Three Hundred And Seventeen
“So, what do you think?” Shiro said with a bright smile, spinning round for , showing off what she was wearing. As usual she was in a pair of white jeans, but this ti her jumper was a pretty deep-red wine colour, and it had long, puffy sleeves, so that she could hide the state of her damaged arm. Her hair was also pulled back away from her face, and she was wearing a white eye-patch, looking rather like a pirate, with all her scars. The outfit was topped off by so jewellery, such as a fetching necklace, which was unusual as Shiro normally didn’t bother with such trappings, though the white gold looked good against the richly coloured jumper she wore.
“Hi there, Akio-kun, it’s been too long. Sorry about the unannounced visit, but Ai-chan said she’d… uh…” she paused, face going pale, and I followed her line of sight to see she was looking at Shiro. Yae gasped as well, hand covering her mouth.
“Well, isn’t this a treat?” Shiro complained, her expression grim. “Looking at like I’m so sort of monster. Besides, that isn’t even the most annoying thing. Aki, you say?” she glared at Yae. “Very… familiar… aren’t you? Isn’t she, Aki?”
“Well, they are good friends of my sister. Speaking of which, Shiro, this is Aiko, my younger sister.” I introduced her. “These two are her friends from school, Eri’s too. Chihiya Yae, and Masui Rika. Though why they are here…”
“They were worried about Eri.” My sis insisted. “So yeah, we’ve spoken on the phone, right, but we’ve never t in person.” Aiko eyed Shiro up and down. “Damn, I get why my bro is pissed off at himself for letting you get hurt. You’re totally built like a model.” She let out a whistle. “My bro grabbing all the hotties. I can never decide whether to be proud or ashad.”
“Hey, sis…” I hissed, gesturing towards the girls. “There’s such a thing as tact…”
“Don’t worry, Aki.” Yae said, surprising . “Sorry. Shiro, you said your na was?” at the older girls’ nod, she continued. “That was very rude of . I shouldn’t look at you like that. Sorry again.” she shook her head. “But Ai-chan is right. Your figure… ugh, such a sha.”
“Yeah. Those scars are brutal. The eyepatch is cute though.” Rika-san tried to apologise as well.
“Excuse . If you ca to see , then why are you ignoring ?” Eri complained from her wheelchair.
“Oops.” Yae said, knocking on her head in a cute gesture. “My bad Ri-Ri. So, how’ve you been keeping? When we heard, all of Nishimorioka was in an uproar. To think you got caught up in such a disaster.”
“Yeah. And when we heard you were paralysed… Akio-kun, I’m disappointed. Where were you when Ri-Ri was in trouble?”
“He was doing his best. The situation was bad, and…”
“Cut the crap Ri-Ri.” Yae interrupted. “I know you think Rika and , we’re not smart. And sure, we aren’t ever going to University like you or Aki, but we have eyes and functioning brains.” She looked at then. “I still can’t believe you lied to .” She said, and I asked what she ant.
“You said that if you ever were going to cheat on Eri, you’d call .” She winked. “And here you have Shaeula, this girl here, and… wow, a real maid? Though that outfit is scandalous. Cute as hell though!”
“Yeah, you really hurt Yae’s feelings.” Rika-san winked at . “There’s those noble girls who visited too. I guess we need to thank Hinata-chan for letting us co.”
“I think you misunderstand.” I began, but my sis stopped .
“Just give it up, bro. Co on. This was inevitable. But, we should take it inside.”
“Yeah, there’s a lot of people watching.” Yae observed. “Like, soldiers and stuff. That’s a proper military helicopter, right?”
“You win.” I sighed.
“Great.” My sis agreed happily. “Oh, and by the way…” she looked at us all. “Why the hell is everyone so well-dressed? Just to welco , I’m flattered, but…”
********
“… can’t believe you are ditching tonight, when you knew I was coming!” my sis pouted, taking a mug of tea from Hyacinth, who had already given Rika-san, Yae and Marika-san, who had joined us since there were visitors from Nishimorioka, so steaming mugs. After the girls had fussed over her, she was sitting quietly in seiza, sipping her tea elegantly.
“Well, we already had plans to et so old friends.” I apologised again. “But it isn’t like you can’t have fun. Hinata has booked plenty of rooms, and you could have a al out. It’s a nice hotel, I’m told.”
“But I’m not dressed right. And these two look too cheap for an expensive hotel!” she complained, cheeks puffed out in annoyance.
“That’s a low blow, Ai-chani!” Rika-san complained. “We look fashionable! We aren’t all slumming it in a hoodie like you!”
“Yes, I’m dressed well enough to go anywhere!” Yae agreed.
“Don’t worry.” I said. “Hinata’s booked out the whole restaurant, so there’ll be nobody to complain.”
“For soone so popular, you still don’t get girls, bro. Being out with all of you girls when all I’ve done is wear a t-shirt and la hoodie is going to suck…”
“Well, at least you’re pretty.” Shiro smiled. “The fabled sister in the flesh.”
“Fabled sister, huh? Ugh, whatever my bro used to tell you about , I’m sure they are all lies…”
As the reunion devolved into banter between my sis and Shiro, I relaxed. “So, as you can see, Eri’s… well, not fine, but she’s doing okay. I’ll look after her, and she’ll make a full recovery, the doctors say.” I promised.
“Yes, I’m doing rehab, which is why I was too busy to reply to any texts or calls.” Eri said, not entirely a lie. She’s simply been in the Boundary for days.
“Okay, so, real talk ti.” Yae leaned over, looking at Eri, her hazel eyes looking into her onyx ones. I had to look away, as she was showing a lot of cleavage. “What really happened, Ri-Ri?”
“Well, it was on the news…” she began, but Rika-san snorted loudly, insulted.
“Hey, co on. Like Yae said, we do have functioning brains, you know?”
“Yeah. Look, from the start everything was fishy. There was Aki turning up with Shaeula, looking all hot and fit. Then his performance in the baseball… you know, so of the guys back ho say your moves were pro level. Then in Inuyama, you tried to cover up you got hurt when you were away from us for just a short ti.” Yae looked sad, rembering. “On our date, I promised to not ntion it, but co on, you know everyone noticed, right?”
“Wow, yeah bro. if Shaeula hadn’t have told us about what was really going on, Eri and I would have beat the truth out of you.” she sniffed. “You’re shit at keeping secrets, you know? Hinata moans about that all the ti.”
It’s nice to see my fiancées talk to my sister, but… “Uh, we’re in company?” I pointed out, and she rely shot a withering glance.
“No shit, bro. that’s the point? Aren’t you listening? Best spell it out for him, girls.” My sister swore again, clearly exasperated.
“Then there’s the money. The Mori’s and your family, they suddenly were flush with cash. There are all these strangers around Nishimorioka, and while they keep a low profile, it’s obvious they are watching your families. Then there’s Hinata-chan and the others. Girls like those, they don’t show interest in a normal person, from a boring town like Nishimorioka.” Rika-san said, and Yae took over.
“Yeah. And there’s the injuries this girl Shiro-chan has, as well as Ri-Ri’s. Put everything together, and a pattern forms. But that alone isn’t enough. But if Ri-Ri miraculously gets good at sports, just like you, and Ai-chan here suddenly excels in her studies… I an, she aces maths now without even trying…”
“Wow, you’re making blush.” My sis grinned.
“… well, it’s obvious.” Yae finished. “So give it up. Aki, you’re so kind of superhero right? Ri-Ri and Ai-chan too! These girls as well. You must be too, Marika-chan!”
Ugh, yeah, I suppose it was too much to expect those close to us to not notice. Even so, this is so awkward.
“I told you to give it up, bro.” my sis laughed. “I haven’t gone into details, but co on. They’ve been suspicious for ages. I guess… I have been going a bit overboard at school though. Damn, the benefits of my Class make maths and physics trivial though, and English is already no bother, so…”
“So it is true…” Yae and Rika-san exchanged glances. “I thought so.”
Well, the evening of explanations to friends seems to have started a bit earlier than planned. So now what?
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