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. 35: Small Interlude "Dear Iori, From Your Onee-chan"

I usually hang out with my classmates before leaving school, but since Yuika told me to come early yesterday, I came to Kisaragi’s house right away today.

An ordinary house in a residential area. That is the Kisaragi family’s house.
Recently, I looked up at Yuika’s room from the street before entering the front door.
Because apparently, she watched me coming every day.

Depending on the day, she may wave at me or give me a quiz on the best lines of new and old magical girls…

“… Hmm?”

Today’s Yuika pulled her face back, flinching as her eyes met mine.
It’s a strange reaction. Could it be that yesterday’s awkward tension is still present…?

In thought, I went through the gate and rang the doorbell.
There was a light ping-pong sound. But there was no sign of the door opening.

“Ah, I got here early today, so her mom must be out shopping or something.”

Yuika never leaves her room, so she never comes to open the front door.
Well, there was no problem. I took out the duplicate key I had gotten from her father and opened the front door.

Just then, the sound of light footsteps came from behind me.
At the same time, a voice called out for me.

“Souta Nii-chan!”

It was Iori.
It seemed that it was just time for him to get home. He was wearing his junior high school uniform and a shoulder bag and was running towards me.
He’s still a little short, looked just like a younger Yuika, and is so cute that you could say he’s a girl.

“Oh, Iori. You’re home too.”
“Souta Nii-chan, listen, listen, listen!”

He hugged me excitedly, and his head hit my stomach.
We fell into the house, and we both folded up against the floor.

“Aaaaah, I fell down. Sorry, Souta Nii-chan.”
“It’s okay… though you tackled me pretty hard, didn’t you? Iori, have you joined the rugby club? Is it an educational punishment for me who got you Onee-chan’s bra? … Umm, then I’m ready to take about ten more hits.”
“No, no! You know, I don’t really care about that anymore.”

Iori raised himself up, still on me, and while leaning against the doorway, he rummaged through his shoulder bag.

“There’s something I want you to see, Souta Nii-chan.”

What was taken out was a pink letterhead.
When I was thinking that I had seen this letterhead somewhere… Iori said something unexpected.
His eyes were full of joy, as if he was about to cry.

“Onee-chan gave me a letter!”
“What? Yuika…?”

Surprised as I was, I sat up.
Iori hugged the letterhead and nodded his head.

“Yesterday, in the middle of the night after Souta Nii-chan left, this came through the door of my room. I knew right away that it was from Onee-chan. I’ve always heard Onee-chan and Souta Nii-chan talking, but it’s been a long time since Onee-chan spoke to me, so I was really happy to hear it…”

I’ve seen her every day, but since she’s been cooped up, she hasn’t even seen her family. If she wrote a letter, it would be the first time in a year and a half for Iori to hear from his sister. Of course he would be happy to hear that.

“I see… good for you, Iori.”
“Yeah…”

I reached out and stroked his head.
Then tears spilled from Iori’s eyes. I let out a sigh of relief and he wiped his tears away in a panic.

“I’m sorry, I’m a boy and yet I’m crying…”
“What are you talking about, I’m your big brother. You can cry all you want at times like this.”
“Souta Nii-chan…”

Hiccuping and squirming, Iori spilled more tears.

“I… no, it’s not just me, but my dad, mom, and I’m sure Onee-chan also… believed in Souta Nii-chan for a long time. I always believed that Souta Nii-chan would help Onee-chan. We’re not wrong…!”
“I didn’t do anything. I just chatted with Yuika every day.”
“That’s what’s important, I’m sure!　So… Souta Nii-chan, listen to me. I’ve made up my mind.”

Iori leaned forward with some determination.

“I don’t care if Souta Nii-chan isn’t an adult! You can do whatever you want with Onee-chan!”
“Hold on, Otouto.”

“If you two have a baby, I’ll be there to take care of it as an uncle! Don’t worry! Even if Onee-chan is a piece of trash, if Souta Nii-chan and I work together, we’ll be able to raise him to be a great adult! My father and mother will also help us. Let’s all do our best!”
“Wait, wait, wait, don’t rush into life, young man. You have your own life to live.”

“Today, I went and talked to the teacher at school about it. I asked ‘how can I raise a baby in middle school?’ They’re holding an emergency staff meeting right now, so they’ll be able to tell me more tomorrow!”
“All right, I’ll go apologize first thing tomorrow morning. It’s also my home school, so I’m sure they’ll forgive me if I do a dogeza with a gift certificate.”

After all, Yuika is the sister and Lori is her otouto.
I’ve always felt this way, but when Iori, like Yuika, starts to go ham, the damage to the people around him is unbelievable.

It’s a good idea to change the subject here.
I point to the pink letterhead.

“So what did the letter from Yuika say?”
“Oh, that’s right. I’ll have to have Souta Nii-chan take a look too.”

Iori seemed to come to his senses and opened the letterhead.
I took a closer look and found that it was the same letterhead I had received from the boys in my class.

Well, I think I left it in Yuika’s room. She couldn’t go to a convenience store or stationery store to buy one, so she must have used that letterhead.

“Yes! This is a letter from your Onee-chan.”

“Look, look,” Iori happily unfolded a loose-leaf decorated with colored pencils. There was a brief note on it.

“To my Kawaii Iori,
　　　　　　I want to know all about Souta’s sexual interests!
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　From your beautiful Onee-chan♪”

“What do you think!?”
“… 45-degree angle.”

I started to feel dizzy and held my head as much as I could.
No, yeah, it’s fine if you talk to Iori first, but how is this the first emotional letter in 1 and a half years? Also, it’s so close to a blank letter.

The damage to my heart was nothing to worry about as Iori rummaged through his shoulder bag and pulled out a new letter.

“And then, you know, I wrote a reply to my sister at school.”
“Reply…?”
“I wrote down everything I knew about Souta’s sexual interests! I ran home from school to make sure it was correct.”
“Okay. Iori-kun, please sit there. I want you to sit on the floor, not on my stomach.”

“First of all, black hair is a must, right? But the neat and tidy type is out of your range, and the slightly selfish type is right in the middle of your strike zone. If you think about it, you’ll think, ‘this is exactly what a Onee-chan is like,’ right? I’ve made sure to include that! Also, you’re more of a live-action fan than an anime fan, you like cosplay in general, you’re not averse to lascivious women, and you’re not a fan of SM. And now for the important part — the restroom part.”
“Iori.”

I grabbed his thin shoulders with a crunch.
Overflowing from the bottom of my stomach was a famous line from a magical girl.

“Let’s go… and cool down a little, okay?”

I want to emphasize that my look was before the DVD fix.
[TLN: Reference to a change on DVD for the line.]

[TLN: 5 / 5. I did it, though I took a nap in between, see you guys tomorrow!]