2

The next morning, I received a LINE message from Yume.

“Good morning, Ichigaya! ♡ ♡ It’s so hot again today, isn’t it? Today I have an afternoon shift at the café. I hope you’ll visit me there again sometime!”

We were still messaging each other, but things were slightly different now. I knew that she would always reply to me immediately, no matter when I sent her something. If I did the same, we’d continue chatting for hours on end, so I made an effort to quit the conversation after a few exchanges.

She’d still text me again after a few days, like she had just done, so we never went that much time without talking to each other. Kokoro had warned me against getting Yume’s hopes up too much, but I also didn’t want to completely ignore her, so I was stuck sending her half-hearted replies while keeping a safe distance.

I wasn’t sure that keeping things like this was a good idea though. Yume was an incredibly cute girl who seemed to like me a lot. I was happy about that, of course, but I also couldn’t deny that I was somewhat scared of her.

“Are you up yet, Ichigaya?” I heard Kokoro ask as she knocked on my door.

“Yeah,” I said, lying on my bed, phone in hand.

Kokoro, still in her pajamas, opened the door. By her feet there were two cardboard boxes.

“I’ve started packing my stuff! Can I put these in your room?”

“Oh, sure.”

We only had about a week before Kisaki would arrive home, and I was starting to get nervous. I was relieved to see that Kokoro was already preparing for it.

“This is, like, just the tip of the iceberg though... I’m gonna go to Ikebukuro today to sell some of my doujinshi and cosplay stuff.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to clear the whole room in time?” I asked.

“Probably...” she replied, with very little confidence.

If she can’t do it on her own, I’ll have to help her...

For once, I actually had something to do outside of the house that day: I was meeting Ai in Akihabara so we could go to some otaku shops and the arcade. I was waiting at the Electric Town exit of Akihabara station when I heard his voice.

“Sorry to keep you waiting!”

“Oh, no pro—Huh?!”

I was temporarily at a loss for words. He looked... different. He was wearing a bobbed wig that reached his shoulders, a pink hoodie, and white hotpants. Long story short, he was dressed up as a girl. He looked sort of feminine to begin with, but this was full-on cross-dressing. I couldn’t stop staring at him.

“Wh-Why do you look like that?” I finally managed to mumble in his direction.

“How do I look? Do you think I can pass as a girl?” he asked me.

If you asked one hundred people, I was pretty sure that ninety-nine of them would think that he was a girl. And a cute girl at that.

“Y-Yeah, I think so, but... tell me in advance if you’re going to show up like that. I was shocked, you know?”

“Oh? What’s the matter, Kagetora? You’re worried you’ll fall in love with me?”

“Why would I ever do that?!”

As he walked closer to me, I noticed a pleasant smell drifting in my direction. Did he put on women’s perfume?!

“Anyway, let’s go to the arcade!” Ai said. “I wanna play some rhythm games, claw cranes... and then we can take our picture in the purikura booths!”

“P-Purikura?! Are you serious?!”

“Of course! C’mon, I’ll pay for it!”

“O-Okay then...”

We went to the arcade, and Ai really did manage to coax me into taking purikura pictures with him. He even went so far as changing outfits for the photos—what kind of guy carries around a girl’s school uniform and a maid cosplay?! I suggested that he take some pictures by himself, but he got all offended for some reason and kept me with him for every one.

“You know, I love cosplaying, but dressing up in more ‘normal’ outfits like these is fun too!” he said.

He looked incredibly cute in every outfit that he tried on. When he moved closer to me to fit inside the frame, I couldn’t help but think about what I’d do if he really were a girl... I obviously kept all of these thoughts to myself, since Ai would only think I was a total creep.

Once we were done with the pictures, we played some rhythm games together, and then donated some of our money to the claw machines. We didn’t manage to snag anything, but trying to catch merchandise from our favorite games and anime was exciting enough.

Afterwards, we each bought a few goodies in one of the otaku shops and went to grab a bite to eat before calling it a day.

When I arrived back home I found the lights on, but Kokoro was nowhere to be seen. That mystery was solved when I heard the sound of the shower coming from the bathroom. I’d already told her that I’d be eating out with Ai.

I got comfortable on the couch and began my daily quests on my phone. After a while, I heard the bathroom door opening, so I turned around—the bathroom was behind the couch—to say hello to Kokoro.

“Hel...”

“...?!”

We stared at each other in a moment of terrified silence. Kokoro, who was standing right behind the couch—right in front of my eyes—was wearing nothing but her underwear.

“Eeeeeeek?!” she screamed, her face flushing as red as a lobster in the process of being boiled alive. “Wh-Why...?! Wh-When...?! Were you hiding?!”

“Why would I be hiding?! I was just lying down on the couch!”

Because the back of the couch had been in the way, Kokoro hadn’t been able to see me as she left the bathroom. She was now standing there, practically naked. I noticed that her breasts, covered only by a pastel-pink bra, were bigger than they’d always looked beneath her other clothes. Her waist, right above her matching pastel-pink panties, was also slimmer than I’d imagined. Her skin looked soft and fair and... Why am I still staring at her?!

Click!

“Huh?”

While both of us were still too confused to react, we heard the sound of a door opening.

Hm? What? But both Nishina and I are here... Who could that...?

Scared and confused, I looked toward the source of the noise.

“What...?”

A girl with a black bob was standing in the entrance with a shocked expression. A girl I knew very well. Her small stature had changed very little in the few months that I hadn’t seen her.

“Kisaki?”

“Who’s thaaat?!” Kokoro screeched as I stared, wide-eyed, at my sister.

“Wha... What’s going on here?” Kisaki asked, her eyes moving from me, to Kokoro, then back to me again.

＊　＊　＊

“So... what’s going on?”

Kisaki, who was now sitting on a chair in front of us, was still shooting that same confused look back and forth from me to Kokoro.

“D-Didn’t you say you’d be back on the seventh? Why are you here already?!” I asked my sister. I’d assumed she would have at least told me about something so important.

“What gives you the right to complain about when I come back to my own home?! Ugh. Anyway, forget it. Tell me what the hell’s going on,” she said, barely able to hide her bewilderment.

“W-Well, okay... This is Nishina, a friend from school. Long story short, her parents moved overseas for work. She wanted to stay in Japan, so I let her stay here since we had a free room.”

“So she’s your girlfriend?”

“No!” Kokoro and I promptly yelled, though I could understand why she’d think that.

“We just go to the same school, that’s all. She was going through the same thing that I had, so I just wanted to help her out,” I said, trying my best to explain.

“Um, K-Kisaki, was it?” Kokoro asked. “I’m totally sorry! It was me who begged your brother to let me stay...”

Kokoro looked genuinely apologetic, and she was even lying to help me out. I was surprised she’d go so far, but grateful that she’d stick up for me.

“Why is my brother so stupid...? Anyway, I wasn’t able to get any sleep at all on that plane, so I’m going to my room to get some proper rest,” Kisaki said, sighing as she stood from her chair.

I was suddenly overwhelmed by fear, and I imagined the same applied to Kokoro.

“W-Wait! Why don’t you, er, go and take a bath first?” I suggested.

I’d invited a stranger to live in our house without telling my sister about it—that was bad enough. But if Kisaki found out that this stranger had been sleeping in her room, filling it with all kinds of unspeakable things, that would make the situation even worse. Much worse. Especially because Kisaki would be mad at me, the one who’d given the stranger permission to use that room.

Thankfully, Kokoro had already taken most of her belongings out of Kisaki’s room, so maybe we could manage to make the rest disappear if we stalled for time.

“Ew, gross. Now you want to police your sister’s bathing habits?” Kisaki said spitefully, continuing toward her room.

“B-But, Kisaki, w-wait...!”

Kokoro and I stumbled after her, unable to come up with anything that could convince her to stop. Step by step, Kisaki walked closer and closer to her room, stopped in front of it, and opened the door...

“...What?”

Here we go.

“Whose stuff is...? You let a stranger stay in my room?!”

“I-I’m so sorry, Kisaki!” I said.

“I’m sorry too!” Kokoro followed, sounding like she was on the verge of tears.

“Unbe-freaking-lievable!” Kisaki shouted, letting her luggage fall to the floor. She seemed too angry to move.

Kokoro and I lowered our heads apologetically, unable to think of a way to calm her down.

“You let a girl from school live in our house without asking Mom and Dad... and you let her use my room! Are you kidding me?!”

“I’m really, really sorry...” I said, too scared to look her in the eye.

“I’m telling Mom and Dad right now!”

Anything but that! I thought, so shocked that I finally raised my head to look at my sister.

“Don’t you even—wait... I-Is this...?” Kisaki was staring down at a pile of doujinshi that Kokoro had left in a paper bag on the floor. She slowly leaned down and pulled out the copy at the top of the pile, barely blinking as she stared at the cover.

“A limited edition Fromage doujinshi? The one that was never sold online and never got a reprint!”

I’d never seen Kisaki like this before. She was suddenly excited, her eyes practically sparkling, yet I had no idea what she was talking about.

“Y-You like BL doujinshi?” Kokoro asked.

“I-I mean... This is yours? You’re an otaku?”

“Ah, yeah! Most of the stuff in here is actually otaku merchandise. I didn’t know you were an otaku too, Kisaki! Ichigaya, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Huh? This is news to me too...”

Kisaki... an otaku? A BL-doujinshi-reading otaku? That can’t be true!

Back when she was still a kid, we used to enjoy loads of anime and games together, but I’d have hardly called her an otaku, even back then. I thought she’d grown out of all those things around when she’d started middle school.

“And... are these all HypMic doujinshi?” Kisaki asked, gesturing toward the paper bag.

“Yep! I used to have, like, twice as many, but I sold a bunch of them the other day...”

“Sold them? But why would you do something like that?”

“Well, you know, I had to clear out your room.”

“I wish I could have read them before you sold them. Um... would you mind if I took a look at the doujinshi you have here? Just a quick glance?”

“Sure, go ahead! You can totally read them! But, uh, if you recognized the cover so fast, does that mean you’re a Toppo fan?!”

“God, yes! I love Toppo!”

“Wow, no freakin’ way! Me too! I’ve never met another Toppo fan in real life!”

“Me neither! You’re just so... pretty that you don’t look like the type to enjoy BL doujinshi...”

“I was just thinking the same thing about you! Actually, if you want, you can read anything here! I know it’s not enough of an apology for moving into your room and all, but...”

“I’d say it’s more than enough... Wow! Look at this! I saw a sample of this one on Pixiv and I’ve wanted to read it ever since! And this one too! I couldn’t get any of this stuff in India... Who’d have thought I’d have so many HypMic doujinshi waiting for me as soon as I came back to Japan?!”

Can someone explain to me what’s going on? Kisaki... is a fujoshi? She’s befriending Nishina?

“K-Kisaki, I thought you weren’t into anime, games, or any of that stuff anymore... but you’re an otaku? And a fujoshi at that?”

“So what if I am?! It’s none of your business! Why are you still here anyway? Stop being such a freak!”

“Huh?!”

“Oh, I totally get you!” Kokoro added. “Having your family see you reading smut must be the worst. Go on, Ichigaya, get out!”

“Wh-What?”

I was given a forceful shove, then Kisaki slammed the door shut behind me. I could still hear the two girls’ voices coming from the inside.

“Whoa, you have this one too!”

“You’ve sooo gotta read it. It’s super hot!”

“W-Wait, is it a naughty one? You can buy those?!”

“Oh, and this one’s totally the best!”

All that, along with other such questionable things. I was at least relieved to hear that Kisaki wasn’t angry anymore.

I still can’t believe she’s an otaku though. A pretty hardcore one too. I thought she’d strayed from the otaku lifestyle when she started hanging out with the cool kids in middle school, but what I just saw means she’s been hiding her real hobbies from me all along...

However, this left me with another important question: why had she started hating me so much? If she really was an otaku like me, she had no reason to hate me for being one too. Maybe she was angry that I didn’t make any effort to pass myself off as a presentable, well-groomed human being like she did. Whatever the case, I could barely keep up with all this, so I decided to let the girls have their fun together and rest my head for a little while.

Even later, when it was time to sleep, I could still hear them talking. Did they plan on staying up all night giggling about BL? And how could two people want to spend so much time together after having just met?