I Was Hired As A Tutor By A Cute Little Devilish Junior - Chapter 42 Friend

I have a younger sister in middle school, three years younger than me.
Her name is Murakami Kanade. She was a cute and talented younger sister who lived up to her name.

Maybe I was just as stupid as my parents, but I think Kanade is a very smart and a sister to be proud of.
She has excellent grades and does mom’s chores without a hitch, making her the ideal sister.

Kanade’s only weakness was her inability to communicate with others. She was what we call shy.

For a long time now, Kanade has always been an overly mature child.
In this regard, I feel that it was firmly in the Murakami family’s blood.
I don’t know about my parents’ childhood, but I was at least as quiet as Kanade when I was little.

That was why I never tried to force Kanade to make friends.
It wasn’t a good idea to force her too much.
As I watched over her slowly, I hoped she would eventually make a friend that she can proudly call a friend. Like Satsuki in my case.

With this in mind, I continued to watch over her, and before I knew it, Kanade was in her second year of middle school.
During that time, instead of trying to get involved with others, she became more and more spoiled by me.

Normally, the older a sister gets, the more she goes through puberty and the more protective they try to stay away from her brother. In Kanade’s case, however, it was completely the opposite.
The older Kanade got, the more spoiled she became, and the speed at which she became spoiled was unstoppable.

“Nii-san, please hug me.”

This was what she did when I was watching TV on the sofa after dinner.
She straddled my lap on the couch, looked up at me and stretched out her hands, and I ended up accepting it.

“Hmmm~♪”

As if that wasn’t enough, Kanade wrapped her arms around my back and nuzzled her face into my chest.
As if even that wasn’t enough, Kanade shook her body as she pressed her forehead more against my chest.

I said, “Yes, yes, yes,” and hugged Kanade tightly, gently stroking her silky hair, and her cheeks relaxed with satisfaction.
Even though she’s my younger sister, she’s a beautiful girl who doesn’t look like she’s related to me by blood. Of course, this was not just her brother’s stupidity.

Kanade doesn’t hide anything from me; she tells me everything. This sometimes troubles me, but it also has the advantage of putting my mind at ease.
No matter how quiet and shy she is, she is still so cute. I heard that she was confessed to by boys a few times in junior high school.

It was a complicated feeling to hear about my sister being confessed to, but in the end, she politely declined all of them.
I can guess why, but she probably said, “As long as I have my brother, I don’t need anything else.”
Naturally, I was happy, but I also felt bad for the boys from her middle school who confessed their feelings to her.

One day, Kanade came home and came up to me, looking fidgety and restless.
When I asked her what was going on, the answer came back to me as a surprise.

“N-Nii-san. Kanade made a friend at school.”
“…Yes?”

I couldn’t process Kanade’s words in my brain, and I couldn’t help but ask her back.

“Her name is Momoka, and she’s in my class, and we’re on the same library committee, and she talked to me.”
“I-I see…!”

I felt an indescribable surge in my heart as Kanade told me this with a smile on her face, as if she was thinking about the events of today’s school.
The shy Kanade had finally found someone she could confidently call a friend.
It was not often that she was so happy. I’ll ask my mom to make a sumptuous meal to celebrate the occasion.

“Congratulations, Kanade. Take good care of Momoka-chan.”
“Yes, I will. I’ll make her the second most important person in my life after my brother.”
“O-Ohh…”

She said that with a big smile on her face, so I replied with a tight smile.
This may be a good opportunity for her to get a little less shy, but it doesn’t seem like she’ll ever get over being a spoiled girl.

Every day since then, whenever Kanade came home, she always talked about her friend, Momoka-chan.
She would talk happily about how she talked about her friend Momoka-chan and what she did today. It became my daily pleasure to listen to her talk.

One Sunday, after a while of such days, I went to Shiina for tutoring.
Kanade then came down to the living room, dressed up in a stylish outfit.

“That’s unusual, Kanade. Are you going out today?”
“Yes, I promised Momoka-san that I would hang out with her.”
“Ohh…!”

My sister is going out with her friends on her day off. How heartwarming it sounds. I can’t help but let out a squeal of excitement.
It was not an overreaction. An older brother who was not happy to see his younger sister grow up cannot be called an older brother.

“Where are you two going to hang out at?”
“Let’s see. We’re going to study at the library until lunchtime, and then we’re going shopping together afterward.”

Kanade told me today’s schedule in a more cheerful voice than usual.
The library she was referring to was a slightly smaller one in the neighborhood, different from the one I had visited with Shiina a while ago.
Even though it’s a small library, it has enough books and study space, so it’s a spot that attracts a surprising amount of people on holidays.

“So you’re meeting her at the library?”
“No, Momoka-san is actually picking me up at home.”
“I see, that’s a relief. Be careful with the cars, okay?”
“Yes.”

While I was feeling happy to hear such plans from Kanade, the doorbell rang unexpectedly.

At that moment, Kanade reacted with a snap and ran to the door.
The series of movements looked like a dog running with its tail wagging in response to the sound, and I felt relaxed.

As I glanced out the door of the living room and watched the entrance, I saw a girl behind Kanade’s wagging tail, who seemed to be Momoka.
She was about the same height as Kanade, and from the way she was dressed and spoke, she seemed studious.

Kanade asked Momoka-chan to wait for a moment, and then came back to the living room.
But instead of going inside, she grabbed my arm from where I was standing at the living room door and pulled me toward the front door.

“This is…Kanade-chan’s brother?”

Naturally, Momoka-chan looked at me in confusion, and then asked me a coy question.
Kanade proudly puffed out her chest and told her proudly.

“Yes, this is my beloved Nii-san.”
“Kouho-ho.”

I coughed, not expecting to be introduced so abruptly and as her beloved brother.
Momoka-chan had a tight smile on her face, so I pulled myself together and greeted her.

“It’s nice to meet you. Um, can I call you Momoka-chan?”
“Y-Yes. Nice to meet you. Onii-san.”
“Thank you for being friends with Kanade. If you don’t mind, please continue to be good friends with her.”
“Of course!”

Momoka-chan, who greeted me with a well-mannered bow, said so in a confident voice.
I was wondering what type of girl she was, as she was always getting along with Kanade, but she seemed to be a well-built and well-mannered girl.

As I patted my chest in relief, Kanade put on her shoes and seemed ready to go.
I stroked her head gently, trying not to disturb her unusually set hair.

“Have fun, Kanade.”
“Ehehe. Yes!”

When I saw that she was smiling and fidgeting more than usual, I thought she wanted to go out as soon as possible and let go of her hand.
However, the person in question has a look of dissatisfaction on her face.

“Nii-san. Aren’t you going to do the usual…?”
“The usual?”
“I’m off, gyu…”
“A-Ah…”

The words that seem to come out of a newlywed couple come out of Kanade’s mouth in a fearful, sweet voice.
The words “I’m off” and “Gyuu” are familiar words that usually fly around in the Murakami family.

This original ritual was an act that both of my parents performed on a daily basis.
Sometimes I thought I was too old for this, but my mom always does this to my dad every morning before sending him off to work.

Of course, Kanade and I are included in this, and she never fails to give us a goodbye hug every day.
However, Kanade was not satisfied with only her mother’s hugs, which was as expected of a pampered child.
When she goes to school every morning, I made sure to give Kanade a goodbye hug also.

Of course, today’s outing was no exception for Kanade, and she demanded a goodbye hug.
I was a little embarrassed because Momoka-chan was watching us very closely, but I couldn’t say no when she looked up at me like this.

“Can’t help it, alright.”
“Yes!”

I lowered my posture and held out my hands for Kanade, whose eyes were a little low as she put on her shoes at the entrance.
Kanade hugged me with her usual big smile that she only showed me and squeezed me.
Momoka-chan, meanwhile, was watching us with blinking eyes, and I could only smile back.

“Well, Nii-san, I’m off.”
“Yeah, be careful.”

And so, the two of thems went out together, hand in hand, into the day-off town.