Chapter Ten

Surprise Attack X Sugar Love

It was around 10:00PM on a weekday.

“Alrighty then, my overtime as a high-school girl ends now,” Shigure proclaimed, finishing her homework and tossing her mechanical pencil on top of the tea table for emphasis.

“Good job,” I replied. “And fast, too. Goes to show why you have the second highest grades in our year.”

“Hurry up and finish, Big Bro. I wanna play Mushroom Kart together. You can go ahead and copy mine if you want.”

“No, there’s no point in doing that.”

“Rude. Are you implying that I got all the answers wrong?”

“No, I meant that the homework itself loses meaning. The goal shouldn’t be just to finish.”

“I mean, you’re not wrong, but it sounds weird coming from you of all people. Cut it out already—you’re making me feel like a dumb bimbo.”

“That’s your problem.”

Incidentally, I still had a lot of work to do. We’d received a formidable pile of homework for every single subject today. “Midterms might be behind us, but that doesn’t mean you get to slack off!” the bloodthirsty AP teachers seemed to laugh at us.

“And after I’m done with my homework, I’m going to prep for tomorrow’s lessons,” I continued. “If you want to play games, you’ll have to do it solo.”

“What? That’s so boring! Games are only fun when you’re playing with the person next to you.”

“Then why don’t you prepare for tomorrow, too?” I suggested.

“Is there any point to studying in advance and reviewing, anyway? I tend to understand something after hearing it once, and I don’t forget it either.”

“If you say that to me during college entrance exams, I might kill you.”

“From my perspective, those who need to review that much must be slacking off in class,” she explained.

I see. That’s certainly one way of looking at things.

Well, the ability to focus differed from person to person. There were even people who could memorize enormous strings of letters or numbers from just a single glance—maybe Shigure was one of them.

“Also, a total knockout like me doesn’t need to study,” she continued. “From the moment I was born, I hit the genetic lottery. Learning a little psychology might not hurt, though—that way, I can unlock the secrets to getting men wrapped around my little finger.”

“You already seem quite proficient at that,” I retorted.

“I owe it all to you, Big Bro. I couldn’t have asked for a better punching bag.”

“How kind of you to say.”

Shigure already got on my nerves constantly, and I was just her brother. I pitied her future husband—he would have one hell of a rough life, completely and utterly whipped till he was black and blue. Then again, any man who couldn’t see past Shigure’s looks deserved that fate. I couldn’t bring myself to feel too sorry for the guy.

“Unlike yours, my face is no money maker,” I said. “And since I’m prone to screwing up, I have to do this sort of thing. Just turn on the TV if you’re not interested in studying or playing games alone. Make sure you keep the volume down, though—it’s already pretty late.”

“You’d seriously refuse an invitation from your girlfriend’s spitting image? How cold.”

“No matter what you look like, you’re not Haruka,” I reminded her.

“So if I were Haruka, you’d give me more attention?” she asked.

“And the point of discussing impossible, hypothetical situations is...?”

“You’re right. Well then, I’ll play a game that works even while you’re studying.”

Huh? What is she talking about?

I glared at Shigure from the corner of my eye, and she returned her trademark malicious smile.

“Let’s have a staring contest,” she said. “I won’t take my eyes off of you, so if you break concentration and stop studying, I win.”

“Nah, I’m not doing that.”

“This is happening whether you’re a part of it or not. Okay then, let’s start!”

She’s going to do this against my will? Talk about pushy.

Shigure placed an elbow on the opposite side of the table, propped her face up with one hand, and began to stare at me intently.

Ugh...

Being examined this closely was embarrassing. And since Shigure had the same face as my beloved Haruka, it felt like my girlfriend was the one staring at me. It caused my heart to race.

I, for my part, did my best to look away and focus on the task at hand—well, to be more precise, I tried my best to. Yet, even with my gaze averted, I could still sense Shigure’s eyes on me. When I glanced in her direction, I could see that she still had her eyes firmly locked on me, not seeming the least bit bored.

She relaxed her elbow, placed her cheek on the table, and looked at me with upturned eyes. From underneath her lashes, I could see myself reflected in her large, round pupils.

Damn. There’s no denying it—she’s cute.

No one would refute her self-proclaimed status as a “knockout.” Plus, she knew how to flaunt her charm. Whenever Shigure put on that flirtatious act of hers, she was even harder to resist than her sister. If Haruka hadn’t been my girlfriend, this little temptress probably would have driven me crazy... the keyword here being if. Unfortunately for her, I did have Haruka.

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For that reason alone, I couldn’t let Shigure have her way. She wouldn’t break my concentration.

I returned to my studies, practically burying my face in my notebook and narrowing my line of sight. This had decent results at first, as it allowed me to focus on solving math equations for a while.

Yet, before long, a slender, white finger sprouted from my upper field of vision. The finger, of course, belonged to Shigure. I did my best to ignore it before the lustrous nail began clawing at the corner of my notebook.

Scritch. Scritch scritch scritch.

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I’d had enough.

“Oh, for God’s sake!” I shouted. “What are you trying to accomplish?!”

“Looks like I’m the winner. No need to dwell on why you lost. Just come over and play some games with me.”

“You never laid that rule out in the first place! Also, why the hell are you scratching at my notebook?!”

“You mixed up the numbers here—that nine is supposed to be a six.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”

Damn, she’s right. I’d screwed up the values at the start of the equation, right where Shigure’s finger had been scratching. Guess narrowing my field of vision had come back to bite me in the ass. With a heavy heart, I restarted the problem.

“You’re quite the little Poindexter,” Shigure noted with exasperation. “Whenever you have time, it’s just study, study, study. Don’t you ever hang out with friends? No part-time jobs or anything?”

“I used to hang out with my friends pretty often, but... now that you mention it, it has been a while.”

Usually, my friends and I would play games at my place until the crack of dawn. However, between Shigure’s move-in, midterms, Tomoe’s part-time job, and Takeshi’s club activities, none of our schedules had lined up in a while. As a result, we hadn’t had the opportunity to chill together in a long time.

“I do plan on getting a part-time job during summer break,” I noted. “How else am I gonna buy Haruka a birthday present? Still, I’d like to take summer classes, as well. I’m hoping I can make both work.”

“What good is all that studying going to do? Are you aiming for a certain job?”

“Not really,” I answered, shaking my head.

As of right now, I didn’t have a dream job or a particular major in mind—this was despite the fact that I was aiming for one of the Imperial Universities.

“Seeing as there’s nothing I really feel like doing, I might as well study,” I explained.

“Huh?”

“My dad told me this a long time ago: ‘If you have a dream, chase after it with all you’ve got. Depending on the situation, you can even drop out of school if you want. But if you don’t have any dreams in particular, you might as well buckle down and study hard. That way, even if you decide on your path at a later time, your academic history won’t hold you back.’”

“Wow. This might sound rude, but that’s a rather decent opinion coming from my stepfather,” Shigure noted.

“You’re right about that. My dad didn’t decide to become a paleontologist until way after he’d gotten out of high school and into the workforce. That must’ve caused him a lot of grief.”

My dad had graduated from a technical high school and worked in a small factory. After quitting that job, he’d been unemployed for four years. Eventually, he managed to get into Tokyo University in his 30s and then went on to study abroad at a Canadian university. Even as his son, I found my dad’s career history quite impressive. Thanks to his academic background, that middle-aged dinosaur nerd had been able—somehow or another—to make a living doing what he loved.

“I don’t have any particular talents, but at the very least, I can do well in school,” I explained. “A guy like me has no other choice than to study hard.”

My experience differed greatly from athletes, artists, and those in specialized fields. Their worlds had a clear divide: those who had aptitude, and those who didn’t. Meanwhile, the world of academics—in other words, college entrance exams—contained clear-cut answers. There was also a fixed route in which to derive those answers. Through effort and perseverance, I could eventually make something of myself.

“And if I never find out what I want to do... even a screwup like me can work at a first-rate company or become a government official in this country. All that matters is that I graduate from a good university. I mean, the last thing I want is for Haruka to be poor.”

“Huh?” Shigure spat, jerking back. “You’re already thinking that far ahead? Wee-woo! Clingy guy alert! We’ve got a stage five situation over here!”

“Sh-Shut up,” I protested. “It’s better than not thinking about anything, right?”

From a girl’s perspective, that must have come across as gross. Yeah, I might have been getting ahead of myself, but honestly, spending time with my girlfriend and not thinking about the future would be too difficult for me.

“I guess I see your point,” Shigure said, interrupting my internal sulking session. “Plus, I wouldn’t want you becoming Haruka’s sugar baby. I’ll stop interrupting your study sessions from now on.”

She stood up and walked over to the kitchen. Curious, I glanced at Shigure to find her warming up the kettle. Perhaps she was planning on brewing some coffee? In any case, she seemed to have given up on her little game.

Yeah, like I’m dumb enough to fall for that.

By now, I was all too aware of how this girl operated. Could I expect her to back down just because I’d made a good point? Not a chance. She’d never do anything that commendable. She would pretend to give me some space, build up her strength, then crush me with an almighty blow. It was because of this absolute certainty that I couldn’t let my guard down.

A little while later, Shigure approached me again.

See, what did I tell you?

Unfortunatly for her, I’d remained vigilant; she wouldn’t be able to find any chinks in my armor. I decided to make the first move this time by glaring daggers at her, my threatening gaze saying, “What is it this time, ya little punk?”

“Here you go,” Shigure said, offering me one of the two mugs she was holding. “This one’s for you.”

“Huh?”

“It’s black coffee,” she explained. “Since you’re studying, I thought it would be better to leave out the milk and sugar.”

“You brewed a cup for me, too?”

“Don’t think too much of it. Boiling the water takes the same amount of time, whether you’re making one cup or two.”

Shigure plopped down across from me and used the remote controller to turn on the television. She quickly lowered the volume and began to watch some random show, her mug pressed to her lips.

Has she actually given up?

While I was still jumping at shadows, Shigure spoke up, her eyes still fixed to the television. “Like I said earlier, you might be clingy, but I find that charming. Men who actually think about the future are far more attractive than your average, brainless ape.”

“O-Oh... Thanks.”

Honestly, hearing that does make me feel a little happy.

I was completely taken aback by the sudden shift. I pressed the black coffee to my lips, attempting to hide my embarrassment, but instead almost immediately spilled the entire contents of the mug.

“Gah!” I cried. “This is sweet as hell! It feels like my teeth are going to fall out!”

“Aha! That must be all the love I put into it,” she laughed.

“Don’t lie to me! You must’ve crammed at least five packs of sugar in here!”

Satisfied, Shigure laughed uproariously. “No, it’s love! Absolutely nothing but love, I promise! Would I lie?”

I let my guard down for even a moment, and this shit happens. I guess love really can come in many forms, including malicious ones, huh?

Despite my exasperation, I figured that having a copious amount of sugar on top of the caffeine would help me study. With that sort of glass-half-full mentality in mind, I returned to my homework while sipping on my liquified candy. Still, once I’d taken its cloying sweetness into account, I had to admit—Shigure could brew a fine cup of coffee.