Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai:Teaser2

Chapter 1

When I got home from school, mylittle sister was in the living room, talking on the phone.

Her name is Kirino Kousaka, age 14. She's currently attending a nearby middle school. Her hair is dyed light brown, her ears are ornamented with earrings, and her long fingernails are painted brightly with nail polish. A face that would be eye-catching enough without any makeup, with careful toiletry, seems even more pretty. The feeling that she gives off is one of maturity, not that of a middle school student. Her figure is tall and slender, without being flat in places that should stick out.

If she were to have a good singing voice, she would most certainly be an extremely gifted idol popular among women. I'm not saying it because she's family, my sister is indeed an extraordinary person.

Of course, I have no wish to show off my little sister. Although often my guy friends envy me because of her, and I am not unable to understand their perspective, I always reply to them, “stop joking around!”

Perhaps people with little sisters of their own can better understand my feelings.

Having a little sister is not as great a thing as my friends think, at least that is the way it is for me. Think of this analogy: in every class, their are a few groups of outstanding students, right? Now, think of the most eye-catching group among them, for example a group centered around a leader of a sport club, a handsome genius, or an extremely cute girl. Now, imagine a girl who is peerless in even such a group. I'm talking about the kind that people hesitate for hours before approaching, and most likely won't have any relationships with in the future, the kind of girl who seems like she's living in a completely different world. That is to say, the type of girl who's “far above you”. Most guys are not good at dealings with girls like that, and can only think, “how nice it would be if she were to notice me.” I'm one of those guys.

Now, imagine that such a girl is your immediate relative. Of course, imagine this while keeping in mind the psychological distance between you and her.

...Now, do you understand my unease? How having a sister like that isn't really a good thing?

“I'm back.”

Out of politeness, I greeted her. But my little sister didn't respond; in fact, she didn't even glance at me. My sailor uniform and mini-skirt clad little sister was sunk in the soft sofa, legs crossed, happily giggling at her cellphone. Her laughing face was cute, but she had never, and I suspected that she never will, turn such a cute laughing face to me.

“Eh--? Don't tell me--? What is that? Ah ha ha, what an idiot.”

I'm the idiot for trying to greet you. Thinking such depressing thoughts in my head, I opened the refrigerator door, took out the box of barley tea from, poured it into a glass and drank it down in a single gulp. “Ha--”, I breathed out comfortably, and left the living room.

“Yes, yes...I got it. I will go there after I get changed.”

It's almost time for dinner, and she's going out.

“Whatever, it's none of my business,” I thought and walked upstairs.

My name is Kyousuke Kousaka, age 17, studying at a nearby high school. There is no reason for me to be shy of saying this of myself: that I am an ordinary high school student. I don't attend any school clubs, nor possess any hobbies worthy of mention. Although sometimes I too listen to popular music, or read novels and mangas, but not to the point where they count as hobbies. After school, I either hang out with friends on the streets, chatting, or read mangas or watch television at home. From time to time...I study for a bit. Isn't this what a normal high school student is like? Perhaps you feel that such a life is too calm and boring, but I believe that it is important to be “normal”. To me, “normal” means to be in synch with people around you, living a solid life. The “calmness” means the risks are low.

Fortunately, my grades so far are not bad. If I don't deviate from this trend in the future, I may be able to matriculate at a pretty good college. As to what I'll do after that, I can mull over it during my four years of college life. The people who start getting nervous about such things now are usually those who, if they continue the way they are now, won't be able to enter the profession they like. It sounds nice to talk about, “following a dream”, but it carries the implication of deviating from “normality”. In other words, high risk and not quite “calm”. At least that kind of life doesn't suit me.

All in all, I have long forgotten my childhood dreams...if I am forced to speak of it, I'd have to say my dream is continue to lead a perfectly ordinary, unglamourous, unrecognized, and tranquil life.

My house is a two-story building; my family has four members including me, my little sister, and our parents. It's a borderline middle-class and exceedingly common family.

My room and my sister's are both on the second floor. I changed into normal clothes, relaxed for about ten minutes and then went downstairs because I wanted to go to the washroom before starting to study. The doorway is right next to be stairs, and on the left of the side opposite the door is the door to the living room.

I crashed right into my little sister as I reached the bottom of the stairs. The location was a dead angle from both paths, and is the place in our house where accidents occur most often.

With a soft thud, my left shoulder collided with my little sister's chest (mysterious voice: oh ho ho!). Although the impact itself was small, it nevertheless made my little sister's bag slip from her hand, and the items inside scattered all over the floor.

“Ah!”

“Oh, sorry,” I sincerely apologized, and reached out my hand to pick up the makep, etc. that dropped on the floor...

My little sister realized my intention and slapped away my outstretched hand without warning.

“Wha...” fixed by my little sister's sharp gaze, I was so stunned speechless for a moment.

Next, my little sister said, “...it's alright, don't touch anything.” With such a sentence, my litle sister silently started picking up the objects on the floor by herself.

Sigh...this is unsettling...this girl....Does she not want other people to touch her stuff?

Is her older brother that loathsome?

I wordlessly lowered my head, watching my little sister who's expressionlessly picking up her things.

“......”

A tense atmosphere permeated the doorway.

Her back turned to me, my little sister hurriedly put on her leather shoes.

“...I'm leaving,” she muttered as though she's completing a missing, and then closed the door with a bang.

...Truly, as you have seen, such is the relationship between my little sister and I. I am not very angry about it either. I have ceased to regard her as my little sister a long time ago. As I act as though it was a classmate who treated me like that, I went no further then sighing, “ack! This is just how that person is.”

If you think a stupid older brother like me is laughable, then laugh at me all you want (mysterious voice: it's really sad, bro...). Oh well, my life goes on even if I can't communicate properly with my sister.

“...Hmmm, when did things start changing in this direction?”

I have a faint feeling that she hasn't always been this way.

Nevermind. Even though I am annoyed and troubled, this is enough on this subject. I'll go back to what I was going to do.

After going to the restroom and then washing my hands, I lay on the sofa. I faced the ceiling, crossed my legs, and picked up a weekly magazine fromt he stack besides me.

Eh? Didn't I decide I was going to start studyin?

Lying there, I flipped through the pages, skimming the fighting comic, feeling the emptiness in my heart. Although my reason tells me that this isn't the time for me to do this, a crushing wave of lethargy welled up to stop me from acting. Ah—no, please no. Please, I don't want to study.

This lethargy, it is probably a disease common to all students. (mysterious voice: I agree, I agree...) I shook my head several times like a wet dog, and then stood up. Opening the door and entering the corridor, there I found a strange object.

“...eh?”

The item had fallen into a nook besides the door, right behind the shoebox. Although I didn't notice it the last time I passed by, there was indeed a white, flat, box-like thing sticking out between the shoebox and the wall. That I reached out for it was probably the result of my wish to avoid reality. Because I didn't want to study, my brain was constantly trying to find excuses to do other stuff.

Even if I picked it up, I could expect it to provide no mor than a few seconds of delay. However, the results were unasked for. Thanks to the object, I temporarily became too distracted to worry about studying.

Just as I saw what I drew out from behind the box, “...what is this?” I cried out hysterically. As for the reason, it's because this thing is too out of place in my house.

This...ummm...this is...what is it?

Holding the box between my fingers, I examined it carefully, but I still didn't know exactly what it was.

It was a box for a DVD disc, so far everything was clear. After all, boxes like it are on display all over the place in video shops...in truth, the letters “DVD” were clearly printed on the box. But I wasn't sure what it contained.

At that time, my expession must have been one of shock.

On the box was an illustration, the subject of which is a large-eyed little girl. Standing at about the height of a higher grade student in grade school, she's a very cute girl.

“So the eyes and hair are pink,” I murmured to myself. My eyes narrowed as though they belonged to a detective examining objects at the scene of a crime. (Mysterious voice: secret power activate...= =)

Perhaps it's the theme colour, the overall shading of the box was dominated by white and pink.

That's not important. The problem is:

“Why is the kid outfitted like this.”

The little girl was dressed in extremely suggestive clothing. I had trouble trying to decide if it was better classified as swimsuit or bandages. Anyways, it would make people wish to persuade her into wearing more decent clothes.

From the bandage-like attire extended something sort of like a rocket launcher, so that the little girl flew in the air, with a trail of stars in her wake (☆ <--like that). Moreover, she was lightly holding in one hand a rod that exuded a mechanical aura (is it a lance?) (mysterious voice: I think it's a very normal magic staff...). The rude design makes one think of the reknowned halberd Lu Bu wielded. It's obviously meant for combat, either to sweep the enemy army before its master, or to annihiliate the opponent; in short, it forces the beholder to think of such terrible usages.

What a dangerous person.

The words written in latin letters at the top part of the box was probably the title. “Stars, Wa-ter-me-er-er? First printing......limited edition......? What is that?”

Although it looked like it's valuable, it should be just anime. My guess was probably fairly accurate, even though I hadn't watched anime for a long time, and therefore wasn't up to date on such things.

“Wait...why would there be something like this here?” Just as I was standing stupefied at the doorway with <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>> in my hands, a large question mark rising from my head, the door opened with a pang in front of me.

“I'm back—eh, what's going on Kyousuke, curling up in the fetal position in front of the doorway.”

“Don't mind me, mom. I'm just relaxing for a bit.” (mysterious voice: what an restful method of relaxation...-_-! Why don't you go and play at being a corpse...)

That was dangerous--!? I had thought I was dead for sure. Fortunately, I hid that thing under me the moment the door opened. Whew...that was close.

I wonder who did me this turn—could be a trap in order to frame me? If someone saw me holding that, I would probably be censured in a family meeting.

Even right now, I can imagine Kirino looking at me as if I were trash.

My bag-holding mother was looking down with a pitying expressing at me, who was still maintaining a tortuous posture. (mysterious voice: see, you are already being looked at with such an expression...)

“....The lady next door and I were just talking about how psychological guidance for students is popular nowadays.”

“Wait, wait a minute...don't jump to conclusions, I'm very normal. Only...oh yeah, today, I overworked myself.”

“Keep on spinning tales. How can you possibly study so much as to accumulate that much pressure?”

Such harsh words from a parent. Can't you have a bit more confidence in your child?

“That's nonsense; my grades aren't bad, as you already know.”

“Isn't that thanks to the nice Manami? It's because your childhood friend tutors you personally, don't pretend you achieved it yourself. Whenever did you study on your own?”

“Ack...”

She had hit upon my weakness, preventing me from arguing back. After all, I was still reading manga five minutes ago.

I hid <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>> under my clothes, and crawled like an inchworm from this dangerous place. However, my mother called out after me.

“Kyousuke, mom doesn't really mind, but don't read things like H books right in front of the door.”

What a pity. She's my mother after all, to be able to guess the cause of my weird behaviour with such accuracy. Her history of finding all of my secret collection while cleaning up my room was not a fluke. On the other hand, the stuff that is hidden under my stomach right now, would be even more incriminating than those she found before.

After carefully passing my mother, I clutched the book like an American football player, agilely ran up the stairs, dashed into my room, shut the door, and finally took a deep breath. [TL note: what book?]

“Whew...”

I took that thing out from under my clothes, holding it in my right hand, and wiping my sweat with my left.

Mission complete. I had became familiar with such tasks a long time ago, and I won't talk about the reason. I trust all healthy boys in middle and high schools can understand my meaning. (Mysterious voice: True, I can understand. But I've never done anything like that...)

“...Ah, I brought it back with me after all,” I muttered to myself as I glanced at <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>>.

Anyways, there weren't any options in such a situation. At the time, I was searching for an excuse to not study; moreover, I was pretty interested in this item whose presence here is impossible.

Therefore, I was forced to give up on today's exam review, and decided to start investigation on this item. (Mysterious voice: You merely don't want to study...)

The size of my room is six tatamis, with a bed, a desk, and bookshelves and cupboards for storing reference books and manga, etc. The decorations consist of a grass-green carpet plus blue curtains, and the walls are only ornamented with Japanese-fashioned calendars my mother brought back from the streets; there are no posters. Other than these, there is only a small boom box; there is nothing like a computer, a TV, or a game console.

It's a room completely lacking in personality, don't you think? Because my principle is to be “normal” as much as possible, it fits me perfectly. By the way, I have given up on hiding pornography a long time ago; now I just keep them in a cardboard box under my bed. I had also asked my mother not to clean under my bed (<--admiration)....Still, I couldn't be sure that my mother would abide by the non-aggression treaty: even if she had made it part of her daily routine to update herself on the state of my collection, there's no way I would know about it...(Mysterious voice: you have already lost, completely lost...).

I don't want to think about it anymore, or I wouldn't be able to keep my mind. The most effective defensive strategy that I could use was to choose books that are as unquestionable as possible, so that I wouldn't be lectured in a family meeting even if they were discovered.

...Speaking of which, seriously, where do people hide such things if they didn't have their own room? I think hat the most effective strategy would be to openly display them somewhere. Putting things in perspective, my anxiety over the fact that my room cannot be locked is a luxury.

In reality, it only took a few seconds for me to go through that chain of thought.

I sat onto the bed, crossing my legs. With one hand holding the DVD box for close examination and the other holding my chin, I looked like I was in deep thought.

“The more I look at it, the more this packaging seems out of place in my house...”

Under the light of the iridescent lamp, Stars☆Wittie's face glowed with her smile. Thinking a little further, it's really scary how she can smile while holding such a scary weapon in her hand. (Mysterious voice: it clearly is a normal magic staff.)

“Hmm...”

...Who could it belong to? I scanned through the face of all of my family members in my head. Even so...I couldn't think of anyone who would fit the role of <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>>. Of course, I didn't remember this anime as one that had been played in the living room. (At the time, I didn't know that DVD's could be watched using a computer.) (Mysterious voice: You are completely abnormal...you're completely out of touch...)

Hmm....how could this be? Why would this thing appear where I found it?

As I opened the box of the disc while musing, “wha...!?” I once again received a severe shock, one that was much stronger than what I received when I saw that DVD box. What I saw was this: the DVD box did not contain the disc for <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>>, but another similar DVD disc instead.

...That much is a common occurence. After listening to good music with the small tabletop boom box, I sometimes feel that putting the discs back into the original boxes one by one was too irksome, and instead put the discs into random boxes. Later on, I would no longer remember which CD was in which box, causing no small amount of confusion. Probably the owner of the disc was being lazy like me, and put into the box for <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>> a disc that may or may not be a DVD.

Hmm—Hm--, I understand. This is something that happens often. However—however...

Why is the title of the disc instead <<Amorous relationship with the Little Sister>>? And of all people, it is found by me...what are you inciting me to do?

Furthermore, what is that enticing “R-18” label for?

“...I need to remain calm...” cold sweat was pouring down my forehead, my breathe was hurried. That was close, really close. If you ask me what was close, it was the scene just now when my mother ran into me. If this thing was found on me, I don't thing any way out other than committing suicide. Was this a trap to frame me, after all?

Although I don't really understand such things, my instinct sounded the alarm for me. The amount of black, indecent aura emanating from the title is stunning...! Even without such a seductive label, things are clear enough from the title! No matter how I look at it, I shouldn't be touching this thing...

“Kyousuke—are you concentrating on you studies?”

“Eh--!?”

I emitted a shriek of despair and ducked under the blanket.

Poking out my head and peeked in the direction of the door, and saw my mother pushing the door open and entering without even knocking, then stood stupefied at the sight of his son acting crazy.

“...Sorry, it looks like I came in at a bad time...?” (Mysterious voice: your mother is absolutely doing this on purpose, you poor child...)

“I don't mind, mom. I'm only doing a vocalization exercise. --Also, please knock before entering.

“Yeah, sorry. I'll make sure to knock starting next time,” my mother said with a phony smile, and shut the door.

This is bad...although I hid it properly, I must've caused a strange misunderstanding...shoot.

...I'm really unlucky today...it's all this thing's fault.

I stared at the mysterious DVD, still wrapped in my blanket.

“Itsuki...”

Now that the things have gotten to this point, my anger cannot be appeased without uncovering the owner of this disc. I had transferred my annoyance at today's misfortunes to the owner of the disc, and decided ot hound him out.

...But, the things had gotten even murkier.

If you want to ask what had gotten murkier, I'm of course talking about the master of that weird DVD. Inferring from the fact that inside the box for <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>> was contained the very suspicious disc for <<Amorous Relationship with Little Sister>>, if I guessed correctly, the owner of the disc should simultaneously possess <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>> and <<Amorous Relationship with Little Sister>>. (Mysterious voice: duh...)

Since the disc fell behind the shoe box in my house, it is highly probable that the owner of the disc is someone who lives in my house; that is to say, one of us four: my little sister, mother, father, and I. Of course, it isn't as thought the family members are the only ones who ever enter the house, so I can't completely reject the possibly of an “outsider” committing this crime. On the other hand, who would be so bored as to bring the box for <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>> with the disc for <<Amorous Relationship with Little Sister>> to my home, and then drop it behind the shoe box? I can't imagine such a person existing.

“Hm...”

In short, I'll never get anywhere if I continue to think about the possibility of it having been done by an outsider, so I decided to restrict the list of suspects to my family members for now.

My little sister, my mother, my father, and I...if the “criminal” were someone in the list, who would be the most likely one, objectively speaking? The person in the family who is most likely to possess both <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>> and <<Amorous Relationship with Little Sister>> is...

“It's me, eh? What the heck.”

No, no, certainly not. Of course it isn't mine. I have absolutely no interest in anime. Although there are peope in my class who enthusiastically talk about anime, but I basically don't communicate with them. But isn't it the same for everyone else in the family...? Due to this easily-obtained conclusion, I held my head in frustration.

Is it not so? First of all, it couldn't be mom, right? Next, dad is completely illiterate when it comes to machines, so operating a DVD player should be beyond him. That dad, with his sharply defined yazuka-boss's face, would be cheerfully enjoying anime is a scene quite beyond my imagination. About little sister—she should be the first one to be eliminated from the list. I remember her watching anime about five years ago, but recently she only watches drama and pop music stuff on TV.

The anime DVD targetted at children was too different from Kirino's interests. In any case, it would be unconceivable for little sister to want to watch <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>> so much that she would spend the money to buy the DVD. As for <<Amorous Relationship with Little Sister>>, she would probably be revolted by the mere sound of the title. No matter what, Kirino is a fashionable girl in secondary school, she's probably partying with her classmates today--.

“Ah—I give up. I don't understand this at all.”

My deduction has hit a wall. Perhaps the offender really isn't among the family members, but if I expand the list of suspects to include outsiders, the list would be too long to be helpful. I didn't achieve anything at all; seems like I don't have the talent for being a detective. (Mysterious voice: No, in some senses youare incredible...)

What should I do then? Should I leave it alone, since it is so complicated?

No...still, I want to know no matter what. I must track down the guilty one.

Even I myself cannot believe this: since when did I become so passionate? If I were the usual me, I would have given up the investigation right then and slept until supper time. I did not realize until afterwards that had I really not pursued the matter, I would have lived a completely normal life like before.

However, that was not the way things turned out, because I decided to continue investigating the matter. Of course, I didn't know back then that for better or for worse, I decided my fate at that time. (Mysterious voice: You had taken the first step down the broad path towards becoming a sister complex).

Because of that incident, I stepped on a powerful landmine--.

At my house, dinner usually starts at exactly 7pm, because that's when dad always gets home. If someone weren't sitting properly at the table by then, they would have to go without supper. Right now, it was a quarter to seven. I left my room scratching my head, and headed down the stairs. However, I halted halfway down the stairs, because I saw Kirino's figure by the doorway.

...Ah, she's back already. Speaking of that, I remember Kirino's curfew being set at six-thirty. Setting aside the issue of whether or not she's back late, she apparently takes the curfew seriously. Well, it's true that although she seems mature enough to be a high school student, she is only in middle school. By the way, today Kirino is wearing a black and white striped t-shirt on top, with a black article that consists of black shorts and skirt sewn together below it. Although I don't really understand such things, I think it was made by a brand name designer called Sassy-something. If someone were to claim that she's a fashion model, I trust that everyone would fall for the lie.

...Isn't that pretty cute? However, I don't really want to approach my little sister. After all, she seems to dislike me; in that case, everything would be fine if we keep some distance between us since we can't do away with the sibling relationship no matter how dissatisfied we are with it. We can get along only by mutual avoidance.

Back to the topic, I waited for Kirino to walk towards the dinner table in middle of the stairs.

“...eh?”

Her behaviour is a bit off no matter how I look at it. Even though the living room is just beyond the door, Kirino does not show any sign of heading that way, but instead stood absent-mindedly by the doorway.

...What is that girl up to?

I can not stand here idly forever, so I walked to the bottom of the staircase.

“...”

I suddenly turned my head.

“...what are you up to?”

“...ah?”

I was fixed with a ferocious stare.

...Heck, why did I talk to her when I knew it would turn out this way...Am I stupid?

“Bah, whatever,” I said as I violently turned the door knob.

The table was already set for dinner: curry rice and soup. Despite the fact the whole family eats the meals together in this room, it does not feel crowded at al because the living room, the dinning room, and the kitchen are all fused together in this design. My little sister and I sat side by side in front of the table, and our parents sat opposite us.

In the televsion, the news anchor was reporting on an interesting curent event about something on exports.

Meanwhile, dad was drinking the soup down in small sips. That he never wears a shirt after coming home and taking his bath, but instead wears a yukata; this, added to the intense aura he possesses, makes him seem like a yakuza boss. In actuality, it's just the opposite: dad is a police officer.

Mom, who's chewing on pickled vegetables besides him, looks like a reserved homemaker, unlike Kirino.

My little sister, for her part, did not talk at all. That girl basically treats her family members coldly. Watching the way she was silently going at the meal, I couldn’t help thinking that she’s undeniably like dad, especially her sharp gaze.

On the other hand, as for me, often people say that I am very similar to mom.

The family, sitting in front of the dinner table, gave off an aura of absolute normalcy. Normal…how nice.

I ate my curry rice without making a single sound, looking for a chance to execute my plan. I’m of course talking about the plan to seek out the owner of that DVD….Although I say it’s a plan, actually it’s nothing serious, only an extremely normal and simple plan. In short, since I wouldn’t be able to reach a conclusion no matter how long I spent on deduction, I decided to use an occasion where all of the “suspects” are present to sound everyone out. And now, this fated chance presented itself to me.

Having finished the clam miso soup, I asked indifferently, “I am going to the grocery store after the meal. Does anyone want something?”

“Ah, then bring back a new flavour of Häagen-Dazs (TL note: ice cream brand). The flavour that’s limited to this season.” (TL note: there are limited editions of ice creams?)

“Understood.”

After finishing the uninsightful conversation with mom, I said in a purposely careless manner, “Speaking of which, a friend of mine got into anime targeted at girls recently. Ummm…I think it’s called Stars something.”

“Why are you talking about that?”

The first to react to my probing was mom. Could it be that…

“Nothing really. It’s just that he told me it’s quite entertaining, so I thought it would be ok to take a look.”

“No way. Isn’t that kind of people the so-called otaku? They’ve mentioned it on television…you must not turn out that way, right, pa?”

Taking over the conversation from mom, dad said almost expressionlessly, “yeah, there’s no need to actively expose yourself to that bad influence.”

Hm…so that really is what they think. Although they don’t like to say stuff about things they don’t understand, but honestly, they really don’t have a good impression on that kind of stuff. Speaking of me, I don’t really care what other people’s interests are, because it has nothing to do with me.

Even so, I didn’t have the energy to speak back to my parents on a question like this, replying with a careless, “yeah.” Seems like mom has nothing to do with the matter, because she had no hesitation in her voice.

Mom is the type of person who says what she things, so there’s nothing to be suspicious about. As for dad, he was eliminated from the beginning. Why would a person who doesn’t even know how to operate a DVD player possess a DVD disc?

Then…using the law of deduction…the only person left is…?

I stole a glance at Kirino seated by my side.

“…”

Kirino was biting down on her lips; the tips of the chopsticks in her hands were shaking ever so slightly, as in agitation… Eh? Wait, what?

“Kirino?” Mom noticed the state my little sister was in, and lightly called out.

“I’m full,” Kirino stood up angrily and marched out of the living room. She closed the door with a bang, followed by the sound of footsteps running up the stairs.

“…What’s up with that girl?”

“I’m not sure…” I randomly answered my shocked mother. To tell the truth, I really don’t get it. Why is she mad? That girl…which part of the conversation just now offended Kirino? If she were the “criminal,” and recognized my probing, things would be even weirder. Usually she wouldn’t react in such an obvious fashion and allow me to find out her weakness. So what was going on? I really don’t understand, Kirino.

“Hmmm…” Kirino’s reaction was certainly abnormal…perhaps she really exposed herself under my probing. Of course, I didn’t believe I had zeroed in on the offender just with that. Based on suspicious behaviour, there are other family members…So the owner of the copy of <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>> that I found at the entrance…

Could it really be…my little sister?

“Ma, call Kirino downstairs in a bit”

Dad’s grave voice rang out across the dinner table. Ah…that girl is about to get scolded. But that has nothing to do with me.

If we were to assume that the DVD is Kirino’s, then certainly many things become clear. It was probably dropped this evening when she collided with me. When the things in the bag fell out the disc happened to land in the space between the wall and the shoebox. Then, Kirino realized that the thing had disappeared only when she had arrived at her destination, so she was looking for it in front of the doorway right before dinner. Adding to that, if I was right in guessing that she accidentally placed the disc in the wrong box, Kirino was planning to bring <<Stars☆Wittie Miller>> instead of <<Amorous Relationship with Little Sister>>.

…But what kind of event would require her to bring that thing? I can’t imagine the answer. I originally thought it was a meeting with classmates, but I don’t suppose there’s any middle school girl who would bring anime DVD to such a gathering. Even so, I don’t doubt that she was going to hang out with friends.

“Hm…”

I don’t get it at all. No matter how I look at it, it is too incongruous to connect Kirino with children-oriented anime nowadays. Did I make a mistake somewhere?...that couldn’t’ possibly be the case, could it?

Even though I made some progress thinking along the lines of “Kirino did it”, I was still a little incredulous about the possibility.

…In any case, I’ll probe the matter a little.

“I’m full.”

After finishing the meal, I left the table, returned to my room, pulled out my purse, and purposely muttered to myself in front of my little sister’s room, “Ok, I’ll go to the grocery store now.”

…Looks like I have no talent for acting. Whatever, I never things would go smoothly to begin with. I’d be the one who’s shocked if she were to really fall for it.

Stomp, stomp, I intentionally noisily made my way down the stairs, and banged the door behind me.

After going out the door, I walked for a few minutes in the direction of the grocery store, but at the crossroads I did not choose the path that led to the grocery store, but instead took a side path that led to the back of my house.

So what am I up to, you want to ask? I’m not really doing anything more than standing in the shoes of the “criminal” for a bit. If Kirino were the criminal, she would already have realized that I picked up that thing.

So, what would I do if I were Kirino?

The best option would be none other than to take it back when I’m not watching, and then pretend that she knew nothing—that’s definitely the way. Kirino lost cool back then, so something’s definitely wrong. If that is the case, she might not pass up on the opportunity to search for that disc while I’m out. Therefore, though there is only a slim chance of her falling for it, I’ve set a simple trap.

“No, there’s no way that she would fall for it…couldn’t be possible…huh?”

As I murmured like that, I entered my home through the backdoor, tiptoed up the stairs. And suddenly I opened the door to my own room.

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