Chapter 10: CH 10

He's bald and he's a gorilla-like guy.

Translated by Dawn

He’s bald and he’s a gorilla-like guy.

After finishing dinner, I was at my desk in my room as usual.

But I was not studying.

I was staring at the screen of my smartphone.

The app I had open was LIME.

The account name “Mizutani Karin” was displayed on the screen.

After what happened, I exchanged contact information with Mizutani and LIME.

Mizutani said that it would be better to do so as long as we pretended to be lovers.

I had no objection to this, so I quietly followed what Mizutani said.

The only thing in my chat history with Mizutani was a “hello” sticker from her and my bland “hello” response to it. These were the messages we sent each other to confirm when we exchanged contact information.

“Brother, do you have any more of ‘Chen Somen’?”

Suddenly, I heard a somewhat innocent voice from behind me.

I turned around to see my younger sister Mai, who had entered the room before I knew it and was sprawled out on my bed without my permission.

“…what volume are you on right now?”

I had no choice but to turn my rotating chair around and face Mai.

Mai, dressed in a T-shirt and over-the-knee pants, turned her head toward me.

Her bob-cut black hair swung slightly.

“I just finished reading volume 10.”

Mai held up a manga in her hand and showed it to me.

“Then, is it that one? The one where Chen just finished training to make Somen noodles?”

“Yeah, that’s it!”

“Then I’m sorry, but I’m stopped there, too.”

“Ehh, but this isn’t the newest volume, is it?”

“Yes, but that’s all I have at home.”

“…Then, go buy more.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Stingy.”

Mai said sullenly and reached for the bookshelf next to my bed.

She picked up another manga and began to read again in silence.

Was this girl still going to stay here?

I sighed in my mind and turned back to my desk.

Well, I should put Mizutani aside and do some studying for now.

Just as I grabbed a mechanical pencil, the phone in my pocket vibrated.

When I took out my phone to check, it was a LIME notification.

The first thing I suspected was that “It’s probably from an Official Account” which was the sad nature of people with few friends. (+)

I thought so too, and when I opened the app, it was a message from Mizutani.

…Call?

I looked at the bed again.

Mai was reading a manga while yawning.

Hmmm…doesn’t look like she’s going to be leaving anytime soon, no matter how I look at it

Ah, I see what she meant. Settings, huh…

I could only say that, but it was kind of funny.

I left my room.

I walked through the living room, stuck my sandals on, and went out on the balcony.

I closed the window behind me just in case, then reply with an “okay”.

I received a “read” shortly after, and then the phone rang.

I picked up the phone and, without even saying a greeting, she cut right to the chase.

“So, where do we start with the setting?”

“Which one of us confessed first?”

“I’m the one who’s supposed to be doing that.”

“…Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’…”

Was she seriously asking that? Well, I guess she was serious.

It could be that she was unaware of it because she was the one in question.

“It’s because if you tell the guys at school that Mizutani confessed to me, they probably won’t believe you.”

“…Ah, that’s what you meant.”

Perhaps she wasn’t aware, but Mizutani let out a satisfied sound.

I continued, unmindful of her reaction.

“We should also decide why Mizutani accepted my confession. It’s not like there’s no possibility that someone will ask you out. Is there any reason you can think of?”

“Reason, huh……”

Mizutani pondered.

10 or 20 seconds……hey, if you think so much about it, it makes me sad you know.

Was I really not that good?

Was there really nothing so good about me?

Yeah, there wasn’t one. Sorry for getting carried away.

“Um, Mizutani-san? I don’t mind if it’s forced, but it would be great if you could come up with something soon.”

“Ah, no, it’s not like that…”

Mizutani uttered something in a fumbling manner and then fell silent.

That reaction was completely that of someone who is having a hard time finding a reason.

Mizutani, you know, sometimes it’s more hurtful when people try to make things up.

With that in mind, I waited patiently.

Eventually, Mizutani hesitantly opened her mouth.

“…Because I was being followed by a guy and Aizawa saved me?”

Ah, the one when Mizutani was being approached by Yamamoto.

“Sure, that’s good.”

“Umm, let me just say this. This is just a setting, okay?”

“….? That’s obvious. We’re talking about settings from the beginning.

“…if you know, fine.”

Mizutani said as if she was disappointed.

Did she have to go to the trouble of confirming what she just said?

“If so, you should probably decide why Aizawa fell in love with me.”

“…I think that probably doesn’t need to be explained.”

I knew it, this girl didn’t know what she looked like.

It seemed to me that she was a quirky high school student and didn’t even realize she was popular…I wonder if she had a natural-like quality in her.

“But isn’t it unfair that I’m the only one who has to tell you why I fell in love with you and Aizawa doesn’t?”

“There’s no such thing as unfairness in a setting”

“That’s true, but…”

Mizutani remained silent as if he was dissatisfied.

I’m trying to be serious, you know.

After that, we finalized the details and hung up the phone with Mizutani.

With the lingering echo of Mizutani’s voice still lingering in my ears, I turned to the window to go back to my room. Then I saw Mai standing at the window, listening. Mai’s eyes sparkle with curiosity.

“…Isn’t eavesdropping bad?”

I warned my sister as I opened the window.

Huh? Did I do the same thing to her just a few days ago?

No, that was just Satomi and her friends sharing their stories in front of me on their own initiative.

It was wrong of them to talk about such an important thing so openly.

Mai smiled unconcernedly.

“It’s okay, I barely heard you.”

“…That’s not the point. When you’re trying to listen with all your might, you’re eavesdropping even if you can’t hear me.”

“Well, well, we don’t need to go into details.”

Mai closed the window and pushed me back.

She sat me down on the sofa in the living room and stood in front of me with her hands on her hips.

“More importantly, it’s very unusual for my brother to call someone on the phone. Who was that you were talking to?”

“Who do you think it is?”

“Hmm…I don’t know. Maybe someone from your high school? Can you at least tell me their name? I wouldn’t know them anyway.”

“…It’s Mizutani.”

“Hee…It’s my brother, so I assume it can’t be a girl…”

To Mai, who started to reason in the wrong direction, I responded appropriately, “Well, that’s pretty much it.”

Well, we had no father in our family.

Because my mother was a career woman, we were able to live without any financial difficulties, but she could not devote much time to housework.

Therefore, Mai and I took care of the housework to the extent that it did not interfere with our school life.

I wasn’t trying to draw some sympathy.

The point was to let people know that I, as the only male in our home, was feeling self-conscious.

In other words, once she found out that Mizutani was a girl, it would provide her with excellent bait to make fun of me.

Therefore, it would be more convenient if she thought Mizutani was a man.

Mai was easily fooled by my response.

“Ah, so they’re a man after all. What kind of man is he?”

“What kind of a man, huh…”

Sorry, I didn’t think that deeply.

Hmmm…what should I do?

I thought about it and what came to my brain as soon as I thought about it was Yamamoto for some reason.

“He’s bald and he’s a gorilla-like guy, you know?”

“…He doesn’t seem like the type of guy who would get along with big brother very well.”

Mai said with a subtle look on her face.

How did she figure it out? As expected of my sister.