OniAi: Volume 2 Chapter 2.2

April 9th, 4:00 P.M.

“Parents must allow their children to walk on their own, while children must learn to be separated from their parents. In the same vein, a younger sister must learn to live without her elder brother.”

That’s Nikaido-Kaichou’s plan, put in simple terms.

“To conclude, the root of the problem is the fact that you are together with your sister for the full twenty four hours a day. That can’t be helped if both of you are at home, but you guys are together at school as well, right? Not only during the student council, but even during lesson breaks and lunch. Needless to say, you siblings are also together when you’re going back home too. It’s kind of fortunate that both of you aren’t in the same class, but that doesn’t really change anything.”

Kaichou’s analysis had no room for disagreement.

She was totally spot on. I’m together with my sister for the whole day, from morning until night.

After we reunited, we siblings have been living together as though we were of one body and soul. The only times when we haven’t been together were during things like going to the bathroom or taking a showering.

“I can understand your feelings, seeing as you two have only just reunited after six years. However, don’t you want to try a little harder on this?”

As such.

The conversation had changed to whether I could try to reduce the amount of time that I spent with my sister.

After some discussion, the suggestion “after school, Akito shall visit the homes of the student council members” had been approved.

As compared to simply reducing the time spent with my sister, this suggestion doubled as a chance for me to be closer to the student council members, which was desirable for me as well. Though that was how it seemed, it somehow felt like Kaichou was hatching up some sort of plan; or rather, the fact that she had some ulterior motive was a bit too obvious.

Then again, instead of questioning the effectiveness of the plan, this should be considered an emergency measure; that’s what I thought.

Though I say that, I don’t really have a strong reason to object to it. Kaichou also mentioned things like, “it’s better than doing nothing.” and, “I’ll come up with a more solid plan during this period of time.” Not to mention, it was my original intention to pay an official visit to Ginbe’s house anyway.

As such, I could use this chance to visit the houses of the other student council members too, and so, the plan had been approved.

So, due to those reasons, right now, I’m standing outside my friend’s house.

However.

“… What a wreck.”

I accidentally let out my overly honest opinion.

The hostel which I’m living at with my sister isn’t much better. But the place which my friend from Kyoto is living in easily surpassed our own.

How long has this thing been in existence?

A shabby two story wooden apartment, its roof slanted and walls filled with holes. It would take a lot of effort to find a place that didn’t have an insect infestation. Forget about wind, this place would probably collapse with a mere puff of air.

Ginbe… I know you’re tight on cash, but don’t you think this is pushing it a bit?

“Hey. You’re here, Akito.”

I turned my head upon hearing that voice. My friend was already standing at the entrance waiting for me without my knowing. All my attention had been focused onto the apartment, resulting in me not noticing.

“… Gin. Yet again, you’ve gotten for yourself quite an impressive place.”

“No no no Akito, it may not look like it, but this is actually a bargain. The exterior is just as it looks, but the frame of the house is surprisingly sturdy. It’s slightly old, but the inside isn’t as bad as how the outside looks. And the most important thing, the rent suits me just fine. You can’t find another place that comes with a toilet and bathroom for such a price.”

“No, even so… Well, it must have been a real bargain if you say so.”

“Well, it’s no good for us to be talking outside, so come on in.”

***

I saw, it was indeed as my friend had said.

Upon stepping past the entrance, it felt more like an old temple instead of a shabby old apartment.

The black floor had been polished until it was bright.

Even though the light from the windows wasn’t that great, it wasn’t very damp either. The air felt slightly cool.

It’s similar to our apartment in that aspect. I should put it this way, it’s shabby, but it isn’t dirty. I see, she must have been lucky to get this apartment. It must have been constructed by quite a skillful artisan; with lots of high quality wood was used for its construction.

“We’re here. It’s this room.”

We walked up the creaking stairs and opened the first door we saw. It was a simple room that was roughly four tatami large.

A slightly old and round short table.

A similarly old Japanese style wardrobe.

That’s the only furniture in the room. Just like before, my friend’s the room was extremely barren and empty.

“Your house is still the same as before, huh?”

“Well, simplicity is best. Take a seat. I bought some tea in preparation for your visit.”

As I accepted her offer and sat down on the cushion, Ginbe began to brew the tea rather skillfully.

Her sole interest is reading, but she’s somehow quite skilled at brewing tea too.

“Here. Please drink it while it’s hot.”

“Oh, thanks. Here I go.”

I took a sipped of the thick tea. Despite not using high quality tea leaves, the teas that Ginbe brews are always delicious.

“How is it?”

“Mmmmm. It’s really good.”

“Is that so? That’s great.”

One huge smile.

Another huge smile.

Ginbe was smiling contentedly as she watched me holding onto my teacup. That was really rare of her, since it would be more her usual style to smile cynically.

“You’re feeling really great huh.”

“Of course. I’ve been waiting for so long, and you’re finally here.”

“Ah—… You see, I’ve been busy with all sorts of things. I’m really sorry.”

“Forget it. Hiding from me the fact that you were moving here and then not inviting me over after you moved; all that is a thing of the past. And compared to the past or the future, the present in which we’re together like this is much more important. I won’t dwell too much on your disloyalty.”

“That really helps… Ah, can I have another cup of tea?”

“Mmm. As much as you like.”

Sawatari Ginbe Haruomi.

My precious friend.

I met her not too long after the separation with my sister. It went back to our elementary school days.

If I’m not wrong, Ginbe hasn’t changed much since the first time we met.

Back then, her honest way of speech was just like how it is now. Even her mocking smile, which had left a deep impression on me, was the same as before.

From her body size, it seems like she’s growing rather slowly. There’s the impression that time around her has stopped.

There’s only one thing I can say for certain in regards to ‘the point where she’s different from when we first met’.

She is currently sitting with a feminine posture. Just that.

“That’s right… I had a huge shock when I first came to know that.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, it’s about the time when we first met. I was really shocked when I realized you were a girl.”

“Ahh…”

Ginbe’s expression became gloomy,

“You do know that my family has all sorts of weird rules. Like how I’ve had to live a poor life or how I was given the name ‘Ginbe Haruomi’, which is something not fitting of the modern era; plus I was raised as a boy when I was younger.”

“Mhmm, I did hear you saying that before. But still, I was really shocked back then. I had no doubt that you were a boy.”

“I wasn’t deliberately trying to hide it from you. I apologize if you were unhappy about it.”

“No no, I’m not. I just suddenly recalled on how shocked I was back then.”

“Well… thinking about it now, I guess the reason things are going wrong right now is because of how I’d left you with the wrong impression since we met. This is just like realizing I’d buttoned up the shirt wrongly only towards at the end, but the mistake happened at the very first button.”

“Hmm? What are you saying?”

“Nothing, just some stuff about myself.”

She took a sip of tea and ended the topic just like that.

But this person here.

She is in a good mood, but ever since we entered the room, it feels like she could not settle down.

She was constantly looking around nervously and correcting her seiza posture. She seemed restless.

“Ginbe.”

“Mmm? W-What?”

“Are you meeting someone later?”

“Meeting someone? No, I don’t have plans with anybody else other than you.”

“Or how about you’re about to be late for your work; there isn’t anything of the sort?”

“I’m currently barred from earning my own cash. That’s the rule of the Sawatari family. Akito does know that, right?”

“Ah—… perhaps you need to visit the bathroom very urgently?”

“No way. You’re being really rude.”

My friend pouted her lips.

“What are you trying to say? You’ve been asking all sorts of weird questions for a while.”

“Ah— no. It’s just that you’re behaving a little strangely. Yeah… it’s as if you’re really nervous.”

I can guarantee how oblivious my respectable friend can be. To be truthful, I’ve seen plenty of these sorts of scenes ever since we’d become friends.

She is the sort of person who can speak as though she’s just having a conversation even though she’s at the Carnegie Hall when it’s packed with people. Her unique mocking smile seldom changes as well, as if it’s normal for her to be teasing me all the time.

“I’m just slightly curious. It’s normal for me to be thinking that you have something going on, no?”

“…”

I asked her seriously, but then.

Ginbe’s huge eyes blinked. She then let out a sigh.

“Akito, you really have no idea why?”

“Eh? Ah, mmm, I don’t understand. Eh? Is it that strange? It’s normal for people not to understand, right?”

“Oh my…”

She shook her head weakly,

“Use your common sense and think for a moment… A girl has invited a guy to her room, and she’s currently alone with that guy… No, I do know you’ve never seen me as a woman… But even so, I was still holding some expectations…”

“Hmm? What? I didn’t quite catch you.”

“You’re an irritating idiot. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t hear that properly.”

She twisted her head to the side with a “hmmph”.

“It just felt awfully silly for me to be nervous about this. I’ll never be nervous due to Akito ever again.”

“Eh? Why? What’s with your sudden anger?”

“Shut up, how irritating. There’s a saying that goes, ‘to play the lute to the cow’. But it’s a waste to play a single note to a stupid cow like you. You should just have an auditory hallucination about some sort of new and upcoming religion until the day you die.”

For some strange reason, Ginbe was looking down on me.

Urmm— Mmm.

There have been times when she’s like this.

When she mutters to herself something that I can’t hear, then becomes angry all of the sudden.

But forget it.

That isn’t anything compared to our years of friendship and the grace that I’d received from her.

Also, I’ve prepared ahead with my ultimate attack.

“Ah— right, right. I’d nearly forgotten.”

I clapped my hands in a deliberate manner.

“Ginbe, I have a present for you.”

“Present?”

“Yup. This.”

With that said, I took something from my bag and placed it on the table.

“!”

Upon seeing the small box with the handles, her eyes shone, but just for a moment.

Ginbe immediately stared at me,

“Akito. You’re a really despicable person.”

“Ahaha, don’t say that.”

There’s cake inside the box. The thing which my good friend loves the most, as she has a sweet tooth.

“I’ve long planned to take this to your house for a visit. It’s true.”

“Hmmph, really… ah!?”

Ginbe opened the box with a snort, but her eyes shone once again when she saw the contents.

“Uwa, this is Mont Blanc, isn’t it!? You remembered my favorite?”

“Naturally.”

I do treat her to some food occasionally, and thanks to that I remember her preferences in taste. I mean, we have known each other for so long, despite my incompetence.

“You like it?”

“There’s no one on this planet who hates Mont Blanc.”

“That’s great. Savor it slowly.”

“Hmph… I do know this is your attempt to win me over. But having received such a gift from you, I’ve no choice but to forgive you.”

“That would be great.”

Though my friend’s stare was still slightly sharp. I’ll take the opportunity to change the topic.

“I say, Ginbe.”

“Yes?”

“I did talk about this earlier on, but how’s your financial status right now? Can you still handle things after moving here?”

“No, I’m still a little short on money.”

She closed the cover of the cake box and shrugged,

“The rent of this apartment is almost the same to my previous one. Luckily for me, they didn’t request for any deposit or intermediary fees. So the only cash I spent on are the cost of moving the furniture over. As you can see, I possess only the bare minimum when it comes to the furniture, so that wasn’t too costly either. But…”

“Well, there are a lot of other places to spend it on. I know that much, since I’d just moved as well.”

“Mhmm. Transferring schools is especially costly. A huge amount of my savings were spent on the uniform and the textbooks. That was quite painful for someone as poor as I am.”

I talked about that a while ago.

Ginbe’s family have been a merchant family for generations. The Sawatari family has a huge influence behind the scenes in the financial world.

Their education policies are rather unique. The children of the Sawatari family, are made to live a life of poverty from when they are young, so that they can ‘personally see for themselves the value of money’.

This rule is implemented very thoroughly; if they overspend, there won’t be any extra cash given to them. Not only that, they’re banned from working as well. If they spent all their money, they’ll have to live the rest of their days without a single cent on their body.

It’s said that this is for them to ‘learn how to manage their cash under the constraints’. Though if you ask me, I’m not too sure of how effective those policies are.

But that’s just me. The Sawatari family are holding on to this tradition rather stubbornly, so Ginbe had to go along with it as well.

“Well, so.”

Said Ginbe as she flashed her mocking smile once more.

“My financial situation is as tough as usual. For now, I’ve barely enough of food to eat. I can’t spend too much if I wish to live healthily.”

“I guess—”

“What about you, Akito?”

“It’s roughly the same for me as well. It’s still a little tight. My income isn’t really stable, so I can only buy you Mont Blanc as my apology. I’d originally wanted to buy a whole cake for you.”

“What about your work?”

“Ah—”

I shuddered when she asked me that.

“Well… I’d love to say things are going smoothly, but I can’t. I even wonder if my employer is satisfied with my work.”

“Can you still carry on?”

“I guess so. It’s not to the stage where I’m close to getting fired, so I can still continue my work. Honestly speaking, the income is currently… yeah, it doesn’t look like my income will increase at the moment. Considering what may happen in the future, I also need to have a decent amount of savings. However, there isn’t much left after subtracting that away.”

“Fuu.”

Ginbe crossed her arms.

“Needless to say, I was the one who introduced you to the place to look for work You’re lucky that I’ve quite a few contacts.”

“That was really all thanks to you.”

“Even so, all I did was to link you to ‘someone who can find you a job’. I’ve no idea what job you’re doing in order to get your daily allowance. And it seems like you’ve no intention of telling me.”

“Ahaha… I’m obliged to keep it a secret; it wwould be a great if you could think of it that way.”

“It’s fine. I’m from a business family, so I’ve no intention of pressing any further. Since I’m the one who provided you the opportunity for your work, I was just interested in how well you’re doing.”

Mhmm.

Indeed, it’s just as she said. As part of the Sawatari family, Ginbe is awfully strict when it comes to trust.

“If you’d done anything to embarrass me… You do understand, right?”

I could almost hear her saying the true meaning behind that line.

Whatever. That’s really how it is.

Even so, Ginbe has always been very tolerant towards me regardless of what happens. I really can’t hold up my head in front of her.

“It’s okay. Don’t you worry, Ginbe. I’m clear about those things as well. Frankly speaking, I’m not doing an excellent job… but even so, I’ve probably produced results which my employer is satisfied with. There isn’t a single chance for anyone to be complaining to you. And even if there is, I’ll take the responsibility for it.”

“… Well, it’s great you understand. Also, it’s not like I don’t trust Akito or anything. It’s just that considering my position, I have to give you some sort of preventive vaccination.”

“Mmm. I understand.”

To be honest, I’m currently quite distressed about my job.

I have no time to be enjoying myself with my friend like this… but my sister is involved in all this. The troubles that I’ve given my employer are within acceptable limits.

“Are you fine on your side? Ginbe.”

“You’re referring to?”

“Your life. It’s rather tough, isn’t it?”

“I can still manage. You don’t have to worry.”

“That won’t do. Ultimately, your reason for moving over to here is my fault. As such, I’m the culprit for worsening your financial situation.”

“I didn’t do anything like that. Don’t take it to heart, really.”

“How can I do that? I owe Ginbe a lot, and I’ve never repaid my debts.”

“It’s just me doing my own things. They aren’t matters that Akito has to worry about… It’s just me having my own reasons.”

“Eh? What did you say?”

“Nothing. Why do you always have to interrupt me when I’m mumbling to myself?”

“It can’t be helped even if you say that, since I did hear something.”

“Forget it. In any case.”

Ginbe said rather forcefully,

“I’m not at the point where you have to worry about me. In fact, I never thought of you worrying about me. Even in my current situation, I still think I’m much more capable than you when it comes to living alone. And, case in point, I’ve lived by myself for quite a while already.”

“Ahh. You’re right.”

“It’s okay. I’ll not hesitate to seek Akito’s help when I really need it; in fact, that scenario may actually happen in the near future.”

“That’s how it’s huh. Mmm, that’s fine.”

“I’ll not allow you to say no, okay? You owe me quite a lot, and you’ve treated me as a ‘good friend’, right? I’ll be waiting for it.”

“Ah, mmm, of course… Also, why does it sound really awkward when you’re saying the words ‘good friend’?”

“It’s nothing. Just stop asking.”

“Is that so? It totally doesn’t sound like that.”

“Ah how irritating. I said no, so that’s fine, alright? Let’s set that aside for a moment and share this cake together.”

“Can I? I bought that for you to enjoy by yourself.”

“I do like cakes, but that’s only when there’s someone whom I can share the taste with. Do you want to turn the experience into something tasteless and uninteresting, when I should be enjoying my cake instead? Accompany me in eating it.”

***

With that.

Ginbe and I ate the cake leisurely while harmoniously talking about all sorts of random things, and reminiscing about the past.

I managed to repay her kindness a little, and it seems like there will be more of an opportunity for me to do so in the future.

I had a rather satisfying day… I guess? Yeah.

Translator notes and references

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