Ding-ding!
As soon as the sound came from the entrance door, we all turned our heads simultaneously.
In a moment of silence, quickly making a decision, Sakamoto was the first to move.
“I’ll handle the entrance!”
He threw down the pro controller he was holding and ran towards the entrance.
A cover was needed since the living room was immediately visible after the short hallway at the entrance.
I caught the controller falling to the floor and quickly ended the game, while Satoru hurriedly turned off the TV with the remote control.
All this took about five seconds.
It was truly fantastic teamwork.
“Huh? Brother? Why are you at the entrance?”“Ah~ I came out to meet you since it seemed like you were here.”
“Really?”
Sakamoto, who excellently played the role of a cover, glanced at us.
When Satoru gave a thumbs up as an ok sign, Sakamoto also turned his hand behind his back and gave a thumbs up as well.
It felt like a strange bond had formed between us.
“Brother, who’s at home?”
“Oh? Ah, some friends from class came to hang out.”
“No wonder you’re doing things you don’t usually do.”
The girl who entered naturally conversing with Sakamoto had orange hair tied in half twin tails, similar to Sakamoto.
When she met my eyes, she slightly bowed her head with a surprised expression.
“Hello.”
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be scared.
Probably because we met on the subway last time.
“Yuika, I’m here too!”
As Satoru waved his hand cheerfully, saying that, Sakamoto’s younger sister put her hand on her waist and spoke as if it were ridiculous.
“Brother, just stop it already.”
“What’s with this difference in treatment?!”
“That’s because you always teach my brother weird stuff!”
“That’s honestly slander!”
“You even secretly brought those naughty magazines last time!”
“Now, now, both of you, don’t do this here…”
“Brother (You), stay out of this!”
Sakamoto…
I didn’t know that he was in a position where he was secretly mistreated.
Sakamoto Yuika.
In the fading memories, before I possessed this body, I still vividly remembered her overall appearance and name.
This was because Sakamoto Yuika was unmistakably one of the main heroines of ‘Scramble Love’.
She was a super popular character, having ranked third in the latest popularity poll.
One might wonder how a sister could be a heroine, but in Japanese love comedy, it was rarer for a sister not to be a heroine.
Whether she was a biological or step-sister.
It was probably to appeal to otakus shouting for sister ‘moe’, but honestly, in these love comedies, the sisters would end up with the loser ending unless the writer goes crazy.
At least, that was how it had been in all the love comedies I’d seen.
“Brother, really! Eating only snacks again! I’ll cut some fruit for you, so just wait a bit!”
Yuika said this and put down her school bag, then began searching in the kitchen refrigerator.
Seeing this, I commented,
“She’s a good sister.”
Then Sakamoto wiped under his nose with his index finger and said,
“She’s too good for me. It would be nice if she didn’t act too much like a mom all the time.”
Then Satoru looked at Sakamoto as if he was a swindler.
“Again, always complaining. If my sister did that, I’d be bowing and treating her like royalty, man.”
“Satomi? Satomi is well-behaved, right?”
“That’s just an act she puts on in front of you. At home, she’s like a completely different gorilla.”
As Satoru grumbled in a cross-legged position, Yuika, who was cutting fruit in the kitchen, shouted out,
“Brother! If you keep this up, I’ll tell Satomi next week, okay?”
Satoru quickly shut his mouth, looking sheepish.
Apparently, their sisters seemed to know each other.
Watching them, I asked the two,
“When did you two first meet?”
Then Sakamoto looked up and muttered,
“Well… Was it in the first year of middle school?”
Satoru, who was beside him, added,
“We were in the same class in the 1st and 2nd years. At the beginning of the term, we were just acquaintances, but then this guy saved me from some delinquents extorting me, and we’ve been best friends since then.”
“Ah, right. That happened.”
“Did you forget?”
“It was quite a long time ago. I’m surprised you remember that.”
“Actually, it’s weird that you don’t!”
Satoru shouted this and looked at me as if he wanted me to join in scolding Sakamoto, but I pretended not to notice and asked something else.
“Why did you choose to go to the distant Ichijo Academy, Sakamoto? There are plenty of high schools around here.”
Then Sakamoto, eating potato chips, answered,
“Ah, my parents are archaeologists and often go on overseas business trips. So I needed a guardian, and it just so happened that someone we knew was at that academy, so I ended up relying on them.”
Indeed, wasn’t this a setting worthy of a love comedy protagonist?
It was such an exemplary case that I couldn’t help but admire it inwardly.
While trying to dig up information about Sakamoto, who had been a close yet distant figure, Yuika emerged from the kitchen with a plate of cut fruits, apparently finished.
“What are you three doing here, looking all gloomy?”
“Oh, we were just reminiscing. Kim seems quite curious about our relationship.”
Yuika, who had placed a fruit plate on the table, looked me squarely in the eye and suddenly asked,
“Brother, are you the son of the Korean restaurant owner near the housing area here?”
Huh?
I was momentarily stunned by her unexpected and direct question.
Sakamoto was equally surprised.
“Yuika, did you know about Kim?”
Yuika then looked at Sakamoto with a look of disbelief and said,
“Remember, we went to eat together after the winter vacation two years ago. He was working there at that time, brother. Was it around Christmas?”
She even remembered the date.
I never expected her to still remember something from two years ago.
Her memory was indeed extraordinary.
“Really? We met before?”
I had no choice but to pretend ignorance in response to Sakamoto’s question.
“I’m not sure. We get so many customers at the store.”
Then Yuika, biting into an apple she had cut, said,
“Your face looks similar, but your body has changed so much. I honestly didn’t recognize you at first. What happened over these two years?”
I gave a wry smile upon hearing her words.
“I’ve just been working out a bit more.”
It might sound like a lie, but it was true.
We, eating the fruits cut by Yuika in the living room, took the remaining snacks and entered Sakamoto’s room.
Of course, for a perfect crime, we also brought in the game console from the living room.
“Whew, I thought we were caught.”
Like a bomb disposal squad, Satoru carefully removed the chip of the ‘Bakuyu Hyper Action’ game and wiped his forehead, murmuring.
Sakamoto, standing next to him, nodded in agreement with his arms crossed.
“I’d rather be caught watching porn than this. It’s kind of embarrassing.”
It was a game that was embarrassing no matter where you played it.
Definitely not the kind of game you could proudly say, “Hey, I play this!”
Anyway, since Yuika, Sakamoto’s sister, had taken over the living room TV, all we could do was play in his room.
“Here, a cushion.”
“Ah, thanks.”
I sat down on the cushion Sakamoto handed me and looked around.
Sakamoto’s room, like any other high school boy’s, had a simple layout with a desk filled with various manga and textbooks, a bed, and a wardrobe with a cabinet.
The difference from a Korean high school student’s room was the lack of a personal computer.
In Japan, it was not unusual not to have a computer at home, so many people first encounter computers when they go to university.
They even had to learn how to type from scratch.
Meanwhile, Satoru, as if he were in his own home, jumped onto Sakamoto’s bed and asked,
“But when does Yuika have her vacation? Is her academic schedule different from ours?”
“Her middle school seems to have it next Tuesday. They said something about lacking the number of class days for the first semester.”
As he answered and tilted his drink, Sakamoto accidentally spilled it on his clothes, panicking and quickly reaching out.
“Ugh! Tissue! Tissue!”
Hearing that, I stood up.
“Tissue? Where?”
“It’s on top of the cabinet!”
My limited view had obscured it, but then I noticed the tissue box on top of the cabinet.
Thump!
Not sure how many he needed, I lifted the entire box of tissues, then felt something touch the back of my hand and looked down.
Next to the tissue box was a decorative object shaped like a cat’s head, which seemed to have touched me.
“Here it is… huh?”
As I turned around saying that, I suddenly lost my words.
Because behind Sakamoto, who was flustered by the spilled drink on his clothes, floated a man with black skin.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter