Sixty-Four
“Seriously, wow big bro, she’s super pretty. How the hell did you get a catch like her? How’d you et? How far have you gone? I feel bad for Eri-chan, but I did warn her…”
My sister was spewing out questions like a gatling gun, and I could already feel a headache coming on at the misunderstanding. Shaeula was looking between her and , open-mouthed. I guess she wasn’t prepared for my sister…
“Calm down all right, please?” I asked. “I think you are seriously misunderstanding sothing here…”
“What’s to misunderstand? You brought a really cute girl ho, and you are even holding her hand all lovey-dovey-like? Wow, just wow. I didn’t think you had it in you, big bro. but then, you seem to be mysteriously popular at the mont. Wait, now I look at you, have you been working out? You look way hotter than I rember…” she paused her rapid-fire comnts to smirk at , nudging in the ribs with her elbow. “I guess with a hottie like that on your arm you had to man up, eh, or was it your new buff looks that won her over?” she turned to Shaeula with a bright grin. “What’s your na sister-in-law? And how old are you? You look pretty young. Are you foreign? That hair and eye colour… ouch…”
My sister only stopped her tirade as I knocked one fist down on her head, causing her to look at accusingly.
“What did you do that for, big bro moonstone? That hurt. If you’d have damaged your precious sister’s head, wow, there’d be hell to pay…”
“You are being rude to Shaeula here, as well as misunderstanding things badly. Besides…” I smiled gently at Eri-chan, who was staring at us, unblinking and immobile. “I think you’ve over heated Eri-chan.”
Aiko sighed, still rubbing her head, even though I of course went easy on her and only gave her a light tap. “Shaeula eh? Wow, that’s a pretty na. Pleased to et you. And as for Eri-chan…?” she cast a glance at her best friend. “If you think it’s that has short-circuited her then even getting a girlfriend hasn’t made you less dense, big bro.” Turning back to Shaeula she smiled charmingly. “Shaeula-chan, eh? Nice na. Pleased to et you anyway.”
Shaeula nodded back politely. “I too am pleased to et the sister Akio has been so complintary of.”
“Oh, you call him without honorifics already eh? Must be serious. Mom and dad are going to be so happy…” behind us Eri-chan had squeezed shut her eyes. This is going … worse than even I thought? I need to clear up the misunderstanding as soon as possible…
Before I could speak, Shaeula was talking. “I am not one of you Japanese-Japanese, so I do not care for these honorifics. Please call Shaeula, and I will call you Aiko. Is that acceptable to you-you?”
Aiko nodded brightly. “Wow, oh my god, I get why girls want to call other girls onee-sama now! You are just so adorable, and that vocal quirk! Sure, call Aiko, though sister-in-law is good too!”
“Seriously, calm down. Please sis. I’m wishing the earth could swallow up right now. If I can get a word in edgewise, let reassure you she isn’t my girlfriend, she’s a co-worker who I’m looking after, so I brought her along.”
“Seriously?” Aiko said dubiously. “I don’t think you need to hold hands for that. Besides, a co-worker? She’s high school age, right? You can’t fool this sister of yours, no matter how hard you try.”
“Well as you can see, she’s not Japanese, so she isn’t used to things here, so I was just making sure she didn’t get lost. And she is most definitely an adult, or she wouldn’t have guzzled beers on the train down here.” Actually why am I holding her hand? In Tokyo it made sense. Damn, must have been habit…
“Seriously?” Aiko repeated, her tone losing life. “Well that’s disappointing. I have my suspicions, but… so my dreams of such a cute sister-in-law have died, and you are back to big bro moonstone I know and despair over. Wow, what a let-down…” she turned to Eri-chan. “There you go then, you can stop dying inside Eri-chan, you are still in the ga…” she then muttered sothing quiet, but with my enhanced perception I could hear it easily. “… hopefully this scare will make you finally confess to my stupid brother. For so reason girls seem to be interested in him now, and he’s not the weedy beanpole he used to be… damn, he’s kinda hot now… I don’t know how to feel about that…”
Confess? I looked at Eri-chan. I an, I had a feeling she liked , but I felt it was more a brother thing, after all, we’ve been childhood friends since forever… still, my sister is pretty sharp so… how did I feel about Eri-chan? She was fiendishly cute, and could give Shaeula a run for her money, but I treated her like she was my sister, just like Aiko, so romantic feelings… no, that was a worry for later. I’d really have to think about what I would do if she did confess, but looking at Eri-chan, that looked unlikely…
“Just a work colleague?” Eri-chan said, light returning to her eyes. “Not your girlfriend?”
“Seriously. Do you think I can get a beauty like Shaeula? Since when have I ever been popular with the ladies?” I feel bad saying this, as it seems since last month I’ve been surrounded by gorgeous girls and won, but reassuring Eri-chan takes priority. She’s always been easily upset…
“Indeed, do you think a proud princess such as myself would debase myself in such a manner-manner? No, he is simply my master.” Shaeula said proudly.
We talked about this. Colleague, not master!
“Master?” Eri-chan said, tone dead.
“Indeed yes, Akio defeated and now he is my master. We work together for our common goals-goals.”
There was a long mont of silence where we were all trying to work out what to say, then Aiko burst out laughing. “Wow, that’s hilarious. You call yourself a princess. Well I admit you look pretty enough to carry it off. But you need to work on your Japanese a bit. it’s senior or senpai, not master. If people hear that, they’ll think my brother is forcing you to do … perverted things…” she smirked. “Not that he has the guts!”
“You wouldn’t do sothing like that, would you Akio-kun?” Eri-chan asked, looking pale.
“I swear I am not forcing Shaeula to do anything like that at all. Co on, you know better than that, right?”
Eri-chan smiled suddenly, her face flushing. With a nod she looked up at shyly. “Sorry Akio-kun. I don’t know what ca over . Welco back ho, it’s been too long. And to you too Shaeula-chan… err sorry, you don’t like formality. Shaeula. It’s nice to et a friend of Akio-kun’s from the city.”
“That’s more like it.” Aiko approved. “Damn it’s way too hot to stand out here talking under the sun.” she pulled at her t-shirt, fanning herself. “Why don’t we head ho. Our parents will be expecting us back soon, as we checked the train schedules on my new phone. Thanks for them by the way, it was a real nice surprise.”
“Yes, I am really happy you were thinking of …” Eri-chan said quietly. “But can you afford to be so lavish? I don’t really need such an expensive phone…”
“Have no fear-fear!” Shaeula said, swelling her modest chest in pride. “Akio is raking in wealth, as befits a master of mine. Thanks to my assistance he also provided one of these mobile phones.” She brought out her own matching phone, bringing a … look… from my sister.
“Hmm, that’s a nice phone too. The colour matches you.” Aiko said, before smiling at . “A bit suspicious if you ask , but anyway, you heard him Eri-chan. He can afford it, so take the gift. My brother would be pretty pathetic if a girl he’s so close to turned down such a present. It’d hurt his feelings for sure.”
“It sure would.” I agreed. “Just take it as a reward for putting up with all these years, all right?”
“It’s you who always was looking out for …” Eri-chan said, looking down, but then she looked right in the eyes and smiled charmingly. “Okay big brother, I’ll cherish it. Thanks so much.”
Shaeula clapped her hands together and spoke. “Excellent. Now that is decided can we go-go? I would like to see your childhood ho, and I am working up quite the thirst. I demand more alcohol, and only the finest-finest!”
“Shaeula’s right.” Aiko agreed. “Let’s get going.” She grabbed Shaeula’s hand. “let give you the tour, while Eri-chan and my big bro catch up…”
********
After a brisk walk through our town, my sister cheerily pointing out what sights there were to Shaeula, spending so ti talking to Eri-chan, who after a while was talking to like she used to, her shyness giving way to quiet yet warm conversation, we arrived at my family ho.
“Well, here we are. It isn’t much, but it’s ho.” Aiko said to Shaeula. “Sorry about this, but we don’t have an awful lot of room, so you’ll have to squeeze in with tonight. Eri-chan is staying over too, right?”
“Yes, I’d like to catch up with big brother, as well as talk to Shaeula.” Eri-chan agreed.
“Wow, we can have a real girls night. I’m excited. But no peeking all right big bro? I’d hate to have to kill you!”
“I am well used to tiny spaces ill-befitting my bloodline. Akio’s room is rather small, after all-all.”
Oh god, not again…
“Hmm…” my sister looked at us both while opening our faded front door. “I’ve heard sothing interesting I just know we need to talk about later… oh well, mom, dad, we’re ho. And we have a guest!”
Beside Eri-chan was giving a very sad look. I reached out and ruffled her hair, causing her to flush red and freeze. Oops, too used to doing that with Shaeula.
The awkward mont was broken by the sounds of soone racing to our front door. “Aki is back? It’s been too long…” a bright female voice with a slightly foreign accent said.
“Yeah, I’m ho. Hi mom.” I greeted the British woman who had arrived breathless at the door, bright blue eyes matching my sister twinkling. She snatched in a hug, matching for height.
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