His Childhood Friend is a Beautiful, Reclusive Girl, So He Spends His After-School Hours in Her Room (But He’s Not Her Boyfriend!) - Ch. 30: About The Next Step, Otouto

Now, I’m going to reminisce a bit.
I’m in front of Yuika’s room as usual, and what follows is the conversation I had with Iori just few minutes ago in his room.

“… Souta nii-chan, it’s true that I like this work, okay? But…”

He has a well-rounded face that looks like a middle school version of Yuika.
He had just come home from school today, so he was wearing his school blazer.

In his hands were a couple of DVDs that I had bought. As expected, the box was too expensive, so I decided to offer them in small portions. Iori, however, had a subtle expression on his face for some reason.

“… What kind of face should I make when I see this was bought for me because of the lovey-dovey relationship between my onee-chan and my childhood friend nii-chan? Whenever there’s a naughty scene, I don’t just feel nervous, I feel very uncomfortable.”

… It was a very valid point.
It was awkward for me, “also,” but Iori continued.

“I’m afraid of Sunday evening. I have a feeling I’m going to be very depressed.”
“… Depressed? Sunday evening? It’s like what’s-the-name syndrome?”
“Hmm, close, but not quite. … You know what, Souta nii-chan?”

Iori grabbed my hand and said.
With a desperate, pleading, cornered look in his eyes.

“I definitely don’t want to become an uncle at my age—!”

“You mean the bonito!”

I bellowed out loud the type of fish he was looking for.
My sister had a baby and I became an uncle as a student. In other words, the baby is the eldest son of the Isono family.
Iori, who feared that he would become one too, urged me further.

“I’ve given up on most things, you know? I’ve accepted that it’s my destiny to shoot sugar out of my mouth night after night. But becoming an uncle in my adolescent years is just too much for me! Please, Souta nii-chan, don’t do anything until I’m an adult at least!”
“O-oooh, oh my God…”

What was shocking to me was that Iori seemed to have turned me into a “criminal” in his mind.

No, listen to me. Ever since I was a kid, Yuika has been the one who starts trouble. And I’m the one who follows her around.
In Iori’s mind, I’m supposed to be the nii-chan he can rely on.

And yet… he seems to be lumping me and Yuika together. I am the same as Yuika now? When did that happen…
The reminiscing ends depressingly.

Well… what’s past is inevitable. It’s a shame, but I’m going to try to regain Iori’s trust somehow.
I regained my composure and knocked on the door.

“Yuika, I’m here!”

When I opened the door, I found Yuika in her pajamas right in front of me.
She was in a position where she almost got hit with the door. She jumped back with a surprised look on her face.

“Ah! That’s dangerous! Careful, I thought it was going to hit my nose!”
“Oh wha, You scared me! No, it’s weird to be right in front of the door. Why are you there?”
“B-because…”

My childhood friend puckered her lips sullenly

“Souta, you came into my house, but you didn’t come straight to my room at all. Then I heard you talking from Iori’s room, so I was wondering if you were coming.”
“Uh, that would be for Iori…”

If I told her that I had given him the DVDs I had bought, she would be in a bad mood.
But if I give them to Yuika, I won’t be able to keep my wallet safe.
I’m not even going to lie here.

“I was having a man-to-man talk with Iori.”
“What’s that, something naughty?”
“Something naughty.”
“Did I hear something about uncles?”
“Iori’s got a thing for uncles.”
“……………………… Okay. I’ll stop asking.”

All right, I made it through!
I put my school bag on the floor, relieved to see that Yuika’s vacant eyes showed that I convinced her.
Then I suddenly realized and turned my gaze to the window.

“Speaking of which, how did you know I was coming into the house? Were you watching from this window, by any chance?”
“Ah.”

Immediately, Yuika started to panic.

“T-that’s not true! It’s not like I’m waiting for Souta to come and look out the window every day at this time or anything like that. Don’t get me wrong.”
“Y-you’re doing such a cute thing…”
“I’m telling you, I’m not!”
“I find it more convincing when you say it with the templated tsundere line…”

And then, as we were having this conversation.
From the front — our eyes met.
Immediately, the air froze.

“Ah…”
“Oh…”

We are all aware of each other’s lips.
Yes, yesterday we had… a kiss. It was our first kiss.
We had an unspoken agreement that we were going to keep the atmosphere as usual…

The fact that Yuika, who must have recently remembered how to dress up, worn pajamas and the reason why I stayed in Iori’s room for so long were that we wanted to act normal. But it seems that our naive plan failed.

“… It’s still difficult. It’s hard not to be aware of it.”
“… Yeah. I can’t help but feel weird about it.”
“It’s Souta’s fault, you know. Do something about it.”
“Eh, it’s my fault. Well… is it?”
“Yes, it is. It’s because Souta suddenly…. kissed me.”

Yuika blushed and touched her lips with her fingertips. As if to remind her of yesterday.
There was something strangely erotic about her. It was an expression that I had never seen before in Yuika.
Of course, it was me who drew out this kind of expression… when I think about it, I can’t help but feel excited.

“Yuika.”
“… Yes”

I unconsciously called out her name, and what came back was a respectful reply.
I was completely taken aback.

I can’t hold back anymore.
The next thing I knew, I was hugging Yuika.

“Ah…!”
“Yuika. Close your eyes.”
“… Eh?”

… The conversation about Iori, who had a thing for uncles, was all but forgotten.

[TLN: Finals tomorrow. Yabai.]