Episode 34: Situation Assessment
“Congratulations on your engagement! Good for you, Ayano-chan. Please take care of my useless little brother,” Kamijou Yuna said.
After somehow stopping Kamijou Yuna from storming out of the house, Kamijou Yuuto and Ichinose Ayano sat in the living room, picking at the cold, dry hotcakes, and that was her reaction after they explained the situation.
Originally, Yuna had gone out to hang out with a friend and was supposed to be back around evening, but her friend had an emergency and she came home early.
“Ah, thank you…?”
Ayano thanked her somewhat hesitantly, and Yuuto frowned.
“No, Older sister. That’s nice and all, but that’s not the important part here.”
“I know, I know. It’s not a joke, it’s a huge problem,” she said with a more serious face than her brother had ever seen.
“Should we go to a cafe or something? For like, two hours?”
“I don’t need that kind of consideration.”
“Don’t be shy! Geez, you were totally ready to tear open that package, all fired up!”
“Can you please stop? Don’t pry into those delicate areas!?”
“But what are you going to do with the opened condom!? …Oh, is it for solo practice? Sorry about that? Should I teach you how to put it on?”
“Seriously, can you just stop!?”
Glancing over, he saw Ayano’s face was bright red.
Yuna thought she might have teased her too much, but she also wanted her brother to understand how an older sister feels when she witnesses her brother and his girlfriend on the verge of a steamy scene.
It was a similar awkwardness to when she witnessed the moment that led to her brother’s birth.
–Well, anyway,
“Seriously, that Mikado kid? He’s a total scumbag and psycho. Does anyone usually go this far?”
“Yeah… That’s why I’m troubled. Seriously. I wonder if he came from another planet.”
Yuuto dropped his shoulders in utter exasperation as his sister stuffed a hotcake soaked in maple syrup into her mouth.
Ayano also frowned,
“I wish he’d go back to his home planet…”
Yuna sipped her coffee, frowning at the two of them.
“–But, is it really that much of a problem?”
“Of course it’s a problem! Don’t say it like it’s not your business!”
Yuuto slammed his hand on the table at Yuna’s casual remark.
“Yuto…”
Ayano placed her hand on his trembling one.
“–Sorry.”
And as the two of them slumped their shoulders again, Yuna sighed, “You guys just don’t get it~.”
“To summarize, Ayano-chan has a ‘leverage’ held by Mikado Kouki and is being threatened to go out with him, right?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
Her brother nodded at Yuna’s question.
“Then, what is that ‘leverage’?”
“It’s that… I was ‘looking at condoms’ and, um… ‘something about my chest’.”
Following Ayano’s halting answer,
“Ayano is known as a ‘Refined Honor Student’ at school. If those photos were to circulate while those rumors haven’t completely died down, more strange rumors will spread. More than anything, if it gets posted on Social Media, it won’t be a joke. But, he’s serious.”
The rumor that had been circulating for several weeks, ‘Ichinose Ayano is involved in Compensated Dating’.
That one sentence that Mikado Kouki had spread through his brother, and those photos would give it some credibility.
Not everyone would believe it, but the fact that Ayano had it in her possession was a fact. They would recognize ‘she’s that kind of girl’.
At the very least, it would give her the image that ‘she’s interested in sexual acts’.
In addition, the fact that she was deceiving people about her chest size with pads might be ridiculed.
That would still be okay.
But if her photos and address were used to create an account hinting at Compensated Dating, her life would really be ruined.
Yuuto wanted to prevent that at all costs.
But, he had no way to do it. That was frustrating.
“Fortunately, he shouldn’t be planning to do anything until Monday. We need to consult with the school or the police before then…”
“But that won’t be in time.”
Yuuto slumped his shoulders at Yuna’s point.
“…In the first place,”
Yuna pointed the tip of her fork at Yuuto.
“What is it that you two really want to protect? Yuuto, would you not have proposed to Ayano-chan if she wasn’t a ‘Refined Honor Student’? Ayano-chan, is your image more important to you than being with Yuuto?”
“That’s–!”
Before her brother could deny his sister’s words,
“That’s not true!”
Ayano strongly denied it.
“I don’t care what others think, as long as Yuto likes me–as long as he loves me, I don’t care!”
Looking at her strong profile,
“The one I fell in love with is Ayano herself. I won’t let go of her hand again because of someone’s eyes or words,”
He also declared.
In the end, the most important thing was their feelings for each other.
If that was clear, then as long as they kept the bare minimum in check, Mikado Kouki wouldn’t even be an obstacle in the face of true love.
“–You’ve really started to make a good face,”
The older sister muttered,
“Then the story is simple. You guys can just stay the way you are.”
She grinned mischievously.
“The most troublesome one is Mikado’s brother, who’s being used like a pawn. I’ll silence him. –Your Older sister will go the extra mile.”
“Silence him… how?”
As Yuuto asked, Yuna poured more maple syrup,
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I know that older brother’s weakness.”