knocked together, arms pressed tight against his body, and his whole body shaking.

“Uh, hey…”

“O-one… one… ! One is a boy!! That’s correct!!”

So he claimed.

Although he claimed so, his knees knocked to the point that they practically fused together, and his hands and fists were placed almost in a boxing position, moving erratically in a cute way, pretty much contradicting himself.

“For one… it’s one’s first time meeting someone who treats one as a boy! And, because of one’s features, even those who know one only treat one as a girl… But, Souta-kun treats one as a boy, so one is very happy!”

The male classmate raised friendship flags.

Right, it was raised… but…

“What’s going on here…?”

Spouting from the male classmate’s head, while still a flag, were countless flags tied together joined to the sky like streamers, extending endlessly upwards and slightly backwards, weaving across the wall.

“Streamers…streamers? F-… flag?... This a flag?”

It was also Souta’s first time seeing a flag in this kind of mystical shape, so it was hard to cover up his confusion.

If it wasn’t a flag, it would mean Souta could see things other than flags. That would be terrifying. So terrifying that he didn’t want to keep thinking about it, so he just assumed that he could only see flags.

The male classmate had followed Souta’s gaze to the top of his head and was looking up at the sky, but he suddenly remembered something and tapped his palm with his fist.

“Ah, one hasn’t introduced oneself. One’s name is Touzokuyama Megumu</ref> Megumu’s surname indicates that his ‘class’ is thief</ref>.”

Megumu squatted cutely, sliding his hand on the dusty floorboard. After demonstrating how to write his name, he smiled shyly.

“I am…”

Souta nodded, thinking that his surname was a little over-the-top.<ref> Imagine meeting a guy named John Thief lol</ref> As he decided to introduce himself to Megumu, Megumu cut him off.

“You must be Hatate-kun. One knows because one saw you introduce yourself when you transferred.”

“Just call me Souta.”

“O-one too! Just call one Megumu.”

He said this excitedly as streamers of friendship flags fluttered on his head. Perhaps that ‘people should get along no matter what country they’re from’ mentality was because of these streamers.<ref> The phrase I’m translating as ‘streamer’ literally means ‘ten thousand country flags’ [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%87%E5%9B%BD%E6%97%97#/media/File:Sports-Fest2.jpg (万国旗)]</ref>

“One thinks one can establish a manly friendship with Souta-kun!”

Souta’s first reaction of him had been a perplexed ‘Why is there a girl mixed in with the boys’ PE class…?’, so he remembered her clearly... no, him. But Souta couldn’t say that. In order to hide his thoughts, he hurriedly changed the subject.

“Really… Speaking of which, the name ‘Megumu’ is... really cool.”

“Th-that’s not true. One kind of hates this feminine name. Everyone likes to call one by one’s nickname, Megu-chan, so it seems even more feminine.”

“Yours is still relatively good, unlike my name Souta. My kindergarten nickname was ‘Missus’ <ref> In Chinese at least, doubling the last character in Souta’s name (太) creates the phrase for ‘wife’ or ‘old lady’.</ref>”

“Souta-kun’s really cute♡”

Megumu clutched his sides and lightly covered his mouth, his entire body shaking with laughter. No matter how you look at it, Megumu’s a cute girl.

Perhaps out of guilt, the conversation was very accommodating towards Megumu. Although Souta thought his personality would only hurt Megumu, as luck would have it, they still had a good conversation.

“... I’ll call you Megu-chan too.”

“Hey~! Souta-kun, you bully!!”

Confronted with having accidentally said something very feminine, Megumu pouted cutely, puffing his cheeks.

“That said, Megumu, I just want to know one thing…”

“Ah! One has been working out before bed to become more manly, so one is a bit stronger now, okay?”

Megumu flexed his biceps after saying so. Souta asked Megumu ‘Can I touch it?’ and was given permission. He touched it and found that the muscle was so soft that it made him feel guilty. However, because the ‘Nnngh~!’ sound that Megumu made as he flexed was too cute, Souta gave up on his retort. More to the point, Souta wasn’t even asking about that.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I wanted to ask about the bottom half of your uniform.”

“... Oh.”

Megumu’s weak reply was mixed with a sigh, and he lifted the lower hem of his uniform coat. Since they were both male, there clearly wasn’t any reason to look twice. Nevertheless, Souta blushed and his heart rate sped up.

“This is…”

“N-nevermind, sorry. I didn’t offend you, right? Everyone has different hobbies. It’s fine, and it really suits you…”

Seeing the fluttering streamers fall weakly, Souta anxiously mediated.

“No! No no no! No no!!”

Megumu lightly hammered Souta’s chest with unmatched cuteness.

“This is because… Big Sis said this way was definitely cuter… said it was approved by the academy… My Big Sis is responsible for designing this uniform… so…”

The phrase ‘Big Sis’ scared Souta and made him flinch.

“The student handbook also says that, starting this year, this outfit is approved as a uniform.”

“Really?!”

Souta brought out a student handbook from his chest pocket to confirm. Listed next to the normal boys’ and girls’ uniform, there really was an illustration identical to what Megumu was wearing at the moment.

“It’s true!!... Speaking of which, does anyone else wear it like this?”

“... Somewhere in this vast world.”

“That’s already not about this academy’s uniforms anymore!?”

Megumu’s eyes became empty.

“This outfit isn’t only conspicuous, but people also say it looks like a girls’, so one hates it. But Big Sis cried, saying that it’s definitely cute, and made me wear it…”

“Since your Big Sis cried and begged, there’s nothing you can do about it…”

As a fellow comrade who loses unconditionally to his older sister, Souta’s heartstrings tugged with sympathy for his fellow sufferer.

“Yeah… and one is the youngest of four siblings, with sisters all above me.”

“Your life is so hard… I understand how you feel, Megumu…”

Megumu was usually surrounded by people jealous of his beautiful sisters, so when he heard Souta’s gentle words, his chest couldn’t help but tighten with a ‘squeeze♡’.

“Thank you!! Only Souta-kun understands me!! Thank you! Really, thank you so much, Souta-kun!!”

Megumu rushed to hug Souta, as if pushing people out of the way.

Megumu’s body was unusually slender. Souta could actually support him quite easily, but something other than weight made Souta dizzy.

“Whoa!! Megumu, why is your body so fragrant?! And super soft?!”

“Huh?” Megumu, his height only up to Souta’s neck, raised his watery eyes to look at Souta in a way that made Souta even dizzier.

At this time, Akane reached out her head.

“Souta-kun, what’s the situation? Can one person handle it? Hey, whoa!? S-sorry, I… w-will support you guys!!”

“What are you talking about, Akane?!”

Akane, covering her face, stared at the hugging scene through the gaps between her fingers.

“I-I’m good at supporting people’s love! The couples I support always welcome new love under my leadership, with plentiful concrete results! Just leave it to Akane!”

“You mean it’s failure, Akane!”

“Failure is the mother of success! It’s fine as long as the new love succeeds.”

“Everything really depends on how you explain it anyways…”

Akane’s headache-inducing enthusiasm made Megumu and Souta force a smile.

“Let’s save that for later. How come you guys suddenly became so intimate?”

Akane anxiously looked at Megumu and Souta, who had kept hugging. Her words finally made the two come to their senses, and their bodies instantly separated.

“N-no, no!! This and that are different things!!”

“Th-that’s right. How do we put it… ah! We were just confirming our friendship, hmm, yeah.”

Regarding believing people, Akane was unbelievably simple. ‘So that’s how it was!’ She believed the two without any doubts.

“Oh. Friendship, huh… Souta-kun just refuses to demonstrate such warm friendship with me.”

Seeing Akane’s dejection, Souta busily tried to find an escape.

“I-it’s because Akane’s a girl… So it’s not appropriate.”

“Yeah, this is a privilege of a friendship between men!!”

“???”

Megumu revealed a tremendously cute smile because being treated like a boy by the confused Akane made him very happy. Please note that this does not mean tremblingly cute. Speaking of tremblingly cute ~ it was so cute that it made people tremble… wait, is that even cute then? Wouldn’t it be scary?<ref> Original Japanese pun had something to do with ‘unusually cute’ and ‘flying kick cute’ being off by one syllable.</ref>

“Y-yeah…”

Anyways, facing Megumu’s sparkling eyes, the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched as he nodded.

Speaking of which, does a friendship between men really involve that kind of intimate hug? Of course, this kind of question never appeared in Akane’s mind, she was just jealous.

“How nice, how nice… But, I’m really happy to see that Souta-kun’s friend count increased!”

As Akane said this, satisfaction replaced her original envy. Seeing her like this, overflowing with thoughtfulness and kindness, Souta experienced a warm feeling in his heart that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Right. Akane, did you check on me because you were worried? There’s no problem here. I already found a boy to help me.”

“Really?... But, where is he?”

Akane showed a natural expression like ○△○, carefully looking around the locker room.

Seeing that Akane’s natural manner was completely devoid of malice, or rather, it was unfortunately absolutely devoid of malice, Megumu almost cried. He apprehensively raised his small, cute hand.

“Th-that… is oneself.”

“Huh?! Megu-chan’s a girl~ Souta-kun, why are you guys always saying weird things?”

Based on Akane’s innocent laughter, it was clear that she wasn’t bullying; rather, that was what she deeply believed. After all, she was an ‘if she believes it, then she will deeply believe it without any doubt to an unbelievable degree’ kind of girl.

“... Akane, Megumu’s a boy though?”

“Nyaahahaha, stop joking-”

Akane even let out laughter she normally wouldn’t have, causing Megumu to tear up cutely. At this point, Akane finally began to understand the situation.

“Huh? Huh? I-it’s really true…? But-but, because, but-but, because, that’s not a boy’s uniform.”

“Oh… But this isn’t a girl’s uniform either, right? When you think about it, it’s actually more like a boy’s uniform.”

“You really ''can'' notice that!!”

To Akane, this was an earth-shattering revelation.

“So that’s what it was… That’s why I didn’t see Megu-chan in the girl’s PE class… Excuse my lack of manners. This mistake does not befit me.”

“No, in a way, it’s something very much like what Akane would do…”

“... Does this mean, Souta-kun is actually a girl?”

“Hey, you don’t need to overcompensate, Akane…”

Akane nodded emotionally, faced Megumu — he had bent the second knuckle of his index finger at a right angle and was cutely wiping tears from the corner of his eye — and lowered her head in apology.

“Sorry, Megu-chan. I didn’t think you had this kind of secret that even I, Mahougasawa Akane, could not see through.”

“I don’t remember treating this as a secret at all, but it’s fine as long as you understand.”

Akane seemed to think that the world was packed with many secrets. But the vast majority are packed to the brim, so one could say that they’re over-packed.

Anyways, although it was an earth-shattering revelation to Akane, she now thought back to what she was saying before and inadvertently exclaimed “Ah!”

“Hmph!! I almost started supporting your rocky romance!! Why did things become like this?!”

That’s what Megumu and Souta wanted to ask her. But they chose to remain silent, their smiles strained.

“I’ll go ask Nanami!!”

““Why did things become like this?!””

Megumu and Souta voiced in perfect harmony. Akane had a ‘These two are really close, I got left out again…’ kind of resentful expression, and ran to find Nanami.

He really didn’t know how it would be spun… Souta held back his low spirits and smiled slightly at Megumu.

“Th-then, let’s just get started.”

“Th-that’s right.”

They seemed to have finally remembered their original purpose. But because they had digressed too far, it almost made one doubt whether or not they really remembered.

“I’ll lift this side. Megumu, can you help lift the other side?”

“Leave it to me! It’s finally time to show my ability to break single-use chopsticks!!”

Souta felt a bit uneasy.

“Then… Ready, go!’

“Hahh… hup!”

Upon lifting it, he realized that the cabinet wasn’t as heavy as it seemed… as far as Souta was concerned.

As for Megumu, he couldn’t even stand steady. Dangerous, really dangerous.

Furthermore, there were two more exhausting phases to endure. As if to demonstrate, Megumu’s face reddened as he exerted all his strength. Souta was dumbfounded.

“I-I said… Megumu…? If you can’t move it, I can find other guys…”

“No!! It would waste Souta-kun’s surety that one was a man and subsequent request for help. If one were to give up, one would fail to live up to Souta-kun’s kindness!!”

“No… it’s not that serious…”

Megumu almost cried. But while his steps were unsteady, he still displayed a staunch willpower.

This atmosphere made it difficult for Souta to open his mouth and say that he could probably move it alone. Thus he could only do his best to carefully prevent Megumu from bearing too much weight as they moved. As a result, Souta’s own strength and stamina was depleted anyways.

There was now one more cabinet on the hill of scrap wood used by the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club. Megumu put his hands on his hips and bent forward slightly, He cutely faced Souta, who was wiping sweat off his forehead, and said:

“Thank you, Souta-kun!”

“Huh? It should be me thanking you, right?”

The words seemed to make Megumu a little uncomfortable. Megumu spoke guiltily and shook his head.

“No, you took particular trouble not to let one bear weight, right? Clearly it would’ve been easier for you to move it alone. But one kept clamoring about being a man and as a result persisted in pointlessly hurting you…”

“It wasn’t pointless.”

“Huh…?”

“This kind of persistence in becoming your ideal self… I don’t think it’s pointless.”

“... Souta-kun♡”

Souta empathized and respected the feeling of wanting to be a man, bringing tears to Megumu’s eyes.

“Souta-kun, you’re so considerate…”

Megumu’s mouth formed a dazzling smile, like a flower bursting into full bloom.

Souta, fostering a friendship between men, worked while Megumu deliberately stuck to him. By the time he met up with Kikuno and Nanami, the sun had almost set.

“Big Sis looks away for a moment and Sou-kun brings another girl back!! Big Sis is very concerned!!”

“Okiku-nee… Megumu isn’t a girl…”

“Nyaahahaha, stop joking~”

Kikuno even let out laughter she normally wouldn’t have, and Souta felt a sense of deja vu.

“Look, his uniform is more like a boy’s?”

“You really ''can'' notice that!!”

To Kikuno, this was an earth-shattering revelation.

Megumu’s gender was unbeknownst to everyone. Really made you wonder whether he had blurted out that he was a girl upon introducing himself as a new student…

“Huh~ I thought Megu-chan was a girl. Since Megu-chan always uses the girls’ bathroom.”

“Megumu?!”

Souta thought that this piece of information would be really difficult to explain.

“B-because, many boys complained that one going to the boys’ bathroom made them very uncomfortable. It became a big problem, and then the girls said ‘Megu-chan can use the girls’ bathroom’...”

“......”

This whole situation was hard to determine right from wrong. Souta was left speechless, and decided to change the subject.

“... But anyways, there seems to be more people… was there this many people from the start?”

Aside from the members of the Civil Engineering Club, everyone was getting ready to go home. But looking at the sea of people, it seemed there were a lot more people than before.

“Oh, that’s because the student president, Grandmother, me, and Akane-chan called a lot of friends to come.”

“Huh…?! I feel bad… all this just for someone like me…”

“I begged them, saying that it was for my precious little brother, and everyone came.”

That’s why the group of senpais observing from afar were whispering to each other: ''“So it’s him?”'' ''“Is the girl wearing shorts beside him his girlfriend?”'' ''“What a cute couple.”'' All the while gazing inquisitively.

Souta wholeheartedly wished to escape the scrutinizing eyes. He shifted the conversation towards Nanami, pretending he didn’t hear anything.

“Did Nanami also help call people to come?...... My apologies. Princesses are just different, maybe it’s their moral prestige?”

“......”

“Nanami?”

Nanami lowered her head, her whole body trembling. Souta approached, looking at her face.

“We…”

“We?”

“W-We didn’t call anybody here, alright?! That is, We don’t have any acquaintances to call at all!! ''My apologies'', princesses clearly don't have moral prestige!!”

“Ah, Nanami, let’s go eat the red bean dumpling soup that the volunteers made for everyone.” Akane said.

“Nanami, you’ve already made up for that with your effort, so it’s all right.” Kikuno said.

“After all, you’re in a remote foreign country. Not having any acquaintances is something that can’t be helped, it’s actually very normal. Don’t worry, Nanami.” Souta said.

“D-… do nyaat console so much!!”

Nanami became angry out of embarrassment.

Because the dorm was in the middle of construction and living there would be dangerous, Souta temporarily resided in ‘The Most Dangerous Boys’ Dorm Room, Challenging the Limits of Rationality’, aka Megumu’s room. After personally experiencing the meaning of danger, the day of his much-anticipated return to Quest House arrived. It seems that this school is flooded with danger.

After working through days and nights, the reborn Quest House…

““““““““““It’s really too magical!!”””””””””

… Anyone who saw it would inadvertently say this. It was reborn reborn. Repeating the word ‘reborn’ twice expresses how much this rebirth changed it. Definitely not because the author’s literary powers have dried up. Hope everybody understands this point.<ref> Smooth, author-sensei, real smooth</ref>

“So amazing… it’s not just unrecognizable, it’s basically a different thing entirely.”

“Praise it a bit more!!”

Suddenly appearing, Student President Mimori proudly — really proudly — stuck out her chest.

“President didn’t do any of the actual work, okay?!”

The Civil Engineering Club president — the Craftsman — Yuzurihakami Mimori.<ref> Her name is 杠上美森. She’s not on the wiki, nor is her name mentioned in the anime, so I had to guess the pronunciation. The last two characters are the same as Mimori’s. As for the first two, I just pieced together some surname readings for 杠 and 上 that I found on Jisho. Incidentally, her name doesn’t contain a ‘class,’ so she probably won’t appear much if at all in the future.</ref>

“Because yours truly has [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_building_syndrome Sick Building Syndrome.”]

“Stop talking nonsense!! Also, this time the renovation used a lot of eco-friendly materials, so how can it trigger Sick Building Syndrome?!”

“Because yours truly has Eco-Friendly Building Syndrome…”

''Looks like this person cannot live indoors no matter what…'' As Souta thought this, Akane, who was beside him, smiled delightedly at him.

“It became a liveable place in one fell swoop.”

“Mmm.”

“It became a place unfit for ghosts.”

“There are ghosts?!”

“Heeheehee, I’m just saying random things.” Akane’s laughter even sounded like random consolation. How terrifying.

“Anyways, according to our original plan, I need to show my skills and clean up Souta-kun’s room!”

“We just finished renovating, I don’t think there would be anywhere to clean, though?!”

Akane jabbed her index fingers together, depressed like Judgement Day had come. Seeing her state, Souta hastily added:

“Uh— but if you could help me unpack my luggage, that would be a big help!”

“Ah, s-sorry, Souta-kun. I’ve troubled you.”

“Big Sis too! Big Sis also wants to unpack luggage together!!”

Seeing Kikuno raise her hand and join this heartwarming topic, Nanami pursed her lips.

“This Big Sis, couldn’t be more close, huh…”

Nearby, Megumu, doing squats for no reason, was so tired his legs almost fell off by the sixth rep.

Seeing that the group’s mood was as warm as tempura right out of the oven, the pensive President Mimori muttered. ‘Tempura right out of the oven’ because the Cooking Research Club was frying it outside to celebrate the rebirth of Quest House, not because Souta and co were heating it up. The tempura looked really delicious, though this has nothing to do with the aforementioned situation.

“But, this headache…”

“What’s wrong, President?”

In truth, this was because a sentence about ‘mood and tempura’ was accidentally written, but one has to make the best of it when at the end of one’s rope… Anyways, Mimori and Tsumugi didn’t care about this at all, sneaking some fried sweet potatoes while emotionally looking at the brand-new dorm.

“According to the rules, dorms with only one resident must be taken down.”

““““““““““And you say that now?!””””””””””

Hearing a sentence they couldn’t ignore, the surrounding people cried in unison.

“Yours truly is Seiteikouji Mimori, the so-called unparalleled king of late reactions. Nobody would dare to accept my challenge!”

“Somebody shut up the president.”

At Tsumugi’s shouted order, Mimori had many strips of tape pasted over her mouth. After tearing off the tape in tears, Mimori yelled, half angry out of embarrassment:

“Rules are rules! Since it’s been completed, it needs to be taken down!”

“Are thou a demon?!”

Nanami couldn’t help but roar back.

Reacting sharper than anyone else to the imminent sad situation in front of her, Akane also stepped in to salvage the situation:

“E-excuse me! How many people does it need to house at minimum?!”

“... Four…?”

“Why are you so unsure?”

Mimori, her memory extremely muddled, remembered after searching the depths of her memory.

“Correction, it’s five people.”

“Five people, huh…”

“Luckily, I heard that we were able to take preventive measures and renovate a few extra rooms thanks to the increase in manpower, so now the amount of usable rooms numbers about ten… gathering just four friends is easy enough, right?”

Mimori chuckled, and Nanami and Akane filled with rage at that.

“How can thy words be so over-the-top?!”

“That’s to say, you’ve crossed the line!!”

“... S-sorry.”

“Even if Sou-kun doesn’t have any friends, you still have Big Sis, okay? Okay?”

Because Nanami and the others spoke up for him, while the student president apologized, Souta seemed even more pitiful. The atmosphere became very indescribable.

“But, even if we didn’t need to gather four more people to live here, one person living by themselves in such a big place is a bit lonely…”

“... No problem. I’m used to being lonely.”

“Nuh-uh, nuh-uh!! Being like that… being very lonely… is very sad, too sad!!”

Looks like Akane, with her can’t-leave-sad-people-alone sickness, lost her temper.

If she left this alone, Akane would probably cry again, so Souta sighed, reluctantly nodding.

“But… if someone does want to live here, I’m okay with it.”

Akane’s eyes brightened, and she clenched her fist.

“Souta-kun needs dormmates, right? Because he’d be lonely, right? Of course! This is not okay! I know! I, Mahougasawa Akane, shall move into this dorm!”

“Hey, isn’t this a boys’ dorm?!”

“Is it?”

Akane looked at Tsumugi, her movements indicating that matters regarding the academy should be asked to the living dictionary.

“This was originally a faculty dormitory. I think it did not particularly differentiate men and women…”

“Then it’s '''''no problem'''''!”

“God… Hey, President, you should say something, too!”

Souta thought that boys and girls living under the same roof was definitely not '''''no problem''''', and he hastily begged Mimori to advise Akane to change her mind.

“Boys and girls living under the same roof is very romantic!!”

“Somebody shut this rascal up.”

Finally, even Tsumugi couldn’t be polite.

“But wasn’t it Akane who sponsored the reconstruction of the dorm out of her own pocket? Is it okay to disregard the sponsor’s ideas…”

“Nanami, I’m begging you not to say so much!”

“This is the sponsor’s authority!”

“Since it’s the sponsor’s authority, the student president’s authority can only permit it!”

Mimori, who was almost shut up but didn’t shut up, asserted. This is because her ability to not shut up is especially profound.

“But! However! Isn’t a boy and a girl inappropriate?!”

Souta retorted.

Kikuno raised her hand to retort back.

“Then Big Sis will also move in!”

“I see, so a boy and two girls wouldn’t be inappropriate.”

“Isn’t it more inappropriate?!”

The student president approved Kikuno’s idea, then retorted Kikuno’s retort to Souta’s retort. Now it’s already impossible to tell right from left.

“E-excuse me!! C-can one also come with?!”

“I said, Megumu…”

“Okay, this way we have balanced it out with one boy and three girls!”

“Where, how? Where is the balance?”

Leaving aside Souta’s retort towards Mimori, Megumu, having been regarded as a girl, lost the light in his eyes, and his small, half-open mouth drifted into an empty smile.

“Still missing one person.”

“......”

“There isn’t anyone else who will move here anymore.”

“......”

“That’s right… Why don’t we find one of Big Sis’s friends…”

“......”

Every time Akane, Souta, and Kikuno muttered their thoughts, Nanami coughed quietly.

“How about the craftsman?”

“How about the president?”

“How about Grandmother, Sou-kun?”

“......”

Nanami started wordlessly kicking the door post of Quest House. They say door post and '''''want you''''' sound very similar,<ref> That is, the Japanese pronunciation for ‘door post’ is similar to how Japanese people would pronounce ‘want you’ in English, as they’re only off by one phoneme (monchyou vs wonchyou)</ref> though this has nothing to do with this situation.

“... Miss Princess of Bladefield is almost crying, everyone…”

Megumu, not knowing the right time to come back to life, saw Nanami crouch and shudder with tear-filled eyes, and his sympathetic heart almost broke.

“Come on, we’re just kidding, Nanami. You’re willing to move here, right?”

“Yeah, the last person has to be Nanami since she’s very close with Sou-kun.”

“That’s right, there’s nobody else to choose but Nanami.”

“As long as Nanami is here, Big Sis will also be relieved.”

After Akane and Kikuno continuously took turns and finished speaking, Nanami stood up, her mood having rapidly improved.

“I a-a-a-a-a-absolutely was not about to cry. But since, in any event, ye are persistent and want Us to come, We will also…”

Before Nanami, who a-a-a-a-a-absolutely did not wipe her tears with her sleeves, could finish her sentence, Souta accidentally asked Akane and Kikuno:

“Hey, you guys were just kidding?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Failure flags were raised on the heads of tongue-tied Akane and Kikuno. Nanami’s eyes filled with tears again and she angrily stamped her feet.

“Absolutely not! Unless it’s the room at the very edge, or else I won’t live here!!”

“I want the room next to Sou-kun!”

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai, you’re so sly! I also want to live next to Souta-kun!”

“Th-then, I want to live in the room opposite Souta-kun.”

Looks like that area’s population density is very high.

“Only Nanami’s room is super far away.”

“Ye group of idiots—!”

Souta was inexplicably hammered many times by the unwilling-to-be-alone Nanami.

“... I understand it now. I just need to move near Nanami’s room, right…”

“Sou-kun is so considerate!! No wonder he’s Big Sis’s good little brother!!”

Souta thought with a smile, ''Not bad, I’ll have to bring in the luggage again anyways.'' Kikuno was so touched by her little brother that she hugged him tightly.

“Whoa… Okiku-nee, everyone’s watching! They’re all watching!”

Souta, panicking and trying to escape Kikuno’s smothering chest, was given an envious look by everyone.

“I-I’m next! I want to hug!”

Pretending to be jealous of Souta but actually jealous of Kikuno, Akane lined up behind Kikuno.

“O-one too…”

Megumu lined up behind Akane.

Mimori smiled at the close boarders of the new Quest Dorm.

“In short, we have gathered five people. One boy and four girls is fine, right?”

“No problem!”

“It is a huge problem…”

Akane agreed, but Tsumugi showed signs of reluctance.

“The problem has expanded, right?! You don’t think that it’s pretty much become a girls’ dorm?!”

“Leave it to yours truly, Mimori, the so-called unparalleled problem concealer!! Bwahahahahaha!!”

What was so funny remained a mystery. But anyways, Mimori, who seemed like she really did to conceal the problem, burst into laughter.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2

2025-01-04T01:17:45Z

Person72635: /* Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches */

==Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches==

The day after Souta transferred.

The excitement of the previous day was like a dream. Other than Kikuno, the only person who would actively seek him out to talk, people stopped approaching Souta after class.

As the daylight waned in the noisy classroom, only one word described Souta sitting at his seat — lonely.

His figure evoked loneliness.

“They don’t so much as glance at him, is this reality… Has everyone already lost interest in the transfer student?”

Nanami sat sideways on her chair, expressing her honest opinion of Souta.

However, the classroom atmosphere was less that of ostracism so much as… that feeling of ‘the new transfer student seems to like being alone and doesn’t want to interact, so let’s just let him be.’

Souta didn’t seem to care at all. “Oh, that’s because…” he replied:

“After a flag breaks, it won’t reappear that easily. If something special happens, the flag could reappear or a ‘Flag Recovery’ flag might appear…”

“This mechanism is quite annoying…”

Human relationships might indeed be like this, it’s just that this flag thing is too exaggerated — Nanami understood this implicitly. As the bell rang, she turned to face forward.

However… there was a pair of eyes secretly staring at them.

The eyes’ owner looked breathlessly at Souta, who hadn’t left his seat, for the entire class and seemed to nod with determination…

Lunch break.

The students either started eating lunch with three to five friends around a desk or went to the cafeteria together. A lively atmosphere filled the classroom.

In contrast, Nanami and Souta were too quiet, staring at their respective desks and quietly nibbling on the salty bread they bought that morning.

Their loneliness was so strong that people couldn’t approach them, adding even more loneliness and falling into an endless negative spiral. FYI, the word spiral definitely wasn’t used because it’s a cool word. Spiral.

Based on her excessively protective mentality, if Kikuno was there it would be impossible for Souta to stay in that loneliness spiral, and they would definitely be eating lunch together. Unfortunately, in order to give advice to those who volunteered to study abroad, Kikuno was attending a lunch gathering hosted by the Student Council and wasn’t in the classroom.

Suddenly, a shadow approached this singular space.

It was an approachable girl, a beautiful girl-next-door type person. Each grade generally has one of those.

If Nanami’s beauty was like a rose, hers would be a cherry blossom that rouses people’s protective instincts.

She had shoulder-length hair with big bows swaying on both sides highlighting her cuteness.

“Hi, my name is Mahougasawa Akane.<ref> Akane’s last name includes the characters for ‘magician’, hence the title of this chapter.</ref>”

The girl… Akane smiled gently and suddenly brought her face closer — close enough to feel her breath — and surprised Souta, who stiffened.

The thing that made Souta’s expression most tense was that…

''The flag… It’s been raised…''

A friendship flag flapped on Akane’s head.

“Ah, I hope you don’t feel repulsed! I’m not a suspicious person, I’m a mysterious classmate, okay?”

“You’re mysterious?!”

So suspicious it might explode.

“Excuse me… what does this mysterious classmate want from me?”

“I’m Akane-chan, though?”

“... Mahougasawa-san, what do—”

“I’m Akane-chan, though?”

Souta was interrupted by Akane halfway through his sentence.

“... Akane, what do you want from me?”

“Oh! It’s the first time a boy used my first name directly.”

Souta glanced at the friendship flag, which had been splashed with a hint of pink.

Akane also blushed pink, matching the flag. She didn’t seem to notice the subtle movements of his eyes. She asked generously:

“Can we eat a bento together?”

Honestly, Souta didn’t really want to interact with people, and most importantly, he was more apprehensive than happy at the thought of having lunch with two girls in the classroom. After all, he was a sensitive boy in his teenage years, so this was an expected reaction.

“... It’s bothersome.”

“He thinks I’m a bother!!”

Akane’s friendship flag broke, and Souta was relieved.

Nanami was already peeking at them through the corner of her eyes while drinking from her milk carton. At this time, she leaned over beside Souta’s ear and asked:

“Souta, was the flag raised?”

“Yeah…”

“Did you break it?”

“Pretty much…”

“Oh.” Despite her disinterested expression, Nanami looked into Souta’s eyes, which were filled with self-contempt and self-pity. This guy was torturing himself.

“I won’t be a bother, so can we eat lunch together?”

“Huh?!”

Since Akane’s flag had been broken, Souta thought she should have left already. Yet she stubbornly stayed and continued trying. Souta was absolutely flabbergasted.

“Did it not break?”

Nanami murmured, letting go of the straw in the carton.

“How can this be possible…”

Souta was sure that the flag had been broken and looked above Akane’s head… but —

“It-it rose again…!”

He saw the friendship flag rise again.

Having broken countless flags, Souta had never seen a flag recover so quickly.

Seeing Souta speechless, Akane tilted her head in confusion.

“Can we?”

“Holy…!”

Maybe thinking that Souta’s silence indicated permission, Akane relaxed and brought an empty seat next to Souta’s desk.

Nearly going with the flow, Souta frantically tried to break the flag again as Akane put down the chair.

“N-no, how should I say this… After all… I’ll be teased if I have lunch with girls… you know what I mean?”

“... That makes sense, sorry.”

Seeing the friendship flag break and disappear again, Souta sighed in relief.

… But before the sigh even came out, a new friendship flag had already popped up.

“I’ll eat after Souta-kun has finished eating, so can we sit together?”

“You don’t understand what I’m saying at all?!”

“?”

Souta was scared silly, and Akane tilted her head in confusion, smiling gently.

“But-but, it feels a little rude to eat first, though?”

“...”

Souta didn’t think that she could understand him at all. This kind of situation was desperate, almost like fighting a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull_switch pull chain] in the middle of a room.

“Can’t I?”

“I’m not saying that… You can’t… No, I’m just saying…”

Attracted by the ruckus, even the classmates who had their flags broken started glancing towards Souta with interest.

“See, everyone’s looking…”

Souta lowered his head, looking extremely distressed. Akane, almost crying, looked around at her classmates.

The spectators crossed their arms in unison, thinking about the best solution for this situation. After contemplating a while, they all looked to the center of the classroom together.

They looked at the wisest person in the class — the academy’s Living Dictionary, the sage Ryuukishibara Tsumugi. Currently, she was nibbling a rice ball.

Her face and body, even if you relaxed the standard, was at most just at the level of a middle schooler… No, this description is still wrong. She looked completely childish, just like a little girl.

Despite her immature appearance, there were rumors that she had been living here even before the academy was founded. How many years she had repeated was a complete mystery. It was one of the seven wonders of the school.

There were other mysteries about her, too. For example, she only wore school uniform’s shirt and coat over a belted kimono — this outfit would surprise every passerby.

If someone asked her about this, she would sigh: “You don’t even know how to wear a kimono? Western tea has poisoned you to forget…”

However, she still wore large lace hair accessories. In this regard, her appreciation of beauty did not distinguish between East and West.

Under the gaze of the whole class, Tsumugi understood the situation, thought quickly, and immediately stood up.

“Everybody listen up!! The weather today is great!! It’s warm and sunny, so go out and eat!”

Tsumugi chewed on her rice ball and put on her [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geta_(footwear) ''geta''.] She walked out of the classroom, geta clicking on the floor.

“Oh, how befitting her title of Grandmother! Great idea!”

“Of course Bento needs to be eaten outside!”

“The courtyard, let’s go to the courtyard!”

Then, everyone started talking again and left the classroom single file. When they realized it, only Souta, Akane, and Nanami, unable to bear the atmosphere, were left in the classroom.

“... Nobody’s looking anymore?”

“Something’s wrong with those guys’s problem-solving methods…”

Akane successfully caught Souta’s attention and smiled at him; Nanami scanned the empty classroom in cold sweat.

“Can we eat bento together?”

“... Yes.”

Since it had already gotten to this point, Souta lost the courage to refuse.

The friendship flag, which had been broken more than once, was raised once again, and broke Souta’s heart to the brink of collapse.

As Akane excitedly sat down on the newly-arranged chair, Nanami also turned her chair 180 degrees.

“Nanami-san, do you want to join us?”

“In this situation, if We were the only one facing forward to eat, wouldn’t We be the only one without friends?”

Nanami acted unexpectedly cute in this situation.

“Wow! I’m so happy!! Actually, I’ve always wanted to find a chance to get along with Nanami-san. But I couldn’t find a chance… Ah! Souta-kun, you have many weaknesses… you could even say that your whole body is covered with them!”

“... Is it really?”

Akane’s carefree words… The aggrieved Souta’s mouth twitched and he asked Nanami:

“... Hey Nanami, is Akane this kind of ‘jerk’?”

“This airhead is a super rich heiress, hmph.”

Nanami replied imperiously, implying that Souta was wasting her breath. Souta wanted to punch her.

“Oh, what’s wrong? Are you investigating me? How am I a rich heiress… my grandfather just happens to be the president of a consortium, that’s all.”

“Consortium?!”

“Isn’t the Mahougasawa Group quite famous? You don’t know?”

“... I’m not familiar with the consortium industry.”

Consortium industry… What the hell is a consortium industry…? Nanami gave Souta a strange look, but Akane smiled.

“My business isn’t important. Speaking of which, Nanami is a princess.”

“A princess?!”

“You aren’t familiar with the princess industry either?”

Where did this industry come from…? Nanami gave Akane a strange look this time, but Akane kept beaming.

“Nanami’s actually the thirteenth princess of the Principality of Bladefield!”

''Huh?! That wasn’t a metaphor, she’s a real princess?!'' Souta’s eyes widened, causing Nanami to look resentful.

“To put it simply, it’s just a small country in the European countryside. And there are ten princes and fourteen princesses. We rank second-to-last. If We had stayed home, We would just be an eyesore. So We were sent to this Far East island country. We are only a princess in name.”

“......”

“S-so what…?” Seeing Souta staring blankly at her, Nanami retreated slightly and asked.

“I don’t have any money though?!”

“We are not running a royal scam on thou!!”

The ‘royal scam’ refers to the crime of posing as a royal and using fake connections to scam people.

“If Nanami wants money, I have some, okay?”

“Don’t need it!”

Souta saw the rare sight of a princess refusing a donation from a rich girl.

“You’re right. There’s something more important than money. And that’s friendth— Ow!”

“She bit her tongue!”

“She bit her tongue at the most important part!!”

Akane, who bit her tongue, was about to cry. So Nanami and Souta ran around babbling: “Friendship is great!” “Long live friendship!” to make Akane’s tears give way to a smile.

“Absolutely! This spirit of mutual protection is friendship! It’s a shining gem!”

Akane happily held Nanami and Souta’s hands and turned towards them. Although Akane’s sappy lines made the two rather uneasy, they forced a shaky smile. They’d have a headache if she really cried.

Then, in the predicament of holding hands with a rich heiress, Souta wanted to secretly withdraw his hand before she thought, ''Boys’ hands are thick and hard, it’s so disgusting~''. Suddenly, Akane faced him and said:

“A boy’s hand…”

Akane’s face stiffened slightly and she paused for a moment. Souta couldn’t help but think ‘as expected’ with a pained expression about as bitter as 99% pure chocolate.

“... is really strong! Other than perhaps my father, it’s the first time I held hands with a boy.”

Seeing Akane’s friendship flag flutter more energetically than before, Souta’s expression was so painfully bitter that it became as bitter as 100% pure chocolate. That said, 100% purity wouldn’t be chocolate, it’d just be cocoa.

“Why does Souta-kun have such a tangled expression? Is it because you indirectly held hands with my father?”

“... That’s not it. But after all, I didn’t think Nanami really was a princess… how do I put it… Although I’ve always thought that Nanami’s speech pattern was different from a normal person’s… but… really? You guys are actually Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress of a conglomerate… I feel really out of place.”

“It's not a conglomerate, it’s a consortium, though?”

Akane raised her index finger to correct the mistake, and Souta, not well-versed in the conglomerate industry, asked her:

“What’s the difference?”

“They’re all the same.”

“Didst thou not sayest it was different?! If thou actually thinkest they are the same, why didst thou just correct it?”

“...... Then they’re not the same.”

After being exposed by Nanami, Akane became depressed. Souta forced a smile and asked her again:

“So then, what’s the difference?”

“...... They’re all the same.”

“We have hit a wall.”

''Let’s just stop talking about this, search it up yourself later'' — Souta thought, Akane also thought, and Nanami thought too. Young modern people are probably not concerned about financial news, and that’s a serious problem. At the same time, young people not caring about other young people is also a very serious problem.

“It’s a little late to say this kind of thing now, but is it really okay for me to talk to the Princess and Miss Heiress on equal ground…?”

Souta kept his distance a bit, and Akane shook her head very sadly.

“Please don’t use honorifics. Because we’re classmates.”

“Art not thou using honorifics…”

“...... Then let’s use honorifics together.”

Akane hesitantly let out an “Ahh…”, while Nanami burst out.

“We will not!”

“Souta-kun, Nanami is a princess, so it’s not her selfish refusal, it’s me forcing her to do something she can’t do.”

“We know how to use honorifics! Nobody forced Us to say that!”

Akane tried to be too clever and ended up rubbing Nanami the wrong way. Something similar was probably said before. ‘Rubbing the wrong way’ would be cute if written in hiragana and katakana.<ref> According to the Chinese TL, the Japanese version of the idiom ‘to rub the wrong way’ means specifically to irritate elders and people with higher status.</ref>

“Then, I hope you try to use them.”

“... Please allow Us to refuse.”

““Ooh, very princess-like.””<ref> They (Souta and Akane) say this at the same time.</ref>

“Sh-shut up! There definitely won’t be a next time!”

Nanami’s white skin reddened and she looked away in shame and displeasure.

At this point, Akane said she left her tea-filled water bottle at her seat and walked slowly to the back of the classroom.

Souta took the opportunity to whisper to Nanami:

“... That girl is a bit strange… no, she’s really strange. Though she seems like a good girl.”

“... Yeah. Although We are not very familiar with her either, she is cute, gentle, likeable, cheerful, friendly, and always surrounded by friends… It feels like she has everything that thou lacketh.”

Nanami didn’t seem to realize that this sentence applied to herself, too.

“Don’t say it out loud…”

''Why do those kinds of people voluntarily come and talk about themselves…?'' Just as Souta thought this, Akane came back. She looked at them with interest. Although she didn’t hear what they said, she smiled bashfully and asked:

“Souta-kun, do you have a very good relationship with Nanami?”

“Who would have a good relationship with this kind of dithering guy?!”

Nanami roared before Souta had a chance to say anything.

“Even maggots are indispensable creatures for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_Earth Spaceship Earth] since they clean up animal corpses, right?”

“Who said he was a maggot? I would never say such a disgusting word!!”

Since the two were constantly hopping the line between good and evil, Souta couldn’t figure out who was right and who was wrong.

“... Akane, why did you want to talk to me?”

“Right. Thou hast so many friends and art welcomed everywhere, so why would thou payest attention to this kind of person?”

Worried he would continue to be teased, Souta felt a sense of crisis and asked Akane. Nanami also joined in, also interested.

Faced with such blunt questions, Akane twirled her fork, her expression a bit troubled. “Ummm…” After thinking for a while, she put down her fork and said:

“... Ummm—I saw a lonely person, like a puppy drenched in rain or a kitten mewling in pain, so I couldn’t ignore them.”

““Treated like cats and dogs?!””

Nanami and Souta blurted, shocked.

At the same time, Souta soon began to think dark thoughts.

“That means that Miss Heiress helps hapless cats and dogs from her high standing above, right?”

Upon mumbling this disdainfully, Souta hated his own immaturity. Letting out his anger like this was shameful.

However, when one enters hell, torn to pieces by lively optimism… He who falls into the earthly abyss often feels that goodwill is a burden.

Well, what was just said is just like someone who had hit rock bottom venting their remaining emotions from that time… No, perhaps they’re still crawling the depths of hell.

Souta didn’t want to say that kind of thing but also didn’t want others to notice, so he inevitably tried to alienate himself. At least, that’s what Akane thought.

She pondered it, but…

''That’s too lonely. Too sad… Too hopeless, isn’t it?'' she decided.

“No! It’s not like that!”

Akane didn’t care about being misunderstood. She just couldn’t stand Souta’s attitude — how Souta couldn’t bear to trust other people, so he kept tormenting himself with loneliness

Akane shook her head desperately and repeatedly stressed:

“N-no, no! Souta-kun… how do I put this, barks and purrs cannot be mentioned in the same breath as you, I just think it’s really tragic!”

““Not even considered the same level as cats and dogs?!””

Souta, slumped his shoulders, feeling exceedingly miserable. Nanami put her hand on Souta’s shoulder, telling him not to take it to heart.

“Isn’t this a good thing? A gloomy child like thee needs this kind of friend. Get along with her, okay?”

“Really? Souta-kun, as long as you don’t–don’t dislike it, do you want to be friends?”

“I don’t need…”

“Rejected immediately!!”

Hearing the normally timid Souta say this, Akane was hit hard.

At the same time, Akane’s friendship flag broke with an adorable noise… but just like before, a new friendship flag immediately popped up.

“Why? My mother said that friends are the life’s treasures. U-uh… so… treasures are important… I’m just saying that… that… if treasures didn’t exist, they would no longer be shiny, no longer beautiful and polished… So, if you have to clean it up… after you sweep it into the dustpan, there wouldn’t be anywhere to throw it.”

“How did the conversation turn to trash cans?!”

Akane struggled too hard to persuade them, so much so that she eventually could not find a way to make them understand.

“Basically, in Akane’s mind, friends are like trash cans, so it fits Souta perfectly.”

“Nanami, what do you mean by that?!”

“Nothing like that, nothing like that. Souta isn’t so much a trash can as a bento box!”

“So I’m a box, huh…”

Souta isn’t a flower to be sheltered in a box.<ref> The Japanese idiom for being sheltered involves a box</ref> It was hard to tell whether Akane’s consolation counted as consolation or not.

“Anyways, I… don’t want to bother others. Whether it’s Akane or anyone else.”

“I want to bother Souta-kun!”

“You…”

Hearing Akane’s unreasonable outburst about inducing more suffering, Souta was about to reproach her. But Akane continued, cutting him off.

“Also, I want to be bothered by Souta-kun! That’s what friends do! And… I just can’t ignore the lonely person in front of my eyes!”

Akane’s addendum made Souta give up on his retort, and he turned away to escape Akane’s unwavering gaze.

“Just don’t worry about me…”

“Hold on, Souta!”

Seeing that Souta was about to say something she couldn’t ignore, Nanami pulled on his ear.

“Wh-what do you want…?”

“It’s rare for someone to want to be thy friend. Thou art not permitted to break her flag!”

“But…”

“Dost thou want to humiliate girls?”

“Where’s the problem…?”

Seeing Nanami and Souta pretty much arguing, Akane sadly held the tip of her fork in her mouth.

“Is it not okay to be your friend?”

“I believe a friendship between males and females is impossible…”

“So sad…”

“I just said not to break it!!”

Souta was hit behind the head with an unopened package of Klim [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puri_(food) Puri]. (Note: Nanami later ate it with great relish)

“Even if you say that…”

Alas, it was too late. The friendship flag on Akane’s head had snapped, and Akane’s eyes filled with tears.

“Sure enough, it broke, right, Souta?”

“Pretty much…”

Souta was relieved, thinking it wouldn’t recover this time. Against all odds, Akane regrouped and, without giving anyone else time to breathe, said:

“Ah, b-b-b-b-b-but, we can begin with an attempted friendship, what do you think?”

“She’s still not yet satisfied…? Isn’t that wording just like ‘attempted murder’…”<ref> Damn, these are some Cultivation Chat Group-level tangents lol</ref>

“Indeed.” Akane nodded in deep agreement. Souta looked above Akane’s head in disbelief.

“It clearly broke several times… But it still stands…”

He saw the freshly broken flag give way to yet another new flag.

“This Mahougasawa Akane chick is unexpectedly persistent… Isn’t she perfect for thee…? No matter how many times her flag breaks, it quickly recovers. Even if thou hurtest her heart, she will still face thee with an unyielding spirit.”

“Huh… I feel like that’s pretty terrifying…”

“Thou, who can see flags and decide their fate, art the one who is terrifying, alright?”

Well said.

Nanami and Souta quietly held a council. Akane ignored the two, quietly worrying to the side.

“Attempted friendship isn’t okay either…? Hmm… In this case, then the step before attempted friendship… acquaintances… a nodding acquaintance… hmmmmm… more one-sided… stalker? Is stalker okay?”

“Don’t go there!!”

“......”

Nanami was the one who initially recommended that the two be friends, but she soon began to doubt whether she made the correct choice.

“Since you don’t like stalkers, how about being friends?”

“... Do whatever you want.”

“Hooray!”

That’s pretty much a threat.

Watching Akane softly raise her arms and shout hooray with a smile, he felt his mood gradually improve for some reason.

This may be Akane’s unique characteristic.

Nonetheless, this must be…

This must be a temporary whim of Miss Heiress, thinking that he’s interesting.

''After the novelty subsides, she would definitely lose interest immediately'' — that was what Souta thought.

Though he’d soon realize that this train of thought was a huge mistake.

“But I’m kind of happy that Souta-kun’s willing to say such not-so-pleasant things to me.”

“... What?”

“I think that when I’m sad, it doesn’t matter if other people pamper me. But when I’m the one doing the pampering, there’s always this warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.”

“Akane, is it really okay even if you get hurt?”

“Souta-kun thinks I might get hurt and is worrying about me. That makes me really happy.”

Seeing Akane smile bashfully, Souta frowned.

“... You really are a strange chick.”

Souta’s tone was no longer hostile nor malicious, and Akane looked jubilant.

“But even if you’re friends with someone like me, you still wouldn’t be happy, right…”

Souta’s expression darkened like before and he lowered his head slightly, worried — but he also seemed kind of happy.

“Art thou an idiot? Souta. That kind of thing is for them to decide. How can it depend on what thou sayest?”

Nanami snorted and chewed her Klim Puri flatbread.

Akane nodded enthusiastically, agreeing with Nanami.

“Yeah! Nanami said it really well. Just talking to Souta-kun makes me really happy! I might feel a bit self-conscious saying this, but… there are many people close to me, so when I meet someone more distant, it’s a new experience… This is someone that I haven't seen around me so far, an unfamiliar kind of person… an unidentified creature… Yes, an unidentified life form.”

““A UFAO?!””<ref> Unidentified, unFamiliar Animated Object. Just roll with it. I tried. If any of you come up with something better, I welcome you to edit it.</ref>

A chupacabra appeared in Nanami’s and Souta’s minds at the same time. Wanna suck blood?<ref> ‘Do you want to suck blood?’ is apparently a quote from Japanese comedian Kanpei Hazama. Relevant because chupacabras suck blood. </ref>

“Souta-kun, Nanami, you guys are really in sync. You’re actually quite close, right?”

“We’re not close! Rather, our relationship is really bad. So bad that, given the opportunity, We would steal this guy’s leftover bread in exchange for the not-very-tasty bread We are eating right now.”

“My leftover bread is Klim Puri, the very thing Nanami’s eating right now, though?”

Having saved the bread for last, Souta was looking forward to eating it. He grieved a little when he heard this bad news.

“You guys are really similar. That’s great, I’m so jealous--”

“......”

Nanami stared hatefully at Akane wiggling.

Wasn’t it true that friendship can still be established in spite of very different values? Nanami and Akane were polar opposites, and Souta started to feel that Nanami and Akane may yet make a good pair.

The evidence was…

“... Before, ye shall become two peas in a pod and become the envy of everybody else!”

“Actually, I’ve always wanted to become closer with Nanami.”

Hearing Nanami’s slightly lonely words, Akane held Nanami’s hands tightly and smiled. At some point, ‘Nanami-san’ had become ‘Nanami’.

“Wh-why me?!”

“... Whenever I see a lonely person, or a puppy drenched in rain, or a kitten mewling in pain, I just can’t ignore them!”

“Treated like Souta?!”

Nanami was even more shocked at this than Souta was when he was just compared to a cat and dog.

“Nanami regrettably feels like a person of spoiled arrogance, which has always made me interested in her.”

“What dost thou mean by ‘regrettably’?”

“Just that, in the phrase ‘spoiled arrogance’, the ‘spoiled’ part outweighs the ‘arrogant’ part!”

“Shut up!!”

Souta looked at the arguing girls with an magnificent smile, neither forced nor a smirk, and said:

“I for one think that Nanami and Akane can become very good friends.”

“What?! This troublemaker also has a flag for Us?”

Nanami pulled on Souta’s ears again, quietly roaring.

“I don’t know… I basically only see my own— or rather, I should say, flags that have to do with me…”

That is to say, Souta was only able to see the flag for that morning’s accident because it also involved him — with this understanding, Nanami thought: ''This ability seems convenient but isn’t really convenient; it seems to be a convenience, but that’s not entirely the case…''

“Just like that! That’s what makes people think you two are close! Physical contact is proof of a good relationship! Can I pull on Souta-kun’s ears, too?”

“Sure?”

“Don’t pull on people’s ears for no reason!”

“So it’s allowed if there is a reason?”

“Sure?”

“Nanami, no stop seeking schadenfreude! Anyways, what’s so fun about pulling on ears…?”

“Causing mischief… That kind of fun, probably?”

“What a terrible relationship!!”

“No it’s not, no it’s not! That feeling of ‘even if you cause them mischief, they’ll still laugh and forgive you’ is definitely proof of a good relationship.”

Oh, that’s how it is, that does make sense— Souta smiled faintly in agreement, and Akane’s cheeks went slightly red. Joy emanated from the depths of her heart, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s my friend! Looks like you really get me! Souta-kun, you’re really, really charming when you smile! As long as you smile like this a lot, your loneliness will definitely disappear!”

“Ah…”

Souta wasn’t used to being praised so directly in person, so he inadvertently shrugged, and his smile became strained. Seeing this, Akane exclaimed, “Ah, what a waste of the cool smile just now…” Her hands even began to quiver.

Having eaten her bread and sucked her milk carton dry, Nanami smirked playfully and said:

“But Akane, if he wasn’t lonely anymore, wouldn’t you lose interest?”

“In my mind, a laughing Souta is more important than a lonely Souta. This is a historic moment, okay? One small step for mankind, one and a half small steps for me!”

““Close enough!!””

“You guys are really in sync… That’s great, I also want someone to be in sync with me.”

“Why do you need to envy other people? Akane, don’t you also have many strengths?”

Nanami lightly squeezed her empty milk carton and broke eye contact, her expression that of shy admiration. Hearing Nanami’s words, Akane’s smile bloomed.

“R-really?! Like-like what?”

“... Well… like wanting to eat with me and Souta, right?”

Seeing Nanami laugh with a little self-deprecation, Akane laughed with an expression of “Isn’t that normal?” She then fell into deep thought with an “Eh…”

“Is it better to eat alone?”

““You had a conversation with yourself?!””

“Only you two keep getting closer and closer. It’s not fair, it’s not fair!”

However, supposing that Akane and Souta had already eaten half of their lunch, and then Akane and Nanami ate the remaining half, anyone would think that the relationship between Souta and Nanami was deteriorating.

In this way, the three unexpectedly similar people happily ate their lunch in the classroom. Outside, a group of people quietly observed the situation.

“... So, we can probably go in now?”

The rest of the class, who had been driven out of the classroom, searched for an opportunity to go back in.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3

2025-01-03T04:07:18Z

Person72635: /* Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear. */

==Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base<ref> As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear.</ref>==
“Um… I live in a dorm. What about it…?”

As Souta slung his backpack over his shoulders at the end of the school day, Akane had asked, “Souta-kun, where do you live?” After Souta answered, she nodded in feigned understanding.

“Can we go play there?”

“No.”

Hearing Souta’s response, Akane’s eyes welled up in tears. She blubbered “Oh~”, her friendship flag breaking in reply.

''He’s still as rough with the flags as before…'' Nanami watched the conversation in her peripheral vision as she put her stationery in her school bag.

“That kind of place isn’t suitable for girls to visit.”

“Like the boy’s bathroom?”

“What kind of dorm would that be?!”

Akane’s off-putting question resulted in a rare Souta retort.

“Like your room’s in a stall?”

“Even prisoners live better than that, right…?”

''No, since it’s Miss Heiress, the toilet in her mansion might be quite big.'' With this thought process, Souta decided it was pointless to hide it, so he told the truth.

“How do I put it? It’s because my dorm’s messy, it’s a total wreck.”

“Then we’ll go clean it up! Don’t look at Akane that way, but Akane really does love to be clean though? Mm-hmm!<ref> It’s supposed to be the noise Hirasawa Yui makes in ''K-On!''. Again, I haven’t watched it, so apologies if it isn’t entirely accurate.</ref>”

As usual, another one of Akane’s friendship flags was raised immediately. Souta’s feelings about them had already begun to gradually move from fear to admiration.

Despite Akane’s enthusiastic proposal, Souta still crossed his arms and sighed in contemplation. “Hmmmm…”

On the other hand, Akane was really motivated. For some reason, she was wiping an imaginary window with exaggerated movements, as if she were practicing boxing. Although, even if she was wiping a window, it was more like ‘Wax on, wax off.’<ref> Karate Kid reference</ref>

“Huh?! Huh?! What happened? Souta and Akane, why did you guys suddenly become so close without Big Sis’s consent?!”

Kikuno, not knowing what had happened during lunch, protested with her eyes welling up in tears. She seemed to blame Souta, her expression a little accusatory.

“That requires consent…?”

Nanami, having become a bystander, murmured to herself with a faint smile.

“We just ate together during the lunch break, we’re not actually as close as you say…”

Kikuno puffed her cheeks angrily, as cute as a child no older than one. Souta comforted her while explaining what had happened.

After listening to Souta’s explanation, Kikuno nodded with a slight smile, feigning understanding.

“Really? Akane-chan is a really good kid, Big Sis strongly approves of your friendship!”

It seems consent has been acquired.

Kikuno turned and faced Akane with a deep bow.

“Please take care of Sou-kun.”

“D-don’t be like that, Okiku-nee…!”

“Yeah, Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like I’m an outsider.”

“Huh?! You’re already family?! Sou-kun, why didn’t you discuss this with Big Sis first?! Big Sis feels so lonely!!”

It seems consent has not been fully acquired.

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

Big Sis’s logic was too unpredictable and Souta was at a loss, but Akane, the central subject, was still smiling brightly.

“... Speaking of which, Akane just referred to Okiku-nee as ‘senpai’, right?”

Although Kikuno was supposed to be a year older than them, calling a classmate ‘senpai’ is still pretty strange.

“Ah, um. Senpai guided me when I came to this school last year. Since she was Senpai at the time, it feels a bit weird to change it now…”

“Ah, but, at the time, I already knew I would become a freshman a year late.”

The senpai in the same grade seemed a bit shy.

It’s unclear whether this resolves the subject, but Akane, who wasn’t especially paying attention, returned to the original subject.

“Then, since we got your Big Sis’s approval, we can go to Souta’s dorm now! Mm-hmm!”

“... She approved?”

“Big Sis also wants to go! Mm-hmm!”

Kikuno, even more free-spirited than Akane, raised her hands with this declaration, cutting off Souta’s question.

Met with inexplicable enthusiasm, Souta was then patted on the waist from behind, startling him.

“!?”

He turned to look, but there was nobody behind him… Then he found that it came from below.

To Souta, who was 170 cm tall, the other person was a girl 50 cm shorter than him. Not only her height, but her appearance looked young. Although she looked like an elementary school student, her uniform revealed her to be a student in the same grade. That said, the other students had called her ‘Grandmother’ during the lunch break, even asking her for advice.

“Give up, young Souta.”<ref> Tsumugi technically calls others 'little brother/sister *name*', but I think 'young' fits better.</ref>

“Young?!”

The young girl, who seemed not to wear anything on her lower half, spoke to Souta in a wizened tone, as if he were a little rascal or devil.<ref> The Chinese translation I’m using uses 萝卜头 and 鬼头 (lit. ‘carrot-head’ and ‘devil-head’), which are somewhat xenophobic terms in Cantonese referring to Japanese people and Westerners respectively… no idea what the original intention was.</ref> As a result, Souta couldn’t help but raise his voice.

“Young Akane has a disease where she just can’t leave tragic beings alone, you could say she’s in a critical condition. If you continue having this kind of tragic aura, you’ll always be stuck with her, okay? Plus, young Kikuno is also very stubborn.”

The little girl chuckled and went on her way home.

Akane followed the silhouette with her eyes, and told the dumbstruck Souta:

“She’s Grandmother Tsumugi.”

“‘Grandmother’...? … Is she an old lady?”

They say that humans will gradually shrink when they pass a certain age, so maybe she was like that? But whether it’s her delicate skin or her facial features, she looks indistinguishable from a young girl. Or is she just an old-fashioned little girl who skipped a few grades? The mysteries surrounding her identity increased.

“She’s the Living Dictionary of the academy. They say that our academy doesn’t have students who don’t listen to Grandmother Tsumugi’s words.”

“What happens if you don’t listen?”

“You’ll be cursed.”

“That isn’t the same as a living dictionary, right?!”

Akane was pretty much just saying random things, but Souta didn’t know whether to take the rumor seriously or lose to Akane’s enthusiasm or even think that Tsumugi’s advice did indeed make sense. Regardless, Souta sighed deeply, forced a smile, and said to Akane:

“Nevermind. Since you want to come over so much, come. But I’m not kidding that the dorm is messy, alright?”

“Mm-hmm!! I’ll take the chance to show my great skills! It’ll be my first time cleaning up a boy’s room!!”

“B-Big Sis also wants to clean up!!”

“Let’s team up!! Attack as a team!”

They actually wanted to attack…? Souta’s mood dimmed, and he looked at the ‘Inexplicably Motivated’ flag sticking up on Akane’s head with a strained smile.

“It’s highly-anticipated, right, Nanami?”

“Huh? Why ask me?”

As Nanami zipped up her backpack, she was suddenly thrown into the fray by Akane. Nanami frowned in suspicion.

“Because we’re going together~”

“Why…?”

“I’ll tell you after we get there.”

“There’s basically no point in telling Us after we get there!!”

Nanami somehow discovered Akane’s trap. Mahougasawa Akane… How did you think that she wouldn’t notice?

“... Nevermind, there’s nothing to do anyways. Plus, the Big Sis isn’t very responsible, and giving the kind of guy Souta a chance to be by himself is dangerous, so there’s no harm in having Us accompany you.”

“After all, Souta-kun would explode.”

“Am I really that dangerous?!”

This requires a Level 5 hazardous waste management license. In other words, a nitroglycerine person; or, perhaps, human nitroglycerin?<ref> lmfao Bakugo??</ref> Anyways, there’s no difference.

And so, the four-person group of Akane, Nanami, Kikuno, and Souta was formed, heading towards the dorm where Souta lived.

Hatagaya Academy’s huge campus was encircled by a total of four [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-Bahn H-Bahn sky train] stations; namely, Yoyogi Uehara Station to the southwest of the academy, Yoyogi Park Station to the southeast, Hatagaya North Station to the northwest, and Hatsudai North Station to the northeast.

The high school division was near Yoyogi Park Station, while Souta’s dorm was near Hatsudai North Station.

Although these were walkable distances, students of Hatagaya Academy can freely get on and off these four stations so long as they present their student IDs, so of course they choose to take the trains.

“I thought the dorms were all concentrated on the main road. Turns out there are some here as well.”

“Yep… For the sake of caution, I’ll confirm once again: the dorms are really messy, are you guys absolutely sure you want to come?”

“Hey Souta, thou hath only transferred for two days, and your room is already messy enough that it’s not to be seen by others…?”

“If you have any complaints, then just don’t come…”

Before Nanami could counter Souta’s already exhausted words, Akane interjected cheerfully:

“It’s definitely just that your luggage hasn’t been completely sorted yet and is in a messy pile, right? Just leave it to me!”

Akane’s ‘motivated’ flag was still flying strong.

The four got off at the academy’s Hatsudai North Station and, after walking a short distance, gradually saw farms and pastures.

“... What is this? The countryside?” Nanami asked.

“If I remember correctly… this is the farm of the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club.”

“Horticulture…?”

The landscape looked bucolic from a distance, and it felt considerably large. Nanami frowned, wondering if it was part of a backup plan adopted by farmers afraid of the production reduction policy.<ref> Might be referring to Japan’s [https://www.tokyofoundation.org/research/detail.php?id=86 Rice Acreage-Reduction Policy]</ref>

Behind the farms was a dense stretch of woods, actually more like a forest than woods. Walking in there felt like being showered by forest.

“... There’s a dorm in this place?”

“Awesome, your home is in a forest.”

Compared to Nanami’s unhappy expression of “there should be a limit to how remote this is”, Akane smiled as she always did, thinking positively.

Souta, leading them, had a different attitude and plodded on.

And then, in a small clearing in the forest—

A building stood quietly.

The edge of the roof had fallen, and not only was part of the wall collapsed, it was also covered with vines. The door had almost rotted through, the windows were broken, and the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds.

Even by the lowest standards, it still looked like…

“Ruins…?”

“What…? What’s going on with this tattered dorm…”

“Are these not ruins? Souta, thou didst not go to the wrong place, right?”

“See? What did I say?”

Souta showed the dorm’s certification page in the student handbook. It said ‘Quest House’. Nanami looked at the moldy dorm plaque and knit her brows.

“This is indeed ‘Quest House’...”

“So you live… here…?”

Akane’s eyes lost their light, frozen in shock. However, Souta smiled and nodded with a hint of self-deprecation.

“For a lonely, poor person like me with dead parents, what could I expect? I have nowhere to go, and no home to go back to… The academy now not only gives me shelter from the elements, but also a scholarship. If I ask for too much and get kicked out, wouldn’t I be in an even more tragic state?”

“But… even if it’s like that, to live in this kind of place is…”

“After all, this is my situation, so I’m pretty easy to take advantage of. But taking in somebody like me makes it easier for the academy to raise money… Although, the fact of the matter is, they only need to take me in. Nobody really cares how it’s handled afterward.”

“How can this be… That’s too much…”

Souta’s attitude might have been due to all the tragedies he’d experienced. This attitude, coupled with his situation, made Akane even more worried.

But before Akane’s feelings burst out, Kikuno’s tear glands had already let loose.

“It’s too much… It’s too much… So it’s like this… they actually want Sou-kun to live in this kind of place…!!”

Kikuno’s tears streamed down her face as she cried. Souta was taken aback.

“Hey… Wh-why does Okiku-nee need to cry? I… I don’t really mind.”

“Anywhere is fine… Poor Souta-kun…”

“Even Akane is crying?!”

Next to Kikuno, Akane followed suit, her tears pouring down like a waterfall. In this atmosphere, Souta was already in no position to prevent this.

“... Souta, didst thou plan to let the peerless Miss Heiress clean this place up? Instead of cleaning it up, is it not faster to raze it to the ground and rebuild it again…?”

At least, Nanami wouldn’t want to step foot into this dorm.

“Why… Why did Sou-kun have to meet this kind of treatment…”

“Waaah~ It’s too much… It’s too unfair…”

Kikuno and Akane, who erupted into tears, and Souta, who had been struggling to deal with Akane, didn’t hear Nanami speak at all.

Especially the always indifferent Souta — although he didn’t care about hurting himself, when he met girls who felt sad for him, he didn’t know what to do. Since he had no clue how to deal with Akane, he looked to Nanami for help, almost crying himself.

Having never encountered such mayhem before, Nanami retreated on the spot.

“Uh…! … This… E-enough! Crying for what? Think of a solution instead! Doing anything else would be better than this!”

Nanami already stopped holding back, pretty much ready to ride to battle at this point. Akane stopped crying, beamed, and hugged Nanami.

“Nanami really is a good person!”

“Whoa… Hey! Stop hugging, stop sticking to Us! Quick, Souta, come save Us!”

Nanami, who couldn’t stand Akane rubbing her cheeks, issued an SOS signal. Souta mocked instead:

“Isn’t this great? I think you guys are closer friends with each other than with me, yeah?”

Souta, who originally had a sad smile, didn’t mean anything bad when he said this. However, facing the wrong direction, Kikuno’s super-sensitive Sisterly Love Radar received the wrong signals at that moment and she rushed over to Souta.

“D-don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will help you ask Akane to be your friend! You don’t have to feel lonely!”

“Huh…? No… Okiku-nee, what are you…!”

“Akane, please also be friends with Souta!”

Kikuno, ignoring Souta’s attempt at stopping her and with her sisterly doting reaching its peak, sincerely pleaded.

Receiving her plea, Akane’s frequently-used Loneliness Sensor revved to its max. She let go of Nanami, clasped Souta’s hand, and said:

“I’m sorry, Souta! I’m your friend, but I made you feel lonely; I’m unworthy of being a friend! Souta-kun’s my good friend, though! Please don’t feel lonely! Akane and Nanami and Kikuno-senpai and Souta-kun are a very close group of four!”

Akane made Kikuno hold the hands of Nanami and Souta, and took the two’s empty other hands herself, forming a circle. The four started spinning circles, but only Akane laughed aloud: “Ahahahahaha!”

After spinning for a while, Akane, albeit dizzy and unsteady, faced Souta and said:

“Look! I also can’t let poor Souta go uncared for!”

“Souta’s on the other side, Akane.”

Because she was dizzy and unsteady, she didn’t face Souta.

“Mother once said, ‘Close friends are magic staffs’ and ‘That’s the magic that makes you feel like you can do anything’. In my mind, Souta-kun and Nanami are wonderful, bright magic.”

Akane clasped Souta’s hand again, smiling. As if infected by the poetic lines, Nanami grinned slightly and added a sentence of her thoughts:

“Put simply, Akane is a magician specializing in summoning gentle fairies~”

“Nanami, you’re a poet!”

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

Nanami, snapping out of it, thought she said something embarrassing, and her face heated up.

“I want to hear more of Nanami’s poems!”

“Do not mention poetry!!”

“What does that matter, this is the privilege of youth! Everyone, let’s abuse this privilege together and run around the seaside asking for trouble at dusk!”

“Do nyaat<ref> If you remember from Chapter 1, Nanami makes cat sounds when distressed</ref> waste your youth!”

''The atmosphere’s getting better and better…'' Souta thought as he watched Akane and Nanami with a strained smile. He then inadvertently looked at the top of Akane’s head…

“Souta-kun also needs to waste our youth with us.”

Akane’s ‘can’t leave pitiful people alone’ attitude completely switched on, and friendship flags raised in an overwhelming frenzy

Seeing the flags raise everywhere, Souta thought, ''Was it me?! Did I do something wrong?! God… please, don’t do this anymore.'' He couldn’t help but take three steps backwards. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that within the pile of friendship flags stood a singular pink flag with a heart symbol…

“... Then, what should we do to fix the dorm?”

“That’s what We want to ask!”

Sitting on the train on their way back, Akane triumphantly turned her neck and asked. Nanami then roared back, as if attacked.

The group consisting of Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress, who were a little ignorant of the world, plus the newly transferred Souta, crossed their arms and looked to the sky in deep thought.

Watching this group of youngsters with a smile, Kikuno picked the right opportunity, raised her index finger, and said:

“When in a predicament, the saying goes that only old ginger is spicy.”

Rumor has it, the person who looks like a little girl and sips green tea at the Tea Ceremony Club might be the “old” ginger.

“The tattered dorm? Quest House? After all, it was built when the academy was founded. Even if you tidied it up, it still wouldn’t become clean.”

It was the academy’s Living Dictionary. After listening to Akane and co. speak, Tsumugi put a [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Rakugan ''rakugan''] in her mouth and said:

“Would it not indeed be faster to rebuild it from the ground?”

Although Nanami asserted that her earlier joke wasn’t far from the answer, Tsumugi took a sip of her tea and then poured cold water over her.

“I heard that the school management is in dire straits due to the declining birthrate. Would they be willing to pay for it?”

“Can’t we… think of a way?!”

“Students these days are too dependent on other people. They just don’t understand taking matters into their own hands…”

Seeing Tsumugi enter preaching mode, the four all inched back slowly, smiling stiffly.

“Speaking of which, it’s just a little worn out, but you immediately lose heart, proving that recent young people lack perseverance. It’s not like we elders like saying this…”

Akane and co. quietly slid open the paper [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoji ''shoji''] of the Tea Ceremony Club. Meanwhile, Tsumugi was still ranting with her eyes closed.

After leaving the Tea Ceremony Club, they sat down on the benches on the sidewalk, hopelessly sipping on juice boxes.

“Then, would we get in trouble if we rebuilt without permission?”

“It’d be surprising not to…”

Nanami, relatively less demoralized, asked a sincere question and was immediately rejected by Souta.

“Then there’s no other way… Souta, please get in trouble.”

“You’re planning to rebuild in secret?!”

Souta was scared silly.

“Don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will get in trouble in your stead!

“Doting to this extent…!”

Big Sis’s sisterly love made Nanami retreat.

Meanwhile, Souta was afraid of Akane, whose tears had broken the surface tension of her eyes.

“... Every time I watch [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sara ''Princess Sara''] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_of_Flanders_(TV_series) ''Dog of Flanders''], I always can’t stop crying, can’t stop crying, can’t bear to keep watching! When I imagine Souta in that position… in a tattered dorm, in a snowstorm… dying… I just…”

A huge teardrop streamed down Akane’s face again.

“Don’t make people cry!!”

“S-sorry… I-I’ll be fine. See~ Speaking of which, I’d probably be more like Perrine or Lassie.”<ref> The main characters of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Perrine ''The Story of Perrine''] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Dog_Lassie ''Famous Dog Lassie.''] The four anime referenced in this section are old-school anime adaptations of Western children’s classics and part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Masterpiece_Theater ''World Masterpiece Theater''], running from the mid 70s to the late 90s.</ref>

“More like an animal…”

“Sou-kun, you’re so cute!”

“Souta-kun, so you’re actually a beast!!”

Disregarding the discrepancy in opinion between sister and friend, Souta felt aggrieved at being called a beast.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Souta beast’s house or a dog’s house. The point is that, even if we wanted to remodel, we would have to overcome the issue of finances.”

“Nanami called her friend a beast or dog, that’s too over-the-top!”

“Thou clearly saidst it first, thou clearly saidst it first!!”

As Akane and Nanami chattered, Souta, at his tender age, discovered that being called a beast or dog by the female sex really hurt.

“Souta, dost thou want to try begging? Since Akane is a rich heiress, she could definitely provide funds.”

“Huh?! Souta, you want to beg me?! That’s more than I could ever wish for! It’d be the first time a boy begged me! Go ahead, go ahead, please! Mm-hmm!”

“......”

Seeing Akane move her arms like a wrestler before a match, expressing her enthusiasm by bringing both elbows horizontally in front of her chest while breathing heavily,<ref>The signature move of Japanese wrestler [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyonobori Michiharu Toyonobori.] I think it’s the arm-wavy thing at 1:07 in the video Gorilla Monsoon vs. Toyonobori - 3/28/1963 (I can’t embed youtube links apparently), I watched a couple clips and he seems to do it pretty often.</ref> the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched.

If Souta refused to beg Akane now, Souta’s tragic plight would not be resolved, Akane would continue to be sad, and Nanami would continue blaming Souta for making Akane sad. In this spiral of sorrow and pain, it was ultimately Souta who got hurt.

Additionally, he also thought that the most important thing was avoiding Akane’s expectant smile. So, after thoroughly preparing himself, Souta finally said:

“Akane, please build me a new dorm.”

“Huh— how ordinary—”

“Couldn’t thou have acted more flattering, Souta?”

Reprimanded by the two girls, the young man instantly lost his foothold.

“Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to help you beg?”

With even the doting Big Sis saying something, even getting a toehold was unthinkable, not to mention a foothold.

At this point, Souta steeled himself, forced out a dazzling smile, and said to Akane:

“Could you please help poor little old me build a new dorm, o mesmerizing Akane-chan? You are the angel of my heart, the only one I can beg.”

“Souta-kun, you sound like a player.”

“Souta, thou art thoroughly rotten.”

“You two were the ones who wanted me to say it, though!!

Souta was hit hard, hugging his knees and shouting into them on the bench.

“Big Sis knows her Sou-kun isn’t that kind of child!”

Doting Big Sis’s trust was unnecessarily heavy.

“But, I wouldn’t be a woman if I couldn’t respond to a man’s whole-hearted plea. I want to do something for him… however—”

“However?”

Seeing Akane stop talking, Nanami was puzzled.

“I, don't have money…”

“Huh? Art not thou Miss Heiress?”

“To be honest… When I came here to live in a dorm, I accepted my family’s condition: unless it’s an urgent emergency, I must do my best to deal with it without depending on my family. So…”

“So it’s like that. Allowing freedom, but requiring self-sufficiency… It’s like that everywhere.”

Nanami smiled wryly, clenching her empty juice box.

“Huh?”

“It’s okay. However, this is a headache. Our principality is also very poor… To ask for money is to ask the impossible…”

Akane and Nanami cast Souta aside and started their own discussion. This allowed Souta to suddenly regain his senses.

“Excuse me… That said, what exactly did I just do that for then…?”

“Souta-kun’s efforts will not be wasted. Someday that effort will bear fruit, and its harvest will be taken for foodstuff and displayed in a storefront.”

Although he felt he was gradually being taken for foodstuff, since Akane’s coy laugh of “Heeheehee” was really cute and he didn’t feel any malicious intent, Souta could only deal with it with a sigh in the end.

“Before Souta-kun is taken for foodstuff, we must do our best to help him, Nanami!”

“Huh…? We need to too…?”

Both hands held tightly by Akane, Nanami frowned, troubled.

Although, Akane just seemed to like the uncommonly used word ‘foodstuff’, so she really wanted to use it.

“Big Sis will come too, Sou-kun!”

What Big Sis would do afterwards was unclear.

In the end, they didn’t think of a good idea that day, so the meeting was adjourned… The next morning—

Souta entered the classroom and sat down in his seat. Nanami turned, sitting on the side of her chair, and said good morning while getting to the point.

“We asked the housemasters at Our dorm, and it seems that the boys’ dorms are full to the point they’re about to burst.”

“Ah, then… me being put there, might not have been entirely out of malicious intent.”

Looking closely, while Souta’s uniform and school bag were obviously brand new, they seemed to be covered with a layer of dust.

“It might genuinely be better for thou to live in a tent.”

“I can’t put one up though…”

“You guys are planning to go camping without inviting me?! It would be my first time living in a tent. I always live in a villa, homestay, or vacation apartment and such!”

Akane popped in between the two.

“Thy head is only filled with thoughts about playing…”

Nanami smiled lightly, and Akane continued to ask her, “Are you going to the mountains? Or the beach?”

“Thou misunderstandest. We’re talking about Souta’s dorm.”

“Oh… Everyone should forget about the dorm business, and go play together?”

“Thy optimism is too exaggerated!!”

Incidentally, when you get tired of playing and go home, there is a trap of ‘remembering reality and falling into despair’ waiting for you.

“Hey~ What’s up with the dorm?”

The classmate with blonde hair and pierced ears who gave Souta his seat earlier heard the exchange and asked frivolously.

After Souta explained, he looked at the sky with an “Umm--”, and, after a long while, he said:

“Would you like to come to our dormitory? I think it’d be okay as long as you explain everything. Although crowding a fifth person into a room meant for four might be a little tight.”

''He’s obviously a frivolous guy who would cheat girls everywhere, but he’s still kind regardless'' The surrounding students lamented that this guy really didn’t match his appearance.

But, Souta looked at the frivolous classmate’s head, and immediately replied:

“I can’t sleep if I’m not alone.”

“Really? Then it can’t be helped.”

He gave up and walked back to his seat.

“We said that thou art not allowed to break flags!”

Nanami saw everything, and mercilessly awarded Souta a hand chop.

“Flag…?”

Akane tilted her head suspiciously, and Souta hurriedly covered it up with a “Nothing, nothing.”

However, either because Souta didn’t cover it up correctly or his agitation wasn’t very natural, Akane felt that something wasn’t right with Souta’s series of actions.

“What’s going on… Is he awkward? Or… afraid?... Just like that time… like with me… if it’s really like that… if it’s really like that… then there’s even more reasons why I can’t just leave him alone!”

Akane’s mind strengthened Souta’s sorry impression, and her flags stood up more fiercely on her head.

Souta saw this and tiredly exhibited a pained expression.

… At this time, the dainty classmate Ryuukishibara Tsumugi</ref> Tsumugi’s surname indicates that her ‘class’ is dragon rider</ref> and Kikuno walked into the classroom with a young girl wearing a uniform with a strangely colored bow tie, equipped with shoulder pads and arm guards, dressed quite strangely.

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai… and Grandmother.”

“You lot, you left yesterday without listening to all of my words?! Young people nowadays are really…”

“Okay okay, Grandmother, pointless ramblings don’t really count.”

The female classmate brought by Tsumugi let out a heroic laugh of “Bwahahahahaha!” and stopped Tsumugi’s rant.

“You just said something silly…”

“Excuse me, Grandmother… This person is…?”

Akane asked this, and saw the mysterious girl catch everyone’s attention by unnecessarily flipping her hair and stepping forward.

“Yours truly<ref> Mimori literally refers to herself using ‘this person’ (本人), so I’m gonna use ‘yours truly’.</ref> waited for someone to ask before introducing myself, that was really Discord…<ref> The Chinese says ‘oolong’, but that doesn’t even sound remotely close to what she corrected herself to say… I changed it to sound more like a slip of the tongue</ref> correction, that was really discourteous of yours truly. Yours truly Hatagaya Academy’s student president, Seiteikouji Mimori<ref> Mimori’s surname contains the words for ‘holy emperor’, given the armor she likes to wear her ‘class’ is probably paladin</ref>!”

“The student president…”

“This academy attaches great importance to student autonomy. Seek the Student Council if you are in need of assistance. In fact, the Student Council is also responsible for dormitory affairs, and yours truly is the person in charge.”

“Eh?! So she’s the one who put Souta-kun in that kind of dorm?!”

Akane’s and Nanami’s gazes were mixed with some hostility.

“Yours truly was accidentally on autopilot and put him in an empty dorm~ But I hear it’s very shabby, right? Yours truly will observe the situation after school, and then we’ll go on from there. And Grandmother asked yours truly to do what I can to help!”

“Huh… Didn’t Grandmother say that we were too dependent on others yesterday…?”

“I did say to take matters into your own hands. But I never said I wouldn’t help? The short-temperedness of young people isn’t good.”

Tsumugi crossed her arms and pursed her lips. Purely in terms of appearance, she looked like a pouting young girl.

But, her raised arms exuded so much senseless good intentions that Akane happily put her hands together.

“Grandmother is so reliable!!”

“Although it should be that yours truly is more reliable!!”

Mimori pointlessly and unreasonably refused to be outdone, making Nanami laugh.

“The student president is so childish…”

“... And, since young Kikuno was full of sisterly love and pleaded tearfully, it can’t be helped. You, sir, have a good sister, young Souta.”

Although, said sister was really just a sisterly neighbor who lived nearby and loved to take care of people. However, Souta couldn’t say anything about that in this kind of atmosphere.

“Thank you, Okiku-nee.”

“Why so polite? As Big Sis, helping Sou-kun goes without saying!”

However, those who knew the truth strained a smile. The only person at the scene who wasn’t straining a smile but rather smiling from ear to ear was Akane.

“Great, Souta-kun!”

“I don’t really care… but, since Akane and Okiku-nee won’t be sad, then so be it, I guess?

Regardless of his real thoughts, Souta naturally smiled a little as he said this, making Akane ecstatic and feel as if all her pores had opened.

''Souta-kun’s smile… as expected, it’s mesmerizing…! I want to see it more!''

Seeing the flag on Akane’s head twinkle, Souta’s smile instantly clouded over, and Akane nearly cried.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page

2025-01-02T22:25:46Z

Person72635: /* Volume 1 */

===Volume 1===
::*Chapter 0 - [[User:Person72635|Person72635]] - '''completed'''
::*Chapter 1 - [[User:Person72635|Person72635]] - '''completed'''
::*Chapter 2 - [[User:Person72635|Person72635]] - '''completed'''
::*Chapter 3 - [[User:Person72635|Person72635]] - '''completed'''
::*Chapter 4 - [[User:Person72635|Person72635]] - '''completed'''
::*Chapter 5 - [[User:Person72635|Person72635]] - '''completed'''
::*Intermission - [[User:Person72635|Person72635]] - '''completed'''
::*Chapter 6 - [[User:Person72635|Person72635]] -

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
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</noinclude>

Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)

2025-01-02T22:24:28Z

Person72635: /* {{pad|160px}}Volume 1: After I Transfer This Time, I Will Go Home and Marry This Girl */

<vote type=1 /><small>{{furigana|'''Do you follow this series? Rate it!'''|Only available to registered users. [[Special:CreateAccount|Register here]]}}</small><br>

{{Status|Active}}
{{Teaser|English}}

[[File:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|thumb|Volume 1 Cover]]

If Her Flag Breaks (彼女がフラグをおられたら, Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara, or Gaworare for short) is a light novel series written by Touka Takei and illustrated by Cuteg. Kodansha published 16 volumes from December 2011 to September 2016. A manga and two spin-offs were serialized in Kodansha's magazines. An anime adaptation aired from April to June 2014, covering the first 6-ish volumes with significant alterations to the ending.

== Story Synopsis ==
Souta Hatate, a new transfer student to the Hatagaya School, has the ability to see the futures of those around him in the form of flags. He is able to affect those flags based on his interactions with the person in question. He ends up living in a small dorm with many beautiful girls. When he finds a flag of death on himself, Souta learns that in order to be able to change his fate, he has to find and bring together four people: a princess knight, a magician, a cleric, and a shinobi. (Taken from Wikipedia)

== Translation ==
=== [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|Registration]] ===
'''Translators are asked to [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|register]] which chapters they're working on'''

=== Format Standards ===
'''Every Chapter (after editing) must conform to the general format guidelines.'''
* [[Format guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

=== Feedback ===
Use the [[Talk:Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|project talk page]] or [[User talk:Person72635|Person72635's talk page]]

== Updates ==
* January 2nd, 2025 - Chapter 5 and Intermission complete.
* December 27th, 2024 - Chapters 0-4 re-translated.
* October 24th, 2020 - Chapter 4 complete.
* June 24th, 2020 - Chapter 3 complete.
* June 19th, 2020 - Chapter 2 complete.
* June 15th, 2020 - Chapter 1 complete.
* June 13th, 2020 - Project page created and Chapter 0 complete.

==''Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)'' by Touka Takei ==
==={{pad|160px}}Volume 1: After I Transfer This Time, I Will Go Home and Marry This Girl===
[[image:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|left|160px|border]]
<table border=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td>
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Novel Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 0|Flag 0: The Magic That Started It All]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Flag 1: The Day the Knight Raised the Flag]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Side Quest Flag: The Mysterion Mystery 1]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Epilogue|Epilogue]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Afterword|Afterword]]
</td></tr></table><br style="clear:both"/>

== Project Staff ==
* Project Administrator: 
* Project Manager: [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Translators ===
ACTIVE<br>
:* [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Editors ===
:* 

== Series Overview ==
* Volume 1 - ''Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara: Ore, Kono Tenkō ga Owattara, Ano Ko to Kekkon Surun da (彼女がフラグをおられたら俺、この転校が終わったら、あの娘と結婚するんだ)'', December 2, 2011, ISBN 978-4-06-375205-2

Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)

2025-01-02T22:22:49Z

Person72635: /* Updates */

<vote type=1 /><small>{{furigana|'''Do you follow this series? Rate it!'''|Only available to registered users. [[Special:CreateAccount|Register here]]}}</small><br>

{{Status|Active}}
{{Teaser|English}}

[[File:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|thumb|Volume 1 Cover]]

If Her Flag Breaks (彼女がフラグをおられたら, Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara, or Gaworare for short) is a light novel series written by Touka Takei and illustrated by Cuteg. Kodansha published 16 volumes from December 2011 to September 2016. A manga and two spin-offs were serialized in Kodansha's magazines. An anime adaptation aired from April to June 2014, covering the first 6-ish volumes with significant alterations to the ending.

== Story Synopsis ==
Souta Hatate, a new transfer student to the Hatagaya School, has the ability to see the futures of those around him in the form of flags. He is able to affect those flags based on his interactions with the person in question. He ends up living in a small dorm with many beautiful girls. When he finds a flag of death on himself, Souta learns that in order to be able to change his fate, he has to find and bring together four people: a princess knight, a magician, a cleric, and a shinobi. (Taken from Wikipedia)

== Translation ==
=== [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|Registration]] ===
'''Translators are asked to [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|register]] which chapters they're working on'''

=== Format Standards ===
'''Every Chapter (after editing) must conform to the general format guidelines.'''
* [[Format guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

=== Feedback ===
Use the [[Talk:Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|project talk page]] or [[User talk:Person72635|Person72635's talk page]]

== Updates ==
* January 2nd, 2025 - Chapter 5 and Intermission complete.
* December 27th, 2024 - Chapters 0-4 re-translated.
* October 24th, 2020 - Chapter 4 complete.
* June 24th, 2020 - Chapter 3 complete.
* June 19th, 2020 - Chapter 2 complete.
* June 15th, 2020 - Chapter 1 complete.
* June 13th, 2020 - Project page created and Chapter 0 complete.

==''Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)'' by Touka Takei ==
==={{pad|160px}}Volume 1: After I Transfer This Time, I Will Go Home and Marry This Girl===
[[image:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|left|160px|border]]
<table border=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td>
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Novel Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 0|Flag 0: The Magic That Started It All]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Flag 1: The Day the Knight Raised the Flag]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules]]
* Intermission
* Chapter 6
* Chapter 7
* Epilogue
* Afterword
</td></tr></table><br style="clear:both"/>

== Project Staff ==
* Project Administrator: 
* Project Manager: [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Translators ===
ACTIVE<br>
:* [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Editors ===
:* 

== Series Overview ==
* Volume 1 - ''Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara: Ore, Kono Tenkō ga Owattara, Ano Ko to Kekkon Surun da (彼女がフラグをおられたら俺、この転校が終わったら、あの娘と結婚するんだ)'', December 2, 2011, ISBN 978-4-06-375205-2

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission

2025-01-02T22:21:49Z

Person72635: Created page with "==Side Quest Flag: The Mysterion Mystery 1== Intermission: The Mysterion Mystery 1 Crisp and golden sunlight. The sweet sound of the waves, easy on the ears. It was clearl..."

==Side Quest Flag: The Mysterion Mystery 1==

Intermission: The Mysterion Mystery 1

Crisp and golden sunlight.

The sweet sound of the waves, easy on the ears.

It was clearly installed with the most advanced stabilizer, so he shouldn’t have felt any swaying; yet when he closed his eyes and laid down on the deck’s sunlounger, he was under the impression that his body was rocking.

He woke up from his cozy nap, discovering a girl closely scrutinizing his face.

“?!”

Seeing Souta flabbergasted, the girl shook with terror and jumped backwards.

“S-s-s-s-s-s-sorry to scare you! I apologize for interrupting your rest!”

And then the girl swiftly ran inside the cabin and disappeared.

At the same time, a different girl walked out.

She brought her hand up to shield her eyes and watched the girl who was running away.

“Oooh, Souta! Your standards are really high, li’l bro.”

This was on the luxury cruise ship the ''Premium Ambriel''.

The one who just made a dig at Souta was his older sister.

“That was the heiress of the Mahougasawa Consortium, though. I saw everybody try to talk to her at the launching ceremony. Want to ask her out for tea?”

“She’d just ignore me.”

“Would she? I just saw her in pretty high spirits, though?”

“Sis, you’re saying that kind of stuff again…”

This scene of back-and-forth banter was nostalgic.

However—

Nostalgia… his sister’s face should’ve been nostalgic, yet he couldn’t see it clearly.

At this point, Souta realized that this was a dream.

It’s like his sister’s face was covered by a layer of hazy fog.

More importantly, at the next moment…

When he came back to his senses, Souta was sitting on a couch in the main hall of the cabin.

The inscrutable little girl in front of his eyes had hair the color of cherry blossoms.

She probably looked around ten?

Souta asked this unfamiliar little girl:

“…You are?”

“Me? I’m Sacra…”<ref> ‘Sacrament’ in Greek is ‘mysterion.’ Hence the title</ref>

The girl stopped and hesitated halfway through.

“Sakura?”

“…Yeah, I’m Sakura. Just call me that, big brother.”<ref> You probably know this already, but it’s pretty common in Eastern cultures to call older males of the same generation ‘big brother’</ref>

At the next moment, a 9x9 shogi board was set up on the table.

On the shogi board, unfamiliar pieces were stacked in the center like a small mountain.

“This is a knight, this is a magician… samurai, dragon rider, priest, ninja, thief, summoner.

Sakura pulled out pieces with especially obvious characteristics, lining them up while introducing their names.

The pieces seemed to hold some unfathomable special abilities.

“In theory…”

Sakura moved the piece with a pointy hat.

“The magician is very tricky. Try to deal with them first.”

Next she held the piece wearing a Western suit of armor.

“The knight is a necessary guard. They always follow the king.”

The piece sheathing Japanese steel and the piece draped with long robes and wearing a square hat moved forward together.

“The samurai’s charge pairs well with the priest’s support.”

In this way, Sakura explained each piece’s movement and use in detail.

“How about it? Do you understand?”

“Yep, very interesting.”

“…Big brother? Do you want to bet a round?”

“Bet a round…”

“Correct. The loser must listen to the winner’s request.”

“Okay.”

The rules themselves weren’t complicated. Just like an altered version of chess.

Although his opponent was more practiced, Souta didn’t think he would lose to a child.

''Hmph, she’s still a child. I won’t have to take this kid seriously.''

The corner of Souta’s lips lifted into a smirk… Sakura also smiled slightly at him.

Just looking at the results—

Souta lost.

In Souta’s hands, the magician and the knight were all defeated easily.

It wasn’t that Souta was too weak.

Rather, Sakura had toyed with Souta using seasoned, slippery tactics unbefitting of a little girl, resulting in Souta’s crushing defeat.

“You really have a lot of skill…”
Souta said this, but he in fact thought that Sakura’s stratagems were like magic, even leaving him in awe at her deftness.

“Big brother, you didn’t forget our bet, right?”

“Ahahaha, I wonder what I’ll be ordered to do…”

Souta laughed weakly, and Sakura suppressed her smirk.

“I’m not ordering you to do anything. It’s a request. It’s fine even if you don’t listen. But I think big brother will definitely listen.”

“……”

“I won not because I was strong. But because on my head a victory flag had been raised… while on big brother’s head a defeat flag had been raised.”

“…Flag?”

Just then, Sakura’s aura very clearly changed.

“I give my power to big brother. In return, big brother must seek the truth of this world.”

To Souta, Sakura’s tender tone seemed to rush out from below the ground, highly unusual and shrouded in mystery.”

“The truth…?”

“Correct — the truth. Does big brother want to learn the secrets of the world?”

Thinking back on it, a destruction flag might’ve been raised on Souta’s head at this time.

Did the little girl know about that point?

Thinking back on it… that sentence ''“Hmph, she’s just a child. I won’t have to take this kid seriously.”'' was definitely a defeat flag.

This was his thought as he gradually regained consciousness.

“……”

Only, the Souta in the dream seemed to be controlled by some mystical power — such that he didn’t even realize it wasn’t his own will — and he nodded.

Did Sakura see a flag and predict that the situation would become like this?

“Then… If you solve the secret of this world, let’s have another match, big brother. Next time we’ll have a fair fight… okay?”

Sakura gently—

—patted Souta’s forehead, then stood up from her seat.

That innocent smile gradually disappeared into the light enveloping the world.

Then, Souta woke up from the dream.

He was in the bed of his room, in Hatagaya Academy’s Quest House, which he had finally begun to get used to.

Souta wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand and hoarsely said to himself:

“…That dream just then… What was that?”

Meeting Akane on the ship, and the competition with Sakura, as well as his sister’s face…

Now a layer of heavy, hazy fog seemed to fall over his mind, and he couldn’t discern whether the events of the dream were events of the past or just a normal dream.

He just felt very uneasy…

And then, in his hands, was the power that the little girl who might’ve been named Sakura left him.

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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|-
| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5

2025-01-02T22:21:16Z

Person72635:

==Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules==

After school the next day, Akane and co. moved their luggage into the dormitory and gathered in the dining room, where the carpets, wallpaper, etc. had barely been renovated.

“Well, then!! Next, let’s hold the first pledge ceremony of the reborn Quest House!!”

“Pledge…?”

“Pledge what?”

Souta and Nanami originally thought it was going to be a housewarming party doubling as a friendship ceremony, so they reacted carefully to Akane’s words.

“That’s exactly what we’re going to discuss in this meeting.”

“That’s not what a pledge ceremony is!”

Souta’s retorts became increasingly heated.

“Alright, alright, Sou-kun. From now on, we're all going to live together as buddies, so our pledge should be unanimous.”

“Then, let’s celebrate our pledge. Cheers, everyone.”

Everybody gathered around a table filled with pizza and cake and made a toast with their non-alcoholic champagne.

“Anyways, although everything is still under construction! But I think we should decide on Quest House’s house prefect while we’re at it!”

“Oh. Thy proposal must indicate that thou wishest to become house prefect. Hmph, as expected of a rich girl. Thou actest cute, but in fact cravest the limelight, huh…! In that case, don’t even think about having your way. We shall also contend for house prefect!!”

“What a coincidence! I think Nanami is most suited to be house prefect, too!”

“…Huh?”

“I also vote for Nanami.”

“Then, one votes the same.”

“Since Sou-kun nominates her, I’ll also vote for Nanami.”

“House Prefect Nanami, please take good care of us.”

Akane bowed her head in salute, while Megumu and Souta applauded in congratulations.

“Eh, ah, uh, um… huh? Strange? I-in Our estimation, ye are trying to push trouble onto Us…!!”

Nanami’s face filled with rage.

“Let’s all work together to solve troublesome matters then.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Eh... weird...? Uh, that… th-thou art right…”

Nanami was made speechless by the excessive kindness, and the Rage Energy in her body had nowhere to vent. If it were Rage Allergy, she would itch all over her body every time she got angry, and she would be both angry and sad. That would be extremely irritating. Just like how a true Edo person says “Aaaa— choo! Go die” when they sneeze.

“I feel like we’re gradually becoming dorm buddies. That’s great, that’s great! The dorm I stayed in before was crowded and noisy. I’m so happy to be part of such a warm little bunch this time. We have great unity!”

“Bunch…”

A group which resembles chili peppers — Quest House.<ref> The Japanese collective noun for chili powder can also be used for people. Basically, the thought process here goes ''bunch [of people]'' → ''bunch of chili peppers''</ref> Its members forced a smile.

“…Being buddies is all well and good, but getting back to the point, this dorm really spoils the mood.”

Nanami looked around at the bare concrete walls and uncarpeted floors and sighed.

“From the beginning, the priority of the renovation was making it liveable. Decoration was secondary, right?”

“Personally, I think keeping it like this is fine.”

After Souta answered Megumu’s question this way, Akane puffed up her cheeks in anger.

“Nope. Souta-kun, you need decorations that cheer you up!”

“Big Sis is so happy that Akane-chan thinks so much about Sou-kun’s well-being.”

Kikuno called herself Big Sis again and doted on Souta.

“Heeheehee, but having said that, making your own living space is a great thing!”

“Yeah... In other words, this place is a blank canvas, and we, as paint, will vividly portray our treasured slices of life…”

Nanami crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and spoke lyrically. Akane beamed at Nanami, eyes sparkling.

“It's Nanami's poet time!!”

Akane responded to the beautiful line of verse as she did before, her eyes twinkling like several small stars, and she tightly clasped Nanami's hands. Nanami, face red as if about to spit fire due to her careless slip of the tongue, struggled to shake off Akane's hands.

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

“One day I’ll compile a collection of Nanami's poems and send it to a society!!"

“If thou doest that, We shall drag Souta down with me and bite my tongue to die—!!”

“Why me?!”

“That said, what kind of society?”

Nobody there could answer Megumu's question. Plus, receiving that kind of thing must be very inconvenient for the society.

“Ah, but being able to choose your own wallpaper is pretty nice. That way, each room can have its own personality. Ah, Sou-kun, do you want to have the same wallpaper as Big Sis?"

“Huh—! How sly! I also want to have the same as Souta-kun!"

“O-one wants that too! One also wants to have the same as Souta-kun!"

“They've thoroughly lost their own personality!!”

Just as Nanami said, each room almost became completely devoid of personality.

“Is Nanami the only one who wants a different wallpaper?”

“We clearly didn’t do anything wrong, so what’s up with this feeling of isolation!!”

Seeing the Souta faction grow abnormally large, Nanami began to be hit hard. If this continued, the dorm would be dyed Souta’s color. Therefore, recruiting others to join the Nanami faction was imperative.

However, Kikuno doted on her little brother and clung to Souta; Akane was also completely captivated by Souta's tragic aura. That left Megumu…

“Megu-chan, why art thou suddenly so close with Souta?”

“This is friendship between men.”

“Huh?! Art not thou a girl?!”

“……”

Megumu’s eyes lost their luster, and Souta saw the “Join Nanami Faction” flag above Megumu’s head break.

“Since your friendship between men has deepened, does that mean ye had a heart-to-heart through your fists by the river at dusk?”

“No, we didn’t do anything like that…”

''Her Princess Highness’s mind is really full of mysteries'' — Souta thought that and replied with a faint smile.

“Then a friendship between men has not been formed.”

“Huh?! How can that be?!”

Akane unexpectedly interrupted, causing Megumu to raise his voice.

“No, one doesn’t want that! S-Souta-kun, sorry, but can one beat you up?”

“No way.”

“Sorry, sorry. One hopes you can just grit your teeth and bear with it for a bit!”

“Didn’t I just say no way?!”

Megumu refused to listen to Souta’s objections.

“08:49, 2 January 2025 (CET)[[User:Person72635|Person72635]] ([[User talk:Person72635|talk]])!”

Megumu yelled “sorry, sorry” in his heart and punched Souta… but—

Seeing the scene of Megumu weakly hammering Souta’s chest, Nanami and co. felt as follows:

“…They’re just a couple flirting with each other.”

“What a coincidence. My thoughts are exactly the same as Nanami’s!”

“In that sense, they seem to have a very good relationship…”

After Megumu beat Souta up with his dainty punches, he panted cutely and gave Souta a smug look.

“Th-this way, we have formed a firm friendship between men, right?!”

“This is just a one-sided beating, though. How can it count if there isn’t a beating from both sides?”

Nanami retorted on behalf of Souta, who didn’t know how to respond.

“S-… Souta-kun, one hopes you can beat one up!”

“How could I? No matter how hard you think about it, it’s impossible!!”

“Start hitting! Start hitting one now!!”

“Yikes… Megumu… That’s terrifying! The look in your eyes is terrifying!!”

Akane and Kikuno watched anxiously. How will this fierce drama of friendship between men, this clash of strong wills, develop?

Rather, this feeling was more like the feeling of watching a soap opera where the woman confesses and the man rejects her… Whether those involved knew this is a mystery.

Seeing Megumu's eyes swirling weirdly, Souta grabbed Megumu's head and tried to push him away. But when Souta saw the friendship streamers streaming endlessly from Megumu's head like [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokoroten ''tokoroten'',] his body was gradually overcome by fear.

“Alright, alright! I get it!”

“I'm so glad you understand me!… Come, please.”

Then, Megumu, waiting to be beaten in a praying position with her eyes closed and head slightly tilted upwards, looked like a girl waiting to be kissed.

“……”

His blushing and heart-pounding appearance made Souta flinch.

“No, Sou-kun, since he’s already mustered up his courage, you can’t humiliate him.”

“That’s right, Souta-kun. I do mind, but I won’t take it to heart. Please go ahead and kiss.”

“If not, Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to be your practice partner?”

“That’s right, Souta-kun. I do mind, but I won’t take it to heart. Please go ahead and kiss.”

Based on these sentences, to Kikuno and Akane, Megumu’s appearance as a girl bashfully waiting to be kissed overshadowed everything. For them, the scene had already become a kissing scene.

Moreover, since Kikuno made an outrageous suggestion, Souta couldn’t help but feel frightened. He could only grimace and pretend not to hear it.

If this continued, he would be forced to kiss someone. So Souta, seeing no other way out, raised his fist towards Megumu, who seemed to be waiting for a kiss.

“……!”

Again and again, Souta swung his fist and stopped halfway, swung his fist and stopped halfway, and finally could only poke Megumu's forehead with his fingertip.

“So weak!!”

Nanami was shocked.

More accurately, no matter how you looked at it, those two forehead-flickers looked like a flirting couple. It was the opposite of friendship between men.

Maybe she had seen enough of the two flirting, or perhaps a little jealousy appeared in some corner of her heart while she was cheerfully watching the sweet atmosphere between Megumu and Souta, but Kikuno suddenly changed the subject:

“Besides the house prefect, there are many other things that should also be decided."

“The house vice-prefect, right?” Akane asked.

“This dorm is really well-organized…”

“After that is the acting house prefect, right?”

“There’s already a house prefect, though!?”

Whether a dorm with only five people needs so many people in charge is an open question.

At the same time, the relative importance of Nanami’s position as house prefect became lower and lower.

“She probably didn’t mean that, but rather something like who would cook each of the three meals, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I heard that we’ll be assigned a house supervisor, but they couldn’t find one right away, so we’ll have to take care of it ourselves for the time being.”

This conversation between Megumu and Kikuno was more in line with common sense. Much appreciated.

“Prepare three meals, huh… Suddenly we’re challenging independent living on high difficulty.”

“We shall not do that. Don’t expect anything from Us.”

For Miss Heiress and Her Princess Highness, the difficulty threshold of this matter was very high — to be specific, it was through the roof. It was no longer a threshold, but more like a lintel.

“Cooking is something Big Sis is good at and loves. Let Big Sis come cook for Sou-kun~”

“Ah, one can also cook a lot of dishes. Let’s take turns then.”

“Big Sis is so happy! It’s like I have a little sister in addition to my little brother!”

“Hahaha.”

Hearing Kikuno’s frank words, devoid of malice, Megumu let out a hollow laugh.

“I’ll also help out where I can. I can do the cleaning or the heavy housework,” Souta said.

“Ah! I can do the cleaning too! I’ll do my best to clean Souta-kun's room! Pack all the things that weren’t cleaned up in cardboard boxes!”

“I literally just moved in, and you immediately start trying to kick me out…”

Souta was dealt a heavy blow by Akane and Kikuno’s multiple attacks. Kikuno patted his head and comforted him:

“It’s okay, Sou-kun. Big Sis will make sure Sou-kun’s luggage is sent to Sou-kun’s room."

“Sending it from your room to your room, how troublesome…”

“While the porter is carrying my luggage, my life will be very troublesome too.”

Souta gradually lost track of what was being joked about and began to feel uneasy about being toyed with.

“Next is the bath order and the trash duty order.”

“… I’m starting to feel the communal life.”

“Logically speaking, it shouldn’t be the princess or the rich heiress who has to take out the trash. One can do it, it’s fine.”

"… I can also take out the trash. Let me help.”

Souta was very grateful that everyone there was willing to fill up the dorm numbers. He would feel awful if he didn’t do anything, so he volunteered to help take out the trash. Hearing Souta speak and become more active, Akane smiled.

“Sou-kun is such a good kid! Big Sis is so touched! Come, everyone, praise Sou-kun, praise Sou-kun!!”

Kikuno proudly patted her little brother’s head with all her might and pushed him forward.

“Souta-kun is awesome! It's like he was born to take out the trash!”

“Just imagining Souta-kun taking out the trash turns a man’s sadness into energy. How admirable!”

“Uhhh… yes yes yes, Souta, thanks, thanks.”

An inconceivable phenomenon occurred: Nanami’s casual words caused the least emotional damage. Souta immediately moved on to the next topic.

“…Then what else do we need to decide?”

“As for the bath order, one thinks that of course ladies should go first!”

Megumu listened to Souta's words and remembered the other thing he had brought up earlier. He made a proposal with clenched his fist cutely, wanting to show his manliness.

“Wanting to bathe first, Megu-chan is a girl after all!”

“……”

Megumu’s fist drooped limply.

In this way, Nanami and co. continued to discuss even after finishing their dinner. But it was pretty late, so it was almost time to go into the new, sparkling bathroom.

The three girls came out of their rooms with clothes and bathing supplies. When they passed by the dining room, they stuck their heads inside and said:

“Sou-kun, do you want to take a bath together?”

“Take a bath together? How brave!”

Hearing Kikuno, whom nobody knew how serious she was, laugh and chuckle, Akane immediately covered her fully-clothed body with her bath towel.

“I can’t do it!!”

There was only one bath, and it had just been decided that girls could use it before nine o'clock and boys could use it after nine o'clock. The girls’ camp immediately said they wanted to use the new bath.

“Big Sis is so lonely~ we clearly used to take showers together.”

“That happened?!”

Just as Nanami was about to shake off the others and go in the bath first, her two feet stopped with furious speed. Her feet are really agile.

“Th-that was before! It was a really long time ago, though?! When I was in kindergarten or just starting elementary school!”

“W-what? So it was like that…”

“Ah! Ah! Nanami’s actually jealous!? Nanami is jealous, right?! You can call me Big Sis though, Nanami?!”

“Why art thou so happy?! We shall not call thee that!”

Kikuno was like a grandmother looking forward to having a grandchild. She seemed to contract the “I want my little brother’s first date to call me ‘Big Sis’” syndrome.

“Let's not talk about this for now, let’s just take our bath quickly. Speaking of which, boys should bathe with other boys.”

““Huh, huh, huh?!””

Megumu and Souta cried out together.

Especially Megumu — the expression on his face was like a fully nude girl being locked in the boys judo club's locker room.

Akane and co. hurried into the bath, leaving Megumu trembling and almost crying and Souta on his guard against Megumu.

“…A-anyways, there’s no need to force ourselves to take a bath together, right? You can still leisurely have it all to yourself.”

“Y-you want one’s body all for yourself…?”

“The bath all for yourself!!”

Megumu could no longer hear what other people say! Souta forced a smile at his slightly insane friend.

“Oh, right… the bath… we were just talking about taking a bath…”

How much Megumu, his eyes swirling, understood was a mystery.

Even more mysterious was that for some reason there was an awkward atmosphere at that moment. Souta wanted to find a way to break the silence and tried to change the subject.

“Speaking of men… shouldn’t every healthy man want to sneak a peek?”

Megumu’s eyes lit up at the keyword “man” and he stood up suddenly.

“Souta-kun, let’s go sneak a peek!!”

“Huh…?!”

A destruction flag could be seen above Megumu’s head.

“…Megumu, you want to sneak a peek?”

“We need to be like men, peeking openly and morally!”

“That’s already a crime!!”

Note: Any form of peeking is a crime.

“But… think about it carefully! A real man would never peek!”

The formula ''man < real man = Souta'' instantly emerged in Megumu's mind.

“You can’t peek, Souta-kun! This isn’t like you at all!!”

“Huh?! Me?!”

At some point, Souta became the one actively trying to sneak a peek, which scared Souta.

“……”

Then, Akane, coming back out to get the shampoo she had forgotten and only hearing the last part of the conversation, blushed and covered her key parts with the shampoo bottle.

“Souta-kun wants to peek…!!”

“Akane!? N-no, th-that’s not it…!!”

“Souta-kun is a peeping tom!!”

“Why do you look so happy?!”

Akane let out a sound of unparalleled delight. Without listening to Souta speak, she swiftly and elegantly ran towards the changing room in the knock-kneed posture of a rich heiress.

“…………”

Souta stared at her with an odd expression and froze.

After being frozen for a while, Souta despondently squatted on a folding chair in the living room next to the cafeteria while Megumu comforted him.

But not long after, Nanami, skin white, rosy, and glistening having just taken a bath, cursed at Souta, “Take this, damn peeping tom!” and sprayed conditioner into his face. A bit of the conditioner went into Souta’s eyes, causing him to show off his superb skills and roll around in pain on the chair.

Kikuno, who similarly became more sexy, held her cheek and looked at the scene with a chuckle.

“Sou-kun has grown into a healthy boy, Big Sis is so happy.”

“Souta-kun, is it true that healthy men should sneak a peek?!”

After hearing Kikuno's words, Megumu, as if waking up from a dream, said this. Souta was busy rolling around because of the conditioner-induced damage to his eyes, so he didn’t hear this. However, Nanami heard it; thus she added more conditioner, and Souta rolled around even more. Please use conditioner correctly.

Having rolled around for a while, Souta was the last one to finish his bath after Megumu and went back to his room. Akane was hiding in the corner of the corridor, tiptoeing and sneaking a look at him.

“What art thou doing, Akane?”

“Ah!? No, nothing!? I wasn’t sneaking a peek! Please don’t spray me with conditioner!"

Nanami has gradually become like an unfathomable monster in this dorm — as long as someone was sneaking a peek, she would unconditionally spray conditioner at them.

“We won’t scold thou…”

“You’re already able to control it?”

“Is that some kind of symptom?!... Back to the point. What art thou doing sneaking around in a place like this?"

“M-me? I-I wouldn’t do anything inappropriate like going into a boy’s room at this kind of time!”

“Oh, so you're wondering whether to go to Souta's room…” After Nanami figured it out, she smiled at the blushing, bashful Akane.

As for Akane, she was anxious about being scolded by Nanami since she remembered that Nanami was house prefect. This was the reality.

“…Thou wantest to go find Souta, right? Isn’t this very good?”

“Uh… no, but…”

Precisely because she was already hesitant in the first place, once she successfully obtained permission she backed out at the last minute.

“That guy wouldn’t do anything to thee. We are not familiar with him either, but it’s obvious that he doesn’t have the guts to do that. That guy needs a friend or lover, so it’s actually better if thou gettest close with and takest care of that guy.”

“Love-...!” Akane was speechless for a moment, then said with slightly red cheeks:

“Nana-Nanami, do you want to come too?”

“Why must We get close with that guy…”

After saying this, Nanami waved her hand and went into her room.

Although Akane felt even more embarrassed to go, she hesitated for two or three times before raising her hand and knocking on the door... but there was no response. She knocked again, but still no response.

“……Ah, I knocked on my own door.”

If there was a response, it would shake things up and change it into a supernatural event. That said, saying ‘shake up and change’ is fine, but ‘warm up and change’ sounds weird. Would that mean that it was a premeditated change? How terrifying.

Akane pulled herself together and knocked on Souta’s door. This time there was a response and the door opened.

“Akane? What's wrong?”

“Is Souta-kun going to sleep already?”

“No. I'm not going to sleep yet…”

“Th-then, I want to talk to you!”

“…Well, that’s fine.”

Standing in the corridor and talking was not an option, so Souta invited Akane into the room.

“It’s very clean.”

“Because the luggage has barely been unpacked…”

It felt a bit inappropriate, but since there was no other place to sit, Souta asked Akane to sit on the edge of the bed while he himself sat on a folding chair. After he sat down, he thought that their seats should be reversed, but by then it was too late.

“By the way, I haven’t fulfilled my promise to clean your room yet.”

“Yeah... since we’ve been tied up with other things lately.”

“Souta-kun is either tied up or flailing around.”

''You make me sound like a bug...'' Souta thought to himself, responding with a stiff smile.

“Right, you wanted to tell me something, yeah?!”

“Chat about what?! What do you want to chat about?!”

Souta didn’t expect the choice to be up to him. He was slightly shocked and his smile became even stiffer.

“Huh… well… let’s just chat about whatever Akane wants to chat about.”

“Me? Isn’t there anything Souta-kun wants to say?”

“I don’t have anything to say to Akane…”

Souta finally took action to break the flag waving above Akane's head.

“Could it be that Souta-kun is very unwilling to deal with me…?”

Akane’s flag broke, and tears were about to flow. She dejectedly drooped her shoulders and jabbed her index fingers together.

“I want to hear Akane talk about herself. I want to make an effort to understand Akane better!!”

However, Souta also hated making girls cry because of him.

“Really?!”

Akane immediately showed a sunny smile. Her quick response and the flag’s extraordinary speed of recovery made Souta’s smile tighten.

“But I’d rather learn more about Souta-kun.”

“Me…?”

“Why does Souta-kun distance himself from other people?”

Akane asked thusly. She moved to the corner of the bed — beside Souta — and looked Souta’s eyes up and down, even to the depths of his heart… with a gentle voice, gentle eyes, and gentle heart, Akane lightly touched the fear in his heart.

“……”

“……”

Silence flowed between the two people, so close they could feel each other’s breath.

“……”

Souta looked mournfully into her clear eyes that reflected his figure.

Specifically, he was looking at the indistinct object above his head that was reflected in her eyes…

“I… am…”

Souta slowly, slowly opened his mouth. Akane didn’t rush him at all, waited patiently, her expression as gentle and peaceful as a loving mother’s.

…Unexpectedly—

“Sou-kun, Big Sis peeled an apple. Do you want to eat it? I cut the peel into rabbit ear… Ack!”

Because it was the room of the little brother she was very familiar with, Kikuno opened Souta's door without knocking and poked her head in. When she saw Akane and Souta close together, she thought she saw something she wasn’t supposed to see. She shut her mouth and said loudly:

“S-Sorry, Big Sis couldn’t imagine that Sou-kun would be like that even in her dreams!! I-I didn't mean to disturb you! Please do as you wish! Continue what you were doing!!”

Nobody knows how Kikuno interpreted the situation where Akane and Souta’s faces were less than two fists apart. She looked in another direction, face flushed, and she said this in a strange tone, almost shouting.

“Oh god… Okiku-nee…?”

Souta frowned, not understanding what she was saying.

“I-it’s fine! Big Sis totally approves of that kind of thing! Sou-kun is a bit of a late bloomer, so Akane-chan, you have to guide him, alright?!”

Seeing Kikuno clench her fists, Akane and Souta looked at each other. After noticing how close they were, they finally realized the implication of Kikuno’s words and jumped back at the same time.

“N-no, no! Kikuno-senpai, this is a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!!”

“Th-that’s right, Okiku-nee! It’s not what you think…!!”

“No problem! Big Sis won’t tell anyone! Big Sis will keep it a secret for you! Especially not Nanami and Megu-chan, right!!”

Kikuno chattered on, not giving Souta a chance to retort “Huh, why? What can’t be told to anyone? And why specifically can’t you tell those people?”

“Sou-kun is leaving Big Sis behind and becoming an adult first… Even so, remember that Big Sis is still Big Sis though, Sou-kun!”

Kikuno was filled with emotion and shed a tear, which she wiped away with her fingertips.

“If you run into any trouble, call Big Sis, okay?! Also, wh-when it’s over, you two should eat together, okay?!”

Kikuno put the plate of apples cut into the shape of rabbits onto the bed with difficulty and left the room with his cheeks still red and his movements stiff.

“What do you mean by ‘over’?!”

Souta’s question was naturally unanswered, left aside just like that.

“The rabbit apples are delicious.”

“You’re already eating!?… Is something over? Something is over, right?”

“For example, Souta-kun's life?”

“It was forced to end! It's all because you ate the apples immediately!”

Akane smiled and thought, "Souta-kun is so interesting when he's full of energy" while carefully chewing her apple.

Because it would soon be midnight, Akane decided to retreat from the room after ending Souta's life and the conversation. ''I really wanted to talk a bit more…'' Although she harbored such thoughts in her heart, the opportunity would come again in the future.

From now on, they were dorm buddies. There was no need to rush, there would be plenty of opportunities to improve their relationship. Smiling at the thought, Akane said goodnight to Souta.

Souta, left alone in the room, swallowed the words he was about to say to Akane along with the apple, and fell back on the bed.

“……”

He stared at the ceiling in deep thought for a rather long time. Although he gradually became sleepier and almost fell asleep, he still got up and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

It seemed to be lights-out time already, so the hall was dimly lit with night lights. The bathroom at the front of the hall was brightly lit, and it was obvious that someone was already there.

“…Nanami.”

“Wah uh huh huh huh huh.”

Nanami was brushing her teeth in her pajamas, and whatever she said was completely unintelligible. If what you said while brushing your teeth could be understood, there would usually be toothpaste dripping out of your mouth. That gets pretty messy. As for which is better, it’s '''''case by case'''''. That is, container buy container.”<ref> ‘Case by case’ is written in English, and ‘container buy container’ is a mistranslation using the wrong meaning of ‘case’ and the wrong ‘by’</ref>

The sight of the two of them talking to each other with toothpaste flowing out of their mouths would be rather crazy, so they brushed their teeth side by side in silence to avoid that situation.

Souta didn’t want to look at his mirror image... Strictly speaking, he didn’t want to look above his head, so he glanced at Nanami through the mirror.

“……”

At this time, Souta finally realized something strange.

''Huh...?''

He noticed something about Nanami that he had never really paid attention to until now.

Once he noticed it, he even wondered why he didn’t think about it earlier.

''Nanami’s… flag, I’ve never… seen it even once.''

No matter who it was, they would raise a flag at least once or twice. Love flag, death flag, defeat flag, disagreement flag, reunion flag, attack flag…

As long as they lived together for two or three days, he would still see some.

However, Nanami was the only one who couldn’t raise any kind of flag.

“No... that’s not right... it shouldn’t be. It’s not that she can’t raise a flag. It’s probably…”

Nanami finally noticed Souta’s suspicious behavior of freezing with his toothbrush in his mouth. She gargled out her mouthwash, wiped the corners of her mouth with a towel, and asked warily:

“What? Why is thy expression like that of a guy who transferred to another school and found out that the girl who was one year older than him who he admired like a big sister is now his classmate?”

“That’s the true story though?!”

Because he hadn’t gargled it out yet, toothpaste dripped down from Souta’s mouth. Why haven’t you gargled it out yet?

“Thou art so messy!”

Because Nanami scolded him, Souta washed his mouth and gargled. Specifically, it was gargle gargle gargle puh. Why did you gargle three times?

While doing these things, Souta gradually came to a conclusion.

It’s not that Nanami’s flag can’t be raised.

''I’m afraid... I’m afraid that Nanami's flag is the only one I can’t see…”

Seeing Souta staring at her with wide eyes again, Nanami retreated slightly.

“Wh-What…?”

That fleeting, unbelievable thought urged Souta to gaze at Nanami intensely and say:

“Nanami… might be someone special to me.”

“Wh-…!? What does that mean?!"

Nanami's face instantly turned red, as if she was about to spit fire and gas, and she raised her voice. It’s best not to spit gas along with fire; that’s dangerous.

“Exactly, Sou-kun! How are you going to explain this to Akane-chan?!”

“Okiku-nee!?”

Kikuno came to the bathroom with toothbrushes at the perfect time, and her incomprehensible question scared Souta silly.

“Ah! Uh! Sorry! I’m sorry, Sou-kun!! Big Sis didn’t mean to blame you! A-and yeah, changing your mind is just human nature, you can’t be blamed for that! Big Sis is just too narrow-minded!!”

“No, Okiku-nee, what are you talking about…”

Big Sis’ heart was as wide as the sea, but she would raise up waves to sweep up Souta’s words, dragging them to the depths of the ocean trenches so that they can never come back. Thus it was common for their communication to fail.

“It’s okay! You don’t need to say anything, Sou-kun! It’s okay! Big Sis will help you explain it to Akane-chan! Akane-chan is a good kid, she will definitely understand, Sou-kun!”

But Big Sis didn’t understand at all.

“Ugh… Oh god…”

What Kikuno would explain to Akane remained a mystery, but Souta didn’t think he could see a bright future.

But on the other hand, no matter what she explained to Akane, Akane seemed to listen with feigned understanding and give a completely unrelated positive explanation. So you could say it was no harm no foul.

“Then Big Sis will go, okay? Sou-kun can rest assured and be happy! Just like Big Sis, Akane-chan should also want Sou-kun to be happy! Y’know?”

After saying this, Kikuno made Nanami and Souta hold each other’s hands tightly and then left the bathroom brimming with self-satisfaction. As you all know, she didn’t gargle. Because she hadn’t brushed her teeth yet. After all, it’d be weird to gargle when you clearly haven’t brushed your teeth.

Anyways, the two of them were once again stunned into place thanks to Kikuno.

“…We are tired. We shall go to bed…”

“Oh, okay. Goodnight, Nanami.”

Souta looked above the back of Nanami’s head as she returned to her room...

While wondering whether there was an invisible flag planted there.

Is the problem with Nanami or Souta?

Enveloped by the aforementioned mysteries, their life in Quest House and the academy passed by smoothly and peacefully…

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Intermission]]
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</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1

2025-01-02T22:20:37Z

Person72635:

==Flag 1: The Day the Knight<ref> Reminder, Nanami’s middle name is Knight</ref> Raised the Flag==
Hatagaya Academy.

Situated on a vast campus with a view of Yoyogi Park, next to Shinjuku and Meiji Jingu Shrine, it is an enormous school that teaches kindergarten to university.

The academy is renowned not just for their unrivaled academics, but more so for the sound character education their students receive.

The students of Hatagaya Academy are synonymous with kindness in the area, and the locals have a good opinion of them.

Needless to say, students come from thousands of miles away to study there, so the academy has also prepared perfect dormitories for these students.

Since it was the end of the Golden Week, a sluggish atmosphere had permeated the classroom of high school freshman Class F. But due to the appearance of a transfer student, the atmosphere suddenly brightened.

Speaking of transfer students causing a commotion, they are generally beautiful girls. Nevertheless, even if their hopes were shattered by a normal-looking boy, he still raises spirits.

This is because the academy has a relatively high proportion of girls: somewhere between 6:4 and 7:3.

Anyways, the male transfer student stood beside the homeroom teacher on the podium. When he wrote his name on the blackboard, he could hear his classmates’ thoughts about him from their whispers.

“Then again, a transfer during the semester is really strange.”

“It’s not the Emperor of Tokyo again.”

Don’t bring up The Emperor of Tokyo! <ref>Apparently it’s another work by the author, but I couldn’t find it from a quick google search so it might go by a different name. I’m using the literal translation of the Chinese text (东京皇帝).</ref>

Back to the subject. The student sitting in front of the podium… Nanami Knight Bladefield opened her cherry-like mouth in surprise, looking up at the transfer student who seemed uncomfortable under all the attention.

In front of her eyes, feeling a bit downcast… the transfer student unable to hide his gloomy expression and attitude… he was…
“Hello everyone… I’m Hatate… Souta.”

“The guy who ruined other people’s business negotiation on the way to school this morning!!”

Nanami pointed fiercely at Souta, shouting loud enough to make the window vibrate. He raised his eyebrows.

The sound of welcoming clapping was about to start, but Nanami’s outburst changed the atmosphere.

“Business negotiation…?”

“What business negotiation…?”

“Ruin…? Business negotiation…?”

“Wow! How cruel…”

“But, why do business negotiations on the way to school…?”

“In this situation, isn’t it usually something like ‘The pervert who peeked at my panties on the way to school this morning!’, right…?”

The welcoming applause scattered, and the teenagers of Class F were all talking about business.

This class would surely win first place in the high school freshman division of the ‘Business Negotiation’ competition. Although they still wouldn’t be as good as the students of the business school. Wait, that doesn’t count as first place at all!

“Hey, isn’t Hatate Souta the one…”

“Yeah, the only survivor of the luxury cruise ship accident…”

The accident of the luxury cruise ship the ''Premium Ambriel'' —

It was a mysterious event that caused a societal sensation a few weeks ago.

The ship didn’t send any help signal at all during its sinking and just suddenly disappeared into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan. Later, people accidentally found a lifeboat floating in the sea like a leaf.

The sole person on the lifeboat was Souta, unconscious.

But he lost his memories of the time he was on the ship.

The incident had countless layers of mystery, so it went completely unsolved. Later, the public quickly lost interest up until today.

However, the young man at the center of the incident was now standing in front of them.

The whispers of the class passed into Souta’s ears, making his expression even more gloomy.

When his classmates saw this, the curious gazes directed at him became mixed with sympathy.

At this time, an exclamation louder than Nanami’s came from behind her. The atmosphere in the classroom was originally a bizarre mixture of uproar and silence, and this exclamation made this indescribable atmosphere even more chaotic.

“Sou-kun!”

This time it was a girl with a slightly more mature temperament than other students. She stood up from her seat and pointed at Souta dramatically.

Actually, she had been staring at Souta ever since he’d appeared in the classroom.

Her long hair was tied with a dotted ribbon into a side ponytail. It obviously wasn’t a housekeeping class, but she wore an apron over her uniform anyways. This graceful girl was more like a mature beauty than a young beauty. She pointed her finger at Souta, mouth wide open and rooted in place. Usually, someone opening and closing their mouth this frequently should be careful of being mistaken for a goldfish, but she didn’t have this problem due to her good looks.

Faced with the girl calling him ‘Sou-kun’, Souta likewise looked at her with his mouth wide open for a while. He realized that the girl matched a certain person in his memory and inadvertently called out that familiar name:

“... Okiku-nee?”

“You really were Sou-kun!”

The girl jumping for joy upon her unexpected reunion with Souta was Shoukanji Kikuno.

Seeing that someone who knew Souta immediately appeared, the class erupted in a different way than before.

“Sou-kun and Okiku-nee…? They feel so close…”

“This transfer student’s face is really wide<ref> I’m guessing it’s in a surprised way.</ref>...”

“Maybe he’s a popular transfer student?”

“After all, transfer students are usually unknown…”

Regardless of whether she heard her classmates’ whispers or saw their suspicious gazes, Kikuno couldn’t hide her excitement at all and seemed to have understood the situation — yet also seemed not to. She hastily waved her arms to explain.

“Oh, Sou-kun’s my childhood playmate! He transferred away in middle school! And then– It’s just– We haven’t seen each other for two years! He’s actually grown so big! Become super handsome! It’s so great!”

“Don’t be so excited!” “Calm down first!” These admonishments from the rest of the class were mixed with strained smiles in their attempt to alleviate Kikuno’s enthusiasm.

—Right.

Kikuno and Souta had been neighbors from kindergarten until their second year of middle school, and the two were like brother and sister. Especially Kikuno, who didn’t have any siblings, loved Souta as a younger brother. People who weren’t in the know would think that they were real siblings.

Later, the two had gone separate ways because Souta’s family moved. So now that they had unexpectedly reunited, Kikuno’s excitement kept rising.

“Sou-kun… You really are Sou-kun, right? Woohoo! Sou-kun just moved!”<ref> It should be noted that in this case, ‘moved’ refers to actual movement rather than moving to a new place.</ref>

I can’t even move?… Souta’s expression said. The more Kikuno’s excitement rose,<ref> The Chinese literally says it broke through the sky lmao </ref> the more obvious the contrast was with Souta’s inexplicable calmness.

“Listen! I was always ~ always really worried about you, Sou-kun! Always couldn’t contact you… Uncle and Auntie are also… Because of that incident…”

Kikuno suddenly lowered her voice, and Souta added:

“My sister, too…”

“Sister? Sou-kun, aren’t you an only child?”

“......Right, yeah.”

Understanding again that his older sister doesn’t exist anymore, Souta lowered his head, his expression completely dead.

“I can’t reach Souta again…”

“Sorry…”

Seeing Souta become depressed, Kikuno panicked and frantically waved her hands.

“Uh, uh! Big Sis<ref> Referring to herself</ref> isn’t blaming you! Don’t show that face, Sou-kun! Uh! Big Sis will let you lie on her lap and help clean out your ears, okay!? I remember that you like that, right? That would make you feel better, right?”

''“That’s too much.”'' ''“She’s doting on him.”'' The class had felt that they couldn’t keep watching the way the older sister doted on her little brother too much.

Feeling the piercing gazes of his classmates, Souta couldn’t help but change the subject.

“No need, but… Okiku-nee, I think you’re one year older than me…?”

“Yep!! Last year, I went to study abroad for almost a year! So, starting high school a year late makes me a freshman now! But I didn’t think that Sou-kun would transfer and be in the same class as me! I, Big Sis, thank the heavens very much! Super amazing! It’s pretty much fate!”

Although Kikuno’s words came purely from sibling affection and completely lacked romance, her enthusiastic speech still elicited whistles of clear ridicule but also faint affection from the class.

But let’s not bring up this point first. On the other hand, a certain girl was in a completely opposite mood and was inwardly fuming.

That girl was Nanami.

''Our<ref> Nanami refers to herself in a way an empress would, so I’m going to use the royal we. I’ll capitalize it when it’s used.</ref> shocking reunion was washed away by censorship!!''

Nanami, angrily distracted from the subject, glared resentfully nearby. Souta, absolutely confused, felt trouble coming. He broke out into a cold sweat and tried not to look towards Nanami.

At this time, the homeroom teacher, wearing a cat-embroidered apron, clapped her hands with a smile to call everyone’s attention (although she didn’t notice that Souta really wanted to escape). The amount of aprons in this classroom was quite large.

“Okay, class, please welcome new friends more warmly~”

Suddenly snapped out of their stupor, the class resumed clapping. The homeroom teacher nodded in satisfaction, putting her hand to her forehead as if hiding from the sun like a certain exaggerated fruit lady children’s show host.<ref> No idea what this is a reference to.</ref> She looked around the classroom.

“Where should Souta-chan sit~?”

“-Chan…!?”<ref> The suffix -chan is used for little children.</ref>

Even the taciturn Souta inadvertently let out a cry, but the homeroom teacher was completely unmoved and continued looking around the classroom.

“Ah, Miyuki-sensei, I think sitting in the back row would make it difficult to assimilate into the class, so how about my row moves back a row to leave space for him to sit. Since Shoukanji-san and the transfer student seem to know each other, let’s arrange for them to sit next to each other!”

Behind Nanami, a frivolous blonde-haired student with pierced ears made a friendly proposal. The others automatically packed their things and vacated their seats, leaving space for Souta.

“Okay then, Souta-chan will sit behind Nanami-chan~”

The homeroom teacher waved her hands and said “Bye-bye!” Souta didn’t want to bother her at all, so he walked around to the seat behind Nanami.

Then, Souta faced the person seated behind him — the frivolous blonde-haired guy with pierced ears — and gently nodded in greeting.

“... Excuse me.”

“It’s alright… ah — also, our class’s teacher taught kindergarten until last year, so she hasn’t fully adjusted yet.”

“Oh…”

What do you mean adjusted, she hasn’t changed at all!

“Pleasure to meet you.” Although the speech and attitude of the blonde-haired ear-pierced boy was as frivolous as his appearance, he was far more kind than he appeared at first glance.

Watching Souta vaguely nod his head in reply, Kikuno, who originally was all over the place mentally and shaking nonstop, laughed.

“You really grew up~ Big Sis was obviously taller in middle school.”

“You’ve also changed a lot, you’ve become pretty.”

“Oh, naughty Souta! How can you say such polite words~ Sucking up to Big Sis won’t get you any benefits!”

Kikuno reached out and poked Souta’s forehead, teasing him.

Seeing Kikuno as frank as ever, Souta felt a bit dejected. He was already different from before, feeling melancholic, insecure, and guilty—he had mixed feelings.

“Huh? Sou-kun, why are you so listless? Shouldn’t you… feel a bit different?”

“......”

Kikuno quickly noticed, and her words made Souta’s expression more lonely. But she deliberately pretended not to notice, smiled softly, and said,

“Ah, you seem to have become more mature…”

“Now those are polite words.”

Souta understood her intentions and likewise pretended not to notice them, responding with a similar smile.

However, his slightly lonely smile instead worried Kikuno.

''Back then, he was a cheerful kid and loved to smile… but now he seems to have changed. Is it because he was too nervous about the transfer… Am I seeing it wrong? He really hasn’t moved on from the accident…'' Seeing Souta’s lack of vitality and that saying his personality had changed a lot didn’t do the change justice, Kikuno couldn’t help but feel worried.

Anyways, because they sensed each other’s goodwill, the two stopped talking. Only, their intriguing attitudes and words seemed honeyed to the people around them. As a result, Nanami, who was sitting in the front seat, constantly looked over her shoulder to peek.

Faced with her piercing gaze, Souta behaved unnaturally and tried not to look at her, breaking out in a cold sweat.

''Why…??? Why does she keep looking at me…? Hmm? Oh yeah! This woman kept staring at me during the accident this morning…!''

''Sure enough… it’s this guy!! The super suspicious guy!!''

At the time, Souta didn’t think he’d attract such suspicion. He might have been a little negligent, and silently cursed his carelessness. Meanwhile, Nanami stared at him haughtily.

Nanami Knight Bladeflield was a girl as beautiful as she was confident. She was very stubborn and rather aggressive. Speaking of her fierceness and toughness, her classmates were even convinced that Nanami repeated a grade. But they wouldn’t think so about Kikuno.

At the same time, Nanami was indifferent to things she deemed irrelevant. However, she held on to things she cared about like a rabid dog. Rabid dogs drool a lot, so Nanami might one day drool a lot too. It’s said that preserved plums are effective for people who drool. Even Soviet physiologist Ivan Pavlov had experimented with dogs. The Soviets are really unpredictable.

Then, the similarly unpredictable Miyuki-sensei somehow made a gesture like “Close fist and open fist”<ref>A children’s song. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUkJkaEyx6s Here] is a Chinese version.</ref>, smiling kindly at the students.

“Okay, okay~ Everybody, look at Sensei. Everybody get along well with our new friend~ Today, we must be full of energy and work hard at playing games and going for walks~”

''“What do you mean ‘playing games’…”'' ''“We aren’t allowed to go for a walk, right…”'' The class heard Miyuki-sensei’s exaggerated tone for talking to children in kindergarten, and despite the cold sweat in their hearts, they still stood up and saluted according to the class president’s call.

Under Nanami’s fierce rabid dog-like stare, the students unafraid of death came happily next to Souta’s seat after class.

“Hatate-kun, where did you move from?”

“... A place called Kobata<ref> The Chinese text says 小旗 (Small Flag) so I put it in Google translate as Japanese kanji and got the pronunciation. I may be completely wrong in this case.</ref>... in Nagoya.

“Oh, the future capital, Nagoya.”

“He’s from the future.” “The time traveler’s uniform is all new.” Hearing Souta’s response, his classmates started talking all at the same time.

“His uniform’s new because he’s a transfer student! It has nothing to do with the future!!”

Nanami couldn’t help but debunk the theory, startling Souta.

The class gave a thumbs-up to Nanami, praising her great deduction while thinking that the transfer student was quite skinny. A kind-hearted classmate who had no luck with girls leaned forward with a clear, definitely-not-repulsive grin and said:

“Hatate, you just transferred and don’t know many things, right? Just ask me if you have any questions. Especially things about girls, asking me would be the right choice.”

He seemed to be the kind of boy who was a diehard fan of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bish%C5%8Djo_game bishojo game] protagonists. His behavior appeared to be well-known, as his classmates' reactions were “He’s at it again?”

Having said that, his outspokenness made Souta nearly relax his expression a bit.

But…

When Souta inadvertently glanced at the space above his classmate’s head—

His expression suddenly froze, and he fell into silent consideration. His eyes appeared full of heartache, melancholy, and loneliness, and he said:

“... I’m already very popular, so I won’t need to.’

Nanami and the others heard his obvious lie, looking at Souta in confusion while the male student angrily grimaced like a monkey.

“Wow! And I thought we were buddies!”

He suddenly broke out into a Kansai accent and left without another word.

Everyone there believed that his reaction was a half joke and laughed in confusion.

However, in Nanami’s eyes, that classmate’s reaction was genuine.

And another thing…

Only Nanami, who had been intentionally observing Souta’s suspicious behavior, seemed to have noticed something.

Souta felt Nanami’s gaze become fiercer. He felt her pressure but didn’t want to provoke trouble, so he tried not to look at her. At this time, a female student stood in front of Souta with an attitude not quite like Nanami’s but still arrogant like a queen.

“It’ll be you! I’ll accept you as my servant! First, you must join my club. As for what type of club it is, you’ll know after you join…”

The girl spoke haughtily, like it was preordained.

Again, Souta inadvertently looked at the space above her head, his expression froze, and he fell into silent consideration. Again, his eyes appeared full of heartache, melancholy, and loneliness. He said, with a little disgust:

“Sorry, but I’m a super sadist”

But Souta obviously didn’t look like a sadist, and in fact looked easily disheartened. As such, Nanami mentally retorted: ''Who are you kidding?''

But the female student replied, devastated:

“Someone so obviously gloomy is a sadist?! Two sadists don’t fit together!”

She was indeed sadistic… The other classmates watched her huff and leave, nodding repeatedly as if confirming the persuasiveness of her statement.

As a worried sister, Kikuno saw the scene as Souta having fun and making friends (although it doesn’t look that way from an objective point of view).

After that, an endless stream of classmates interested in Souta kept talking to him, repeating similar interactions before leaving.

After seeing Souta’s interactions several times, Nanami discovered something.

''This guy…''

Regardless of what they said to him, he would look above their head and his expression would freeze.

After Souta rejected them, before they gave up, he would once again look at their head to confirm

— As if confirming that they would never interact again.

''Very suspicious… Too suspicious…''

Every time class ended, there would be repeated acts of acquaintance and rejection. Gradually, fewer and fewer classmates came to see Souta, and come lunchtime, not even half a person showed up.

Although Nanami didn’t plan to act at this time, she stood up confidently, looking down at the Souta seated behind her.

“Let’s step aside and talk.”

“...... I refuse.”

“Thou canst not say no.”<ref> Nanami uses an archaic second-person pronoun, so I’ll use thee/thou/thy.</ref>

Even though she wasn’t very tall, her attitude made it seem like she was standing on top of Mt. Fuji and her tone allowed for no excuses. This made Souta raise his head slightly.

''He did it again.''

Nanami glared at Souta, who nodded after looking above her head.

Because of her noble birth, Nanami had seen many people who looked at people’s faces, but this was the first time she met someone who looked above people’s heads. Granted, there are sometimes cats who look above people’s heads. According to this logic, Souta was more like a cat — the Licking Sou-kitty.<ref> Chinese says 飒喵舔舔, literally the first part of Souta + meow + lick + lick. It’s apparently some sort of K-ON! reference, but I haven’t watched it.</ref>

Of course, the thought of linking didn’t occur to Nanami, who was resolutely standing before Souta.

“I think that not associating with me would be better for you.”

The words may have been cold, but it was Souta’s awkward way of expressing his consideration. However, Nanami took no notice, drew a circle on her head with her index finger, and smirked menacingly.

“We think ‘tis better for thou to step aside and talk.”

“......”

''How troublesome…'' Souta frowned. Although he didn’t know how much the girl in front of him knew, he was at least sure she didn’t want to talk about it there, so Souta stood up reluctantly.

“What’s wrong, Sou-kun? Do you want Big Sis to go with you?”

Kikuno, anxiously looking at Souta from nearby, couldn’t help but suggest this.

However, when they overheard this sentence, the classmates around Souta reacted more strongly than he did, breaking into profuse cold sweat.

''Saying that kind of thing in this situation is too overprotective…''

''How can he be spoiled like this…''

''“Big Sis” dotes too much…''’

Although he couldn’t hear their inner thoughts, Souta shook his head with a strained smile.

“It’s fine, Okiku-nee.”

Hearing this reply, Kikuno still seemed uneasy. Nanami and Souta left the classroom under her worried gaze.

Nanami brought Souta up the stairs to the roof, where she stood majestically facing Souta. After Souta shrugged his shoulders, she said:

“First of all, We cannot ignore suspicious oddities. That is to say, We are very concerned about supernatural phenomena. Leaving them unsolved does not sit well with Us. We expect thee to understand this point.”

Nanami coughed to clear her throat and approached Souta.

“So, We implore thou to give an honest confession!”

“Uh… w-what do you want me to say…?”

Souta wasn’t pretending to be dumb. Nanami haughtily believed that others would naturally understand her ideas. Thus her poor communication.

''Why dost thou not understand what we wish to say?'' Although Nanami was rather annoyed, she patiently explained:

“... Thou always looketh above the heads of others… in this area, to make a certain judgment, correct?”

“!!”

Seeing Nanami move her index finger on her head just like she did before in the classroom, Souta’s expression visibly changed.

This admitted half of it already. It’s just like a pizza, fried chicken, Caesar salad, French fries, creamy bacon pasta, and a tuna salad appearing in a thief’s. It was supposed to be sneaky, but it might as well have been his official meal!

“W-what?… I don’t understand what you’re talking about…”

Although Souta was caught a little off guard at first, he immediately feigned ignorance. It was like he ate dirt.<ref> The original idiom was 吃熊心豹子胆, literally ‘to eat bear heart and leopard gall’ and meaning ‘to brace oneself.’ I substituted it for an English idiom about eating, since I think that’s the only part that really matters here.</ref>

“Don’t pretend to be dumb! Don’t feign ignorance! The evidence has flashed!!”<ref> Apparently a reference to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Album_(video_game) White Album] anime.</ref>

Her words didn’t make sense to him, but anyways, Nanami boldly closed in on Souta.

Souta’s intuition told him he had provoked a troublesome girl, and he sighed helplessly. Then he inexplicably observed the top of Nanami’s head, waiting for something to happen.

“See!! Thou looked again!! What exactly doth thou see there?!”

“... If I told you, would you promise to stop harassing me?”

“That would depend on the contents of thy response!”

Souta scratched the back of his head, wondering why that woman was so straight-laced, only shooting straight to the point.

“It’s just a way to calm myself down. Doing it makes me think positively — that’s all.”

“Who art thou kidding?! Which one of the sentences thou hast said after looking above their head hasn’t been negative? More importantly, first thou askest Us to stop bothering thou, then make up random lies! Didst thou think that would work?!”

Souta looked up at the sky, thinking to himself that she had a point.

“Look!! There are videos to prove it! Thou art obviously looking at something! This video as well! Also this video! And this one! And this one!!”

“... Excuse me, what’s up with the video of you wearing a sundress and spinning…?”

Because she played a lot of videos in a row, she accidentally swiped too many times and showed him unrelated videos.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!! D-don’t look, nyow<ref> Nanami makes a cat noise, and I’m making it a pun.</ref>—!!”

FYI, that was Nanami wearing her middle school uniform for the last time over spring break. Unfortunately, it cannot be played for everyone to see. What a pity.

“S-since We even let thee see something not meant for others to see, thou must tell me what thou doth not want to say, or else We won’t spare you!!”

She says this, yet she was the one who showed it to him. It’s pretty unreasonable, but Nanami was the kind of terrifying girl who does such unreasonable things without batting an eye. Well, she actually pokes people’s eyes while they’re talking. Truly terrifying.<ref> Pretty proud of my wordplay here if I do say so myself. The Chinese just said she’s terrifying because she pokes people’s eyes. </ref>

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh, my eyes!! My eyes!!”

Her terror was already unrelated to reason.

“Don’t just go through the motions! Give Us an honest confession!!”

“My eyes—!! My eyes—!!”

Covering his eyes while rolling on the ground, Souta looked quite happy from another perspective.<ref> What perspective lmfao</ref>

After rolling for a while, Souta, who was both mentally and physically exhausted, finally gave up and stood up, ready to tell the truth.

“... What I say next, if possible… I hope you can keep it a secret.”

“Only if thou deleteth the memory of the video from thy hippocampus.”

“......”

Souta didn’t know how to respond, and smiled in resignation for a few seconds. Feeling bligated to respond, he sighed again. He said, more gloomily than usual:

“Do you know… what a ‘Flag’ is?”

“A ‘Flag’?”

After hearing this, Nanami imagined a translucent sea creature floating around. Only one syllable is the same, though. <ref> According to Chinese TL, the pronunciation of ‘flag’ and the word for ‘jellyfish’ are similar in Japanese, but only one syllable is the same.</ref>

“Survival flags, death flags, love flags, victory flags, loser flags… Human actions and states, different phenomena, etc. are concepts with a significant impact on the future. These are flags. People often say that someone is planting a flag or pulling a flag. For instance, if the death flag is raised, the person with the flag will die; if someone plants a love flag on someone else, the former will like the latter… etc.”

This reminded Nanami of the morning. Before the traffic accident almost happened, the office worker’s words did raise a death flag.

“I… can capture flags visually.”

“... Meaning thou canst see… the flags…?

Souta nodded.

“As long as I look at a flag, I’ll know… what to say to break that flag…”

“Break… the flag?”

Nanami stroked her chin in contemplation.

“Then… the office worker who almost had a traffic accident this morning…”

“That was a death flag…”

“The guy who recommended himself to provide information about girls…”

“That was a friendship flag.”

“The girl who invited you to join her club…”

“That time it was a love flag…”

As Nanami listed them out, Souta thought about them one by one and answered with their corresponding flag.

“So basically he’s a Flag Crusher… right?”

Nanami didn’t believe it at first, and didn’t believe it till the end.

While she didn’t believe it, nevermind what happened in the classroom, the truck accident that morning was indeed too bizarre even if a supernatural force had interfered.

“... Okay, breaking death flags makes sense, but why break friendship flags or love flags? Don’t you want a friend or a lover?”

“......”

Perhaps because the thoughts he didn’t want to think were said aloud, Souta’s expression sank and he sat down on the stairs, lowering his head.

“Nevermind. I’ve already…”

“How is this a ‘nevermind’...”

As Nanami saw it, Souta dropping his shoulders more gloomily than usual didn’t mean that he really agreed.

“People that are too deeply involved with me tend to meet misfortune. I don’t want to see other people hurt anymore.”

To Nanami, Souta was the person who suffered the most.

Was he like this because his amazing power scarred him?

Or was it because he was the only survivor of the luxury cruise ship accident, so he blamed himself?

Or was it both?

Nanami didn’t know the answer.

Regardless, she looked down at Souta with concern. Souta only knew how to use his power to save people like this morning and to awkwardly alienate himself from others like he did in the classroom.

Nanami’s own social skills were not high — in fact, it could be said it was very poor. Her shortcomings weren't the same as Souta’s, but it can still be said to be rock bottom.

So… looking at Souta’s lonely smile, she found that she resonated with him, which made her rather unhappy.

For a moment, a really short moment, a similar expression appeared on Nanami’s face. She seemed to suppress her feelings immediately, and after grinding her molars, she opened her mouth:

“We…”

“...?”

“I have absolutely no feelings for thee ~ neither love nor friendship. It’s impossible to raise a flag! Actually, when I saw thy cowardly appearance, any flag was instantly destroyed and snuffed out!”

Nanami stood up forcefully and said arrogantly:

“Thou canst not worry about breaking things that haven’t been raised nor breaking things that have already been broken! So! We will complain to thee when We want to complain and yell at thou when We want to yell!!”

“......”

Not only were Nanami’s attitude and tone furious, but even the words themselves harbored far from good intentions. Thus, Souta looked dumbly at her when she said these words.

However, when the words sank in and he understood what Nanami meant, Souta’s expression brightened slightly.

Perhaps like Nanami before, because both people were equally awkward people, Souta had certain feelings about Nanami’s candid thoughts.

“... You’re a really good person. Thanks…”

“...!”

Although Souta did feel shy saying this, he wasn’t as shy as Nanami.

Nanami’s clear, white skin obviously reddened, and at that moment even her neck reddened. Nanami closed in towards Souta’s nose, growling softly.

“O-Our name is Nanami! Nanami Knight Bladefield! Just call Us Nanami, because We hate it when other people use surnames. -San and other suffixes are also exempt. Those who dare use a nickname will be punished with death!”

With this belated introduction, Nanami calmed down a bit, and the blush on her face subsided. Souta nodded at her.

“Okay, Nanami-s… Nanami. M-... me too, just call me Souta.”

He almost said ‘Nanami-san’, and Nanami glared at Souta as he forced a smile.

He might’ve been a little angry at Nanami. Souta felt that even if he was harassed in the future, he wouldn’t be too bothered, so he reminisced…Man, it had been a long time… a really long time since he had met someone he could be friends with like this.

To Souta’s relief, there was no hint of a flag on her head.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 0|Chapter 0]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5

2025-01-02T18:09:19Z

Person72635:

==Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules==

After school the next day, Akane and co. moved their luggage into the dormitory and gathered in the dining room, where the carpets, wallpaper, etc. had barely been renovated.

“Well, then!! Next, let’s hold the first pledge ceremony of the reborn Quest House!!”

“Pledge…?”

“Pledge what?”

Souta and Nanami originally thought it was going to be a housewarming party doubling as a friendship ceremony, so they reacted carefully to Akane’s words.

“That’s exactly what we’re going to discuss in this meeting.”

“That’s not what a pledge ceremony is!”

Souta’s retorts became increasingly heated.

“Alright, alright, Sou-kun. From now on, we're all going to live together as buddies, so our pledge should be unanimous.”

“Then, let’s celebrate our pledge. Cheers, everyone.”

Everybody gathered around a table filled with pizza and cake and made a toast with their non-alcoholic champagne.

“Anyways, although everything is still under construction! But I think we should decide on Quest House’s house prefect while we’re at it!”

“Oh. Thy proposal must indicate that thou wishest to become house prefect. Hmph, as expected of a rich girl. Thou actest cute, but in fact cravest the limelight, huh…! In that case, don’t even think about having your way. We shall also contend for house prefect!!”

“What a coincidence! I think Nanami is most suited to be house prefect, too!”

“…Huh?”

“I also vote for Nanami.”

“Then, one votes the same.”

“Since Sou-kun nominates her, I’ll also vote for Nanami.”

“House Prefect Nanami, please take good care of us.”

Akane bowed her head in salute, while Megumu and Souta applauded in congratulations.

“Eh, ah, uh, um… huh? Strange? I-in Our estimation, ye are trying to push trouble onto Us…!!”

Nanami’s face filled with rage.

“Let’s all work together to solve troublesome matters then.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Eh... weird...? Uh, that… th-thou art right…”

Nanami was made speechless by the excessive kindness, and the Rage Energy in her body had nowhere to vent. If it were Rage Allergy, she would itch all over her body every time she got angry, and she would be both angry and sad. That would be extremely irritating. Just like how a true Edo person says “Aaaa— choo! Go die” when they sneeze.

“I feel like we’re gradually becoming dorm buddies. That’s great, that’s great! The dorm I stayed in before was crowded and noisy. I’m so happy to be part of such a warm little bunch this time. We have great unity!”

“Bunch…”

A group which resembles chili peppers — Quest House.<ref> The Japanese collective noun for chili powder can also be used for people. Basically, the thought process here goes ''bunch [of people]'' → ''bunch of chili peppers''</ref> Its members forced a smile.

“…Being buddies is all well and good, but getting back to the point, this dorm really spoils the mood.”

Nanami looked around at the bare concrete walls and uncarpeted floors and sighed.

“From the beginning, the priority of the renovation was making it liveable. Decoration was secondary, right?”

“Personally, I think keeping it like this is fine.”

After Souta answered Megumu’s question this way, Akane puffed up her cheeks in anger.

“Nope. Souta-kun, you need decorations that cheer you up!”

“Big Sis is so happy that Akane-chan thinks so much about Sou-kun’s well-being.”

Kikuno called herself Big Sis again and doted on Souta.

“Heeheehee, but having said that, making your own living space is a great thing!”

“Yeah... In other words, this place is a blank canvas, and we, as paint, will vividly portray our treasured slices of life…”

Nanami crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and spoke lyrically. Akane beamed at Nanami, eyes sparkling.

“It's Nanami's poet time!!”

Akane responded to the beautiful line of verse as she did before, her eyes twinkling like several small stars, and she tightly clasped Nanami's hands. Nanami, face red as if about to spit fire due to her careless slip of the tongue, struggled to shake off Akane's hands.

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

“One day I’ll compile a collection of Nanami's poems and send it to a society!!"

“If thou doest that, We shall drag Souta down with me and bite my tongue to die—!!”

“Why me?!”

“That said, what kind of society?”

Nobody there could answer Megumu's question. Plus, receiving that kind of thing must be very inconvenient for the society.

“Ah, but being able to choose your own wallpaper is pretty nice. That way, each room can have its own personality. Ah, Sou-kun, do you want to have the same wallpaper as Big Sis?"

“Huh—! How sly! I also want to have the same as Souta-kun!"

“O-one wants that too! One also wants to have the same as Souta-kun!"

“They've thoroughly lost their own personality!!”

Just as Nanami said, each room almost became completely devoid of personality.

“Is Nanami the only one who wants a different wallpaper?”

“We clearly didn’t do anything wrong, so what’s up with this feeling of isolation!!”

Seeing the Souta faction grow abnormally large, Nanami began to be hit hard. If this continued, the dorm would be dyed Souta’s color. Therefore, recruiting others to join the Nanami faction was imperative.

However, Kikuno doted on her little brother and clung to Souta; Akane was also completely captivated by Souta's tragic aura. That left Megumu…

“Megu-chan, why art thou suddenly so close with Souta?”

“This is friendship between men.”

“Huh?! Art not thou a girl?!”

“……”

Megumu’s eyes lost their luster, and Souta saw the “Join Nanami Faction” flag above Megumu’s head break.

“Since your friendship between men has deepened, does that mean ye had a heart-to-heart through your fists by the river at dusk?”

“No, we didn’t do anything like that…”

''Her Princess Highness’s mind is really full of mysteries'' — Souta thought that and replied with a faint smile.

“Then a friendship between men has not been formed.”

“Huh?! How can that be?!”

Akane unexpectedly interrupted, causing Megumu to raise his voice.

“No, one doesn’t want that! S-Souta-kun, sorry, but can one beat you up?”

“No way.”

“Sorry, sorry. One hopes you can just grit your teeth and bear with it for a bit!”

“Didn’t I just say no way?!”

Megumu refused to listen to Souta’s objections.

“08:49, 2 January 2025 (CET)[[User:Person72635|Person72635]] ([[User talk:Person72635|talk]])!”

Megumu yelled “sorry, sorry” in his heart and punched Souta… but—

Seeing the scene of Megumu weakly hammering Souta’s chest, Nanami and co. felt as follows:

“…They’re just a couple flirting with each other.”

“What a coincidence. My thoughts are exactly the same as Nanami’s!”

“In that sense, they seem to have a very good relationship…”

After Megumu beat Souta up with his dainty punches, he panted cutely and gave Souta a smug look.

“Th-this way, we have formed a firm friendship between men, right?!”

“This is just a one-sided beating, though. How can it count if there isn’t a beating from both sides?”

Nanami retorted on behalf of Souta, who didn’t know how to respond.

“S-… Souta-kun, one hopes you can beat one up!”

“How could I? No matter how hard you think about it, it’s impossible!!”

“Start hitting! Start hitting one now!!”

“Yikes… Megumu… That’s terrifying! The look in your eyes is terrifying!!”

Akane and Kikuno watched anxiously. How will this fierce drama of friendship between men, this clash of strong wills, develop?

Rather, this feeling was more like the feeling of watching a soap opera where the woman confesses and the man rejects her… Whether those involved knew this is a mystery.

Seeing Megumu's eyes swirling weirdly, Souta grabbed Megumu's head and tried to push him away. But when Souta saw the friendship streamers streaming endlessly from Megumu's head like [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokoroten ''tokoroten'',] his body was gradually overcome by fear.

“Alright, alright! I get it!”

“I'm so glad you understand me!… Come, please.”

Then, Megumu, waiting to be beaten in a praying position with her eyes closed and head slightly tilted upwards, looked like a girl waiting to be kissed.

“……”

His blushing and heart-pounding appearance made Souta flinch.

“No, Sou-kun, since he’s already mustered up his courage, you can’t humiliate him.”

“That’s right, Souta-kun. I do mind, but I won’t take it to heart. Please go ahead and kiss.”

“If not, Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to be your practice partner?”

“That’s right, Souta-kun. I do mind, but I won’t take it to heart. Please go ahead and kiss.”

Based on these sentences, to Kikuno and Akane, Megumu’s appearance as a girl bashfully waiting to be kissed overshadowed everything. For them, the scene had already become a kissing scene.

Moreover, since Kikuno made an outrageous suggestion, Souta couldn’t help but feel frightened. He could only grimace and pretend not to hear it.

If this continued, he would be forced to kiss someone. So Souta, seeing no other way out, raised his fist towards Megumu, who seemed to be waiting for a kiss.

“……!”

Again and again, Souta swung his fist and stopped halfway, swung his fist and stopped halfway, and finally could only poke Megumu's forehead with his fingertip.

“So weak!!”

Nanami was shocked.

More accurately, no matter how you looked at it, those two forehead-flickers looked like a flirting couple. It was the opposite of friendship between men.

Maybe she had seen enough of the two flirting, or perhaps a little jealousy appeared in some corner of her heart while she was cheerfully watching the sweet atmosphere between Megumu and Souta, but Kikuno suddenly changed the subject:

“Besides the house prefect, there are many other things that should also be decided."

“The house vice-prefect, right?” Akane asked.

“This dorm is really well-organized…”

“After that is the acting house prefect, right?”

“There’s already a house prefect, though!?”

Whether a dorm with only five people needs so many people in charge is an open question.

At the same time, the relative importance of Nanami’s position as house prefect became lower and lower.

“She probably didn’t mean that, but rather something like who would cook each of the three meals, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I heard that we’ll be assigned a house supervisor, but they couldn’t find one right away, so we’ll have to take care of it ourselves for the time being.”

This conversation between Megumu and Kikuno was more in line with common sense. Much appreciated.

“Prepare three meals, huh… Suddenly we’re challenging independent living on high difficulty.”

“We shall not do that. Don’t expect anything from Us.”

For Miss Heiress and Her Princess Highness, the difficulty threshold of this matter was very high — to be specific, it was through the roof. It was no longer a threshold, but more like a lintel.

“Cooking is something Big Sis is good at and loves. Let Big Sis come cook for Sou-kun~”

“Ah, one can also cook a lot of dishes. Let’s take turns then.”

“Big Sis is so happy! It’s like I have a little sister in addition to my little brother!”

“Hahaha.”

Hearing Kikuno’s frank words, devoid of malice, Megumu let out a hollow laugh.

“I’ll also help out where I can. I can do the cleaning or the heavy housework,” Souta said.

“Ah! I can do the cleaning too! I’ll do my best to clean Souta-kun's room! Pack all the things that weren’t cleaned up in cardboard boxes!”

“I literally just moved in, and you immediately start trying to kick me out…”

Souta was dealt a heavy blow by Akane and Kikuno’s multiple attacks. Kikuno patted his head and comforted him:

“It’s okay, Sou-kun. Big Sis will make sure Sou-kun’s luggage is sent to Sou-kun’s room."

“Sending it from your room to your room, how troublesome…”

“While the porter is carrying my luggage, my life will be very troublesome too.”

Souta gradually lost track of what was being joked about and began to feel uneasy about being toyed with.

“Next is the bath order and the trash duty order.”

“… I’m starting to feel the communal life.”

“Logically speaking, it shouldn’t be the princess or the rich heiress who has to take out the trash. One can do it, it’s fine.”

"… I can also take out the trash. Let me help.”

Souta was very grateful that everyone there was willing to fill up the dorm numbers. He would feel awful if he didn’t do anything, so he volunteered to help take out the trash. Hearing Souta speak and become more active, Akane smiled.

“Sou-kun is such a good kid! Big Sis is so touched! Come, everyone, praise Sou-kun, praise Sou-kun!!”

Kikuno proudly patted her little brother’s head with all her might and pushed him forward.

“Souta-kun is awesome! It's like he was born to take out the trash!”

“Just imagining Souta-kun taking out the trash turns a man’s sadness into energy. How admirable!”

“Uhhh… yes yes yes, Souta, thanks, thanks.”

An inconceivable phenomenon occurred: Nanami’s casual words caused the least emotional damage. Souta immediately moved on to the next topic.

“…Then what else do we need to decide?”

“As for the bath order, one thinks that of course ladies should go first!”

Megumu listened to Souta's words and remembered the other thing he had brought up earlier. He made a proposal with clenched his fist cutely, wanting to show his manliness.

“Wanting to bathe first, Megu-chan is a girl after all!”

“……”

Megumu’s fist drooped limply.

In this way, Nanami and co. continued to discuss even after finishing their dinner. But it was pretty late, so it was almost time to go into the new, sparkling bathroom.

The three girls came out of their rooms with clothes and bathing supplies. When they passed by the dining room, they stuck their heads inside and said:

“Sou-kun, do you want to take a bath together?”

“Take a bath together? How brave!”

Hearing Kikuno, whom nobody knew how serious she was, laugh and chuckle, Akane immediately covered her fully-clothed body with her bath towel.

“I can’t do it!!”

There was only one bath, and it had just been decided that girls could use it before nine o'clock and boys could use it after nine o'clock. The girls’ camp immediately said they wanted to use the new bath.

“Big Sis is so lonely~ we clearly used to take showers together.”

“That happened?!”

Just as Nanami was about to shake off the others and go in the bath first, her two feet stopped with furious speed. Her feet are really agile.

“Th-that was before! It was a really long time ago, though?! When I was in kindergarten or just starting elementary school!”

“W-what? So it was like that…”

“Ah! Ah! Nanami’s actually jealous!? Nanami is jealous, right?! You can call me Big Sis though, Nanami?!”

“Why art thou so happy?! We shall not call thee that!”

Kikuno was like a grandmother looking forward to having a grandchild. She seemed to contract the “I want my little brother’s first date to call me ‘Big Sis’” syndrome.

“Let's not talk about this for now, let’s just take our bath quickly. Speaking of which, boys should bathe with other boys.”

““Huh, huh, huh?!””

Megumu and Souta cried out together.

Especially Megumu — the expression on his face was like a fully nude girl being locked in the boys judo club's locker room.

Akane and co. hurried into the bath, leaving Megumu trembling and almost crying and Souta on his guard against Megumu.

“…A-anyways, there’s no need to force ourselves to take a bath together, right? You can still leisurely have it all to yourself.”

“Y-you want one’s body all for yourself…?”

“The bath all for yourself!!”

Megumu could no longer hear what other people say! Souta forced a smile at his slightly insane friend.

“Oh, right… the bath… we were just talking about taking a bath…”

How much Megumu, his eyes swirling, understood was a mystery.

Even more mysterious was that for some reason there was an awkward atmosphere at that moment. Souta wanted to find a way to break the silence and tried to change the subject.

“Speaking of men… shouldn’t every healthy man want to sneak a peek?”

Megumu’s eyes lit up at the keyword “man” and he stood up suddenly.

“Souta-kun, let’s go sneak a peek!!”

“Huh…?!”

A destruction flag could be seen above Megumu’s head.

“…Megumu, you want to sneak a peek?”

“We need to be like men, peeking openly and morally!”

“That’s already a crime!!”

Note: Any form of peeking is a crime.

“But… think about it carefully! A real man would never peek!”

The formula ''man < real man = Souta'' instantly emerged in Megumu's mind.

“You can’t peek, Souta-kun! This isn’t like you at all!!”

“Huh?! Me?!”

At some point, Souta became the one actively trying to sneak a peek, which scared Souta.

“……”

Then, Akane, coming back out to get the shampoo she had forgotten and only hearing the last part of the conversation, blushed and covered her key parts with the shampoo bottle.

“Souta-kun wants to peek…!!”

“Akane!? N-no, th-that’s not it…!!”

“Souta-kun is a peeping tom!!”

“Why do you look so happy?!”

Akane let out a sound of unparalleled delight. Without listening to Souta speak, she swiftly and elegantly ran towards the changing room in the knock-kneed posture of a rich heiress.

“…………”

Souta stared at her with an odd expression and froze.

After being frozen for a while, Souta despondently squatted on a folding chair in the living room next to the cafeteria while Megumu comforted him.

But not long after, Nanami, skin white, rosy, and glistening having just taken a bath, cursed at Souta, “Take this, damn peeping tom!” and sprayed conditioner into his face. A bit of the conditioner went into Souta’s eyes, causing him to show off his superb skills and roll around in pain on the chair.

Kikuno, who similarly became more sexy, held her cheek and looked at the scene with a chuckle.

“Sou-kun has grown into a healthy boy, Big Sis is so happy.”

“Souta-kun, is it true that healthy men should sneak a peek?!”

After hearing Kikuno's words, Megumu, as if waking up from a dream, said this. Souta was busy rolling around because of the conditioner-induced damage to his eyes, so he didn’t hear this. However, Nanami heard it; thus she added more conditioner, and Souta rolled around even more. Please use conditioner correctly.

Having rolled around for a while, Souta was the last one to finish his bath after Megumu and went back to his room. Akane was hiding in the corner of the corridor, tiptoeing and sneaking a look at him.

“What art thou doing, Akane?”

“Ah!? No, nothing!? I wasn’t sneaking a peek! Please don’t spray me with conditioner!"

Nanami has gradually become like an unfathomable monster in this dorm — as long as someone was sneaking a peek, she would unconditionally spray conditioner at them.

“We won’t scold thou…”

“You’re already able to control it?”

“Is that some kind of symptom?!... Back to the point. What art thou doing sneaking around in a place like this?"

“M-me? I-I wouldn’t do anything inappropriate like going into a boy’s room at this kind of time!”

“Oh, so you're wondering whether to go to Souta's room…” After Nanami figured it out, she smiled at the blushing, bashful Akane.

As for Akane, she was anxious about being scolded by Nanami since she remembered that Nanami was house prefect. This was the reality.

“…Thou wantest to go find Souta, right? Isn’t this very good?”

“Uh… no, but…”

Precisely because she was already hesitant in the first place, once she successfully obtained permission she backed out at the last minute.

“That guy wouldn’t do anything to thee. We are not familiar with him either, but it’s obvious that he doesn’t have the guts to do that. That guy needs a friend or lover, so it’s actually better if thou gettest close with and takest care of that guy.”

“Love-...!” Akane was speechless for a moment, then said with slightly red cheeks:

“Nana-Nanami, do you want to come too?”

“Why must We get close with that guy…”

After saying this, Nanami waved her hand and went into her room.

Although Akane felt even more embarrassed to go, she hesitated for two or three times before raising her hand and knocking on the door... but there was no response. She knocked again, but still no response.

“……Ah, I knocked on my own door.”

If there was a response, it would shake things up and change it into a supernatural event. That said, saying ‘shake up and change’ is fine, but ‘warm up and change’ sounds weird. Would that mean that it was a premeditated change? How terrifying.

Akane pulled herself together and knocked on Souta’s door. This time there was a response and the door opened.

“Akane? What's wrong?”

“Is Souta-kun going to sleep already?”

“No. I'm not going to sleep yet…”

“Th-then, I want to talk to you!”

“…Well, that’s fine.”

Standing in the corridor and talking was not an option, so Souta invited Akane into the room.

“It’s very clean.”

“Because the luggage has barely been unpacked…”

It felt a bit inappropriate, but since there was no other place to sit, Souta asked Akane to sit on the edge of the bed while he himself sat on a folding chair. After he sat down, he thought that their seats should be reversed, but by then it was too late.

“By the way, I haven’t fulfilled my promise to clean your room yet.”

“Yeah... since we’ve been tied up with other things lately.”

“Souta-kun is either tied up or flailing around.”

''You make me sound like a bug...'' Souta thought to himself, responding with a stiff smile.

“Right, you wanted to tell me something, yeah?!”

“Chat about what?! What do you want to chat about?!”

Souta didn’t expect the choice to be up to him. He was slightly shocked and his smile became even stiffer.

“Huh… well… let’s just chat about whatever Akane wants to chat about.”

“Me? Isn’t there anything Souta-kun wants to say?”

“I don’t have anything to say to Akane…”

Souta finally took action to break the flag waving above Akane's head.

“Could it be that Souta-kun is very unwilling to deal with me…?”

Akane’s flag broke, and tears were about to flow. She dejectedly drooped her shoulders and jabbed her index fingers together.

“I want to hear Akane talk about herself. I want to make an effort to understand Akane better!!”

However, Souta also hated making girls cry because of him.

“Really?!”

Akane immediately showed a sunny smile. Her quick response and the flag’s extraordinary speed of recovery made Souta’s smile tighten.

“But I’d rather learn more about Souta-kun.”

“Me…?”

“Why does Souta-kun distance himself from other people?”

Akane asked thusly. She moved to the corner of the bed — beside Souta — and looked Souta’s eyes up and down, even to the depths of his heart… with a gentle voice, gentle eyes, and gentle heart, Akane lightly touched the fear in his heart.

“……”

“……”

Silence flowed between the two people, so close they could feel each other’s breath.

“……”

Souta looked mournfully into her clear eyes that reflected his figure.

Specifically, he was looking at the indistinct object above his head that was reflected in her eyes…

“I… am…”

Souta slowly, slowly opened his mouth. Akane didn’t rush him at all, waited patiently, her expression as gentle and peaceful as a loving mother’s.

…Unexpectedly—

“Sou-kun, Big Sis peeled an apple. Do you want to eat it? I cut the peel into rabbit ear… Ack!”

Because it was the room of the little brother she was very familiar with, Kikuno opened Souta's door without knocking and poked her head in. When she saw Akane and Souta close together, she thought she saw something she wasn’t supposed to see. She shut her mouth and said loudly:

“S-Sorry, Big Sis couldn’t imagine that Sou-kun would be like that even in her dreams!! I-I didn't mean to disturb you! Please do as you wish! Continue what you were doing!!”

Nobody knows how Kikuno interpreted the situation where Akane and Souta’s faces were less than two fists apart. She looked in another direction, face flushed, and she said this in a strange tone, almost shouting.

“Oh god… Okiku-nee…?”

Souta frowned, not understanding what she was saying.

“I-it’s fine! Big Sis totally approves of that kind of thing! Sou-kun is a bit of a late bloomer, so Akane-chan, you have to guide him, alright?!”

Seeing Kikuno clench her fists, Akane and Souta looked at each other. After noticing how close they were, they finally realized the implication of Kikuno’s words and jumped back at the same time.

“N-no, no! Kikuno-senpai, this is a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!!”

“Th-that’s right, Okiku-nee! It’s not what you think…!!”

“No problem! Big Sis won’t tell anyone! Big Sis will keep it a secret for you! Especially not Nanami and Megu-chan, right!!”

Kikuno chattered on, not giving Souta a chance to retort “Huh, why? What can’t be told to anyone? And why specifically can’t you tell those people?”

“Sou-kun is leaving Big Sis behind and becoming an adult first… Even so, remember that Big Sis is still Big Sis though, Sou-kun!”

Kikuno was filled with emotion and shed a tear, which she wiped away with her fingertips.

“If you run into any trouble, call Big Sis, okay?! Also, wh-when it’s over, you two should eat together, okay?!”

Kikuno put the plate of apples cut into the shape of rabbits onto the bed with difficulty and left the room with his cheeks still red and his movements stiff.

“What do you mean by ‘over’?!”

Souta’s question was naturally unanswered, left aside just like that.

“The rabbit apples are delicious.”

“You’re already eating!?… Is something over? Something is over, right?”

“For example, Souta-kun's life?”

“It was forced to end! It's all because you ate the apples immediately!”

Akane smiled and thought, "Souta-kun is so interesting when he's full of energy" while carefully chewing her apple.

Because it would soon be midnight, Akane decided to retreat from the room after ending Souta's life and the conversation. ''I really wanted to talk a bit more…'' Although she harbored such thoughts in her heart, the opportunity would come again in the future.

From now on, they were dorm buddies. There was no need to rush, there would be plenty of opportunities to improve their relationship. Smiling at the thought, Akane said goodnight to Souta.

Souta, left alone in the room, swallowed the words he was about to say to Akane along with the apple, and fell back on the bed.

“……”

He stared at the ceiling in deep thought for a rather long time. Although he gradually became sleepier and almost fell asleep, he still got up and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

It seemed to be lights-out time already, so the hall was dimly lit with night lights. The bathroom at the front of the hall was brightly lit, and it was obvious that someone was already there.

“…Nanami.”

“Wah uh huh huh huh huh.”

Nanami was brushing her teeth in her pajamas, and whatever she said was completely unintelligible. If what you said while brushing your teeth could be understood, there would usually be toothpaste dripping out of your mouth. That gets pretty messy. As for which is better, it’s '''''case by case'''''. That is, container buy container.”<ref> ‘Case by case’ is written in English, and ‘container buy container’ is a mistranslation using the wrong meaning of ‘case’ and the wrong ‘by’</ref>

The sight of the two of them talking to each other with toothpaste flowing out of their mouths would be rather crazy, so they brushed their teeth side by side in silence to avoid that situation.

Souta didn’t want to look at his mirror image... Strictly speaking, he didn’t want to look above his head, so he glanced at Nanami through the mirror.

“……”

At this time, Souta finally realized something strange.

''Huh...?''

He noticed something about Nanami that he had never really paid attention to until now.

Once he noticed it, he even wondered why he didn’t think about it earlier.

''Nanami’s… flag, I’ve never… seen it even once.''

No matter who it was, they would raise a flag at least once or twice. Love flag, death flag, defeat flag, disagreement flag, reunion flag, attack flag…

As long as they lived together for two or three days, he would still see some.

However, Nanami was the only one who couldn’t raise any kind of flag.

“No... that’s not right... it shouldn’t be. It’s not that she can’t raise a flag. It’s probably…”

Nanami finally noticed Souta’s suspicious behavior of freezing with his toothbrush in his mouth. She gargled out her mouthwash, wiped the corners of her mouth with a towel, and asked warily:

“What? Why is thy expression like that of a guy who transferred to another school and found out that the girl who was one year older than him who he admired like a big sister is now his classmate?”

“That’s the true story though?!”

Because he hadn’t gargled it out yet, toothpaste dripped down from Souta’s mouth. Why haven’t you gargled it out yet?

“Thou art so messy!”

Because Nanami scolded him, Souta washed his mouth and gargled. Specifically, it was gargle gargle gargle puh. Why did you gargle three times?

While doing these things, Souta gradually came to a conclusion.

It’s not that Nanami’s flag can’t be raised.

''I’m afraid... I’m afraid that Nanami's flag is the only one I can’t see…”

Seeing Souta staring at her with wide eyes again, Nanami retreated slightly.

“Wh-What…?”

That fleeting, unbelievable thought urged Souta to gaze at Nanami intensely and say:

“Nanami… might be someone special to me.”

“Wh-…!? What does that mean?!"

Nanami's face instantly turned red, as if she was about to spit fire and gas, and she raised her voice. It’s best not to spit gas along with fire; that’s dangerous.

“Exactly, Sou-kun! How are you going to explain this to Akane-chan?!”

“Okiku-nee!?”

Kikuno came to the bathroom with toothbrushes at the perfect time, and her incomprehensible question scared Souta silly.

“Ah! Uh! Sorry! I’m sorry, Sou-kun!! Big Sis didn’t mean to blame you! A-and yeah, changing your mind is just human nature, you can’t be blamed for that! Big Sis is just too narrow-minded!!”

“No, Okiku-nee, what are you talking about…”

Big Sis’ heart was as wide as the sea, but she would raise up waves to sweep up Souta’s words, dragging them to the depths of the ocean trenches so that they can never come back. Thus it was common for their communication to fail.

“It’s okay! You don’t need to say anything, Sou-kun! It’s okay! Big Sis will help you explain it to Akane-chan! Akane-chan is a good kid, she will definitely understand, Sou-kun!”

But Big Sis didn’t understand at all.

“Ugh… Oh god…”

What Kikuno would explain to Akane remained a mystery, but Souta didn’t think he could see a bright future.

But on the other hand, no matter what she explained to Akane, Akane seemed to listen with feigned understanding and give a completely unrelated positive explanation. So you could say it was no harm no foul.

“Then Big Sis will go, okay? Sou-kun can rest assured and be happy! Just like Big Sis, Akane-chan should also want Sou-kun to be happy! Y’know?”

After saying this, Kikuno made Nanami and Souta hold each other’s hands tightly and then left the bathroom brimming with self-satisfaction. As you all know, she didn’t gargle. Because she hadn’t brushed her teeth yet. After all, it’d be weird to gargle when you clearly haven’t brushed your teeth.

Anyways, the two of them were once again stunned into place thanks to Kikuno.

“…We are tired. We shall go to bed…”

“Oh, okay. Goodnight, Nanami.”

Souta looked above the back of Nanami’s head as she returned to her room...

While wondering whether there was an invisible flag planted there.

Is the problem with Nanami or Souta?

Enveloped by the aforementioned mysteries, their life in Quest House and the academy passed by smoothly and peacefully…

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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|-
| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Intermission|Side Quest Flag]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)

2025-01-02T07:50:52Z

Person72635: /* {{pad|160px}}Volume 1: After I Transfer This Time, I Will Go Home and Marry This Girl */

<vote type=1 /><small>{{furigana|'''Do you follow this series? Rate it!'''|Only available to registered users. [[Special:CreateAccount|Register here]]}}</small><br>

{{Status|Active}}
{{Teaser|English}}

[[File:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|thumb|Volume 1 Cover]]

If Her Flag Breaks (彼女がフラグをおられたら, Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara, or Gaworare for short) is a light novel series written by Touka Takei and illustrated by Cuteg. Kodansha published 16 volumes from December 2011 to September 2016. A manga and two spin-offs were serialized in Kodansha's magazines. An anime adaptation aired from April to June 2014, covering the first 6-ish volumes with significant alterations to the ending.

== Story Synopsis ==
Souta Hatate, a new transfer student to the Hatagaya School, has the ability to see the futures of those around him in the form of flags. He is able to affect those flags based on his interactions with the person in question. He ends up living in a small dorm with many beautiful girls. When he finds a flag of death on himself, Souta learns that in order to be able to change his fate, he has to find and bring together four people: a princess knight, a magician, a cleric, and a shinobi. (Taken from Wikipedia)

== Translation ==
=== [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|Registration]] ===
'''Translators are asked to [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|register]] which chapters they're working on'''

=== Format Standards ===
'''Every Chapter (after editing) must conform to the general format guidelines.'''
* [[Format guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

=== Feedback ===
Use the [[Talk:Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|project talk page]] or [[User talk:Person72635|Person72635's talk page]]

== Updates ==
* January 2nd, 2025 - Chapter 5 complete.
* December 27th, 2024 - Chapters 0-4 re-translated.
* October 24th, 2020 - Chapter 4 complete.
* June 24th, 2020 - Chapter 3 complete.
* June 19th, 2020 - Chapter 2 complete.
* June 15th, 2020 - Chapter 1 complete.
* June 13th, 2020 - Project page created and Chapter 0 complete.

==''Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)'' by Touka Takei ==
==={{pad|160px}}Volume 1: After I Transfer This Time, I Will Go Home and Marry This Girl===
[[image:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|left|160px|border]]
<table border=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td>
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Novel Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 0|Flag 0: The Magic That Started It All]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Flag 1: The Day the Knight Raised the Flag]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules]]
* Intermission
* Chapter 6
* Chapter 7
* Epilogue
* Afterword
</td></tr></table><br style="clear:both"/>

== Project Staff ==
* Project Administrator: 
* Project Manager: [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Translators ===
ACTIVE<br>
:* [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Editors ===
:* 

== Series Overview ==
* Volume 1 - ''Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara: Ore, Kono Tenkō ga Owattara, Ano Ko to Kekkon Surun da (彼女がフラグをおられたら俺、この転校が終わったら、あの娘と結婚するんだ)'', December 2, 2011, ISBN 978-4-06-375205-2

Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)

2025-01-02T07:50:01Z

Person72635: /* Updates */

<vote type=1 /><small>{{furigana|'''Do you follow this series? Rate it!'''|Only available to registered users. [[Special:CreateAccount|Register here]]}}</small><br>

{{Status|Active}}
{{Teaser|English}}

[[File:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|thumb|Volume 1 Cover]]

If Her Flag Breaks (彼女がフラグをおられたら, Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara, or Gaworare for short) is a light novel series written by Touka Takei and illustrated by Cuteg. Kodansha published 16 volumes from December 2011 to September 2016. A manga and two spin-offs were serialized in Kodansha's magazines. An anime adaptation aired from April to June 2014, covering the first 6-ish volumes with significant alterations to the ending.

== Story Synopsis ==
Souta Hatate, a new transfer student to the Hatagaya School, has the ability to see the futures of those around him in the form of flags. He is able to affect those flags based on his interactions with the person in question. He ends up living in a small dorm with many beautiful girls. When he finds a flag of death on himself, Souta learns that in order to be able to change his fate, he has to find and bring together four people: a princess knight, a magician, a cleric, and a shinobi. (Taken from Wikipedia)

== Translation ==
=== [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|Registration]] ===
'''Translators are asked to [[If Her Flag Breaks:Registration Page|register]] which chapters they're working on'''

=== Format Standards ===
'''Every Chapter (after editing) must conform to the general format guidelines.'''
* [[Format guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

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Use the [[Talk:Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|project talk page]] or [[User talk:Person72635|Person72635's talk page]]

== Updates ==
* January 2nd, 2025 - Chapter 5 complete.
* December 27th, 2024 - Chapters 0-4 re-translated.
* October 24th, 2020 - Chapter 4 complete.
* June 24th, 2020 - Chapter 3 complete.
* June 19th, 2020 - Chapter 2 complete.
* June 15th, 2020 - Chapter 1 complete.
* June 13th, 2020 - Project page created and Chapter 0 complete.

==''Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)'' by Touka Takei ==
==={{pad|160px}}Volume 1: After I Transfer This Time, I Will Go Home and Marry This Girl===
[[image:If_Her_Flag_Breaks_Volume_1_Cover.jpg|left|160px|border]]
<table border=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td>
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Novel Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 0|Flag 0: The Magic That Started It All]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Flag 1: The Day the Knight Raised the Flag]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base]]
* [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off]]
* Chapter 5
* Intermission
* Chapter 6
* Chapter 7
* Epilogue
* Afterword
</td></tr></table><br style="clear:both"/>

== Project Staff ==
* Project Administrator: 
* Project Manager: [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Translators ===
ACTIVE<br>
:* [[User:Person72635|Person72635]]

=== Editors ===
:* 

== Series Overview ==
* Volume 1 - ''Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara: Ore, Kono Tenkō ga Owattara, Ano Ko to Kekkon Surun da (彼女がフラグをおられたら俺、この転校が終わったら、あの娘と結婚するんだ)'', December 2, 2011, ISBN 978-4-06-375205-2

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5

2025-01-02T07:49:16Z

Person72635: Created page with "==Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules== After school the next day, Akane and co. moved their luggage into the dormitory and gathered in the dining room, wh..."

==Flag 5: The Birth of the Guild Leader, and Guild Rules==

After school the next day, Akane and co. moved their luggage into the dormitory and gathered in the dining room, where the carpets, wallpaper, etc. had barely been renovated.

“Well, then!! Next, let’s hold the first pledge ceremony of the reborn Quest House!!”

“Pledge…?”

“Pledge what?”

Souta and Nanami originally thought it was going to be a housewarming party doubling as a friendship ceremony, so they reacted carefully to Akane’s words.

“That’s exactly what we’re going to discuss in this meeting.”

“That’s not what a pledge ceremony is!”

Souta’s retorts became increasingly heated.

“Alright, alright, Sou-kun. From now on, we're all going to live together as buddies, so our pledge should be unanimous.”

“Then, let’s celebrate our pledge. Cheers, everyone.”

Everybody gathered around a table filled with pizza and cake and made a toast with their non-alcoholic champagne.

“Anyways, although everything is still under construction! But I think we should decide on Quest House’s house prefect while we’re at it!”

“Oh. Thy proposal must indicate that thou wishest to become house prefect. Hmph, as expected of a rich girl. Thou actest cute, but in fact cravest the limelight, huh…! In that case, don’t even think about having your way. We shall also contend for house prefect!!”

“What a coincidence! I think Nanami is most suited to be house prefect, too!”

“…Huh?”

“I also vote for Nanami.”

“Then, one votes the same.”

“Since Sou-kun nominates her, I’ll also vote for Nanami.”

“House Prefect Nanami, please take good care of us.”

Akane bowed her head in salute, while Megumu and Souta applauded in congratulations.

“Eh, ah, uh, um… huh? Strange? I-in Our estimation, ye are trying to push trouble onto Us…!!”

Nanami’s face filled with rage.

“Let’s all work together to solve troublesome matters then.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Eh... weird...? Uh, that… th-thou art right…”

Nanami was made speechless by the excessive kindness, and the Rage Energy in her body had nowhere to vent. If it were Rage Allergy, she would itch all over her body every time she got angry, and she would be both angry and sad. That would be extremely irritating. Just like how a true Edo person says “Aaaa— choo! Go die” when they sneeze.

“I feel like we’re gradually becoming dorm buddies. That’s great, that’s great! The dorm I stayed in before was crowded and noisy. I’m so happy to be part of such a warm little bunch this time. We have great unity!”

“Bunch…”

A group which resembles chili peppers — Quest House.<ref> The Japanese collective noun for chili powder can also be used for people. Basically, the thought process here goes ''bunch [of people]'' → ''bunch of chili peppers''</ref> Its members forced a smile.

“…Being buddies is all well and good, but getting back to the point, this dorm really spoils the mood.”

Nanami looked around at the bare concrete walls and uncarpeted floors and sighed.

“From the beginning, the priority of the renovation was making it liveable. Decoration was secondary, right?”

“Personally, I think keeping it like this is fine.”

After Souta answered Megumu’s question this way, Akane puffed up her cheeks in anger.

“Nope. Souta-kun, you need decorations that cheer you up!”

“Big Sis is so happy that Akane-chan thinks so much about Sou-kun’s well-being.”

Kikuno called herself Big Sis again and doted on Souta.

“Heeheehee, but having said that, making your own living space is a great thing!”

“Yeah... In other words, this place is a blank canvas, and we, as paint, will vividly portray our treasured slices of life…”

Nanami crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and spoke lyrically. Akane beamed at Nanami, eyes sparkling.

“It's Nanami's poet time!!”

Akane responded to the beautiful line of verse as she did before, her eyes twinkling like several small stars, and she tightly clasped Nanami's hands. Nanami, face red as if about to spit fire due to her careless slip of the tongue, struggled to shake off Akane's hands.

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

“One day I’ll compile a collection of Nanami's poems and send it to a society!!"

“If thou doest that, We shall drag Souta down with me and bite my tongue to die—!!”

“Why me?!”

“That said, what kind of society?”

Nobody there could answer Megumu's question. Plus, receiving that kind of thing must be very inconvenient for the society.

“Ah, but being able to choose your own wallpaper is pretty nice. That way, each room can have its own personality. Ah, Sou-kun, do you want to have the same wallpaper as Big Sis?"

“Huh—! How sly! I also want to have the same as Souta-kun!"

“O-one wants that too! One also wants to have the same as Souta-kun!"

“They've thoroughly lost their own personality!!”

Just as Nanami said, each room almost became completely devoid of personality.

“Is Nanami the only one who wants a different wallpaper?”

“We clearly didn’t do anything wrong, so what’s up with this feeling of isolation!!”

Seeing the Souta faction grow abnormally large, Nanami began to be hit hard. If this continued, the dorm would be dyed Souta’s color. Therefore, recruiting others to join the Nanami faction was imperative.

However, Kikuno doted on her little brother and clung to Souta; Akane was also completely captivated by Souta's tragic aura. That left Megumu…

“Megu-chan, why art thou suddenly so close with Souta?”

“This is friendship between men.”

“Huh?! Art not thou a girl?!”

“……”

Megumu’s eyes lost their luster, and Souta saw the “Join Nanami Faction” flag above Megumu’s head break.

“Since your friendship between men has deepened, does that mean ye had a heart-to-heart through your fists by the river at dusk?”

“No, we didn’t do anything like that…”

''Her Princess Highness’s mind is really full of mysteries'' — Souta thought that and replied with a faint smile.

“Then a friendship between men has not been formed.”

“Huh?! How can that be?!”

Akane unexpectedly interrupted, causing Megumu to raise his voice.

“No, one doesn’t want that! S-Souta-kun, sorry, but can one beat you up?”

“No way.”

“Sorry, sorry. One hopes you can just grit your teeth and bear with it for a bit!”

“Didn’t I just say no way?!”

Megumu refused to listen to Souta’s objections.

“08:49, 2 January 2025 (CET)[[User:Person72635|Person72635]] ([[User talk:Person72635|talk]])!”

Megumu yelled “sorry, sorry” in his heart and punched Souta… but—

Seeing the scene of Megumu weakly hammering Souta’s chest, Nanami and co. felt as follows:

“…They’re just a couple flirting with each other.”

“What a coincidence. My thoughts are exactly the same as Nanami’s!”

“In that sense, they seem to have a very good relationship…”

After Megumu beat Souta up with his dainty punches, he panted cutely and gave Souta a smug look.

“Th-this way, we have formed a firm friendship between men, right?!”

“This is just a one-sided beating, though. How can it count if there isn’t a beating from both sides?”

Nanami retorted on behalf of Souta, who didn’t know how to respond.

“S-… Souta-kun, one hopes you can beat one up!”

“How could I? No matter how hard you think about it, it’s impossible!!”

“Start hitting! Start hitting one now!!”

“Yikes… Megumu… That’s terrifying! The look in your eyes is terrifying!!”

Akane and Kikuno watched anxiously. How will this fierce drama of friendship between men, this clash of strong wills, develop?

Rather, this feeling was more like the feeling of watching a soap opera where the woman confesses and the man rejects her… Whether those involved knew this is a mystery.

Seeing Megumu's eyes swirling weirdly, Souta grabbed Megumu's head and tried to push him away. But when Souta saw the friendship streamers streaming endlessly from Megumu's head like [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokoroten ''tokoroten'',] his body was gradually overcome by fear.

“Alright, alright! I get it!”

“I'm so glad you understand me!… Come, please.”

Then, Megumu, waiting to be beaten in a praying position with her eyes closed and head slightly tilted upwards, looked like a girl waiting to be kissed.

“……”

His blushing and heart-pounding appearance made Souta flinch.

“No, Sou-kun, since he’s already mustered up his courage, you can’t humiliate him.”

“That’s right, Souta-kun. I do mind, but I won’t take it to heart. Please go ahead and kiss.”

“If not, Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to be your practice partner?”

“That’s right, Souta-kun. I do mind, but I won’t take it to heart. Please go ahead and kiss.”

Based on these sentences, to Kikuno and Akane, Megumu’s appearance as a girl bashfully waiting to be kissed overshadowed everything. For them, the scene had already become a kissing scene.

Moreover, since Kikuno made an outrageous suggestion, Souta couldn’t help but feel frightened. He could only grimace and pretend not to hear it.

If this continued, he would be forced to kiss someone. So Souta, seeing no other way out, raised his fist towards Megumu, who seemed to be waiting for a kiss.

“……!”

Again and again, Souta swung his fist and stopped halfway, swung his fist and stopped halfway, and finally could only poke Megumu's forehead with his fingertip.

“So weak!!”

Nanami was shocked.

More accurately, no matter how you looked at it, those two forehead-flickers looked like a flirting couple. It was the opposite of friendship between men.

Maybe she had seen enough of the two flirting, or perhaps a little jealousy appeared in some corner of her heart while she was cheerfully watching the sweet atmosphere between Megumu and Souta, but Kikuno suddenly changed the subject:

“Besides the house prefect, there are many other things that should also be decided."

“The house vice-prefect, right?” Akane asked.

“This dorm is really well-organized…”

“After that is the acting house prefect, right?”

“There’s already a house prefect, though!?”

Whether a dorm with only five people needs so many people in charge is an open question.

At the same time, the relative importance of Nanami’s position as house prefect became lower and lower.

“She probably didn’t mean that, but rather something like who would cook each of the three meals, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I heard that we’ll be assigned a house supervisor, but they couldn’t find one right away, so we’ll have to take care of it ourselves for the time being.”

This conversation between Megumu and Kikuno was more in line with common sense. Much appreciated.

“Prepare three meals, huh… Suddenly we’re challenging independent living on high difficulty.”

“We shall not do that. Don’t expect anything from Us.”

For Miss Heiress and Her Princess Highness, the difficulty threshold of this matter was very high — to be specific, it was through the roof. It was no longer a threshold, but more like a lintel.

“Cooking is something Big Sis is good at and loves. Let Big Sis come cook for Sou-kun~”

“Ah, one can also cook a lot of dishes. Let’s take turns then.”

“Big Sis is so happy! It’s like I have a little sister in addition to my little brother!”

“Hahaha.”

Hearing Kikuno’s frank words, devoid of malice, Megumu let out a hollow laugh.

“I’ll also help out where I can. I can do the cleaning or the heavy housework,” Souta said.

“Ah! I can do the cleaning too! I’ll do my best to clean Souta-kun's room! Pack all the things that weren’t cleaned up in cardboard boxes!”

“I literally just moved in, and you immediately start trying to kick me out…”

Souta was dealt a heavy blow by Akane and Kikuno’s multiple attacks. Kikuno patted his head and comforted him:

“It’s okay, Sou-kun. Big Sis will make sure Sou-kun’s luggage is sent to Sou-kun’s room."

“Sending it from your room to your room, how troublesome…”

“While the porter is carrying my luggage, my life will be very troublesome too.”

Souta gradually lost track of what was being joked about and began to feel uneasy about being toyed with.

“Next is the bath order and the trash duty order.”

“… I’m starting to feel the communal life.”

“Logically speaking, it shouldn’t be the princess or the rich heiress who has to take out the trash. One can do it, it’s fine.”

"… I can also take out the trash. Let me help.”

Souta was very grateful that everyone there was willing to fill up the dorm numbers. He would feel awful if he didn’t do anything, so he volunteered to help take out the trash. Hearing Souta speak and become more active, Akane smiled.

“Sou-kun is such a good kid! Big Sis is so touched! Come, everyone, praise Sou-kun, praise Sou-kun!!”

Kikuno proudly patted her little brother’s head with all her might and pushed him forward.

“Souta-kun is awesome! It's like he was born to take out the trash!”

“Just imagining Souta-kun taking out the trash turns a man’s sadness into energy. How admirable!”

“Uhhh… yes yes yes, Souta, thanks, thanks.”

An inconceivable phenomenon occurred: Nanami’s casual words caused the least emotional damage. Souta immediately moved on to the next topic.

“…Then what else do we need to decide?”

“As for the bath order, one thinks that of course ladies should go first!”

Megumu listened to Souta's words and remembered the other thing he had brought up earlier. He made a proposal with clenched his fist cutely, wanting to show his manliness.

“Wanting to bathe first, Megu-chan is a girl after all!”

“……”

Megumu’s fist drooped limply.

In this way, Nanami and co. continued to discuss even after finishing their dinner. But it was pretty late, so it was almost time to go into the new, sparkling bathroom.

The three girls came out of their rooms with clothes and bathing supplies. When they passed by the dining room, they stuck their heads inside and said:

“Sou-kun, do you want to take a bath together?”

“Take a bath together? How brave!”

Hearing Kikuno, whom nobody knew how serious she was, laugh and chuckle, Akane immediately covered her fully-clothed body with her bath towel.

“I can’t do it!!”

There was only one bath, and it had just been decided that girls could use it before nine o'clock and boys could use it after nine o'clock. The girls’ camp immediately said they wanted to use the new bath.

“Big Sis is so lonely~ we clearly used to take showers together.”

“That happened?!”

Just as Nanami was about to shake off the others and go in the bath first, her two feet stopped with furious speed. Her feet are really agile.

“Th-that was before! It was a really long time ago, though?! When I was in kindergarten or just starting elementary school!”

“W-what? So it was like that…”

“Ah! Ah! Nanami’s actually jealous!? Nanami is jealous, right?! You can call me Big Sis though, Nanami?!”

“Why art thou so happy?! We shall not call thee that!”

Kikuno was like a grandmother looking forward to having a grandchild. She seemed to contract the “I want my little brother’s first date to call me ‘Big Sis’” syndrome.

“Let's not talk about this for now, let’s just take our bath quickly. Speaking of which, boys should bathe with other boys.”

““Huh, huh, huh?!””

Megumu and Souta cried out together.

Especially Megumu — the expression on his face was like a fully nude girl being locked in the boys judo club's locker room.

Akane and co. hurried into the bath, leaving Megumu trembling and almost crying and Souta on his guard against Megumu.

“…A-anyways, there’s no need to force ourselves to take a bath together, right? You can still leisurely have it all to yourself.”

“Y-you want one’s body all for yourself…?”

“The bath all for yourself!!”

Megumu could no longer hear what other people say! Souta forced a smile at his slightly insane friend.

“Oh, right… the bath… we were just talking about taking a bath…”

How much Megumu, his eyes swirling, understood was a mystery.

Even more mysterious was that for some reason there was an awkward atmosphere at that moment. Souta wanted to find a way to break the silence and tried to change the subject.

“Speaking of men… shouldn’t every healthy man want to sneak a peek?”

Megumu’s eyes lit up at the keyword “man” and he stood up suddenly.

“Souta-kun, let’s go sneak a peek!!”

“Huh…?!”

A destruction flag could be seen above Megumu’s head.

“…Megumu, you want to sneak a peek?”

“We need to be like men, peeking openly and morally!”

“That’s already a crime!!”

Note: Any form of peeking is a crime.

“But… think about it carefully! A real man would never peek!”

The formula ''man < real man = Souta'' instantly emerged in Megumu's mind.

“You can’t peek, Souta-kun! This isn’t like you at all!!”

“Huh?! Me?!”

At some point, Souta became the one actively trying to sneak a peek, which scared Souta.

“……”

Then, Akane, coming back out to get the shampoo she had forgotten and only hearing the last part of the conversation, blushed and covered her key parts with the shampoo bottle.

“Souta-kun wants to peek…!!”

“Akane!? N-no, th-that’s not it…!!”

“Souta-kun is a peeping tom!!”

“Why do you look so happy?!”

Akane let out a sound of unparalleled delight. Without listening to Souta speak, she swiftly and elegantly ran towards the changing room in the knock-kneed posture of a rich heiress.

“…………”

Souta stared at her with an odd expression and froze.

After being frozen for a while, Souta despondently squatted on a folding chair in the living room next to the cafeteria while Megumu comforted him.

But not long after, Nanami, skin white, rosy, and glistening having just taken a bath, cursed at Souta, “Take this, damn peeping tom!” and sprayed conditioner into his face. A bit of the conditioner went into Souta’s eyes, causing him to show off his superb skills and roll around in pain on the chair.

Kikuno, who similarly became more sexy, held her cheek and looked at the scene with a chuckle.

“Sou-kun has grown into a healthy boy, Big Sis is so happy.”

“Souta-kun, is it true that healthy men should sneak a peek?!”

After hearing Kikuno's words, Megumu, as if waking up from a dream, said this. Souta was busy rolling around because of the conditioner-induced damage to his eyes, so he didn’t hear this. However, Nanami heard it; thus she added more conditioner, and Souta rolled around even more. Please use conditioner correctly.

Having rolled around for a while, Souta was the last one to finish his bath after Megumu and went back to his room. Akane was hiding in the corner of the corridor, tiptoeing and sneaking a look at him.

“What art thou doing, Akane?”

“Ah!? No, nothing!? I wasn’t sneaking a peek! Please don’t spray me with conditioner!"

Nanami has gradually become like an unfathomable monster in this dorm — as long as someone was sneaking a peek, she would unconditionally spray conditioner at them.

“We won’t scold thou…”

“You’re already able to control it?”

“Is that some kind of symptom?!... Back to the point. What art thou doing sneaking around in a place like this?"

“M-me? I-I wouldn’t do anything inappropriate like going into a boy’s room at this kind of time!”

“Oh, so you're wondering whether to go to Souta's room…” After Nanami figured it out, she smiled at the blushing, bashful Akane.

As for Akane, she was anxious about being scolded by Nanami since she remembered that Nanami was house prefect. This was the reality.

“…Thou wantest to go find Souta, right? Isn’t this very good?”

“Uh… no, but…”

Precisely because she was already hesitant in the first place, once she successfully obtained permission she backed out at the last minute.

“That guy wouldn’t do anything to thee. We are not familiar with him either, but it’s obvious that he doesn’t have the guts to do that. That guy needs a friend or lover, so it’s actually better if thou gettest close with and takest care of that guy.”

“Love-...!” Akane was speechless for a moment, then said with slightly red cheeks:

“Nana-Nanami, do you want to come too?”

“Why must We get close with that guy…”

After saying this, Nanami waved her hand and went into her room.

Although Akane felt even more embarrassed to go, she hesitated for two or three times before raising her hand and knocking on the door... but there was no response. She knocked again, but still no response.

“……Ah, I knocked on my own door.”

If there was a response, it would shake things up and change it into a supernatural event. That said, saying ‘shake up and change’ is fine, but ‘warm up and change’ sounds weird. Would that mean that it was a premeditated change? How terrifying.

Akane pulled herself together and knocked on Souta’s door. This time there was a response and the door opened.

“Akane? What's wrong?”

“Is Souta-kun going to sleep already?”

“No. I'm not going to sleep yet…”

“Th-then, I want to talk to you!”

“…Well, that’s fine.”

Standing in the corridor and talking was not an option, so Souta invited Akane into the room.

“It’s very clean.”

“Because the luggage has barely been unpacked…”

It felt a bit inappropriate, but since there was no other place to sit, Souta asked Akane to sit on the edge of the bed while he himself sat on a folding chair. After he sat down, he thought that their seats should be reversed, but by then it was too late.

“By the way, I haven’t fulfilled my promise to clean your room yet.”

“Yeah... since we’ve been tied up with other things lately.”

“Souta-kun is either tied up or flailing around.”

''You make me sound like a bug...'' Souta thought to himself, responding with a stiff smile.

“Right, you wanted to tell me something, yeah?!”

“Chat about what?! What do you want to chat about?!”

Souta didn’t expect the choice to be up to him. He was slightly shocked and his smile became even stiffer.

“Huh… well… let’s just chat about whatever Akane wants to chat about.”

“Me? Isn’t there anything Souta-kun wants to say?”

“I don’t have anything to say to Akane…”

Souta finally took action to break the flag waving above Akane's head.

“Could it be that Souta-kun is very unwilling to deal with me…?”

Akane’s flag broke, and tears were about to flow. She dejectedly drooped her shoulders and jabbed her index fingers together.

“I want to hear Akane talk about herself. I want to make an effort to understand Akane better!!”

However, Souta also hated making girls cry because of him.

“Really?!”

Akane immediately showed a sunny smile. Her quick response and the flag’s extraordinary speed of recovery made Souta’s smile tighten.

“But I’d rather learn more about Souta-kun.”

“Me…?”

“Why does Souta-kun distance himself from other people?”

Akane asked thusly. She moved to the corner of the bed — beside Souta — and looked Souta’s eyes up and down, even to the depths of his heart… with a gentle voice, gentle eyes, and gentle heart, Akane lightly touched the fear in his heart.

“……”

“……”

Silence flowed between the two people, so close they could feel each other’s breath.

“……”

Souta looked mournfully into her clear eyes that reflected his figure.

Specifically, he was looking at the indistinct object above his head that was reflected in her eyes…

“I… am…”

Souta slowly, slowly opened his mouth. Akane didn’t rush him at all, waited patiently, her expression as gentle and peaceful as a loving mother’s.

…Unexpectedly—

“Sou-kun, Big Sis peeled an apple. Do you want to eat it? I cut the peel into rabbit ear… Ack!”

Because it was the room of the little brother she was very familiar with, Kikuno opened Souta's door without knocking and poked her head in. When she saw Akane and Souta close together, she thought she saw something she wasn’t supposed to see. She shut her mouth and said loudly:

“S-Sorry, Big Sis couldn’t imagine that Sou-kun would be like that even in her dreams!! I-I didn't mean to disturb you! Please do as you wish! Continue what you were doing!!”

Nobody knows how Kikuno interpreted the situation where Akane and Souta’s faces were less than two fists apart. She looked in another direction, face flushed, and she said this in a strange tone, almost shouting.

“Oh god… Okiku-nee…?”

Souta frowned, not understanding what she was saying.

“I-it’s fine! Big Sis totally approves of that kind of thing! Sou-kun is a bit of a late bloomer, so Akane-chan, you have to guide him, alright?!”

Seeing Kikuno clench her fists, Akane and Souta looked at each other. After noticing how close they were, they finally realized the implication of Kikuno’s words and jumped back at the same time.

“N-no, no! Kikuno-senpai, this is a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!!”

“Th-that’s right, Okiku-nee! It’s not what you think…!!”

“No problem! Big Sis won’t tell anyone! Big Sis will keep it a secret for you! Especially not Nanami and Megu-chan, right!!”

Kikuno chattered on, not giving Souta a chance to retort “Huh, why? What can’t be told to anyone? And why specifically can’t you tell those people?”

“Sou-kun is leaving Big Sis behind and becoming an adult first… Even so, remember that Big Sis is still Big Sis though, Sou-kun!”

Kikuno was filled with emotion and shed a tear, which she wiped away with her fingertips.

“If you run into any trouble, call Big Sis, okay?! Also, wh-when it’s over, you two should eat together, okay?!”

Kikuno put the plate of apples cut into the shape of rabbits onto the bed with difficulty and left the room with his cheeks still red and his movements stiff.

“What do you mean by ‘over’?!”

Souta’s question was naturally unanswered, left aside just like that.

“The rabbit apples are delicious.”

“You’re already eating!?… Is something over? Something is over, right?”

“For example, Souta-kun's life?”

“It was forced to end! It's all because you ate the apples immediately!”

Akane smiled and thought, "Souta-kun is so interesting when he's full of energy" while carefully chewing her apple.

Because it would soon be midnight, Akane decided to retreat from the room after ending Souta's life and the conversation. ''I really wanted to talk a bit more…'' Although she harbored such thoughts in her heart, the opportunity would come again in the future.

From now on, they were dorm buddies. There was no need to rush, there would be plenty of opportunities to improve their relationship. Smiling at the thought, Akane said goodnight to Souta.

Souta, left alone in the room, swallowed the words he was about to say to Akane along with the apple, and fell back on the bed.

“……”

He stared at the ceiling in deep thought for a rather long time. Although he gradually became sleepier and almost fell asleep, he still got up and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

It seemed to be lights-out time already, so the hall was dimly lit with night lights. The bathroom at the front of the hall was brightly lit, and it was obvious that someone was already there.

“…Nanami.”

“Wah uh huh huh huh huh.”

Nanami was brushing her teeth in her pajamas, and whatever she said was completely unintelligible. If what you said while brushing your teeth could be understood, there would usually be toothpaste dripping out of your mouth. That gets pretty messy. As for which is better, it’s '''''case by case'''''. That is, container buy container.”<ref> ‘Case by case’ is written in English, and ‘container buy container’ is a mistranslation using the wrong meaning of ‘case’ and the wrong ‘by’</ref>

The sight of the two of them talking to each other with toothpaste flowing out of their mouths would be rather crazy, so they brushed their teeth side by side in silence to avoid that situation.

Souta didn’t want to look at his mirror image... Strictly speaking, he didn’t want to look above his head, so he glanced at Nanami through the mirror.

“……”

At this time, Souta finally realized something strange.

''Huh...?''

He noticed something about Nanami that he had never really paid attention to until now.

Once he noticed it, he even wondered why he didn’t think about it earlier.

''Nanami’s… flag, I’ve never… seen it even once.''

No matter who it was, they would raise a flag at least once or twice. Love flag, death flag, defeat flag, disagreement flag, reunion flag, attack flag…

As long as they lived together for two or three days, he would still see some.

However, Nanami was the only one who couldn’t raise any kind of flag.

“No... that’s not right... it shouldn’t be. It’s not that she can’t raise a flag. It’s probably…”

Nanami finally noticed Souta’s suspicious behavior of freezing with his toothbrush in his mouth. She gargled out her mouthwash, wiped the corners of her mouth with a towel, and asked warily:

“What? Why is thy expression like that of a guy who transferred to another school and found out that the girl who was one year older than him who he admired like a big sister is now his classmate?”

“That’s the true story though?!”

Because he hadn’t gargled it out yet, toothpaste dripped down from Souta’s mouth. Why haven’t you gargled it out yet?

“Thou art so messy!”

Because Nanami scolded him, Souta washed his mouth and gargled. Specifically, it was gargle gargle gargle puh. Why did you gargle three times?

While doing these things, Souta gradually came to a conclusion.

It’s not that Nanami’s flag can’t be raised.

''I’m afraid... I’m afraid that Nanami's flag is the only one I can’t see…”

Seeing Souta staring at her with wide eyes again, Nanami retreated slightly.

“Wh-What…?”

That fleeting, unbelievable thought urged Souta to gaze at Nanami intensely and say:

“Nanami… might be someone special to me.”

“Wh-…!? What does that mean?!"

Nanami's face instantly turned red, as if she was about to spit fire and gas, and she raised her voice. It’s best not to spit gas along with fire; that’s dangerous.

“Exactly, Sou-kun! How are you going to explain this to Akane-chan?!”

“Okiku-nee!?”

Kikuno came to the bathroom with toothbrushes at the perfect time, and her incomprehensible question scared Souta silly.

“Ah! Uh! Sorry! I’m sorry, Sou-kun!! Big Sis didn’t mean to blame you! A-and yeah, changing your mind is just human nature, you can’t be blamed for that! Big Sis is just too narrow-minded!!”

“No, Okiku-nee, what are you talking about…”

Big Sis’ heart was as wide as the sea, but she would raise up waves to sweep up Souta’s words, dragging them to the depths of the ocean trenches so that they can never come back. Thus it was common for their communication to fail.

“It’s okay! You don’t need to say anything, Sou-kun! It’s okay! Big Sis will help you explain it to Akane-chan! Akane-chan is a good kid, she will definitely understand, Sou-kun!”

But Big Sis didn’t understand at all.

“Ugh… Oh god…”

What Kikuno would explain to Akane remained a mystery, but Souta didn’t think he could see a bright future.

But on the other hand, no matter what she explained to Akane, Akane seemed to listen with feigned understanding and give a completely unrelated positive explanation. So you could say it was no harm no foul.

“Then Big Sis will go, okay? Sou-kun can rest assured and be happy! Just like Big Sis, Akane-chan should also want Sou-kun to be happy! Y’know?”

After saying this, Kikuno made Nanami and Souta hold each other’s hands tightly and then left the bathroom brimming with self-satisfaction. As you all know, she didn’t gargle. Because she hadn’t brushed her teeth yet. After all, it’d be weird to gargle when you clearly haven’t brushed your teeth.

Anyways, the two of them were once again stunned into place thanks to Kikuno.

“…We are tired. We shall go to bed…”

“Oh, okay. Goodnight, Nanami.”

Souta looked above the back of Nanami’s head as she returned to her room...

While wondering whether there was an invisible flag planted there.

Is the problem with Nanami or Souta?

Enveloped by the aforementioned mysteries, their life in Quest House and the academy passed by smoothly and peacefully…

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4

2025-01-02T07:48:44Z

Person72635:

==Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off==
After school.

Under Akane’s leadership, the student president, Tsumugi, and the other classmates who came to see the commotion lined up in front of the dilapidated dormitory.

“It’s really decrepit—”

“Wouldn’t it be better to say nearly collapsed?”

“Actually living in such a place… too tragic.”

“If we can take better care of him, this kind of thing might not happen…”

The students expressed their thoughts, all of them gazing at Souta with pity and raising sympathy flags without exception. Souta almost raised a ‘fainting flag’.

“Rebuilding would still be faster, huh, young Mimori?”

Tsumugi looked up at the student president standing beside her only to see Mimori burst into laughter as if to sweep away the gloomy atmosphere of the scene.

“Bwahahahahahahaha!! As long as it’s handled by this Student President Seiteikouji Mimori, everything will be A-OK!! Just divert student council funds and build a huge building!! No problem! Just leave it to the so-called unparalleled ability passed down among generations of student presidents to create falsified accou—”

“Someone come get the president to shut up.”

Seeing the students begin to retreat after seeing the dark side of the academy, Tsumugi ruthlessly cut off Mimori’s words.

That said, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Mimori had changed the depressed atmosphere in one fell swoop. Tsumugi silently praised Mimori for having some skill.

Since although the students wore strained smiles, at least they were smiling.

“Let’s not take misappropriation of public funds into consideration yet… Right, young Akane, could you provide some financial assistance? Ah, you should still have '''''pocket money''''',<ref> Words that are bolded and italicized are said in English.</ref> no?”

Tsumugi mixed some English into her question, and Nanami was embarrassed for Akane.

“This child is said not to receive family assistance.”

“Yes, even if it’s '''''pocket money'''''... It’s only one million yen a month…”

““““““““““That’s more than enough!!””””””””””

Everyone present replied.

“Huh, really? That much is enough? Building a house is so cheap. That’s got to be way under market price, right?!”

Hearing this rich girl say these ‘Where did this rich girl come from?’ kinds of words, everybody there held in their laughter save for one person.

That exception, Nanami, was currently pinching Akane’s nose.

“Thou art too spoiled!! Art not thou supporting thyself, girl oblivious to worldly affairs?!”

“Huh? Huh?”

Student President Mimori stared at the two people who seemed to have a good relationship with her arms crossed and put on a serious expression again.

“Anyways, whether it’s rebuilding or remodeling, just ask the professionals of this school, ladies and gentlemen!”

“Professionals… of this school?”

Seeing Souta’s disbelief, the one who answered him was Tsumugi, standing next to Mimori.

“The Civil Engineering Club.”

“The Civil Engineering Club…”

Hearing this strange and unknown club name, Nanami's expression was strange.

“They say it was influenced by a certain manga.”<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABkyoku_Ch%C5%8Djin_R Kyukyoku Chojin R], apparently</ref>

“Let’s call them over right now!!”

Student President Mimori called over members of the Civil Engineering Club and laughed her ‘Bwahahahahaha’. What was so funny, nobody knew.

Accompanying the well-built club members coming to the scene was the short-haired, baseball-cap-wearing president of the Civil Engineering Club. His first words were:

“What is it, President?! What’d you break this time?!”

“Could you not say that like yours truly is always impulsively causing destruction everywhere?!”

Unfortunately, the objections of Mimori, who frequently caused destruction on impulse, went in one ear of the Civil Engineering Club president and out the other. He lifted his chin to ask ‘Is this it?’ and looked at the ruins of Quest Dorm.

“You can really cause destruction…”

“It wasn’t yours truly!!”

But rather than caring about who did it, the Civil Engineering Club president’s interest had already shifted to the building itself, and he ignored Mimori’s protests.

Rebuild or remodel— the club members seemed to also disagree over those two options, and a younger club member asked the president:

“President, what should we do?”

“I told you to call me Craftsman!” <ref> Apparently a reference to the Japanese home renovation show ‘‘Makeover! Dramatic Before and After’’.</ref>

How magical. A craftsman’s subtle artistry is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures. <ref> A famous quote from ‘‘Makeover! Dramatic Before and After’’. I probably translated both of them differently than they should have.</ref>

“If possible, I hope for this child to live here as soon as possible…”

Kikuno cut in from beside Souta only to see the craftsman crack his fists and say:

“Okay! Then let’s remodel!!”

The president displayed his enthusiasm, and the club members all forced a smile.

“The president likes to remodel…”

“Didn’t I tell you to call me Craftsman?!”

How magical. A craftsman’s subtle artistry is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures.

“How long until someone can live here?”

“Well~ it’ll be quite difficult, so at least a month…”

The craftsman answered Tsumugi’s question, and Nanami eyed him suspiciously. He didn’t seem to be acting.

“That’s too long! So being a craftsman isn’t something all that amazing after all?”

“With enough manpower, it can be done in a week!!”

How amazing! A craftsman’s subtle persistence is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures.

“Then what if it’s just for one person to live in?”

“For one person, huh… Then two, three days…”

Akane stepped up to use the carrot and the stick, and as a result— How magical! A craftsman’s backbone is also reflected in this kind of place.

“Then it’s just a matter of where we can get manpower… Should we get schoolmates…”

“It’s your life, take matters into your own hands! This academy promotes the spirit of student independence; asking alumni is against its ethos! Don’t you know shame!!”

Although the craftsman was expressing goodwill, he was still shot down by the student president who found fault with it for some reason.<ref> In Chinese, the same word can be used for both ‘schoolmates’ and ‘alumni,’ so the misunderstanding might be based there.</ref> But since he was quite used to Mimori’s rampages, plus the fact that Mimori apologized and said “Sorry, yours truly crossed the line.” after being scolded by Tsumugi-baba-sama, the craftsman could only mutter “I don’t know what to do with her…”

“You need manpower… It happens that there is a group of people who seem to be doing nothing.”

Tsumugi looked at the lively class.

The classmates could have found it troublesome and played dead, but each one was nicer than the last, wanting to help the poor Souta. The sentiment quickly spread, and the ‘I want to help, I want to help, I want to help’ attitude was clear at a glance.

“Great! Then let’s start by removing the rotten boards--”

As everybody immediately started working, Akane walked up to the front and said:

“I-I want to say something!!... Thank you everybody for being willing to help with my selfish project!”

Seeing Akane bow with all her might, Kikuno also joined in.

“Ah! Please let me thank everybody too! Our Sou-kun will be in your care.”

Seeing the two girls bow and thank everyone for him, plus Nanami poking him from behind and glaring at him as if to hint ‘Are you really going to stand by and do nothing while these girls do this for you?’, Souta was sandwiched by the pressure of the atmosphere and could not help but bow and say:

“Uh… I owe everybody one…”

“What kind of low-spirited thanks is that?!”

This was Nanami’s fierce retort upon not receiving real thanks. But the counter-reaction wasn’t even from Souta himself, but Kikuno.

“Th-that’s not it, that’s not it! Sou-kun’s very awkward, so he accidentally said it that way, but Big Sis thinks that he is very grateful to everyone! So… so I hope everybody doesn’t misunderstand him!!”

Souta’s thanks wasn’t great nor terrible, but Kikuno still patted his head as if saying ‘Good boy, you’ve worked hard’ while protecting him with those words.

''How spoiled.''

''Way too spoiled.''

''So doting.''

''Oh well…''

Then Akane provided the final, fatal hit--

“Th-that’s right! And… And, how do I say this, if Souta-kun smiled and provided lively thanks, it wouldn’t be his style and everyone would be disappointed!”

Akane’s extremely negative image of him made Souta depressingly realize ''So I look that gloomy in the eyes of others…''

Anyways, Souta’s plaintiveness made everyone raise ‘motivated’ flags. The Civil Engineering Club members let out an understanding “Ah…”, kindly saying “It’s okay.” and “Don’t take it to heart.”

But only the craftsman’s face went red. She looked the other way with a “Hmph!”

“I-I’m not doing it for you!”

Emerging from the craftsman…

“It’s not what you think!”

“Don’t get the wrong idea!”

“But if you don’t feel grateful, then I won’t spare you!”

This guy had just been heartily telling him not to mind things but suddenly began to say these kinds of statements one by one. This continued until he left for his post.

Souta didn’t understand what was going on with this scene, so Mimori explained to him:

“That girl’s personality is why the confession failure record keeps constantly getting broken.
But she’s the academy’s best at remodeling too, so rest at ease, '''''yo'''''!”

“‘That girl’?? So she’s actually female?!”

“If she were male, I wouldn’t have said ‘girl’.”

''Good point'' Souta silently agreed, observing the craftsman again. Could you say she’s gender neutral? If you said her to be a girl with very short hair, then she did indeed seem like a girl.

Akane suddenly approached from nearby to look at Souta’s face.

“That’s so great, Souta-kun.”

“... It’s all thanks to the good fortune provided by Okiku-nee and Akane.”

Seeing Souta look a bit uncomfortable and avert his eyes, Akane smiled and laughed, thinking that he was really cute.

“My mother once said that I should pay for my friends, so that they can be proud that they had such a friend.”

“Your mom is really great.”

“Yeah.” Akane nodded, gazing up at the blue sky.

“I always thought that doing that was to make friends, to become closer with friends. But I now find that not to be the case.”

“?”

“Because, because, you see, Souta-kun, just seeing your happiness also makes me as happy, joyful, and full of anticipation!”

Akane pressed her hands to her chest, spinning in circles.

“It’s my first time understanding that by bringing happiness to the people around you, you yourself will also feel as happy as they feel!”

“Akane, that’s because you’re really considerate.”

Hearing the conversation between Akane and Souta, Nanami, with a gentle expression mixed with a little sarcasm, interjected:

“Seeing Akane’s joy, We consequently feel joy as well. Akane is just like an exquisite cake made of happiness.”

“Nanami… You’re a poet!!”

As if discovering a beautiful line of verse, Akane’s eyes twinkled like several small stars. She tightly clasped both of Nanami’s hands with a sparkling, bright expression, happy as can be.

But Nanami realized that she made a serious slip of the tongue, her shy face burning as she struggled to shake off Akane’s hands.

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

“Nanami’s youthful poetry is my favorite! Being friends with Nanami is great! We must abuse the privilege of youth to run towards the sun!”

“Enough! Do nyaat waste your youth!!”

Nanami ran away after saying this, waving a huge hammer brought by the Civil Engineering Club and furiously destroying the rotten dormitory wall scheduled to be taken down, rather heroically covering up her embarrassment in this way.

“That girl is quite cut out for destroying things…”

Nearby, Tsumugi laid a waterproof cloth, set up a cushion on it, and leisurely sipped tea as if retiring with glory while looking at Nanami’s liveliness from afar and muttering to herself.

“Then, Big Sis will do her part for Sou-kun, too!”

“I’ll also go help.”

Kikuno and Akane swayed their bodies side to side, happily walking away. Souta was about to chase them, but Tsumugi suddenly stopped him from behind.

“Young Souta.”

“?”

Souta turned his head and saw Tsumugi’s kindly expression like a mother dog gazing at a puppy. Observing at the students excitedly absorbed into their work, she explained to Souta:

“Look closely, then engrave it into your heart. This isn’t a debt, but kindness. Kindness should be repaid with kindness. Put it in your heart, cultivate it little by little, absorb it. This way, one day, young Souta, you will also be a person able to express kindness as naturally as breathing.”

“Ah…”

Souta was about to respond with ‘Okay’, but Mimori came out from nowhere and cut him off, grabbing his shoulders and coolly pointing to the sky.

“This is the academy’s soul! The academy’s style!”

“Whoa, you scared me!”

Tsumugi smiled wryly at Mimori’s sudden appearance, saying persuasively:

“... In this regard, your spiritual practice is not good enough yet, young Mimori.”

“Grandmother is so strict…”

After letting off steam discontentedly, Mimori said the horrifying words like “Then, I’ll go forge documents and pretend that I received an application for rebuilding this dorm” and left the scene.

At the same time, Nanami, probably tired from waving the hammer, came back for tea.

“Hey, Souta. Don’t be lazy, shouldn’t thou help? This is where thou willst live, right?”

“Oh, sor… ry?”

As Nanami immediately gulped down the wheat tea Tsumugi poured for her, she noticed Souta apologize halfway and freeze with his head slightly raised. This intriguing movement made her frown.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… on top of the dorm… there’s a flag.”

“Huh? Something non-human can have flags too?!”

“It’s my first time seeing this, too…”

On the roof flew a ‘new role debut’ flag.

Souta, who could see it, and Nanami, who couldn’t, looked up at that unfamiliar flag together.

This time, Akane jogged back.

“Souta-kun, the people inside said they needed a boy’s help and wanted you to come over… Huh, what’s wrong? Why are you two staring at the roof? If you’re worried about spirits, aren’t they more likely ghosts?”

““Huh?! There are ghosts?!””

Akane’s unexpected comment startled Nanami and Souta, and they yelped sharply, forming beautiful harmony.

“... Only you two are that close. Not fair.”

“Is now the time to care about that kind of problem?!”

“Huh?! What?! They’re really like that?!”

Kikuno, never knowing the right time to come up behind Souta’s back, startled Souta and made him jump in surprise.

“Whoa, you scared me!”

“Sou-kun, which one are you closer with? Which one do you like?! Secretly tell Big Sis, please? Okay? Okay?”

Kikuno, delighted at the prospect of her little brother’s first love, put her hand by her ear, approaching Souta with a “Hmmm~?”

“No, even if you ask which one I like…”

“Is it the gentle Akane? Or~ Nanami? Since you call her by first name~ you’re very close… Ah, or you like both of them?”

Kikuno, giggling, might have intended to talk secrets with Souta quietly, but since the people in question were very close by, Akane and Nanami both heard this clear as day.

The one who reacted violently wasn’t Souta, but the red-faced Nanami.

“Come here, Souta!”

Nanami pulled Souta’s ear and brought him some distance away from Kikuno and co.

“Canst not thou do anything to deal with that freak sister?”

“I can’t do anything even if I wanted to…”

The little brother had already fallen into the bad habit of absolutely obeying his sister. Kikuno had, year in and year out, used a non-violent means known as doting to crush Souta’s resistance.

“......”

Nanami looked with disgust at Souta being spoiled by Big Sis, suddenly noticed something, and said:

“... Hey, thy sister doesn’t have a flag?”

So far, since Kikuno’s presence was so strong, Souta forgot to be afraid of flags. He recalled the top of Kikuno’s head, and said, almost to himself:

“Yeah… Now that you mention it, there is a flag.”

“What kind of flag?”

“I think it’s… the sisterly love flag.”

The scope of that flag seemed way too narrow. But considering Kikuno’s love for her little brother, it seemed to contain infinite possibilities.

At the same time, Nanami thought, as long as that flag broke, perhaps it would curb Kikuno’s desire to randomly speculate about her little brother’s relationships with girls.

“Try to break thy sister’s flag.”

“Huh?!”

“Try to break thy sister’s flag, try to break thy sister’s flag.”

“Why’d you say it twice…? Hey Nanami, don’t you usually tell me not to break them…”

Of course Souta only chose to listen now. Nanami let loose an angry, intimidating “Tch!!”

“Do not ask so many questions! If thou continues like this, thou willst always be a little brother to that woman, okay?!”

“... What’s wrong with that?”

“Enough! Thou hath completely fallen into the habit of a little brother!”

He’s already completely brainwashed by Kikuno! This time, Nanami growled “Grrr!”

Nanami became more and more like an animal. She might not have had an ‘evolve into a human’ flag, but hopefully it gets raised soon.

“Think about it, theoretically, two people have always felt like a big sister and little brother, and one day develop a relationship between a man and woman… something like that!”

Nanami became more and more embarrassed as she said this, and talked really quickly at the end.

“You read too much manga and watch too many dramas, Nanami…”

“What didst thou say?!”

“And, we don’t have that kind of relationship.”

Souta said this without blushing or missing a beat. Nanami glared at him, the look in her eyes neither dumbfounded nor angry nor irritated.

“Stop spouting nonsense, just break it already! If thou dost not break it, We will break thy arm!!”

“......”

Under Nanami’s intimidation, Souta told himself that since he keeps getting teased about it anyway, taking advantage of this situation to change his relationship with Kikuno might be better. After he reminded himself of this, he went back to Kikuno.

“Heeheeheeheehee. What kind of secrets did you talk about? Sou-kun, is there a secret between you and Nanami that you can’t tell Big Sis? As I thought… you’re in that kind of relationship? Did Big Sis guess it right? Can you tell Big Sis? Nanami can also call me Big Sis, okay?”

“Gaaaaaaaaaaah!! Souta!!”

Almost getting another sister out of nowhere, Nanami deepened the misunderstanding and angrily stomped her feet.

“A-alright…”

Under the pressure of Nanami’s hand signals, Souta nodded his head reluctantly and faced Kikuno.

“I’m not a kid anymore, so always sticking together isn't cool…”

“Ah…?!”

Hearing Souta’s flag-breaking words, Kikuno suffered a terrible shock.

“Big Sis understands!”

She seemed to understand.

“Sou-kun wants to maintain a cool image in front of the girl you like, right~?”

She didn’t understand at all.

Nanami realized this, pulled Souta’s ear, and yelled quietly.

“Hey, Souta! It didn’t break at all, did it?!”

“Rather, the flag dodged…”

“Dodged…?”

“Yeah, dodged with extreme speed…”

Nanami and Souta both trembled at Kikuno’s unfathomable potential, retreating and looking at Kikuno together.

“?”

A question mark appeared above Kikuno’s head, and she tilted her head in confusion.

Seeing her like that, disregarding the fact Souta’s fighting spirit was almost zero from the beginning, Nanami’s fighting spirit ignited again.

“Couldn’t thou have simply broken it more bluntly?!”

“...”

Nanami took silence as an answer, once again pushing Souta in front of Kikuno.

Glancing at the flag on Kikuno’s head, Souta forced a smile and tested the waters.

“That’s not what I meant. I just thought, shouldn’t we get rid of this brother-sister relationship already?”

“Ah…!!”

Hearing Souta’s flag-breaking words, Kikuno suffered a terrible shock.

“Big Sis understands!”

This time she seemed to really understand.

“Nanami made you say that. Heehee, don’t worry, Nanami. Souta and I aren’t like that. No need to fret, I won’t steal Souta away.

This time she still didn’t understand at all.

“We are also not like that, alright?!”

Seeing Nanami roar, Kikuno thought, ''She became shy, she became shy!'' and was still extremely happy.

“The flag dodged with godlike speed again…”

“That kind of thing exists?”

Having seen the existence of a special flag surpassing human imagination, Souta had the same question. He replied, a little out of it:

“It’s also the first time I’ve seen this.”

Seeing the terrifying creature known as ‘Big Sis’ in person made Nanami and Souta get goosebumps.

At some point, Akane, already working in the dorm, stuck her hand out the taken-down window and waved, breaking the peculiar atmosphere.

“Souta-kun— they’re asking ‘Why hasn’t a boy come yet?’ already—”

‘Yet’ followed by ‘already’, so strange… Souta thought about unrelated things, leaving Nanami and Kikuno behind to enter the dorm.

Upon Souta’s entry, the craftsman immediately said to Souta: “I just want you to clean up the decaying cabinet in the locker room in front of the bathroom, don’t get me wrong!!” But it’s quite difficult to figure out which part of the sentence could be misunderstood.

As proven by the fact that Souta didn’t get it wrong at all and went straight to the locker room.

A loud rattling sound came from inside the bathroom. As he got to work, Souta just glanced around briefly before returning to the task at hand, finding the old cabinet.

But no matter how you look at it, that cabinet didn’t seem like something one person could move alone. Just as Souta racked his brain for a solution, a male classmate happened to pass by the hallway. Souta hurriedly called out to him.

“Excuse me, I need a boy’s help over here, can you help me?”

The male classmate he just called to wore a boys’ uniform on his upper body and shorts and striped knee socks on his lower body. Even if he was disguised as a girl, he was wearing a male uniform, so he should be a boy… That said, his appearance and temperance, even if he was a pretty boy, was too girlish: If you asked whether he was more like a pretty boy or a beautiful girl with short hair rolled into a man bun, obviously it would be the latter — this was the reality.

As if embodying that kind of indistinguishability, the dainty male (?) classmate said “A boy…?” and looked around.

“A boy, a boy, a boy… one<ref> This guy refers to himself in third person.</ref>?!”

Since nobody else could be found nearby, and Souta had been looking at him for a while, the male classmate seemed to finally realize that it was directed at him.

Seeing his suspicious behavior, Souta worried that he made a mistake, asking with his heart in his mouth:

“So you’re not a boy…? Then my sincerest apologies. Because during PE class, I saw you on the boys’ side… Sorry, I always thought you were male…”

“...!!”

Souta recalled being thoroughly shocked at seeing striped kneesocks during PE class that day as he added an apology. The male (?) classmate seemed to have taken a heavy hit, his knees knocked together, arms pressed tight against his body, and his whole body shaking.

“Uh, hey…”

“O-one… one… ! One is a boy!! That’s correct!!”

So he claimed.

Although he claimed so, his knees knocked to the point that they practically fused together, and his hands and fists were placed almost in a boxing position, moving erratically in a cute way, pretty much contradicting himself.

“For one… it’s one’s first time meeting someone who treats one as a boy! And, because of one’s features, even those who know one only treat one as a girl… But, Souta-kun treats one as a boy, so one is very happy!”

The male classmate raised friendship flags.

Right, it was raised… but…

“What’s going on here…?”

Spouting from the male classmate’s head, while still a flag, were countless flags tied together joined to the sky like streamers, extending endlessly upwards and slightly backwards, weaving across the wall.

“Streamers…streamers? F-… flag?... This a flag?”

It was also Souta’s first time seeing a flag in this kind of mystical shape, so it was hard to cover up his confusion.

If it wasn’t a flag, it would mean Souta could see things other than flags. That would be terrifying. So terrifying that he didn’t want to keep thinking about it, so he just assumed that he could only see flags.

The male classmate had followed Souta’s gaze to the top of his head and was looking up at the sky, but he suddenly remembered something and tapped his palm with his fist.

“Ah, one hasn’t introduced oneself. One’s name is Touzokuyama Megumu</ref> Megumu’s surname indicates that his ‘class’ is thief</ref>.”

Megumu squatted cutely, sliding his hand on the dusty floorboard. After demonstrating how to write his name, he smiled shyly.

“I am…”

Souta nodded, thinking that his surname was a little over-the-top.<ref> Imagine meeting a guy named John Thief lol</ref> As he decided to introduce himself to Megumu, Megumu cut him off.

“You must be Hatate-kun. One knows because one saw you introduce yourself when you transferred.”

“Just call me Souta.”

“O-one too! Just call one Megumu.”

He said this excitedly as streamers of friendship flags fluttered on his head. Perhaps that ‘people should get along no matter what country they’re from’ mentality was because of these streamers.<ref> The phrase I’m translating as ‘streamer’ literally means ‘ten thousand country flags’ [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%87%E5%9B%BD%E6%97%97#/media/File:Sports-Fest2.jpg (万国旗)]</ref>

“One thinks one can establish a manly friendship with Souta-kun!”

Souta’s first reaction of him had been a perplexed ‘Why is there a girl mixed in with the boys’ PE class…?’, so he remembered her clearly... no, him. But Souta couldn’t say that. In order to hide his thoughts, he hurriedly changed the subject.

“Really… Speaking of which, the name ‘Megumu’ is... really cool.”

“Th-that’s not true. One kind of hates this feminine name. Everyone likes to call one by one’s nickname, Megu-chan, so it seems even more feminine.”

“Yours is still relatively good, unlike my name Souta. My kindergarten nickname was ‘Missus’ <ref> In Chinese at least, doubling the last character in Souta’s name (太) creates the phrase for ‘wife’ or ‘old lady’.</ref>”

“Souta-kun’s really cute♡”

Megumu clutched his sides and lightly covered his mouth, his entire body shaking with laughter. No matter how you look at it, Megumu’s a cute girl.

Perhaps out of guilt, the conversation was very accommodating towards Megumu. Although Souta thought his personality would only hurt Megumu, as luck would have it, they still had a good conversation.

“... I’ll call you Megu-chan too.”

“Hey~! Souta-kun, you bully!!”

Confronted with having accidentally said something very feminine, Megumu pouted cutely, puffing his cheeks.

“That said, Megumu, I just want to know one thing…”

“Ah! One has been working out before bed to become more manly, so one is a bit stronger now, okay?”

Megumu flexed his biceps after saying so. Souta asked Megumu ‘Can I touch it?’ and was given permission. He touched it and found that the muscle was so soft that it made him feel guilty. However, because the ‘Nnngh~!’ sound that Megumu made as he flexed was too cute, Souta gave up on his retort. More to the point, Souta wasn’t even asking about that.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I wanted to ask about the bottom half of your uniform.”

“... Oh.”

Megumu’s weak reply was mixed with a sigh, and he lifted the lower hem of his uniform coat. Since they were both male, there clearly wasn’t any reason to look twice. Nevertheless, Souta blushed and his heart rate sped up.

“This is…”

“N-nevermind, sorry. I didn’t offend you, right? Everyone has different hobbies. It’s fine, and it really suits you…”

Seeing the fluttering streamers fall weakly, Souta anxiously mediated.

“No! No no no! No no!!”

Megumu lightly hammered Souta’s chest with unmatched cuteness.

“This is because… Big Sis said this way was definitely cuter… said it was approved by the academy… My Big Sis is responsible for designing this uniform… so…”

The phrase ‘Big Sis’ scared Souta and made him flinch.

“The student handbook also says that, starting this year, this outfit is approved as a uniform.”

“Really?!”

Souta brought out a student handbook from his chest pocket to confirm. Listed next to the normal boys’ and girls’ uniform, there really was an illustration identical to what Megumu was wearing at the moment.

“It’s true!!... Speaking of which, does anyone else wear it like this?”

“... Somewhere in this vast world.”

“That’s already not about this academy’s uniforms anymore!?”

Megumu’s eyes became empty.

“This outfit isn’t only conspicuous, but people also say it looks like a girls’, so one hates it. But Big Sis cried, saying that it’s definitely cute, and made me wear it…”

“Since your Big Sis cried and begged, there’s nothing you can do about it…”

As a fellow comrade who loses unconditionally to his older sister, Souta’s heartstrings tugged with sympathy for his fellow sufferer.

“Yeah… and one is the youngest of four siblings, with sisters all above me.”

“Your life is so hard… I understand how you feel, Megumu…”

Megumu was usually surrounded by people jealous of his beautiful sisters, so when he heard Souta’s gentle words, his chest couldn’t help but tighten with a ‘squeeze♡’.

“Thank you!! Only Souta-kun understands me!! Thank you! Really, thank you so much, Souta-kun!!”

Megumu rushed to hug Souta, as if pushing people out of the way.

Megumu’s body was unusually slender. Souta could actually support him quite easily, but something other than weight made Souta dizzy.

“Whoa!! Megumu, why is your body so fragrant?! And super soft?!”

“Huh?” Megumu, his height only up to Souta’s neck, raised his watery eyes to look at Souta in a way that made Souta even dizzier.

At this time, Akane reached out her head.

“Souta-kun, what’s the situation? Can one person handle it? Hey, whoa!? S-sorry, I… w-will support you guys!!”

“What are you talking about, Akane?!”

Akane, covering her face, stared at the hugging scene through the gaps between her fingers.

“I-I’m good at supporting people’s love! The couples I support always welcome new love under my leadership, with plentiful concrete results! Just leave it to Akane!”

“You mean it’s failure, Akane!”

“Failure is the mother of success! It’s fine as long as the new love succeeds.”

“Everything really depends on how you explain it anyways…”

Akane’s headache-inducing enthusiasm made Megumu and Souta force a smile.

“Let’s save that for later. How come you guys suddenly became so intimate?”

Akane anxiously looked at Megumu and Souta, who had kept hugging. Her words finally made the two come to their senses, and their bodies instantly separated.

“N-no, no!! This and that are different things!!”

“Th-that’s right. How do we put it… ah! We were just confirming our friendship, hmm, yeah.”

Regarding believing people, Akane was unbelievably simple. ‘So that’s how it was!’ She believed the two without any doubts.

“Oh. Friendship, huh… Souta-kun just refuses to demonstrate such warm friendship with me.”

Seeing Akane’s dejection, Souta busily tried to find an escape.

“I-it’s because Akane’s a girl… So it’s not appropriate.”

“Yeah, this is a privilege of a friendship between men!!”

“???”

Megumu revealed a tremendously cute smile because being treated like a boy by the confused Akane made him very happy. Please note that this does not mean tremblingly cute. Speaking of tremblingly cute ~ it was so cute that it made people tremble… wait, is that even cute then? Wouldn’t it be scary?<ref> Original Japanese pun had something to do with ‘unusually cute’ and ‘flying kick cute’ being off by one syllable.</ref>

“Y-yeah…”

Anyways, facing Megumu’s sparkling eyes, the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched as he nodded.

Speaking of which, does a friendship between men really involve that kind of intimate hug? Of course, this kind of question never appeared in Akane’s mind, she was just jealous.

“How nice, how nice… But, I’m really happy to see that Souta-kun’s friend count increased!”

As Akane said this, satisfaction replaced her original envy. Seeing her like this, overflowing with thoughtfulness and kindness, Souta experienced a warm feeling in his heart that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Right. Akane, did you check on me because you were worried? There’s no problem here. I already found a boy to help me.”

“Really?... But, where is he?”

Akane showed a natural expression like ○△○, carefully looking around the locker room.

Seeing that Akane’s natural manner was completely devoid of malice, or rather, it was unfortunately absolutely devoid of malice, Megumu almost cried. He apprehensively raised his small, cute hand.

“Th-that… is oneself.”

“Huh?! Megu-chan’s a girl~ Souta-kun, why are you guys always saying weird things?”

Based on Akane’s innocent laughter, it was clear that she wasn’t bullying; rather, that was what she deeply believed. After all, she was an ‘if she believes it, then she will deeply believe it without any doubt to an unbelievable degree’ kind of girl.

“... Akane, Megumu’s a boy though?”

“Nyaahahaha, stop joking-”

Akane even let out laughter she normally wouldn’t have, causing Megumu to tear up cutely. At this point, Akane finally began to understand the situation.

“Huh? Huh? I-it’s really true…? But-but, because, but-but, because, that’s not a boy’s uniform.”

“Oh… But this isn’t a girl’s uniform either, right? When you think about it, it’s actually more like a boy’s uniform.”

“You really ''can'' notice that!!”

To Akane, this was an earth-shattering revelation.

“So that’s what it was… That’s why I didn’t see Megu-chan in the girl’s PE class… Excuse my lack of manners. This mistake does not befit me.”

“No, in a way, it’s something very much like what Akane would do…”

“... Does this mean, Souta-kun is actually a girl?”

“Hey, you don’t need to overcompensate, Akane…”

Akane nodded emotionally, faced Megumu — he had bent the second knuckle of his index finger at a right angle and was cutely wiping tears from the corner of his eye — and lowered her head in apology.

“Sorry, Megu-chan. I didn’t think you had this kind of secret that even I, Mahougasawa Akane, could not see through.”

“I don’t remember treating this as a secret at all, but it’s fine as long as you understand.”

Akane seemed to think that the world was packed with many secrets. But the vast majority are packed to the brim, so one could say that they’re over-packed.

Anyways, although it was an earth-shattering revelation to Akane, she now thought back to what she was saying before and inadvertently exclaimed “Ah!”

“Hmph!! I almost started supporting your rocky romance!! Why did things become like this?!”

That’s what Megumu and Souta wanted to ask her. But they chose to remain silent, their smiles strained.

“I’ll go ask Nanami!!”

““Why did things become like this?!””

Megumu and Souta voiced in perfect harmony. Akane had a ‘These two are really close, I got left out again…’ kind of resentful expression, and ran to find Nanami.

He really didn’t know how it would be spun… Souta held back his low spirits and smiled slightly at Megumu.

“Th-then, let’s just get started.”

“Th-that’s right.”

They seemed to have finally remembered their original purpose. But because they had digressed too far, it almost made one doubt whether or not they really remembered.

“I’ll lift this side. Megumu, can you help lift the other side?”

“Leave it to me! It’s finally time to show my ability to break single-use chopsticks!!”

Souta felt a bit uneasy.

“Then… Ready, go!’

“Hahh… hup!”

Upon lifting it, he realized that the cabinet wasn’t as heavy as it seemed… as far as Souta was concerned.

As for Megumu, he couldn’t even stand steady. Dangerous, really dangerous.

Furthermore, there were two more exhausting phases to endure. As if to demonstrate, Megumu’s face reddened as he exerted all his strength. Souta was dumbfounded.

“I-I said… Megumu…? If you can’t move it, I can find other guys…”

“No!! It would waste Souta-kun’s surety that one was a man and subsequent request for help. If one were to give up, one would fail to live up to Souta-kun’s kindness!!”

“No… it’s not that serious…”

Megumu almost cried. But while his steps were unsteady, he still displayed a staunch willpower.

This atmosphere made it difficult for Souta to open his mouth and say that he could probably move it alone. Thus he could only do his best to carefully prevent Megumu from bearing too much weight as they moved. As a result, Souta’s own strength and stamina was depleted anyways.

There was now one more cabinet on the hill of scrap wood used by the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club. Megumu put his hands on his hips and bent forward slightly, He cutely faced Souta, who was wiping sweat off his forehead, and said:

“Thank you, Souta-kun!”

“Huh? It should be me thanking you, right?”

The words seemed to make Megumu a little uncomfortable. Megumu spoke guiltily and shook his head.

“No, you took particular trouble not to let one bear weight, right? Clearly it would’ve been easier for you to move it alone. But one kept clamoring about being a man and as a result persisted in pointlessly hurting you…”

“It wasn’t pointless.”

“Huh…?”

“This kind of persistence in becoming your ideal self… I don’t think it’s pointless.”

“... Souta-kun♡”

Souta empathized and respected the feeling of wanting to be a man, bringing tears to Megumu’s eyes.

“Souta-kun, you’re so considerate…”

Megumu’s mouth formed a dazzling smile, like a flower bursting into full bloom.

Souta, fostering a friendship between men, worked while Megumu deliberately stuck to him. By the time he met up with Kikuno and Nanami, the sun had almost set.

“Big Sis looks away for a moment and Sou-kun brings another girl back!! Big Sis is very concerned!!”

“Okiku-nee… Megumu isn’t a girl…”

“Nyaahahaha, stop joking~”

Kikuno even let out laughter she normally wouldn’t have, and Souta felt a sense of deja vu.

“Look, his uniform is more like a boy’s?”

“You really ''can'' notice that!!”

To Kikuno, this was an earth-shattering revelation.

Megumu’s gender was unbeknownst to everyone. Really made you wonder whether he had blurted out that he was a girl upon introducing himself as a new student…

“Huh~ I thought Megu-chan was a girl. Since Megu-chan always uses the girls’ bathroom.”

“Megumu?!”

Souta thought that this piece of information would be really difficult to explain.

“B-because, many boys complained that one going to the boys’ bathroom made them very uncomfortable. It became a big problem, and then the girls said ‘Megu-chan can use the girls’ bathroom’...”

“......”

This whole situation was hard to determine right from wrong. Souta was left speechless, and decided to change the subject.

“... But anyways, there seems to be more people… was there this many people from the start?”

Aside from the members of the Civil Engineering Club, everyone was getting ready to go home. But looking at the sea of people, it seemed there were a lot more people than before.

“Oh, that’s because the student president, Grandmother, me, and Akane-chan called a lot of friends to come.”

“Huh…?! I feel bad… all this just for someone like me…”

“I begged them, saying that it was for my precious little brother, and everyone came.”

That’s why the group of senpais observing from afar were whispering to each other: ''“So it’s him?”'' ''“Is the girl wearing shorts beside him his girlfriend?”'' ''“What a cute couple.”'' All the while gazing inquisitively.

Souta wholeheartedly wished to escape the scrutinizing eyes. He shifted the conversation towards Nanami, pretending he didn’t hear anything.

“Did Nanami also help call people to come?...... My apologies. Princesses are just different, maybe it’s their moral status?”

“......”

“Nanami?”

Nanami lowered her head, her whole body trembling. Souta approached, looking at her face.

“We…”

“We?”

“W-We didn’t call anybody here, alright?! That is, I don’t have any acquaintances to call at all!! ''My apologies'', princesses don’t even have moral status!!”

“Ah, Nanami, let’s go eat the red bean dumpling soup that the volunteers made for everyone.” Akane said.

“Nanami, you’ve already made up for that with your effort, so it’s all right.” Kikuno said.

“After all, you’re in a remote foreign country. Not having any acquaintances is something that can’t be helped, it’s actually very normal. Don’t worry, Nanami.” Souta said.

“D-… do nyaat console so much!!”

Nanami became angry out of embarrassment.

Because the dorm was in the middle of construction and living there would be dangerous, Souta temporarily resided in ‘The Most Dangerous Boys’ Dorm Room, Challenging the Limits of Rationality’, aka Megumu’s room. After personally experiencing the meaning of danger, the day of his much-anticipated return to Quest House arrived. It seems that this school is flooded with danger.

After working through days and nights, the reborn Quest House…

““““““““““It’s really too magical!!”””””””””

… Anyone who saw it would inadvertently say this. It was reborn reborn. Repeating the word ‘reborn’ twice expresses how much this rebirth changed it. Definitely not because the author’s literary powers have dried up. Hope everybody understands this point.<ref> Smooth, author-sensei, real smooth</ref>

“So amazing… it’s not just unrecognizable, it’s basically a different thing entirely.”

“Praise it a bit more!!”

Suddenly appearing, Student President Mimori proudly — really proudly — stuck out her chest.

“President didn’t do any of the actual work, okay?!”

The Civil Engineering Club president — the Craftsman — Yuzurihakami Mimori.<ref> Her name is 杠上美森. She’s not on the wiki, nor is her name mentioned in the anime, so I had to guess the pronunciation. The last two characters are the same as Mimori’s. As for the first two, I just pieced together some surname readings for 杠 and 上 that I found on Jisho. Incidentally, her name doesn’t contain a ‘class,’ so she probably won’t appear much if at all in the future.</ref>

“Because yours truly has [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_building_syndrome Sick Building Syndrome.”]

“Stop talking nonsense!! Also, this time the renovation used a lot of eco-friendly materials, so how can it trigger Sick Building Syndrome?!”

“Because yours truly has Eco-Friendly Building Syndrome…”

''Looks like this person cannot live indoors no matter what…'' As Souta thought this, Akane, who was beside him, smiled delightedly at him.

“It became a liveable place in one fell swoop.”

“Mmm.”

“It became a place unfit for ghosts.”

“There are ghosts?!”

“Heeheehee, I’m just saying random things.” Akane’s laughter even sounded like random consolation. How terrifying.

“Anyways, according to our original plan, I need to show my skills and clean up Souta-kun’s room!”

“We just finished renovating, I don’t think there would be anywhere to clean, though?!”

Akane jabbed her index fingers together, depressed like Judgement Day had come. Seeing her state, Souta hastily added:

“Uh— but if you could help me unpack my luggage, that would be a big help!”

“Ah, s-sorry, Souta-kun. I’ve troubled you.”

“Big Sis too! Big Sis also wants to unpack luggage together!!”

Seeing Kikuno raise her hand and join this heartwarming topic, Nanami pursed her lips.

“This Big Sis, couldn’t be more close, huh…”

Nearby, Megumu, doing squats for no reason, was so tired his legs almost fell off by the sixth rep.

Seeing that the group’s mood was as warm as tempura right out of the oven, the pensive President Mimori muttered. ‘Tempura right out of the oven’ because the Cooking Research Club was frying it outside to celebrate the rebirth of Quest House, not because Souta and co were heating it up. The tempura looked really delicious, though this has nothing to do with the aforementioned situation.

“But, this headache…”

“What’s wrong, President?”

In truth, this was because a sentence about ‘mood and tempura’ was accidentally written, but one has to make the best of it when at the end of one’s rope… Anyways, Mimori and Tsumugi didn’t care about this at all, sneaking some fried sweet potatoes while emotionally looking at the brand-new dorm.

“According to the rules, dorms with only one resident must be taken down.”

““““““““““And you say that now?!””””””””””

Hearing a sentence they couldn’t ignore, the surrounding people cried in unison.

“Yours truly is Seiteikouji Mimori, the so-called unparalleled king of late reactions. Nobody would dare to accept my challenge!”

“Somebody shut up the president.”

At Tsumugi’s shouted order, Mimori had many strips of tape pasted over her mouth. After tearing off the tape in tears, Mimori yelled, half angry out of embarrassment:

“Rules are rules! Since it’s been completed, it needs to be taken down!”

“Are thou a demon?!”

Nanami couldn’t help but roar back.

Reacting sharper than anyone else to the imminent sad situation in front of her, Akane also stepped in to salvage the situation:

“E-excuse me! How many people does it need to house at minimum?!”

“... Four…?”

“Why are you so unsure?”

Mimori, her memory extremely muddled, remembered after searching the depths of her memory.

“Correction, it’s five people.”

“Five people, huh…”

“Luckily, I heard that we were able to take preventive measures and renovate a few extra rooms thanks to the increase in manpower, so now the amount of usable rooms numbers about ten… gathering just four friends is easy enough, right?”

Mimori chuckled, and Nanami and Akane filled with rage at that.

“How can thy words be so over-the-top?!”

“That’s to say, you’ve crossed the line!!”

“... S-sorry.”

“Even if Sou-kun doesn’t have any friends, you still have Big Sis, okay? Okay?”

Because Nanami and the others spoke up for him, while the student president apologized, Souta seemed even more pitiful. The atmosphere became very indescribable.

“But, even if we didn’t need to gather four more people to live here, one person living by themselves in such a big place is a bit lonely…”

“... No problem. I’m used to being lonely.”

“Nuh-uh, nuh-uh!! Being like that… being very lonely… is very sad, too sad!!”

Looks like Akane, with her can’t-leave-sad-people-alone sickness, lost her temper.

If she left this alone, Akane would probably cry again, so Souta sighed, reluctantly nodding.

“But… if someone does want to live here, I’m okay with it.”

Akane’s eyes brightened, and she clenched her fist.

“Souta-kun needs dormmates, right? Because he’d be lonely, right? Of course! This is not okay! I know! I, Mahougasawa Akane, shall move into this dorm!”

“Hey, isn’t this a boys’ dorm?!”

“Is it?”

Akane looked at Tsumugi, her movements indicating that matters regarding the academy should be asked to the living dictionary.

“This was originally a faculty dormitory. I think it did not particularly differentiate men and women…”

“Then it’s '''''no problem'''''!”

“God… Hey, President, you should say something, too!”

Souta thought that boys and girls living under the same roof was definitely not '''''no problem''''', and he hastily begged Mimori to advise Akane to change her mind.

“Boys and girls living under the same roof is very romantic!!”

“Somebody shut this rascal up.”

Finally, even Tsumugi couldn’t be polite.

“But wasn’t it Akane who sponsored the reconstruction of the dorm out of her own pocket? Is it okay to disregard the sponsor’s ideas…”

“Nanami, I’m begging you not to say so much!”

“This is the sponsor’s authority!”

“Since it’s the sponsor’s authority, the student president’s authority can only permit it!”

Mimori, who was almost shut up but didn’t shut up, asserted. This is because her ability to not shut up is especially profound.

“But! However! Isn’t a boy and a girl inappropriate?!”

Souta retorted.

Kikuno raised her hand to retort back.

“Then Big Sis will also move in!”

“I see, so a boy and two girls wouldn’t be inappropriate.”

“Isn’t it more inappropriate?!”

The student president approved Kikuno’s idea, then retorted Kikuno’s retort to Souta’s retort. Now it’s already impossible to tell right from left.

“E-excuse me!! C-can one also come with?!”

“I said, Megumu…”

“Okay, this way we have balanced it out with one boy and three girls!”

“Where, how? Where is the balance?”

Leaving aside Souta’s retort towards Mimori, Megumu, having been regarded as a girl, lost the light in his eyes, and his small, half-open mouth drifted into an empty smile.

“Still missing one person.”

“......”

“There isn’t anyone else who will move here anymore.”

“......”

“That’s right… Why don’t we find one of Big Sis’s friends…”

“......”

Every time Akane, Souta, and Kikuno muttered their thoughts, Nanami coughed quietly.

“How about the craftsman?”

“How about the president?”

“How about Grandmother, Sou-kun?”

“......”

Nanami started wordlessly kicking the door post of Quest House. They say door post and '''''want you''''' sound very similar,<ref> That is, the Japanese pronunciation for ‘door post’ is similar to how Japanese people would pronounce ‘want you’ in English, as they’re only off by one phoneme (monchyou vs wonchyou)</ref> though this has nothing to do with this situation.

“... Miss Princess of Bladefield is almost crying, everyone…”

Megumu, not knowing the right time to come back to life, saw Nanami crouch and shudder with tear-filled eyes, and his sympathetic heart almost broke.

“Come on, we’re just kidding, Nanami. You’re willing to move here, right?”

“Yeah, the last person has to be Nanami since she’s very close with Sou-kun.”

“That’s right, there’s nobody else to choose but Nanami.”

“As long as Nanami is here, Big Sis will also be relieved.”

After Akane and Kikuno continuously took turns and finished speaking, Nanami stood up, her mood having rapidly improved.

“I a-a-a-a-a-absolutely was not about to cry. But since, in any event, ye are persistent and want Us to come, We will also…”

Before Nanami, who a-a-a-a-a-absolutely did not wipe her tears with her sleeves, could finish her sentence, Souta accidentally asked Akane and Kikuno:

“Hey, you guys were just kidding?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Failure flags were raised on the heads of tongue-tied Akane and Kikuno. Nanami’s eyes filled with tears again and she angrily stamped her feet.

“Absolutely not! Unless it’s the room at the very edge, or else I won’t live here!!”

“I want the room next to Sou-kun!”

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai, you’re so sly! I also want to live next to Souta-kun!”

“Th-then, I want to live in the room opposite Souta-kun.”

Looks like that area’s population density is very high.

“Only Nanami’s room is super far away.”

“Ye group of idiots—!”

Souta was inexplicably hammered many times by the unwilling-to-be-alone Nanami.

“... I understand it now. I just need to move near Nanami’s room, right…”

“Sou-kun is so considerate!! No wonder he’s Big Sis’s good little brother!!”

Souta thought with a smile, ''Not bad, I’ll have to bring in the luggage again anyways.'' Kikuno was so touched by her little brother that she hugged him tightly.

“Whoa… Okiku-nee, everyone’s watching! They’re all watching!”

Souta, panicking and trying to escape Kikuno’s smothering chest, was given an envious look by everyone.

“I-I’m next! I want to hug!”

Pretending to be jealous of Souta but actually jealous of Kikuno, Akane lined up behind Kikuno.

“O-one too…”

Megumu lined up behind Akane.

Mimori smiled at the close boarders of the new Quest Dorm.

“In short, we have gathered five people. One boy and four girls is fine, right?”

“No problem!”

“It is a huge problem…”

Akane agreed, but Tsumugi showed signs of reluctance.

“The problem has expanded, right?! You don’t think that it’s pretty much become a girls’ dorm?!”

“Leave it to yours truly, Mimori, the so-called unparalleled problem concealer!! Bwahahahahaha!!”

What was so funny remained a mystery. But anyways, Mimori, who seemed like she really did to conceal the problem, burst into laughter.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
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</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3

2025-01-02T07:48:28Z

Person72635:

==Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base<ref> As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear.</ref>==
“Um… I live in a dorm. What about it…?”

As Souta slung his backpack over his shoulders at the end of the school day, Akane had asked, “Souta-kun, where do you live?” After Souta answered, she nodded in feigned understanding.

“Can we go play there?”

“No.”

Hearing Souta’s response, Akane’s eyes welled up in tears. She blubbered “Oh~”, her friendship flag breaking in reply.

''He’s still as rough with the flags as before…'' Nanami watched the conversation in her peripheral vision as she put her stationery in her school bag.

“That kind of place isn’t suitable for girls to visit.”

“Like the boy’s bathroom?”

“What kind of dorm would that be?!”

Akane’s off-putting question resulted in a rare Souta retort.

“Like your room’s in a stall?”

“Even prisoners live better than that, right…?”

''No, since it’s Miss Heiress, the toilet in her mansion might be quite big.'' With this thought process, Souta decided it was pointless to hide it, so he told the truth.

“How do I put it? It’s because my dorm’s messy, it’s a total wreck.”

“Then we’ll go clean it up! Don’t look at Akane that way, but Akane really does love to be clean though? Mm-hmm!<ref> It’s supposed to be the noise Hirasawa Yui makes in ''K-On!''. Again, I haven’t watched it, so apologies if it isn’t entirely accurate.</ref>”

As usual, another one of Akane’s friendship flags was raised immediately. Souta’s feelings about them had already begun to gradually move from fear to admiration.

Despite Akane’s enthusiastic proposal, Souta still crossed his arms and sighed in contemplation. “Hmmmm…”

On the other hand, Akane was really motivated. For some reason, she was wiping an imaginary window with exaggerated movements, as if she were practicing boxing. Although, even if she was wiping a window, it was more like ‘Wax on, wax off.’<ref> Karate Kid reference</ref>

“Huh?! Huh?! What happened? Souta and Akane, why did you guys suddenly become so close without Big Sis’s consent?!”

Kikuno, not knowing what had happened during lunch, protested with her eyes welling up in tears. She seemed to blame Souta, her expression a little accusatory.

“That requires consent…?”

Nanami, having become a bystander, murmured to herself with a faint smile.

“We just ate together during the lunch break, we’re not actually as close as you say…”

Kikuno puffed her cheeks angrily, as cute as a child no older than one. Souta comforted her while explaining what had happened.

After listening to Souta’s explanation, Kikuno nodded with a slight smile, feigning understanding.

“Really? Akane-chan is a really good kid, Big Sis strongly approves of your friendship!”

It seems consent has been acquired.

Kikuno turned and faced Akane with a deep bow.

“Please take care of Sou-kun.”

“D-don’t be like that, Okiku-nee…!”

“Yeah, Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like I’m an outsider.”

“Huh?! You’re already family?! Sou-kun, why didn’t you discuss this with Big Sis first?! Big Sis feels so lonely!!”

It seems consent has not been fully acquired.

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

Big Sis’s logic was too unpredictable and Souta was at a loss, but Akane, the central subject, was still smiling brightly.

“... Speaking of which, Akane just referred to Okiku-nee as ‘senpai’, right?”

Although Kikuno was supposed to be a year older than them, calling a classmate ‘senpai’ is still pretty strange.

“Ah, um. Senpai guided me when I came to this school last year. Since she was Senpai at the time, it feels a bit weird to change it now…”

“Ah, but, at the time, I already knew I would become a freshman a year late.”

The senpai in the same grade seemed a bit shy.

It’s unclear whether this resolves the subject, but Akane, who wasn’t especially paying attention, returned to the original subject.

“Then, since we got your Big Sis’s approval, we can go to Souta’s dorm now! Mm-hmm!”

“... She approved?”

“Big Sis also wants to go! Mm-hmm!”

Kikuno, even more free-spirited than Akane, raised her hands with this declaration, cutting off Souta’s question.

Met with inexplicable enthusiasm, Souta was then patted on the waist from behind, startling him.

“!?”

He turned to look, but there was nobody behind him… Then he found that it came from below.

To Souta, who was 170 cm tall, the other person was a girl 50 cm shorter than him. Not only her height, but her appearance looked young. Although she looked like an elementary school student, her uniform revealed her to be a student in the same grade. That said, the other students had called her ‘Grandmother’ during the lunch break, even asking her for advice.

“Give up, young Souta.”<ref> Tsumugi technically calls others 'little brother/sister *name*', but I think 'young' fits better.</ref>

“Young?!”

The young girl, who seemed not to wear anything on her lower half, spoke to Souta in a wizened tone, as if he were a little rascal or devil.<ref> The Chinese translation I’m using uses 萝卜头 and 鬼头 (lit. ‘carrot-head’ and ‘devil-head’), which are somewhat xenophobic terms in Cantonese referring to Japanese people and Westerners respectively… no idea what the original intention was.</ref> As a result, Souta couldn’t help but raise his voice.

“Young Akane has a disease where she just can’t leave hapless beings alone, you could say she’s in a critical condition. If you continue having this kind of hapless aura, you’ll always be stuck with her, okay? Plus, young Kikuno is also very stubborn.”

The little girl chuckled and went on her way home.

Akane followed the silhouette with her eyes, and told the dumbstruck Souta:

“She’s Grandmother Tsumugi.”

“‘Grandmother’...? … Is she an old lady?”

They say that humans will gradually shrink when they pass a certain age, so maybe she was like that? But whether it’s her delicate skin or her facial features, she looks indistinguishable from a young girl. Or is she just an old-fashioned little girl who skipped a few grades? The mysteries surrounding her identity increased.

“She’s the Living Dictionary of the academy. They say that our academy doesn’t have students who don’t listen to Grandmother Tsumugi’s words.”

“What happens if you don’t listen?”

“You’ll be cursed.”

“That isn’t the same as a living dictionary, right?!”

Akane was pretty much just saying random things, but Souta didn’t know whether to take the rumor seriously or lose to Akane’s enthusiasm or even think that Tsumugi’s advice did indeed make sense. Regardless, Souta sighed deeply, forced a smile, and said to Akane:

“Nevermind. Since you want to come over so much, come. But I’m not kidding that the dorm is messy, alright?”

“Mm-hmm!! I’ll take the chance to show my great skills! It’ll be my first time cleaning up a boy’s room!!”

“B-Big Sis also wants to clean up!!”

“Let’s team up!! Attack as a team!”

They actually wanted to attack…? Souta’s mood dimmed, and he looked at the ‘Inexplicably Motivated’ flag sticking up on Akane’s head with a strained smile.

“It’s highly-anticipated, right, Nanami?”

“Huh? Why ask me?”

As Nanami zipped up her backpack, she was suddenly thrown into the fray by Akane. Nanami frowned in suspicion.

“Because we’re going together~”

“Why…?”

“I’ll tell you after we get there.”

“There’s basically no point in telling Us after we get there!!”

Nanami somehow discovered Akane’s trap. Mahougasawa Akane… How did you think that she wouldn’t notice?

“... Nevermind, there’s nothing to do anyways. Plus, the Big Sis isn’t very responsible, and giving the kind of guy Souta a chance to be by himself is dangerous, so there’s no harm in having Us accompany you.”

“After all, Souta-kun would explode.”

“Am I really that dangerous?!”

This requires a Level 5 hazardous waste management license. In other words, a nitroglycerine person; or, perhaps, human nitroglycerin?<ref> lmfao Bakugo??</ref> Anyways, there’s no difference.

And so, the four-person group of Akane, Nanami, Kikuno, and Souta was formed, heading towards the dorm where Souta lived.

Hatagaya Academy’s huge campus was encircled by a total of four [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-Bahn H-Bahn sky train] stations; namely, Yoyogi Uehara Station to the southwest of the academy, Yoyogi Park Station to the southeast, Hatagaya North Station to the northwest, and Hatsudai North Station to the northeast.

The high school division was near Yoyogi Park Station, while Souta’s dorm was near Hatsudai North Station.

Although these were walkable distances, students of Hatagaya Academy can freely get on and off these four stations so long as they present their student IDs, so of course they choose to take the trains.

“I thought the dorms were all concentrated on the main road. Turns out there are some here as well.”

“Yep… For the sake of caution, I’ll confirm once again: the dorms are really messy, are you guys absolutely sure you want to come?”

“Hey Souta, thou hath only transferred for two days, and your room is already messy enough that it’s not to be seen by others…?”

“If you have any complaints, then just don’t come…”

Before Nanami could counter Souta’s already exhausted words, Akane interjected cheerfully:

“It’s definitely just that your luggage hasn’t been completely sorted yet and is in a messy pile, right? Just leave it to me!”

Akane’s ‘motivated’ flag was still flying strong.

The four got off at the academy’s Hatsudai North Station and, after walking a short distance, gradually saw farms and pastures.

“... What is this? The countryside?” Nanami asked.

“If I remember correctly… this is the farm of the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club.”

“Horticulture…?”

The landscape looked bucolic from a distance, and it felt considerably large. Nanami frowned, wondering if it was part of a backup plan adopted by farmers afraid of the production reduction policy.<ref> Might be referring to Japan’s [https://www.tokyofoundation.org/research/detail.php?id=86 Rice Acreage-Reduction Policy]</ref>

Behind the farms was a dense stretch of woods, actually more like a forest than woods. Walking in there felt like being showered by forest.

“... There’s a dorm in this place?”

“Awesome, your home is in a forest.”

Compared to Nanami’s unhappy expression of “there should be a limit to how remote this is”, Akane smiled as she always did, thinking positively.

Souta, leading them, had a different attitude and plodded on.

And then, in a small clearing in the forest—

A building stood quietly.

The edge of the roof had fallen, and not only was part of the wall collapsed, it was also covered with vines. The door had almost rotted through, the windows were broken, and the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds.

Even by the lowest standards, it still looked like…

“Ruins…?”

“What…? What’s going on with this tattered dorm…”

“Are these not ruins? Souta, thou didst not go to the wrong place, right?”

“See? What did I say?”

Souta showed the dorm’s certification page in the student handbook. It said ‘Quest House’. Nanami looked at the moldy dorm plaque and knit her brows.

“This is indeed ‘Quest House’...”

“So you live… here…?”

Akane’s eyes lost their light, frozen in shock. However, Souta smiled and nodded with a hint of self-deprecation.

“For a lonely, poor person like me with dead parents, what could I expect? I have nowhere to go, and no home to go back to… The academy now not only gives me shelter from the elements, but also a scholarship. If I ask for too much and get kicked out, wouldn’t I be in an even more tragic state?”

“But… even if it’s like that, to live in this kind of place is…”

“After all, this is my situation, so I’m pretty easy to take advantage of. But taking in somebody like me makes it easier for the academy to raise money… Although, the fact of the matter is, they only need to take me in. Nobody really cares how it’s handled afterward.”

“How can this be… That’s too much…”

Souta’s attitude might have been due to all the tragedies he’d experienced. This attitude, coupled with his situation, made Akane even more worried.

But before Akane’s feelings burst out, Kikuno’s tear glands had already let loose.

“It’s too much… It’s too much… So it’s like this… they actually want Sou-kun to live in this kind of place…!!”

Kikuno’s tears streamed down her face as she cried. Souta was taken aback.

“Hey… Wh-why does Okiku-nee need to cry? I… I don’t really mind.”

“Anywhere is fine… Poor Souta-kun…”

“Even Akane is crying?!”

Next to Kikuno, Akane followed suit, her tears pouring down like a waterfall. In this atmosphere, Souta was already in no position to prevent this.

“... Souta, didst thou plan to let the peerless Miss Heiress clean this place up? Instead of cleaning it up, is it not faster to raze it to the ground and rebuild it again…?”

At least, Nanami wouldn’t want to step foot into this dorm.

“Why… Why did Sou-kun have to meet this kind of treatment…”

“Waaah~ It’s too much… It’s too unfair…”

Kikuno and Akane, who erupted into tears, and Souta, who had been struggling to deal with Akane, didn’t hear Nanami speak at all.

Especially the always indifferent Souta — although he didn’t care about hurting himself, when he met girls who felt sad for him, he didn’t know what to do. Since he had no clue how to deal with Akane, he looked to Nanami for help, almost crying himself.

Having never encountered such mayhem before, Nanami retreated on the spot.

“Uh…! … This… E-enough! Crying for what? Think of a solution instead! Doing anything else would be better than this!”

Nanami already stopped holding back, pretty much ready to ride to battle at this point. Akane stopped crying, beamed, and hugged Nanami.

“Nanami really is a good person!”

“Whoa… Hey! Stop hugging, stop sticking to Us! Quick, Souta, come save Us!”

Nanami, who couldn’t stand Akane rubbing her cheeks, issued an SOS signal. Souta mocked instead:

“Isn’t this great? I think you guys are closer friends with each other than with me, yeah?”

Souta, who originally had a sad smile, didn’t mean anything bad when he said this. However, facing the wrong direction, Kikuno’s super-sensitive Sisterly Love Radar received the wrong signals at that moment and she rushed over to Souta.

“D-don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will help you ask Akane to be your friend! You don’t have to feel lonely!”

“Huh…? No… Okiku-nee, what are you…!”

“Akane, please also be friends with Souta!”

Kikuno, ignoring Souta’s attempt at stopping her and with her sisterly doting reaching its peak, sincerely pleaded.

Receiving her plea, Akane’s frequently-used Loneliness Sensor revved to its max. She let go of Nanami, clasped Souta’s hand, and said:

“I’m sorry, Souta! I’m your friend, but I made you feel lonely; I’m unworthy of being a friend! Souta-kun’s my good friend, though! Please don’t feel lonely! Akane and Nanami and Kikuno-senpai and Souta-kun are a very close group of four!”

Akane made Kikuno hold the hands of Nanami and Souta, and took the two’s empty other hands herself, forming a circle. The four started spinning circles, but only Akane laughed aloud: “Ahahahahaha!”

After spinning for a while, Akane, albeit dizzy and unsteady, faced Souta and said:

“Look! I also can’t let poor Souta go uncared for!”

“Souta’s on the other side, Akane.”

Because she was dizzy and unsteady, she didn’t face Souta.

“Mother once said, ‘Close friends are magic staffs’ and ‘That’s the magic that makes you feel like you can do anything’. In my mind, Souta-kun and Nanami are wonderful, bright magic.”

Akane clasped Souta’s hand again, smiling. As if infected by the poetic lines, Nanami grinned slightly and added a sentence of her thoughts:

“Put simply, Akane is a magician specializing in summoning gentle fairies~”

“Nanami, you’re a poet!”

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

Nanami, snapping out of it, thought she said something embarrassing, and her face heated up.

“I want to hear more of Nanami’s poems!”

“Do not mention poetry!!”

“What does that matter, this is the privilege of youth! Everyone, let’s abuse this privilege together and run around the seaside asking for trouble at dusk!”

“Do nyaat<ref> If you remember from Chapter 1, Nanami makes cat sounds when distressed</ref> waste your youth!”

''The atmosphere’s getting better and better…'' Souta thought as he watched Akane and Nanami with a strained smile. He then inadvertently looked at the top of Akane’s head…

“Souta-kun also needs to waste our youth with us.”

Akane’s ‘can’t leave pitiful people alone’ attitude completely switched on, and friendship flags raised in an overwhelming frenzy

Seeing the flags raise everywhere, Souta thought, ''Was it me?! Did I do something wrong?! God… please, don’t do this anymore.'' He couldn’t help but take three steps backwards. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that within the pile of friendship flags stood a singular pink flag with a heart symbol…

“... Then, what should we do to fix the dorm?”

“That’s what We want to ask!”

Sitting on the train on their way back, Akane triumphantly turned her neck and asked. Nanami then roared back, as if attacked.

The group consisting of Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress, who were a little ignorant of the world, plus the newly transferred Souta, crossed their arms and looked to the sky in deep thought.

Watching this group of youngsters with a smile, Kikuno picked the right opportunity, raised her index finger, and said:

“When in a predicament, the saying goes that only old ginger is spicy.”

Rumor has it, the person who looks like a little girl and sips green tea at the Tea Ceremony Club might be the “old” ginger.

“The tattered dorm? Quest House? After all, it was built when the academy was founded. Even if you tidied it up, it still wouldn’t become clean.”

It was the academy’s Living Dictionary. After listening to Akane and co. speak, Tsumugi put a [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Rakugan ''rakugan''] in her mouth and said:

“Would it not indeed be faster to rebuild it from the ground?”

Although Nanami asserted that her earlier joke wasn’t far from the answer, Tsumugi took a sip of her tea and then poured cold water over her.

“I heard that the school management is in dire straits due to the declining birthrate. Would they be willing to pay for it?”

“Can’t we… think of a way?!”

“Students these days are too dependent on other people. They just don’t understand taking matters into their own hands…”

Seeing Tsumugi enter preaching mode, the four all inched back slowly, smiling stiffly.

“Speaking of which, it’s just a little worn out, but you immediately lose heart, proving that recent young people lack perseverance. It’s not like we elders like saying this…”

Akane and co. quietly slid open the paper [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoji ''shoji''] of the Tea Ceremony Club. Meanwhile, Tsumugi was still ranting with her eyes closed.

After leaving the Tea Ceremony Club, they sat down on the benches on the sidewalk, hopelessly sipping on juice boxes.

“Then, would we get in trouble if we rebuilt without permission?”

“It’d be surprising not to…”

Nanami, relatively less demoralized, asked a sincere question and was immediately rejected by Souta.

“Then there’s no other way… Souta, please get in trouble.”

“You’re planning to rebuild in secret?!”

Souta was scared silly.

“Don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will get in trouble in your stead!

“Doting to this extent…!”

Big Sis’s sisterly love made Nanami retreat.

Meanwhile, Souta was afraid of Akane, whose tears had broken the surface tension of her eyes.

“... Every time I watch [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sara ''Princess Sara''] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_of_Flanders_(TV_series) ''Dog of Flanders''], I always can’t stop crying, can’t stop crying, can’t bear to keep watching! When I imagine Souta in that position… in a tattered dorm, in a snowstorm… dying… I just…”

A huge teardrop streamed down Akane’s face again.

“Don’t make people cry!!”

“S-sorry… I-I’ll be fine. See~ Speaking of which, I’d probably be more like Perrine or Lassie.”<ref> The main characters of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Perrine ''The Story of Perrine''] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Dog_Lassie ''Famous Dog Lassie.''] The four anime referenced in this section are old-school anime adaptations of Western children’s classics and part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Masterpiece_Theater ''World Masterpiece Theater''], running from the mid 70s to the late 90s.</ref>

“More like an animal…”

“Sou-kun, you’re so cute!”

“Souta-kun, so you’re actually a beast!!”

Disregarding the discrepancy in opinion between sister and friend, Souta felt aggrieved at being called a beast.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Souta beast’s house or a dog’s house. The point is that, even if we wanted to remodel, we would have to overcome the issue of finances.”

“Nanami called her friend a beast or dog, that’s too over-the-top!”

“Thou clearly saidst it first, thou clearly saidst it first!!”

As Akane and Nanami chattered, Souta, at his tender age, discovered that being called a beast or dog by the female sex really hurt.

“Souta, dost thou want to try begging? Since Akane is a rich heiress, she could definitely provide funds.”

“Huh?! Souta, you want to beg me?! That’s more than I could ever wish for! It’d be the first time a boy begged me! Go ahead, go ahead, please! Mm-hmm!”

“......”

Seeing Akane move her arms like a wrestler before a match, expressing her enthusiasm by bringing both elbows horizontally in front of her chest while breathing heavily,<ref>The signature move of Japanese wrestler [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyonobori Michiharu Toyonobori.] I think it’s the arm-wavy thing at 1:07 in the video Gorilla Monsoon vs. Toyonobori - 3/28/1963 (I can’t embed youtube links apparently), I watched a couple clips and he seems to do it pretty often.</ref> the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched.

If Souta refused to beg Akane now, Souta’s tragic plight would not be resolved, Akane would continue to be sad, and Nanami would continue blaming Souta for making Akane sad. In this spiral of sorrow and pain, it was ultimately Souta who got hurt.

Additionally, he also thought that the most important thing was avoiding Akane’s expectant smile. So, after thoroughly preparing himself, Souta finally said:

“Akane, please build me a new dorm.”

“Huh— how ordinary—”

“Couldn’t thou have acted more flattering, Souta?”

Reprimanded by the two girls, the young man instantly lost his foothold.

“Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to help you beg?”

With even the doting Big Sis saying something, even getting a toehold was unthinkable, not to mention a foothold.

At this point, Souta steeled himself, forced out a dazzling smile, and said to Akane:

“Could you please help poor little old me build a new dorm, o mesmerizing Akane-chan? You are the angel of my heart, the only one I can beg.”

“Souta-kun, you sound like a player.”

“Souta, thou art thoroughly rotten.”

“You two were the ones who wanted me to say it, though!!

Souta was hit hard, hugging his knees and shouting into them on the bench.

“Big Sis knows her Sou-kun isn’t that kind of child!”

Doting Big Sis’s trust was unnecessarily heavy.

“But, I wouldn’t be a woman if I couldn’t respond to a man’s whole-hearted plea. I want to do something for him… however—”

“However?”

Seeing Akane stop talking, Nanami was puzzled.

“I, don't have money…”

“Huh? Art not thou Miss Heiress?”

“To be honest… When I came here to live in a dorm, I accepted my family’s condition: unless it’s an urgent emergency, I must do my best to deal with it without depending on my family. So…”

“So it’s like that. Allowing freedom, but requiring self-sufficiency… It’s like that everywhere.”

Nanami smiled wryly, clenching her empty juice box.

“Huh?”

“It’s okay. However, this is a headache. Our principality is also very poor… To ask for money is to ask the impossible…”

Akane and Nanami cast Souta aside and started their own discussion. This allowed Souta to suddenly regain his senses.

“Excuse me… That said, what exactly did I just do that for then…?”

“Souta-kun’s efforts will not be wasted. Someday that effort will bear fruit, and its harvest will be taken for foodstuff and displayed in a storefront.”

Although he felt he was gradually being taken for foodstuff, since Akane’s coy laugh of “Heeheehee” was really cute and he didn’t feel any malicious intent, Souta could only deal with it with a sigh in the end.

“Before Souta-kun is taken for foodstuff, we must do our best to help him, Nanami!”

“Huh…? We need to too…?”

Both hands held tightly by Akane, Nanami frowned, troubled.

Although, Akane just seemed to like the uncommonly used word ‘foodstuff’, so she really wanted to use it.

“Big Sis will come too, Sou-kun!”

What Big Sis would do afterwards was unclear.

In the end, they didn’t think of a good idea that day, so the meeting was adjourned… The next morning—

Souta entered the classroom and sat down in his seat. Nanami turned, sitting on the side of her chair, and said good morning while getting to the point.

“We asked the housemasters at Our dorm, and it seems that the boys’ dorms are full to the point they’re about to burst.”

“Ah, then… me being put there, might not have been entirely out of malicious intent.”

Looking closely, while Souta’s uniform and school bag were obviously brand new, they seemed to be covered with a layer of dust.

“It might genuinely be better for thou to live in a tent.”

“I can’t put one up though…”

“You guys are planning to go camping without inviting me?! It would be my first time living in a tent. I always live in a villa, homestay, or vacation apartment and such!”

Akane popped in between the two.

“Thy head is only filled with thoughts about playing…”

Nanami smiled lightly, and Akane continued to ask her, “Are you going to the mountains? Or the beach?”

“Thou misunderstandest. We’re talking about Souta’s dorm.”

“Oh… Everyone should forget about the dorm business, and go play together?”

“Thy optimism is too exaggerated!!”

Incidentally, when you get tired of playing and go home, there is a trap of ‘remembering reality and falling into despair’ waiting for you.

“Hey~ What’s up with the dorm?”

The classmate with blonde hair and pierced ears who gave Souta his seat earlier heard the exchange and asked frivolously.

After Souta explained, he looked at the sky with an “Umm--”, and, after a long while, he said:

“Would you like to come to our dormitory? I think it’d be okay as long as you explain everything. Although crowding a fifth person into a room meant for four might be a little tight.”

''He’s obviously a frivolous guy who would cheat girls everywhere, but he’s still kind regardless'' The surrounding students lamented that this guy really didn’t match his appearance.

But, Souta looked at the frivolous classmate’s head, and immediately replied:

“I can’t sleep if I’m not alone.”

“Really? Then it can’t be helped.”

He gave up and walked back to his seat.

“We said that thou art not allowed to break flags!”

Nanami saw everything, and mercilessly awarded Souta a hand chop.

“Flag…?”

Akane tilted her head suspiciously, and Souta hurriedly covered it up with a “Nothing, nothing.”

However, either because Souta didn’t cover it up correctly or his agitation wasn’t very natural, Akane felt that something wasn’t right with Souta’s series of actions.

“What’s going on… Is he awkward? Or… afraid?... Just like that time… like with me… if it’s really like that… if it’s really like that… then there’s even more reasons why I can’t just leave him alone!”

Akane’s mind strengthened Souta’s sorry impression, and her flags stood up more fiercely on her head.

Souta saw this and tiredly exhibited a pained expression.

… At this time, the dainty classmate Ryuukishibara Tsumugi</ref> Tsumugi’s surname indicates that her ‘class’ is dragon rider</ref> and Kikuno walked into the classroom with a young girl wearing a uniform with a strangely colored bow tie, equipped with shoulder pads and arm guards, dressed quite strangely.

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai… and Grandmother.”

“You lot, you left yesterday without listening to all of my words?! Young people nowadays are really…”

“Okay okay, Grandmother, pointless ramblings don’t really count.”

The female classmate brought by Tsumugi let out a heroic laugh of “Bwahahahahaha!” and stopped Tsumugi’s rant.

“You just said something silly…”

“Excuse me, Grandmother… This person is…?”

Akane asked this, and saw the mysterious girl catch everyone’s attention by unnecessarily flipping her hair and stepping forward.

“Yours truly<ref> Mimori literally refers to herself using ‘this person’ (本人), so I’m gonna use ‘yours truly’.</ref> waited for someone to ask before introducing myself, that was really Discord…<ref> The Chinese says ‘oolong’, but that doesn’t even sound remotely close to what she corrected herself to say… I changed it to sound more like a slip of the tongue</ref> correction, that was really discourteous of yours truly. Yours truly Hatagaya Academy’s student president, Seiteikouji Mimori<ref> Mimori’s surname contains the words for ‘holy emperor’, given the armor she likes to wear her ‘class’ is probably paladin</ref>!”

“The student president…”

“This academy attaches great importance to student autonomy. Seek the Student Council if you are in need of assistance. In fact, the Student Council is also responsible for dormitory affairs, and yours truly is the person in charge.”

“Eh?! So she’s the one who put Souta-kun in that kind of dorm?!”

Akane’s and Nanami’s gazes were mixed with some hostility.

“Yours truly was accidentally on autopilot and put him in an empty dorm~ But I hear it’s very shabby, right? Yours truly will observe the situation after school, and then we’ll go on from there. And Grandmother asked yours truly to do what I can to help!”

“Huh… Didn’t Grandmother say that we were too dependent on others yesterday…?”

“I did say to take matters into your own hands. But I never said I wouldn’t help? The short-temperedness of young people isn’t good.”

Tsumugi crossed her arms and pursed her lips. Purely in terms of appearance, she looked like a pouting young girl.

But, her raised arms exuded so much senseless good intentions that Akane happily put her hands together.

“Grandmother is so reliable!!”

“Although it should be that yours truly is more reliable!!”

Mimori pointlessly and unreasonably refused to be outdone, making Nanami laugh.

“The student president is so childish…”

“... And, since young Kikuno was full of sisterly love and pleaded tearfully, it can’t be helped. You, sir, have a good sister, young Souta.”

Although, said sister was really just a sisterly neighbor who lived nearby and loved to take care of people. However, Souta couldn’t say anything about that in this kind of atmosphere.

“Thank you, Okiku-nee.”

“Why so polite? As Big Sis, helping Sou-kun goes without saying!”

However, those who knew the truth strained a smile. The only person at the scene who wasn’t straining a smile but rather smiling from ear to ear was Akane.

“Great, Souta-kun!”

“I don’t really care… but, since Akane and Okiku-nee won’t be sad, then so be it, I guess?

Regardless of his real thoughts, Souta naturally smiled a little as he said this, making Akane ecstatic and feel as if all her pores had opened.

''Souta-kun’s smile… as expected, it’s mesmerizing…! I want to see it more!''

Seeing the flag on Akane’s head twinkle, Souta’s smile instantly clouded over, and Akane nearly cried.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
|-
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</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1

2025-01-02T07:47:53Z

Person72635:

==Flag 1: The Day the Knight<ref> Reminder, Nanami’s middle name is Knight</ref> Raised the Flag==
Hatagaya Academy.

Situated on a vast campus with a view of Yoyogi Park, next to Shinjuku and Meiji Jingu Shrine, it is an enormous school that teaches kindergarten to university.

The academy is renowned not just for their unrivaled academics, but more so for the sound character education their students receive.

The students of Hatagaya Academy are synonymous with kindness in the area, and the locals have a good opinion of them.

Needless to say, students come from thousands of miles away to study there, so the academy has also prepared perfect dormitories for these students.

Since it was the end of the Golden Week, a sluggish atmosphere had permeated the classroom of high school freshman Class F. But due to the appearance of a transfer student, the atmosphere suddenly brightened.

Speaking of transfer students causing a commotion, they are generally beautiful girls. Nevertheless, even if their hopes were shattered by a normal-looking boy, he still raises spirits.

This is because the academy has a relatively high proportion of girls: somewhere between 6:4 and 7:3.

Anyways, the male transfer student stood beside the homeroom teacher on the podium. When he wrote his name on the blackboard, he could hear his classmates’ thoughts about him from their whispers.

“Then again, a transfer during the semester is really strange.”

“It’s not the Emperor of Tokyo again.”

Don’t bring up The Emperor of Tokyo! <ref>Apparently it’s another work by the author, but I couldn’t find it from a quick google search so it might go by a different name. I’m using the literal translation of the Chinese text (东京皇帝).</ref>

Back to the subject. The student sitting in front of the podium… Nanami Knight Bladefield opened her cherry-like mouth in surprise, looking up at the transfer student who seemed uncomfortable under all the attention.

In front of her eyes, feeling a bit downcast… the transfer student unable to hide his gloomy expression and attitude… he was…
“Hello everyone… I’m Hatate… Souta.”

“The guy who ruined other people’s business negotiation on the way to school this morning!!”

Nanami pointed fiercely at Souta, shouting loud enough to make the window vibrate. He raised his eyebrows.

The sound of welcoming clapping was about to start, but Nanami’s outburst changed the atmosphere.

“Business negotiation…?”

“What business negotiation…?”

“Ruin…? Business negotiation…?”

“Wow! How cruel…”

“But, why do business negotiations on the way to school…?”

“In this situation, isn’t it usually something like ‘The pervert who peeked at my panties on the way to school this morning!’, right…?”

The welcoming applause scattered, and the teenagers of Class F were all talking about business.

This class would surely win first place in the high school freshman division of the ‘Business Negotiation’ competition. Although they still wouldn’t be as good as the students of the business school. Wait, that doesn’t count as first place at all!

“Hey, isn’t Hatate Souta the one…”

“Yeah, the only survivor of the luxury cruise ship accident…”

The accident of the luxury cruise ship the Premium Ambriel —

It was a mysterious event that caused a societal sensation a few weeks ago.

The ship didn’t send any help signal at all during its sinking and just suddenly disappeared into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan. Later, people accidentally found a lifeboat floating in the sea like a leaf.

The sole person on the lifeboat was Souta, unconscious.

But he lost his memories of the time he was on the ship.

The incident had countless layers of mystery, so it went completely unsolved. Later, the public quickly lost interest up until today.

However, the young man at the center of the incident was now standing in front of them.

The whispers of the class passed into Souta’s ears, making his expression even more gloomy.

When his classmates saw this, the curious gazes directed at him became mixed with sympathy.

At this time, an exclamation louder than Nanami’s came from behind her. The atmosphere in the classroom was originally a bizarre mixture of uproar and silence, and this exclamation made this indescribable atmosphere even more chaotic.

“Sou-kun!”

This time it was a girl with a slightly more mature temperament than other students. She stood up from her seat and pointed at Souta dramatically.

Actually, she had been staring at Souta ever since he’d appeared in the classroom.

Her long hair was tied with a dotted ribbon into a side ponytail. It obviously wasn’t a housekeeping class, but she wore an apron over her uniform anyways. This graceful girl was more like a mature beauty than a young beauty. She pointed her finger at Souta, mouth wide open and rooted in place. Usually, someone opening and closing their mouth this frequently should be careful of being mistaken for a goldfish, but she didn’t have this problem due to her good looks.

Faced with the girl calling him ‘Sou-kun’, Souta likewise looked at her with his mouth wide open for a while. He realized that the girl matched a certain person in his memory and inadvertently called out that familiar name:

“... Okiku-nee?”

“You really were Sou-kun!”

The girl jumping for joy upon her unexpected reunion with Souta was Shoukanji Kikuno.

Seeing that someone who knew Souta immediately appeared, the class erupted in a different way than before.

“Sou-kun and Okiku-nee…? They feel so close…”

“This transfer student’s face is really wide<ref> I’m guessing it’s in a surprised way.</ref>...”

“Maybe he’s a popular transfer student?”

“After all, transfer students are usually unknown…”

Regardless of whether she heard her classmates’ whispers or saw their suspicious gazes, Kikuno couldn’t hide her excitement at all and seemed to have understood the situation — yet also seemed not to. She hastily waved her arms to explain.

“Oh, Sou-kun’s my childhood playmate! He transferred away in middle school! And then– It’s just– We haven’t seen each other for two years! He’s actually grown so big! Become super handsome! It’s so great!”

“Don’t be so excited!” “Calm down first!” These admonishments from the rest of the class were mixed with strained smiles in their attempt to alleviate Kikuno’s enthusiasm.

—Right.

Kikuno and Souta had been neighbors from kindergarten until their second year of middle school, and the two were like brother and sister. Especially Kikuno, who didn’t have any siblings, loved Souta as a younger brother. People who weren’t in the know would think that they were real siblings.

Later, the two had gone separate ways because Souta’s family moved. So now that they had unexpectedly reunited, Kikuno’s excitement kept rising.

“Sou-kun… You really are Sou-kun, right? Woohoo! Sou-kun just moved!”<ref> It should be noted that in this case, ‘moved’ refers to actual movement rather than moving to a new place.</ref>

I can’t even move?… Souta’s expression said. The more Kikuno’s excitement rose,<ref> The Chinese literally says it broke through the sky lmao </ref> the more obvious the contrast was with Souta’s inexplicable calmness.

“Listen! I was always ~ always really worried about you, Sou-kun! Always couldn’t contact you… Uncle and Auntie are also… Because of that incident…”

Kikuno suddenly lowered her voice, and Souta added:

“My sister, too…”

“Sister? Sou-kun, aren’t you an only child?”

“......Right, yeah.”

Understanding again that his older sister doesn’t exist anymore, Souta lowered his head, his expression completely dead.

“I can’t reach Souta again…”

“Sorry…”

Seeing Souta become depressed, Kikuno panicked and frantically waved her hands.

“Uh, uh! Big Sis<ref> Referring to herself</ref> isn’t blaming you! Don’t show that face, Sou-kun! Uh! Big Sis will let you lie on her lap and help clean out your ears, okay!? I remember that you like that, right? That would make you feel better, right?”

''“That’s too much.”'' ''“She’s doting on him.”'' The class had felt that they couldn’t keep watching the way the older sister doted on her little brother too much.

Feeling the piercing gazes of his classmates, Souta couldn’t help but change the subject.

“No need, but… Okiku-nee, I think you’re one year older than me…?”

“Yep!! Last year, I went to study abroad for almost a year! So, starting high school a year late makes me a freshman now! But I didn’t think that Sou-kun would transfer and be in the same class as me! I, Big Sis, thank the heavens very much! Super amazing! It’s pretty much fate!”

Although Kikuno’s words came purely from sibling affection and completely lacked romance, her enthusiastic speech still elicited whistles of clear ridicule but also faint affection from the class.

But let’s not bring up this point first. On the other hand, a certain girl was in a completely opposite mood and was inwardly fuming.

That girl was Nanami.

''Our<ref> Nanami refers to herself in a way an empress would, so I’m going to use the royal we. I’ll capitalize it when it’s used.</ref> shocking reunion was washed away by censorship!!''

Nanami, angrily distracted from the subject, glared resentfully nearby. Souta, absolutely confused, felt trouble coming. He broke out into a cold sweat and tried not to look towards Nanami.

At this time, the homeroom teacher, wearing a cat-embroidered apron, clapped her hands with a smile to call everyone’s attention (although she didn’t notice that Souta really wanted to escape). The amount of aprons in this classroom was quite large.

“Okay, class, please welcome new friends more warmly~”

Suddenly snapped out of their stupor, the class resumed clapping. The homeroom teacher nodded in satisfaction, putting her hand to her forehead as if hiding from the sun like a certain exaggerated fruit lady children’s show host.<ref> No idea what this is a reference to.</ref> She looked around the classroom.

“Where should Souta-chan sit~?”

“-Chan…!?”<ref> The suffix -chan is used for little children.</ref>

Even the taciturn Souta inadvertently let out a cry, but the homeroom teacher was completely unmoved and continued looking around the classroom.

“Ah, Miyuki-sensei, I think sitting in the back row would make it difficult to assimilate into the class, so how about my row moves back a row to leave space for him to sit. Since Shoukanji-san and the transfer student seem to know each other, let’s arrange for them to sit next to each other!”

Behind Nanami, a frivolous blonde-haired student with pierced ears made a friendly proposal. The others automatically packed their things and vacated their seats, leaving space for Souta.

“Okay then, Souta-chan will sit behind Nanami-chan~”

The homeroom teacher waved her hands and said “Bye-bye!” Souta didn’t want to bother her at all, so he walked around to the seat behind Nanami.

Then, Souta faced the person seated behind him — the frivolous blonde-haired guy with pierced ears — and gently nodded in greeting.

“... Excuse me.”

“It’s alright… ah — also, our class’s teacher taught kindergarten until last year, so she hasn’t fully adjusted yet.”

“Oh…”

What do you mean adjusted, she hasn’t changed at all!

“Pleasure to meet you.” Although the speech and attitude of the blonde-haired ear-pierced boy was as frivolous as his appearance, he was far more kind than he appeared at first glance.

Watching Souta vaguely nod his head in reply, Kikuno, who originally was all over the place mentally and shaking nonstop, laughed.

“You really grew up~ Big Sis was obviously taller in middle school.”

“You’ve also changed a lot, you’ve become pretty.”

“Oh, naughty Souta! How can you say such polite words~ Sucking up to Big Sis won’t get you any benefits!”

Kikuno reached out and poked Souta’s forehead, teasing him.

Seeing Kikuno as frank as ever, Souta felt a bit dejected. He was already different from before, feeling melancholic, insecure, and guilty—he had mixed feelings.

“Huh? Sou-kun, why are you so listless? Shouldn’t you… feel a bit different?”

“......”

Kikuno quickly noticed, and her words made Souta’s expression more lonely. But she deliberately pretended not to notice, smiled softly, and said,

“Ah, you seem to have become more mature…”

“Now those are polite words.”

Souta understood her intentions and likewise pretended not to notice them, responding with a similar smile.

However, his slightly lonely smile instead worried Kikuno.

''Back then, he was a cheerful kid and loved to smile… but now he seems to have changed. Is it because he was too nervous about the transfer… Am I seeing it wrong? He really hasn’t moved on from the accident…'' Seeing Souta’s lack of vitality and that saying his personality had changed a lot didn’t do the change justice, Kikuno couldn’t help but feel worried.

Anyways, because they sensed each other’s goodwill, the two stopped talking. Only, their intriguing attitudes and words seemed honeyed to the people around them. As a result, Nanami, who was sitting in the front seat, constantly looked over her shoulder to peek.

Faced with her piercing gaze, Souta behaved unnaturally and tried not to look at her, breaking out in a cold sweat.

''Why…??? Why does she keep looking at me…? Hmm? Oh yeah! This woman kept staring at me during the accident this morning…!''

''Sure enough… it’s this guy!! The super suspicious guy!!''

At the time, Souta didn’t think he’d attract such suspicion. He might have been a little negligent, and silently cursed his carelessness. Meanwhile, Nanami stared at him haughtily.

Nanami Knight Bladeflield was a girl as beautiful as she was confident. She was very stubborn and rather aggressive. Speaking of her fierceness and toughness, her classmates were even convinced that Nanami repeated a grade. But they wouldn’t think so about Kikuno.

At the same time, Nanami was indifferent to things she deemed irrelevant. However, she held on to things she cared about like a rabid dog. Rabid dogs drool a lot, so Nanami might one day drool a lot too. It’s said that preserved plums are effective for people who drool. Even Soviet physiologist Ivan Pavlov had experimented with dogs. The Soviets are really unpredictable.

Then, the similarly unpredictable Miyuki-sensei somehow made a gesture like “Close fist and open fist”<ref>A children’s song. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUkJkaEyx6s Here] is a Chinese version.</ref>, smiling kindly at the students.

“Okay, okay~ Everybody, look at Sensei. Everybody get along well with our new friend~ Today, we must be full of energy and work hard at playing games and going for walks~”

''“What do you mean ‘playing games’…”'' ''“We aren’t allowed to go for a walk, right…”'' The class heard Miyuki-sensei’s exaggerated tone for talking to children in kindergarten, and despite the cold sweat in their hearts, they still stood up and saluted according to the class president’s call.

Under Nanami’s fierce rabid dog-like stare, the students unafraid of death came happily next to Souta’s seat after class.

“Hatate-kun, where did you move from?”

“... A place called Kobata<ref> The Chinese text says 小旗 (Small Flag) so I put it in Google translate as Japanese kanji and got the pronunciation. I may be completely wrong in this case.</ref>... in Nagoya.

“Oh, the future capital, Nagoya.”

“He’s from the future.” “The time traveler’s uniform is all new.” Hearing Souta’s response, his classmates started talking all at the same time.

“His uniform’s new because he’s a transfer student! It has nothing to do with the future!!”

Nanami couldn’t help but debunk the theory, startling Souta.

The class gave a thumbs-up to Nanami, praising her great deduction while thinking that the transfer student was quite skinny. A kind-hearted classmate who had no luck with girls leaned forward with a clear, definitely-not-repulsive grin and said:

“Hatate, you just transferred and don’t know many things, right? Just ask me if you have any questions. Especially things about girls, asking me would be the right choice.”

He seemed to be the kind of boy who was a diehard fan of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bish%C5%8Djo_game bishojo game] protagonists. His behavior appeared to be well-known, as his classmates' reactions were “He’s at it again?”

Having said that, his outspokenness made Souta nearly relax his expression a bit.

But…

When Souta inadvertently glanced at the space above his classmate’s head—

His expression suddenly froze, and he fell into silent consideration. His eyes appeared full of heartache, melancholy, and loneliness, and he said:

“... I’m already very popular, so I won’t need to.’

Nanami and the others heard his obvious lie, looking at Souta in confusion while the male student angrily grimaced like a monkey.

“Wow! And I thought we were buddies!”

He suddenly broke out into a Kansai accent and left without another word.

Everyone there believed that his reaction was a half joke and laughed in confusion.

However, in Nanami’s eyes, that classmate’s reaction was genuine.

And another thing…

Only Nanami, who had been intentionally observing Souta’s suspicious behavior, seemed to have noticed something.

Souta felt Nanami’s gaze become fiercer. He felt her pressure but didn’t want to provoke trouble, so he tried not to look at her. At this time, a female student stood in front of Souta with an attitude not quite like Nanami’s but still arrogant like a queen.

“It’ll be you! I’ll accept you as my servant! First, you must join my club. As for what type of club it is, you’ll know after you join…”

The girl spoke haughtily, like it was preordained.

Again, Souta inadvertently looked at the space above her head, his expression froze, and he fell into silent consideration. Again, his eyes appeared full of heartache, melancholy, and loneliness. He said, with a little disgust:

“Sorry, but I’m a super sadist”

But Souta obviously didn’t look like a sadist, and in fact looked easily disheartened. As such, Nanami mentally retorted: ''Who are you kidding?''

But the female student replied, devastated:

“Someone so obviously gloomy is a sadist?! Two sadists don’t fit together!”

She was indeed sadistic… The other classmates watched her huff and leave, nodding repeatedly as if confirming the persuasiveness of her statement.

As a worried sister, Kikuno saw the scene as Souta having fun and making friends (although it doesn’t look that way from an objective point of view).

After that, an endless stream of classmates interested in Souta kept talking to him, repeating similar interactions before leaving.

After seeing Souta’s interactions several times, Nanami discovered something.

''This guy…''

Regardless of what they said to him, he would look above their head and his expression would freeze.

After Souta rejected them, before they gave up, he would once again look at their head to confirm

— As if confirming that they would never interact again.

''Very suspicious… Too suspicious…''

Every time class ended, there would be repeated acts of acquaintance and rejection. Gradually, fewer and fewer classmates came to see Souta, and come lunchtime, not even half a person showed up.

Although Nanami didn’t plan to act at this time, she stood up confidently, looking down at the Souta seated behind her.

“Let’s step aside and talk.”

“...... I refuse.”

“Thou canst not say no.”<ref> Nanami uses an archaic second-person pronoun, so I’ll use thee/thou/thy.</ref>

Even though she wasn’t very tall, her attitude made it seem like she was standing on top of Mt. Fuji and her tone allowed for no excuses. This made Souta raise his head slightly.

''He did it again.''

Nanami glared at Souta, who nodded after looking above her head.

Because of her noble birth, Nanami had seen many people who looked at people’s faces, but this was the first time she met someone who looked above people’s heads. Granted, there are sometimes cats who look above people’s heads. According to this logic, Souta was more like a cat — the Licking Sou-kitty.<ref> Chinese says 飒喵舔舔, literally the first part of Souta + meow + lick + lick. It’s apparently some sort of K-ON! reference, but I haven’t watched it.</ref>

Of course, the thought of linking didn’t occur to Nanami, who was resolutely standing before Souta.

“I think that not associating with me would be better for you.”

The words may have been cold, but it was Souta’s awkward way of expressing his consideration. However, Nanami took no notice, drew a circle on her head with her index finger, and smirked menacingly.

“We think ‘tis better for thou to step aside and talk.”

“......”

''How troublesome…'' Souta frowned. Although he didn’t know how much the girl in front of him knew, he was at least sure she didn’t want to talk about it there, so Souta stood up reluctantly.

“What’s wrong, Sou-kun? Do you want Big Sis to go with you?”

Kikuno, anxiously looking at Souta from nearby, couldn’t help but suggest this.

However, when they overheard this sentence, the classmates around Souta reacted more strongly than he did, breaking into profuse cold sweat.

''Saying that kind of thing in this situation is too overprotective…''

''How can he be spoiled like this…''

''“Big Sis” dotes too much…''’

Although he couldn’t hear their inner thoughts, Souta shook his head with a strained smile.

“It’s fine, Okiku-nee.”

Hearing this reply, Kikuno still seemed uneasy. Nanami and Souta left the classroom under her worried gaze.

Nanami brought Souta up the stairs to the roof, where she stood majestically facing Souta. After Souta shrugged his shoulders, she said:

“First of all, We cannot ignore suspicious oddities. That is to say, We are very concerned about supernatural phenomena. Leaving them unsolved does not sit well with Us. We expect thee to understand this point.”

Nanami coughed to clear her throat and approached Souta.

“So, We implore thou to give an honest confession!”

“Uh… w-what do you want me to say…?”

Souta wasn’t pretending to be dumb. Nanami haughtily believed that others would naturally understand her ideas. Thus her poor communication.

''Why dost thou not understand what we wish to say?'' Although Nanami was rather annoyed, she patiently explained:

“... Thou always looketh above the heads of others… in this area, to make a certain judgment, correct?”

“!!”

Seeing Nanami move her index finger on her head just like she did before in the classroom, Souta’s expression visibly changed.

This admitted half of it already. It’s just like a pizza, fried chicken, Caesar salad, French fries, creamy bacon pasta, and a tuna salad appearing in a thief’s. It was supposed to be sneaky, but it might as well have been his official meal!

“W-what?… I don’t understand what you’re talking about…”

Although Souta was caught a little off guard at first, he immediately feigned ignorance. It was like he ate dirt.<ref> The original idiom was 吃熊心豹子胆, literally ‘to eat bear heart and leopard gall’ and meaning ‘to brace oneself.’ I substituted it for an English idiom about eating, since I think that’s the only part that really matters here.</ref>

“Don’t pretend to be dumb! Don’t feign ignorance! The evidence has flashed!!”<ref> Apparently a reference to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Album_(video_game) White Album] anime.</ref>

Her words didn’t make sense to him, but anyways, Nanami boldly closed in on Souta.

Souta’s intuition told him he had provoked a troublesome girl, and he sighed helplessly. Then he inexplicably observed the top of Nanami’s head, waiting for something to happen.

“See!! Thou looked again!! What exactly doth thou see there?!”

“... If I told you, would you promise to stop harassing me?”

“That would depend on the contents of thy response!”

Souta scratched the back of his head, wondering why that woman was so straight-laced, only shooting straight to the point.

“It’s just a way to calm myself down. Doing it makes me think positively — that’s all.”

“Who art thou kidding?! Which one of the sentences thou hast said after looking above their head hasn’t been negative? More importantly, first thou askest Us to stop bothering thou, then make up random lies! Didst thou think that would work?!”

Souta looked up at the sky, thinking to himself that she had a point.

“Look!! There are videos to prove it! Thou art obviously looking at something! This video as well! Also this video! And this one! And this one!!”

“... Excuse me, what’s up with the video of you wearing a sundress and spinning…?”

Because she played a lot of videos in a row, she accidentally swiped too many times and showed him unrelated videos.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!! D-don’t look, nyow<ref> Nanami makes a cat noise, and I’m making it a pun.</ref>—!!”

FYI, that was Nanami wearing her middle school uniform for the last time over spring break. Unfortunately, it cannot be played for everyone to see. What a pity.

“S-since We even let thee see something not meant for others to see, thou must tell me what thou doth not want to say, or else We won’t spare you!!”

She says this, yet she was the one who showed it to him. It’s pretty unreasonable, but Nanami was the kind of terrifying girl who does such unreasonable things without batting an eye. Well, she actually pokes people’s eyes while they’re talking. Truly terrifying.<ref> Pretty proud of my wordplay here if I do say so myself. The Chinese just said she’s terrifying because she pokes people’s eyes. </ref>

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh, my eyes!! My eyes!!”

Her terror was already unrelated to reason.

“Don’t just go through the motions! Give Us an honest confession!!”

“My eyes—!! My eyes—!!”

Covering his eyes while rolling on the ground, Souta looked quite happy from another perspective.<ref> What perspective lmfao</ref>

After rolling for a while, Souta, who was both mentally and physically exhausted, finally gave up and stood up, ready to tell the truth.

“... What I say next, if possible… I hope you can keep it a secret.”

“Only if thou deleteth the memory of the video from thy hippocampus.”

“......”

Souta didn’t know how to respond, and smiled in resignation for a few seconds. Feeling bligated to respond, he sighed again. He said, more gloomily than usual:

“Do you know… what a ‘Flag’ is?”

“A ‘Flag’?”

After hearing this, Nanami imagined a translucent sea creature floating around. Only one syllable is the same, though. <ref> According to Chinese TL, the pronunciation of ‘flag’ and the word for ‘jellyfish’ are similar in Japanese, but only one syllable is the same.</ref>

“Survival flags, death flags, love flags, victory flags, loser flags… Human actions and states, different phenomena, etc. are concepts with a significant impact on the future. These are flags. People often say that someone is planting a flag or pulling a flag. For instance, if the death flag is raised, the person with the flag will die; if someone plants a love flag on someone else, the former will like the latter… etc.”

This reminded Nanami of the morning. Before the traffic accident almost happened, the office worker’s words did raise a death flag.

“I… can capture flags visually.”

“... Meaning thou canst see… the flags…?

Souta nodded.

“As long as I look at a flag, I’ll know… what to say to break that flag…”

“Break… the flag?”

Nanami stroked her chin in contemplation.

“Then… the office worker who almost had a traffic accident this morning…”

“That was a death flag…”

“The guy who recommended himself to provide information about girls…”

“That was a friendship flag.”

“The girl who invited you to join her club…”

“That time it was a love flag…”

As Nanami listed them out, Souta thought about them one by one and answered with their corresponding flag.

“So basically he’s a Flag Crusher… right?”

Nanami didn’t believe it at first, and didn’t believe it till the end.

While she didn’t believe it, nevermind what happened in the classroom, the truck accident that morning was indeed too bizarre even if a supernatural force had interfered.

“... Okay, breaking death flags makes sense, but why break friendship flags or love flags? Don’t you want a friend or a lover?”

“......”

Perhaps because the thoughts he didn’t want to think were said aloud, Souta’s expression sank and he sat down on the stairs, lowering his head.

“Nevermind. I’ve already…”

“How is this a ‘nevermind’...”

As Nanami saw it, Souta dropping his shoulders more gloomily than usual didn’t mean that he really agreed.

“People that are too deeply involved with me tend to meet misfortune. I don’t want to see other people hurt anymore.”

To Nanami, Souta was the person who suffered the most.

Was he like this because his amazing power scarred him?

Or was it because he was the only survivor of the luxury cruise ship accident, so he blamed himself?

Or was it both?

Nanami didn’t know the answer.

Regardless, she looked down at Souta with concern. Souta only knew how to use his power to save people like this morning and to awkwardly alienate himself from others like he did in the classroom.

Nanami’s own social skills were not high — in fact, it could be said it was very poor. Her shortcomings weren't the same as Souta’s, but it can still be said to be rock bottom.

So… looking at Souta’s lonely smile, she found that she resonated with him, which made her rather unhappy.

For a moment, a really short moment, a similar expression appeared on Nanami’s face. She seemed to suppress her feelings immediately, and after grinding her molars, she opened her mouth:

“We…”

“...?”

“I have absolutely no feelings for thee ~ neither love nor friendship. It’s impossible to raise a flag! Actually, when I saw thy cowardly appearance, any flag was instantly destroyed and snuffed out!”

Nanami stood up forcefully and said arrogantly:

“Thou canst not worry about breaking things that haven’t been raised nor breaking things that have already been broken! So! We will complain to thee when We want to complain and yell at thou when We want to yell!!”

“......”

Not only were Nanami’s attitude and tone furious, but even the words themselves harbored far from good intentions. Thus, Souta looked dumbly at her when she said these words.

However, when the words sank in and he understood what Nanami meant, Souta’s expression brightened slightly.

Perhaps like Nanami before, because both people were equally awkward people, Souta had certain feelings about Nanami’s candid thoughts.

“... You’re a really good person. Thanks…”

“...!”

Although Souta did feel shy saying this, he wasn’t as shy as Nanami.

Nanami’s clear, white skin obviously reddened, and at that moment even her neck reddened. Nanami closed in towards Souta’s nose, growling softly.

“O-Our name is Nanami! Nanami Knight Bladefield! Just call Us Nanami, because We hate it when other people use surnames. -San and other suffixes are also exempt. Those who dare use a nickname will be punished with death!”

With this belated introduction, Nanami calmed down a bit, and the blush on her face subsided. Souta nodded at her.

“Okay, Nanami-s… Nanami. M-... me too, just call me Souta.”

He almost said ‘Nanami-san’, and Nanami glared at Souta as he forced a smile.

He might’ve been a little angry at Nanami. Souta felt that even if he was harassed in the future, he wouldn’t be too bothered, so he reminisced…Man, it had been a long time… a really long time since he had met someone he could be friends with like this.

To Souta’s relief, there was no hint of a flag on her head.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 0|Chapter 0]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2

2025-01-02T07:44:51Z

Person72635:

==Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches==

The day after Souta transferred.

The excitement of the previous day was like a dream. Other than Kikuno, the only person who would actively seek him out to talk, people stopped approaching Souta after class.

As the daylight waned in the noisy classroom, only one word described Souta sitting at his seat — lonely.

His figure evoked loneliness.

“They don’t so much as glance at him, is this reality… Has everyone already lost interest in the transfer student?”

Nanami sat sideways on her chair, expressing her honest opinion of Souta.

However, the classroom atmosphere was less that of ostracism so much as… that feeling of ‘the new transfer student seems to like being alone and doesn’t want to interact, so let’s just let him be.’

Souta didn’t seem to care at all. “Oh, that’s because…” he replied:

“After a flag breaks, it won’t reappear that easily. If something special happens, the flag could reappear or a ‘Flag Recovery’ flag might appear…”

“This mechanism is quite annoying…”

Human relationships might indeed be like this, it’s just that this flag thing is too exaggerated — Nanami understood this implicitly. As the bell rang, she turned to face forward.

However… there was a pair of eyes secretly staring at them.

The eyes’ owner looked breathlessly at Souta, who hadn’t left his seat, for the entire class and seemed to nod with determination…

Lunch break.

The students either started eating lunch with three to five friends around a desk or went to the cafeteria together. A lively atmosphere filled the classroom.

In contrast, Nanami and Souta were too quiet, staring at their respective desks and quietly nibbling on the salty bread they bought that morning.

Their loneliness was so strong that people couldn’t approach them, adding even more loneliness and falling into an endless negative spiral. FYI, the word spiral definitely wasn’t used because it’s a cool word. Spiral.

Based on her excessively protective mentality, if Kikuno was there it would be impossible for Souta to stay in that loneliness spiral, and they would definitely be eating lunch together. Unfortunately, in order to give advice to those who volunteered to study abroad, Kikuno was attending a lunch gathering hosted by the Student Council and wasn’t in the classroom.

Suddenly, a shadow approached this singular space.

It was an approachable girl, a beautiful girl-next-door type person. Each grade generally has one of those.

If Nanami’s beauty was like a rose, hers would be a cherry blossom that rouses people’s protective instincts.

She had shoulder-length hair with big bows swaying on both sides highlighting her cuteness.

“Hi, my name is Mahougasawa Akane.<ref> Akane’s last name includes the characters for ‘magician’, hence the title of this chapter.</ref>”

The girl… Akane smiled gently and suddenly brought her face closer — close enough to feel her breath — and surprised Souta, who stiffened.

The thing that made Souta’s expression most tense was that…

''The flag… It’s been raised…''

A friendship flag flapped on Akane’s head.

“Ah, I hope you don’t feel repulsed! I’m not a suspicious person, I’m a mysterious classmate, okay?”

“You’re mysterious?!”

So suspicious it might explode.

“Excuse me… what does this mysterious classmate want from me?”

“I’m Akane-chan, though?”

“... Mahougasawa-san, what do—”

“I’m Akane-chan, though?”

Souta was interrupted by Akane halfway through his sentence.

“... Akane, what do you want from me?”

“Oh! It’s the first time a boy used my first name directly.”

Souta glanced at the friendship flag, which had been splashed with a hint of pink.

Akane also blushed pink, matching the flag. She didn’t seem to notice the subtle movements of his eyes. She asked generously:

“Can we eat a bento together?”

Honestly, Souta didn’t really want to interact with people, and most importantly, he was more apprehensive than happy at the thought of having lunch with two girls in the classroom. After all, he was a sensitive boy in his teenage years, so this was an expected reaction.

“... It’s bothersome.”

“He thinks I’m a bother!!”

Akane’s friendship flag broke, and Souta was relieved.

Nanami was already peeking at them through the corner of her eyes while drinking from her milk carton. At this time, she leaned over beside Souta’s ear and asked:

“Souta, was the flag raised?”

“Yeah…”

“Did you break it?”

“Pretty much…”

“Oh.” Despite her disinterested expression, Nanami looked into Souta’s eyes, which were filled with self-contempt and self-pity. This guy was torturing himself.

“I won’t be a bother, so can we eat lunch together?”

“Huh?!”

Since Akane’s flag had been broken, Souta thought she should have left already. Yet she stubbornly stayed and continued trying. Souta was absolutely flabbergasted.

“Did it not break?”

Nanami murmured, letting go of the straw in the carton.

“How can this be possible…”

Souta was sure that the flag had been broken and looked above Akane’s head… but —

“It-it rose again…!”

He saw the friendship flag rise again.

Having broken countless flags, Souta had never seen a flag recover so quickly.

Seeing Souta speechless, Akane tilted her head in confusion.

“Can we?”

“Holy…!”

Maybe thinking that Souta’s silence indicated permission, Akane relaxed and brought an empty seat next to Souta’s desk.

Nearly going with the flow, Souta frantically tried to break the flag again as Akane put down the chair.

“N-no, how should I say this… After all… I’ll be teased if I have lunch with girls… you know what I mean?”

“... That makes sense, sorry.”

Seeing the friendship flag break and disappear again, Souta sighed in relief.

… But before the sigh even came out, a new friendship flag had already popped up.

“I’ll eat after Souta-kun has finished eating, so can we sit together?”

“You don’t understand what I’m saying at all?!”

“?”

Souta was scared silly, and Akane tilted her head in confusion, smiling gently.

“But-but, it feels a little rude to eat first, though?”

“...”

Souta didn’t think that she could understand him at all. This kind of situation was desperate, almost like fighting a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull_switch pull chain] in the middle of a room.

“Can’t I?”

“I’m not saying that… You can’t… No, I’m just saying…”

Attracted by the ruckus, even the classmates who had their flags broken started glancing towards Souta with interest.

“See, everyone’s looking…”

Souta lowered his head, looking extremely distressed. Akane, almost crying, looked around at her classmates.

The spectators crossed their arms in unison, thinking about the best solution for this situation. After contemplating a while, they all looked to the center of the classroom together.

They looked at the wisest person in the class — the academy’s Living Dictionary, the sage Ryuukishibara Tsumugi. Currently, she was nibbling a rice ball.

Her face and body, even if you relaxed the standard, was at most just at the level of a middle schooler… No, this description is still wrong. She looked completely childish, just like a little girl.

Despite her immature appearance, there were rumors that she had been living here even before the academy was founded. How many years she had repeated was a complete mystery. It was one of the seven wonders of the school.

There were other mysteries about her, too. For example, she only wore school uniform’s shirt and coat over a belted kimono — this outfit would surprise every passerby.

If someone asked her about this, she would sigh: “You don’t even know how to wear a kimono? Western tea has poisoned you to forget…”

However, she still wore large lace hair accessories. In this regard, her appreciation of beauty did not distinguish between East and West.

Under the gaze of the whole class, Tsumugi understood the situation, thought quickly, and immediately stood up.

“Everybody listen up!! The weather today is great!! It’s warm and sunny, so go out and eat!”

Tsumugi chewed on her rice ball and put on her [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geta_(footwear) ''geta''.] She walked out of the classroom, geta clicking on the floor.

“Oh, how befitting her title of Grandmother! Great idea!”

“Of course Bento needs to be eaten outside!”

“The courtyard, let’s go to the courtyard!”

Then, everyone started talking again and left the classroom single file. When they realized it, only Souta, Akane, and Nanami, unable to bear the atmosphere, were left in the classroom.

“... Nobody’s looking anymore?”

“Something’s wrong with those guys’s problem-solving methods…”

Akane successfully caught Souta’s attention and smiled at him; Nanami scanned the empty classroom in cold sweat.

“Can we eat bento together?”

“... Yes.”

Since it had already gotten to this point, Souta lost the courage to refuse.

The friendship flag, which had been broken more than once, was raised once again, and broke Souta’s heart to the brink of collapse.

As Akane excitedly sat down on the newly-arranged chair, Nanami also turned her chair 180 degrees.

“Nanami-san, do you want to join us?”

“In this situation, if We were the only one facing forward to eat, wouldn’t We be the only one without friends?”

Nanami acted unexpectedly cute in this situation.

“Wow! I’m so happy!! Actually, I’ve always wanted to find a chance to get along with Nanami-san. But I couldn’t find a chance… Ah! Souta-kun, you have many weaknesses… you could even say that your whole body is covered with them!”

“... Is it really?”

Akane’s carefree words… The aggrieved Souta’s mouth twitched and he asked Nanami:

“... Hey Nanami, is Akane this kind of ‘jerk’?”

“This airhead is a super rich heiress, hmph.”

Nanami replied imperiously, implying that Souta was wasting her breath. Souta wanted to punch her.

“Oh, what’s wrong? Are you investigating me? How am I a rich heiress… my grandfather just happens to be the president of a consortium, that’s all.”

“Consortium?!”

“Isn’t the Mahougasawa Group quite famous? You don’t know?”

“... I’m not familiar with the consortium industry.”

Consortium industry… What the hell is a consortium industry…? Nanami gave Souta a strange look, but Akane smiled.

“My business isn’t important. Speaking of which, Nanami is a princess.”

“A princess?!”

“You aren’t familiar with the princess industry either?”

Where did this industry come from…? Nanami gave Akane a strange look this time, but Akane kept beaming.

“Nanami’s actually the thirteenth princess of the Principality of Bladefield!”

''Huh?! That wasn’t a metaphor, she’s a real princess?!'' Souta’s eyes widened, causing Nanami to look resentful.

“To put it simply, it’s just a small country in the European countryside. And there are ten princes and fourteen princesses. We rank second-to-last. If We had stayed home, We would just be an eyesore. So We were sent to this Far East island country. We are only a princess in name.”

“......”

“S-so what…?” Seeing Souta staring blankly at her, Nanami retreated slightly and asked.

“I don’t have any money though?!”

“We are not running a royal scam on thou!!”

The ‘royal scam’ refers to the crime of posing as a royal and using fake connections to scam people.

“If Nanami wants money, I have some, okay?”

“Don’t need it!”

Souta saw the rare sight of a princess refusing a donation from a rich girl.

“You’re right. There’s something more important than money. And that’s friendth— Ow!”

“She bit her tongue!”

“She bit her tongue at the most important part!!”

Akane, who bit her tongue, was about to cry. So Nanami and Souta ran around babbling: “Friendship is great!” “Long live friendship!” to make Akane’s tears give way to a smile.

“Absolutely! This spirit of mutual protection is friendship! It’s a shining gem!”

Akane happily held Nanami and Souta’s hands and turned towards them. Although Akane’s sappy lines made the two rather uneasy, they forced a shaky smile. They’d have a headache if she really cried.

Then, in the predicament of holding hands with a rich heiress, Souta wanted to secretly withdraw his hand before she thought, ''Boys’ hands are thick and hard, it’s so disgusting~''. Suddenly, Akane faced him and said:

“A boy’s hand…”

Akane’s face stiffened slightly and she paused for a moment. Souta couldn’t help but think ‘as expected’ with a pained expression about as bitter as 99% pure chocolate.

“... is really strong! Other than perhaps my father, it’s the first time I held hands with a boy.”

Seeing Akane’s friendship flag flutter more energetically than before, Souta’s expression was so painfully bitter that it became as bitter as 100% pure chocolate. That said, 100% purity wouldn’t be chocolate, it’d just be cocoa.

“Why does Souta-kun have such a tangled expression? Is it because you indirectly held hands with my father?”

“... That’s not it. But after all, I didn’t think Nanami really was a princess… how do I put it… Although I’ve always thought that Nanami’s speech pattern was different from a normal person’s… but… really? You guys are actually Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress of a tycoon… I feel really out of place.”

“Not a tycoon, it’s a consortium, though?”

Akane raised her index finger to correct the mistake, and Souta, not well-versed in the tycoon industry, asked her:

“What’s the difference?”

“They’re all the same.”

“Didst thou not sayest it was different?! If thou actually thinkest they are the same, why didst thou just correct it?”

“...... Then they’re not the same.”

After being exposed by Nanami, Akane became depressed. Souta forced a smile and asked her again:

“So then, what’s the difference?”

“...... They’re all the same.”

“We have hit a wall.”

''Let’s just stop talking about this, search it up yourself later'' — Souta thought, Akane also thought, and Nanami thought too. Young modern people are probably not concerned about financial news, and that’s a serious problem. At the same time, young people not caring about other young people is also a very serious problem.

“It’s a little late to say this kind of thing now, but is it really okay for me to talk to the Princess and Miss Heiress on equal ground…?”

Souta kept his distance a bit, and Akane shook her head very sadly.

“Please don’t use honorifics. Because we’re classmates.”

“Art not thou using honorifics…”

“...... Then let’s use honorifics together.”

Akane hesitantly let out an “Ahh…”, while Nanami burst out.

“We will not!”

“Souta-kun, Nanami is a princess, so it’s not her selfish refusal, it’s me forcing her to do something she can’t do.”

“We know how to use honorifics! Nobody forced Us to say that!”

Akane tried to be too clever and ended up rubbing Nanami the wrong way. Something similar was probably said before. ‘Rubbing the wrong way’ would be cute if written in hiragana and katakana.<ref> According to the Chinese TL, the Japanese version of the idiom ‘to rub the wrong way’ means specifically to irritate elders and people with higher status.</ref>

“Then, I hope you try to use them.”

“... Please allow Us to refuse.”

““Ooh, very princess-like.””<ref> They (Souta and Akane) say this at the same time.</ref>

“Sh-shut up! There definitely won’t be a next time!”

Nanami’s white skin reddened and she looked away in shame and displeasure.

At this point, Akane said she left her tea-filled water bottle at her seat and walked slowly to the back of the classroom.

Souta took the opportunity to whisper to Nanami:

“... That girl is a bit strange… no, she’s really strange. Though she seems like a good girl.”

“... Yeah. Although We are not very familiar with her either, she is cute, gentle, likeable, cheerful, friendly, and always surrounded by friends… It feels like she has everything that thou lacketh.”

Nanami didn’t seem to realize that this sentence applied to herself, too.

“Don’t say it out loud…”

''Why do those kinds of people voluntarily come and talk about themselves…?'' Just as Souta thought this, Akane came back. She looked at them with interest. Although she didn’t hear what they said, she smiled bashfully and asked:

“Souta-kun, do you have a very good relationship with Nanami?”

“Who would have a good relationship with this kind of dithering guy?!”

Nanami roared before Souta had a chance to say anything.

“Even maggots are indispensable creatures for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_Earth Spaceship Earth] since they clean up animal corpses, right?”

“Who said he was a maggot? I would never say such a disgusting word!!”

Since the two were constantly hopping the line between good and evil, Souta couldn’t figure out who was right and who was wrong.

“... Akane, why did you want to talk to me?”

“Right. Thou hast so many friends and art welcomed everywhere, so why would thou payest attention to this kind of person?”

Worried he would continue to be teased, Souta felt a sense of crisis and asked Akane. Nanami also joined in, also interested.

Faced with such blunt questions, Akane twirled her fork, her expression a bit troubled. “Ummm…” After thinking for a while, she put down her fork and said:

“... Ummm—I saw a lonely person, like a puppy drenched in rain or a kitten mewling in pain, so I couldn’t ignore them.”

““Treated like cats and dogs?!””

Nanami and Souta blurted, shocked.

At the same time, Souta soon began to think dark thoughts.

“That means that Miss Heiress helps hapless cats and dogs from her high standing above, right?”

Upon mumbling this disdainfully, Souta hated his own immaturity. Letting out his anger like this was shameful.

However, when one enters hell, torn to pieces by lively optimism… He who falls into the earthly abyss often feels that goodwill is a burden.

Well, what was just said is just like someone who had hit rock bottom venting their remaining emotions from that time… No, perhaps they’re still crawling the depths of hell.

Souta didn’t want to say that kind of thing but also didn’t want others to notice, so he inevitably tried to alienate himself. At least, that’s what Akane thought.

She pondered it, but…

''That’s too lonely. Too sad… Too hopeless, isn’t it?'' she decided.

“No! It’s not like that!”

Akane didn’t care about being misunderstood. She just couldn’t stand Souta’s attitude — how Souta couldn’t bear to trust other people, so he kept tormenting himself with loneliness

Akane shook her head desperately and repeatedly stressed:

“N-no, no! Souta-kun… how do I put this, barks and purrs cannot be mentioned in the same breath as you, I just think it’s really tragic!”

““Not even considered the same level as cats and dogs?!””

Souta, slumped his shoulders, feeling exceedingly miserable. Nanami put her hand on Souta’s shoulder, telling him not to take it to heart.

“Isn’t this a good thing? A gloomy child like thee needs this kind of friend. Get along with her, okay?”

“Really? Souta-kun, as long as you don’t–don’t dislike it, do you want to be friends?”

“I don’t need…”

“Rejected immediately!!”

Hearing the normally timid Souta say this, Akane was hit hard.

At the same time, Akane’s friendship flag broke with an adorable noise… but just like before, a new friendship flag immediately popped up.

“Why? My mother said that friends are the life’s treasures. U-uh… so… treasures are important… I’m just saying that… that… if treasures didn’t exist, they would no longer be shiny, no longer beautiful and polished… So, if you have to clean it up… after you sweep it into the dustpan, there wouldn’t be anywhere to throw it.”

“How did the conversation turn to trash cans?!”

Akane struggled too hard to persuade them, so much so that she eventually could not find a way to make them understand.

“Basically, in Akane’s mind, friends are like trash cans, so it fits Souta perfectly.”

“Nanami, what do you mean by that?!”

“Nothing like that, nothing like that. Souta isn’t so much a trash can as a bento box!”

“So I’m a box, huh…”

Souta isn’t a flower to be sheltered in a box.<ref> The Japanese idiom for being sheltered involves a box</ref> It was hard to tell whether Akane’s consolation counted as consolation or not.

“Anyways, I… don’t want to bother others. Whether it’s Akane or anyone else.”

“I want to bother Souta-kun!”

“You…”

Hearing Akane’s unreasonable outburst about inducing more suffering, Souta was about to reproach her. But Akane continued, cutting him off.

“Also, I want to be bothered by Souta-kun! That’s what friends do! And… I just can’t ignore the lonely person in front of my eyes!”

Akane’s addendum made Souta give up on his retort, and he turned away to escape Akane’s unwavering gaze.

“Just don’t worry about me…”

“Hold on, Souta!”

Seeing that Souta was about to say something she couldn’t ignore, Nanami pulled on his ear.

“Wh-what do you want…?”

“It’s rare for someone to want to be thy friend. Thou art not permitted to break her flag!”

“But…”

“Dost thou want to humiliate girls?”

“Where’s the problem…?”

Seeing Nanami and Souta pretty much arguing, Akane sadly held the tip of her fork in her mouth.

“Is it not okay to be your friend?”

“I believe a friendship between males and females is impossible…”

“So sad…”

“I just said not to break it!!”

Souta was hit behind the head with an unopened package of Klim [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puri_(food) Puri]. (Note: Nanami later ate it with great relish)

“Even if you say that…”

Alas, it was too late. The friendship flag on Akane’s head had snapped, and Akane’s eyes filled with tears.

“Sure enough, it broke, right, Souta?”

“Pretty much…”

Souta was relieved, thinking it wouldn’t recover this time. Against all odds, Akane regrouped and, without giving anyone else time to breathe, said:

“Ah, b-b-b-b-b-but, we can begin with an attempted friendship, what do you think?”

“She’s still not yet satisfied…? Isn’t that wording just like ‘attempted murder’…”<ref> Damn, these are some Cultivation Chat Group-level tangents lol</ref>

“Indeed.” Akane nodded in deep agreement. Souta looked above Akane’s head in disbelief.

“It clearly broke several times… But it still stands…”

He saw the freshly broken flag give way to yet another new flag.

“This Mahougasawa Akane chick is unexpectedly persistent… Isn’t she perfect for thee…? No matter how many times her flag breaks, it quickly recovers. Even if thou hurtest her heart, she will still face thee with an unyielding spirit.”

“Huh… I feel like that’s pretty terrifying…”

“Thou, who can see flags and decide their fate, art the one who is terrifying, alright?”

Well said.

Nanami and Souta quietly held a council. Akane ignored the two, quietly worrying to the side.

“Attempted friendship isn’t okay either…? Hmm… In this case, then the step before attempted friendship… acquaintances… a nodding acquaintance… hmmmmm… more one-sided… stalker? Is stalker okay?”

“Don’t go there!!”

“......”

Nanami was the one who initially recommended that the two be friends, but she soon began to doubt whether she made the correct choice.

“Since you don’t like stalkers, how about being friends?”

“... Do whatever you want.”

“Hooray!”

That’s pretty much a threat.

Watching Akane softly raise her arms and shout hooray with a smile, he felt his mood gradually improve for some reason.

This may be Akane’s unique characteristic.

Nonetheless, this must be…

This must be a temporary whim of Miss Heiress, thinking that he’s interesting.

''After the novelty subsides, she would definitely lose interest immediately'' — that was what Souta thought.

Though he’d soon realize that this train of thought was a huge mistake.

“But I’m kind of happy that Souta-kun’s willing to say such not-so-pleasant things to me.”

“... What?”

“I think that when I’m sad, it doesn’t matter if other people pamper me. But when I’m the one doing the pampering, there’s always this warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.”

“Akane, is it really okay even if you get hurt?”

“Souta-kun thinks I might get hurt and is worrying about me. That makes me really happy.”

Seeing Akane smile bashfully, Souta frowned.

“... You really are a strange chick.”

Souta’s tone was no longer hostile nor malicious, and Akane looked jubilant.

“But even if you’re friends with someone like me, you still wouldn’t be happy, right…”

Souta’s expression darkened like before and he lowered his head slightly, worried — but he also seemed kind of happy.

“Art thou an idiot? Souta. That kind of thing is for them to decide. How can it depend on what thou sayest?”

Nanami snorted and chewed her Klim Puri flatbread.

Akane nodded enthusiastically, agreeing with Nanami.

“Yeah! Nanami said it really well. Just talking to Souta-kun makes me really happy! I might feel a bit self-conscious saying this, but… there are many people close to me, so when I meet someone more distant, it’s a new experience… This is someone that I haven't seen around me so far, an unfamiliar kind of person… an unidentified creature… Yes, an unidentified life form.”

““A UFAO?!””<ref> Unidentified, unFamiliar Animated Object. Just roll with it. I tried. If any of you come up with something better, I welcome you to edit it.</ref>

A chupacabra appeared in Nanami’s and Souta’s minds at the same time. Wanna suck blood?<ref> ‘Do you want to suck blood?’ is apparently a quote from Japanese comedian Kanpei Hazama. Relevant because chupacabras suck blood. </ref>

“Souta-kun, Nanami, you guys are really in sync. You’re actually quite close, right?”

“We’re not close! Rather, our relationship is really bad. So bad that, given the opportunity, We would steal this guy’s leftover bread in exchange for the not-very-tasty bread We are eating right now.”

“My leftover bread is Klim Puri, the very thing Nanami’s eating right now, though?”

Having saved the bread for last, Souta was looking forward to eating it. He grieved a little when he heard this bad news.

“You guys are really similar. That’s great, I’m so jealous--”

“......”

Nanami stared hatefully at Akane wiggling.

Wasn’t it true that friendship can still be established in spite of very different values? Nanami and Akane were polar opposites, and Souta started to feel that Nanami and Akane may yet make a good pair.

The evidence was…

“... Before, ye shall become two peas in a pod and become the envy of everybody else!”

“Actually, I’ve always wanted to become closer with Nanami.”

Hearing Nanami’s slightly lonely words, Akane held Nanami’s hands tightly and smiled. At some point, ‘Nanami-san’ had become ‘Nanami’.

“Wh-why me?!”

“... Whenever I see a lonely person, or a puppy drenched in rain, or a kitten mewling in pain, I just can’t ignore them!”

“Treated like Souta?!”

Nanami was even more shocked at this than Souta was when he was just compared to a cat and dog.

“Nanami regrettably feels like a person of spoiled arrogance, which has always made me interested in her.”

“What dost thou mean by ‘regrettably’?”

“Just that, in the phrase ‘spoiled arrogance’, the ‘spoiled’ part outweighs the ‘arrogant’ part!”

“Shut up!!”

Souta looked at the arguing girls with an magnificent smile, neither forced nor a smirk, and said:

“I for one think that Nanami and Akane can become very good friends.”

“What?! This troublemaker also has a flag for Us?”

Nanami pulled on Souta’s ears again, quietly roaring.

“I don’t know… I basically only see my own— or rather, I should say, flags that have to do with me…”

That is to say, Souta was only able to see the flag for that morning’s accident because it also involved him — with this understanding, Nanami thought: ''This ability seems convenient but isn’t really convenient; it seems to be a convenience, but that’s not entirely the case…''

“Just like that! That’s what makes people think you two are close! Physical contact is proof of a good relationship! Can I pull on Souta-kun’s ears, too?”

“Sure?”

“Don’t pull on people’s ears for no reason!”

“So it’s allowed if there is a reason?”

“Sure?”

“Nanami, no stop seeking schadenfreude! Anyways, what’s so fun about pulling on ears…?”

“Causing mischief… That kind of fun, probably?”

“What a terrible relationship!!”

“No it’s not, no it’s not! That feeling of ‘even if you cause them mischief, they’ll still laugh and forgive you’ is definitely proof of a good relationship.”

Oh, that’s how it is, that does make sense— Souta smiled faintly in agreement, and Akane’s cheeks went slightly red. Joy emanated from the depths of her heart, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s my friend! Looks like you really get me! Souta-kun, you’re really, really charming when you smile! As long as you smile like this a lot, your loneliness will definitely disappear!”

“Ah…”

Souta wasn’t used to being praised so directly in person, so he inadvertently shrugged, and his smile became strained. Seeing this, Akane exclaimed, “Ah, what a waste of the cool smile just now…” Her hands even began to quiver.

Having eaten her bread and sucked her milk carton dry, Nanami smirked playfully and said:

“But Akane, if he wasn’t lonely anymore, wouldn’t you lose interest?”

“In my mind, a laughing Souta is more important than a lonely Souta. This is a historic moment, okay? One small step for mankind, one and a half small steps for me!”

““Close enough!!””

“You guys are really in sync… That’s great, I also want someone to be in sync with me.”

“Why do you need to envy other people? Akane, don’t you also have many strengths?”

Nanami lightly squeezed her empty milk carton and broke eye contact, her expression that of shy admiration. Hearing Nanami’s words, Akane’s smile bloomed.

“R-really?! Like-like what?”

“... Well… like wanting to eat with me and Souta, right?”

Seeing Nanami laugh with a little self-deprecation, Akane laughed with an expression of “Isn’t that normal?” She then fell into deep thought with an “Eh…”

“Is it better to eat alone?”

““You had a conversation with yourself?!””

“Only you two keep getting closer and closer. It’s not fair, it’s not fair!”

However, supposing that Akane and Souta had already eaten half of their lunch, and then Akane and Nanami ate the remaining half, anyone would think that the relationship between Souta and Nanami was deteriorating.

In this way, the three unexpectedly similar people happily ate their lunch in the classroom. Outside, a group of people quietly observed the situation.

“... So, we can probably go in now?”

The rest of the class, who had been driven out of the classroom, searched for an opportunity to go back in.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4

2025-01-01T22:59:16Z

Person72635:

==Flag 4: The Selected Heroes Set Off==
After school.

Under Akane’s leadership, the student president, Tsumugi, and the other classmates who came to see the commotion lined up in front of the dilapidated dormitory.

“It’s really decrepit—”

“Wouldn’t it be better to say nearly collapsed?”

“Actually living in such a place… too tragic.”

“If we can take better care of him, this kind of thing might not happen…”

The students expressed their thoughts, all of them gazing at Souta with pity and raising sympathy flags without exception. Souta almost raised a ‘fainting flag’.

“Rebuilding would still be faster, huh, young Mimori?”

Tsumugi looked up at the student president standing beside her only to see Mimori burst into laughter as if to sweep away the gloomy atmosphere of the scene.

“Bwahahahahahahaha!! As long as it’s handled by this Student President Seiteikouji Mimori, everything will be A-OK!! Just divert student council funds and build a huge building!! No problem! Just leave it to the so-called unparalleled ability passed down among generations of student presidents to create falsified accou—”

“Someone come get the president to shut up.”

Seeing the students begin to retreat after seeing the dark side of the academy, Tsumugi ruthlessly cut off Mimori’s words.

That said, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Mimori had changed the depressed atmosphere in one fell swoop. Tsumugi silently praised Mimori for having some skill.

Since although the students wore strained smiles, at least they were smiling.

“Let’s not take misappropriation of public funds into consideration yet… Right, young Akane, could you provide some financial assistance? Ah, you should still have '''''pocket money''''',<ref> Words that are bolded and italicized are said in English.</ref> no?”

Tsumugi mixed some English into her question, and Nanami was embarrassed for Akane.

“This child is said not to receive family assistance.”

“Yes, even if it’s '''''pocket money'''''... It’s only one million yen a month…”

““““““““““That’s more than enough!!””””””””””

Everyone present replied.

“Huh, really? That much is enough? Building a house is so cheap. That’s got to be way under market price, right?!”

Hearing this rich girl say these ‘Where did this rich girl come from?’ kinds of words, everybody there held in their laughter save for one person.

That exception, Nanami, was currently pinching Akane’s nose.

“Thou art too spoiled!! Art not thou supporting thyself, girl oblivious to worldly affairs?!”

“Huh? Huh?”

Student President Mimori stared at the two people who seemed to have a good relationship with her arms crossed and put on a serious expression again.

“Anyways, whether it’s rebuilding or remodeling, just ask the professionals of this school, ladies and gentlemen!”

“Professionals… of this school?”

Seeing Souta’s disbelief, the one who answered him was Tsumugi, standing next to Mimori.

“The Civil Engineering Club.”

“The Civil Engineering Club…”

Hearing this strange and unknown club name, Nanami's expression was strange.

“They say it was influenced by a certain manga.”<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABkyoku_Ch%C5%8Djin_R Kyukyoku Chojin R], apparently</ref>

“Let’s call them over right now!!”

Student President Mimori called over members of the Civil Engineering Club and laughed her ‘Bwahahahahaha’. What was so funny, nobody knew.

Accompanying the well-built club members coming to the scene was the short-haired, baseball-cap-wearing president of the Civil Engineering Club. His first words were:

“What is it, President?! What’d you break this time?!”

“Could you not say that like yours truly is always impulsively causing destruction everywhere?!”

Unfortunately, the objections of Mimori, who frequently caused destruction on impulse, went in one ear of the Civil Engineering Club president and out the other. He lifted his chin to ask ‘Is this it?’ and looked at the ruins of Quest Dorm.

“You can really cause destruction…”

“It wasn’t yours truly!!”

But rather than caring about who did it, the Civil Engineering Club president’s interest had already shifted to the building itself, and he ignored Mimori’s protests.

Rebuild or remodel— the club members seemed to also disagree over those two options, and a younger club member asked the president:

“President, what should we do?”

“I told you to call me Craftsman!” <ref> Apparently a reference to the Japanese home renovation show ‘‘Makeover! Dramatic Before and After’’.</ref>

How magical. A craftsman’s subtle artistry is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures. <ref> A famous quote from ‘‘Makeover! Dramatic Before and After’’. I probably translated both of them differently than they should have.</ref>

“If possible, I hope for this child to live here as soon as possible…”

Kikuno cut in from beside Souta only to see the craftsman crack his fists and say:

“Okay! Then let’s remodel!!”

The president displayed his enthusiasm, and the club members all forced a smile.

“The president likes to remodel…”

“Didn’t I tell you to call me Craftsman?!”

How magical. A craftsman’s subtle artistry is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures.

“How long until someone can live here?”

“Well~ it’ll be quite difficult, so at least a month…”

The craftsman answered Tsumugi’s question, and Nanami eyed him suspiciously. He didn’t seem to be acting.

“That’s too long! So being a craftsman isn’t something all that amazing after all?”

“With enough manpower, it can be done in a week!!”

How amazing! A craftsman’s subtle persistence is also reflected in these kinds of words and gestures.

“Then what if it’s just for one person to live in?”

“For one person, huh… Then two, three days…”

Akane stepped up to use the carrot and the stick, and as a result— How magical! A craftsman’s backbone is also reflected in this kind of place.

“Then it’s just a matter of where we can get manpower… Should we get schoolmates…”

“It’s your life, take matters into your own hands! This academy promotes the spirit of student independence; asking alumni is against its ethos! Don’t you know shame!!”

Although the craftsman was expressing goodwill, he was still shot down by the student president who found fault with it for some reason.<ref> In Chinese, the same word can be used for both ‘schoolmates’ and ‘alumni,’ so the misunderstanding might be based there.</ref> But since he was quite used to Mimori’s rampages, plus the fact that Mimori apologized and said “Sorry, yours truly crossed the line.” after being scolded by Tsumugi-baba-sama, the craftsman could only mutter “I don’t know what to do with her…”

“You need manpower… It happens that there is a group of people who seem to be doing nothing.”

Tsumugi looked at the lively class.

The classmates could have found it troublesome and played dead, but each one was nicer than the last, wanting to help the poor Souta. The sentiment quickly spread, and the ‘I want to help, I want to help, I want to help’ attitude was clear at a glance.

“Great! Then let’s start by removing the rotten boards--”

As everybody immediately started working, Akane walked up to the front and said:

“I-I want to say something!!... Thank you everybody for being willing to help with my selfish project!”

Seeing Akane bow with all her might, Kikuno also joined in.

“Ah! Please let me thank everybody too! Our Sou-kun will be in your care.”

Seeing the two girls bow and thank everyone for him, plus Nanami poking him from behind and glaring at him as if to hint ‘Are you really going to stand by and do nothing while these girls do this for you?’, Souta was sandwiched by the pressure of the atmosphere and could not help but bow and say:

“Uh… I owe everybody one…”

“What kind of low-spirited thanks is that?!”

This was Nanami’s fierce retort upon not receiving real thanks. But the counter-reaction wasn’t even from Souta himself, but Kikuno.

“Th-that’s not it, that’s not it! Sou-kun’s very awkward, so he accidentally said it that way, but Big Sis thinks that he is very grateful to everyone! So… so I hope everybody doesn’t misunderstand him!!”

Souta’s thanks wasn’t great nor terrible, but Kikuno still patted his head as if saying ‘Good boy, you’ve worked hard’ while protecting him with those words.

''How spoiled.''

''Way too spoiled.''

''So doting.''

''Oh well…''

Then Akane provided the final, fatal hit--

“Th-that’s right! And… And, how do I say this, if Souta-kun smiled and provided lively thanks, it wouldn’t be his style and everyone would be disappointed!”

Akane’s extremely negative image of him made Souta depressingly realize ''So I look that gloomy in the eyes of others…''

Anyways, Souta’s plaintiveness made everyone raise ‘motivated’ flags. The Civil Engineering Club members let out an understanding “Ah…”, kindly saying “It’s okay.” and “Don’t take it to heart.”

But only the craftsman’s face went red. She looked the other way with a “Hmph!”

“I-I’m not doing it for you!”

Emerging from the craftsman…

“It’s not what you think!”

“Don’t get the wrong idea!”

“But if you don’t feel grateful, then I won’t spare you!”

This guy had just been heartily telling him not to mind things but suddenly began to say these kinds of statements one by one. This continued until he left for his post.

Souta didn’t understand what was going on with this scene, so Mimori explained to him:

“That girl’s personality is why the confession failure record keeps constantly getting broken.
But she’s the academy’s best at remodeling too, so rest at ease, '''''yo'''''!”

“‘That girl’?? So she’s actually female?!”

“If she were male, I wouldn’t have said ‘girl’.”

Good point, Souta silently agreed, observing the craftsman again. Could you say she’s gender neutral? If you said her to be a girl with very short hair, then she did indeed seem like a girl.

Akane suddenly approached from nearby to look at Souta’s face.

“That’s so great, Souta-kun.”

“... It’s all thanks to the good fortune provided by Okiku-nee and Akane.”

Seeing Souta look a bit uncomfortable and avert his eyes, Akane smiled and laughed, thinking that he was really cute.

“My mother once said that I should pay for my friends, so that they can be proud that they had such a friend.”

“Your mom is really great.”

“Yeah.” Akane nodded, gazing up at the blue sky.

“I always thought that doing that was to make friends, to become closer with friends. But I now find that not to be the case.”

“?”

“Because, because, you see, Souta-kun, just seeing your happiness also makes me as happy, joyful, and full of anticipation!”

Akane pressed her hands to her chest, spinning in circles.

“It’s my first time understanding that by bringing happiness to the people around you, you yourself will also feel as happy as they feel!”

“Akane, that’s because you’re really considerate.”

Hearing the conversation between Akane and Souta, Nanami, with a gentle expression mixed with a little sarcasm, interjected:

“Seeing Akane’s joy, We consequently feel joy as well. Akane is just like an exquisite cake made of happiness.”

“Nanami… You’re a poet!!”

As if discovering a beautiful line of verse, Akane’s eyes twinkled like several small stars. She tightly clasped both of Nanami’s hands with a sparkling, bright expression, happy as can be.

But Nanami realized that she made a serious slip of the tongue, her shy face burning as she struggled to shake off Akane’s hands.

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

“Nanami’s youthful poetry is my favorite! Being friends with Nanami is great! We must abuse the privilege of youth to run towards the sun!”

“Enough! Do nyaat waste your youth!!”

Nanami ran away after saying this, waving a huge hammer brought by the Civil Engineering Club and furiously destroying the rotten dormitory wall scheduled to be taken down, rather heroically covering up her embarrassment in this way.

“That girl is quite cut out for destroying things…”

Nearby, Tsumugi laid a waterproof cloth, set up a cushion on it, and leisurely sipped tea as if retiring with glory while looking at Nanami’s liveliness from afar and muttering to herself.

“Then, Big Sis will do her part for Sou-kun, too!”

“I’ll also go help.”

Kikuno and Akane swayed their bodies side to side, happily walking away. Souta was about to chase them, but Tsumugi suddenly stopped him from behind.

“Young Souta.”

“?”

Souta turned his head and saw Tsumugi’s kindly expression like a mother dog gazing at a puppy. Observing at the students excitedly absorbed into their work, she explained to Souta:

“Look closely, then engrave it into your heart. This isn’t a debt, but kindness. Kindness should be repaid with kindness. Put it in your heart, cultivate it little by little, absorb it. This way, one day, young Souta, you will also be a person able to express kindness as naturally as breathing.”

“Ah…”

Souta was about to respond with ‘Okay’, but Mimori came out from nowhere and cut him off, grabbing his shoulders and coolly pointing to the sky.

“This is the academy’s soul! The academy’s style!”

“Whoa, you scared me!”

Tsumugi smiled wryly at Mimori’s sudden appearance, saying persuasively:

“... In this regard, your spiritual practice is not good enough yet, young Mimori.”

“Grandmother is so strict…”

After letting off steam discontentedly, Mimori said the horrifying words like “Then, I’ll go forge documents and pretend that I received an application for rebuilding this dorm” and left the scene.

At the same time, Nanami, probably tired from waving the hammer, came back for tea.

“Hey, Souta. Don’t be lazy, shouldn’t thou help? This is where thou willst live, right?”

“Oh, sor… ry?”

As Nanami immediately gulped down the wheat tea Tsumugi poured for her, she noticed Souta apologize halfway and freeze with his head slightly raised. This intriguing movement made her frown.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… on top of the dorm… there’s a flag.”

“Huh? Something non-human can have flags too?!”

“It’s my first time seeing this, too…”

On the roof flew a ‘new role debut’ flag.

Souta, who could see it, and Nanami, who couldn’t, looked up at that unfamiliar flag together.

This time, Akane jogged back.

“Souta-kun, the people inside said they needed a boy’s help and wanted you to come over… Huh, what’s wrong? Why are you two staring at the roof? If you’re worried about spirits, aren’t they more likely ghosts?”

““Huh?! There are ghosts?!””

Akane’s unexpected comment startled Nanami and Souta, and they yelped sharply, forming beautiful harmony.

“... Only you two are that close. Not fair.”

“Is now the time to care about that kind of problem?!”

“Huh?! What?! They’re really like that?!”

Kikuno, never knowing the right time to come up behind Souta’s back, startled Souta and made him jump in surprise.

“Whoa, you scared me!”

“Sou-kun, which one are you closer with? Which one do you like?! Secretly tell Big Sis, please? Okay? Okay?”

Kikuno, delighted at the prospect of her little brother’s first love, put her hand by her ear, approaching Souta with a “Hmmm~?”

“No, even if you ask which one I like…”

“Is it the gentle Akane? Or~ Nanami? Since you call her by first name~ you’re very close… Ah, or you like both of them?”

Kikuno, giggling, might have intended to talk secrets with Souta quietly, but since the people in question were very close by, Akane and Nanami both heard this clear as day.

The one who reacted violently wasn’t Souta, but the red-faced Nanami.

“Come here, Souta!”

Nanami pulled Souta’s ear and brought him some distance away from Kikuno and co.

“Canst not thou do anything to deal with that freak sister?”

“I can’t do anything even if I wanted to…”

The little brother had already fallen into the bad habit of absolutely obeying his sister. Kikuno had, year in and year out, used a non-violent means known as doting to crush Souta’s resistance.

“......”

Nanami looked with disgust at Souta being spoiled by Big Sis, suddenly noticed something, and said:

“... Hey, thy sister doesn’t have a flag?”

So far, since Kikuno’s presence was so strong, Souta forgot to be afraid of flags. He recalled the top of Kikuno’s head, and said, almost to himself:

“Yeah… Now that you mention it, there is a flag.”

“What kind of flag?”

“I think it’s… the sisterly love flag.”

The scope of that flag seemed way too narrow. But considering Kikuno’s love for her little brother, it seemed to contain infinite possibilities.

At the same time, Nanami thought, as long as that flag broke, perhaps it would curb Kikuno’s desire to randomly speculate about her little brother’s relationships with girls.

“Try to break thy sister’s flag.”

“Huh?!”

“Try to break thy sister’s flag, try to break thy sister’s flag.”

“Why’d you say it twice…? Hey Nanami, don’t you usually tell me not to break them…”

Of course Souta only chose to listen now. Nanami let loose an angry, intimidating “Tch!!”

“Do not ask so many questions! If thou continues like this, thou willst always be a little brother to that woman, okay?!”

“... What’s wrong with that?”

“Enough! Thou hath completely fallen into the habit of a little brother!”

He’s already completely brainwashed by Kikuno! This time, Nanami growled “Grrr!”

Nanami became more and more like an animal. She might not have had an ‘evolve into a human’ flag, but hopefully it gets raised soon.

“Think about it, theoretically, two people have always felt like a big sister and little brother, and one day develop a relationship between a man and woman… something like that!”

Nanami became more and more embarrassed as she said this, and talked really quickly at the end.

“You read too much manga and watch too many dramas, Nanami…”

“What didst thou say?!”

“And, we don’t have that kind of relationship.”

Souta said this without blushing or missing a beat. Nanami glared at him, the look in her eyes neither dumbfounded nor angry nor irritated.

“Stop spouting nonsense, just break it already! If thou dost not break it, We will break thy arm!!”

“......”

Under Nanami’s intimidation, Souta told himself that since he keeps getting teased about it anyway, taking advantage of this situation to change his relationship with Kikuno might be better. After he reminded himself of this, he went back to Kikuno.

“Heeheeheeheehee. What kind of secrets did you talk about? Sou-kun, is there a secret between you and Nanami that you can’t tell Big Sis? As I thought… you’re in that kind of relationship? Did Big Sis guess it right? Can you tell Big Sis? Nanami can also call me Big Sis, okay?”

“Gaaaaaaaaaaah!! Souta!!”

Almost getting another sister out of nowhere, Nanami deepened the misunderstanding and angrily stomped her feet.

“A-alright…”

Under the pressure of Nanami’s hand signals, Souta nodded his head reluctantly and faced Kikuno.

“I’m not a kid anymore, so always sticking together isn't cool…”

“Ah…?!”

Hearing Souta’s flag-breaking words, Kikuno suffered a terrible shock.

“Big Sis understands!”

She seemed to understand.

“Sou-kun wants to maintain a cool image in front of the girl you like, right~?”

She didn’t understand at all.

Nanami realized this, pulled Souta’s ear, and yelled quietly.

“Hey, Souta! It didn’t break at all, did it?!”

“Rather, the flag dodged…”

“Dodged…?”

“Yeah, dodged with extreme speed…”

Nanami and Souta both trembled at Kikuno’s unfathomable potential, retreating and looking at Kikuno together.

“?”

A question mark appeared above Kikuno’s head, and she tilted her head in confusion.

Seeing her like that, disregarding the fact Souta’s fighting spirit was almost zero from the beginning, Nanami’s fighting spirit ignited again.

“Couldn’t thou have simply broken it more bluntly?!”

“...”

Nanami took silence as an answer, once again pushing Souta in front of Kikuno.

Glancing at the flag on Kikuno’s head, Souta forced a smile and tested the waters.

“That’s not what I meant. I just thought, shouldn’t we get rid of this brother-sister relationship already?”

“Ah…!!”

Hearing Souta’s flag-breaking words, Kikuno suffered a terrible shock.

“Big Sis understands!”

This time she seemed to really understand.

“Nanami made you say that. Heehee, don’t worry, Nanami. Souta and I aren’t like that. No need to fret, I won’t steal Souta away.

This time she still didn’t understand at all.

“We are also not like that, alright?!”

Seeing Nanami roar, Kikuno thought, ''She became shy, she became shy!'' and was still extremely happy.

“The flag dodged with godlike speed again…”

“That kind of thing exists?”

Having seen the existence of a special flag surpassing human imagination, Souta had the same question. He replied, a little out of it:

“It’s also the first time I’ve seen this.”

Seeing the terrifying creature known as ‘Big Sis’ in person made Nanami and Souta get goosebumps.

At some point, Akane, already working in the dorm, stuck her hand out the taken-down window and waved, breaking the peculiar atmosphere.

“Souta-kun— they’re asking ‘Why hasn’t a boy come yet?’ already—”

‘Yet’ followed by ‘already’, so strange… Souta thought about unrelated things, leaving Nanami and Kikuno behind to enter the dorm.

Upon Souta’s entry, the craftsman immediately said to Souta: “I just want you to clean up the decaying cabinet in the locker room in front of the bathroom, don’t get me wrong!!” But it’s quite difficult to figure out which part of the sentence could be misunderstood.

As proven by the fact that Souta didn’t get it wrong at all and went straight to the locker room.

A loud rattling sound came from inside the bathroom. As he got to work, Souta just glanced around briefly before returning to the task at hand, finding the old cabinet.

But no matter how you look at it, that cabinet didn’t seem like something one person could move alone. Just as Souta racked his brain for a solution, a male classmate happened to pass by the hallway. Souta hurriedly called out to him.

“Excuse me, I need a boy’s help over here, can you help me?”

The male classmate he just called to wore a boys’ uniform on his upper body and shorts and striped knee socks on his lower body. Even if he was disguised as a girl, he was wearing a male uniform, so he should be a boy… That said, his appearance and temperance, even if he was a pretty boy, was too girlish: If you asked whether he was more like a pretty boy or a beautiful girl with short hair rolled into a man bun, obviously it would be the latter — this was the reality.

As if embodying that kind of indistinguishability, the dainty male (?) classmate said “A boy…?” and looked around.

“A boy, a boy, a boy… one<ref> This guy refers to himself in third person.</ref>?!”

Since nobody else could be found nearby, and Souta had been looking at him for a while, the male classmate seemed to finally realize that it was directed at him.

Seeing his suspicious behavior, Souta worried that he made a mistake, asking with his heart in his mouth:

“So you’re not a boy…? Then my sincerest apologies. Because during PE class, I saw you on the boys’ side… Sorry, I always thought you were male…”

“...!!”

Souta recalled being thoroughly shocked at seeing striped kneesocks during PE class that day as he added an apology. The male (?) classmate seemed to have taken a heavy hit, his knees knocked together, arms pressed tight against his body, and his whole body shaking.

“Uh, hey…”

“O-one… one… ! One is a boy!! That’s correct!!”

So he claimed.

Although he claimed so, his knees knocked to the point that they practically fused together, and his hands and fists were placed almost in a boxing position, moving erratically in a cute way, pretty much contradicting himself.

“For one… it’s one’s first time meeting someone who treats one as a boy! And, because of one’s features, even those who know one only treat one as a girl… But, Souta-kun treats one as a boy, so one is very happy!”

The male classmate raised friendship flags.

Right, it was raised… but…

“What’s going on here…?”

Spouting from the male classmate’s head, while still a flag, were countless flags tied together joined to the sky like streamers, extending endlessly upwards and slightly backwards, weaving across the wall.

“Streamers…streamers? F-… flag?... This a flag?”

It was also Souta’s first time seeing a flag in this kind of mystical shape, so it was hard to cover up his confusion.

If it wasn’t a flag, it would mean Souta could see things other than flags. That would be terrifying. So terrifying that he didn’t want to keep thinking about it, so he just assumed that he could only see flags.

The male classmate had followed Souta’s gaze to the top of his head and was looking up at the sky, but he suddenly remembered something and tapped his palm with his fist.

“Ah, one hasn’t introduced oneself. One’s name is Touzokuyama Megumu</ref> Megumu’s surname indicates that his ‘class’ is thief</ref>.”

Megumu squatted cutely, sliding his hand on the dusty floorboard. After demonstrating how to write his name, he smiled shyly.

“I am…”

Souta nodded, thinking that his surname was a little over-the-top.<ref> Imagine meeting a guy named John Thief lol</ref> As he decided to introduce himself to Megumu, Megumu cut him off.

“You must be Hatate-kun. One knows because one saw you introduce yourself when you transferred.”

“Just call me Souta.”

“O-one too! Just call one Megumu.”

He said this excitedly as streamers of friendship flags fluttered on his head. Perhaps that ‘people should get along no matter what country they’re from’ mentality was because of these streamers.<ref> The phrase I’m translating as ‘streamer’ literally means ‘ten thousand country flags’ [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%87%E5%9B%BD%E6%97%97#/media/File:Sports-Fest2.jpg (万国旗)]</ref>

“One thinks one can establish a manly friendship with Souta-kun!”

Souta’s first reaction of him had been a perplexed ‘Why is there a girl mixed in with the boys’ PE class…?’, so he remembered her clearly... no, him. But Souta couldn’t say that. In order to hide his thoughts, he hurriedly changed the subject.

“Really… Speaking of which, the name ‘Megumu’ is... really cool.”

“Th-that’s not true. One kind of hates this feminine name. Everyone likes to call one by one’s nickname, Megu-chan, so it seems even more feminine.”

“Yours is still relatively good, unlike my name Souta. My kindergarten nickname was ‘Missus’ <ref> In Chinese at least, doubling the last character in Souta’s name (太) creates the phrase for ‘wife’ or ‘old lady’.</ref>”

“Souta-kun’s really cute♡”

Megumu clutched his sides and lightly covered his mouth, his entire body shaking with laughter. No matter how you look at it, Megumu’s a cute girl.

Perhaps out of guilt, the conversation was very accommodating towards Megumu. Although Souta thought his personality would only hurt Megumu, as luck would have it, they still had a good conversation.

“... I’ll call you Megu-chan too.”

“Hey~! Souta-kun, you bully!!”

Confronted with having accidentally said something very feminine, Megumu pouted cutely, puffing his cheeks.

“That said, Megumu, I just want to know one thing…”

“Ah! One has been working out before bed to become more manly, so one is a bit stronger now, okay?”

Megumu flexed his biceps after saying so. Souta asked Megumu ‘Can I touch it?’ and was given permission. He touched it and found that the muscle was so soft that it made him feel guilty. However, because the ‘Nnngh~!’ sound that Megumu made as he flexed was too cute, Souta gave up on his retort. More to the point, Souta wasn’t even asking about that.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I wanted to ask about the bottom half of your uniform.”

“... Oh.”

Megumu’s weak reply was mixed with a sigh, and he lifted the lower hem of his uniform coat. Since they were both male, there clearly wasn’t any reason to look twice. Nevertheless, Souta blushed and his heart rate sped up.

“This is…”

“N-nevermind, sorry. I didn’t offend you, right? Everyone has different hobbies. It’s fine, and it really suits you…”

Seeing the fluttering streamers fall weakly, Souta anxiously mediated.

“No! No no no! No no!!”

Megumu lightly hammered Souta’s chest with unmatched cuteness.

“This is because… Big Sis said this way was definitely cuter… said it was approved by the academy… My Big Sis is responsible for designing this uniform… so…”

The phrase ‘Big Sis’ scared Souta and made him flinch.

“The student handbook also says that, starting this year, this outfit is approved as a uniform.”

“Really?!”

Souta brought out a student handbook from his chest pocket to confirm. Listed next to the normal boys’ and girls’ uniform, there really was an illustration identical to what Megumu was wearing at the moment.

“It’s true!!... Speaking of which, does anyone else wear it like this?”

“... Somewhere in this vast world.”

“That’s already not about this academy’s uniforms anymore!?”

Megumu’s eyes became empty.

“This outfit isn’t only conspicuous, but people also say it looks like a girls’, so one hates it. But Big Sis cried, saying that it’s definitely cute, and made me wear it…”

“Since your Big Sis cried and begged, there’s nothing you can do about it…”

As a fellow comrade who loses unconditionally to his older sister, Souta’s heartstrings tugged with sympathy for his fellow sufferer.

“Yeah… and one is the youngest of four siblings, with sisters all above me.”

“Your life is so hard… I understand how you feel, Megumu…”

Megumu was usually surrounded by people jealous of his beautiful sisters, so when he heard Souta’s gentle words, his chest couldn’t help but tighten with a ‘squeeze♡’.

“Thank you!! Only Souta-kun understands me!! Thank you! Really, thank you so much, Souta-kun!!”

Megumu rushed to hug Souta, as if pushing people out of the way.

Megumu’s body was unusually slender. Souta could actually support him quite easily, but something other than weight made Souta dizzy.

“Whoa!! Megumu, why is your body so fragrant?! And super soft?!”

“Huh?” Megumu, his height only up to Souta’s neck, raised his watery eyes to look at Souta in a way that made Souta even dizzier.

At this time, Akane reached out her head.

“Souta-kun, what’s the situation? Can one person handle it? Hey, whoa!? S-sorry, I… w-will support you guys!!”

“What are you talking about, Akane?!”

Akane, covering her face, stared at the hugging scene through the gaps between her fingers.

“I-I’m good at supporting people’s love! The couples I support always welcome new love under my leadership, with plentiful concrete results! Just leave it to Akane!”

“You mean it’s failure, Akane!”

“Failure is the mother of success! It’s fine as long as the new love succeeds.”

“Everything really depends on how you explain it anyways…”

Akane’s headache-inducing enthusiasm made Megumu and Souta force a smile.

“Let’s save that for later. How come you guys suddenly became so intimate?”

Akane anxiously looked at Megumu and Souta, who had kept hugging. Her words finally made the two come to their senses, and their bodies instantly separated.

“N-no, no!! This and that are different things!!”

“Th-that’s right. How do we put it… ah! We were just confirming our friendship, hmm, yeah.”

Regarding believing people, Akane was unbelievably simple. ‘So that’s how it was!’ She believed the two without any doubts.

“Oh. Friendship, huh… Souta-kun just refuses to demonstrate such warm friendship with me.”

Seeing Akane’s dejection, Souta busily tried to find an escape.

“I-it’s because Akane’s a girl… So it’s not appropriate.”

“Yeah, this is a privilege of a friendship between men!!”

“???”

Megumu revealed a tremendously cute smile because being treated like a boy by the confused Akane made him very happy. Please note that this does not mean tremblingly cute. Speaking of tremblingly cute ~ it was so cute that it made people tremble… wait, is that even cute then? Wouldn’t it be scary?<ref> Original Japanese pun had something to do with ‘unusually cute’ and ‘flying kick cute’ being off by one syllable.</ref>

“Y-yeah…”

Anyways, facing Megumu’s sparkling eyes, the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched as he nodded.

Speaking of which, does a friendship between men really involve that kind of intimate hug? Of course, this kind of question never appeared in Akane’s mind, she was just jealous.

“How nice, how nice… But, I’m really happy to see that Souta-kun’s friend count increased!”

As Akane said this, satisfaction replaced her original envy. Seeing her like this, overflowing with thoughtfulness and kindness, Souta experienced a warm feeling in his heart that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Right. Akane, did you check on me because you were worried? There’s no problem here. I already found a boy to help me.”

“Really?... But, where is he?”

Akane showed a natural expression like ○△○, carefully looking around the locker room.

Seeing Akane’s natural manner completely devoid of malice, or, rather, a manner unfortunately absolutely without malice, Megumu almost cried. He apprehensively raised his small, cute hand.

“Th-that… is oneself.”

“Huh?! Megu-chan’s a girl~ Souta-kun, why are you guys always saying weird things?”

Based on Akane’s innocent laughter, it was clear that she wasn’t bullying; rather, that was what she deeply believed. After all, she was an ‘if she believes it, then she will deeply believe it without any doubt to an unbelievable degree’ kind of girl.

“... Akane, Megumu’s a boy though?”

“Nyaahahaha, stop joking-”

Akane even let out laughter she normally wouldn’t have, causing Megumu to tear up cutely. At this point, Akane finally began to understand the situation.

“Huh? Huh? I-it’s really true…? But-but, because, but-but, because, that’s not a boy’s uniform.”

“Oh… But this isn’t a girl’s uniform either, right? When you think about it, it’s actually more like a boy’s uniform.”

“You really ''can'' notice that!!”

To Akane, this was an earth-shattering revelation.

“So that’s what it was… That’s why I didn’t see Megu-chan in the girl’s PE class… Excuse my lack of manners. This mistake does not befit me.”

“No, in a way, it’s something very much like what Akane would do…”

“... Does this mean, Souta-kun is actually a girl?”

“Hey, you don’t need to overcompensate, Akane…”

Akane nodded emotionally, faced Megumu — he had bent the second knuckle of his index finger at a right angle and was cutely wiping tears from the corner of his eye — and lowered her head in apology.

“Sorry, Megu-chan. I didn’t think you had this kind of secret that even I, Mahougasawa Akane, could not see through.”

“I don’t remember treating this as a secret at all, but it’s fine as long as you understand.”

Akane seemed to think that the world was packed with many secrets. But the vast majority are packed to the brim, so one could say that they’re over-packed.

Anyways, although it was an earth-shattering revelation to Akane, she now thought back to what she was saying before and inadvertently exclaimeds “Ah!”

“Hmph!! I almost started supporting your rocky romance!! Why did things become like this?!”

That’s what Megumu and Souta wanted to ask her. But they chose to remain silent, their smiles strained.

“I’ll go ask Nanami!!”

““Why did things become like this?!””

Megumu and Souta voiced in perfect harmony. Akane had a ‘These two are really close, I got left out again…’ kind of resentful expression, and ran to find Nanami.

He really didn’t know how it would be spun… Souta held back his low spirits and smiled slightly at Megumu.

“Th-then, let’s just get started.”

“Th-that’s right.”

They seemed to have finally remembered their original purpose. But because they had digressed too far, it almost made one doubt whether or not they really remembered.

“I’ll lift this side. Megumu, can you help lift the other side?”

“Leave it to me! It’s finally time to show my ability to break single-use chopsticks!!”

Souta felt a bit uneasy.

“Then… Ready, go!’

“Hahh… hup!”

Upon lifting it, he realized that the cabinet wasn’t as heavy as it seemed… as far as Souta was concerned.

As for Megumu, he couldn’t even stand steady. Dangerous, really dangerous.

Furthermore, there were two more exhausting phases to endure. As if to demonstrate, Megumu’s face reddened as he exerted all his strength. Souta was dumbfounded.

“I-I said… Megumu…? If you can’t move it, I can find other guys…”

“No!! It would waste Souta-kun’s surety that one was a man and subsequent request for help. If one were to give up, one would fail to live up to Souta-kun’s kindness!!”

“No… it’s not that serious…”

Megumu almost cried. But while his steps were unsteady, he still displayed a staunch willpower.

This atmosphere made it difficult for Souta to open his mouth and say that he could probably move it alone. Thus he could only do his best to carefully prevent Megumu from bearing too much weight as they moved. As a result, Souta’s own strength and stamina was depleted anyways.

There was now one more cabinet on the hill of scrap wood used by the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club. Megumu put his hands on his hips and bent forward slightly, He cutely faced Souta, who was wiping sweat off his forehead, and said:

“Thank you, Souta-kun!”

“Huh? It should be me thanking you, right?”

The words seemed to make Megumu a little uncomfortable. Megumu spoke guiltily and shook his head.

“No, you took particular trouble not to let one bear weight, right? Clearly it would’ve been easier for you to move it alone. But one kept clamoring about being a man and as a result persisted in pointlessly hurting you…”

“It wasn’t pointless.”

“Huh…?”

“This kind of persistence in becoming your ideal self… I don’t think it’s pointless.”

“... Souta-kun♡”

Souta empathized and respected the feeling of wanting to be a man, bringing tears to Megumu’s eyes.

“Souta-kun, you’re so considerate…”

Megumu’s mouth formed a dazzling smile, like a flower bursting into full bloom.

Souta, fostering a friendship between men, worked while Megumu deliberately stuck to him. By the time he met up with Kikuno and Nanami, the sun had almost set.

“Big Sis looks away for a moment and Sou-kun brings another girl back!! Big Sis is very concerned!!”

“Okiku-nee… Megumu isn’t a girl…”

“Nyaahahaha, stop joking~”

Kikuno even let out laughter she normally wouldn’t have, and Souta felt a sense of deja vu.

“Look, his uniform is more like a boy’s?”

“You really ''can'' notice that!!”

To Kikuno, this was an earth-shattering revelation.

Megumu’s gender was unbeknownst to everyone. Really made you wonder whether he had blurted out that he was a girl upon introducing himself as a new student…

“Huh~ I thought Megu-chan was a girl. Since Megu-chan always uses the girls’ bathroom.”

“Megumu?!”

Souta thought that this piece of information would be really difficult to explain.

“B-because, many boys complained that one going to the boys’ bathroom made them very uncomfortable. It became a big problem, and then the girls said ‘Megu-chan can use the girls’ bathroom’...”

“......”

This whole situation was hard to determine right from wrong. Souta was left speechless, and decided to change the subject.

“... But anyways, there seems to be more people… was there this many people from the start?”

Aside from the members of the Civil Engineering Club, everyone was getting ready to go home. But looking at the sea of people, it seemed there were a lot more people than before.

“Oh, that’s because the student president, Grandmother, me, and Akane-chan called a lot of friends to come.”

“Huh…?! I feel bad… all this just for someone like me…”

“I begged them, saying that it was for my precious little brother, and everyone came.”

That’s why the group of senpais observing from afar were whispering to each other: ''“So it’s him?”'' ''“Is the girl wearing shorts beside him his girlfriend?”'' ''“What a cute couple.”'' All the while gazing inquisitively.

Souta wholeheartedly wished to escape the scrutinizing eyes. He shifted the conversation towards Nanami, pretending he didn’t hear anything.

“Did Nanami also help call people to come?...... My apologies. Princesses are just different, maybe it’s their moral status?”

“......”

“Nanami?”

Nanami lowered her head, her whole body trembling. Souta approached, looking at her face.

“We…”

“We?”

“W-We didn’t call anybody here, alright?! That is, I don’t have any acquaintances to call at all!! ''My apologies'', princesses don’t even have moral status!!”

“Ah, Nanami, let’s go eat the red bean dumpling soup that the volunteers made for everyone.” Akane said.

“Nanami, you’ve already made up for that with your effort, so it’s all right.” Kikuno said.

“After all, you’re in a remote foreign country. Not having any acquaintances is something that can’t be helped, it’s actually very normal. Don’t worry, Nanami.” Souta said.

“D-… do nyaat console so much!!”

Nanami became angry out of embarrassment.

Because the dorm was in the middle of construction and living there would be dangerous, Souta temporarily resided in ‘The Most Dangerous Boys’ Dorm Room, Challenging the Limits of Rationality’, aka Megumu’s room. After personally experiencing the meaning of danger, the day of his much-anticipated return to Quest House arrived. It seems that this school is flooded with danger.

After working through days and nights, the reborn Quest House…

““““““““““It’s really too magical!!”””””””””

… Anyone who saw it would inadvertently say this. It was reborn reborn. Repeating the word ‘reborn’ twice expresses how much this rebirth changed it. Definitely not because the author’s literary powers have dried up. Hope everybody understands this point.<ref> Smooth, author-sensei, real smooth</ref>

“So amazing… it’s not just unrecognizable, it’s basically a different thing entirely.”

“Praise it a bit more!!”

Suddenly appearing, Student President Mimori proudly — really proudly — stuck out her chest.

“President didn’t do any of the actual work, okay?!”

The Civil Engineering Club president — the Craftsman — Yuzurihakami Mimori.<ref> Her name is 杠上美森. She’s not on the wiki, nor is her name mentioned in the anime, so I had to guess the pronunciation. The last two characters are the same as Mimori’s. As for the first two, I just pieced together some surname readings for 杠 and 上 that I found on Jisho. Incidentally, her name doesn’t contain a ‘class,’ so she probably won’t appear much if at all in the future.</ref>

“Because yours truly has [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_building_syndrome Sick Building Syndrome.”]

“Stop talking nonsense!! Also, this time the renovation used a lot of eco-friendly materials, so how can it trigger Sick Building Syndrome?!”

“Because yours truly has Eco-Friendly Building Syndrome…”

Looks like this person cannot live indoors no matter what… As Souta thought this, Akane, who was beside him, smiled delightedly at him.

“It became a liveable place in one fell swoop.”

“Mmm.”

“It became a place unfit for ghosts.”

“There are ghosts?!”

“Heeheehee, I’m just saying random things.” Akane’s laughter even sounded like random consolation. How terrifying.

“Anyways, according to our original plan, I need to show my skills and clean up Souta-kun’s room!”

“We just finished renovating, I don’t think there would be anywhere to clean, though?!”

Akane jabbed her index fingers together, depressed like Judgement Day had come. Seeing her state, Souta hastily added:

“Uh— but if you could help me unpack my luggage, that would be a big help!”

“Ah, s-sorry, Souta-kun. I’ve troubled you.”

“Big Sis too! Big Sis also wants to unpack luggage together!!”

Seeing Kikuno raise her hand and join this heartwarming topic, Nanami pursed her lips.

“This Big Sis, couldn’t be more close, huh…”

Nearby, Megumu, doing squats for no reason, was so tired his legs almost fell off by the sixth rep.

Seeing that the group’s mood was as warm as tempura right out of the oven, the pensive President Mimori muttered. ‘Tempura right out of the oven’ because the Cooking Research Club was frying it outside to celebrate the rebirth of Quest House, not because Souta and co were heating it up. The tempura looked really delicious, though this has nothing to do with the aforementioned situation.

“But, this headache…”

“What’s wrong, President?”

In truth, this was because a sentence about ‘mood and tempura’ was accidentally written, but one has to make the best of it when at the end of one’s rope… Anyways, Mimori and Tsumugi didn’t care about this at all, sneaking some fried sweet potatoes while emotionally looking at the brand-new dorm.

“According to the rules, dorms with only one resident must be taken down.”

““““““““““And you say that now?!””””””””””

Hearing a sentence they couldn’t ignore, the surrounding people cried in unison.

“Yours truly is Seiteikouji Mimori, the so-called unparalleled king of late reactions. Nobody would dare to accept my challenge!”

“Somebody shut up the president.”

At Tsumugi’s shouted order, Mimori had many strips of tape pasted over her mouth. After tearing off the tape in tears, Mimori yelled, half angry out of embarrassment:

“Rules are rules! Since it’s been completed, it needs to be taken down!”

“Are thou a demon?!”

Nanami couldn’t help but roar back.

Reacting sharper than anyone else to the imminent sad situation in front of her, Akane also stepped in to salvage the situation:

“E-excuse me! How many people does it need to house at minimum?!”

“... Four…?”

“Why are you so unsure?”

Mimori, her memory extremely muddled, remembered after searching the depths of her memory.

“Correction, it’s five people.”

“Five people, huh…”

“Luckily, I heard that we were able to take preventive measures and renovate a few extra rooms thanks to the increase in manpower, so now the amount of usable rooms numbers about ten… gathering just four friends is easy enough, right?”

Mimori chuckled, and Nanami and Akane filled with rage at that.

“How can thy words be so over-the-top?!”

“That’s to say, you’ve crossed the line!!”

“... S-sorry.”

“Even if Sou-kun doesn’t have any friends, you still have Big Sis, okay? Okay?”

Because Nanami and the others spoke up for him, while the student president apologized, Souta seemed even more pitiful. The atmosphere became very indescribable.

“But, even if we didn’t need to gather four more people to live here, one person living by themselves in such a big place is a bit lonely…”

“... No problem. I’m used to being lonely.”

“Nuh-uh, nuh-uh!! Being like that… being very lonely… is very sad, too sad!!”

Looks like Akane, with her can’t-leave-sad-people-alone sickness, lost her temper.

If she left this alone, Akane would probably cry again, so Souta sighed, reluctantly nodding.

“But… if someone does want to live here, I’m okay with it.”

Akane’s eyes brightened, and she clenched her fist.

“Souta-kun needs dormmates, right? Because he’d be lonely, right? Of course! This is not okay! I know! I, Mahougasawa Akane, shall move into this dorm!”

“Hey, isn’t this a boys’ dorm?!”

“Is it?”

Akane looked at Tsumugi, her movements indicating that matters regarding the academy should be asked to the living dictionary.

“This was originally a faculty dormitory. I think it did not particularly differentiate men and women…”

“Then it’s '''''no problem'''''!”

“God… Hey, President, you should say something, too!”

Souta thought that boys and girls living under the same roof was definitely not '''''no problem''''', and he hastily begged Mimori to advise Akane to change her mind.

“Boys and girls living under the same roof is very romantic!!”

“Somebody shut this rascal up.”

Finally, even Tsumugi couldn’t be polite.

“But wasn’t it Akane who sponsored the reconstruction of the dorm out of her own pocket? Is it okay to disregard the sponsor’s ideas…”

“Nanami, I’m begging you not to say so much!”

“This is the sponsor’s authority!”

“Since it’s the sponsor’s authority, the student president’s authority can only permit it!”

Mimori, who was almost shut up but didn’t shut up, asserted. This is because her ability to not shut up is especially profound.

“But! However! Isn’t a boy and a girl inappropriate?!”

Souta retorted.

Kikuno raised her hand to retort back.

“Then Big Sis will also move in!”

“I see, so a boy and two girls wouldn’t be inappropriate.”

“Isn’t it more inappropriate?!”

The student president approved Kikuno’s idea, then retorted Kikuno’s retort to Souta’s retort. Now it’s already impossible to tell right from left.

“E-excuse me!! C-can one also come with?!”

“I said, Megumu…”

“Okay, this way we have balanced it out with one boy and three girls!”

“Where, how? Where is the balance?”

Leaving aside Souta’s retort towards Mimori, Megumu, having been regarded as a girl, lost the light in his eyes, and his small, half-open mouth drifted into an empty smile.

“Still missing one person.”

“......”

“There isn’t anyone else who will move here anymore.”

“......”

“That’s right… Why don’t we find one of Big Sis’s friends…”

“......”

Every time Akane, Souta, and Kikuno muttered their thoughts, Nanami coughed silently.

“How about the craftsman?”

“How about the president?”

“How about Grandmother, Sou-kun?”

“......”

Nanami started wordlessly kicking the door post of Quest House. They say door post and '''''want you''''' sound very similar,<ref> That is, the Japanese pronunciation for ‘door post’ is similar to how Japanese people would pronounce ‘want you’ in English, as they’re only off by one phoneme (monchyou vs wonchyou)</ref> though this has nothing to do with this situation.

“... Miss Princess of Bladefield is almost crying, everyone…”

Megumu, not knowing the right time to come back to life, saw Nanami crouch and shudder with tear-filled eyes, and his sympathetic heart almost broke.

“Come on, we’re just kidding, Nanami. You’re willing to move here, right?”

“Yeah, the last person has to be Nanami since she’s very close with Sou-kun.”

“That’s right, there’s nobody else to choose but Nanami.”

“As long as Nanami is here, Big Sis will also be relieved.”

After Akane and Kikuno continuously took turns and finished speaking, Nanami stood up, her mood having rapidly improved.

“I a-a-a-a-a-absolutely was not about to cry. But since, in any event, ye are persistent and want Us to come, We will also…”

Before Nanami, who a-a-a-a-a-absolutely did not wipe her tears with her sleeves, could finish her sentence, Souta accidentally asked Akane and Kikuno:

“Hey, you guys were just kidding?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Failure flags were raised on the heads of tongue-tied Akane and Kikuno. Nanami’s eyes filled with tears again and she angrily stamped her feet.

“Absolutely not! Unless it’s the room at the very edge, or else I won’t live here!!”

“I want the room next to Sou-kun!”

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai, you’re so sly! I also want to live next to Souta-kun!”

“Th-then, I want to live in the room opposite Souta-kun.”

Looks like that area’s population density is very high.

“Only Nanami’s room is super far away.”

“Ye group of idiots—!”

Souta was inexplicably hammered many times by the unwilling-to-be-alone Nanami.

“... I understand it now. I just need to move near Nanami’s room, right…”

“Sou-kun is so considerate!! No wonder he’s Big Sis’s good little brother!!”

Souta thought with a smile, ‘not bad, I’ll have to bring in the luggage again anyways. Kikuno was so touched by her little brother that she hugged him tightly.

“Whoa… Okiku-nee, everyone’s watching! They’re all watching!”

Souta, panicking and trying to escape Kikuno’s smothering chest, was given an envious look by everyone.

“I-I’m next! I want to hug!”

Pretending to be jealous of Souta but actually jealous of Kikuno, Akane lined up behind Kikuno.

“O-one too…”

Megumu lined up behind Akane.

Mimori smiled at the close boarders of the new Quest Dorm.

“In short, we have gathered five people. One boy and four girls is fine, right?”

“No problem!”

“It is a huge problem…”

Akane agreed, but Tsumugi showed signs of reluctance.

“The problem has expanded, right?! You don’t think that it’s pretty much become a girls’ dorm?!”

“Leave it to yours truly, Mimori, the so-called unparalleled problem concealer!! Bwahahahahaha!!”

What was so funny remained a mystery. But anyways, Mimori, who seemed like she really did to conceal the problem, burst into laughter.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
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</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3

2025-01-01T22:58:42Z

Person72635:

==Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base<ref> As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear.</ref>==
“Um… I live in a dorm. What about it…?”

As Souta slung his backpack over his shoulders at the end of the school day, Akane had asked, “Souta-kun, where do you live?” After Souta answered, she nodded in feigned understanding.

“Can we go play there?”

“No.”

Hearing Souta’s response, Akane’s eyes welled up in tears. She blubbered “Oh~”, her friendship flag breaking in reply.

''He’s still as rough with the flags as before…'' Nanami watched the conversation in her peripheral vision as she put her stationery in her school bag.

“That kind of place isn’t suitable for girls to visit.”

“Like the boy’s bathroom?”

“What kind of dorm would that be?!”

Akane’s off-putting question resulted in a rare Souta retort.

“Like your room’s in a stall?”

“Even prisoners live better than that, right…?”

No, since it’s Miss Heiress, the toilet in her mansion might be quite big. With this thought process, Souta decided it was pointless to hide it, so he told the truth.

“How do I put it? It’s because my dorm’s messy, it’s a total wreck.”

“Then we’ll go clean it up! Don’t look at Akane that way, but Akane really does love to be clean though? Mm-hmm!<ref> It’s supposed to be the noise Hirasawa Yui makes in ''K-On!''. Again, I haven’t watched it, so apologies if it isn’t entirely accurate.</ref>”

As usual, another one of Akane’s friendship flags was raised immediately. Souta’s feelings about them had already begun to gradually move from fear to admiration.

Despite Akane’s enthusiastic proposal, Souta still crossed his arms and sighed in contemplation. “Hmmmm…”

On the other hand, Akane was really motivated. For some reason, she was wiping an imaginary window with exaggerated movements, as if she were practicing boxing. Although, even if she was wiping a window, it was more like ‘Wax on, wax off.’<ref> Karate Kid reference</ref>

“Huh?! Huh?! What happened? Souta and Akane, why did you guys suddenly become so close without Big Sis’s consent?!”

Kikuno, not knowing what had happened during lunch, protested with her eyes welling up in tears. She seemed to blame Souta, her expression a little accusatory.

“That requires consent…?”

Nanami, having become a bystander, murmured to herself with a faint smile.

“We just ate together during the lunch break, we’re not actually as close as you say…”

Kikuno puffed her cheeks angrily, as cute as a child no older than one. Souta comforted her while explaining what had happened.

After listening to Souta’s explanation, Kikuno nodded with a slight smile, feigning understanding.

“Really? Akane-chan is a really good kid, Big Sis strongly approves of your friendship!”

It seems consent has been acquired.

Kikuno turned and faced Akane with a deep bow.

“Please take care of Sou-kun.”

“D-don’t be like that, Okiku-nee…!”

“Yeah, Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like I’m an outsider.”

“Huh?! You’re already family?! Sou-kun, why didn’t you discuss this with Big Sis first?! Big Sis feels so lonely!!”

It seems consent has not been fully acquired.

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

Big Sis’s logic was too unpredictable and Souta was at a loss, but Akane, the central subject, was still smiling brightly.

“... Speaking of which, Akane just referred to Okiku-nee as ‘senpai’, right?”

Although Kikuno was supposed to be a year older than them, calling a classmate ‘senpai’ is still pretty strange.

“Ah, um. Senpai guided me when I came to this school last year. Since she was Senpai at the time, it feels a bit weird to change it now…”

“Ah, but, at the time, I already knew I would become a freshman a year late.”

The senpai in the same grade seemed a bit shy.

It’s unclear whether this resolves the subject, but Akane, who wasn’t especially paying attention, returned to the original subject.

“Then, since we got your Big Sis’s approval, we can go to Souta’s dorm now! Mm-hmm!”

“... She approved?”

“Big Sis also wants to go! Mm-hmm!”

Kikuno, even more free-spirited than Akane, raised her hands with this declaration, cutting off Souta’s question.

Met with inexplicable enthusiasm, Souta was then patted on the waist from behind, startling him.

“!?”

He turned to look, but there was nobody behind him… Then he found that it came from below.

To Souta, who was 170 cm tall, the other person was a girl 50 cm shorter than him. Not only her height, but her appearance looked young. Although she looked like an elementary school student, her uniform revealed her to be a student in the same grade. That said, the other students had called her ‘Grandmother’ during the lunch break, even asking her for advice.

“Give up, young Souta.”<ref> Tsumugi technically calls others 'little brother/sister *name*', but I think 'young' fits better.</ref>

“Young?!”

The young girl, who seemed not to wear anything on her lower half, spoke to Souta in a wizened tone, as if he were a little rascal or devil.<ref> The Chinese translation I’m using uses 萝卜头 and 鬼头 (lit. ‘carrot-head’ and ‘devil-head’), which are somewhat xenophobic terms in Cantonese referring to Japanese people and Westerners respectively… no idea what the original intention was.</ref> As a result, Souta couldn’t help but raise his voice.

“Young Akane has a disease where she just can’t leave hapless beings alone, you could say she’s in a critical condition. If you continue having this kind of hapless aura, you’ll always be stuck with her, okay? Plus, young Kikuno is also very stubborn.”

The little girl chuckled and went on her way home.

Akane followed the silhouette with her eyes, and told the dumbstruck Souta:

“She’s Grandmother Tsumugi.”

“‘Grandmother’...? … Is she an old lady?”

They say that humans will gradually shrink when they pass a certain age, so maybe she was like that? But whether it’s her delicate skin or her facial features, she looks indistinguishable from a young girl. Or is she just an old-fashioned little girl who skipped a few grades? The mysteries surrounding her identity increased.

“She’s the Living Dictionary of the academy. They say that our academy doesn’t have students who don’t listen to Grandmother Tsumugi’s words.”

“What happens if you don’t listen?”

“You’ll be cursed.”

“That isn’t the same as a living dictionary, right?!”

Akane was pretty much just saying random things, but Souta didn’t know whether to take the rumor seriously or lose to Akane’s enthusiasm or even think that Tsumugi’s advice did indeed make sense. Regardless, Souta sighed deeply, forced a smile, and said to Akane:

“Nevermind. Since you want to come over so much, come. But I’m not kidding that the dorm is messy, alright?”

“Mm-hmm!! I’ll take the chance to show my great skills! It’ll be my first time cleaning up a boy’s room!!”

“B-Big Sis also wants to clean up!!”

“Let’s team up!! Attack as a team!”

They actually wanted to attack…? Souta’s mood dimmed, and he looked at the ‘Inexplicably Motivated’ flag sticking up on Akane’s head with a strained smile.

“It’s highly-anticipated, right, Nanami?”

“Huh? Why ask me?”

As Nanami zipped up her backpack, she was suddenly thrown into the fray by Akane. Nanami frowned in suspicion.

“Because we’re going together~”

“Why…?”

“I’ll tell you after we get there.”

“There’s basically no point in telling Us after we get there!!”

Nanami somehow discovered Akane’s trap. Mahougasawa Akane… How did you think that she wouldn’t notice?

“... Nevermind, there’s nothing to do anyways. Plus, the Big Sis isn’t very responsible, and giving the kind of guy Souta a chance to be by himself is dangerous, so there’s no harm in having Us accompany you.”

“After all, Souta-kun would explode.”

“Am I really that dangerous?!”

This requires a Level 5 hazardous waste management license. In other words, a nitroglycerine person; or, perhaps, human nitroglycerin?<ref> lmfao Bakugo??</ref> Anyways, there’s no difference.

And so, the four-person group of Akane, Nanami, Kikuno, and Souta was formed, heading towards the dorm where Souta lived.

Hatagaya Academy’s huge campus was encircled by a total of four [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-Bahn H-Bahn sky train] stations; namely, Yoyogi Uehara Station to the southwest of the academy, Yoyogi Park Station to the southeast, Hatagaya North Station to the northwest, and Hatsudai North Station to the northeast.

The high school division was near Yoyogi Park Station, while Souta’s dorm was near Hatsudai North Station.

Although these were walkable distances, students of Hatagaya Academy can freely get on and off these four stations so long as they present their student IDs, so of course they choose to take the trains.

“I thought the dorms were all concentrated on the main road. Turns out there are some here as well.”

“Yep… For the sake of caution, I’ll confirm once again: the dorms are really messy, are you guys absolutely sure you want to come?”

“Hey Souta, thou hath only transferred for two days, and your room is already messy enough that it’s not to be seen by others…?”

“If you have any complaints, then just don’t come…”

Before Nanami could counter Souta’s already exhausted words, Akane interjected cheerfully:

“It’s definitely just that your luggage hasn’t been completely sorted yet and is in a messy pile, right? Just leave it to me!”

Akane’s ‘motivated’ flag was still flying strong.

The four got off at the academy’s Hatsudai North Station and, after walking a short distance, gradually saw farms and pastures.

“... What is this? The countryside?” Nanami asked.

“If I remember correctly… this is the farm of the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club.”

“Horticulture…?”

The landscape looked bucolic from a distance, and it felt considerably large. Nanami frowned, wondering if it was part of a backup plan adopted by farmers afraid of the production reduction policy.<ref> Might be referring to Japan’s [https://www.tokyofoundation.org/research/detail.php?id=86 Rice Acreage-Reduction Policy]</ref>

Behind the farms was a dense stretch of woods, actually more like a forest than woods. Walking in there felt like being showered by forest.

“... There’s a dorm in this place?”

“Awesome, your home is in a forest.”

Compared to Nanami’s unhappy expression of “there should be a limit to how remote this is”, Akane smiled as she always did, thinking positively.

Souta, leading them, had a different attitude and plodded on.

And then, in a small clearing in the forest—

A building stood quietly.

The edge of the roof had fallen, and not only was part of the wall collapsed, it was also covered with vines. The door had almost rotted through, the windows were broken, and the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds.

Even by the lowest standards, it still looked like…

“Ruins…?”

“What…? What’s going on with this tattered dorm…”

“Are these not ruins? Souta, thou didst not go to the wrong place, right?”

“See? What did I say?”

Souta showed the dorm’s certification page in the student handbook. It said ‘Quest House’. Nanami looked at the moldy dorm plaque and knit her brows.

“This is indeed ‘Quest House’...”

“So you live… here…?”

Akane’s eyes lost their light, frozen in shock. However, Souta smiled and nodded with a hint of self-deprecation.

“For a lonely, poor person like me with dead parents, what could I expect? I have nowhere to go, and no home to go back to… The academy now not only gives me shelter from the elements, but also a scholarship. If I ask for too much and get kicked out, wouldn’t I be in an even more tragic state?”

“But… even if it’s like that, to live in this kind of place is…”

“After all, this is my situation, so I’m pretty easy to take advantage of. But taking in somebody like me makes it easier for the academy to raise money… Although, the fact of the matter is, they only need to take me in. Nobody really cares how it’s handled afterward.”

“How can this be… That’s too much…”

Souta’s attitude might have been due to all the tragedies he’d experienced. This attitude, coupled with his situation, made Akane even more worried.

But before Akane’s feelings burst out, Kikuno’s tear glands had already let loose.

“It’s too much… It’s too much… So it’s like this… they actually want Sou-kun to live in this kind of place…!!”

Kikuno’s tears streamed down her face as she cried. Souta was taken aback.

“Hey… Wh-why does Okiku-nee need to cry? I… I don’t really mind.”

“Anywhere is fine… Poor Souta-kun…”

“Even Akane is crying?!”

Next to Kikuno, Akane followed suit, her tears pouring down like a waterfall. In this atmosphere, Souta was already in no position to prevent this.

“... Souta, didst thou plan to let the peerless Miss Heiress clean this place up? Instead of cleaning it up, is it not faster to raze it to the ground and rebuild it again…?”

At least, Nanami wouldn’t want to step foot into this dorm.

“Why… Why did Sou-kun have to meet this kind of treatment…”

“Waaah~ It’s too much… It’s too unfair…”

Kikuno and Akane, who erupted into tears, and Souta, who had been struggling to deal with Akane, didn’t hear Nanami speak at all.

Especially the always indifferent Souta — although he didn’t care about hurting himself, when he met girls who felt sad for him, he didn’t know what to do. Since he had no clue how to deal with Akane, he looked to Nanami for help, almost crying himself.

Having never encountered such mayhem before, Nanami retreated on the spot.

“Uh…! … This… E-enough! Crying for what? Think of a solution instead! Doing anything else would be better than this!”

Nanami already stopped holding back, pretty much ready to ride to battle at this point. Akane stopped crying, beamed, and hugged Nanami.

“Nanami really is a good person!”

“Whoa… Hey! Stop hugging, stop sticking to Us! Quick, Souta, come save Us!”

Nanami, who couldn’t stand Akane rubbing her cheeks, issued an SOS signal. Souta mocked instead:

“Isn’t this great? I think you guys are closer friends with each other than with me, yeah?”

Souta, who originally had a sad smile, didn’t mean anything bad when he said this. However, facing the wrong direction, Kikuno’s super-sensitive Sisterly Love Radar received the wrong signals at that moment and she rushed over to Souta.

“D-don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will help you ask Akane to be your friend! You don’t have to feel lonely!”

“Huh…? No… Okiku-nee, what are you…!”

“Akane, please also be friends with Souta!”

Kikuno, ignoring Souta’s attempt at stopping her and with her sisterly doting reaching its peak, sincerely pleaded.

Receiving her plea, Akane’s frequently-used Loneliness Sensor revved to its max. She let go of Nanami, clasped Souta’s hand, and said:

“I’m sorry, Souta! I’m your friend, but I made you feel lonely; I’m unworthy of being a friend! Souta-kun’s my good friend, though! Please don’t feel lonely! Akane and Nanami and Kikuno-senpai and Souta-kun are a very close group of four!”

Akane made Kikuno hold the hands of Nanami and Souta, and took the two’s empty other hands herself, forming a circle. The four started spinning circles, but only Akane laughed aloud: “Ahahahahaha!”

After spinning for a while, Akane, albeit dizzy and unsteady, faced Souta and said:

“Look! I also can’t let poor Souta go uncared for!”

“Souta’s on the other side, Akane.”

Because she was dizzy and unsteady, she didn’t face Souta.

“Mother once said, ‘Close friends are magic staffs’ and ‘That’s the magic that makes you feel like you can do anything’. In my mind, Souta-kun and Nanami are wonderful, bright magic.”

Akane clasped Souta’s hand again, smiling. As if infected by the poetic lines, Nanami grinned slightly and added a sentence of her thoughts:

“Put simply, Akane is a magician specializing in summoning gentle fairies~”

“Nanami, you’re a poet!”

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

Nanami, snapping out of it, thought she said something embarrassing and her face heated up.

“I want to hear more of Nanami’s poems!”

“Do not mention poetry!!”

“What does that matter, this is the privilege of youth! Everyone, let’s abuse this privilege together and run around the seaside asking for trouble at dusk!”

“Do nyaat<ref> If you remember from Chapter 1, Nanami makes cat sounds when distressed</ref> waste your youth!”

''The atmosphere’s getting better and better…'' Souta thought as he watched Akane and Nanami with a strained smile. He then inadvertently looked at the top of Akane’s head…

“Souta-kun also needs to waste our youth with us.”

Akane’s ‘can’t leave pitiful people alone’ attitude completely switched on, and friendship flags raised in an overwhelming frenzy

Seeing the flags raise everywhere, Souta thought, ''Was it me?! Did I do something wrong?! God… please, don’t do this anymore.'' He couldn’t help but take three steps backwards. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that within the pile of friendship flags stood a singular pink flag with a heart symbol…

“... Then, what should we do to fix the dorm?”

“That’s what We want to ask!”

Sitting on the train on their way back, Akane triumphantly turned her neck and asked. Nanami then roared back, as if attacked.

The group consisting of Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress, who were a little ignorant of the world, plus the newly transferred Souta, crossed their arms and looked to the sky in deep thought.

Watching this group of youngsters with a smile, Kikuno picked the right opportunity, raised her index finger, and said:

“When in a predicament, the saying goes that only old ginger is spicy.”

Rumor has it, the person who looks like a little girl and sips green tea at the Tea Ceremony Club might be the “old” ginger.

“The tattered dorm? Quest House? After all, it was built when the academy was founded. Even if you tidied it up, it still wouldn’t become clean.”

It was the academy’s Living Dictionary. After listening to Akane and co. speak, Tsumugi put a [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Rakugan ''rakugan''] in her mouth and said:

“Would it not indeed be faster to rebuild it from the ground?”

Although Nanami asserted that her earlier joke wasn’t far from the answer, Tsumugi took a sip of her tea and then poured cold water over her.

“I heard that the school management is in dire straits due to the declining birthrate. Would they be willing to pay for it?”

“Can’t we… think of a way?!”

“Students these days are too dependent on other people. They just don’t understand taking matters into their own hands…”

Seeing Tsumugi enter preaching mode, the four all inched back slowly, smiling stiffly.

“Speaking of which, it’s just a little worn out, but you immediately lose heart, proving that recent young people lack perseverance. It’s not like we elders like saying this…”

Akane and co. quietly slid open the paper [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoji ''shoji''] of the Tea Ceremony Club. Meanwhile, Tsumugi was still ranting with her eyes closed.

After leaving the Tea Ceremony Club, they sat down on the benches on the sidewalk, hopelessly sipping on juice boxes.

“Then, would we get in trouble if we rebuilt without permission?”

“It’d be surprising not to…”

Nanami, relatively less demoralized, asked a sincere question and was immediately rejected by Souta.

“Then there’s no other way… Souta, please get in trouble.”

“You’re planning to rebuild in secret?!”

Souta was scared silly.

“Don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will get in trouble in your stead!

“Doting to this extent…!”

Big Sis’s sisterly love made Nanami retreat.

Meanwhile, Souta was afraid of Akane, whose tears had broken the surface tension of her eyes.

“... Every time I watch [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sara ''Princess Sara''] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_of_Flanders_(TV_series) ''Dog of Flanders''], I always can’t stop crying, can’t stop crying, can’t bear to keep watching! When I imagine Souta in that position… in a tattered dorm, in a snowstorm… dying… I just…”

A huge teardrop streamed down Akane’s face again.

“Don’t make people cry!!”

“S-sorry… I-I’ll be fine. See~ Speaking of which, I’d probably be more like Perrine or Lassie.”<ref> The main characters of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Perrine ''The Story of Perrine''] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Dog_Lassie ''Famous Dog Lassie.''] The four anime referenced in this section are old-school anime adaptations of Western children’s classics and part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Masterpiece_Theater ''World Masterpiece Theater''], running from the mid 70s to the late 90s.</ref>

“More like an animal…”

“Sou-kun, you’re so cute!”

“Souta-kun, so you’re actually a beast!!”

Disregarding the discrepancy in opinion between sister and friend, Souta felt aggrieved at being called a beast.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Souta beast’s house or a dog’s house. The point is that, even if we wanted to remodel, we would have to overcome the issue of finances.”

“Nanami called her friend a beast or dog, that’s too over-the-top!”

“Thou clearly saidst it first, thou clearly saidst it first!!”

As Akane and Nanami chattered, Souta, at his tender age, discovered that being called a beast or dog by the female sex really hurt.

“Souta, dost thou want to try begging? Since Akane is a rich heiress, she could definitely provide funds.”

“Huh?! Souta, you want to beg me?! That’s more than I could ever wish for! It’d be the first time a boy begged me! Go ahead, go ahead, please! Mm-hmm!”

“......”

Seeing Akane move her arms like a wrestler before a match, expressing her enthusiasm by bringing both elbows horizontally in front of her chest while breathing heavily,<ref>The signature move of Japanese wrestler [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyonobori Michiharu Toyonobori.] I think it’s the arm-wavy thing at 1:07 in the video Gorilla Monsoon vs. Toyonobori - 3/28/1963 (I can’t embed youtube links apparently), I watched a couple clips and he seems to do it pretty often.</ref> the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched.

If Souta refused to beg Akane now, Souta’s tragic plight would not be resolved, Akane would continue to be sad, and Nanami would continue blaming Souta for making Akane sad. In this spiral of sorrow and pain, it was ultimately Souta who got hurt.

Additionally, he also thought that the most important thing was avoiding Akane’s expectant smile. So, after thoroughly preparing himself, Souta finally said:

“Akane, please build me a new dorm.”

“Huh— how ordinary—”

“Couldn’t thou have acted more flattering, Souta?”

Reprimanded by the two girls, the young man instantly lost his foothold.

“Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to help you beg?”

With even the doting Big Sis saying something, even getting a toehold was unthinkable, not to mention a foothold.

At this point, Souta steeled himself, forced out a dazzling smile, and said to Akane:

“Could you please help poor little old me build a new dorm, o mesmerizing Akane-chan? You are the angel of my heart, the only one I can beg.”

“Souta-kun, you sound like a player.”

“Souta, thou art thoroughly rotten.”

“You two were the ones who wanted me to say it, though!!

Souta was hit hard, hugging his knees and shouting into them on the bench.

“Big Sis knows her Sou-kun isn’t that kind of child!”

Doting Big Sis’s trust was unnecessarily heavy.

“But, I wouldn’t be a woman if I couldn’t respond to a man’s whole-hearted plea. I want to do something for him… however—”

“However?”

Seeing Akane stop talking, Nanami was puzzled.

“I, don't have money…”

“Huh? Art not thou Miss Heiress?”

“To be honest… When I came here to live in a dorm, I accepted my family’s condition: unless it’s an urgent emergency, I must do my best to deal with it without depending on my family. So…”

“So it’s like that. Allowing freedom, but requiring self-sufficiency… It’s like that everywhere.”

Nanami smiled wryly, clenching her empty juice box.

“Huh?”

“It’s okay. However, this is a headache. Our principality is also very poor… To ask for money is to ask the impossible…”

Akane and Nanami cast Souta aside and started their own discussion. This allowed Souta to suddenly regain his senses.

“Excuse me… That said, what exactly did I just do that for then…?”

“Souta-kun’s efforts will not be wasted. Someday that effort will bear fruit, and its harvest will be taken for foodstuff and displayed in a storefront.”

Although he felt he was gradually being taken for foodstuff, since Akane’s coy laugh of “Heeheehee” was really cute and he didn’t feel any malicious intent, Souta could only deal with it with a sigh in the end.

“Before Souta-kun is taken for foodstuff, we must do our best to help him, Nanami!”

“Huh…? We need to too…?”

Both hands held tightly by Akane, Nanami frowned, troubled.

Although, Akane just seemed to like the uncommonly used word ‘foodstuff’, so she really wanted to use it.

“Big Sis will come too, Sou-kun!”

What Big Sis would do afterwards was unclear.

In the end, they didn’t think of a good idea that day, so the meeting was adjourned… The next morning—

Souta entered the classroom and sat down in his seat. Nanami turned, sitting on the side of her chair, and said good morning while getting to the point.

“We asked the housemasters at Our dorm, and it seems that the boys’ dorms are full to the point they’re about to burst.”

“Ah, then… me being put there, might not have been entirely out of malicious intent.”

Looking closely, while Souta’s uniform and school bag were obviously brand new, they seemed to be covered with a layer of dust.

“It might genuinely be better for thou to live in a tent.”

“I can’t put one up though…”

“You guys are planning to go camping without inviting me?! It would be my first time living in a tent. I always live in a villa, homestay, or vacation apartment and such!”

Akane popped in between the two.

“Thy head is only filled with thoughts about playing…”

Nanami smiled lightly, and Akane continued to ask her, “Are you going to the mountains? Or the beach?”

“Thou misunderstandest. We’re talking about Souta’s dorm.”

“Oh… Everyone should forget about the dorm business, and go play together?”

“Thy optimism is too exaggerated!!”

Incidentally, when you get tired of playing and go home, there is a trap of ‘remembering reality and falling into despair’ waiting for you.

“Hey~ What’s up with the dorm?”

The classmate with blonde hair and pierced ears who gave Souta his seat earlier heard the exchange and asked frivolously.

After Souta explained, he looked at the sky with an “Umm--”, and, after a long while, he said:

“Would you like to come to our dormitory? I think it’d be okay as long as you explain everything. Although crowding a fifth person into a room meant for four might be a little tight.”

''He’s obviously a frivolous guy who would cheat girls everywhere, but he’s still kind regardless'' The surrounding students lamented that this guy really didn’t match his appearance.

But, Souta looked at the frivolous classmate’s head, and immediately replied:

“I can’t sleep if I’m not alone.”

“Really? Then it can’t be helped.”

He gave up and walked back to his seat.

“We said that thou art not allowed to break flags!”

Nanami saw everything, and mercilessly awarded Souta a hand chop.

“Flag…?”

Akane tilted her head suspiciously, and Souta hurriedly covered it up with a “Nothing, nothing.”

However, either because Souta didn’t cover it up correctly or his agitation wasn’t very natural, Akane felt that something wasn’t right with Souta’s series of actions.

“What’s going on… Is he awkward? Or… afraid?... Just like that time… like with me… if it’s really like that… if it’s really like that… then there’s even more reasons why I can’t just leave him alone!”

Akane’s mind strengthened Souta’s sorry impression, and her flags stood up more fiercely on her head.

Souta saw this and tiredly exhibited a pained expression.

… At this time, the dainty classmate Ryuukishibara Tsumugi</ref> Tsumugi’s surname indicates that her ‘class’ is dragon rider</ref> and Kikuno walked into the classroom with a young girl wearing a uniform with a strangely colored bow tie, equipped with shoulder pads and arm guards, dressed quite strangely.

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai… and Grandmother.”

“You lot, you left yesterday without listening to all of my words?! Young people nowadays are really…”

“Okay okay, Grandmother, pointless ramblings don’t really count.”

The female classmate brought by Tsumugi let out a heroic laugh of “Bwahahahahaha!” and stopped Tsumugi’s rant.

“You just said something silly…”

“Excuse me, Grandmother… This person is…?”

Akane asked this, and saw the mysterious girl catch everyone’s attention by unnecessarily flipping her hair and stepping forward.

“Yours truly<ref> Mimori literally refers to herself using ‘this person’ (本人), so I’m gonna use ‘yours truly’.</ref> waited for someone to ask before introducing myself, that was really Discord…<ref> The Chinese says ‘oolong’, but that doesn’t even sound remotely close to what she corrected herself to say… I changed it to sound more like a slip of the tongue</ref> correction, that was really discourteous of yours truly. Yours truly Hatagaya Academy’s student president, Seiteikouji Mimori<ref> Mimori’s surname contains the words for ‘holy emperor’, given the armor she likes to wear her ‘class’ is probably paladin</ref>!”

“The student president…”

“This academy attaches great importance to student autonomy. Seek the Student Council if you are in need of assistance. In fact, the Student Council is also responsible for dormitory affairs, and yours truly is the person in charge.”

“Eh?! So she’s the one who put Souta-kun in that kind of dorm?!”

Akane’s and Nanami’s gazes were mixed with some hostility.

“Yours truly was accidentally on autopilot and put him in an empty dorm~ But I hear it’s very shabby, right? Yours truly will observe the situation after school, and then we’ll go on from there. And Grandmother asked yours truly to do what I can to help!”

“Huh… Didn’t Grandmother say that we were too dependent on others yesterday…?”

“I did say to take matters into your own hands. But I never said I wouldn’t help? The short-temperedness of young people isn’t good.”

Tsumugi crossed her arms and pursed her lips. Purely in terms of appearance, she looked like a pouting young girl.

But, her raised arms exuded so much senseless good intentions that Akane happily put her hands together.

“Grandmother is so reliable!!”

“Although it should be that yours truly is more reliable!!”

Mimori pointlessly and unreasonably refused to be outdone, making Nanami laugh.

“The student president is so childish…”

“... And, since young Kikuno was full of sisterly love and pleaded tearfully, it can’t be helped. You, sir, have a good sister, young Souta.”

Although, said sister was really just a sisterly neighbor who lived nearby and loved to take care of people. However, Souta couldn’t say anything about that in this kind of atmosphere.

“Thank you, Okiku-nee.”

“Why so polite? As Big Sis, helping Sou-kun goes without saying!”

However, those who knew the truth strained a smile. The only person at the scene who wasn’t straining a smile but rather smiling from ear to ear was Akane.

“Great, Souta-kun!”

“I don’t really care… but, since Akane and Okiku-nee won’t be sad, then so be it, I guess?

Regardless of his real thoughts, Souta naturally smiled a little as he said this, making Akane ecstatic and feel as if all her pores had opened.

''Souta-kun’s smile… as expected, it’s mesmerizing…! I want to see it more!''

Seeing the flag on Akane’s head twinkle, Souta’s smile instantly clouded over, and Akane nearly cried.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2

2025-01-01T22:58:22Z

Person72635:

==Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches==

The day after Souta transferred.

The excitement of the previous day was like a dream. Other than Kikuno, the only person who would actively seek him out to talk, people stopped approaching Souta after class.

As the daylight waned in the noisy classroom, only one word described Souta sitting at his seat — lonely.

His figure evoked loneliness.

“They don’t so much as glance at him, is this reality… Has everyone already lost interest in the transfer student?”

Nanami sat sideways on her chair, expressing her honest opinion of Souta.

However, the classroom atmosphere was less that of ostracism so much as… that feeling of ‘the new transfer student seems to like being alone and doesn’t want to interact, so let’s just let him be.’

Souta didn’t seem to care at all. “Oh, that’s because…” he replied:

“After a flag breaks, it won’t reappear that easily. If something special happens, the flag could reappear or a ‘Flag Recovery’ flag might appear…”

“This mechanism is quite annoying…”

Human relationships might indeed be like this, it’s just that this flag thing is too exaggerated — Nanami understood this implicitly. As the bell rang, she turned to face forward.

However… there was a pair of eyes secretly staring at them.

The eyes’ owner looked breathlessly at Souta, who hadn’t left his seat, for the entire class and seemed to nod with determination…

Lunch break.

The students either started eating lunch with three to five friends around a desk or went to the cafeteria together. A lively atmosphere filled the classroom.

In contrast, Nanami and Souta were too quiet, staring at their respective desks and quietly nibbling on the salty bread they bought that morning.

Their loneliness was so strong that people couldn’t approach them, adding even more loneliness and falling into an endless negative spiral. FYI, the word spiral definitely wasn’t used because it’s a cool word. Spiral.

Based on her excessively protective mentality, if Kikuno was there it would be impossible for Souta to stay in that loneliness spiral, and they would definitely be eating lunch together. Unfortunately, in order to give advice to those who volunteered to study abroad, Kikuno was attending a lunch gathering hosted by the Student Council and wasn’t in the classroom.

Suddenly, a shadow approached this singular space.

It was an approachable girl, a beautiful girl-next-door type person. Each grade generally has one of those.

If Nanami’s beauty was like a rose, hers would be a cherry blossom that rouses people’s protective instincts.

She had shoulder-length hair with big bows swaying on both sides highlighting her cuteness.

“Hi, my name is Mahougasawa Akane.<ref> Akane’s last name includes the characters for ‘magician’, hence the title of this chapter.</ref>”

The girl… Akane smiled gently and suddenly brought her face closer — close enough to feel her breath — and surprised Souta, who stiffened.

The thing that made Souta’s expression most tense was that…

''The flag… It’s been raised…''

A friendship flag flapped on Akane’s head.

“Ah, I hope you don’t feel repulsed! I’m not a suspicious person, I’m a mysterious classmate, okay?”

“You’re mysterious?!”

So suspicious it might explode.

“Excuse me… what does this mysterious classmate want from me?”

“I’m Akane-chan, though?”

“... Mahougasawa-san, what do—”

“I’m Akane-chan, though?”

Souta was interrupted by Akane halfway through his sentence.

“... Akane, what do you want from me?”

“Oh! It’s the first time a boy used my first name directly.”

Souta glanced at the friendship flag, which had been splashed with a hint of pink.

Akane also blushed pink, matching the flag. She didn’t seem to notice the subtle movements of his eyes. She asked generously:

“Can we eat a bento together?”

Honestly, Souta didn’t really want to interact with people, and most importantly, he was more apprehensive than happy at the thought of having lunch with two girls in the classroom. After all, he was a sensitive boy in his teenage years, so this was an expected reaction.

“... It’s bothersome.”

“He thinks I’m a bother!!”

Akane’s friendship flag broke, and Souta was relieved.

Nanami was already peeking at them through the corner of her eyes while drinking from her milk carton. At this time, she leaned over beside Souta’s ear and asked:

“Souta, was the flag raised?”

“Yeah…”

“Did you break it?”

“Pretty much…”

“Oh.” Despite her disinterested expression, Nanami looked into Souta’s eyes, which were filled with self-contempt and self-pity. This guy was torturing himself.

“I won’t be a bother, so can we eat lunch together?”

“Huh?!”

Since Akane’s flag had been broken, Souta thought she should have left already. Yet she stubbornly stayed and continued trying. Souta was absolutely flabbergasted.

“Did it not break?”

Nanami murmured, letting go of the straw in the carton.

“How can this be possible…”

Souta was sure that the flag had been broken and looked above Akane’s head… but —

“It-it rose again…!”

He saw the friendship flag rise again.

Having broken countless flags, Souta had never seen a flag recover so quickly.

Seeing Souta speechless, Akane tilted her head in confusion.

“Can we?”

“Holy…!”

Maybe thinking that Souta’s silence indicated permission, Akane relaxed and brought an empty seat next to Souta’s desk.

Nearly going with the flow, Souta frantically tried to break the flag again as Akane put down the chair.

“N-no, how should I say this… After all… I’ll be teased if I have lunch with girls… you know what I mean?”

“... That makes sense, sorry.”

Seeing the friendship flag break and disappear again, Souta sighed in relief.

… But before the sigh even came out, a new friendship flag had already popped up.

“I’ll eat after Souta-kun has finished eating, so can we sit together?”

“You don’t understand what I’m saying at all?!”

“?”

Souta was scared silly, and Akane tilted her head in confusion, smiling gently.

“But-but, it feels a little rude to eat first, though?”

“...”

Souta didn’t think that she could understand him at all. This kind of situation was desperate, almost like fighting a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull_switch pull chain] in the middle of a room.

“Can’t I?”

“I’m not saying that… You can’t… No, I’m just saying…”

Attracted by the ruckus, even the classmates who had their flags broken started glancing towards Souta with interest.

“See, everyone’s looking…”

Souta lowered his head, looking extremely distressed. Akane, almost crying, looked around at her classmates.

The spectators crossed their arms in unison, thinking about the best solution for this situation. After contemplating a while, they all looked to the center of the classroom together.

They looked at the wisest person in the class — the academy’s Living Dictionary, the sage Ryuukishibara Tsumugi. Currently, she was nibbling a rice ball.

Her face and body, even if you relaxed the standard, was at most just at the level of a middle schooler… No, this description is still wrong. She looked completely childish, just like a little girl.

Despite her immature appearance, there were rumors that she had been living here even before the academy was founded. How many years she had repeated was a complete mystery. It was one of the seven wonders of the school.

There were other mysteries about her, too. For example, she only wore school uniform’s shirt and coat over a belted kimono — this outfit would surprise every passerby.

If someone asked her about this, she would sigh: “You don’t even know how to wear a kimono? Western tea has poisoned you to forget…”

However, she still wore large lace hair accessories. In this regard, her appreciation of beauty did not distinguish between East and West.

Under the gaze of the whole class, Tsumugi understood the situation, thought quickly, and immediately stood up.

“Everybody listen up!! The weather today is great!! It’s warm and sunny, so go out and eat!”

Tsumugi chewed on her rice ball and put on her [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geta_(footwear) ''geta''.] She walked out of the classroom, geta clicking on the floor.

“Oh, how befitting her title of Grandmother! Great idea!”

“Of course Bento needs to be eaten outside!”

“The courtyard, let’s go to the courtyard!”

Then, everyone started talking again and left the classroom single file. When they realized it, only Souta, Akane, and Nanami, unable to bear the atmosphere, were left in the classroom.

“... Nobody’s looking anymore?”

“Something’s wrong with those guys’s problem-solving methods…”

Akane successfully caught Souta’s attention and smiled at him; Nanami scanned the empty classroom in cold sweat.

“Can we eat bento together?”

“... Yes.”

Since it had already gotten to this point, Souta lost the courage to refuse.

The friendship flag, which had been broken more than once, was raised once again, and broke Souta’s heart to the brink of collapse.

As Akane excitedly sat down on the newly-arranged chair, Nanami also turned her chair 180 degrees.

“Nanami-san, do you want to join us?”

“In this situation, if We were the only one facing forward to eat, wouldn’t We be the only one without friends?”

Nanami acted unexpectedly cute in this situation.

“Wow! I’m so happy!! Actually, I’ve always wanted to find a chance to get along with Nanami-san. But I couldn’t find a chance… Ah! Souta-kun, you have many weaknesses… you could even say that your whole body is covered with them!”

“... Is it really?”

Akane’s carefree words… The aggrieved Souta’s mouth twitched and he asked Nanami:

“... Hey Nanami, is Akane this kind of ‘jerk’?”

“This airhead is a super rich heiress, hmph.”

Nanami replied imperiously, implying that Souta was wasting her breath. Souta wanted to punch her.

“Oh, what’s wrong? Are you investigating me? How am I a rich heiress… my grandfather just happens to be the president of a consortium, that’s all.”

“Consortium?!”

“Isn’t the Mahougasawa Group quite famous? You don’t know?”

“... I’m not familiar with the consortium industry.”

Consortium industry… What the hell is a consortium industry…? Nanami gave Souta a strange look, but Akane smiled.

“My business isn’t important. Speaking of which, Nanami is a princess.”

“A princess?!”

“You aren’t familiar with the princess industry either?”

Where did this industry come from…? Nanami gave Akane a strange look this time, but Akane kept beaming.

“Nanami’s actually the thirteenth princess of the Principality of Bladefield!”

''Huh?! That wasn’t a metaphor, she’s a real princess?!'' Souta’s eyes widened, causing Nanami to look resentful.

“To put it simply, it’s just a small country in the European countryside. And there are ten princes and fourteen princesses. We rank second-to-last. If We had stayed home, We would just be an eyesore. So We were sent to this Far East island country. We are only a princess in name.”

“......”

“S-so what…?” Seeing Souta staring blankly at her, Nanami retreated slightly and asked.

“I don’t have any money though?!”

“We are not running a royal scam on thou!!”

The ‘royal scam’ refers to the crime of posing as a royal and using fake connections to scam people.

“If Nanami wants money, I have some, okay?”

“Don’t need it!”

Souta saw the rare sight of a princess refusing a donation from a rich girl.

“You’re right. There’s something more important than money. And that’s friendth— Ow!”

“She bit her tongue!”

“She bit her tongue at the most important part!!”

Akane, who bit her tongue, was about to cry. So Nanami and Souta ran around babbling: “Friendship is great!” “Long live friendship!” to make Akane’s tears give way to a smile.

“Absolutely! This spirit of mutual protection is friendship! It’s a shining gem!”

Akane happily held Nanami and Souta’s hands and turned towards them. Although Akane’s sappy lines made the two rather uneasy, they forced a shaky smile. They’d have a headache if she really cried.

Then, in the predicament of holding hands with a rich heiress, Souta wanted to secretly withdraw his hand before she thought that ''Boys’ hands are thick and hard, it’s so disgusting~''. Suddenly, Akane faced him and said:

“A boy’s hand…”

Akane’s face stiffened slightly and she paused for a moment. Souta couldn’t help but think ‘as expected’ with a pained expression about as bitter as 99% pure chocolate.

“... is really strong! Other than perhaps my father, it’s the first time I held hands with a boy.”

Seeing Akane’s friendship flag flutter more energetically than before, Souta’s expression was so painfully bitter that it became as bitter as 100% pure chocolate. That said, 100% purity wouldn’t be chocolate, it’d just be cocoa.

“Why does Souta-kun have such a tangled expression? Is it because you indirectly held hands with my father?”

“... That’s not it. But after all, I didn’t think Nanami really was a princess… how do I put it… Although I’ve always thought that Nanami’s speech pattern was different from a normal person’s… but… really? You guys are actually Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress of a tycoon… I feel really out of place.”

“Not a tycoon, it’s a consortium, though?”

Akane raised her index finger to correct the mistake, and Souta, not well-versed in the tycoon industry, asked her:

“What’s the difference?”

“They’re all the same.”

“Didst thou not sayest it was different?! If thou actually thinkest they are the same, why didst thou just correct it?”

“...... Then they’re not the same.”

After being exposed by Nanami, Akane became depressed. Souta forced a smile and asked her again:

“So then, what’s the difference?”

“...... They’re all the same.”

“We have hit a wall.”

Let’s just stop talking about this, search it up yourself later — Souta thought, Akane also thought, and Nanami thought too. Young modern people are probably not concerned about financial news, and that’s a serious problem. At the same time, young people not caring about other young people is also a very serious problem.

“It’s a little late to say this kind of thing now, but is it really okay for me to talk to the Princess and Miss Heiress on equal ground…?”

Souta kept his distance a bit, and Akane shook her head very sadly.

“Please don’t use honorifics. Because we’re classmates.”

“Art not thou using honorifics…”

“...... Then let’s use honorifics together.”

Akane hesitantly let out an “Ahh…”, while Nanami burst out.

“We will not!”

“Souta-kun, Nanami is a princess, so it’s not her selfish refusal, it’s me forcing her to do something she can’t do.”

“We know how to use honorifics! Nobody forced Us to say that!”

Akane tried to be too clever and ended up rubbing Nanami the wrong way. Something similar was probably said before. ‘Rubbing the wrong way’ would be cute if written in hiragana and katakana.<ref> According to the Chinese TL, the Japanese version of the idiom ‘to rub the wrong way’ means specifically to irritate elders and people with higher status.</ref>

“Then, I hope you try to use them.”

“... Please allow Us to refuse.”

““Ooh, very princess-like.””<ref> They (Souta and Akane) say this at the same time.</ref>

“Sh-shut up! There definitely won’t be a next time!”

Nanami’s white skin reddened and she looked away in shame and displeasure.

At this point, Akane said she left her tea-filled water bottle at her seat and walked slowly to the back of the classroom.

Souta took the opportunity to whisper to Nanami:

“... That girl is a bit strange… no, she’s really strange. Though she seems like a good girl.”

“... Yeah. Although We are not very familiar with her either, she is cute, gentle, likeable, cheerful, friendly, and always surrounded by friends… It feels like she has everything that thou lacketh.”

Nanami didn’t seem to realize that this sentence applied to herself, too.

“Don’t say it out loud…”

Why do those kinds of people voluntarily come and talk to themselves…? Just as Souta thought this, Akane came back. She looked at them with interest. Although she didn’t hear what they said, she smiled bashfully and asked:

“Souta-kun, do you have a very good relationship with Nanami?”

“Who would have a good relationship with this kind of dithering guy?!”

Nanami roared before Souta had a chance to say anything.

“Even maggots are indispensable creatures for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_Earth Spaceship Earth] since they clean up animal corpses, right?”

“Who said he was a maggot? I would never say such a disgusting word!!”

Since the two were constantly hopping the line between good and evil, Souta couldn’t figure out who was right and who was wrong.

“... Akane, why did you want to talk to me?”

“Right. Thou hast so many friends and art welcomed everywhere, so why would thou payest attention to this kind of person?”

Worried he would continue to be teased, Souta felt a sense of crisis and asked Akane. Nanami also joined in, also interested.

Faced with such blunt questions, Akane twirled her fork, her expression a bit troubled. “Ummm…” After thinking for a while, she put down her fork and said:

“... Ummm—I saw a lonely person, like a puppy drenched in rain or a kitten mewling in pain, so I couldn’t ignore them.”

““Treated like cats and dogs?!””

Nanami and Souta blurted, shocked.

At the same time, Souta soon began to think dark thoughts.

“That means that Miss Heiress helps hapless cats and dogs from her high standing above, right?”

Upon mumbling this disdainfully, Souta hated his own immaturity. Letting out his anger like this was shameful.

However, when one enters hell, torn to pieces by lively optimism… He who falls into the earthly abyss often feels that goodwill is a burden.

Well, what was just said is just like someone who had hit rock bottom venting their remaining emotions from that time… No, perhaps they’re still crawling the depths of hell.

Souta didn’t want to say that kind of thing but also didn’t want others to notice, so he inevitably tried to alienate himself. At least, that’s what Akane thought.

She pondered it, but…

''That’s too lonely. Too sad… Too hopeless, isn’t it?'' she decided.

“No! It’s not like that!”

Akane didn’t care about being misunderstood. She just couldn’t stand Souta’s attitude — how Souta couldn’t bear to trust other people, so he kept tormenting himself with loneliness

Akane shook her head desperately and repeatedly stressed:

“N-no, no! Souta-kun… how do I put this, barks and purrs cannot be mentioned in the same breath as you, I just think it’s really tragic!”

““Not even considered the same level as cats and dogs?!””

Souta, slumped his shoulders, feeling exceedingly miserable. Nanami put her hand on Souta’s shoulder, telling him not to take it to heart.

“Isn’t this a good thing? A gloomy child like thee needs this kind of friend. Get along with her, okay?”

“Really? Souta-kun, as long as you don’t–don’t dislike it, do you want to be friends?”

“I don’t need…”

“Rejected immediately!!”

Hearing the normally timid Souta say this, Akane was hit hard.

At the same time, Akane’s friendship flag broke with an adorable noise… but just like before, a new friendship flag immediately popped up.

“Why? My mother said that friends are the life’s treasures. U-uh… so… treasures are important… I’m just saying that… that… if treasures didn’t exist, they would no longer be shiny, no longer beautiful and polished… So, if you have to clean it up… after you sweep it into the dustpan, there wouldn’t be anywhere to throw it.”

“How did the conversation turn to trash cans?!”

Akane struggled too hard to persuade them, so much so that she eventually could not find a way to make them understand.

“Basically, in Akane’s mind, friends are like trash cans, so it fits Souta perfectly.”

“Nanami, what do you mean by that?!”

“Nothing like that, nothing like that. Souta isn’t so much a trash can as a bento box!”

“So I’m a box, huh…”

Souta isn’t a flower to be sheltered in a box.<ref> The Japanese idiom for being sheltered involves a box</ref> It was hard to tell whether Akane’s consolation counted as consolation or not.

“Anyways, I… don’t want to bother others. Whether it’s Akane or anyone else.”

“I want to bother Souta-kun!”

“You…”

Hearing Akane’s unreasonable outburst about inducing more suffering, Souta was about to reproach her. But Akane continued, cutting him off.

“Also, I want to be bothered by Souta-kun! That’s what friends do! And… I just can’t ignore the lonely person in front of my eyes!”

Akane’s addendum made Souta give up on his retort, and he turned away to escape Akane’s unwavering gaze.

“Just don’t worry about me…”

“Hold on, Souta!”

Seeing that Souta was about to say something she couldn’t ignore, Nanami pulled on his ear.

“Wh-what do you want…?”

“It’s rare for someone to want to be thy friend. Thou art not permitted to break her flag!”

“But…”

“Dost thou want to humiliate girls?”

“Where’s the problem…?”

Seeing Nanami and Souta pretty much arguing, Akane sadly held the tip of her fork in her mouth.

“Is it not okay to be your friend?”

“I believe a friendship between males and females is impossible…”

“So sad…”

“I just said not to break it!!”

Souta was hit behind the head with an unopened package of Klim [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puri_(food) Puri]. (Note: Nanami later ate it with great relish)

“Even if you say that…”

Alas, it was too late. The friendship flag on Akane’s head had snapped, and Akane’s eyes filled with tears.

“Sure enough, it broke, right, Souta?”

“Pretty much…”

Souta was relieved, thinking it wouldn’t recover this time. Against all odds, Akane regrouped and, without giving anyone else time to breathe, said:

“Ah, b-b-b-b-b-but, we can begin with an attempted friendship, what do you think?”

“She’s still not yet satisfied…? Isn’t that wording just like ‘attempted murder’…”<ref> Damn, these are some Cultivation Chat Group-level tangents lol</ref>

“Indeed.” Akane nodded in deep agreement. Souta looked above Akane’s head in disbelief.

“It clearly broke several times… But it still stands…”

He saw the freshly broken flag give way to yet another new flag.

“This Mahougasawa Akane chick is unexpectedly persistent… Isn’t she perfect for thee…? No matter how many times her flag breaks, it quickly recovers. Even if thou hurtest her heart, she will still face thee with an unyielding spirit.”

“Huh… I feel like that’s pretty terrifying…”

“Thou, who can see flags and decide their fate, art the one who is terrifying, alright?”

Well said.

Nanami and Souta quietly held a council. Akane ignored the two, quietly worrying to the side.

“Attempted friendship isn’t okay either…? Hmm… In this case, then the step before attempted friendship… acquaintances… a nodding acquaintance… hmmmmm… more one-sided… stalker? Is stalker okay?”

“Don’t go there!!”

“......”

Nanami was the one who initially recommended that the two be friends, but she soon began to doubt whether she made the correct choice.

“Since you don’t like stalkers, how about being friends?”

“... Do whatever you want.”

“Hooray!”

That’s pretty much a threat.

Watching Akane softly raise her arms and shout hooray with a smile, he felt his mood gradually improve for some reason.

This may be Akane’s unique characteristic.

Nonetheless, this must be…

This must be a temporary whim of Miss Heiress, thinking that he’s interesting.

After the novelty subsides, she would definitely lose interest immediately — that was what Souta thought.

Though he’d soon realize that this train of thought was a huge mistake.

“But I’m kind of happy that Souta-kun’s willing to say such not-so-pleasant things to me.”

“... What?”

“I think that when I’m sad, it doesn’t matter if other people pamper me. But when I’m the one doing the pampering, there’s always this warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.”

“Akane, is it really okay even if you get hurt?”

“Souta-kun thinks I might get hurt and is worrying about me. That makes me really happy.”

Seeing Akane smile bashfully, Souta frowned.

“... You really are a strange chick.”

Souta’s tone was no longer hostile nor malicious, and Akane looked jubilant.

“But even if you’re friends with someone like me, you still wouldn’t be happy, right…”

Souta’s expression darkened like before and he lowered his head slightly, worried — but he also seemed kind of happy.

“Art thou an idiot? Souta. That kind of thing is for them to decide. How can it depend on what thou sayest?”

Nanami snorted and chewed her Klim Puri flatbread.

Akane nodded enthusiastically, agreeing with Nanami.

“Yeah! Nanami said it really well. Just talking to Souta-kun makes me really happy! I might feel a bit self-conscious saying this, but… there are many people close to me, so when I meet someone more distant, it’s a new experience… This is someone that I haven't seen around me so far, an unfamiliar kind of person… an unidentified creature… Yes, an unidentified life form.”

““A UFAO?!””<ref> Unidentified, unFamiliar Animated Object. Just roll with it. I tried. If any of you come up with something better, I welcome you to edit it.</ref>

A chupacabra appeared in Nanami’s and Souta’s minds at the same time. Wanna suck blood?<ref> ‘Do you want to suck blood?’ is apparently a quote from Japanese comedian Kanpei Hazama. Relevant because chupacabras suck blood. </ref>

“Souta-kun, Nanami, you guys are really in sync. You’re actually quite close, right?”

“We’re not close! Rather, our relationship is really bad. So bad that, given the opportunity, We would steal this guy’s leftover bread in exchange for the not-very-tasty bread We are eating right now.”

“My leftover bread is Klim Puri, the very thing Nanami’s eating right now, though?”

Having saved the bread for last, Souta was looking forward to eating it. He grieved a little when he heard this bad news.

“You guys are really similar. That’s great, I’m so jealous--”

“......”

Nanami stared hatefully at Akane wiggling.

Wasn’t it true that friendship can still be established in spite of very different values? Nanami and Akane were polar opposites, and Souta started to feel that Nanami and Akane may yet make a good pair.

The evidence was…

“... Before, ye shall become two peas in a pod and become the envy of everybody else!”

“Actually, I’ve always wanted to become closer with Nanami.”

Hearing Nanami’s slightly lonely words, Akane held Nanami’s hands tightly and smiled. At some point, ‘Nanami-san’ had become ‘Nanami’.

“Wh-why me?!”

“... Whenever I see a lonely person, or a puppy drenched in rain, or a kitten mewling in pain, I just can’t ignore them!”

“Treated like Souta?!”

Nanami was even more shocked at this than Souta was when he was just compared to a cat and dog.

“Nanami regrettably feels like a person of spoiled arrogance, which has always made me interested in her.”

“What dost thou mean by ‘regrettably’?”

“Just that, in the phrase ‘spoiled arrogance’, the ‘spoiled’ part outweighs the ‘arrogant’ part!”

“Shut up!!”

Souta looked at the arguing girls with an magnificent smile, neither forced nor a smirk, and said:

“I for one think that Nanami and Akane can become very good friends.”

“What?! This troublemaker also has a flag for Us?”

Nanami pulled on Souta’s ears again, quietly roaring.

“I don’t know… I basically only see my own— or rather, I should say, flags that have to do with me…”

That is to say, Souta was only able to see the flag for that morning’s accident because it also involved him — with this understanding, Nanami thought: ''This ability seems convenient but isn’t really convenient; it seems to be a convenience, but that’s not entirely the case…''

“Just like that! That’s what makes people think you two are close! Physical contact is proof of a good relationship! Can I pull on Souta-kun’s ears, too?”

“Sure?”

“Don’t pull on people’s ears for no reason!”

“So it’s allowed if there is a reason?”

“Sure?”

“Nanami, no stop seeking schadenfreude! Anyways, what’s so fun about pulling on ears…?”

“Causing mischief… That kind of fun, probably?”

“What a terrible relationship!!”

“No it’s not, no it’s not! That feeling of ‘even if you cause them mischief, they’ll still laugh and forgive you’ is definitely proof of a good relationship.”

Oh, that’s how it is, that does make sense— Souta smiled faintly in agreement, and Akane’s cheeks went slightly red. Joy emanated from the depths of her heart, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s my friend! Looks like you really get me! Souta-kun, you’re really, really charming when you smile! As long as you smile like this a lot, your loneliness will definitely disappear!”

“Ah…”

Souta wasn’t used to being praised so directly in person, so he inadvertently shrugged, and his smile became strained. Seeing this, Akane exclaimed, “Ah, what a waste of the cool smile just now…” Her hands even began to quiver.

Having eaten her bread and sucked her milk carton dry, Nanami smirked playfully and said:

“But Akane, if he wasn’t lonely anymore, wouldn’t you lose interest?”

“In my mind, a laughing Souta is more important than a lonely Souta. This is a historic moment, okay? One small step for mankind, one and a half small steps for me!”

““Close enough!!””

“You guys are really in sync… That’s great, I also want someone to be in sync with me.”

“Why do you need to envy other people? Akane, don’t you also have many strengths?”

Nanami lightly squeezed her empty milk carton and broke eye contact, her expression that of shy admiration. Hearing Nanami’s words, Akane’s smile bloomed.

“R-really?! Like-like what?”

“... Well… like wanting to eat with me and Souta, right?”

Seeing Nanami laugh with a little self-deprecation, Akane laughed with an expression of “Isn’t that normal?” She then fell into deep thought with an “Eh…”

“Is it better to eat alone?”

““You had a conversation with yourself?!””

“Only you two keep getting closer and closer. It’s not fair, it’s not fair!”

However, supposing that Akane and Souta had already eaten half of their lunch, and then Akane and Nanami ate the remaining half, anyone would think that the relationship between Souta and Nanami was deteriorating.

In this way, the three unexpectedly similar people happily ate their lunch in the classroom. Outside, a group of people quietly observed the situation.

“... So, we can probably go in now?”

The rest of the class, who had been driven out of the classroom, searched for an opportunity to go back in.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
|-
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</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2

2025-01-01T22:58:02Z

Person72635:

==Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base<ref> As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear.</ref>==
“Um… I live in a dorm. What about it…?”

As Souta slung his backpack over his shoulders at the end of the school day, Akane had asked, “Souta-kun, where do you live?” After Souta answered, she nodded in feigned understanding.

“Can we go play there?”

“No.”

Hearing Souta’s response, Akane’s eyes welled up in tears. She blubbered “Oh~”, her friendship flag breaking in reply.

''He’s still as rough with the flags as before…'' Nanami watched the conversation in her peripheral vision as she put her stationery in her school bag.

“That kind of place isn’t suitable for girls to visit.”

“Like the boy’s bathroom?”

“What kind of dorm would that be?!”

Akane’s off-putting question resulted in a rare Souta retort.

“Like your room’s in a stall?”

“Even prisoners live better than that, right…?”

No, since it’s Miss Heiress, the toilet in her mansion might be quite big. With this thought process, Souta decided it was pointless to hide it, so he told the truth.

“How do I put it? It’s because my dorm’s messy, it’s a total wreck.”

“Then we’ll go clean it up! Don’t look at Akane that way, but Akane really does love to be clean though? Mm-hmm!<ref> It’s supposed to be the noise Hirasawa Yui makes in ''K-On!''. Again, I haven’t watched it, so apologies if it isn’t entirely accurate.</ref>”

As usual, another one of Akane’s friendship flags was raised immediately. Souta’s feelings about them had already begun to gradually move from fear to admiration.

Despite Akane’s enthusiastic proposal, Souta still crossed his arms and sighed in contemplation. “Hmmmm…”

On the other hand, Akane was really motivated. For some reason, she was wiping an imaginary window with exaggerated movements, as if she were practicing boxing. Although, even if she was wiping a window, it was more like ‘Wax on, wax off.’<ref> Karate Kid reference</ref>

“Huh?! Huh?! What happened? Souta and Akane, why did you guys suddenly become so close without Big Sis’s consent?!”

Kikuno, not knowing what had happened during lunch, protested with her eyes welling up in tears. She seemed to blame Souta, her expression a little accusatory.

“That requires consent…?”

Nanami, having become a bystander, murmured to herself with a faint smile.

“We just ate together during the lunch break, we’re not actually as close as you say…”

Kikuno puffed her cheeks angrily, as cute as a child no older than one. Souta comforted her while explaining what had happened.

After listening to Souta’s explanation, Kikuno nodded with a slight smile, feigning understanding.

“Really? Akane-chan is a really good kid, Big Sis strongly approves of your friendship!”

It seems consent has been acquired.

Kikuno turned and faced Akane with a deep bow.

“Please take care of Sou-kun.”

“D-don’t be like that, Okiku-nee…!”

“Yeah, Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like I’m an outsider.”

“Huh?! You’re already family?! Sou-kun, why didn’t you discuss this with Big Sis first?! Big Sis feels so lonely!!”

It seems consent has not been fully acquired.

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

Big Sis’s logic was too unpredictable and Souta was at a loss, but Akane, the central subject, was still smiling brightly.

“... Speaking of which, Akane just referred to Okiku-nee as ‘senpai’, right?”

Although Kikuno was supposed to be a year older than them, calling a classmate ‘senpai’ is still pretty strange.

“Ah, um. Senpai guided me when I came to this school last year. Since she was Senpai at the time, it feels a bit weird to change it now…”

“Ah, but, at the time, I already knew I would become a freshman a year late.”

The senpai in the same grade seemed a bit shy.

It’s unclear whether this resolves the subject, but Akane, who wasn’t especially paying attention, returned to the original subject.

“Then, since we got your Big Sis’s approval, we can go to Souta’s dorm now! Mm-hmm!”

“... She approved?”

“Big Sis also wants to go! Mm-hmm!”

Kikuno, even more free-spirited than Akane, raised her hands with this declaration, cutting off Souta’s question.

Met with inexplicable enthusiasm, Souta was then patted on the waist from behind, startling him.

“!?”

He turned to look, but there was nobody behind him… Then he found that it came from below.

To Souta, who was 170 cm tall, the other person was a girl 50 cm shorter than him. Not only her height, but her appearance looked young. Although she looked like an elementary school student, her uniform revealed her to be a student in the same grade. That said, the other students had called her ‘Grandmother’ during the lunch break, even asking her for advice.

“Give up, young Souta.”<ref> Tsumugi technically calls others 'little brother/sister *name*', but I think 'young' fits better.</ref>

“Young?!”

The young girl, who seemed not to wear anything on her lower half, spoke to Souta in a wizened tone, as if he were a little rascal or devil.<ref> The Chinese translation I’m using uses 萝卜头 and 鬼头 (lit. ‘carrot-head’ and ‘devil-head’), which are somewhat xenophobic terms in Cantonese referring to Japanese people and Westerners respectively… no idea what the original intention was.</ref> As a result, Souta couldn’t help but raise his voice.

“Young Akane has a disease where she just can’t leave hapless beings alone, you could say she’s in a critical condition. If you continue having this kind of hapless aura, you’ll always be stuck with her, okay? Plus, young Kikuno is also very stubborn.”

The little girl chuckled and went on her way home.

Akane followed the silhouette with her eyes, and told the dumbstruck Souta:

“She’s Grandmother Tsumugi.”

“‘Grandmother’...? … Is she an old lady?”

They say that humans will gradually shrink when they pass a certain age, so maybe she was like that? But whether it’s her delicate skin or her facial features, she looks indistinguishable from a young girl. Or is she just an old-fashioned little girl who skipped a few grades? The mysteries surrounding her identity increased.

“She’s the Living Dictionary of the academy. They say that our academy doesn’t have students who don’t listen to Grandmother Tsumugi’s words.”

“What happens if you don’t listen?”

“You’ll be cursed.”

“That isn’t the same as a living dictionary, right?!”

Akane was pretty much just saying random things, but Souta didn’t know whether to take the rumor seriously or lose to Akane’s enthusiasm or even think that Tsumugi’s advice did indeed make sense. Regardless, Souta sighed deeply, forced a smile, and said to Akane:

“Nevermind. Since you want to come over so much, come. But I’m not kidding that the dorm is messy, alright?”

“Mm-hmm!! I’ll take the chance to show my great skills! It’ll be my first time cleaning up a boy’s room!!”

“B-Big Sis also wants to clean up!!”

“Let’s team up!! Attack as a team!”

They actually wanted to attack…? Souta’s mood dimmed, and he looked at the ‘Inexplicably Motivated’ flag sticking up on Akane’s head with a strained smile.

“It’s highly-anticipated, right, Nanami?”

“Huh? Why ask me?”

As Nanami zipped up her backpack, she was suddenly thrown into the fray by Akane. Nanami frowned in suspicion.

“Because we’re going together~”

“Why…?”

“I’ll tell you after we get there.”

“There’s basically no point in telling Us after we get there!!”

Nanami somehow discovered Akane’s trap. Mahougasawa Akane… How did you think that she wouldn’t notice?

“... Nevermind, there’s nothing to do anyways. Plus, the Big Sis isn’t very responsible, and giving the kind of guy Souta a chance to be by himself is dangerous, so there’s no harm in having Us accompany you.”

“After all, Souta-kun would explode.”

“Am I really that dangerous?!”

This requires a Level 5 hazardous waste management license. In other words, a nitroglycerine person; or, perhaps, human nitroglycerin?<ref> lmfao Bakugo??</ref> Anyways, there’s no difference.

And so, the four-person group of Akane, Nanami, Kikuno, and Souta was formed, heading towards the dorm where Souta lived.

Hatagaya Academy’s huge campus was encircled by a total of four [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-Bahn H-Bahn sky train] stations; namely, Yoyogi Uehara Station to the southwest of the academy, Yoyogi Park Station to the southeast, Hatagaya North Station to the northwest, and Hatsudai North Station to the northeast.

The high school division was near Yoyogi Park Station, while Souta’s dorm was near Hatsudai North Station.

Although these were walkable distances, students of Hatagaya Academy can freely get on and off these four stations so long as they present their student IDs, so of course they choose to take the trains.

“I thought the dorms were all concentrated on the main road. Turns out there are some here as well.”

“Yep… For the sake of caution, I’ll confirm once again: the dorms are really messy, are you guys absolutely sure you want to come?”

“Hey Souta, thou hath only transferred for two days, and your room is already messy enough that it’s not to be seen by others…?”

“If you have any complaints, then just don’t come…”

Before Nanami could counter Souta’s already exhausted words, Akane interjected cheerfully:

“It’s definitely just that your luggage hasn’t been completely sorted yet and is in a messy pile, right? Just leave it to me!”

Akane’s ‘motivated’ flag was still flying strong.

The four got off at the academy’s Hatsudai North Station and, after walking a short distance, gradually saw farms and pastures.

“... What is this? The countryside?” Nanami asked.

“If I remember correctly… this is the farm of the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club.”

“Horticulture…?”

The landscape looked bucolic from a distance, and it felt considerably large. Nanami frowned, wondering if it was part of a backup plan adopted by farmers afraid of the production reduction policy.<ref> Might be referring to Japan’s [https://www.tokyofoundation.org/research/detail.php?id=86 Rice Acreage-Reduction Policy]</ref>

Behind the farms was a dense stretch of woods, actually more like a forest than woods. Walking in there felt like being showered by forest.

“... There’s a dorm in this place?”

“Awesome, your home is in a forest.”

Compared to Nanami’s unhappy expression of “there should be a limit to how remote this is”, Akane smiled as she always did, thinking positively.

Souta, leading them, had a different attitude and plodded on.

And then, in a small clearing in the forest—

A building stood quietly.

The edge of the roof had fallen, and not only was part of the wall collapsed, it was also covered with vines. The door had almost rotted through, the windows were broken, and the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds.

Even by the lowest standards, it still looked like…

“Ruins…?”

“What…? What’s going on with this tattered dorm…”

“Are these not ruins? Souta, thou didst not go to the wrong place, right?”

“See? What did I say?”

Souta showed the dorm’s certification page in the student handbook. It said ‘Quest House’. Nanami looked at the moldy dorm plaque and knit her brows.

“This is indeed ‘Quest House’...”

“So you live… here…?”

Akane’s eyes lost their light, frozen in shock. However, Souta smiled and nodded with a hint of self-deprecation.

“For a lonely, poor person like me with dead parents, what could I expect? I have nowhere to go, and no home to go back to… The academy now not only gives me shelter from the elements, but also a scholarship. If I ask for too much and get kicked out, wouldn’t I be in an even more tragic state?”

“But… even if it’s like that, to live in this kind of place is…”

“After all, this is my situation, so I’m pretty easy to take advantage of. But taking in somebody like me makes it easier for the academy to raise money… Although, the fact of the matter is, they only need to take me in. Nobody really cares how it’s handled afterward.”

“How can this be… That’s too much…”

Souta’s attitude might have been due to all the tragedies he’d experienced. This attitude, coupled with his situation, made Akane even more worried.

But before Akane’s feelings burst out, Kikuno’s tear glands had already let loose.

“It’s too much… It’s too much… So it’s like this… they actually want Sou-kun to live in this kind of place…!!”

Kikuno’s tears streamed down her face as she cried. Souta was taken aback.

“Hey… Wh-why does Okiku-nee need to cry? I… I don’t really mind.”

“Anywhere is fine… Poor Souta-kun…”

“Even Akane is crying?!”

Next to Kikuno, Akane followed suit, her tears pouring down like a waterfall. In this atmosphere, Souta was already in no position to prevent this.

“... Souta, didst thou plan to let the peerless Miss Heiress clean this place up? Instead of cleaning it up, is it not faster to raze it to the ground and rebuild it again…?”

At least, Nanami wouldn’t want to step foot into this dorm.

“Why… Why did Sou-kun have to meet this kind of treatment…”

“Waaah~ It’s too much… It’s too unfair…”

Kikuno and Akane, who erupted into tears, and Souta, who had been struggling to deal with Akane, didn’t hear Nanami speak at all.

Especially the always indifferent Souta — although he didn’t care about hurting himself, when he met girls who felt sad for him, he didn’t know what to do. Since he had no clue how to deal with Akane, he looked to Nanami for help, almost crying himself.

Having never encountered such mayhem before, Nanami retreated on the spot.

“Uh…! … This… E-enough! Crying for what? Think of a solution instead! Doing anything else would be better than this!”

Nanami already stopped holding back, pretty much ready to ride to battle at this point. Akane stopped crying, beamed, and hugged Nanami.

“Nanami really is a good person!”

“Whoa… Hey! Stop hugging, stop sticking to Us! Quick, Souta, come save Us!”

Nanami, who couldn’t stand Akane rubbing her cheeks, issued an SOS signal. Souta mocked instead:

“Isn’t this great? I think you guys are closer friends with each other than with me, yeah?”

Souta, who originally had a sad smile, didn’t mean anything bad when he said this. However, facing the wrong direction, Kikuno’s super-sensitive Sisterly Love Radar received the wrong signals at that moment and she rushed over to Souta.

“D-don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will help you ask Akane to be your friend! You don’t have to feel lonely!”

“Huh…? No… Okiku-nee, what are you…!”

“Akane, please also be friends with Souta!”

Kikuno, ignoring Souta’s attempt at stopping her and with her sisterly doting reaching its peak, sincerely pleaded.

Receiving her plea, Akane’s frequently-used Loneliness Sensor revved to its max. She let go of Nanami, clasped Souta’s hand, and said:

“I’m sorry, Souta! I’m your friend, but I made you feel lonely; I’m unworthy of being a friend! Souta-kun’s my good friend, though! Please don’t feel lonely! Akane and Nanami and Kikuno-senpai and Souta-kun are a very close group of four!”

Akane made Kikuno hold the hands of Nanami and Souta, and took the two’s empty other hands herself, forming a circle. The four started spinning circles, but only Akane laughed aloud: “Ahahahahaha!”

After spinning for a while, Akane, albeit dizzy and unsteady, faced Souta and said:

“Look! I also can’t let poor Souta go uncared for!”

“Souta’s on the other side, Akane.”

Because she was dizzy and unsteady, she didn’t face Souta.

“Mother once said, ‘Close friends are magic staffs’ and ‘That’s the magic that makes you feel like you can do anything’. In my mind, Souta-kun and Nanami are wonderful, bright magic.”

Akane clasped Souta’s hand again, smiling. As if infected by the poetic lines, Nanami grinned slightly and added a sentence of her thoughts:

“Put simply, Akane is a magician specializing in summoning gentle fairies~”

“Nanami, you’re a poet!”

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

Nanami, snapping out of it, thought she said something embarrassing and her face heated up.

“I want to hear more of Nanami’s poems!”

“Do not mention poetry!!”

“What does that matter, this is the privilege of youth! Everyone, let’s abuse this privilege together and run around the seaside asking for trouble at dusk!”

“Do nyaat<ref> If you remember from Chapter 1, Nanami makes cat sounds when distressed</ref> waste your youth!”

''The atmosphere’s getting better and better…'' Souta thought as he watched Akane and Nanami with a strained smile. He then inadvertently looked at the top of Akane’s head…

“Souta-kun also needs to waste our youth with us.”

Akane’s ‘can’t leave pitiful people alone’ attitude completely switched on, and friendship flags raised in an overwhelming frenzy

Seeing the flags raise everywhere, Souta thought, ''Was it me?! Did I do something wrong?! God… please, don’t do this anymore.'' He couldn’t help but take three steps backwards. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that within the pile of friendship flags stood a singular pink flag with a heart symbol…

“... Then, what should we do to fix the dorm?”

“That’s what We want to ask!”

Sitting on the train on their way back, Akane triumphantly turned her neck and asked. Nanami then roared back, as if attacked.

The group consisting of Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress, who were a little ignorant of the world, plus the newly transferred Souta, crossed their arms and looked to the sky in deep thought.

Watching this group of youngsters with a smile, Kikuno picked the right opportunity, raised her index finger, and said:

“When in a predicament, the saying goes that only old ginger is spicy.”

Rumor has it, the person who looks like a little girl and sips green tea at the Tea Ceremony Club might be the “old” ginger.

“The tattered dorm? Quest House? After all, it was built when the academy was founded. Even if you tidied it up, it still wouldn’t become clean.”

It was the academy’s Living Dictionary. After listening to Akane and co. speak, Tsumugi put a [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Rakugan ''rakugan''] in her mouth and said:

“Would it not indeed be faster to rebuild it from the ground?”

Although Nanami asserted that her earlier joke wasn’t far from the answer, Tsumugi took a sip of her tea and then poured cold water over her.

“I heard that the school management is in dire straits due to the declining birthrate. Would they be willing to pay for it?”

“Can’t we… think of a way?!”

“Students these days are too dependent on other people. They just don’t understand taking matters into their own hands…”

Seeing Tsumugi enter preaching mode, the four all inched back slowly, smiling stiffly.

“Speaking of which, it’s just a little worn out, but you immediately lose heart, proving that recent young people lack perseverance. It’s not like we elders like saying this…”

Akane and co. quietly slid open the paper [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoji ''shoji''] of the Tea Ceremony Club. Meanwhile, Tsumugi was still ranting with her eyes closed.

After leaving the Tea Ceremony Club, they sat down on the benches on the sidewalk, hopelessly sipping on juice boxes.

“Then, would we get in trouble if we rebuilt without permission?”

“It’d be surprising not to…”

Nanami, relatively less demoralized, asked a sincere question and was immediately rejected by Souta.

“Then there’s no other way… Souta, please get in trouble.”

“You’re planning to rebuild in secret?!”

Souta was scared silly.

“Don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will get in trouble in your stead!

“Doting to this extent…!”

Big Sis’s sisterly love made Nanami retreat.

Meanwhile, Souta was afraid of Akane, whose tears had broken the surface tension of her eyes.

“... Every time I watch [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sara ''Princess Sara''] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_of_Flanders_(TV_series) ''Dog of Flanders''], I always can’t stop crying, can’t stop crying, can’t bear to keep watching! When I imagine Souta in that position… in a tattered dorm, in a snowstorm… dying… I just…”

A huge teardrop streamed down Akane’s face again.

“Don’t make people cry!!”

“S-sorry… I-I’ll be fine. See~ Speaking of which, I’d probably be more like Perrine or Lassie.”<ref> The main characters of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Perrine ''The Story of Perrine''] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Dog_Lassie ''Famous Dog Lassie.''] The four anime referenced in this section are old-school anime adaptations of Western children’s classics and part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Masterpiece_Theater ''World Masterpiece Theater''], running from the mid 70s to the late 90s.</ref>

“More like an animal…”

“Sou-kun, you’re so cute!”

“Souta-kun, so you’re actually a beast!!”

Disregarding the discrepancy in opinion between sister and friend, Souta felt aggrieved at being called a beast.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Souta beast’s house or a dog’s house. The point is that, even if we wanted to remodel, we would have to overcome the issue of finances.”

“Nanami called her friend a beast or dog, that’s too over-the-top!”

“Thou clearly saidst it first, thou clearly saidst it first!!”

As Akane and Nanami chattered, Souta, at his tender age, discovered that being called a beast or dog by the female sex really hurt.

“Souta, dost thou want to try begging? Since Akane is a rich heiress, she could definitely provide funds.”

“Huh?! Souta, you want to beg me?! That’s more than I could ever wish for! It’d be the first time a boy begged me! Go ahead, go ahead, please! Mm-hmm!”

“......”

Seeing Akane move her arms like a wrestler before a match, expressing her enthusiasm by bringing both elbows horizontally in front of her chest while breathing heavily,<ref>The signature move of Japanese wrestler [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyonobori Michiharu Toyonobori.] I think it’s the arm-wavy thing at 1:07 in the video Gorilla Monsoon vs. Toyonobori - 3/28/1963 (I can’t embed youtube links apparently), I watched a couple clips and he seems to do it pretty often.</ref> the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched.

If Souta refused to beg Akane now, Souta’s tragic plight would not be resolved, Akane would continue to be sad, and Nanami would continue blaming Souta for making Akane sad. In this spiral of sorrow and pain, it was ultimately Souta who got hurt.

Additionally, he also thought that the most important thing was avoiding Akane’s expectant smile. So, after thoroughly preparing himself, Souta finally said:

“Akane, please build me a new dorm.”

“Huh— how ordinary—”

“Couldn’t thou have acted more flattering, Souta?”

Reprimanded by the two girls, the young man instantly lost his foothold.

“Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to help you beg?”

With even the doting Big Sis saying something, even getting a toehold was unthinkable, not to mention a foothold.

At this point, Souta steeled himself, forced out a dazzling smile, and said to Akane:

“Could you please help poor little old me build a new dorm, o mesmerizing Akane-chan? You are the angel of my heart, the only one I can beg.”

“Souta-kun, you sound like a player.”

“Souta, thou art thoroughly rotten.”

“You two were the ones who wanted me to say it, though!!

Souta was hit hard, hugging his knees and shouting into them on the bench.

“Big Sis knows her Sou-kun isn’t that kind of child!”

Doting Big Sis’s trust was unnecessarily heavy.

“But, I wouldn’t be a woman if I couldn’t respond to a man’s whole-hearted plea. I want to do something for him… however—”

“However?”

Seeing Akane stop talking, Nanami was puzzled.

“I, don't have money…”

“Huh? Art not thou Miss Heiress?”

“To be honest… When I came here to live in a dorm, I accepted my family’s condition: unless it’s an urgent emergency, I must do my best to deal with it without depending on my family. So…”

“So it’s like that. Allowing freedom, but requiring self-sufficiency… It’s like that everywhere.”

Nanami smiled wryly, clenching her empty juice box.

“Huh?”

“It’s okay. However, this is a headache. Our principality is also very poor… To ask for money is to ask the impossible…”

Akane and Nanami cast Souta aside and started their own discussion. This allowed Souta to suddenly regain his senses.

“Excuse me… That said, what exactly did I just do that for then…?”

“Souta-kun’s efforts will not be wasted. Someday that effort will bear fruit, and its harvest will be taken for foodstuff and displayed in a storefront.”

Although he felt he was gradually being taken for foodstuff, since Akane’s coy laugh of “Heeheehee” was really cute and he didn’t feel any malicious intent, Souta could only deal with it with a sigh in the end.

“Before Souta-kun is taken for foodstuff, we must do our best to help him, Nanami!”

“Huh…? We need to too…?”

Both hands held tightly by Akane, Nanami frowned, troubled.

Although, Akane just seemed to like the uncommonly used word ‘foodstuff’, so she really wanted to use it.

“Big Sis will come too, Sou-kun!”

What Big Sis would do afterwards was unclear.

In the end, they didn’t think of a good idea that day, so the meeting was adjourned… The next morning—

Souta entered the classroom and sat down in his seat. Nanami turned, sitting on the side of her chair, and said good morning while getting to the point.

“We asked the housemasters at Our dorm, and it seems that the boys’ dorms are full to the point they’re about to burst.”

“Ah, then… me being put there, might not have been entirely out of malicious intent.”

Looking closely, while Souta’s uniform and school bag were obviously brand new, they seemed to be covered with a layer of dust.

“It might genuinely be better for thou to live in a tent.”

“I can’t put one up though…”

“You guys are planning to go camping without inviting me?! It would be my first time living in a tent. I always live in a villa, homestay, or vacation apartment and such!”

Akane popped in between the two.

“Thy head is only filled with thoughts about playing…”

Nanami smiled lightly, and Akane continued to ask her, “Are you going to the mountains? Or the beach?”

“Thou misunderstandest. We’re talking about Souta’s dorm.”

“Oh… Everyone should forget about the dorm business, and go play together?”

“Thy optimism is too exaggerated!!”

Incidentally, when you get tired of playing and go home, there is a trap of ‘remembering reality and falling into despair’ waiting for you.

“Hey~ What’s up with the dorm?”

The classmate with blonde hair and pierced ears who gave Souta his seat earlier heard the exchange and asked frivolously.

After Souta explained, he looked at the sky with an “Umm--”, and, after a long while, he said:

“Would you like to come to our dormitory? I think it’d be okay as long as you explain everything. Although crowding a fifth person into a room meant for four might be a little tight.”

''He’s obviously a frivolous guy who would cheat girls everywhere, but he’s still kind regardless'' The surrounding students lamented that this guy really didn’t match his appearance.

But, Souta looked at the frivolous classmate’s head, and immediately replied:

“I can’t sleep if I’m not alone.”

“Really? Then it can’t be helped.”

He gave up and walked back to his seat.

“We said that thou art not allowed to break flags!”

Nanami saw everything, and mercilessly awarded Souta a hand chop.

“Flag…?”

Akane tilted her head suspiciously, and Souta hurriedly covered it up with a “Nothing, nothing.”

However, either because Souta didn’t cover it up correctly or his agitation wasn’t very natural, Akane felt that something wasn’t right with Souta’s series of actions.

“What’s going on… Is he awkward? Or… afraid?... Just like that time… like with me… if it’s really like that… if it’s really like that… then there’s even more reasons why I can’t just leave him alone!”

Akane’s mind strengthened Souta’s sorry impression, and her flags stood up more fiercely on her head.

Souta saw this and tiredly exhibited a pained expression.

… At this time, the dainty classmate Ryuukishibara Tsumugi</ref> Tsumugi’s surname indicates that her ‘class’ is dragon rider</ref> and Kikuno walked into the classroom with a young girl wearing a uniform with a strangely colored bow tie, equipped with shoulder pads and arm guards, dressed quite strangely.

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai… and Grandmother.”

“You lot, you left yesterday without listening to all of my words?! Young people nowadays are really…”

“Okay okay, Grandmother, pointless ramblings don’t really count.”

The female classmate brought by Tsumugi let out a heroic laugh of “Bwahahahahaha!” and stopped Tsumugi’s rant.

“You just said something silly…”

“Excuse me, Grandmother… This person is…?”

Akane asked this, and saw the mysterious girl catch everyone’s attention by unnecessarily flipping her hair and stepping forward.

“Yours truly<ref> Mimori literally refers to herself using ‘this person’ (本人), so I’m gonna use ‘yours truly’.</ref> waited for someone to ask before introducing myself, that was really Discord…<ref> The Chinese says ‘oolong’, but that doesn’t even sound remotely close to what she corrected herself to say… I changed it to sound more like a slip of the tongue</ref> correction, that was really discourteous of yours truly. Yours truly Hatagaya Academy’s student president, Seiteikouji Mimori<ref> Mimori’s surname contains the words for ‘holy emperor’, given the armor she likes to wear her ‘class’ is probably paladin</ref>!”

“The student president…”

“This academy attaches great importance to student autonomy. Seek the Student Council if you are in need of assistance. In fact, the Student Council is also responsible for dormitory affairs, and yours truly is the person in charge.”

“Eh?! So she’s the one who put Souta-kun in that kind of dorm?!”

Akane’s and Nanami’s gazes were mixed with some hostility.

“Yours truly was accidentally on autopilot and put him in an empty dorm~ But I hear it’s very shabby, right? Yours truly will observe the situation after school, and then we’ll go on from there. And Grandmother asked yours truly to do what I can to help!”

“Huh… Didn’t Grandmother say that we were too dependent on others yesterday…?”

“I did say to take matters into your own hands. But I never said I wouldn’t help? The short-temperedness of young people isn’t good.”

Tsumugi crossed her arms and pursed her lips. Purely in terms of appearance, she looked like a pouting young girl.

But, her raised arms exuded so much senseless good intentions that Akane happily put her hands together.

“Grandmother is so reliable!!”

“Although it should be that yours truly is more reliable!!”

Mimori pointlessly and unreasonably refused to be outdone, making Nanami laugh.

“The student president is so childish…”

“... And, since young Kikuno was full of sisterly love and pleaded tearfully, it can’t be helped. You, sir, have a good sister, young Souta.”

Although, said sister was really just a sisterly neighbor who lived nearby and loved to take care of people. However, Souta couldn’t say anything about that in this kind of atmosphere.

“Thank you, Okiku-nee.”

“Why so polite? As Big Sis, helping Sou-kun goes without saying!”

However, those who knew the truth strained a smile. The only person at the scene who wasn’t straining a smile but rather smiling from ear to ear was Akane.

“Great, Souta-kun!”

“I don’t really care… but, since Akane and Okiku-nee won’t be sad, then so be it, I guess?

Regardless of his real thoughts, Souta naturally smiled a little as he said this, making Akane ecstatic and feel as if all her pores had opened.

''Souta-kun’s smile… as expected, it’s mesmerizing…! I want to see it more!''

Seeing the flag on Akane’s head twinkle, Souta’s smile instantly clouded over, and Akane nearly cried.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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|-
| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2

2025-01-01T22:57:39Z

Person72635:

==Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches==

The day after Souta transferred.

The excitement of the previous day was like a dream. Other than Kikuno, the only person who would actively seek him out to talk, people stopped approaching Souta after class.

As the daylight waned in the noisy classroom, only one word described Souta sitting at his seat — lonely.

His figure evoked loneliness.

“They don’t so much as glance at him, is this reality… Has everyone already lost interest in the transfer student?”

Nanami sat sideways on her chair, expressing her honest opinion of Souta.

However, the classroom atmosphere was less that of ostracism so much as… that feeling of ‘the new transfer student seems to like being alone and doesn’t want to interact, so let’s just let him be.’

Souta didn’t seem to care at all. “Oh, that’s because…” he replied:

“After a flag breaks, it won’t reappear that easily. If something special happens, the flag could reappear or a ‘Flag Recovery’ flag might appear…”

“This mechanism is quite annoying…”

Human relationships might indeed be like this, it’s just that this flag thing is too exaggerated — Nanami understood this implicitly. As the bell rang, she turned to face forward.

However… there was a pair of eyes secretly staring at them.

The eyes’ owner looked breathlessly at Souta, who hadn’t left his seat, for the entire class and seemed to nod with determination…

Lunch break.

The students either started eating lunch with three to five friends around a desk or went to the cafeteria together. A lively atmosphere filled the classroom.

In contrast, Nanami and Souta were too quiet, staring at their respective desks and quietly nibbling on the salty bread they bought that morning.

Their loneliness was so strong that people couldn’t approach them, adding even more loneliness and falling into an endless negative spiral. FYI, the word spiral definitely wasn’t used because it’s a cool word. Spiral.

Based on her excessively protective mentality, if Kikuno was there it would be impossible for Souta to stay in that loneliness spiral, and they would definitely be eating lunch together. Unfortunately, in order to give advice to those who volunteered to study abroad, Kikuno was attending a lunch gathering hosted by the Student Council and wasn’t in the classroom.

Suddenly, a shadow approached this singular space.

It was an approachable girl, a beautiful girl-next-door type person. Each grade generally has one of those.

If Nanami’s beauty was like a rose, hers would be a cherry blossom that rouses people’s protective instincts.

She had shoulder-length hair with big bows swaying on both sides highlighting her cuteness.

“Hi, my name is Mahougasawa Akane.<ref> Akane’s last name includes the characters for ‘magician’, hence the title of this chapter.</ref>”

The girl… Akane smiled gently and suddenly brought her face closer — close enough to feel her breath — and surprised Souta, who stiffened.

The thing that made Souta’s expression most tense was that…

''The flag… It’s been raised…''

A friendship flag flapped on Akane’s head.

“Ah, I hope you don’t feel repulsed! I’m not a suspicious person, I’m a mysterious classmate, okay?”

“You’re mysterious?!”

So suspicious it might explode.

“Excuse me… what does this mysterious classmate want from me?”

“I’m Akane-chan, though?”

“... Mahougasawa-san, what do—”

“I’m Akane-chan, though?”

Souta was interrupted by Akane halfway through his sentence.

“... Akane, what do you want from me?”

“Oh! It’s the first time a boy used my first name directly.”

Souta glanced at the friendship flag, which had been splashed with a hint of pink.

Akane also blushed pink, matching the flag. She didn’t seem to notice the subtle movements of his eyes. She asked generously:

“Can we eat a bento together?”

Honestly, Souta didn’t really want to interact with people, and most importantly, he was more apprehensive than happy at the thought of having lunch with two girls in the classroom. After all, he was a sensitive boy in his teenage years, so this was an expected reaction.

“... It’s bothersome.”

“He thinks I’m a bother!!”

Akane’s friendship flag broke, and Souta was relieved.

Nanami was already peeking at them through the corner of her eyes while drinking from her milk carton. At this time, she leaned over beside Souta’s ear and asked:

“Souta, was the flag raised?”

“Yeah…”

“Did you break it?”

“Pretty much…”

“Oh.” Despite her disinterested expression, Nanami looked into Souta’s eyes, which were filled with self-contempt and self-pity. This guy was torturing himself.

“I won’t be a bother, so can we eat lunch together?”

“Huh?!”

Since Akane’s flag had been broken, Souta thought she should have left already. Yet she stubbornly stayed and continued trying. Souta was absolutely flabbergasted.

“Did it not break?”

Nanami murmured, letting go of the straw in the carton.

“How can this be possible…”

Souta was sure that the flag had been broken and looked above Akane’s head… but —

“It-it rose again…!”

He saw the friendship flag rise again.

Having broken countless flags, Souta had never seen a flag recover so quickly.

Seeing Souta speechless, Akane tilted her head in confusion.

“Can we?”

“Holy…!”

Maybe thinking that Souta’s silence indicated permission, Akane relaxed and brought an empty seat next to Souta’s desk.

Nearly going with the flow, Souta frantically tried to break the flag again as Akane put down the chair.

“N-no, how should I say this… After all… I’ll be teased if I have lunch with girls… you know what I mean?”

“... That makes sense, sorry.”

Seeing the friendship flag break and disappear again, Souta sighed in relief.

… But before the sigh even came out, a new friendship flag had already popped up.

“I’ll eat after Souta-kun has finished eating, so can we sit together?”

“You don’t understand what I’m saying at all?!”

“?”

Souta was scared silly, and Akane tilted her head in confusion, smiling gently.

“But-but, it feels a little rude to eat first, though?”

“...”

Souta didn’t think that she could understand him at all. This kind of situation was desperate, almost like fighting a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull_switch pull chain] in the middle of a room.

“Can’t I?”

“I’m not saying that… You can’t… No, I’m just saying…”

Attracted by the ruckus, even the classmates who had their flags broken started glancing towards Souta with interest.

“See, everyone’s looking…”

Souta lowered his head, looking extremely distressed. Akane, almost crying, looked around at her classmates.

The spectators crossed their arms in unison, thinking about the best solution for this situation. After contemplating a while, they all looked to the center of the classroom together.

They looked at the wisest person in the class — the academy’s Living Dictionary, the sage Ryuukishibara Tsumugi. Currently, she was nibbling a rice ball.

Her face and body, even if you relaxed the standard, was at most just at the level of a middle schooler… No, this description is still wrong. She looked completely childish, just like a little girl.

Despite her immature appearance, there were rumors that she had been living here even before the academy was founded. How many years she had repeated was a complete mystery. It was one of the seven wonders of the school.

There were other mysteries about her, too. For example, she only wore school uniform’s shirt and coat over a belted kimono — this outfit would surprise every passerby.

If someone asked her about this, she would sigh: “You don’t even know how to wear a kimono? Western tea has poisoned you to forget…”

However, she still wore large lace hair accessories. In this regard, her appreciation of beauty did not distinguish between East and West.

Under the gaze of the whole class, Tsumugi understood the situation, thought quickly, and immediately stood up.

“Everybody listen up!! The weather today is great!! It’s warm and sunny, so go out and eat!”

Tsumugi chewed on her rice ball and put on her [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geta_(footwear) ''geta''.] She walked out of the classroom, geta clicking on the floor.

“Oh, how befitting her title of Grandmother! Great idea!”

“Of course Bento needs to be eaten outside!”

“The courtyard, let’s go to the courtyard!”

Then, everyone started talking again and left the classroom single file. When they realized it, only Souta, Akane, and Nanami, unable to bear the atmosphere, were left in the classroom.

“... Nobody’s looking anymore?”

“Something’s wrong with those guys’s problem-solving methods…”

Akane successfully caught Souta’s attention and smiled at him; Nanami scanned the empty classroom in cold sweat.

“Can we eat bento together?”

“... Yes.”

Since it had already gotten to this point, Souta lost the courage to refuse.

The friendship flag, which had been broken more than once, was raised once again, and broke Souta’s heart to the brink of collapse.

As Akane excitedly sat down on the newly-arranged chair, Nanami also turned her chair 180 degrees.

“Nanami-san, do you want to join us?”

“In this situation, if We were the only one facing forward to eat, wouldn’t We be the only one without friends?”

Nanami acted unexpectedly cute in this situation.

“Wow! I’m so happy!! Actually, I’ve always wanted to find a chance to get along with Nanami-san. But I couldn’t find a chance… Ah! Souta-kun, you have many weaknesses… you could even say that your whole body is covered with them!”

“... Is it really?”

Akane’s carefree words… The aggrieved Souta’s mouth twitched and he asked Nanami:

“... Hey Nanami, is Akane this kind of ‘jerk’?”

“This airhead is a super rich heiress, hmph.”

Nanami replied imperiously, implying that Souta was wasting her breath. Souta wanted to punch her.

“Oh, what’s wrong? Are you investigating me? How am I a rich heiress… my grandfather just happens to be the president of a consortium, that’s all.”

“Consortium?!”

“Isn’t the Mahougasawa Group quite famous? You don’t know?”

“... I’m not familiar with the consortium industry.”

Consortium industry… What the hell is a consortium industry…? Nanami gave Souta a strange look, but Akane smiled.

“My business isn’t important. Speaking of which, Nanami is a princess.”

“A princess?!”

“You aren’t familiar with the princess industry either?”

Where did this industry come from…? Nanami gave Akane a strange look this time, but Akane kept beaming.

“Nanami’s actually the thirteenth princess of the Principality of Bladefield!”

''Huh?! That wasn’t a metaphor, she’s a real princess?!'' Souta’s eyes widened, causing Nanami to look resentful.

“To put it simply, it’s just a small country in the European countryside. And there are ten princes and fourteen princesses. We rank second-to-last. If We had stayed home, We would just be an eyesore. So We were sent to this Far East island country. We are only a princess in name.”

“......”

“S-so what…?” Seeing Souta staring blankly at her, Nanami retreated slightly and asked.

“I don’t have any money though?!”

“We are not running a royal scam on thou!!”

The ‘royal scam’ refers to the crime of posing as a royal and using fake connections to scam people.

“If Nanami wants money, I have some, okay?”

“Don’t need it!”

Souta saw the rare sight of a princess refusing a donation from a rich girl.

“You’re right. There’s something more important than money. And that’s friendth— Ow!”

“She bit her tongue!”

“She bit her tongue at the most important part!!”

Akane, who bit her tongue, was about to cry. So Nanami and Souta ran around babbling: “Friendship is great!” “Long live friendship!” to make Akane’s tears give way to a smile.

“Absolutely! This spirit of mutual protection is friendship! It’s a shining gem!”

Akane happily held Nanami and Souta’s hands and turned towards them. Although Akane’s sappy lines made the two rather uneasy, they forced a shaky smile. They’d have a headache if she really cried.

Then, in the predicament of holding hands with a rich heiress, Souta wanted to secretly withdraw his hand before she thought that ''Boys’ hands are thick and hard, it’s so disgusting~''. Suddenly, Akane faced him and said:

“A boy’s hand…”

Akane’s face stiffened slightly and she paused for a moment. Souta couldn’t help but think ‘as expected’ with a pained expression about as bitter as 99% pure chocolate.

“... is really strong! Other than perhaps my father, it’s the first time I held hands with a boy.”

Seeing Akane’s friendship flag flutter more energetically than before, Souta’s expression was so painfully bitter that it became as bitter as 100% pure chocolate. That said, 100% purity wouldn’t be chocolate, it’d just be cocoa.

“Why does Souta-kun have such a tangled expression? Is it because you indirectly held hands with my father?”

“... That’s not it. But after all, I didn’t think Nanami really was a princess… how do I put it… Although I’ve always thought that Nanami’s speech pattern was different from a normal person’s… but… really? You guys are actually Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress of a tycoon… I feel really out of place.”

“Not a tycoon, it’s a consortium, though?”

Akane raised her index finger to correct the mistake, and Souta, not well-versed in the tycoon industry, asked her:

“What’s the difference?”

“They’re all the same.”

“Didst thou not sayest it was different?! If thou actually thinkest they are the same, why didst thou just correct it?”

“...... Then they’re not the same.”

After being exposed by Nanami, Akane became depressed. Souta forced a smile and asked her again:

“So then, what’s the difference?”

“...... They’re all the same.”

“We have hit a wall.”

Let’s just stop talking about this, search it up yourself later — Souta thought, Akane also thought, and Nanami thought too. Young modern people are probably not concerned about financial news, and that’s a serious problem. At the same time, young people not caring about other young people is also a very serious problem.

“It’s a little late to say this kind of thing now, but is it really okay for me to talk to the Princess and Miss Heiress on equal ground…?”

Souta kept his distance a bit, and Akane shook her head very sadly.

“Please don’t use honorifics. Because we’re classmates.”

“Art not thou using honorifics…”

“...... Then let’s use honorifics together.”

Akane hesitantly let out an “Ahh…”, while Nanami burst out.

“We will not!”

“Souta-kun, Nanami is a princess, so it’s not her selfish refusal, it’s me forcing her to do something she can’t do.”

“We know how to use honorifics! Nobody forced Us to say that!”

Akane tried to be too clever and ended up rubbing Nanami the wrong way. Something similar was probably said before. ‘Rubbing the wrong way’ would be cute if written in hiragana and katakana.<ref> According to the Chinese TL, the Japanese version of the idiom ‘to rub the wrong way’ means specifically to irritate elders and people with higher status.</ref>

“Then, I hope you try to use them.”

“... Please allow Us to refuse.”

““Ooh, very princess-like.””<ref> They (Souta and Akane) say this at the same time.</ref>

“Sh-shut up! There definitely won’t be a next time!”

Nanami’s white skin reddened and she looked away in shame and displeasure.

At this point, Akane said she left her tea-filled water bottle at her seat and walked slowly to the back of the classroom.

Souta took the opportunity to whisper to Nanami:

“... That girl is a bit strange… no, she’s really strange. Though she seems like a good girl.”

“... Yeah. Although We are not very familiar with her either, she is cute, gentle, likeable, cheerful, friendly, and always surrounded by friends… It feels like she has everything that thou lacketh.”

Nanami didn’t seem to realize that this sentence applied to herself, too.

“Don’t say it out loud…”

Why do those kinds of people voluntarily come and talk to themselves…? Just as Souta thought this, Akane came back. She looked at them with interest. Although she didn’t hear what they said, she smiled bashfully and asked:

“Souta-kun, do you have a very good relationship with Nanami?”

“Who would have a good relationship with this kind of dithering guy?!”

Nanami roared before Souta had a chance to say anything.

“Even maggots are indispensable creatures for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_Earth Spaceship Earth] since they clean up animal corpses, right?”

“Who said he was a maggot? I would never say such a disgusting word!!”

Since the two were constantly hopping the line between good and evil, Souta couldn’t figure out who was right and who was wrong.

“... Akane, why did you want to talk to me?”

“Right. Thou hast so many friends and art welcomed everywhere, so why would thou payest attention to this kind of person?”

Worried he would continue to be teased, Souta felt a sense of crisis and asked Akane. Nanami also joined in, also interested.

Faced with such blunt questions, Akane twirled her fork, her expression a bit troubled. “Ummm…” After thinking for a while, she put down her fork and said:

“... Ummm—I saw a lonely person, like a puppy drenched in rain or a kitten mewling in pain, so I couldn’t ignore them.”

““Treated like cats and dogs?!””

Nanami and Souta blurted, shocked.

At the same time, Souta soon began to think dark thoughts.

“That means that Miss Heiress helps hapless cats and dogs from her high standing above, right?”

Upon mumbling this disdainfully, Souta hated his own immaturity. Letting out his anger like this was shameful.

However, when one enters hell, torn to pieces by lively optimism… He who falls into the earthly abyss often feels that goodwill is a burden.

Well, what was just said is just like someone who had hit rock bottom venting their remaining emotions from that time… No, perhaps they’re still crawling the depths of hell.

Souta didn’t want to say that kind of thing but also didn’t want others to notice, so he inevitably tried to alienate himself. At least, that’s what Akane thought.

She pondered it, but…

''That’s too lonely. Too sad… Too hopeless, isn’t it?'' she decided.

“No! It’s not like that!”

Akane didn’t care about being misunderstood. She just couldn’t stand Souta’s attitude — how Souta couldn’t bear to trust other people, so he kept tormenting himself with loneliness

Akane shook her head desperately and repeatedly stressed:

“N-no, no! Souta-kun… how do I put this, barks and purrs cannot be mentioned in the same breath as you, I just think it’s really tragic!”

““Not even considered the same level as cats and dogs?!””

Souta, slumped his shoulders, feeling exceedingly miserable. Nanami put her hand on Souta’s shoulder, telling him not to take it to heart.

“Isn’t this a good thing? A gloomy child like thee needs this kind of friend. Get along with her, okay?”

“Really? Souta-kun, as long as you don’t–don’t dislike it, do you want to be friends?”

“I don’t need…”

“Rejected immediately!!”

Hearing the normally timid Souta say this, Akane was hit hard.

At the same time, Akane’s friendship flag broke with an adorable noise… but just like before, a new friendship flag immediately popped up.

“Why? My mother said that friends are the life’s treasures. U-uh… so… treasures are important… I’m just saying that… that… if treasures didn’t exist, they would no longer be shiny, no longer beautiful and polished… So, if you have to clean it up… after you sweep it into the dustpan, there wouldn’t be anywhere to throw it.”

“How did the conversation turn to trash cans?!”

Akane struggled too hard to persuade them, so much so that she eventually could not find a way to make them understand.

“Basically, in Akane’s mind, friends are like trash cans, so it fits Souta perfectly.”

“Nanami, what do you mean by that?!”

“Nothing like that, nothing like that. Souta isn’t so much a trash can as a bento box!”

“So I’m a box, huh…”

Souta isn’t a flower to be sheltered in a box.<ref> The Japanese idiom for being sheltered involves a box</ref> It was hard to tell whether Akane’s consolation counted as consolation or not.

“Anyways, I… don’t want to bother others. Whether it’s Akane or anyone else.”

“I want to bother Souta-kun!”

“You…”

Hearing Akane’s unreasonable outburst about inducing more suffering, Souta was about to reproach her. But Akane continued, cutting him off.

“Also, I want to be bothered by Souta-kun! That’s what friends do! And… I just can’t ignore the lonely person in front of my eyes!”

Akane’s addendum made Souta give up on his retort, and he turned away to escape Akane’s unwavering gaze.

“Just don’t worry about me…”

“Hold on, Souta!”

Seeing that Souta was about to say something she couldn’t ignore, Nanami pulled on his ear.

“Wh-what do you want…?”

“It’s rare for someone to want to be thy friend. Thou art not permitted to break her flag!”

“But…”

“Dost thou want to humiliate girls?”

“Where’s the problem…?”

Seeing Nanami and Souta pretty much arguing, Akane sadly held the tip of her fork in her mouth.

“Is it not okay to be your friend?”

“I believe a friendship between males and females is impossible…”

“So sad…”

“I just said not to break it!!”

Souta was hit behind the head with an unopened package of Klim [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puri_(food) Puri]. (Note: Nanami later ate it with great relish)

“Even if you say that…”

Alas, it was too late. The friendship flag on Akane’s head had snapped, and Akane’s eyes filled with tears.

“Sure enough, it broke, right, Souta?”

“Pretty much…”

Souta was relieved, thinking it wouldn’t recover this time. Against all odds, Akane regrouped and, without giving anyone else time to breathe, said:

“Ah, b-b-b-b-b-but, we can begin with an attempted friendship, what do you think?”

“She’s still not yet satisfied…? Isn’t that wording just like ‘attempted murder’…”<ref> Damn, these are some Cultivation Chat Group-level tangents lol</ref>

“Indeed.” Akane nodded in deep agreement. Souta looked above Akane’s head in disbelief.

“It clearly broke several times… But it still stands…”

He saw the freshly broken flag give way to yet another new flag.

“This Mahougasawa Akane chick is unexpectedly persistent… Isn’t she perfect for thee…? No matter how many times her flag breaks, it quickly recovers. Even if thou hurtest her heart, she will still face thee with an unyielding spirit.”

“Huh… I feel like that’s pretty terrifying…”

“Thou, who can see flags and decide their fate, art the one who is terrifying, alright?”

Well said.

Nanami and Souta quietly held a council. Akane ignored the two, quietly worrying to the side.

“Attempted friendship isn’t okay either…? Hmm… In this case, then the step before attempted friendship… acquaintances… a nodding acquaintance… hmmmmm… more one-sided… stalker? Is stalker okay?”

“Don’t go there!!”

“......”

Nanami was the one who initially recommended that the two be friends, but she soon began to doubt whether she made the correct choice.

“Since you don’t like stalkers, how about being friends?”

“... Do whatever you want.”

“Hooray!”

That’s pretty much a threat.

Watching Akane softly raise her arms and shout hooray with a smile, he felt his mood gradually improve for some reason.

This may be Akane’s unique characteristic.

Nonetheless, this must be…

This must be a temporary whim of Miss Heiress, thinking that he’s interesting.

After the novelty subsides, she would definitely lose interest immediately — that was what Souta thought.

Though he’d soon realize that this train of thought was a huge mistake.

“But I’m kind of happy that Souta-kun’s willing to say such not-so-pleasant things to me.”

“... What?”

“I think that when I’m sad, it doesn’t matter if other people pamper me. But when I’m the one doing the pampering, there’s always this warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.”

“Akane, is it really okay even if you get hurt?”

“Souta-kun thinks I might get hurt and is worrying about me. That makes me really happy.”

Seeing Akane smile bashfully, Souta frowned.

“... You really are a strange chick.”

Souta’s tone was no longer hostile nor malicious, and Akane looked jubilant.

“But even if you’re friends with someone like me, you still wouldn’t be happy, right…”

Souta’s expression darkened like before and he lowered his head slightly, worried — but he also seemed kind of happy.

“Art thou an idiot? Souta. That kind of thing is for them to decide. How can it depend on what thou sayest?”

Nanami snorted and chewed her Klim Puri flatbread.

Akane nodded enthusiastically, agreeing with Nanami.

“Yeah! Nanami said it really well. Just talking to Souta-kun makes me really happy! I might feel a bit self-conscious saying this, but… there are many people close to me, so when I meet someone more distant, it’s a new experience… This is someone that I haven't seen around me so far, an unfamiliar kind of person… an unidentified creature… Yes, an unidentified life form.”

““A UFAO?!””<ref> Unidentified, unFamiliar Animated Object. Just roll with it. I tried. If any of you come up with something better, I welcome you to edit it.</ref>

A chupacabra appeared in Nanami’s and Souta’s minds at the same time. Wanna suck blood?<ref> ‘Do you want to suck blood?’ is apparently a quote from Japanese comedian Kanpei Hazama. Relevant because chupacabras suck blood. </ref>

“Souta-kun, Nanami, you guys are really in sync. You’re actually quite close, right?”

“We’re not close! Rather, our relationship is really bad. So bad that, given the opportunity, We would steal this guy’s leftover bread in exchange for the not-very-tasty bread We are eating right now.”

“My leftover bread is Klim Puri, the very thing Nanami’s eating right now, though?”

Having saved the bread for last, Souta was looking forward to eating it. He grieved a little when he heard this bad news.

“You guys are really similar. That’s great, I’m so jealous--”

“......”

Nanami stared hatefully at Akane wiggling.

Wasn’t it true that friendship can still be established in spite of very different values? Nanami and Akane were polar opposites, and Souta started to feel that Nanami and Akane may yet make a good pair.

The evidence was…

“... Before, ye shall become two peas in a pod and become the envy of everybody else!”

“Actually, I’ve always wanted to become closer with Nanami.”

Hearing Nanami’s slightly lonely words, Akane held Nanami’s hands tightly and smiled. At some point, ‘Nanami-san’ had become ‘Nanami’.

“Wh-why me?!”

“... Whenever I see a lonely person, or a puppy drenched in rain, or a kitten mewling in pain, I just can’t ignore them!”

“Treated like Souta?!”

Nanami was even more shocked at this than Souta was when he was just compared to a cat and dog.

“Nanami regrettably feels like a person of spoiled arrogance, which has always made me interested in her.”

“What dost thou mean by ‘regrettably’?”

“Just that, in the phrase ‘spoiled arrogance’, the ‘spoiled’ part outweighs the ‘arrogant’ part!”

“Shut up!!”

Souta looked at the arguing girls with an magnificent smile, neither forced nor a smirk, and said:

“I for one think that Nanami and Akane can become very good friends.”

“What?! This troublemaker also has a flag for Us?”

Nanami pulled on Souta’s ears again, quietly roaring.

“I don’t know… I basically only see my own— or rather, I should say, flags that have to do with me…”

That is to say, Souta was only able to see the flag for that morning’s accident because it also involved him — with this understanding, Nanami thought: ''This ability seems convenient but isn’t really convenient; it seems to be a convenience, but that’s not entirely the case…''

“Just like that! That’s what makes people think you two are close! Physical contact is proof of a good relationship! Can I pull on Souta-kun’s ears, too?”

“Sure?”

“Don’t pull on people’s ears for no reason!”

“So it’s allowed if there is a reason?”

“Sure?”

“Nanami, no stop seeking schadenfreude! Anyways, what’s so fun about pulling on ears…?”

“Causing mischief… That kind of fun, probably?”

“What a terrible relationship!!”

“No it’s not, no it’s not! That feeling of ‘even if you cause them mischief, they’ll still laugh and forgive you’ is definitely proof of a good relationship.”

Oh, that’s how it is, that does make sense— Souta smiled faintly in agreement, and Akane’s cheeks went slightly red. Joy emanated from the depths of her heart, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s my friend! Looks like you really get me! Souta-kun, you’re really, really charming when you smile! As long as you smile like this a lot, your loneliness will definitely disappear!”

“Ah…”

Souta wasn’t used to being praised so directly in person, so he inadvertently shrugged, and his smile became strained. Seeing this, Akane exclaimed, “Ah, what a waste of the cool smile just now…” Her hands even began to quiver.

Having eaten her bread and sucked her milk carton dry, Nanami smirked playfully and said:

“But Akane, if he wasn’t lonely anymore, wouldn’t you lose interest?”

“In my mind, a laughing Souta is more important than a lonely Souta. This is a historic moment, okay? One small step for mankind, one and a half small steps for me!”

““Close enough!!””

“You guys are really in sync… That’s great, I also want someone to be in sync with me.”

“Why do you need to envy other people? Akane, don’t you also have many strengths?”

Nanami lightly squeezed her empty milk carton and broke eye contact, her expression that of shy admiration. Hearing Nanami’s words, Akane’s smile bloomed.

“R-really?! Like-like what?”

“... Well… like wanting to eat with me and Souta, right?”

Seeing Nanami laugh with a little self-deprecation, Akane laughed with an expression of “Isn’t that normal?” She then fell into deep thought with an “Eh…”

“Is it better to eat alone?”

““You had a conversation with yourself?!””

“Only you two keep getting closer and closer. It’s not fair, it’s not fair!”

However, supposing that Akane and Souta had already eaten half of their lunch, and then Akane and Nanami ate the remaining half, anyone would think that the relationship between Souta and Nanami was deteriorating.

In this way, the three unexpectedly similar people happily ate their lunch in the classroom. Outside, a group of people quietly observed the situation.

“... So, we can probably go in now?”

The rest of the class, who had been driven out of the classroom, searched for an opportunity to go back in.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
|-
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</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1

2025-01-01T22:57:16Z

Person72635:

==Flag 1: The Day the Knight<ref> Reminder, Nanami’s middle name is Knight</ref> Raised the Flag==
Hatagaya Academy.

Situated on a vast campus with a view of Yoyogi Park, next to Shinjuku and Meiji Jingu Shrine, it is an enormous school that teaches kindergarten to university.

The academy is renowned not just for their unrivaled academics, but more so for the sound character education their students receive.

The students of Hatagaya Academy are synonymous with kindness in the area, and the locals have a good opinion of them.

Needless to say, students come from thousands of miles away to study there, so the academy has also prepared perfect dormitories for these students.

Since it was the end of the Golden Week, a sluggish atmosphere had permeated the classroom of high school freshman Class F. But due to the appearance of a transfer student, the atmosphere suddenly brightened.

Speaking of transfer students causing a commotion, they are generally beautiful girls. Nevertheless, even if their hopes were shattered by a normal-looking boy, he still raises spirits.

This is because the academy has a relatively high proportion of girls: somewhere between 6:4 and 7:3.

Anyways, the male transfer student stood beside the homeroom teacher on the podium. When he wrote his name on the blackboard, he could hear his classmates’ thoughts about him from their whispers.

“Then again, a transfer during the semester is really strange.”

“It’s not the Emperor of Tokyo again.”

Don’t bring up The Emperor of Tokyo! <ref>Apparently it’s another work by the author, but I couldn’t find it from a quick google search so it might go by a different name. I’m using the literal translation of the Chinese text (东京皇帝).</ref>

Back to the subject. The student sitting in front of the podium… Nanami Knight Bladefield opened her cherry-like mouth in surprise, looking up at the transfer student who seemed uncomfortable under all the attention.

In front of her eyes, feeling a bit downcast… the transfer student unable to hide his gloomy expression and attitude… he was…
“Hello everyone… I’m Hatate… Souta.”

“The guy who ruined other people’s business negotiation on the way to school this morning!!”

Nanami pointed fiercely at Souta, shouting loud enough to make the window vibrate. He raised his eyebrows.

The sound of welcoming clapping was about to start, but Nanami’s outburst changed the atmosphere.

“Business negotiation…?”

“What business negotiation…?”

“Ruin…? Business negotiation…?”

“Wow! How cruel…”

“But, why do business negotiations on the way to school…?”

“In this situation, isn’t it usually something like ‘The pervert who peeked at my panties on the way to school this morning!’, right…?”

The welcoming applause scattered, and the teenagers of Class F were all talking about business.

This class would surely win first place in the high school freshman division of the ‘Business Negotiation’ competition. Although they still wouldn’t be as good as the students of the business school. Wait, that doesn’t count as first place at all!

“Hey, isn’t Hatate Souta the one…”

“Yeah, the only survivor of the luxury cruise ship accident…”

The accident of the luxury cruise ship the Premium Ambriel —

It was a mysterious event that caused a societal sensation a few weeks ago.

The ship didn’t send any help signal at all during its sinking and just suddenly disappeared into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan. Later, people accidentally found a lifeboat floating in the sea like a leaf.

The sole person on the lifeboat was Souta, unconscious.

But he lost his memories of the time he was on the ship.

The incident had countless layers of mystery, so it went completely unsolved. Later, the public quickly lost interest up until today.

However, the young man at the center of the incident was now standing in front of them.

The whispers of the class passed into Souta’s ears, making his expression even more gloomy.

When his classmates saw this, the curious gazes directed at him became mixed with sympathy.

At this time, an exclamation louder than Nanami’s came from behind her. The atmosphere in the classroom was originally a bizarre mixture of uproar and silence, and this exclamation made this indescribable atmosphere even more chaotic.

“Sou-kun!”

This time it was a girl with a slightly more mature temperament than other students. She stood up from her seat and pointed at Souta dramatically.

Actually, she had been staring at Souta ever since he’d appeared in the classroom.

Her long hair was tied with a dotted ribbon into a side ponytail. It obviously wasn’t a housekeeping class, but she wore an apron over her uniform anyways. This graceful girl was more like a mature beauty than a young beauty. She pointed her finger at Souta, mouth wide open and rooted in place. Usually, someone opening and closing their mouth this frequently should be careful of being mistaken for a goldfish, but she didn’t have this problem due to her good looks.

Faced with the girl calling him ‘Sou-kun’, Souta likewise looked at her with his mouth wide open for a while. He realized that the girl matched a certain person in his memory and inadvertently called out that familiar name:

“... Okiku-nee?”

“You really were Sou-kun!”

The girl jumping for joy upon her unexpected reunion with Souta was Shoukanji Kikuno.

Seeing that someone who knew Souta immediately appeared, the class erupted in a different way than before.

“Sou-kun and Okiku-nee…? They feel so close…”

“This transfer student’s face is really wide<ref> I’m guessing it’s in a surprised way.</ref>...”

“Maybe he’s a popular transfer student?”

“After all, transfer students are usually unknown…”

Regardless of whether she heard her classmates’ whispers or saw their suspicious gazes, Kikuno couldn’t hide her excitement at all and seemed to have understood the situation — yet also seemed not to. She hastily waved her arms to explain.

“Oh, Sou-kun’s my childhood playmate! He transferred away in middle school! And then– It’s just– We haven’t seen each other for two years! He’s actually grown so big! Become super handsome! It’s so great!”

“Don’t be so excited!” “Calm down first!” These admonishments from the rest of the class were mixed with strained smiles in their attempt to alleviate Kikuno’s enthusiasm.

—Right.

Kikuno and Souta had been neighbors from kindergarten until their second year of middle school, and the two were like brother and sister. Especially Kikuno, who didn’t have any siblings, loved Souta as a younger brother. People who weren’t in the know would think that they were real siblings.

Later, the two had gone separate ways because Souta’s family moved. So now that they had unexpectedly reunited, Kikuno’s excitement kept rising.

“Sou-kun… You really are Sou-kun, right? Woohoo! Sou-kun just moved!”<ref> It should be noted that in this case, ‘moved’ refers to actual movement rather than moving to a new place.</ref>

I can’t even move?… Souta’s expression said. The more Kikuno’s excitement rose,<ref> The Chinese literally says it broke through the sky lmao </ref> the more obvious the contrast was with Souta’s inexplicable calmness.

“Listen! I was always ~ always really worried about you, Sou-kun! Always couldn’t contact you… Uncle and Auntie are also… Because of that incident…”

Kikuno suddenly lowered her voice, and Souta added:

“My sister, too…”

“Sister? Sou-kun, aren’t you an only child?”

“......Right, yeah.”

Understanding again that his older sister doesn’t exist anymore, Souta lowered his head, his expression completely dead.

“I can’t reach Souta again…”

“Sorry…”

Seeing Souta become depressed, Kikuno panicked and frantically waved her hands.

“Uh, uh! Big Sis<ref> Referring to herself</ref> isn’t blaming you! Don’t show that face, Sou-kun! Uh! Big Sis will let you lie on her lap and help clean out your ears, okay!? I remember that you like that, right? That would make you feel better, right?”

''“That’s too much.”'' ''“She’s doting on him.”'' The class had felt that they couldn’t keep watching the way the older sister doted on her little brother too much.

Feeling the piercing gazes of his classmates, Souta couldn’t help but change the subject.

“No need, but… Okiku-nee, I think you’re one year older than me…?”

“Yep!! Last year, I went to study abroad for almost a year! So, starting high school a year late makes me a freshman now! But I didn’t think that Sou-kun would transfer and be in the same class as me! I, Big Sis, thank the heavens very much! Super amazing! It’s pretty much fate!”

Although Kikuno’s words came purely from sibling affection and completely lacked romance, her enthusiastic speech still elicited whistles of clear ridicule but also faint affection from the class.

But let’s not bring up this point first. On the other hand, a certain girl was in a completely opposite mood and was inwardly fuming.

That girl was Nanami.

''Our<ref> Nanami refers to herself in a way an empress would, so I’m going to use the royal we. I’ll capitalize it when it’s used.</ref> shocking reunion was washed away by censorship<ref> It says 洗版文, basically ‘clean text version’ if taken literally, so that’s my best interpretation.</ref>!!''

Nanami, angrily distracted from the subject, glared resentfully nearby. Souta, absolutely confused, felt trouble coming. He broke out into a cold sweat and tried not to look towards Nanami.

At this time, the homeroom teacher, wearing a cat-embroidered apron, clapped her hands with a smile to call everyone’s attention (although she didn’t notice that Souta really wanted to escape). The amount of aprons in this classroom was quite large.

“Okay, class, please welcome new friends more warmly~”

Suddenly snapped out of their stupor, the class resumed clapping. The homeroom teacher nodded in satisfaction, putting her hand to her forehead as if hiding from the sun like a certain exaggerated fruit lady children’s show host.<ref> No idea what this is a reference to.</ref> She looked around the classroom.

“Where should Souta-chan sit~?”

“-Chan…!?”<ref> The suffix -chan is used for little children.</ref>

Even the taciturn Souta inadvertently let out a cry, but the homeroom teacher was completely unmoved and continued looking around the classroom.

“Ah, Miyuki-sensei, I think sitting in the back row would make it difficult to assimilate into the class, so how about my row moves back a row to leave space for him to sit. Since Shoukanji-san and the transfer student seem to know each other, let’s arrange for them to sit next to each other!”

Behind Nanami, a frivolous blonde-haired student with pierced ears made a friendly proposal. The others automatically packed their things and vacated their seats, leaving space for Souta.

“Okay then, Souta-chan will sit behind Nanami-chan~”

The homeroom teacher waved her hands and said “Bye-bye!” Souta didn’t want to bother her at all, so he walked around to the seat behind Nanami.

Then, Souta faced the person seated behind him — the frivolous blonde-haired guy with pierced ears — and gently nodded in greeting.

“... Excuse me.”

“It’s alright… ah — also, our class’s teacher taught kindergarten until last year, so she hasn’t fully adjusted yet.”

“Oh…”

What do you mean adjusted, she hasn’t changed at all!

“Pleasure to meet you.” Although the speech and attitude of the blonde-haired ear-pierced boy was as frivolous as his appearance, he was far more kind than he appeared at first glance.

Watching Souta vaguely nod his head in reply, Kikuno, who originally was all over the place mentally and shaking nonstop, laughed.

“You really grew up~ Big Sis was obviously taller in middle school.”

“You’ve also changed a lot, you’ve become pretty.”

“Oh, naughty Souta! How can you say such polite words~ Sucking up to Big Sis won’t get you any benefits!”

Kikuno reached out and poked Souta’s forehead, teasing him.

Seeing Kikuno as frank as ever, Souta felt a bit dejected. He was already different from before, feeling melancholic, insecure, and guilty—he had mixed feelings.

“Huh? Sou-kun, why are you so listless? Shouldn’t you… feel a bit different?”

“......”

Kikuno quickly noticed, and her words made Souta’s expression more lonely. But she deliberately pretended not to notice, smiled softly, and said,

“Ah, you seem to have become more mature…”

“Now those are polite words.”

Souta understood her intentions and likewise pretended not to notice them, responding with a similar smile.

However, his slightly lonely smile instead worried Kikuno.

''Back then, he was a cheerful kid and loved to smile… but now he seems to have changed. Is it because he was too nervous about the transfer… Am I seeing it wrong? He really hasn’t moved on from the accident…'' Seeing Souta’s lack of vitality and that saying his personality had changed a lot didn’t do the change justice, Kikuno couldn’t help but feel worried.

Anyways, because they sensed each other’s goodwill, the two stopped talking. Only, their intriguing attitudes and words seemed honeyed to the people around them. As a result, Nanami, who was sitting in the front seat, constantly looked over her shoulder to peek.

Faced with her piercing gaze, Souta behaved unnaturally and tried not to look at her, breaking out in a cold sweat.

''Why…??? Why does she keep looking at me…? Hmm? Oh yeah! This woman kept staring at me during the accident this morning…!''

''Sure enough… it’s this guy!! The super suspicious guy!!''

At the time, Souta didn’t think he’d attract such suspicion. He might have been a little negligent, and silently cursed his carelessness. Meanwhile, Nanami stared at him haughtily.

Nanami Knight Bladeflield was a girl as beautiful as she was confident. She was very stubborn and rather aggressive. Speaking of her fierceness and toughness, her classmates were even convinced that Nanami repeated a grade. But they wouldn’t think so about Kikuno.

At the same time, Nanami was indifferent to things she deemed irrelevant. However, she held on to things she cared about like a rabid dog. Rabid dogs drool a lot, so Nanami might one day drool a lot too. It’s said that preserved plums are effective for people who drool. Even Soviet physiologist Ivan Pavlov had experimented with dogs. The Soviets are really unpredictable.

Then, the similarly unpredictable Miyuki-sensei somehow made a gesture like “Close fist and open fist”<ref>A children’s song. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUkJkaEyx6s Here] is a Chinese version.</ref>, smiling kindly at the students.

“Okay, okay~ Everybody, look at Sensei. Everybody get along well with our new friend~ Today, we must be full of energy and work hard at playing games and going for walks~”

''“What do you mean ‘playing games’…”'' ''“We aren’t allowed to go for a walk, right…”'' The class heard Miyuki-sensei’s exaggerated tone for talking to children in kindergarten, and despite the cold sweat in their hearts, they still stood up and saluted according to the class president’s call.

Under Nanami’s fierce rabid dog-like stare, the students unafraid of death came happily next to Souta’s seat after class.

“Hatate-kun, where did you move from?”

“... A place called Kobata<ref> The Chinese text says 小旗 (Small Flag) so I put it in Google translate as Japanese kanji and got the pronunciation. I may be completely wrong in this case.</ref>... in Nagoya.

“Oh, the future capital, Nagoya.”

“He’s from the future.” “The time traveler’s uniform is all new.” Hearing Souta’s response, his classmates started talking all at the same time.

“His uniform’s new because he’s a transfer student! It has nothing to do with the future!!”

Nanami couldn’t help but debunk the theory, startling Souta.

The class gave a thumbs-up to Nanami, praising her great deduction while thinking that the transfer student was quite skinny. A kind-hearted classmate who had no luck with girls leaned forward with a clear, definitely-not-repulsive grin and said:

“Hatate, you just transferred and don’t know many things, right? Just ask me if you have any questions. Especially things about girls, asking me would be the right choice.”

He seemed to be the kind of boy who was a diehard fan of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bish%C5%8Djo_game bishojo game] protagonists. His behavior appeared to be well-known, as his classmates' reactions were “He’s at it again?”

Having said that, his outspokenness made Souta nearly relax his expression a bit.

But…

When Souta inadvertently glanced at the space above his classmate’s head—

His expression suddenly froze, and he fell into silent consideration. His eyes appeared full of heartache, melancholy, and loneliness, and he said:

“... I’m already very popular, so I won’t need to.’

Nanami and the others heard his obvious lie, looking at Souta in confusion while the male student angrily grimaced like a monkey.

“Wow! And I thought we were buddies!”

He suddenly broke out into a Kansai accent and left without another word.

Everyone there believed that his reaction was a half joke and laughed in confusion.

However, in Nanami’s eyes, that classmate’s reaction was genuine.

And another thing…

Only Nanami, who had been intentionally observing Souta’s suspicious behavior, seemed to have noticed something.

Souta felt Nanami’s gaze become fiercer. He felt her pressure but didn’t want to provoke trouble, so he tried not to look at her. At this time, a female student stood in front of Souta with an attitude not quite like Nanami’s but still arrogant like a queen.

“It’ll be you! I’ll accept you as my servant! First, you must join my club. As for what type of club it is, you’ll know after you join…”

The girl spoke haughtily, like it was preordained.

Again, Souta inadvertently looked at the space above her head, his expression froze, and he fell into silent consideration. Again, his eyes appeared full of heartache, melancholy, and loneliness. He said, with a little disgust:

“Sorry, but I’m a super sadist”

But Souta obviously didn’t look like a sadist, and in fact looked easily disheartened. As such, Nanami mentally retorted: ''Who are you kidding?''

But the female student replied, devastated:

“Someone so obviously gloomy is a sadist?! Two sadists don’t fit together!”

She was indeed sadistic… The other classmates watched her huff and leave, nodding repeatedly as if confirming the persuasiveness of her statement.

As a worried sister, Kikuno saw the scene as Souta having fun and making friends (although it doesn’t look that way from an objective point of view).

After that, an endless stream of classmates interested in Souta kept talking to him, repeating similar interactions before leaving.

After seeing Souta’s interactions several times, Nanami discovered something.

''This guy…''

Regardless of what they said to him, he would look above their head and his expression would freeze.

After Souta rejected them, before they gave up, he would once again look at their head to confirm

— As if confirming that they would never interact again.

''Very suspicious… Too suspicious…''

Every time class ended, there would be repeated acts of acquaintance and rejection. Gradually, fewer and fewer classmates came to see Souta, and come lunchtime, not even half a person showed up.

Although Nanami didn’t plan to act at this time, she stood up confidently, looking down at the Souta seated behind her.

“Let’s step aside and talk.”

“...... I refuse.”

“Thou canst not say no.”<ref> Nanami uses an archaic second-person pronoun, so I’ll use thee/thou/thy.</ref>

Even though she wasn’t very tall, her attitude made it seem like she was standing on top of Mt. Fuji and her tone allowed for no excuses. This made Souta raise his head slightly.

''He did it again.''

Nanami glared at Souta, who nodded after looking above her head.

Because of her noble birth, Nanami had seen many people who looked at people’s faces, but this was the first time she met someone who looked above people’s heads. Granted, there are sometimes cats who look above people’s heads. According to this logic, Souta was more like a cat — the Licking Sou-kitty.<ref> Chinese says 飒喵舔舔, literally the first part of Souta + meow + lick + lick. It’s apparently some sort of K-ON! reference, but I haven’t watched it.</ref>

Of course, the thought of linking didn’t occur to Nanami, who was resolutely standing before Souta.

“I think that not associating with me would be better for you.”

The words may have been cold, but it was Souta’s awkward way of expressing his consideration. However, Nanami took no notice, drew a circle on her head with her index finger, and smirked menacingly.

“We think ‘tis better for thou to step aside and talk.”

“......”

''How troublesome…'' Souta frowned. Although he didn’t know how much the girl in front of him knew, he was at least sure she didn’t want to talk about it there, so Souta stood up reluctantly.

“What’s wrong, Sou-kun? Do you want Big Sis to go with you?”

Kikuno, anxiously looking at Souta from nearby, couldn’t help but suggest this.

However, when they overheard this sentence, the classmates around Souta reacted more strongly than he did, breaking into profuse cold sweat.

''Saying that kind of thing in this situation is too overprotective…''

''How can he be spoiled like this…''

''“Big Sis” dotes too much…''’

Although he couldn’t hear their inner thoughts, Souta shook his head with a strained smile.

“It’s fine, Okiku-nee.”

Hearing this reply, Kikuno still seemed uneasy. Nanami and Souta left the classroom under her worried gaze.

Nanami brought Souta up the stairs to the roof, where she stood majestically facing Souta. After Souta shrugged his shoulders, she said:

“First of all, We cannot ignore suspicious oddities. That is to say, We are very concerned about supernatural phenomena. Leaving them unsolved does not sit well with Us. We expect thee to understand this point.”

Nanami coughed to clear her throat and approached Souta.

“So, We implore thou to give an honest confession!”

“Uh… w-what do you want me to say…?”

Souta wasn’t pretending to be dumb. Nanami haughtily believed that others would naturally understand her ideas. Thus her poor communication.

''Why dost thou not understand what we wish to say?'' Although Nanami was rather annoyed, she patiently explained:

“... Thou always looketh above the heads of others… in this area, to make a certain judgment, correct?”

“!!”

Seeing Nanami move her index finger on her head just like she did before in the classroom, Souta’s expression visibly changed.

This admitted half of it already. It’s just like a pizza, fried chicken, Caesar salad, French fries, creamy bacon pasta, and a tuna salad appearing in a thief’s. It was supposed to be sneaky, but it might as well have been his official meal!

“W-what?… I don’t understand what you’re talking about…”

Although Souta was caught a little off guard at first, he immediately feigned ignorance. It was like he ate dirt.<ref> The original idiom was 吃熊心豹子胆, literally ‘to eat bear heart and leopard gall’ and meaning ‘to brace oneself.’ I substituted it for an English idiom about eating, since I think that’s the only part that really matters here.</ref>

“Don’t pretend to be dumb! Don’t feign ignorance! The evidence has flashed!!”<ref> Apparently a reference to the White Album anime.</ref>

Her words didn’t make sense to him, but anyways, Nanami boldly closed in on Souta.

Souta’s intuition told him he had provoked a troublesome girl, and he sighed helplessly. Then he inexplicably observed the top of Nanami’s head, waiting for something to happen.

“See!! Thou looked again!! What exactly doth thou see there?!”

“... If I told you, would you promise to stop harassing me?”

“That would depend on the contents of thy response!”

Souta scratched the back of his head, wondering why that woman was so straight-laced, only shooting straight to the point.

“It’s just a way to calm myself down. Doing it makes me think positively — that’s all.”

“Who art thou kidding?! Which one of the sentences thou hast said after looking above their head hasn’t been negative? More importantly, first thou askest Us to stop bothering thou, then make up random lies! Didst thou think that would work?!”

Souta looked up at the sky, thinking to himself that she had a point.

“Look!! There are videos to prove it! Thou art obviously looking at something! This video as well! Also this video! And this one! And this one!!”

“... Excuse me, what’s up with the video of you wearing a sundress and spinning…?”

Because she played a lot of videos in a row, she accidentally swiped too many times and showed him unrelated videos.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!! D-don’t look, nyow<ref> Nanami makes a cat noise, and I’m making it a pun.</ref>—!!”

FYI, that was Nanami wearing her middle school uniform for the last time over spring break. Unfortunately, it cannot be played for everyone to see. What a pity.

“S-since We even let thee see something not meant for others to see, thou must tell me what thou doth not want to say, or else We won’t spare you!!”

She says this, yet she was the one who showed it to him. It’s pretty unreasonable, but Nanami was the kind of terrifying girl who does such unreasonable things without batting an eye. Well, she actually pokes people’s eyes while they’re talking. Truly terrifying.<ref> Pretty proud of my wordplay here if I do say so myself. The Chinese just said she’s terrifying because she pokes people’s eyes. </ref>

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh, my eyes!! My eyes!!”

Her terror was already unrelated to reason.

“Don’t just go through the motions! Give Us an honest confession!!”

“My eyes—!! My eyes—!!”

Covering his eyes while rolling on the ground, Souta looked quite happy from another perspective.<ref> What perspective lmfao</ref>

After rolling for a while, Souta, who was both mentally and physically exhausted, finally gave up and stood up, ready to tell the truth.

“... What I say next, if possible… I hope you can keep it a secret.”

“Only if thou deleteth the memory of the video from thy hippocampus.”

“......”

Souta didn’t know how to respond, and smiled in resignation for a few seconds. Feeling bligated to respond, he sighed again. He said, more gloomily than usual:

“Do you know… what a ‘Flag’ is?”

“A ‘Flag’?”

After hearing this, Nanami imagined a translucent sea creature floating around. Only one syllable is the same, though. <ref> According to Chinese TL, the pronunciation of ‘flag’ and the word for ‘jellyfish’ are similar in Japanese, but only one syllable is the same.</ref>

“Survival flags, death flags, love flags, victory flags, loser flags… Human actions and states, different phenomena, etc. are concepts with a significant impact on the future. These are flags. People often say that someone is planting a flag or pulling a flag. For instance, if the death flag is raised, the person with the flag will die; if someone plants a love flag on someone else, the former will like the latter… etc.”

This reminded Nanami of the morning. Before the traffic accident almost happened, the office worker’s words did raise a death flag.

“I… can capture flags visually.”

“... Meaning thou canst see… the flags…?

Souta nodded.

“As long as I look at a flag, I’ll know… what to say to break that flag…”

“Break… the flag?”

Nanami stroked her chin in contemplation.

“Then… the office worker who almost had a traffic accident this morning…”

“That was a death flag…”

“The guy who recommended himself to provide information about girls…”

“That was a friendship flag.”

“The girl who invited you to join her club…”

“That time it was a love flag…”

As Nanami listed them out, Souta thought about them one by one and answered with their corresponding flag.

“So basically he’s a Flag Crusher… right?”

Nanami didn’t believe it at first, and didn’t believe it till the end.

While she didn’t believe it, nevermind what happened in the classroom, the truck accident that morning was indeed too bizarre even if a supernatural force had interfered.

“... Okay, breaking death flags makes sense, but why break friendship flags or love flags? Don’t you want a friend or a lover?”

“......”

Perhaps because the thoughts he didn’t want to think were said aloud, Souta’s expression sank and he sat down on the stairs, lowering his head.

“Nevermind. I’ve already…”

“How is this a ‘nevermind’...”

As Nanami saw it, Souta dropping his shoulders more gloomily than usual didn’t mean that he really agreed.

“People that are too deeply involved with me tend to meet misfortune. I don’t want to see other people hurt anymore.”

To Nanami, Souta was the person who suffered the most.

Was he like this because his amazing power scarred him?

Or was it because he was the only survivor of the luxury cruise ship accident, so he blamed himself?

Or was it both?

Nanami didn’t know the answer.

Regardless, she looked down at Souta with concern. Souta only knew how to use his power to save people like this morning and to awkwardly alienate himself from others like he did in the classroom.

Nanami’s own social skills were not high — in fact, it could be said it was very poor. Her shortcomings weren't the same as Souta’s, but it can still be said to be rock bottom.

So… looking at Souta’s lonely smile, she found that she resonated with him, which made her rather unhappy.

For a moment, a really short moment, a similar expression appeared on Nanami’s face. She seemed to suppress her feelings immediately, and after grinding her molars, she opened her mouth:

“We…”

“...?”

“I have absolutely no feelings for thee ~ neither love nor friendship. It’s impossible to raise a flag! Actually, when I saw thy cowardly appearance, any flag was instantly destroyed and snuffed out!”

Nanami stood up forcefully and said arrogantly:

“Thou canst not worry about breaking things that haven’t been raised nor breaking things that have already been broken! So! We will complain to thee when We want to complain and yell at thou when We want to yell!!”

“......”

Not only were Nanami’s attitude and tone furious, but even the words themselves harbored far from good intentions. Thus, Souta looked dumbly at her when she said these words.

However, when the words sank in and he understood what Nanami meant, Souta’s expression brightened slightly.

Perhaps like Nanami before, because both people were equally awkward people, Souta had certain feelings about Nanami’s candid thoughts.

“... You’re a really good person. Thanks…”

“...!”

Although Souta did feel shy saying this, he wasn’t as shy as Nanami.

Nanami’s clear, white skin obviously reddened, and at that moment even her neck reddened. Nanami closed in towards Souta’s nose, growling softly.

“O-Our name is Nanami! Nanami Knight Bladefield! Just call Us Nanami, because We hate it when other people use surnames. -San and other suffixes are also exempt. Those who dare use a nickname will be punished with death!”

With this belated introduction, Nanami calmed down a bit, and the blush on her face subsided. Souta nodded at her.

“Okay, Nanami-s… Nanami. M-... me too, just call me Souta.”

He almost said ‘Nanami-san’, and Nanami glared at Souta as he forced a smile.

He might’ve been a little angry at Nanami. Souta felt that even if he was harassed in the future, he wouldn’t be too bothered, so he reminisced…Man, it had been a long time… a really long time since he had met someone he could be friends with like this.

To Souta’s relief, there was no hint of a flag on her head.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 0|Chapter 0]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 2

2025-01-01T21:33:34Z

Person72635:

==Flag 2: The Indomitable Magician Quietly Approaches==

The day after Souta transferred.

The excitement of the previous day was like a dream. Other than Kikuno, the only person who would actively seek him out to talk, people stopped approaching Souta after class.

As the daylight waned in the noisy classroom, only one word described Souta sitting at his seat — lonely.

His figure evoked loneliness.

“They don’t so much as glance at him, is this reality… Has everyone already lost interest in the transfer student?”

Nanami sat sideways on her chair, expressing her honest opinion of Souta.

However, the classroom atmosphere was less that of ostracism so much as… that feeling of ‘the new transfer student seems to like being alone and doesn’t want to interact, so let’s just let him be.’

Souta didn’t seem to care at all. “Oh, that’s because…” he replied:

“After a flag breaks, it won’t reappear that easily. If something special happens, the flag could reappear or a ‘Flag Recovery’ flag might appear…”

“This mechanism is quite annoying…”

Human relationships might indeed be like this, it’s just that this flag thing is too exaggerated — Nanami understood this implicitly. As the bell rang, she turned to face forward.

However… there was a pair of eyes secretly staring at them.

The eyes’ owner looked breathlessly at Souta, who hadn’t left his seat, for the entire class and seemed to nod with determination…

Lunch break.

The students either started eating lunch with three to five friends around a desk or went to the cafeteria together. A lively atmosphere filled the classroom.

In contrast, Nanami and Souta were too quiet, staring at their respective desks and quietly nibbling on the salty bread they bought that morning.

Their loneliness was so strong that people couldn’t approach them, adding even more loneliness and falling into an endless negative spiral. FYI, the word spiral definitely wasn’t used because it’s a cool word. Spiral.

Based on her excessively protective mentality, if Kikuno was there it would be impossible for Souta to stay in that loneliness spiral, and they would definitely be eating lunch together. Unfortunately, in order to give advice to those who volunteered to study abroad, Kikuno was attending a lunch gathering hosted by the Student Council and wasn’t in the classroom.

Suddenly, a shadow approached this singular space.

It was an approachable girl, a beautiful girl-next-door type person. Each grade generally has one of those.

If Nanami’s beauty was like a rose, hers would be a cherry blossom that rouses people’s protective instincts.

She had shoulder-length hair with big bows swaying on both sides highlighting her cuteness.

“Hi, my name is Mahougasawa Akane.<ref> Akane’s last name includes the characters for ‘magician’, hence the title of this chapter</ref>”

The girl… Akane smiled gently and suddenly brought her face closer — close enough to feel her breath — and surprised Souta, who stiffened.

The thing that made Souta’s expression most tense was that…

''The flag… It’s been raised…''

A friendship flag flapped on Akane’s head.

“Ah, I hope you don’t feel repulsed! I’m not a suspicious person, I’m a mysterious classmate, okay?”

“You’re mysterious?!”

So suspicious it might explode.

“Excuse me… what does this mysterious classmate want from me?”

“I’m Akane-chan, though?”

“... Mahougasawa-san, what do—”

“I’m Akane-chan, though?”

Souta was interrupted by Akane halfway through his sentence.

“... Akane, what do you want from me?”

“Oh! It’s the first time a boy used my first name directly.”

Souta glanced at the friendship flag, which had been splashed with a hint of pink.

Akane also blushed pink, matching the flag. She didn’t seem to notice the subtle movements of his eyes. She asked generously:

“Can we eat a bento together?”

Honestly, Souta didn’t really want to interact with people, and most importantly, he was more apprehensive than happy at the thought of having lunch with two girls in the classroom. After all, he was a sensitive boy in his teenage years, so this was an expected reaction.

“... It’s bothersome.”

“He thinks I’m a bother!!”

Akane’s friendship flag broke, and Souta was relieved.

Nanami was already peeking at them through the corner of her eyes while drinking from her milk carton. At this time, she leaned over beside Souta’s ear and asked:

“Souta, was the flag raised?”

“Yeah…”

“Did you break it?”

“Pretty much…”

“Oh.” Despite her disinterested expression, Nanami looked into Souta’s eyes, which were filled with self-contempt and self-pity. This guy was torturing himself.

“I won’t be a bother, so can we eat lunch together?”

“Huh?!”

Since Akane’s flag had been broken, Souta thought she should have left already. Yet she stubbornly stayed and continued trying. Souta was absolutely flabbergasted.

“Did it not break?”

Nanami murmured, letting go of the straw in the carton.

“How can this be possible…”

Souta was sure that the flag had been broken and looked above Akane’s head… but —

“It-it rose again…!”

He saw the friendship flag rise again.

Having broken countless flags, Souta had never seen a flag recover so quickly.

Seeing Souta speechless, Akane tilted her head in confusion.

“Can we?”

“Holy…!”

Maybe thinking that Souta’s silence indicated permission, Akane relaxed and brought an empty seat next to Souta’s desk.

Nearly going with the flow, Souta frantically tried to break the flag again as Akane put down the chair.

“N-no, how should I say this… After all… I’ll be teased if I have lunch with girls… you know what I mean?”

“... That makes sense, sorry.”

Seeing the friendship flag break and disappear again, Souta sighed in relief.

… But before the sigh even came out, a new friendship flag had already popped up.

“I’ll eat after Souta-kun has finished eating, so can we sit together?”

“You don’t understand what I’m saying at all?!”

“?”

Souta was scared silly, and Akane tilted her head in confusion, smiling gently.

“But-but, it feels a little rude to eat first, though?”

“...”

Souta didn’t think that she could understand him at all. This kind of situation was desperate, almost like fighting a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull_switch pull chain] in the middle of a room.

“Can’t I?”

“I’m not saying that… You can’t… No, I’m just saying…”

Attracted by the ruckus, even the classmates who had their flags broken started glancing towards Souta with interest.

“See, everyone’s looking…”

Souta lowered his head, looking extremely distressed. Akane, almost crying, looked around at her classmates.

The spectators crossed their arms in unison, thinking about the best solution for this situation. After contemplating a while, they all looked to the center of the classroom together.

They looked at the wisest person in the class — the academy’s living dictionary, the sage Ryuukishibara Tsumugi. Currently, she was nibbling a rice ball.

Her face and body, even if you relaxed the standard, was at most just at the level of a middle schooler… No, this description is still wrong. She looked completely childish, just like a little girl.

Despite her immature appearance, there were rumors that she had been living here even before the academy was founded. How many years she had repeated was a complete mystery. It was one of the seven wonders of the school.

There were other mysteries about her, too. For example, she only wore school uniform’s shirt and coat over a belted kimono — this outfit would surprise every passerby.

If someone asked her about this, she would sigh: “You don’t even know how to wear a kimono? Western tea has poisoned you to forget…”

However, she still wore large lace hair accessories. In this regard, her appreciation of beauty did not distinguish between East and West.

Under the gaze of the whole class, Tsumugi understood the situation, thought quickly, and immediately stood up.

“Everybody listen up!! The weather today is great!! It’s warm and sunny, so go out and eat!”

Tsumugi chewed on her rice ball and put on her [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geta_(footwear) ''geta''.] She walked out of the classroom, ''geta'' clicking on the floor.

“Oh, how befitting her title of Grandma! Great idea!”

“Of course Bento needs to be eaten outside!”

“The courtyard, let’s go to the courtyard!”

Then, everyone started talking again and left the classroom single file. When they realized it, only Souta, Akane, and Nanami, unable to bear the atmosphere, were left in the classroom.

“... Nobody’s looking anymore?”

“Something’s wrong with those guys’s problem-solving methods…”

Akane successfully caught Souta’s attention and smiled at him; Nanami scanned the empty classroom in cold sweat.

“Can we eat bento together?”

“... Yes.”

Since it had already gotten to this point, Souta lost the courage to refuse.

The friendship flag, which had been broken more than once, was raised once again, and broke Souta’s heart to the brink of collapse.

As Akane excitedly sat down on the newly-arranged chair, Nanami also turned her chair 180 degrees.

“Nanami-san, do you want to join us?”

“In this situation, if We were the only one facing forward to eat, wouldn’t We be the only one without friends?”

Nanami acted unexpectedly cute in this situation.

“Wow! I’m so happy!! Actually, I’ve always wanted to find a chance to get along with Nanami-san. But I couldn’t find a chance… Ah! Souta-kun, you have many weaknesses… you could even say that your whole body is covered with them!”

“... Is it really?”

Akane’s carefree words… The aggrieved Souta’s mouth twitched and he asked Nanami:

“... Hey Nanami, is Akane this kind of ‘jerk’?”

“This airhead is a super rich heiress, hmph.”

Nanami replied imperiously, implying that Souta was wasting her breath. Souta wanted to punch her.

“Oh, what’s wrong? Are you investigating me? How am I a rich heiress… my grandfather just happens to be the president of a consortium, that’s all.”

“Consortium?!”

“Isn’t the Mahougasawa Group quite famous? You don’t know?”

“... I’m not familiar with the consortium industry.”

Consortium industry… What the hell is a consortium industry…? Nanami gave Souta a strange look, but Akane smiled.

“My business isn’t important. Speaking of which, Nanami is a princess.”

“A princess?!”

“You aren’t familiar with the princess industry either?”

Where did this industry come from…? Nanami gave Akane a strange look this time, but Akane kept beaming.

“Nanami’s actually the thirteenth princess of the Principality of Bladefield!”

''Huh?! That wasn’t a metaphor, she’s a real princess?!'' Souta’s eyes widened, causing Nanami to look resentful.

“To put it simply, it’s just a small country in the European countryside. And there are ten princes and fourteen princesses. We rank second-to-last. If We had stayed home, We would just be an eyesore. So We were sent to this Far East island country. We are only a princess in name.”

“......”

“S-so what…?” Seeing Souta staring blankly at her, Nanami retreated slightly and asked.

“I don’t have any money though?!”

“We are not running a royal scam on thou!!”

The ‘royal scam’ refers to the crime of posing as a royal and using fake connections to scam people.

“If Nanami wants money, I have some, okay?”

“Don’t need it!”

Souta saw the rare sight of a princess refusing a donation from a rich girl.

“You’re right. There’s something more important than money. And that’s friendth— Ow!”

“She bit her tongue!”

“She bit her tongue at the most important part!!”

Akane, who bit her tongue, was about to cry. So Nanami and Souta ran around babbling: “Friendship is great!” “Long live friendship!” to make Akane’s tears give way to a smile.

“Absolutely! This spirit of mutual protection is friendship! It’s a shining gem!”

Akane happily held Nanami and Souta’s hands and turned towards them. Although Akane’s sappy lines made the two rather uneasy, they forced a shaky smile. They’d have a headache if she really cried.

Then, in the predicament of holding hands with a rich heiress, Souta wanted to secretly withdraw his hand before she thought that ''Boys’ hands are thick and hard, it’s so disgusting~''. Suddenly, Akane faced him and said:

“A boy’s hand…”

Akane’s face stiffened slightly and she paused for a moment. Souta couldn’t help but think ‘as expected’ with a pained expression about as bitter as 99% pure chocolate.

“... is really strong! Other than perhaps my father, it’s the first time I held hands with a boy.”

Seeing Akane’s friendship flag flutter more energetically than before, Souta’s expression was so painfully bitter that it became as bitter as 100% pure chocolate. That said, 100% purity wouldn’t be chocolate, it’d just be cocoa.

“Why does Souta-kun have such a tangled expression? Is it because you indirectly held hands with my father?”

“... That’s not it. But after all, I didn’t think Nanami really was a princess… how do I put it… Although I’ve always thought that Nanami’s speech pattern was different from a normal person’s… but… really? You guys are actually Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress of a tycoon… I feel really out of place.”

“Not a tycoon, it’s a consortium, though?”

Akane raised her index finger to correct the mistake, and Souta, not well-versed in the tycoon industry, asked her:

“What’s the difference?”

“They’re all the same.”

“Didst thou not sayest it was different?! If thou actually thinkest they are the same, why didst thou just correct it?”

“...... Then they’re not the same.”

After being exposed by Nanami, Akane became depressed. Souta forced a smile and asked her again:

“So then, what’s the difference?”

“...... They’re all the same.”

“We have hit a wall.”

Let’s just stop talking about this, search it up yourself later — Souta thought, Akane also thought, and Nanami thought too. Young modern people are probably not concerned about financial news, and that’s a serious problem. At the same time, young people not caring about other young people is also a very serious problem.

“It’s a little late to say this kind of thing now, but is it really okay for me to talk to the Princess and Miss Heiress on equal ground…?”

Souta kept his distance a bit, and Akane shook her head very sadly.

“Please don’t use honorifics. Because we’re classmates.”

“Art not thou using honorifics…”

“...... Then let’s use honorifics together.”

Akane hesitantly let out an “Ahh…”, while Nanami burst out.

“We will not!”

“Souta-kun, Nanami is a princess, so it’s not her selfish refusal, it’s me forcing her to do something she can’t do.”

“We know how to use honorifics! Nobody forced Us to say that!”

Akane tried to be too clever and ended up rubbing Nanami the wrong way. Something similar was probably said before. ‘Rubbing the wrong way’ would be cute if written in hiragana and katakana.<ref> According to the Chinese TL, the Japanese version of the idiom ‘to rub the wrong way’ means specifically to irritate elders and people with higher status.</ref>

“Then, I hope you try to use them.”

“... Please allow Us to refuse.”

““Ooh, very princess-like.””<ref> They (Souta and Akane) say this at the same time.</ref>

“Sh-shut up! There definitely won’t be a next time!”

Nanami’s white skin reddened and she looked away in shame and displeasure.

At this point, Akane said she left her tea-filled water bottle at her seat and walked slowly to the back of the classroom.

Souta took the opportunity to whisper to Nanami:

“... That girl is a bit strange… no, she’s really strange. Though she seems like a good girl.”

“... Yeah. Although We are not very familiar with her either, she is cute, gentle, likeable, cheerful, friendly, and always surrounded by friends… It feels like she has everything that thou lacketh.”

Nanami didn’t seem to realize that this sentence applied to herself, too.

“Don’t say it out loud…”

Why do those kinds of people voluntarily come and talk to themselves…? Just as Souta thought this, Akane came back. She looked at them with interest. Although she didn’t hear what they said, she smiled bashfully and asked:

“Souta-kun, do you have a very good relationship with Nanami?”

“Who would have a good relationship with this kind of dithering guy?!”

Nanami roared before Souta had a chance to say anything.

“Even maggots are indispensable creatures for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_Earth Spaceship Earth] since they clean up animal corpses, right?”

“Who said he was a maggot? I would never say such a disgusting word!!”

Since the two were constantly hopping the line between good and evil, Souta couldn’t figure out who was right and who was wrong.

“... Akane, why did you want to talk to me?”

“Right. Thou hast so many friends and art welcomed everywhere, so why would thou payest attention to this kind of person?”

Worried he would continue to be teased, Souta felt a sense of crisis and asked Akane. Nanami also joined in, also interested.

Faced with such blunt questions, Akane twirled her fork, her expression a bit troubled. “Ummm…” After thinking for a while, she put down her fork and said:

“... Ummm—I saw a lonely person, like a puppy drenched in rain or a kitten mewling in pain, so I couldn’t ignore them.”

““Treated like cats and dogs?!””

Nanami and Souta blurted, shocked.

At the same time, Souta soon began to think dark thoughts.

“That means that Miss Heiress helps hapless cats and dogs from her high standing above, right?”

Upon mumbling this disdainfully, Souta hated his own immaturity. Letting out his anger like this was shameful.

However, when one enters hell, torn to pieces by lively optimism… He who falls into the earthly abyss often feels that goodwill is a burden.

Well, what was just said is just like someone who had hit rock bottom venting their remaining emotions from that time… No, perhaps they’re still crawling the depths of hell.

Souta didn’t want to say that kind of thing but also didn’t want others to notice, so he inevitably tried to alienate himself. At least, that’s what Akane thought.

She pondered it, but…

''That’s too lonely. Too sad… Too hopeless, isn’t it?'' she decided.

“No! It’s not like that!”

Akane didn’t care about being misunderstood. She just couldn’t stand Souta’s attitude — how Souta couldn’t bear to trust other people, so he kept tormenting himself with loneliness

Akane shook her head desperately and repeatedly stressed:

“N-no, no! Souta-kun… how do I put this, barks and purrs cannot be mentioned in the same breath as you, I just think it’s really tragic!”

““Not even considered the same level as cats and dogs?!””

Souta, slumped his shoulders, feeling exceedingly miserable. Nanami put her hand on Souta’s shoulder, telling him not to take it to heart.

“Isn’t this a good thing? A gloomy child like thee needs this kind of friend. Get along with her, okay?”

“Really? Souta-kun, as long as you don’t–don’t dislike it, do you want to be friends?”

“I don’t need…”

“Rejected immediately!!”

Hearing the normally timid Souta say this, Akane was hit hard.

At the same time, Akane’s friendship flag broke with an adorable noise… but just like before, a new friendship flag immediately popped up.

“Why? My mother said that friends are the life’s treasures. U-uh… so… treasures are important… I’m just saying that… that… if treasures didn’t exist, they would no longer be shiny, no longer beautiful and polished… So, if you have to clean it up… after you sweep it into the dustpan, there wouldn’t be anywhere to throw it.”

“How did the conversation turn to trash cans?!”

Akane struggled too hard to persuade them, so much so that she eventually could not find a way to make them understand.

“Basically, in Akane’s mind, friends are like trash cans, so it fits Souta perfectly.”

“Nanami, what do you mean by that?!”

“Nothing like that, nothing like that. Souta isn’t so much a trash can as a bento box!”

“So I’m a box, huh…”

Souta isn’t a flower to be sheltered in a box.<ref> The Japanese idiom for being sheltered involves a box</ref> It was hard to tell whether Akane’s consolation counted as consolation or not.

“Anyways, I… don’t want to bother others. Whether it’s Akane or anyone else.”

“I want to bother Souta-kun!”

“You…”

Hearing Akane’s unreasonable outburst about inducing more suffering, Souta was about to reproach her. But Akane continued, cutting him off.

“Also, I want to be bothered by Souta-kun! That’s what friends do! And… I just can’t ignore the lonely person in front of my eyes!”

Akane’s addendum made Souta give up on his retort, and he turned away to escape Akane’s unwavering gaze.

“Just don’t worry about me…”

“Hold on, Souta!”

Seeing that Souta was about to say something she couldn’t ignore, Nanami pulled on his ear.

“Wh-what do you want…?”

“It’s rare for someone to want to be thy friend. Thou art not permitted to break her flag!”

“But…”

“Dost thou want to humiliate girls?”

“Where’s the problem…?”

Seeing Nanami and Souta pretty much arguing, Akane sadly held the tip of her fork in her mouth.

“Is it not okay to be your friend?”

“I believe a friendship between males and females is impossible…”

“So sad…”

“I just said not to break it!!”

Souta was hit behind the head with an unopened package of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puri_(food) klim puri]. (Note: Nanami later ate it with great relish)

“Even if you say that…”

Alas, it was too late. The friendship flag on Akane’s head had snapped, and Akane’s eyes filled with tears.

“Sure enough, it broke, right, Souta?”

“Pretty much…”

Souta was relieved, thinking it wouldn’t recover this time. Against all odds, Akane regrouped and, without giving anyone else time to breathe, said:

“Ah, b-b-b-b-b-but, we can begin with an attempted friendship, what do you think?”

“She’s still not yet satisfied…? Isn’t that wording just like ‘attempted murder’…”<ref> Damn, these are some Cultivation Chat Group-level tangents lol</ref>

“Indeed.” Akane nodded in deep agreement. Souta looked above Akane’s head in disbelief.

“It clearly broke several times… But it still stands…”

He saw the freshly broken flag give way to yet another new flag.

“This Mahougasawa Akane chick is unexpectedly persistent… Isn’t she perfect for thee…? No matter how many times her flag breaks, it quickly recovers. Even if thou hurtest her heart, she will still face thee with an unyielding spirit.”

“Huh… I feel like that’s pretty terrifying…”

“Thou, who can see flags and decide their fate, art the one who is terrifying, alright?”

Well said.

Nanami and Souta quietly held a council. Akane ignored the two, quietly worrying to the side.

“Attempted friendship isn’t okay either…? Hmm… In this case, then the step before attempted friendship… acquaintances… a nodding acquaintance… hmmmmm… more one-sided… stalker? Is stalker okay?”

“Don’t go there!!”

“......”

Nanami was the one who initially recommended that the two be friends, but she soon began to doubt whether she made the correct choice.

“Since you don’t like stalkers, how about being friends?”

“... Do whatever you want.”

“Hooray!”

That’s pretty much a threat.

Watching Akane softly raise her arms and shout hooray with a smile, he felt his mood gradually improve for some reason.

This may be Akane’s unique characteristic.

Nonetheless, this must be…

This must be a temporary whim of Miss Heiress, thinking that he’s interesting.

After the novelty subsides, she would definitely lose interest immediately — that was what Souta thought.

Though he’d soon realize that this train of thought was a huge mistake.

“But I’m kind of happy that Souta-kun’s willing to say such not-so-pleasant things to me.”

“... What?”

“I think that when I’m sad, it doesn’t matter if other people pamper me. But when I’m the one doing the pampering, there’s always this warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.”

“Akane, is it really okay even if you get hurt?”

“Souta-kun thinks I might get hurt and is worrying about me. That makes me really happy.”

Seeing Akane smile bashfully, Souta frowned.

“... You really are a strange chick.”

Souta’s tone was no longer hostile nor malicious, and Akane looked jubilant.

“But even if you’re friends with someone like me, you still wouldn’t be happy, right…”

Souta’s expression darkened like before and he lowered his head slightly, worried — but he also seemed kind of happy.

“Art thou an idiot? Souta. That kind of thing is for them to decide. How can it depend on what thou sayest?”

Nanami snorted and chewed her klim puri flatbread.

Akane nodded enthusiastically, agreeing with Nanami.

“Yeah! Nanami said it really well. Just talking to Souta-kun makes me really happy! I might feel a bit self-conscious saying this, but… there are many people close to me, so when I meet someone more distant, it’s a new experience… This is someone that I haven't seen around me so far, an unfamiliar kind of person… an unidentified creature… Yes, an unidentified life form.”

““A UFAO?!””<ref> Unidentified, unFamiliar Animated Object. Just roll with it. I tried. If any of you come up with something better, I welcome you to edit it.</ref>

A chupacabra appeared in Nanami’s and Souta’s minds at the same time. Wanna suck blood?<ref> ‘Do you want to suck blood?’ is apparently a quote from Japanese comedian Kanpei Hazama. Relevant because chupacabras suck blood. </ref>

“Souta-kun, Nanami, you guys are really in sync. You’re actually quite close, right?”

“We’re not close! Rather, our relationship is really bad. So bad that, given the opportunity, We would steal this guy’s leftover bread in exchange for the not-very-tasty bread We are eating right now.”

“My leftover bread is klim puri, the very thing Nanami’s eating right now, though?”

Having saved the bread for last, Souta was looking forward to eating it. He grieved a little when he heard this bad news.

“You guys are really similar. That’s great, I’m so jealous--”

“......”

Nanami stared hatefully at Akane wiggling.

Wasn’t it true that friendship can still be established in spite of very different values? Nanami and Akane were polar opposites, and Souta started to feel that Nanami and Akane may yet make a good pair.

The evidence was…

“... Before, ye shall become two peas in a pod and become the envy of everybody else!”

“Actually, I’ve always wanted to become closer with Nanami.”

Hearing Nanami’s slightly lonely words, Akane held Nanami’s hands tightly and smiled. At some point, ‘Nanami-san’ had become ‘Nanami’.

“Wh-why me?!”

“... Whenever I see a lonely person, or a puppy drenched in rain, or a kitten mewling in pain, I just can’t ignore them!”

“Treated like Souta?!”

Nanami was even more shocked at this than Souta was when he was just compared to a cat and dog.

“Nanami regrettably feels like a person of spoiled arrogance, which has always made me interested in her.”

“What dost thou mean by ‘regrettably’?”

“Just that, in the phrase ‘spoiled arrogance’, the ‘spoiled’ part outweighs the ‘arrogant’ part!”

“Shut up!!”

Souta looked at the arguing girls with an magnificent smile, neither forced nor a smirk, and said:

“I for one think that Nanami and Akane can become very good friends.”

“What?! This troublemaker also has a flag for Us?”

Nanami pulled on Souta’s ears again, quietly roaring.

“I don’t know… I basically only see my own— or rather, I should say, flags that have to do with me…”

That is to say, Souta was only able to see the flag for that morning’s accident because it also involved him — with this understanding, Nanami thought: ''This ability seems convenient but isn’t really convenient; it seems to be a convenience, but that’s not entirely the case…''

“Just like that! That’s what makes people think you two are close! Physical contact is proof of a good relationship! Can I pull on Souta-kun’s ears, too?”

“Sure?”

“Don’t pull on people’s ears for no reason!”

“So it’s allowed if there is a reason?”

“Sure?”

“Nanami, no stop seeking schadenfreude! Anyways, what’s so fun about pulling on ears…?”

“Causing mischief… That kind of fun, probably?”

“What a terrible relationship!!”

“No it’s not, no it’s not! That feeling of ‘even if you cause them mischief, they’ll still laugh and forgive you’ is definitely proof of a good relationship.”

Oh, that’s how it is, that does make sense— Souta smiled faintly in agreement, and Akane’s cheeks went slightly red. Joy emanated from the depths of her heart, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s my friend! Looks like you really get me! Souta-kun, you’re really, really charming when you smile! As long as you smile like this a lot, your loneliness will definitely disappear!”

“Ah…”

Souta wasn’t used to being praised so directly in person, so he inadvertently shrugged, and his smile became forced. Seeing this, Akane exclaimed, “Ah, what a waste of the cool smile just now…” Her hands even began to quiver.

Having eaten her bread and sucked her milk carton dry, Nanami smirked playfully and said:

“But Akane, if he wasn’t lonely anymore, wouldn’t you lose interest?”

“In my mind, a laughing Souta is more important than a lonely Souta. This is a historic moment, okay? One small step for mankind, one and a half small steps for me!”

““Close enough!!””

“You guys are really in sync… That’s great, I also want someone to be in sync with me.”

“Why do you need to envy other people? Akane, don’t you also have many strengths?”

Nanami lightly squeezed her empty milk carton and broke eye contact, her expression that of shy admiration. Hearing Nanami’s words, Akane’s smile bloomed.

“R-really?! Like-like what?”

“... Well… like wanting to eat with me and Souta, right?”

Seeing Nanami laugh with a little self-deprecation, Akane laughed with an expression of “Isn’t that normal?” She then fell into deep thought with an “Eh…”

“Is it better to eat alone?”

““You had a conversation with yourself?!””

“Only you two keep getting closer and closer. It’s not fair, it’s not fair!”

However, supposing that Akane and Souta had already eaten half of their lunch, and then Akane and Nanami ate the remaining half, anyone would think that the relationship between Souta and Nanami was deteriorating.

In this way, the three unexpectedly similar people happily ate their lunch in the classroom. Outside, a group of people quietly observed the situation.

“... So, we can probably go in now?”

The rest of the class, who had been driven out of the classroom, searched for an opportunity to go back in.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Back to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
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</noinclude>

If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 3

2025-01-01T21:29:36Z

Person72635:

==Flag 3: Exploring and Rebuilding the Guild Base<ref> As you might know, most of the character names also include RPG class names. Nanami’s a knight, Kikuno’s a summoner, Akane’s a magician, etc. I’ll note the classes of new characters as they appear.</ref>==
“Um… I live in a dorm. What about it…?”

As Souta slung his backpack over his shoulders at the end of the school day, Akane had asked, “Souta-kun, where do you live?” After Souta answered, she nodded in feigned understanding.

“Can we go play there?”

“No.”

Hearing Souta’s response, Akane’s eyes welled up in tears. She blubbered “Oh~”, her friendship flag breaking in reply.

''He’s still as rough with the flags as before…'' Nanami watched the conversation in her peripheral vision as she put her stationery in her school bag.

“That kind of place isn’t suitable for girls to visit.”

“Like the boy’s bathroom?”

“What kind of dorm would that be?!”

Akane’s off-putting question resulted in a rare Souta retort.

“Like your room’s in a stall?”

“Even prisoners live better than that, right…?”

No, since it’s Miss Heiress, the toilet in her mansion might be quite big. With this thought process, Souta decided it was pointless to hide it, so he told the truth.

“How do I put it? It’s because my dorm’s messy, it’s a total wreck.”

“Then we’ll go clean it up! Don’t look at Akane that way, but Akane really does love to be clean though? Mm-hmm!<ref> It’s supposed to be the noise Hirasawa Yui makes in ''K-On!''. Again, I haven’t watched it, so apologies if it isn’t entirely accurate.</ref>”

As usual, another one of Akane’s friendship flags was raised immediately. Souta’s feelings about them had already begun to gradually move from fear to admiration.

Despite Akane’s enthusiastic proposal, Souta still crossed his arms and sighed in contemplation. “Hmmmm…”

On the other hand, Akane was really motivated. For some reason, she was wiping an imaginary window with exaggerated movements, as if she were practicing boxing. Although, even if she was wiping a window, it was more like ‘Wax on, wax off.’<ref> Karate Kid reference</ref>

“Huh?! Huh?! What happened? Souta and Akane, why did you guys suddenly become so close without Big Sis’s consent?!”

Kikuno, not knowing what had happened during lunch, protested with her eyes welling up in tears. She seemed to blame Souta, her expression a little accusatory.

“That requires consent…?”

Nanami, having become a bystander, murmured to herself with a faint smile.

“We just ate together during the lunch break, we’re not actually as close as you say…”

Kikuno puffed her cheeks angrily, as cute as a child no older than one. Souta comforted her while explaining what had happened.

After listening to Souta’s explanation, Kikuno nodded with a slight smile, feigning understanding.

“Really? Akane-chan is a really good kid, Big Sis strongly approves of your friendship!”

It seems consent has been acquired.

Kikuno turned and faced Akane with a deep bow.

“Please take care of Sou-kun.”

“D-don’t be like that, Okiku-nee…!”

“Yeah, Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like I’m an outsider.”

“Huh?! You’re already family?! Sou-kun, why didn’t you discuss this with Big Sis first?! Big Sis feels so lonely!!”

It seems consent has not been fully acquired.

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

Big Sis’s logic was too unpredictable and Souta was at a loss, but Akane, the central subject, was still smiling brightly.

“... Speaking of which, Akane just referred to Okiku-nee as ‘senpai’, right?”

Although Kikuno was supposed to be a year older than them, calling a classmate ‘senpai’ is still pretty strange.

“Ah, um. Senpai guided me when I came to this school last year. Since she was Senpai at the time, it feels a bit weird to change it now…”

“Ah, but, at the time, I already knew I would become a freshman a year late.”

The senpai in the same grade seemed a bit shy.

It’s unclear whether this resolves the subject, but Akane, who wasn’t especially paying attention, returned to the original subject.

“Then, since we got your Big Sis’s approval, we can go to Souta’s dorm now! Mm-hmm!”

“... She approved?”

“Big Sis also wants to go! Mm-hmm!”

Kikuno, even more free-spirited than Akane, raised her hands with this declaration, cutting off Souta’s question.

Met with inexplicable enthusiasm, Souta was then patted on the waist from behind, startling him.

“!?”

He turned to look, but there was nobody behind him… Then he found that it came from below.

To Souta, who was 170 cm tall, the other person was a girl 50 cm shorter than him. Not only her height, but her appearance looked young. Although she looked like an elementary school student, her uniform revealed her to be a student in the same grade. That said, the other students had called her ‘Grandmother’ during the lunch break, even asking her for advice.

“Give up, young Souta.”<ref> Tsumugi technically calls others 'little brother/sister *name*', but I think 'young' fits better.</ref>

“Young?!”

The young girl, who seemed not to wear anything on her lower half, spoke to Souta in a wizened tone, as if he were a little rascal or devil.<ref> The Chinese translation I’m using uses 萝卜头 and 鬼头 (lit. ‘carrot-head’ and ‘devil-head’), which are somewhat xenophobic terms in Cantonese referring to Japanese people and Westerners respectively… no idea what the original intention was.</ref> As a result, Souta couldn’t help but raise his voice.

“Young Akane has a disease where she just can’t leave hapless beings alone, you could say she’s in a critical condition. If you continue having this kind of hapless aura, you’ll always be stuck with her, okay? Plus, young Kikuno is also very stubborn.”

The little girl chuckled and went on her way home.

Akane followed the silhouette with her eyes, and told the dumbstruck Souta:

“She’s Grandmother Tsumugi.”

“‘Grandmother’...? … Is she an old lady?”

They say that humans will gradually shrink when they pass a certain age, so maybe she was like that? But whether it’s her delicate skin or her facial features, she looks indistinguishable from a young girl. Or is she just an old-fashioned little girl who skipped a few grades? The mysteries surrounding her identity increased.

“She’s the Living Dictionary of the academy. They say that our academy doesn’t have students who don’t listen to Grandmother Tsumugi’s words.”

“What happens if you don’t listen?”

“You’ll be cursed.”

“That isn’t the same as a living dictionary, right?!”

Akane was pretty much just saying random things, but Souta didn’t know whether to take the rumor seriously or lose to Akane’s enthusiasm or even think that Tsumugi’s advice did indeed make sense. Regardless, Souta sighed deeply, forced a smile, and said to Akane:

“Nevermind. Since you want to come over so much, come. But I’m not kidding that the dorm is messy, alright?”

“Mm-hmm!! I’ll take the chance to show my great skills! It’ll be my first time cleaning up a boy’s room!!”

“B-Big Sis also wants to clean up!!”

“Let’s team up!! Attack as a team!”

They actually wanted to attack…? Souta’s mood dimmed, and he looked at the ‘Inexplicably Motivated’ flag sticking up on Akane’s head with a strained smile.

“It’s highly-anticipated, right, Nanami?”

“Huh? Why ask me?”

As Nanami zipped up her backpack, she was suddenly thrown into the fray by Akane. Nanami frowned in suspicion.

“Because we’re going together~”

“Why…?”

“I’ll tell you after we get there.”

“There’s basically no point in telling Us after we get there!!”

Nanami somehow discovered Akane’s trap. Mahougasawa Akane… How did you think that she wouldn’t notice?

“... Nevermind, there’s nothing to do anyways. Plus, the Big Sis isn’t very responsible, and giving the kind of guy Souta a chance to be by himself is dangerous, so there’s no harm in having Us accompany you.”

“After all, Souta-kun would explode.”

“Am I really that dangerous?!”

This requires a Level 5 hazardous waste management license. In other words, a nitroglycerine person; or, perhaps, human nitroglycerin?<ref> lmfao Bakugo??</ref> Anyways, there’s no difference.

And so, the four-person group of Akane, Nanami, Kikuno, and Souta was formed, heading towards the dorm where Souta lived.

Hatagaya Academy’s huge campus was encircled by a total of four [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-Bahn H-Bahn sky train] stations; namely, Yoyogi Uehara Station to the southwest of the academy, Yoyogi Park Station to the southeast, Hatagaya North Station to the northwest, and Hatsudai North Station to the northeast.

The high school division was near Yoyogi Park Station, while Souta’s dorm was near Hatsudai North Station.

Although these were walkable distances, students of Hatagaya Academy can freely get on and off these four stations so long as they present their student IDs, so of course they choose to take the trains.

“I thought the dorms were all concentrated on the main road. Turns out there are some here as well.”

“Yep… For the sake of caution, I’ll confirm once again: the dorms are really messy, are you guys absolutely sure you want to come?”

“Hey Souta, thou hath only transferred for two days, and your room is already messy enough that it’s not to be seen by others…?”

“If you have any complaints, then just don’t come…”

Before Nanami could counter Souta’s already exhausted words, Akane interjected cheerfully:

“It’s definitely just that your luggage hasn’t been completely sorted yet and is in a messy pile, right? Just leave it to me!”

Akane’s ‘motivated’ flag was still flying strong.

The four got off at the academy’s Hatsudai North Station and, after walking a short distance, gradually saw farms and pastures.

“... What is this? The countryside?” Nanami asked.

“If I remember correctly… this is the farm of the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Horticulture Club.”

“Horticulture…?”

The landscape looked bucolic from a distance, and it felt considerably large. Nanami frowned, wondering if it was part of a backup plan adopted by farmers afraid of the production reduction policy.<ref> Might be referring to Japan’s [https://www.tokyofoundation.org/research/detail.php?id=86 Rice Acreage-Reduction Policy]</ref>

Behind the farms was a dense stretch of woods, actually more like a forest than woods. Walking in there felt like being showered by forest.

“... There’s a dorm in this place?”

“Awesome, your home is in a forest.”

Compared to Nanami’s unhappy expression of “there should be a limit to how remote this is”, Akane smiled as she always did, thinking positively.

Souta, leading them, had a different attitude and plodded on.

And then, in a small clearing in the forest—

A building stood quietly.

The edge of the roof had fallen, and not only was part of the wall collapsed, it was also covered with vines. The door had almost rotted through, the windows were broken, and the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds.

Even by the lowest standards, it still looked like…

“Ruins…?”

“What…? What’s going on with this tattered dorm…”

“Are these not ruins? Souta, thou didst not go to the wrong place, right?”

“See? What did I say?”

Souta showed the dorm’s certification page in the student handbook. It said ‘Quest House’. Nanami looked at the moldy dorm plaque and knit her brows.

“This is indeed ‘Quest House’...”

“So you live… here…?”

Akane’s eyes lost their light, frozen in shock. However, Souta smiled and nodded with a hint of self-deprecation.

“For a lonely, poor person like me with dead parents, what could I expect? I have nowhere to go, and no home to go back to… The academy now not only gives me shelter from the elements, but also a scholarship. If I ask for too much and get kicked out, wouldn’t I be in an even more tragic state?”

“But… even if it’s like that, to live in this kind of place is…”

“After all, this is my situation, so I’m pretty easy to take advantage of. But taking in somebody like me makes it easier for the academy to raise money… Although, the fact of the matter is, they only need to take me in. Nobody really cares how it’s handled afterward.”

“How can this be… That’s too much…”

Souta’s attitude might have been due to all the tragedies he’d experienced. This attitude, coupled with his situation, made Akane even more worried.

But before Akane’s feelings burst out, Kikuno’s tear glands had already let loose.

“It’s too much… It’s too much… So it’s like this… they actually want Sou-kun to live in this kind of place…!!”

Kikuno’s tears streamed down her face as she cried. Souta was taken aback.

“Hey… Wh-why does Okiku-nee need to cry? I… I don’t really mind.”

“Anywhere is fine… Poor Souta-kun…”

“Even Akane is crying?!”

Next to Kikuno, Akane followed suit, her tears pouring down like a waterfall. In this atmosphere, Souta was already in no position to prevent this.

“... Souta, didst thou plan to let the peerless Miss Heiress clean this place up? Instead of cleaning it up, is it not faster to raze it to the ground and rebuild it again…?”

At least, Nanami wouldn’t want to step foot into this dorm.

“Why… Why did Sou-kun have to meet this kind of treatment…”

“Waaah~ It’s too much… It’s too unfair…”

Kikuno and Akane, who erupted into tears, and Souta, who had been struggling to deal with Akane, didn’t hear Nanami speak at all.

Especially the always indifferent Souta — although he didn’t care about hurting himself, when he met girls who felt sad for him, he didn’t know what to do. Since he had no clue how to deal with Akane, he looked to Nanami for help, almost crying himself.

Having never encountered such mayhem before, Nanami retreated on the spot.

“Uh…! … This… E-enough! Crying for what? Think of a solution instead! Doing anything else would be better than this!”

Nanami already stopped holding back, pretty much ready to ride to battle at this point. Akane stopped crying, beamed, and hugged Nanami.

“Nanami really is a good person!”

“Whoa… Hey! Stop hugging, stop sticking to Us! Quick, Souta, come save Us!”

Nanami, who couldn’t stand Akane rubbing her cheeks, issued an SOS signal. Souta mocked instead:

“Isn’t this great? I think you guys are closer friends with each other than with me, yeah?”

Souta, who originally had a sad smile, didn’t mean anything bad when he said this. However, facing the wrong direction, Kikuno’s super-sensitive Sisterly Love Radar received the wrong signals at that moment and she rushed over to Souta.

“D-don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will help you ask Akane to be your friend! You don’t have to feel lonely!”

“Huh…? No… Okiku-nee, what are you…!”

“Akane, please also be friends with Souta!”

Kikuno, ignoring Souta’s attempt at stopping her and with her sisterly doting reaching its peak, sincerely pleaded.

Receiving her plea, Akane’s frequently-used Loneliness Sensor revved to its max. She let go of Nanami, clasped Souta’s hand, and said:

“I’m sorry, Souta! I’m your friend, but I made you feel lonely; I’m unworthy of being a friend! Souta-kun’s my good friend, though! Please don’t feel lonely! Akane and Nanami and Kikuno-senpai and Souta-kun are a very close group of four!”

Akane made Kikuno hold the hands of Nanami and Souta, and took the two’s empty other hands herself, forming a circle. The four started spinning circles, but only Akane laughed aloud: “Ahahahahaha!”

After spinning for a while, Akane, albeit dizzy and unsteady, faced Souta and said:

“Look! I also can’t let poor Souta go uncared for!”

“Souta’s on the other side, Akane.”

Because she was dizzy and unsteady, she didn’t face Souta.

“Mother once said, ‘Close friends are magic staffs’ and ‘That’s the magic that makes you feel like you can do anything’. In my mind, Souta-kun and Nanami are wonderful, bright magic.”

Akane clasped Souta’s hand again, smiling. As if infected by the poetic lines, Nanami grinned slightly and added a sentence of her thoughts:

“Put simply, Akane is a magician specializing in summoning gentle fairies~”

“Nanami, you’re a poet!”

“Huh?! Th-that doesn’t count! Wh-what was just said doesn’t count!!”

Nanami, snapping out of it, thought she said something embarrassing and her face heated up.

“I want to hear more of Nanami’s poems!”

“Do not mention poetry!!”

“What does that matter, this is the privilege of youth! Everyone, let’s abuse this privilege together and run around the seaside asking for trouble at dusk!”

“Do nyaat<ref> If you remember from Chapter 1, Nanami makes cat sounds when distressed</ref> waste your youth!”

''The atmosphere’s getting better and better…'' Souta thought as he watched Akane and Nanami with a strained smile. He then inadvertently looked at the top of Akane’s head…

“Souta-kun also needs to waste our youth with us.”

Akane’s ‘can’t leave pitiful people alone’ attitude completely switched on, and friendship flags raised in an overwhelming frenzy

Seeing the flags raise everywhere, Souta thought, ''Was it me?! Did I do something wrong?! God… please, don’t do this anymore.'' He couldn’t help but take three steps backwards. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that within the pile of friendship flags stood a singular pink flag with a heart symbol…

“... Then, what should we do to fix the dorm?”

“That’s what We want to ask!”

Sitting on the train on their way back, Akane triumphantly turned her neck and asked. Nanami then roared back, as if attacked.

The group consisting of Her Princess Highness and Miss Heiress, who were a little ignorant of the world, plus the newly transferred Souta, crossed their arms and looked to the sky in deep thought.

Watching this group of youngsters with a smile, Kikuno picked the right opportunity, raised her index finger, and said:

“When in a predicament, the saying goes that only old ginger is spicy.”

Rumor has it, the person who looks like a little girl and sips green tea at the Tea Ceremony Club might be the “old” ginger.

“The tattered dorm? Quest House? After all, it was built when the academy was founded. Even if you tidied it up, it still wouldn’t become clean.”

It was the academy’s Living Dictionary. After listening to Akane and co. speak, Tsumugi put a [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Rakugan ''rakugan''] in her mouth and said:

“Would it not indeed be faster to rebuild it from the ground?”

Although Nanami asserted that her earlier joke wasn’t far from the answer, Tsumugi took a sip of her tea and then poured cold water over her.

“I heard that the school management is in dire straits due to the declining birthrate. Would they be willing to pay for it?”

“Can’t we… think of a way?!”

“Students these days are too dependent on other people. They just don’t understand taking matters into their own hands…”

Seeing Tsumugi enter preaching mode, the four all inched back slowly, smiling stiffly.

“Speaking of which, it’s just a little worn out, but you immediately lose heart, proving that recent young people lack perseverance. It’s not like we elders like saying this…”

Akane and co. quietly slid open the paper [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoji ''shoji''] of the Tea Ceremony Club. Meanwhile, Tsumugi was still ranting with her eyes closed.

After leaving the Tea Ceremony Club, they sat down on the benches on the sidewalk, hopelessly sipping on juice boxes.

“Then, would we get in trouble if we rebuilt without permission?”

“It’d be surprising not to…”

Nanami, relatively less demoralized, asked a sincere question and was immediately rejected by Souta.

“Then there’s no other way… Souta, please get in trouble.”

“You’re planning to rebuild in secret?!”

Souta was scared silly.

“Don’t worry, Sou-kun! Big Sis will get in trouble in your stead!

“Doting to this extent…!”

Big Sis’s sisterly love made Nanami retreat.

Meanwhile, Souta was afraid of Akane, whose tears had broken the surface tension of her eyes.

“... Every time I watch [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sara ''Princess Sara''] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_of_Flanders_(TV_series) ''Dog of Flanders''], I always can’t stop crying, can’t stop crying, can’t bear to keep watching! When I imagine Souta in that position… in a tattered dorm, in a snowstorm… dying… I just…”

A huge teardrop streamed down Akane’s face again.

“Don’t make people cry!!”

“S-sorry… I-I’ll be fine. See~ Speaking of which, I’d probably be more like Perrine or Lassie.”<ref> The main characters of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Perrine ''The Story of Perrine''] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Dog_Lassie ''Famous Dog Lassie.''] The four anime referenced in this section are old-school anime adaptations of Western children’s classics and part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Masterpiece_Theater ''World Masterpiece Theater''], running from the mid 70s to the late 90s.</ref>

“More like an animal…”

“Sou-kun, you’re so cute!”

“Souta-kun, so you’re actually a beast!!”

Disregarding the discrepancy in opinion between sister and friend, Souta felt aggrieved at being called a beast.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Souta beast’s house or a dog’s house. The point is that, even if we wanted to remodel, we would have to overcome the issue of finances.”

“Nanami called her friend a beast or dog, that’s too over-the-top!”

“Thou clearly saidst it first, thou clearly saidst it first!!”

As Akane and Nanami chattered, Souta, at his tender age, discovered that being called a beast or dog by the female sex really hurt.

“Souta, dost thou want to try begging? Since Akane is a rich heiress, she could definitely provide funds.”

“Huh?! Souta, you want to beg me?! That’s more than I could ever wish for! It’d be the first time a boy begged me! Go ahead, go ahead, please! Mm-hmm!”

“......”

Seeing Akane move her arms like a wrestler before a match, expressing her enthusiasm by bringing both elbows horizontally in front of her chest while breathing heavily,<ref>The signature move of Japanese wrestler [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyonobori Michiharu Toyonobori.] I think it’s the arm-wavy thing at 1:07 in the video Gorilla Monsoon vs. Toyonobori - 3/28/1963 (I can’t embed youtube links apparently), I watched a couple clips and he seems to do it pretty often.</ref> the corner of Souta’s mouth twitched.

If Souta refused to beg Akane now, Souta’s tragic plight would not be resolved, Akane would continue to be sad, and Nanami would continue blaming Souta for making Akane sad. In this spiral of sorrow and pain, it was ultimately Souta who got hurt.

Additionally, he also thought that the most important thing was avoiding Akane’s expectant smile. So, after thoroughly preparing himself, Souta finally said:

“Akane, please build me a new dorm.”

“Huh— how ordinary—”

“Couldn’t thou have acted more flattering, Souta?”

Reprimanded by the two girls, the young man instantly lost his foothold.

“Sou-kun, do you want Big Sis to help you beg?”

With even the doting Big Sis saying something, even getting a toehold was unthinkable, not to mention a foothold.

At this point, Souta steeled himself, forcibly flashed a dazzling smile, and said to Akane:

“Could you please help poor little old me build a new dorm, o mesmerizing Akane-chan? You are the angel of my heart, the only one I can beg.”

“Souta-kun, you sound like a player.”

“Souta, thou art thoroughly rotten.”

“You two were the ones who wanted me to say it, though!!

Souta was hit hard, hugging his knees and shouting into them on the bench.

“Big Sis knows her Sou-kun isn’t that kind of child!”

Doting Big Sis’s trust was unnecessarily heavy.

“But, I wouldn’t be a woman if I couldn’t respond to a man’s whole-hearted plea. I want to do something for him… however—”

“However?”

Seeing Akane stop talking, Nanami was puzzled.

“I, don't have money…”

“Huh? Art not thou Miss Heiress?”

“To be honest… When I came here to live in a dorm, I accepted my family’s condition: unless it’s an urgent emergency, I must do my best to deal with it without depending on my family. So…”

“So it’s like that. Allowing freedom, but requiring self-sufficiency… It’s like that everywhere.”

Nanami smiled wryly, clenching her empty juice box.

“Huh?”

“It’s okay. However, this is a headache. Our principality is also very poor… To ask for money is to ask the impossible…”

Akane and Nanami cast Souta aside and started their own discussion. This allowed Souta to suddenly regain his senses.

“Excuse me… That said, what exactly did I just do that for then…?”

“Souta-kun’s efforts will not be wasted. Someday that effort will bear fruit, and its harvest will be taken for foodstuff and displayed in a storefront.”

Although he felt he was gradually being taken for foodstuff, since Akane’s coy laugh of “Heeheehee” was really cute and he didn’t feel any malicious intent, Souta could only deal with it with a sigh in the end.

“Before Souta-kun is taken for foodstuff, we must do our best to help him, Nanami!”

“Huh…? We need to too…?”

Both hands held tightly by Akane, Nanami frowned, troubled.

Although, Akane just seemed to like the uncommonly used word ‘foodstuff’, so she really wanted to use it.

“Big Sis will come too, Sou-kun!”

What Big Sis would do afterwards was unclear.

In the end, they didn’t think of a good idea that day, so the meeting was adjourned… The next morning—

Souta entered the classroom and sat down in his seat. Nanami turned, sitting on the side of her chair, and said good morning while getting to the point.

“We asked the housemasters at Our dorm, and it seems that the boys’ dorms are full to the point they’re about to burst.”

“Ah, then… me being put there, might not have been entirely out of malicious intent.”

Looking closely, while Souta’s uniform and school bag were obviously brand new, they seemed to be covered with a layer of dust.

“It might genuinely be better for thou to live in a tent.”

“I can’t put one up though…”

“You guys are planning to go camping without inviting me?! It would be my first time living in a tent. I always live in a villa, homestay, or vacation apartment and such!”

Akane popped in between the two.

“Thy head is only filled with thoughts about playing…”

Nanami smiled lightly, and Akane continued to ask her, “Are you going to the mountains? Or the beach?”

“Thou misunderstandest. We’re talking about Souta’s dorm.”

“Oh… Everyone should forget about the dorm business, and go play together?”

“Thy optimism is too exaggerated!!”

Incidentally, when you get tired of playing and go home, there is a trap of ‘remembering reality and falling into despair’ waiting for you.

“Hey~ What’s up with the dorm?”

The classmate with blonde hair and pierced ears who gave Souta his seat earlier heard the exchange and asked frivolously.

After Souta explained, he looked at the sky with an “Umm--”, and, after a long while, he said:

“Would you like to come to our dormitory? I think it’d be okay as long as you explain everything. Although crowding a fifth person into a room meant for four might be a little tight.”

''He’s obviously a frivolous guy who would cheat girls everywhere, but he’s still kind regardless'' The surrounding students lamented that this guy really didn’t match his appearance.

But, Souta looked at the frivolous classmate’s head, and immediately replied:

“I can’t sleep if I’m not alone.”

“Really? Then it can’t be helped.”

He gave up and walked back to his seat.

“We said that thou art not allowed to break flags!”

Nanami saw everything, and mercilessly awarded Souta a hand chop.

“Flag…?”

Akane tilted her head suspiciously, and Souta hurriedly covered it up with a “Nothing, nothing.”

However, either because Souta didn’t cover it up correctly or his agitation wasn’t very natural, Akane felt that something wasn’t right with Souta’s series of actions.

“What’s going on… Is he awkward? Or… afraid?... Just like that time… like with me… if it’s really like that… if it’s really like that… then there’s even more reasons why I can’t just leave him alone!”

Akane’s mind strengthened Souta’s sorry impression, and her flags stood up more fiercely on her head.

Souta saw this and tiredly exhibited a pained expression.

… At this time, the dainty classmate Ryuukishibara Tsumugi</ref> Tsumugi’s surname indicates that her ‘class’ is dragon rider</ref> and Kikuno walked into the classroom with a young girl wearing a uniform with a strangely colored bow tie, equipped with shoulder pads and arm guards, dressed quite strangely.

“Ah, Kikuno-senpai… and Grandmother.”

“You lot, you left yesterday without listening to all of my words?! Young people nowadays are really…”

“Okay okay, Grandmother, pointless ramblings don’t really count.”

The female classmate brought by Tsumugi let out a heroic laugh of “Bwahahahahaha!” and stopped Tsumugi’s rant.

“You just said something silly…”

“Excuse me, Grandmother… This person is…?”

Akane asked this, and saw the mysterious girl catch everyone’s attention by unnecessarily flipping her hair and stepping forward.

“Yours truly<ref> Mimori literally refers to herself using ‘this person’ (本人), so I’m gonna use ‘yours truly’.</ref> waited for someone to ask before introducing myself, that was really Discord…<ref> The Chinese says ‘oolong’, but that doesn’t even sound remotely close to what she corrected herself to say… I changed it to sound more like a slip of the tongue</ref> correction, that was really discourteous of yours truly. Yours truly Hatagaya Academy’s student president, Seiteikouji Mimori<ref> Mimori’s surname contains the words for ‘holy emperor.’ Given the armor she likes to wear her ‘class’ is probably paladin</ref>!”

“The student president…”

“This academy attaches great importance to student autonomy. Seek the Student Council if you are in need of assistance. In fact, the Student Council is also responsible for dormitory affairs, and yours truly is the person in charge.”

“Eh?! So she’s the one who put Souta-kun in that kind of dorm?!”

Akane’s and Nanami’s gazes were mixed with some hostility.

“Yours truly was accidentally on autopilot and put him in an empty dorm~ But I hear it’s very shabby, right? Yours truly will observe the situation after school, and then we’ll go on from there. And Grandmother asked yours truly to do what I can to help!”

“Huh… Didn’t Grandmother say that we were too dependent on others yesterday…?”

“I did say to take matters into your own hands. But I never said I wouldn’t help? The short-temperedness of young people isn’t good.”

Tsumugi crossed her arms and pursed her lips. Purely in terms of appearance, she looked like a pouting young girl.

But, her raised arms exuded so much senseless good intentions that Akane happily put her hands together.

“Grandmother is so reliable!!”

“Although it should be that yours truly is more reliable!!”

Mimori pointlessly and unreasonably refused to be outdone, making Nanami laugh.

“The student president is so childish…”

“... And, since young Kikuno is full of sisterly love and pleaded tearfully, it can’t be helped. You, sir, have a good sister, young Souta.”

Although, said sister was really just a sisterly neighbor who lived nearby and loved to take care of people. However, Souta couldn’t say anything about that in this kind of atmosphere.

“Thank you, Okiku-nee.”

“Why so polite? As Big Sis, helping Sou-kun goes without saying!”

However, those who knew the truth smiled forcibly. The only person at the scene who wasn’t smiling forcibly but rather smiled from ear to ear was Akane.

“Great, Souta-kun!”

“I don’t really care… but, since Akane and Okiku-nee won’t be sad, then so be it, I guess?

Regardless of his real thoughts, Souta naturally smiled a little as he said this, making Akane ecstatic and feel as if all her pores had opened.

''Souta-kun’s smile… as expected, it’s mesmerizing…! I want to see it more!''

Seeing the flag on Akane’s head twinkle, Souta’s smile instantly clouded over, and Akane nearly cried.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and references==
<references/>
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| Return to [[Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
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