Hikigaya pushed open the front door. Just as he took off his shoes, he heard Komachi's voice coming from the living room.
"Eh? Onii-chan, you're back already?"
Komachi poked her head out of the living room, holding half a bag of potato chips, crumbs dusting the corners of her mouth. She blinked, wearing an "I-get-it-I-get-it" expression.
"Don't tell ... the date was a bust?"
"It wasn't a date." Hikigaya placed his bag on the shoe cabinet. "We just walked ho from school together."
"Walking ho together is a date!" Komachi sidled over and lowered her voice. "Well? Well? Did you hold hands? Did you whisper secrets to each other? Is Nikaido-san's hand soft?"
Hikigaya walked past her toward the living room.
"No."
"Eh—!" Komachi followed him, her tone full of disappointnt. "Onii-chan, you're too passive! What a wasted opportunity!"
"What opportunity?"
"The opportunity to be alone with a beautiful girl, obviously!" Komachi said righteously. "And she's your girlfriend! You confird the relationship, and you just walked ho without doing anything?"
Hikigaya sat down on the sofa, casually picking up a magazine from the table to flip through.
"We just happened to be going the sa way."
Komachi sat down next to him, the chip bag crinkling loudly.
"Onii-chan."
"Yeah?"
"You didn't spend the whole walk without saying a word, did you?"
Hikigaya didn't answer.
"As I thought." Komachi sighed. "Nikaido-san already admitted to being your girlfriend, but you—you're acting like a piece of wood."
"What do you know?"
"I know enough." Komachi crunched loudly on a chip. "Even if I haven't dated anyone, I know that when two people walk together, they're supposed to talk. You guys didn't just walk in silence for half an hour, did you?"
"It wasn't half an hour."
"Twenty minutes, then." Komachi leaned in closer. "So what did you talk about? You couldn't have stayed completely silent."
"We talked about... school stuff." Hikigaya flipped through the magazine, his eyes not leaving the page.
"School stuff?" Komachi's pitch went up. "Talking about school with your brand-new girlfriend? Onii-chan, are you serious?"
"What else am I supposed to talk about?"
"Anything would be better!" Komachi counted off on her fingers. "Favorite foods, favorite movies, weekend plans, birthdays... aren't these the basic details?"
Hikigaya closed the magazine and glanced at Komachi.
"How do you know so much?"
"That's what they do in dramas!" Komachi replied confidently. "Besides, everyone in my class who's dating starts with those topics."
She paused, as if sothing suddenly dawned on her, and her eyes lit up.
"Ah! Don't tell ... Onii-chan, you don't even know what Nikaido-san likes to eat?"
Hikigaya didn't speak.
"You really don't know?!" Komachi's voice was filled with shock. "Aren't you boyfriend and girlfriend? You don't know the most basic things about each other?"
"We only just started dating," Hikigaya said. "I'll know eventually."
"Eventually?" Komachi tilted her head. "But Onii-chan, you don't look curious at all. Normally, shouldn't you be dying to know everything about the other person?"
She stared at Hikigaya's face for a few seconds, then suddenly smiled.
"I get it now. Onii-chan, you don't actually see Nikaido-san as a girlfriend at all, do you?"
Hikigaya tapped Komachi lightly on the head with his finger.
"You think you know everything."
"Of course I do." Komachi protested, covering her head. "It's because you're acting exactly the sa as you always do. If you really got a girlfriend, wouldn't you be at least a little different?"
She leaned in closer, dropping her voice.
"For example... the corners of your mouth would lift involuntarily, your eyes would get a little softer, and your tone would be... hmm... a little lighter?"
Hikigaya imagined the scene and felt a bit nauseated.
"I would never act like that."
"That's why it's suspicious. You're too normal. So normal that you don't look like soone who's in a relationship."
She sat up straight, her expression turning serious.
"So, what is really going on? Why did Nikaido-san agree to be with you? Are you two actually dating?"
Hikigaya was silent for a while.
"Of course we're dating."
"Is that so." Komachi's tone was airy. "Then what does she like about you?"
"How would I know? I can't exactly ask that. Maybe she finally realized how cool I am."
Ignoring her brother's arrogance, Komachi pressed on: "Then what do you like about her?"
What did he like about Nikaido Hiro? Her grades? Her looks? Her diligence? These answers sounded like he was reading off a resu—and besides, he didn't actually like Nikaido.
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"I just don't know. Things like 'liking' soone aren't easily explained."
Komachi stared at him. "Onii-chan, you haven't even thought about this question, have you?"
"I have."
"And the answer is?"
"She's a pretty good person."
Komachi blinked. "That's it?"
"Also... she's pretty smart."
"And?"
"Her grades are excellent too."
Komachi looked at him for a long ti before sighing.
"Onii-chan, you're evaluating a top student, not talking about a girlfriend."
Hikigaya didn't answer.
Komachi popped the last chip into her mouth, chewed it up, and said, "Forget it, I won't ask."
She stood up and brushed the crumbs off her hands.
"Komachi's going to take a bath.
….Onii-chan."
"Yeah?"
"The tone you used when you said she was a 'pretty good person' was exactly the sa as when you talk about the weather being nice after watching the morning forecast."
Hikigaya froze.
"So, Komachi thinks you probably really don't know why you 'like' Nikaido-san."
After saying that, Komachi pushed open the bathroom door. "But that's okay. It's only just begun. Onii-chan, you have plenty of ti to think about it."
The door closed.
Hikigaya sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the empty bag of chips on the coffee table.
He rembered how Nikaido Hiro looked standing at the intersection earlier, the streetlamp illuminating her profile, her ears slightly flushed.
He closed his eyes.
She didn't like him; it was all just an act.
She was diligent, and she got nervous when she lied.
...These reasons were all very logical—much more logical than the ssy thoughts running through his head.
She said it was to make the act convincing, and he believed it. He had to believe it.
'Don't overthink it.'
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