Chapter Two

Big Brother's Day

Ten minutes had passed since Yuuki and Yui had parted ways. He made his way through the city, eventually taking an opposite turn midway through the road leading from the school to the train station, and finally reaching a residential area consisting of rows of apartment buildings. He hurried through the entrance of his five-story building in an effort to avoid any potential rain. Once inside, he passed through the lobby and opted to take the stairs to reach his second floor apartment rather than use the elevator, which was currently stuck at a higher floor.

He shared his apartment with his father and his little sister. The apartment itself consisted of a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and a veranda.

Speaking of his father, his routine consisted of waking up early in the morning in order to commute to his workplace downtown, so he was inevitably destined for a late arrival back home more often than not. To make matters even worse, he had been assigned on a long-term business trip that forced him to rent an apartment in Kansai, making him only able to see his children once during the weekend, if that. As a result, Yuuki mostly lived alone together with his sister Mina, who was three years younger than him.

When Yuuki unlocked the door and entered the apartment, he noticed that Mina’s shoes were nowhere to be found. Not only that, but the place was eerily silent, and all the lights had been turned off.

Maybe she got sidetracked on the way home? Yuuki thought to himself. As soon as he walked into the living room, however, a loud bang echoed throughout the place. The apartment that he had initially thought was empty was now suddenly bathed in light, as his little sister briskly leapt at him, party popper in hand.

“Ta-da! Lookie here! I made you a birthday cake all by myself! Are you surprised, or are you surprised?” she asked, excitedly pointing to the dining table. Her outfit wasn’t as questionable as it normally was; right now, she was simply dressed in a T-shirt and a pair of shorts.

“The second one,” Yuuki responded.

“Yay, I did it! I surprised Yukkie! Woo-hoo!” She celebrated, skipping around joyfully before proceeding to latch onto Yuuki’s arm and pulling him toward the table. Yuuki offered no resistance as he was dragged along by her. He sat himself down into the chair she had prepared for him and stared at the birthday cake she’d created. Laid in front of him was a frosted swiss roll cake decorated from top to bottom with canned fruits, which made it look quite heavy on the stomach. While Yuuki never would’ve expected Mina to have actually baked a cake all on her own, it was, nonetheless, a welcome surprise.

“No need to hold back! Dig right in~!”

“It’s not my birthday today, Mina.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s for your pre-birthday party.”

“You mean a post-birthday party.”

“Doesn’t matter! Who said it was illegal to eat a birthday cake outside your birthday, anyways?”

“How progressive of you.”

Mina cupped her chin in her hand and glared at Yuuki. She pondered her next move now that her vigor had been sapped by Yuuki’s calm and collected demeanor.

“If the birthday thing isn’t working for you, then how about... Aha, I got it! You know how we have Mother’s Day and Daddy’s Day? I think we can get away with having a Big Brother’s Day, too!”

“Don’t call it Daddy’s Day.”

“We already have the cake and everything, so we should make this your day and celebrate it! Let’s hear it for Yukkie! Hip hip hooray!” she cheered his name with enthusiasm, paying no attention to any possible protests since her mind was already set on having a party of some kind.

At least she’s having fun, Yuuki decided not to sweat the finer details. Besides, she was always an energetic one, and once she had made up her mind, nobody could convince her otherwise. Hence arguing with her on every little thing was simply not an option. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that his current indifference was a by-product of his interactions with her.

“I’d feel guilty if I had all of it by myself, though.”

“No worries! I already devoured some earlier.”

“So I was late to the party after all, huh? Also, you don’t use that word there. You could’ve just said that you had your share.”

“I gobbled it all up!” she declared while bowing firmly.

The way she spoke sounded off at times, but that’s to be expected, seeing as she was still in the middle of refining her speaking habits. It was necessary considering how her word choice tended to be strangely peculiar, and other times just outright weird. Not only did she often misuse words, but she also had a clear problem enunciating Yuuki’s name. Mina struggled with the intonation so much that she ended up creating a nickname for him that was easier for her to pronounce⁠—Yukkie.

“Oh, by the way, I’m already full, so no lunch for me.”

“You must’ve had one heck of a piece.”

Mina pretended she didn’t know what he was talking about as she circled around and finally sat down across from him. Yuuki slowly came to the realization that she was probably afraid that he would get angry with her for making a cake and subsequently eating it all on her own. It would definitely explain the sudden birthday celebration shenanigans, which were clearly just a last-minute excuse to get away with eating cake.

“How is it? Taste good?” she asked, planting her elbows on the table and watching Yuuki cut himself a piece of the cake with his fork.

Mina had charming round eyes, smooth lips, and nearly translucent white skin that only further accentuated her youthfulness. Her face was narrow, and her body was petite to match. She had also recently grown her hair out to shoulder length so that she could wear it up in pigtails. According to the person herself, she apparently wanted to look like some sort of anime character.

“Very. But it might be a little too sweet for my liking,” Yuuki responded.

“Glad to hear it! Hey, can I get a bite?”

“You’ve already eaten more than enough.”

“Aaah...” she ignored him and opened her mouth wide, waiting for him to feed her.

He gave in and scooped up a piece of cake, making sure to get a lot of the icing, before tossing it into her mouth. Her expression softened into a smile.

It’s true Mina was his sister, but Yuuki couldn’t help but admit how good looking and adorable she was... on the outside, at least. Since most girls paled in comparison to her beauty, he'd developed a resistance toward even the most dazzling of women.

Yuuki resembled his father, while Mina was the spitting image of their late mother. The resemblance was even more apparent when looking at their mother’s own childhood photos.

Yuuki remembered how his father used to tell them stories about the days when he was still in school and about how their mother was idolised as a princess, akin to a flower far from anyone’s reach.

Though unfortunately, the phrase “whom the gods love die young” couldn’t ring any truer in her case. While Mina did inherit her mother’s pretty face⁠—which happened to be the part about herself she loved the most⁠—she was still a ways away from being an actual princess in terms of her habits.

“I’ll bake you one every three days!”

“Not necessary.”

Yuuki knew that she meant no harm, even if she was just fooling around. He was convinced that it all came from a good place, after all. She just wanted to take care of her brother and for him to be happy and enjoy himself.

Mina watched him as he finished up his portion and brought the plate into the kitchen, where he promptly rinsed it and left it to soak in the water. He noticed another plate which was covered in whipped cream hidden beside the sink, but decided to turn a blind eye to it, for Mina’s sake more than anything. He then returned to the living room and switched on the TV.

Mina followed him in and sat beside him not long after. Before long, she let out a yawn and drifted off to sleep. Yuuki spent the next few hours staring blankly at the screen, watching the news. Eventually, Yuuki glanced at the clock and realized that it was already six o’clock. He considered waking Mina up, who was still indulging in a very sound sleep on the sofa, but recalled that she’d mentioned skipping lunch today.

I guess I’ll go make whatever, he thought to himself.

He carefully got up from his seat and headed to the pantry to retrieve a bag of instant ramen. He took a pot out from the cupboards and brought some water to a boil before tossing the noodles into it. He then scoured the fridge for whatever ingredients he could find to enhance the taste. Eggs, bean sprouts, whatever. He let it simmer for a couple of minutes, then carried the entire pot to the table and dug in.

As he ate, he recalled how his father used to nag him about the noodles. Apparently, according to his dad, instant noodles were a poor man’s food. Yuuki put that thought out of his mind as he slurped down the noodles.

“Lemme have some of that,” Mina whispered in his ear. She’d just now appeared in the room and laid her hands on the table beside him.

“What happened to not wanting lunch?”

“Aaaah...” she opened her mouth wide once again.

“I just made it, so you better blow on it before you eat it. Unless you want to burn your tongue and run around the place like a headless chicken, of course,” Yuuki warned as he handed her a pair of chopsticks.

It took some doing, but eventually she was able to control her ardor and slow her pace. She slurped on them idly for a bit before suddenly spinning around and stomping off toward the bathroom.

“I’m gonna go have a bath!” she declared, her mouth still full of food.

“I haven’t prepared the hot water yet.”

“It’s okay! I got it!” she exclaimed loudly, exiting the room with equally noisy steps. She came back just as quickly as she’d left, however, as it seemed she was looking for another mouthful. A few minutes passed as she stayed put in one spot, slurping more of Yuuki’s noodles. It was a bizarre occurrence, considering how she normally acted, but before long, she was once again hurrying off to the bathroom now that the water was ready.

“I have successfully taken a bath!” Mina proclaimed. She’d only been in there for about 10 minutes, but still an abundance of steam spilled out of the bathroom. She stood in front of Yuuki, who was fiddling with his phone, with only a towel wrapped around her.

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“I told you not to walk around the apartment like that...”

In response, Mina let out a bizarre laugh and extended both of her arms. The towel had now lost any semblance of support it had and fluttered gently, and dramatically, to the ground. Her glimmering, bare skin emerged from underneath—her arms, shoulders, hips, and legs flung into view as the only things that served to cover her pristine skin was a set of pink underwear. She wore a daring smile as she looked at Yuuki and didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry to pick the towel back up.

“Worry not, I was wearing something underneath the whole time! If that wasn’t a twist, I don’t know what is!”

“It’s too much, I’m afraid. That’s gonna be a red card for you.”

“Say whaa—? Why though?! I’m wearing some underwear, see? Bought these cuties last time I went shopping! They look great, right? Right?!” she struck a sexy pose as she spoke, lightly pulling on the thin string of her panties.

“Yes. They suit you very well,” he replied casually. He figured that she would undoubtedly be offended if he didn’t agree. The truth was that Yuuki was completely unfazed as always. After all, he was used to seeing her underwear, given that he was the one who always did her laundry.

Mina raised her arms in victory and spun around on the spot as if to show herself off from all angles.

“Yeah, yeah, you got me again. Now put some clothes on, will you?” he demanded.

She picked up her uniform’s blouse that had been lying on the chair. Half of the problem was now solved, but her lower half was still on full display. Despite the addition of clothes into the mix, the situation was becoming more hazardous as Yuuki could now almost make out some sensitive details.

“How about wearing something over the panties, too?”

“Forget it, it’s way too hot right now,” she said, seemingly unbothered about whether Yuuki could see anything “problematic” or not. Unfortunately for everyone involved, this was how she always behaved when fresh out of the bath; she hated how clothes felt afterwards.

Yuuki, being the caring and thoughtful brother that he was, didn’t mind seeing her underwear while he was doing the laundry, but it was a completely different story if she actually had them on. More so now that she had obviously been experiencing a growth spurt. Her waistline was getting thinner, her buttocks starting to fill out, and her breasts had noticeably gained some volume.

Perhaps the worst of it all was that Mina herself seemed completely oblivious to the changes occurring to her body, evidenced by her nonchalantly sitting with her legs up on the sofa.

“You’ll end up catching a cold if you stay like that,” he warned her while doing his best to avert his eyes.

“Nuh-uh!”

There was another thing Mina had inherited from their mother: her frail body. Mina always tried to justify sleeping in her underwear by insisting that it helped her get better sleep at night. She did this in spite of the fact that fate itself often did not let her get away with her poor choices—or her usual mischievous behavior—free of repercussions. That is to say, she ended up with the occasional cold.

After spending a good while idling on the sofa, Mina went and retrieved the hair dryer. She asked Yuuki to give her a hand, so he dutifully helped out by running the hot air from the dryer through the backside of her head while helping the process along with his free hand.

Mina had silky-smooth black hair with a particular, sweet smell to it, one that tickled Yuuki’s nose. The peculiar thing about that was the fact that they both used the same exact shampoo. As soon as Yuuki finished drying her hair, Mina promptly stood up and beelined for her room, practically slamming the door behind her. She emerged just seconds later with a game console in hand.

“Let’s play a quick round, Yukkie!”

“No, I have homework to do,” he turned her down. Now that Yuuki had received a firm talking-to from Yui, he couldn’t afford to keep slacking on his English homework anymore.

“Whaa—? No way! You can always do that later,” she badgered him. Mina had made a routine of talking her brother out of doing homework, and Yuuki knew from experience that she wouldn’t stop until she got what she wanted. Perhaps he wasn’t entirely blameless, seeing as he had a soft spot for her and always ended up indulging her.

“Fine, you win. But just for a little while, okay? Nothing competitive, though. I don’t feel like getting wrecked today.”

“Okie-dokie, wanna watch me play a game instead, then?”

“You serious?” he protested at first, but soon relaxed back into his usual self and quietly went along with her suggestion.

Mina connected the console to the TV and plopped herself down right in front of it. Yuuki watched her from behind as the sound of clicking controller buttons filled the room.

“Hey, you got any idea how you get those stars?” she asked.

“Not even a clue,” came his useless reply.

“Oof, I should’ve seen it coming, knowing the stuff you usually play. You love that Ace Prosecutor game, right? Dunno why you’ve never finished a single one, though.”

“Ah well, you know how it is. It’s really a game that works much differently than reality. And sometimes the solution to the case tends to be much simpler than I had initially thought,” he explained.

He didn’t understand why that was so funny to her, but Mina struggled to stifle her laughter. Yuuki loved detective and mystery novels, but his speculations always ended up missing the mark, and his sister and father constantly ribbed him for it. He personally only saw it as him reading too much into things, so in his eyes, the treatment he received from his family wasn’t warranted.

Yuuki reflected on this very serious matter within his mind when Mina abruptly flung away the controller and stood up.

“There, there, now. You’re such a cutie, Bro,” she said soothingly, ruffling his hair with her hand. Yuuki then recalled the events of last year which were the trigger to his sister changing the way she referred to him.

“I feel like you have a childish side to you no matter how much older you get!”

Her words from back then swirled around in Yuuki’s head. After that, Mina started calling him by that brand new nickname that she had come up with: Yukkie. It had been so long since she had simply called him “Bro” that it conjured up strange feelings within him now.

“Aren’t you gonna continue your game?” Yuuki asked.

“Nah, I’m bored!”

“Then could you at least turn off the TV?”

“Too lazy,” she said as she circled around the back and hugged Yuuki from behind.

They used to play together like this all the time back in the day, but now that her breasts were budding, it posed quite the problem in all sorts of ways.

“Pats please,” she continued, grabbing his hand and bringing it closer to her head. Yuuki thought of giving her a chop to the head to teach her a lesson, but ultimately he had no choice but to pull back once he saw that she was going to bite him.

Yuuki suddenly recalled the conversation he’d had with Yui just a few hours ago. He figured that he might finally be able to get an answer to his burning question.

“You enjoy this?” he asked as he extended his hand to ruffle his sister’s hair.

“Of course I do!” she answered with a tender smile.

“I thought girls didn’t like it when you touch them so casually.”

“Nah, those girls are just big fat liars. But why’re you asking this?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Yuuki might’ve been expecting too much, however, as Mina’s opinion wasn’t exactly helpful in the slightest. They kept it up for a while until Mina was satisfied and pulled away. Yuuki thought that it was as good a time as any to go take a bath himself, but Mina clearly had other plans, since she was tugging on his shirt to prevent him from doing so.

“Stop it. You’re gonna stretch it out,” he complained while trying to shake her off.

“Sit over there,” Mina demanded with a stern look on her face and pointed at the cushions on the floor. Yuuki listened reluctantly and sat down on his knees facing her.

“Big bro... I have something important to tell you.”

“You can tell me anything,” he responded. It looked awfully important, so he wanted to show her that he would take her seriously. Mina hung her head and waited for a moment before she looked Yuuki in the eyes again, a smile now on her face.

“Thank you for everything, Bro. I love you,” she said without so much as a hint of shyness. While it had come completely out of the blue, Yuuki was nevertheless unfazed. He’d grown accustomed to this aspect of her, too.

“I love you, too,” he replied with a gentle tone and a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, I know,” she said with a nod, puffing her chest with pride. “Just like I know everything else there is to know about you!”

“Like what, exactly?” he inquired. Mina flashed a smirk, looking like she had been waiting for him to ask that particular question the entire time.

“Dad hasn’t changed much even after Mom died, but I know you’ve been doing your best to be on top of everything.”

Mina was being pretty vague, but Yuuki understood exactly what she was trying to say. Their father always left it to their mother to take care of them since he was too busy with his career. Yuuki was well aware that working at a trading firm was intense, and their father had even told them that he may be sent on a business trip to Asia after the current one had concluded. Perhaps these constant expeditions were the reason why Mina hadn’t ever gotten close to her father.

One notable time in the past, Mina had provoked their father by telling him to his face that the only good thing about him was his salary, which understandably made him agitated. It angered him not solely because of the surface reasons, but also because Mina had merely been repeating her mother’s oft-spoken words without truly understanding their meaning.

Their mother’s death had a major effect on the whole family. Her last words on her deathbed still rang clear in Yuuki’s mind.

“Look out for your dad, and take good care of your sister,” she had uttered.

In some ways, it was like a will, one that Yuuki took to heart. He ensured that he didn’t cause any needless trouble for his father. He took care of the housework, including all of Mina’s needs to the best of his ability. He even went as far as outwardly pretending that everything was fine. One of the most recent examples was when he told his father that he was perfectly capable of holding down the fort by himself during his latest business trip, even though he was feeling anxious to no end.

“Thank you again, Yukkie,” Mina bowed her head in gratitude. “And thanks for making food you aren’t used to cooking just for me.”

“It’s all good. Would appreciate it more if you didn’t keep leaving all those leftovers on your plate.”

Yuuki didn’t much care about what he put in his own body, but he went way out of his way to prepare tasty dishes specifically for Mina.

“You tend to be sloppy and clumsy, but I know how much effort you’ve been putting into cleaning and doing the laundry,” she continued.

“Then what say you help me out by folding your own underwear?” he proposed, indicating the remaining laundry that was still dangling on the laundry lines at the side of the room.

“Mm! Yeah, I’ve decided that I’m gonna help you with the housework from here on out!”

“I’ll be praying the place doesn’t go up in flames.”

Yuuki wanted to keep Mina as far from the stove as possible, especially after she’d added burning the carpet with an iron to her record.

“Anyways... thank you for everything you do for me, Big Bro. “

“What is with all this... gratitude? Is this where... we part ways?”

“Wha—? What’s wrong? Are you... crying, Bro?”

“Nope.”

Yuuki tried to lean into it like it was a moving scene straight out of some kind of sappy soap opera, but it was never meant to be on account of the pair of panties in the shot. The whole thing seemed a bit absurd to Yuuki to begin with, and he had serious doubts about whether this was the type of conversation you’d delay someone’s bath time for.

“Ugh! You do this every time I try to be sincere!” she snapped at his tepid attitude and threw her hands up in the beginnings of a tantrum.

“I don’t know what you want from me.”

“Anywho, what I wanted to say was that this is the last day that you’re my big brother! You’ll be reborn on this very first Big Brother’s Day!”

“What are you talking about?”

“See, you always prioritize me, and so because of that, you’re kind of a loner without a girlfriend or even any friends... You poor thing.”

Yuuki thought that that was quite the exceptional misunderstanding for somebody who had only just claimed that they knew everything about their older brother. Then again, it wasn’t exactly easy for Yuuki to confess that he was never good at making friends in the first place. Still, he would’ve appreciated it if she hadn’t pegged him as a total loser.

The truth of the matter was that he never felt like he missed out on anything substantial without friends, since he always got to spend time with Mina, whether it was going shopping or just hanging out somewhere. Besides, he was sure that it was just as enjoyable for Mina as it was for him.

Mina, meanwhile, acted all rowdy at home, but would become incredibly timid once she was outside. She never did any sort of gossiping about any of her classmates, let alone brought any of her friends home. Yuuki was particularly incensed when one day, she was elated about the fact that she had spent the whole day at school without engaging with a single person, though Yuuki wasn’t exactly one to talk.

“Look, I know you love me to bits and everything, but what would the neighbours think?” Mina continued. “Fat chance you’d be able to land a job if everybody knew you were some weirdo who’s obsessed with his sister.”

“You for real?”

“Sure am. That’s why we gotta put some distance between us. I’m gonna work on making some friends, while you go and get yourself a girlfriend!”

“Hold up, what even is that logic? Why do I have to get a girlfriend?”

“You’re the oldest, so you get a handicap.”

“That’s too high-level,” he said, dejected. Mina’s mind appeared to be set in stone, however, and she got up off her knees and leaned in closer to Yuuki.

“By the by, is there a girl you’re just completely smitten with?” she asked with a curious look on her face.

“Smitten is a bit much.”

“Fine. Someone you’re interested in then?”

Yui’s flushed face came to mind for whatever reason when Mina asked him that, but that was to be expected, given that she was the only girl in class that he’d ever interacted with. As far as he could remember, she was actually the most talkative girl he’d ever come across in high school.

“I guess, but I don’t think she sees me that way. She’s way too out of my league.”

“So miracles do happen!”

“Hold your horses. I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Reeaally now?” she teased with an amused look.

“Listen, I don’t need a girlfriend to be happy. Just seeing you healthy is enough for me,” he said, once again hastening to nip any misunderstandings in the bud.

“If that’s enough to make you happy, then I can totally see you literally exploding with joy if you got yourself an actual girlfriend.”

“Not too keen on exploding with anything. Anyway, I’m happy that you’re worried about me, and that’s all I will ever need.”

“Whaa—? You’re gonna make me blush, hahaha...” she laughed and scratched her head in embarrassment. It was a rare sight to see her flustered, and it put a smile on Yuuki’s face. Mina then turned her back to him and pushed herself onto his lap.

“See? I’m all perfectly fit and healthy!” she said.

“I’m glad that’s the case.”

“I’m doing alright now. But I’d feel even better if you were happy.”

Mina had come a long way since the gloomy mess she was when their mother had died. At the time, she wasn’t eating properly, wasn’t talking to anyone, and she’d shut herself in her room all day, not even leaving to attend school. Yuuki was with her every step of the way, just like he had promised his mother. He was the comforting shoulder for when she needed to cry. He held her gently and patted her head until she eventually regained her dazzling smile once again. That was all Yuuki ever wanted: for her to be healthy, and for her smile to never fade.

“Can my girlfriend be 2D?”

“Not a chance! Anyway,” she enunciated the last word clearly, exaggerating the emphasis on each syllable, “you’re reborn starting from today! Happy Big Brother’s Day to you!”

“Big Brother’s Day is on a whole nother level,” he said while gently caressing her hair.

The issue at hand had still not been resolved, however. Getting a girlfriend was no easy task.

◆ ◇

“Yukkie, lemme wash your back!”

“I’m good,” his unamused voice rang against the echoey walls of the bathroom.

I was finally able to say it today, she thought to herself. It’s fine. I’m okay. I’m his healthy and cheerful little sister. I can take care of myself on my own. Mina continued muttering to herself until her heartbeats quieted down.

Big Bro... she silently called for him once more, resting her back against the door of the bathroom, and listening to the sounds of running water coming from within.