Kenkyo, Kenjitsu o Motto ni Ikite Orimasu

Kisshouin Takateru

My sister has been acting weird.

The other day she went out somewhere, but the moment she came home she stuck to me. My sister always fawns on me, but that night was different. Because shed been clinging to my arm with her face buried, I couldnt see her expression. Still, I could tell that she was down. After a while, my clothes felt cold. She was crying. I wanted to find out what happened exactly, but my sister can be surprisingly stubborn. So I pretended that I didnt notice, and just lent her my arm.

Id been busier lately, so I didnt get home as early. Because of that, we had less time together. Even though it was something sad enough to cry about, my sister wouldnt speak. Maybe shed been lonely. So I decided at that moment that it might be better to make the time to come home a little earlier. My arm started feeling heavier, and when I turned to look, I found that she had cried herself to sleep. I would have felt bad waking her up, so I went to get a blanket for her, but when I draped it over, her stomach grumbled. She was chewing in her sleep too. &h.e.l.lip;Apparently she was hungry. So I went to prepare food, so that she could eat the moment she woke.

*imouto*

*imouto*

Since that day, for some reason my sister has been really lecturing our father. She casually whispers things in his ears like, The Heavens see through all or Bad news travels quickly or Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know and I know. Well, to be honest, my sister has always treated him like this, and shell say stuff like this on occasion, like she suddenly remembers to. But its frequency has been increasing. Even though she says Otousama. I believe in you, Otousama. with a serious expression, it seems like she doesnt at all. And being a father who isnt trusted at all by his daughter, naturally he feels down. She even came up to me and said, Youre the only one I can rely on, Oniisama. Please rehabilitate Otousama for me.

Little Sister&h.e.l.lip; Our father is right behind you&h.e.l.lip;

Apparently in my sisters mind, our father is an unbelievable villain. I heard him mutter I wonder if its her rebellious phase&h.e.l.lip; &h.e.l.lip;How pitiful.

*imouto*

*imouto*

But lately, her weird behaviour has taken another strange turn.

She sighs a whole lot, and will suddenly grasp at her chest in pain. A disease!? A spasm!? Or so I thought as I ran over in panic, but she just said something weird like This is a maidens affliction. I was still worried about whether it actually was some disease, but at dinner she was eating happily as usual, so I figured that she was alright. As for my father, in order to raise her opinion of him, lately hes been diligently buying all sorts of rare pastries and cakes and fruits for her. And shes been dilligently eating them all. Well, Im glad that shes healthy.

*imouto*

*imouto*

This one time, she whole-heartedly plucked petals. She would pluck at them, and sigh, then pluck at them and sigh again. Only after a number of flowers were left bald did she stop, after one final, big sigh. Then after that, she silently cleaned up the pitiful remains of the flowers. Had she simply been really stressed?

*imouto*

*imouto*

Most recently, it happened while my sister was doing homework. One of her answers were wrong, so to rub it out, I picked up the rubber from her pencil case. And then she screamed AAAAHHH! like it was the end of the world. After s.n.a.t.c.hing it in panic from my hand, my sister dropped her shoulders in gloom. Just what was going on with that rubber?

Oniisama, youre too much&h.e.l.lip;

After leaving behind those mysterious words, my sister picked up all her things and left my room. What the? And Little Sister, are you fine with leaving that answer wrong?

*imouto*

*imouto*

Wasnt that flower fortune telling?

I spoke to my friend Imari about her. She consulted him about something quite pa.s.sionately, when he came over to play the other day. Even when I asked her what it was about, she just replied Nothing at all, and wouldnt reply to me. &h.e.l.lip;No fun at all.

Flower fortune telling?

What, youve never heard of it? Its pretty common, isnt it? That thing where they go, He loves me. He loves me not. as they pick at petals and stuff. Dont you remember the girls doing it, back when we were kids?

Aahh, I think I did hear something like that.

Flower fortune telling, huh. Seeing my sister rend petals with ghastly vigour, that kind of maidenly idea never came to mind. Rather, I had wondered if she had some sort of grudge against them.

But flower fortune telling, huh. Wasnt that a love fortune? Love?

&h.e.l.lip;Imari. What did my sister talk to you about?

Eehh, well, nothing big&h.e.l.lip;

Imari.

Ehh~ I mean, I already made a promise with -chan, so&h.e.l.lip;

Imari.

Come on, Takateru, even you have heaps of stuff your sister doesnt know, right? GUHOH-!

Silence, fool.

As warning, I gave him a second punch. Even though he started coughing and spluttering, he still wouldnt talk.

I sighed.

Professor k.u.mesukes wife. At the Academic Meeting

UGEH-! How did you know about that-!?

What did my sister talk to you about?

&h.e.l.lip;Its what you suspect.

Hm.

Who is it?

I dont know. I tried asking, but she wouldnt tell me. Ah-, but she did say something about Romeo.

Romeo?

Are we still talking about a real person here? Could it be that my sister has an imaginary boyfriend? Considering who were talking about, its certainly possible. Perhaps my sister has a foreign boyfriend that only she can see.

Also she started talking about giving handmade cookies as a present, so I told her it would better not to.

Cookies?

Ah-! I remember! Just a while ago, my sister made my father and I eat cookies. Because of my mothers diet, she doesnt eat sweet things at night. The cookies were burnt bitter here and there, but the rest of them were sweet, so perhaps you could say that my sisters cooking was slowly approaching the average persons. The cookies on my fathers plate were far more burnt than mine. He asked, Oh, were these choc chip cookies? causing my sister to grow sullen. Dad, those cookies might be pitch black, but theres no chocolate in them at all. Theyre plain cookies. My father wordlessly washed them down with his tea.

So it was that huh.

Oh! Do you know something?

I guess.

In order to give cookies to the person you like, you used me as a lab rat, huh. Burnt foods are bad for you, you know. Know our fathers grief.

Well? What are you going to do?

Nothing at all, of course.

Oh? I thought youd try and stop it.

As if.

Well, I will check to see that he isnt a weirdo though. If somebody was tricking a lady of the Kisshouin house, and planning to do bad things to her, Id be troubled. As long as that isnt the case, Im fine with anything.

After all&h.e.l.lip;

I cant even imagine that absurd little sister actually succeeding in her romance. To begin with, Im not even sure hes real. Hmm, she mentioned before that she wanted to see the zoo in Hokkaido. Once its done, Ill take her there.

But Little Sister, if you really have fallen in love, maybe you should hold back on our fathers tributes. After all, your face is getting a little round.

The Heavens see through all or Bad news travels quickly or Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know and I know. All of these are j.a.panese sayings.

The first() is literally, Heaven has large meshes, but nothing escapes. and comes from Lao Zis .

The second is literally, News of misdeeds spread across a thousand li. and comes from the Beimeng Suoyans Good deeds do not go beyond the door, evil deeds spread a thousand miles or in Chinese, .

The third is literally, The Heavens know, the Earth knows, I know, and you know. actually comes from a quote from an Eastern Han official by the name of Yang Zhen. When a man named w.a.n.g Mi visited Yang Zhen at night and attempted to bribe him 10 catties of gold, Yang rejected the gift. w.a.n.g Mi persevered, saying that n.o.body would know. Yang Zhen famously retorted Heaven knows it, G.o.d knows it, I know it, and you know it. How can you say that no one knows it? or in Chinese, shaming w.a.n.g Mi into leaving.