OniAi: Volume 2 Chapter 4.1

April 11th, 7:00 A.M.

And so.

The consecutive days of house visiting are down to the final day.

The person with whom I’m visiting today is none other than Her, which for me is something quite daunting; from all sorts of perspectives. Or rather, you could say that I’m not that interested. Then again, it would be very unnatural for me to skip just her visit.

An so, in order to create my own personal time, I’ll have to convince my sister today as well.

Uh— mmm.

What should I do?

I used the praise method for the first day, and praise+bait on the second, which my sister accepted grudgingly. But I don’t think those methods will be effective again.

Even though Akiko is very obedient towards me and her train of thought is quite simple, she’ll still smell a rat if I carried out suspicious actions for three consecutive days.

Things would definitely become troublesome if Akiko knew about my house visits.

What should I do… I couldn’t come up with any other decent plans…

I couldn’t come up with anything good no matter how hard I tried. I was stuck.

It looked like I’d have to prepare myself to proceed forcefully at the cost of making my sister unhappy; but just when I decided to do that.

A small miracle occured.

No, I wouldn’t be too sure if it could be called a miracle. But in any case, it definitely happened at the perfect time. I was offered a glimmer of light in my otherwise hopeless situation.

But if I do that, the pros and cons will surely… no, it will definitely bring about more headaches for me? Yup.

Forget it, I was left with no choice.

I’ll just utilize this chance to its fullest and focus on the current crisis.

***

In the usual student hostel; I’m at an all too familiar caretaker’s room.

Facing the back of my sister who was making breakfast while humming to a tune, I spoke.

“Hey Akiko. There’s something—”

“Akiko must turn away Onii-chan quickly when he is attempting to speak to me.”

“Eh?”

I didn’t anticipate that.

“What? Why?”

“It will not do for you to look down on me. I have already guessed what Onii-chan is about to say.”

“Ohhh. What’s that?”

“It will be something along the lines of how you will not be able to go home with me after school today. You are intending to do some immoral act amounting to negligence towards your cute younger sister, right?”

“Incidentally, ‘neglect’ also has the meaning ‘to abandon’. Are you admitting right now that you are the infantile person of society, who is unable to survive without the delicate care and concern of others?”

“It’s useless to try to seal my mouth with that sort of logic. I have utilized the compassion of a cute younger sister for these two days and tolerated Onii-chan’s barbaric acts, but I will not yield today. I will overcome all obstacles and make you come back with me today.”

“No matter what happens?”

“Of course.”

“You won’t change your mind?”

“Of course. I am backed by justice. I will not not change my position even if the world was to be overturned at this very instant.”

“I see. I fully understand your thoughts.”

I nodded my head solemnly.

“Speaking of which, I accidentally stumbled upon this while I was unpacking our luggage from the house moving.”

“What? So you are planning to say some random things to divert the topic yet again. I have already seen through that scheme of yours, and I will not fall for it—”

*pita*

While remaining in a posture that looks like she was handing me something, my sister froze in an instant.

A few seconds later.

She exchanged glances with me while maintaining a stiff expression. She shook her head and hands.

My sister said.

“Dat’s wrong.”

“… Why did you use a strange dialect subconsciously? I want to know your excuses.”

“No. It is not what it seems.”

“This book here. It’s yours, right?”

“No, it is not! It just so happens that it’s been in my care for these past few weeks. It is not something I bought with my pocket money.”

“But the back of the cover has your name written on it?”

“Ahhh darn! This disciplined personality of me writing my name on all of my belongings has backfired on me?!”

Well then.

The object that’s shaken my sister so much to the point of her speaking in a strange dialect subconsciously is something I’d discovered by chance. The problem is about what the object really is.

“No, it really is not. This book is like what it seems. Or rather, please take into consideration the fact that I am currently in my teenage years before making a fair judgement…”

It’s a book.

The size of a typical mall book, costing at a thousand yen each. In this country, its sales is second only to that of bunkobon; a typical book.

Needless to say, there’s nothing wrong with it being a book.

“Minan Publishing. <The Story of Forbidden Love>.”

“Uwa?!”

“‘Sixteen year old high school student Akio, who’s secretly in love with his younger sister Akina.’ “

“Onii-chan?! Quit reading the synopsis already!”

“‘Without telling anyone the feelings which he has been harboring for such a long time, Akio has kept them hidden deep in his heart. But thanks to some minor incidents, Akio gradually could no longer suppress his taboo thoughts.’ “

“Uhhh?!”

“‘On the other hand, Akina has gradually realized her brother’s feelings. Not long after, the two of them began lusting for each other—’ “

“Uehhh?!”

“The illustration on the cover is the scene of Akio and Akina entangled with each other passionately.”

“T-That is enough Onii-chan… I give, give up…”

I looked downwards at my sister, who was squatting on the tatami while hugging her own body weakly,

“Anything you wish to say to your defense?”

“Please… Please pretend as though you did not… see it…”

“I can’t do that.”

“No! It is a misunderstanding!”

My sister stood up with her remaining strength and began explaining.

“Please do not be fooled by the book’s title and cover! This book is really wonderful! Although there is some overly stimulating content, but it is totally about pure love!”

“This is a novel about an incestuous relationship, you know?”

“No! It is nothing as vulgar as that; this is literature! I did not read it with a perverted mind, I swear!”

“The names of the protagonists are Akio and Akina.”

“I admit I was hooked by the names of the protagonists! However, that is really just part of the reason! If you read the other works of Shindou Koichirou, the author of this book, you would be able to understand!”

“… Could it be that Akiko is a fan of this author?”

“A die hard fan!”

“… Seriously…?”

“Oi Onii-chan?! Please do not shun me that obviously! That really hurts me!”

“No, even if you say that…”

Contrary to myself who was slowly sinking into a gloomy mood, my sister has revived.

“Please, read it first! If you do that, you will definitely understand his good points!”

“No way.”

“At the very least, read the prologue!”

“No no no, don’t even think about it. Let me off, seriously.”

This is probably that.

Turning this disaster into a blessing and pulling me to ‘that side’ by making me read the book; she was probably planning that? Really, what sort of joke is that?

“Akiko.”

“Are you telling me not to read it?!”

“Nope. Even so, everyone’s interests are different. Though there are quite a lot of things that I wish to say in regards to you reading this book, I wish to respect your interests as much as I can.”

“What do you mean?”

“This time, I’ll pretend that I’d never seen this book. As you wish.”

“Really?!”

“In return, you have to promise me this: from now on, you’ll make sure I don’t see these books ever again.”

“Understood.”

“And you aren’t to talk about the subject of this book. No matter what.”

“I understand that as well.”

“And finally. You’re to give me approval to go somewhere after school today.”

“Uhh… T-That is not anything to do with this…”

“You’ll approve, right?”

“Uuuhhhhhhh…”

Akiko hugged her head since she couldn’t agree to it completely. But she did understand she was in a very bad position.

Soon, with an expression of her giving up, she said with a crestfallen look,

“… I understand. Akiko will stay at home obediently, today as well.”

“Mmm. That’s it.”

“But please return home as soon as you can, neh? I will prepare a scrumptious dinner and wait for your return. Promise?”

“OK. I’ll try my best.”

***

And with that, I managed to convince my sister for the third day as well.

… Oh boy.

Even then, she had a really shocking hobby, she didn’t have to be that detailed about it.

Then again, did I take a wrong step in negotiating with her by using thing as my shield? Would it have been better if I’d remained silent and pretended that I hadn’t seen it?

No way, that’s impossible. It’s impossible for me not to react after seeing it. Therefore, I should at least use it as a leverage in the negotiation; it was definitely better to make use of it like that.

This thing will definitely take its retribution on me in the future; that was the premonition I had. Then again, with more important things at hand, I’ll set it aside for the moment.

Translator notes and references

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