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. 66: Kisaragi Iori Wants To Rebel? (Iori POV)

“Have you…calm down a little?”

I smiled at Aoi-chan with my highlightless eyes.

“Let’s go over this again. My goal is to get Souta Nii-chan and Onee-chan together, okay? It’s definitely not about me and Souta Nii-chan getting together, okay?
“Of course I understand.”

Aoi-chan nodded her head, not understanding at all.
Her hair swayed fluffily, and I could tell that she only understood nothing.

“Iori loves his Souta Nii-chan.”
“That’s of course…I love him.”
“But you love your sister too.”
“Yes, I love her too.”

“Your Souta Nii-chan and Onee-chan are in love with either other.”
“Umm…right so far.”
“Souta Nii-chan should take your sister as his wife.”
“Huh? It’s really not wrong…”

“Souta Nii-chan should come to this house as a son-in-law.”
“That’s what my parents want too.”
“Iori-kun and Souta Nii-chan will live together under one roof.”
“Yes, things are starting to look bleak.”

“Souta Nii-chan is thrilled to see Iori after a bath. Souta Nii-chan is tempted to play a prank on Iori’s defenseless sleeping face. Souta Nii-chan starts to feel more than just a brother-in-law for Iori!”
“Okay, stop. Can you stop?”

But she didn’t stop.
She didn’t stop at all, and Aoi was packed with excitement.

“I’m in favor of Souta Nii-chan and Onee-chan getting married. In fact, that’s where Iorin’s route comes into its own! After the true end, there will be a backdoor route, and now all the users will be happy! The happy spiral that Aoi-sensei has created is now complete!”

“What do you mean finished!? What is ‘iorin’!? What’s the backdoor route? It’s not a happy spiral, it’s a sloppy daytime meltdown spiral! You can’t do that!”

“I see, I see, Iorin is adamant that she wants to go the regular wife route. Sorry, I’ll write it down.”
“You don’t have to do that! A-Are you really writing that down!? No, no, no, stop it!”

Aoi-chan took out her notebook from her chest pocket and really started to write down some notes, which made me panic.
Just then, my mom came up from the bottom of the stairs with a tray of freshly brewed tea.
It was the worst timing I could think of.

According to Souta Nii-chan, my mom said something outrageous without hesitation, “Yuika has the appeal of a married woman, or in other words, a terrifying ultimate body.”

“I don’t care who he marries, your sister or Iorin, as long as Kanade-chan comes to be my son-in-law. I’m sure Kanade-chan will make you happy. However, the three of you must discuss it properly so that you don’t get into a fight, okay?”

“Wait…Why are you so quick to bring this up, Mom? I know you’re talking about that as splitting sweets, but it’s not such a pleasant story! And I’m a boy, so I’m not going to get married to him! No, wait, that’s not what I’m trying to get at, Souta Nii-chan and Onee-chan…”

“You think so too, mother? I also think that Iorin still has a chance to win!”
“Aoi-chan, don’t go along with it!

“Well, it is a hard question. I think Aoi-chan has a good point, but I also think Kanade-chan is the only one who can help your Onee-chan…”
“Mom has begun to talk normally!?”

“You’re right, it is a difficult question…You can’t leave out the part that all three of them need to be happy.”
“What are you talking about like you’re an expert?”

“Yes, it’s so sad to be a parent. If Kanade-chan would just say, ‘I’ll take them both!’ it would be great.”
“What kind of statement is that from a parent?”

“That’s a question of Souta Nii-chan’s moral fiber.”
“It is.”
“Why do you guys get along so well!? Please don’t make a strange flag when Souta Nii-chan isn’t around! Also, if you keep this up, I’m going to die of exhaustion from all the tsukomi!”

I breathed hard and pushed my mom’s back, thinking I couldn’t do it anymore.

“Mom, go away. You’re going to make things difficult for me, so just leave the tea.”
“Ah, you are so rebellious. Mother, I’m so excited.”
“You’re so carefree, that’s why your Onee-chan won’t come out of her room.”

“I told you about it before, didn’t I? Your Onee-chan said it’s fine as long as Kanade-chan is around because he’s just like her mother. I mean I told her, your mother was a recluse before, and your father saved her, and she then—”
“I told you not to talk about Onee-chan’s secret birth! That’s the last thing a child wants to hear from their parents.”

Pushing harder, Mom handed Aoi-chan a tray of tea and said, “he got angry. Retreat, retreat.” Then walked down the stairs in a carefree tone.

“I’m so tired…”

I’m tired, really tired…
I’m already wounded before we’re about to go on a mission.

As I limped down the stairs, I gathered up the tray and snacks I had dropped earlier. The fact that she didn’t say anything about the state of this floor, mom probably heard everything from Aoi’s first ‘You should go out with him.’ comment…I’m not going to let my guard down anymore.

Ahh…Did Souta Nii-chan know about that?
The most frightening thing about making an enemy was not the rebellious me, but my mother, who was like a final boss. I’m the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings of Kisaragi, you know?

As I was collecting the sweets, Aoi-chan bent down with a tray in her hand.
She looked a little apologetic when she saw me looking so ragged.

“I’m sorry, Iori-kun. I think I might have been a little overexcited.”
“Yeah, not just a little, a lot. Our forces are seriously depleted, you know?”

I continued in the same tired tone as before.
And then Aoi-chan laughed a little. It was not the troubled tone she had when she was talking about Souta Nii-chan, but the usual gentle Aoi-chan mood. So I was a little curious.

“Can I go into Iori’s room first? I’ll put down my tray and bag, and I’ll help you pick up the sweets.”
“Ah, yeah…”

After I replied, Aoi-chan got up and headed for my room.
I could hear her talking to herself over her back.

“…I’m glad. If I had made a fuss about pushing for a coupling with Souta Nii-chan, Iori-kun couldn’t pretend to be my boyfriend without worrying about it.”

…Eh?
What…does that mean? Maybe, what she had just made a fuss about…
But it was always the case that Aoi-chan would go crazy when Souta Nii-chan was involved. This has always been the case.

I haven’t finished picking up the sweets yet.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I stood up. I followed Aoi-chan’s back to confirm what she had just said to herself.

At the end of the hallway is my sister’s room. My room was on the right side of the hallway.
To open the door, Aoi-chan turned to the right. She mumbled again, not realizing that I was right behind her.

“…Fufu, I’m so lucky. I’ve been able to do nothing but look at him for a long time, and now I’m able to pretend…to be Iori-kun’s lover.”

I almost stopped breathing.
Perhaps I…Might have made a terrible mistake.

“Aoi-chan, what you just said to yourself was…”
“—!? Iori-kun!?”

Aoi turned around as if she had been hit by a bullet.
The tray slipped from her hands, and the tea spilled out with a loud noise.
But neither Aoi-chan nor I had the luxury of worrying about that.
The eyes in front of me were wide open, and I could see that she was very shocked.

“No, no, no! That wasn’t…we-well, it was just a story for a new book that accidentally came out of my mouth…”

I could tell just by the expression on her face. It was not a story.
Aoi-chan had the face of someone who had been asked a question that should never be asked.

“Aoi-chan, I’m…”
“…N-Now!”

Aoi-chan raised her voice to drown out our voices.
She declared in a voice loud enough for the Souta Nii-chan next to us to clearly hear.

“I’ll reply to your confession!”
“Wait! But now, it’s…”
“I-I’m not waiting. I’ll answer you when I choose to, and it’s now!”

I heard a noise in the next room. It was probably the sound of Souta Nii-chan and Onee-chan sticking to the wall. There was no turning back now. Even if I wanted to back out, my partner Aoi had no intention of doing so.

My plan started in a completely unexpected situation.

Meanwhile, in the next room, the brother and sister were stuck to the wall like geckos.
They looked in a panic and shouted at each other in a quiet voice.

“(S-SSSouta! When I thought Iori and Aoi had finally arrived, I heard a sound like a tray falling earlier! There is no way that…Iori Just pushed her down now did he!?)”
“(D-DDDDDummy Yuika. It’s not me, so there’s no way Iori would do something like that just out of the blue! Besides, Aoi-chan is about to reply to his confession!)”

“(Think of it the other way around! What if Aoi-chan…is replying to his confession while pushed down!?)”
“(!? I-Is that going to happen!? What kind of relationship is that!? There’s too much disorder with young people’s sense of chastity!?)”

“(What are you talking about? You’re the one who said you’d graduate in a second, right Souta?)”
“(It would take three days! The man, Mikami Souta, has just vowed to take three days to graduate! So please stay calm Iori!)”
“(You can’t! Your prayers won’t reach Iori, who has lost his sense of chastity!)”

The expression on Yuika’s face was one of desperation.
The next moment, she embraced me in a tight hug.

“(Souta! Touch me! I don’t care what you do…)”
“(Wh-What…!?)”
“(I’ll stop my brother’s rampage with my body…)”

In this room, an even weirder situation has begun.