That Time My Little Brother Became a Little Sister

“But I really am his little sister!!”

It was a day in late June, shortly after Itsuki Hashima had held a white box screening of Episode 1 of All About My Little Sister, followed by a six-character RPG session with the usual gang plus Ashley. After a pitched battle, Chihiro (Sen) triumphed against Deathmask (Nayuta)—but when Nayuta said, You’re just a little sister in the game, aren’t you, Chihirooooo? that triggered something within her. Finally, it all exploded into the light of day—the great secret she had been holding all this time.

The shouted revelation elicited varied reactions from the members of the audience. Ashley, who had known the truth all along, shook from head to toe with barely contained laughter. Toki, who was pretty sure of it but lacked solid evidence, braced for the maelstrom to come. Nayuta, Haruto, and Miyako gave puzzled “What is he talking about?” looks. And Itsuki, looking just as flummoxed, said:

“Huh? Chihiro… What do you…?”

But before he could finish the question, Chihiro said:

“Ah, um, umm… I-I’m…”

“You’re…?”

“I’m just kidding, guys!”

She grinned, trying to play it off.

“Uh? Huh?”

Itsuki helplessly blinked as Chihiro gave a weak laugh.

“Aw, c’mon, guys. I was just joking a little. You don’t have to take it seriously, Itsuki. This is the part where you’re, like, supposed to make fun of me?”

“Oh, uh… Right! You were joking!” Miyako laughed. “You sounded so serious about it, you kind of threw me!”

“Yeah, that was pretty sudden! If you’re gonna play a joke on us, you need to make it more obvious!”

Chihiro smiled bashfully at Haruto’s criticism. “Ah, ha-ha-ha… I’m sorry. I’m not too used to it, so… Hee-hee…”

“Nya-ha-ha! Don’t surprise me like that,” Nayuta said, laughing. “I was just about to believe you really were his little sister!”

“Ha-ha-ha! Oh, come on, Ms. Kani, you know that’d never happen!”

So Miyako, Haruto, and Nayuta all saw it as a joke—and Itsuki was ready to join them.

“Oh… You were joking? Oh! Oh, I get it!” He wasn’t completely recovered from the idea yet, but he attempted to treat it the same way the other three did.

Phew…that was close…!

Somehow managing to pull together a smile, Chihiro realized that her heart was beating so fast, it felt ready to explode.

But then the doorbell rang.

“Oh, did I have a package?” Itsuki stood up and answered it.

“Eyyyy!”

Opening the door, he found light novel illustrator Setsuna Ena standing there.

“Ooh, Setsuna! You came!”

“Yeah, I saw your e-mail just now, so I rushed over as soon as I could!”

Itsuki had invited Setsuna to the screening, but regular e-mail was the only remotely reliable way to contact him, and even then, he could go for days without checking his inbox. Thus, Itsuki had assumed he’d missed the message yet again.

“Congratulations again on your anime, sir!”

“Thanks. Come on in. We just wrapped up our RPG session, so how ’bout we watch the episode again?”

“Sweet!”

Setsuna stepped into Itsuki’s apartment.

“Hey guys! My name’s Puriketsu, and I’m an illustrator for aahhhhh?!!”

Before he’d even finished his introduction, Setsuna suddenly cut himself off, pointed at Chihiro, and started screaming.

“Aahhhhh?!” Chihiro, for her part, stared at Setsuna in wide-eyed surprise and let out a scream of her own.

“Wh-what’s wrong, you two?!” a surprised Itsuki asked.

“Um, umm, he, ah, ahh…”

Just when she thought she could play off the whole thing as a joke, he just had to arrive out of nowhere. Chihiro couldn’t even form coherent speech to respond.

Setsuna, meanwhile, was beside himself with excitement. “Sir! It’s her! Chihiro! The girl with the Ass of the Millennium! I’ve been looking for her for, like, a year now! Oh man, what are the odds?! Like, am I really seeing Chihiro right in your apartment?! You two knew each other this whole time?!”

This ××××××× ××××××× son of a…!

Before she could stop him, Setsuna started yammering away. Chihiro cursed him with all the dirty words she could muster in her mind, her face turning into a mask of rage.

“Uh, uhh, Chihiro…?”

Itsuki, breaking out in a cold sweat, alternated between looking at Chihiro, then Setsuna.

“Um… Hello, ha-ha! Do you know my brother? I think you might be mistaking me for someone else.” With a smile, Chihiro attempted one final, desperate measure.

But Setsuna just gave her a strange look. “Huh? What’re you talking about, Chihiro?”

“That’s never gonna work,” a tense-looking Itsuki said. “He’s calling you Chihiro and everything…”

That was the death knell for her. With a low groan, she frowned, pouting a little. “…All right. Yes, I am his little sister. Are you happy now?”

“Why’re you angry at me…?”

Itsuki looked completely bewildered as he spoke. Then he took a few deep breaths and sat down next to Chihiro, studying her face and body close-up.

“Hmmmm… So…you… You’re really a girl?”

The intense staring made Chihiro blush as she nodded.

“Hmmmmm… That’s hard for me to swallow…”

“You mean I look nothing like a woman to you?” Chihiro had a mixed reaction to this.

“No, I don’t mean your looks… Like, I mean, we lived under the same roof until I moved out! Would I really never have noticed that whole time…?”

“Whenever you were at home, Itsuki, you were almost always up in your room, so…”

“Yeah, but…hhhmmmmmmm…” He was still not ready to accept this.

“Okay, um…,” Chihiro timidly began, “can I maybe show you some evidence?”

“E-evidence?!” Itsuki blushed and waved his arms. “That’s way too forward of you!”

“Wh-whoa,” Chihiro said, realizing how that had been interpreted. “What’re you imagining, Itsuki?”

“Like, if you wanna prove you’re a girl, then it’s either gonna have to be your boobs or—”

“Don’t jump to weird conclusions like that! I was talking about my student ID card! I go to school as a girl, so…” She took the card out from her bag and checked the information. “…Oh. My gender’s not on it…”

There was no “Gender” box on the card at all. Her photo was printed on it, but it didn’t show her girls’ school uniform, and she was wearing the same hairstyle she had right now. The card did nothing to help her case.

“Okay, um, I’ll go to city hall tomorrow and get you a copy of our family register, so—”

“Eh-heh-heh…” Ashley smiled as she interrupted the frantic Chihiro. “No need for that. I will personally vouch for the fact that Chihiro here is a young woman.”

“Ashley…?” Itsuki turned toward her. “You knew?”

“Yes, I caught her naked by accident once in my office.”

“Hold on. Why is a tax accountant stumbling upon naked student housekeepers in her office?”

“Oh, quit fussing over the details!” Ashley had no trouble overpowering Itsuki’s argument. “But I’ll attest to it, okay? Chihiro definitely doesn’t have a penis!”

“That—that’s so graphic…!” Chihiro blushed, turning a resentful eye to Ashley.

“…Hmmm… Well, regardless of Ashley’s testimony, if Chihiro insists it’s true, then I guess it must be… Setsuna would never mistake a guy’s ass for a girl’s, so… Hmm… Guess I’ll have to believe it…” Itsuki sighed deeply, finally accepting it. “Haah… But really… Hiding your gender? Why’d you have to do something as silly as that?”

He made an effort to keep his voice even as he asked.

Chihiro turned her head down a little. “…When Mom and Dad were talking about marrying, and your debut novel came out… Dad read it, and, um, he…got worried for me. So he started talking about calling off the wedding.”

“Oh? Wait a sec. I don’t get where this is leading. Dad read that book and he got worried about you? What for?”

Itsuki didn’t seem to understand the context of Chihiro’s story. He was the only person in the room who didn’t.

“Ohhhh.”

“Ahhh.”

“Yes, yes…”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

Miyako, Toki, Nayuta, and Haruto all looked extremely convinced, further confusing Itsuki.

“Why’s that make sense?”

“Well,” Haruto explained, “even to a light novel nerd like me, your first novel was pretty insane, you know. And your dad’s a total regular Joe, isn’t he? No light novels, no manga, no nothing? If he read that without building up any resistance at all…”

“Yes,” added Ashley, “I’ve read all your work, but that novel was the most incomprehensible one of all.”

“Sister of the Apocalypse is a divine masterpiece! Only the chosen ones can understand its glory!” Nayuta could always be counted on to back up Itsuki.

Toki looked pained as he shared the truth. “We knew from your submitted manuscript that people would either love or hate that novel. GF Bunko published it because we figured whoever latched on to it would latch on hard. But I have to admit, we never really thought about what the author’s parents would think…”

“…Nngghh… I can’t believe people are criticizing my first novel five years into my pro career…”

Having all this feedback out of nowhere made Itsuki sulk a little as Chihiro continued.

“Um, so Dad talked about calling it off, and Mom read the book and seemed pretty open to the idea… So I suggested to Mom and Dad that I could pretend to be a boy around you.”

“Huh?! You suggested it?!”

“Yeah.”

“Why did you…? That’s so ridiculous…!”

“…Because I wanted a family,” Chihiro shakily replied. “…I didn’t have a dad growing up, so I always fantasized about having a family like other people… I could have a mom and a dad and maybe even a big brother, and we’d all eat at the same table… I really wanted it.”

“So you were willing to lie for that? Even if it meant lying to a member of that special family?” Itsuki’s tone was curt, almost judgmental, and her shoulders quivered.

“…!”

“Did you think you could have a real family if you were tricking the newest member of it the whole time? That’s so…shallow.”

“H-hang on, Itsuki…” Miyako was about to intervene, but then she stopped. Nobody could say anything. It was easy to see why Itsuki would be angry about this.

“Oh…” Large tears began to well out from Chihiro’s eyes. “…I’m—I’m sorry… Itsuki… I’m sorry…I lied…and tricked you… I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

She hung her head, apologizing repeatedly as she cried. Itsuki looked upon his little brother—no, sister—and, in a voice clear enough for all to hear, said:

“Okay, you’re forgiven!!”

“Hwehh…?”

Chihiro’s curious face rose, her reddened eyes looking at Itsuki.

Her brother gave her a bold smile. “You’re forgiven. So forget about it.”

“Ah… Are—are you sure? I lied to you for such a long time…”

Chihiro was more shocked than relieved, doubtful she’d ever be so readily forgiven.

Itsuki sighed back at her. “Well, yeah, I have a few things I’d like to say, and I’m really not a fan of how my dad and stepmom played along with that crazy lie…but it did allow me to meet you, Chihiro. You’ve been a huge help to me, and it’s not like discovering you’re a girl makes all those memories go away. Besides…”

His content smile complemented his lively voice.

“You just told me I had a sister all along! What have I got to complain about? Ha-ha-ha! Today’s the happiest day of my life! C’mon, guys! Time to celebrate the occasion with another toast!”

Chihiro stared blankly for a bit at Itsuki as he carried on. Then a smile came across her lips.

“Thanks, Itsuki… In that case, um… I’m glad to be your sister.”

“You bet! And I’m glad to have you…as my little sister!”

The term little sister made Chihiro’s eyes go wide open. “You got it!” she said in an overjoyed, girlish voice.

And so the All About My Little Sister screening party turned into a coming-out celebration.

In addition to the food she already made, Chihiro brought a hot plate over to the low kotatsu table and whipped up some more meat and shrimp. The “congrats” beer enjoyed earlier in the afternoon was augmented with more Belgian beer and Japanese sake, and everyone dove right in. Itsuki was running on all cylinders, rambling on and on about just how happy he was to have Chihiro as a sister…and even Chihiro, so wooden at first, climbed aboard his bandwagon and started to have fun.

…If the news was this welcome, I should’ve revealed it sooner.

“Hey, Chihiro! The meat’s ready!”

“Thanks, Itsuki… Oh, I’ll pour some sake for you all.”

“Oh, sweet! Man, nothing like some sake poured out by your little sister!”

“Er, it’s not gonna change how it tastes, will it?”

Meanwhile, everyone else in the room—especially Miyako, Haruto, and Nayuta, who never suspected once that Chihiro might be a girl—felt pretty lost at sea. The first question was how to address her.

“So, um…are you still fine with us calling you Chihiro?”

“Sure,” Chihiro told a hesitant Miyako. “My nickname around school is Chi-hee, so I’m pretty flexible to anything.”

“Hmm… All right. Boy, this’ll still take some getting used to…”

“Yeah, it’s kind of weird. Never thought I’d live through a plot twist like this.” Haruto gave a vague sort of grin.

“I’m fine with it, though,” Nayuta said.

“Yeah,” Miyako added, “and I think I’ll get used to that nickname pretty quickly.”

“Sure, that’s fine. Hee-hee… It feels kind of awkward to have someone call you something new…”

“Awww,” Miyako and Nayuta said at the same time as Chihiro bashfully fidgeted in front of them.

“Still,” observed Setsuna as he looked at Itsuki, “I had no idea Chihiro was your sister, Itsuki! Please, sir, can you tell her to let me look at her ass?!”

“No! I don’t care if it’s you asking, Setsuna; I’m not showing my sister’s ass to anybody!”

“But if I can take just one look at Chihiro’s Ass of the Millennium, I’ll be able to level up so much as an illustrator!”

Itsuki groaned. “…I’d like to help with that…but no! Even if you leveling up makes millions of people happier, and the mobile games and books you work on become megahits, and the impact pumps billions of yen to the Japanese economy, I refuse to let you look at Chihiro’s ass!”

“Oh, Itsuki… I’m glad you said that, but wow, that’s heavy…!”

Itsuki’s flat refusal was both moving and chuckle-inducing to Chihiro.

Meanwhile, Kenjiro Toki, watching them carry on, felt a pang of concern.

“…”

Chihiro revealing her true gender had been broadly accepted by her friend circle without major drama. Itsuki discovering he had a little sister all along didn’t seem to decisively change their rapport at all. It simply deepened the relationship they already had going—or so it seemed to his eyes.

But something still made him uneasy. What could it be? He hoped he was just worrying over nothing—but sadly, his concerns would turn out all too true in due time.