The Omen

“…I gotta say,” Haruto groused as he enjoyed his beer, “I wasn’t expecting a player to sacrifice herself for the sake of an NPC.”

“Ha-ha-ha! I told you! I don’t care if I’ve never even met her; I absolutely refuse to have a little sister suffer under my watch! That’s the creed I live by!”

The TRPG session was immediately followed by a dinner/drinking party in Itsuki’s apartment. Chihiro catered, of course, providing yakisoba noodles packed with seafood and veggies, Korean-style seafood pancakes, anchovy salad, and fresh spring rolls.

The beer was Hoegaarden Original White, a witbier with a refreshing citrus aroma to it. There was practically no bitterness—instead, it was fruity, refreshing, and breathlessly easy to drink. Among Belgian beer, it was the number-one seller in Japan, a regular in the liquor sections of supermarkets and convenience stores nationwide. Thanks to being so easy to drink and readily available, it often served as an introduction to overseas beer for the average Japanese adult raised on a steady diet of cheap lager at the izakaya bars.

“…Well, I’m glad Nina’s sister didn’t have to deal with any grief, but that kinda put a lot of grief on your actual sisters, you know,” Chihiro somewhat testily observed as he refilled Itsuki’s glass.

“Yeah, um… Sorry,” the suddenly self-conscious Itsuki replied.

“So try to treat your real sisters a bit nicer next time, okay, Bro? Um, in the game, I mean.”

“I will. I’m sort of dead right now, but…”

“Oh, don’t worry. We’ll bring you back to life.”

The soft smile that accompanied Chihiro’s promise was so heartfelt that Itsuki was charmed into blushing a little.

Ever since they had begun this campaign four months ago, Chihiro had become just as much a gaming partner to Itsuki as Nayuta, Haruto, and Miyako were. The awkward politeness between the two brothers was gone—Chihiro was laughing now, talking more, indulging him and griping at him in turns.

They had fully broken the ice…or they should have by now, at least. But Itsuki couldn’t shake the bizarre impression that there was still a thin but ever-present barrier between them. This wasn’t something he felt back when they were still all stiff with each other. But the friendlier they got, in a way—the more the distance shrank—the stronger that impression became.

Maybe it’s because we aren’t really brothers…?

The thought depressed him a little as the doorbell rang and Kenjiro Toki stepped into Itsuki’s place.

“You’re still drinking?” the exasperated-looking editor moaned.

“Y-yeah, so what? I’m working, too.”

Toki chuckled. “Yeah, you sure are. I can’t believe you’re actually progressing with both All About and Sisterly Combat simultaneously for a change. Your new proposals are still as insane as ever, though…”

As he spoke, he took out some printed manga pages from his bag.

“…Whoa! Is that…?!”

“Mm-hmm. The complete chapter one of the All About My Little Sister manga. Unless you find any problems, this is what’ll get published in the magazine next month.”

“Oooooh…”

He accepted the printout from Toki, examining it closely. The sketch version from before was already fairly complete, but this final draft was an upgrade in every way—every character pose, every background, every feminine undergarment. It only served to further show Kaiko Mikuniyama’s depth as a manga artist.

“Ha-ha… It was kind of a roller coaster getting there, but it’s finally done…!”

A natural, gleeful smile erupted on his face—not the bold, incredibly fake one he usually exhibited, but the tender smile of a young child.

“Hey, show it to us!”

Itsuki obliged Nayuta, spreading the sheets out on the kotatsu table.

“Wow,” marveled Haruto, “this looks really good!”

“That’s pretty awesome, Bro. Your own story getting made into a comic…”

“Hmm… Kaiko does draw pretty well… I see my judgment didn’t fail me.”

Despite Nayuta’s rather haughty appraisal, the group read through the story until they reached that fateful shower scene once more. They looked on with bated breath as Ichika went from a wet school uniform to a little less, a little less, a little less, all the way to a breathtakingly nude climax. The entire metamorphosis easily reached the realm of fine art.

“Holy crap, this is so sexy, man!” Haruto gave his honest, enthusiastic opinion, while Chihiro averted his eyes in embarrassment.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! It sure is! This is the Ichika nude scene I pictured in my mind the whole time! Ha-ha-ha! This is it! This is what I wanted to see! Man, this is hot!”

There were tears in Itsuki’s eyes, even as Miyako’s face went redder by the moment.

Ughh, this is soooo embarrassing…

Her own nude body had been a primary reference for Ichika’s in the manga. The boobs, in particular, were basically Miyako’s ported to the 2-D page. Wasn’t this basically the same thing as Itsuki seeing her topless…?

“C-come on, isn’t this enough? Can we go on to the next page?” she urged in a panic.

“Huh? Are you okay, Miyako? Your face is all red.”

“Ooh, it is,” Itsuki observed. “What’s up? It’s gotta take more than a picture of a nude woman to embarrass you by now.”

“Ah yes,” noted Toki. “Mikuniyama did mention that Kani and Shirakawa were a huge help to her. What did you guys do for her?”

“I, I, I can’t talk about something like that to you!”

The wide-eyed reaction made Toki take a step back. “Oh, really? What were you even—? Well, after all that carrying-on about panties and bras, having her agree to nude scenes was a pretty big surprise to me, but it’s resulted in one seriously impressive manga version.”

He gave her a bow.

“So thanks, for whatever you did.”

“Hmm? Well, I guess I better say ‘thank you’ then, too. I appreciate it.”

Itsuki’s tone was just as arrogant as ever, but there was no doubting the sincerity behind it.

Now Miyako’s face was warm with an emotion besides shame. She took another good look at the comic page. Even a non-enthusiast like her could see well enough how amazing this manga was. Despite being stripped down and observed from all manner of angles (and in all manner of ways), now she felt a sense of pride in being involved.

She didn’t have the kind of novel-writing talent Itsuki and Nayuta had, and she was terrible at drawing. But even she could be involved with these incredible creators, helping them give birth to these incredible new works. And that might be kind of…well, not just kind of…really neat.

Now it was Nayuta’s turn to grab the page.

“Eh-heh-heh, there’s no substituting for nakedness in your stuff, Itsuki. Unf!”

Out of nowhere, she gave one of Miyako’s breasts a squeeze as she stared at the art.

“Hyah?! Hey! What’re you doing?!”

“Nya-hah! You’ve been a huge help to me too, Myaa. Too bad you couldn’t be my editor.”

“Yeah, yeah. If I ever get the chance.” Miyako smiled, despite the ongoing groping.

And Toki, watching her, had a sudden thought.

“…Well, would you like to work in editorial with us, Shirakawa?”

“Huh? …Really?!”

“We’re actually hiring for part-time help right now,” Toki reported with total sincerity. “So if you’re interested… I mean, it’d be more miscellaneous office chores than anything. You wouldn’t be assigned authors to edit right off the bat.”

“S-sure! I’d love to!”

…She gave the reply before she could even think about it.

“Yaay,” cheered Nayuta.

“Miyako in editorial…?!” Haruto marveled with a smile.

“Weird hiring policy you got there,” Itsuki said, squinting at them.

After everyone else went home, Itsuki lay in bed, smirking as he read over the All About manga pages.

“Eh-heh-heh…hee-hee-hee…”

It must have been the three-dozenth time he read the chapter, but it never got old to him. Every single time, it was still wonderful. Having another creator’s hand rebuild his work, giving it new charm that wasn’t there before—that was what the media-mix strategy was all about.

For the first time, he realized just how awesome a system this was. He could only hope the anime version would remain just as outstanding. He really wanted it to be, even as he knew just how difficult that was. The travesty of the recently wrapped Chevalier of the Absolute World anime flashed through his mind again. Simply imagining All About meeting the same fate made his heart ache.

How did Haruto feel, watching that thing? He seemed pretty cheerful on the surface during the RPG session, but had he really achieved closure from all the damage he took? There was no point imagining the worst right now—but, Itsuki reasoned, he still needed to be mentally prepared for it. Could I really overcome that if it happened to me?

“…It’s all right. I can do it.”

He forced himself to sound confident as he went eye to eye with the naked Ichika yet again.

The anime is just another checkpoint. My mission is to create the ultimate little-sister novel, like nothing before it. As long as I have that little-sister thirst, I’ll never stop going forward—and this is one thirst that will never be quenched. Why? Because I don’t have a real little sister. I don’t, and that’s why I can pursue my fantasy of the ultimate sister as far as I want.

Unless a little sister pops into my world out of nowhere one day, I’m absolutely golden.

It was with that unbreakable conviction that Itsuki nodded off to sleep.

(The End)