OniAi: Volume 2 Chapter 5

April 12th, 9:00 A.M.

The Himenokouji household has a habit of waking up early.

My sister wakes up at five in the morning so that she can do housework and prepare our breakfast. I wake up at six to make preparations for the morning as well. That’s how it usually is.

However, that applies only for the normal days.

Take today for example. Both of us siblings will sleep until late since it’s the school’s rest day. The sleep which we lack during the normal days is replenished on the rest day; that’s how it is.

Not to mention, I transformed myself into a workaholic after the visit to Kaichou’s house yesterday, and worked through the night all the way until the sun rose into the sky again before I headed to bed. Not to hide it from you guys, but if we’re talking about how sleepy I am today, it’s to the point where I’d want to sleep even if I had to face some kind of torture.

But thanks to that, I finally managed to catch up on the work which I’d set aside thanks to the house visits these last three days.

I did expect myself to be dead tired after forcing my body to finish my work. Having finished my work, I collapsed straight into my bed and prepared myself to sleep like the dead; but just when I was about to fall asleep.

Something happened.

*Kon kon*

*Kon kon*

It wasn’t the sound of coughing.

Instead, it was the sound of the door being knocked. I think. If it wasn’t my auditory hallucination or something; I was half asleep, and even though I was thinking that in my head, my consciousness was very hazy. There were no strength in my limbs either.

*Don don*

*Don don*

… Ugh.

This time, the knocking of the door was louder than before.

Damn it, who the heck is that?

My sister and I are the only ones living in this hostel. We don’t subscribe to any newspaper or milk delivery service. Then is it someone asking for some sort of payment? No, how can that be? It’s not time to do so yet.

*Don don dododon*

*Don dokodon*

For some reason, the knocks followed a drumming sort of tempo.

…

I’ve no idea who they are, but they seem to be in a good mood. To think I’d actually worked overnight, and killed a countless numbers of my brain cells in the process, and before I was finally about to liberate my consciousness. It felt like that person was happily ignoring the my plight. Do benevolence and pity no longer exist in this world?

*Dooon dodon, don dodondodon*

*Dondokodondon, dododondon*

“Fine, fine, I get it. Coming, coming.”

While replying with a tone that sounded like a mix of me moaning and dream talking, I climbed out of my bed.

I walked in staggering steps similar to that of a zombie,

“Coming, who’s that—”

As I opened the door while rubbing my eyes, my sentence came to a halt.

Sawatari Ginbe Haruomi

Nasuhara Anastasia.

Nikaido Arashi.

All three of them were people I’m familiar with were in their uniforms. Standing in front of the opened door.

Ginbe with her ridiculing smile.

Nasuhara was still expressionless, as always.

And Kaichou’s smile looked as though she was about to eat someone up.

“Ah—… Everyone has gathered her this early in the morning— uwhaaaaa—”

I greeted these three with a yawn,

“… You girls are wearing your uniforms despite today being the school’s rest day.”

“That’s your first reaction after seeing this? Well, that’s indeed your style. Kakaka.”

“Huh.”

Kaichou’s laugh made my head hurt.

To be honest, I didn’t really want to hear that sort of sound in my current situation.

“Urm, sorry, but I’m dead tired today. Can you leave the things for another time?”

“Oh, sorry, leave your sleep for later. We have some things that need to be settled before that.”

“Huh.”

Urm. Could it be.

I was done with my work not too long ago. I’ve been holding back from sleeping for a rather long time. My mind, being in a dazed and confused state, could not get itself going. I might be unable to differentiate between dream and reality in my current state.

Mmm.

Perhaps this is actually me dreaming?

I mean, this is really weird, isn’t it?

Why would the three girls gather here?

And they’re wearing their uniforms for some reason.

“Since this can still be considered to be a school activity, we thought we would wear them here.”

Kaichou explained while smiling.

“Aside from private matters, the students of St. Ririana should wear their school uniform at all times. It’s true that I do some pretty crazy stuff, but it won’t do if I don’t set a good example as the student council’s president.”

“Huh.”

“Should I give you a really good wake up call if you’re still not awake? Oh right, how about taking a peek at my breasts? You’d probably wake up with that, right?”

“No thanks.”

Though I was really sleepy, I still replied to things like that immediately, without hesitation.

“Hey look, what exactly is going on here? Everyone has gathered at the hostel. Are you guys going somewhere to play since it’s a rest day today? I’m fine with that, but do inform me earlier about it…”

“Nope, Akito. That’s not it.”

Ginbe shook her head,

“I’m fine with the suggestion on going out to play. However, we should leave that for later since it will be getting really busy soon.”

“Huh.”

As I was still sleepy, I could not understand the meaning behind the words of my silver haired friend.

What does she mean by ‘really busy’? Since it’s rare for us to have a rest day, I’d originally planned to sleep for all my worth until my body and soul were well rested.

“… Hmm? Wait…”

I noticed something as my consciousness was coming back to me.

Strange, it seemed like the three people here have an uncanny amount of luggage with them?

Light backpacks, travelling cases… All sorts of luggage was hanging from their shoulders, their hands, and their elbows. It looked like they were about to abscond somewhere.

“Well, this was about all we could carry by hand.”

Upon noticing my gaze, Nasuhara lifted her luggage so that I could get a closer look.

“But we did manage to bring our daily necessities with us. The remaining luggage will be delivered here later in the day.”

“Huh?”

What’s she saying? I couldn’t get it.

Well, they brought their own belongings, but so what?

“Also, you may be considered as the hostel’s head of house, Something like that?”

Kaichou spoke once again,

“Putting aside our positions in school, you’ll be the boss here, since you got here first. Please take care of us.”

“Huh… And so? What are you guys doing here, gathering here like this? …Ah, I see. It’s a house visit, right? I visited your houses, so you girls have to visit mine, right? Ah, but even so, it’s quite troubling for me if you don’t inform me about it before hand. I haven’t prepared for your arrival.”

“The three of us will be living in this hostel from today onward.”

“Huh.”

“Though it’s a hostel only in name, it’s practically an apartment, with solely you siblings residing in it . We’ll have to set rules for our cohabitation from now on. And as the luggage for house moving will be arriving in waves later, today will be a busy day.”

“…”

I rubbed my eyes and took another look at the three visitors.

Kaichou, Nasuhara and Ginbe. All three of them are looking at me with an expression that said, ‘How long are you planning to stay confused?’.

From their expressions, it didn’t seem like they were joking.

And there wasn’t anything like the ‘Gotcha~’ which you get from prank shows.

If so, there could only be one conclusion.

“… Ah. Indeed, I’m dreaming. Back to sleep I go.”

“Oi oi, hold on a second.”

Kaichou jammed her foot into the door just as I was about to shut it.

“Well, we are wrong for disturbing you when you’re about to go to sleep. However, there are a lot of necessary preparations that need to be done in order to live in this hostel, and we hope you can look through everything since you’re the head of house. You probably won’t satisfied with a lot of things if you leave them until later, when you wake up. Are you sure you’ll be fine with that?”

“…”

“Mmm? What’s wrong?”

“Urm, sorry.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Really really, really. Isn’t that right, Fuku-Kaichou?”

“That’s right. This is the absolute and undeniable truth. Isn’t that right, Ginbe?”

“That’s right, Akito. It’s about time you wake up and recognize the reality in front of you.”

“…”

And with that, my mind became awake in an instant.

The impact was too great on me. It felt as if time had come to a halt. I was like a deer that was about to be hit by an oncoming car.

“Eh, but isn’t that strange?”

“What?”

“There are plans for this hostel to be demolished within this year. My sister and I will be the only ones living here until that happens; that should be how the contract goes.”

“Well, I did something with the management and made them change the contract.”

“Why? Why must the three of you move into this hostel together?”

“I said this already, didn’t I? We need to resolve your sister’s brother-complex as quickly as possible, and so we considered many approaches to that problem.”

“No, I indeed heard that—”

“So the most effective approach to fix her brother-complex is,”

Nasuhara was next.

“To prevent you siblings from spending more time alone together than is necessary, we will have to monitor both of you. As such, the best solution is to live together with the two of you. Am I wrong?”

“No, you may be right, but even so—”

“Killing two birds with one stone. That’s how it is, Akito.”

Ginbe interrupted as well,

“Instead of being suspected by others due to you siblings living by yourselves, wouldn’t it be much better in the eyes of others to see both of you living with some other students whom you aren’t related to? Is that not good enough for you?”

“No, I understand. It’s just like what you say!”

I raised my voice after hearing those things from them.

“But, why? Why the three of you together?!”

“As we’ve formed our temporary alliance, we will be advancing and retreating together; then again, we agreed that this better for us too. It’s about time that I got sick of that oppressive samurai mansion. And it takes way too much time to travel to school.”

“My relationship with my parents has been on the bad side for a while now. Since I’m in my rebellious phase, I’ve always felt like running away from home, if I get the chance to.”

“As for me, my financial situation is very tight thanks to me moving to another house and school. I’m even having trouble with paying the rent for that shabby apartment. To be able to live in a place like this, where I can get food and such without spending too much; that’s something that I’ve only dreamed of.”

“No, even so—”

Darn.

I finally realized the seriousness of the situation.

I’d thought about this before.

Even though it was chaotic, I didn’t find the past three days tiring. In fact, I really liked it.

I thought to myself before that it wasn’t bad to do stupid things with the fellow members of the student council.

Well, it’s also true that I was eagerly anticipating Kaichou’s so called ‘new tactics’.

B-But?

If we’re going to talk about my reason for enduring all the hard work I’d done, during the past few years, when the effort isn’t something that would normally be undertaken for someone my age.

It was so that I could live together with my only remaining family member, my sister, and have the two of us live a calm and relaxed life together.

I definitely don’t dislike Ginbe, and that even applies to Kaichou and Nasuhara as well, not to mention we’re all part of the student council. But it just so happens that all of them are people with one or two troublesome personality quirks. Not to mention, it seemed like they were hatching a certain unspeakable plan for my sister…

“N-No way! There’s no way this will work! There are a lot of problem with that, yeah?!”

“Just to let you know, everything has been decided already.”

“As the head of this hostel, I vehemently object!”

“Well then Himenokouji Akito-san, under the orders of the president of student council, your position as the hostel’s head has been now abolished. I’ll replace you as the hostel’s head as well. How about that?”

“That’s tyranny! You’re unreasonable!”

“Alright, just give up already. As the president, my powers are absolute. Not to mention, the council has already agreed to this. There isn’t anything you can do to overturn this decision.”

“I’ve had enough. There’s no point talking with Kaichou — Nasuhara-san! Nasuhara-san?!”

“Yes?”

“Say something too!”

“Wuzzat?”

“Stop pretending to be stupid! And you’re not even trying!”

“How rude. That’s a very serious insult to someone who’s hailed as the shining beacon of emerging talent by the top brass in cross talk society. Take back those words immediately if you don’t wish to be indebted with a sum of money so huge, you won’t be able to pay it off even if you spent your whole life fishing for tuna in the ocean.”

“I don’t really care for your fake, silly acting!”

“It’s about time you watch how you act. Otherwise, I’ll get angry even if I’m someone who’s very gentle.”

“What do you mean by watching how I act?!”

“I said before already, I want you to address me by Anna instead of Nasuhara-san. If you don’t obediently listen to my warning, I’ll change all the underwear in your dresser to their female counterparts.”

“I really have to thank you for using two of your favorite gags together at once! But that hardly matters right now!”

“Incidentally, they’ll all be changed to my lingerie. The used ones.”

“You’re someone who might actually do that, so please don’t! Also, it feels like all those things you’ve said are irrelevant to the topic at hand!”

“Just give up already. I said it before, didn’t I? Having faced such humiliation, I’ll repay you back in full. This is my full revenge for you toying with me so happily.”

“I don’t remember toying with you—”

“Prepare yourself. From today onward, I’ll be harassing you without reason every day, regardless of day or night, and without wasting a single second of any minute. You shall regret for humiliating me for the rest of your life.”

“You just want to bully me, don’ t you?!”

Ahhhh, enough!

It will be a waste of time to speak to her any further!

Then—

“Oi, Gin! Ginbe!”

“What’s up, Akito?”

“Why are you on their side as well?! Putting Kaichou and Nasuhara-san aside, I thought you’d be a more sensible person than this!”

“I can’t help it. Isn’t there a saying that goes: ‘one will get stained red should he be close to vermilion’? It’s the same for me too. I’m a student of St. Ririana Academy for now, but I’m also a member of the student council. Isn’t it inevitable for me to be dyed by their colors much faster and thicker?”

“Aren’t you my friend? No wait, my good friend?! I’m obviously in trouble, right?! You won’t get struck by lightning if you offer a helping hand, right?!”

“Fufu. Since you call me as your good friend, I’ll say this; it’s just as you feared back when I hosted you at my shabby apartment; I’m currently facing a huge crisis in my life. You should know that there’s only so much saving and scrimping someone can do. I’m about to receive a subsistence allowance, and the most effective way to get past this crisis is to move into a hostel to seek shelter. That will reduce my living expenses by a substantial amount… Akito, you should be the one who’s inviting me over to your hostel so as to help me out, isn’t that right? Only then can you be considered as my friend.”

“That— no, that may be the case!”

“Or do you’ve other ideas? Are you planning to chase me out despite knowing about the embarrassing problems that I’m facing? That’s how you’ll treat me, your good friend and savior?”

“Uhh.”

“Since you’re indebted to me, shouldn’t you repay me the favors at times like this? We even talked about it a few days ago. ‘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’. I believed in you, my good friend.”

This is bad.

Compared to Kaichou and Nasuhara, Ginbe was actually the worst opponent at times like this. Just like I’ve mentioned repeatedly, I’ve been under her care several times already. I have no choice but to solemnly do whatever she says, even if it’s something like, ‘Commit seppuku now so as to repay me the favors I’ve done for you.’

But with things coming down to this.

There’s no way out… or should I say that it was checkmate? Or how about, my lifelines have all been used up…?

“Fuwaa… What is happening this early in the morning?”

Just then.

My sister waddled out from her bedroom in her pajamas.

“Since today is a rest day, allow me to sleep as much as I like, Onii-chan… Onii-chan was way too awesome last night…”

“Oi oi Akiko. Don’t talk trash the moment you step out of your room. Ever since we were born and until the end of time, we haven’t and won’t ever do anything that’s against my conscience.”

“There you go again Onii-chan, you are really good with your jokes~… Fuwaa.”

My sister gave a loud yawn.

It’s plain as day now. I said this earlier on.

Her state of mind is terrible after she’s just woken up.

“…Mmm? Eh? Why is Nikaido-senpai here? Both Nasuhara-san and Ginbe-san are here as well.”

“Oh good day, Himenokouji-san. The three of us will be living in this hostel in a few days. Please take care of us?”

“Ahaha— That’s a rather interesting joke there, senpai. How can there be anyone who dares to do something so reckless as coming to our apartment and stirring up trouble for my brother’s and my love nest… Well, whatever, I’m going back to bed. Keep the volume down.”

“… Uh. That misty pair of eyes. That slurred, weird tone of hers… She’s totally not awake, right?”

“Nope~. Akiko is totally awake~. I’m full of vigor and energy~”

“Himenokouji-san. There’s something that I want to discuss with you.”

“Mmm~?”

“Could you allow me to sleep with you? Ahh, I woke up rather early as well, and it just so happens that I feel a little sleepy now. I’ll only require a corner of your bed.”

“Alright~, that’s nothing. Munyu munyu.”

“Oi oi, wait a second, Akiko?!”

I interrupted hastily.

“Do you know what you’re saying?! The person is Nikaido Arashi?! —And also, Kaichou! What are you planning to do to my sister in front of me?!”

“No, I’ll just be sleeping with her for a while. I won’t actually do anything.”

“I can’t trust you!”

“No no no, it really is just a short snooze, I won’t do anything, really. Just a little on the head.”

“On the head, what head?! There’s no way I’ll let that happen! Please don’t get too close to my sister!”

“Che, what a mouthy person you are. Oi Nasuhara-san, Ginbe-san. Restrain him. That’s an order from your president.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t follow that order.”

“Mhmm. We do have our hierarchy in the student council, but there’s no need to be following Kaichou’s instructions at a time like this.”

“Listen to me. If I take this opportunity to make Himenokouji-san my lover, then the problem of Himenokouji-san’s brother-complex will be more or less settled. The elder brother’s sister-complex will no longer be a big problem either, you know?”

“Understood. I’m not enthusiastic about it at all, but then it can’t be helped since this is an order from Kaichou.”

“Mhmm. Though it’s really regretful for me to say this, I’ve no choice but to follow it since this is Kaichou’s order. Despite my grief, there are no other options but to restrain Akito.”

“Oi oi! Slow down, both of you?!”

“I’ll not let you get in the way of Kaichou and Himenokouji-san. Since you’re part of the student council, you do know that defying Kaichou’s orders means death, don’t you?”

“Since when has the student council come under such a strict regime?! Nasuhara-san, don’t comply with Kaichou only at times like these! I’ll save my sister’s chastity from Kaichou’s evil grasp!”

“Uhh. To be that agitated about something like this… Akito, you’re indeed a severe sis-con, aren’t you? This is a serious situation if the siblings of the student council are in a loving relationship. There’s a need to rectify this as quickly as possible.”

“No wait, that’s just a misunderstanding, Ginbe! I’m neither a sis-con nor are we in love with each other! Look, typically speaking, one should be stopping Kaichou in a situation like this, right?! Being that I am Akiko’s elder brother and all!”

“Fuwaaa… It looks like you guys are in some sort of entanglement. I’m nearly at my limit, so let me return back to sleep. Fuwaaa…”

“Ohhh, I’m sorry for making you wait, Himenokouji-san. Let’s forget about that boring entanglement for now. Allow me be entangled with you in another way. Don’t you worry, it will be nothing. Believe in my techniques.”

“Or rather, that’s the main problem here is the fact that your skills are overly trustworthy, Kaichou! Oi, it’s about time that you wake up, Akiko! I’m sorry to say this, but your elder brother is currently being held down by Nasuhara-san and Ginbe, and I can’t move an inch! You’ll have to protect your body yourself! … Damn, forget about Ginbe, but why is Nasuhara-san this strong too?! I do know a little self defense, and I’m the guy here! Damn, this student council has way too many capable members… Oi Kaichou! Please value yourself more! Nasuhara-san and Ginbe-san, stop restraining me by locking down my joints! Oi, oi! Really, don’t! Oi~!”

***

… That’s it, roughly.

Lots of things happened, but I finally managed to avert the crisis where my sister’s chastity was in danger.

Speaking of how the student council members are moving into the hostel; I guess it’s natural for that to happen. Or rather, I sort of anticipated it already. It’s something that would have happened no matter how much I was against it.

Ahh, what a headache. It was already chaotic to begin with. And now, Kaichou, Nasuhara and Ginbe have formed the anti-sister alliance and have already started their battle plan. And I’m also looked down on by them, as a sis-con.

I’m besieged on all sides, alone without any support.

To think that I thought I could finally live a peaceful life together with my sister. It hasn’t even been a month yet, and things are already like this.

Ahh, things are really in a terrible state right now.

It shouldn’t be this bad, despite my miscalculations.

It’ll be troublesome, but I guess I’ll have to try my hardest to maintain a good relationship with these three people, whom I think I’m getting along well with. What I’m left with, is to think positively.

Oh boy…

Back to Chapter 4.2

Return to Main Page

Forward to Chapter 6