"Hey, Utaha." Suddenly, Miyahito remembered the depressed look on Ayase's face when he picked her up at Eriri's house, and the subtle sense of distance he'd felt from his sister since then. He couldn't help but ask his girlfriend. "I feel like recently, Ayase is a bit... well, reserved with me."
"Mhm." Rolling over to lie on her back, Utaha raised a hand to slightly block her eyes from the direct light. "So, Mr. Aragaki is troubled that his little sister isn't as close to him anymore?"
"Uwah, sis-con~ creepy"
"That's not it." Miyahito retorted with a mix of amusement and helplessness, scratching his head. "I'm not like those male protagonists in anime who get aroused by their own sisters."
"Oh, really?"
"Definitely! My ethical standards are perfectly normal, okay." Miyahito replied helplessly, then naturally picked up a pen on the desk, twirling it as he said with a hint of disgust. "Besides, I don't get why anyone would have those kinds of feelings for their sister."
"Watching your sister grow from a little ball of flesh, no matter how you think about it, it's impossible to feel anything other than familial affection."
"That's just an otaku's fantasy, my dearest Mr. Aragaki." Rolling over again to lie on her side, Utaha slowly closed her eyes, a doting smile on her lips. "Also, the law allows cousins to marry, you know."
"So may I ask, Mr. Aragaki, do you have an doting older cousin, or an admiring younger cousin?"
"I'm sorry, I do not."
Even though he knew Utaha couldn't see him, Miyahito still habitually rolled his eyes.
"Ayase is the first and currently the only little princess in our generation of the family."
"Surprisingly, Ayase is a princess."
"Yeah, thanks to that reason." Miyahito sighed heart-tiredly, slumping his whole body onto the desk, his tone full of distress. "When I was little, every other day I'd be dragged away by my older male cousins to be interrogated about whether I'd been bad to Ayase. And I'd be dragged off to training by my uncles and grandpa."
The most ridiculous part was that while preaching things like, "Training is combat!" and, "A real man should be able to fight from one end of the street to the other with nothing but a wooden sword," they would happily beat him to a pulp, laughing uproariously until he was left sprawled on the ground, unable to move.
Hearing her boyfriend's resentment-filled complaints and that Spartan-level training over the phone, Utaha sighed in her heart, 'No wonder Miyahito was able to beat the entire kendo club by himself back then,' and said to the poor Miyahito in a very complex tone.
"You've had it rough, Miyahito."
"Mhm." Hearing Utaha's words, Miyahito, who was halfway through his sentence, silently swallowed the rest of his words, saying quietly in his heart.
'Grandpa was right. A real man must have the strength to protect the girl he loves.'
For some reason, even though Miyahito only made a sound and then fell silent.
Utaha could faintly hear her boyfriend saying to her, 'Actually, it's not hard at all, because I know I need to learn to protect you, the one I like.'
Mm... this feeling is so narcissistic.
Realizing this, Utaha silently raised her hand, covered her face, and then rolled around on the bed with a flushed face.
It's really narcissistic enough aaaaaa!
Decorum! Decorum! Has your decorum been eaten by a dog, Kasumigaoka Utaha?!
"Anyway!"
Barely suppressing the emotion in her heart that desperately wanted to bury the herself from a second ago in the ground, Utaha took a slight deep breath.
"How about talking to Ayase?"
Many misunderstandings arise from not speaking and letting your imagination run wild.
However.
The first step to resolving a misunderstanding is an open and honest talk.
But.
Being open and honest also requires an appropriate opportunity.
So.
"I have a good suggestion."
Poking half her body out and reaching for a poster on the desk, Utaha looked at the firework blooming in the night sky on the poster and smiled.
"There's a fireworks festival in a few days, and the venue is in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture..."
...
"Sigh." Letting out a small sigh, Ayase slumped forward, resting her cheek on her arm as she stared at the white phone on her desk—the exact same model as her brother's, but in the opposite color to his black one. Her eyes were somewhat dazed.
"Sigh."
Unable to help but sigh again, Ayase suddenly remembered when she was little, her brother took her to the Inari Shrine for New Year's visit and said to the young her, who was sighing, 'Ayase, you shouldn't sigh in front of the gods, because the happiness the gods send will slip away with your sigh.'
Subconsciously, she sat up straight and covered her mouth with her hand, her little self looking around worriedly.
The... the gods didn't see that, right?
But realizing she was being a bit silly, Ayase silently lowered her hand, a gloomy expression involuntarily appearing on her little face.
"What on earth am I supposed to do, seriously?" Mumbling to herself, Ayase slumped back onto the desk, rubbing her forehead against her arm in sheer frustration.
Whenever she saw her brother, Ayase couldn't help but think of Utaha-nee.
And then, thinking of Utaha-nee, she couldn't help but remember that her brother, who used to be envied by many girls and boys and only doted on her, had now confirmed a romantic relationship with Utaha-nee.
Finally, thinking of her brother and Utaha-nee who had confirmed their relationship, Ayase would uncontrollably associate it with the words she had heard before.
'Older brothers are all like this. After they start dating, they won't care about their little sister as much as when they were kids.'
'Boys are normal, after all. One is a little sister he needs to worry about, and the other is a girlfriend he's dating. Of course, he'll choose the cute girlfriend.'
'No matter how much Ayase's brother dotes on you, he's still a boy. Well, just get used to it, Ayase. Anyway, for me, having one less nagging older brother is actually a bit more relaxing.'
...And words like that.
And whenever she thought of these things, Ayase couldn't help but feel sad.
But with her naturally kind nature, she could never bring herself to say to her brother, "Can you not fall in love, Big Brother?" or to Utaha, "Can you leave my brother? Give my brother back to me?" Such selfish words.
Moreover, Ayase could feel that Utaha-nee cared for her... just as much as her brother did, maybe only a little less.
Precisely because of this, Ayase couldn't say those words even more.
So, actually, there was only one way left.
And that was.
"Gotta do my best! Ayase." Raising her hands, clenched into little fists, she cheered herself up slightly, then smiled at the night sky dotted with stars outside the window, saying silently in her heart.
'I need to become an Ayase that Big Brother can rest assured about! I need to get used to a life where Big Brother doesn't dote on me as much as before!'
A few minutes later.
Knock knock—!
Hearing the knock, Ayase stood up with a slightly puzzled expression and walked to the door.
She opened it.
"Yo, Ayase."
Looking at her brother, who was standing in front of her room with a beaming smile, Ayase couldn't help but freeze.
But before she could even process it, she saw her brother, his face radiating a happy grin, raise his phone and say to her with a hint of excitement,
"Let's go to the fireworks festival together!"