At three in the afternoon, Shion sat in the living room, sipping barley tea, when she heard a series of thumps from beyond the door.
Without even needing to think, she knew it was her younger sister returning.
Sure enough, five seconds later, a flash of white appeared at the doorway.
“Big sister, I’m home!” Ayane burst into the living room, not even bothering to remove her shoes, and threw herself into Shion’s embrace.
With practiced ease, Shion placed the cup she was holding onto the table, perfectly bracing herself for Ayane’s airborne tackle.
“Is your body feeling better, Big Sister?” Ayane asked, nestled in Shion’s arms.
Shion affectionately ruffled Ayane’s hair. “What do you think? If I weren’t feeling better, would I be sitting here, sipping barley tea?”
Ayane reached up to touch her sister’s forehead, confirming that the fever had indeed almost broken. A joyful smile bloomed on the younger girl’s face. “I knew my love-filled bento would work wonders!”
Shion rolled her eyes. “I’m incredibly touched that my little sister would buy me bento so early in the morning, but how on earth did you manage to burn the rice in a microwave?”
“Huh?” Ayane scratched her head, looking embarrassed. “It burned?”
“The very mechanism of a microwave heating rice dictates that it’s impossible to burn it unless a complete idiot is operating it,” Shion said, playfully ruffling Ayane’s white hair. “So, my dear little sister, are you an idiot?”
“Big Sister!” Ayane playfully thumped Shion’s thigh, feigning indignation. “Then what does that make a big sister whose grades are even worse than mine?”
“Uh…” Shion was momentarily speechless. “Everyone has things they’re good at, right?”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Ayane abruptly changed the subject. “When I came home today, I saw Igarashi-senpai coming down from the shrine.”
“Yes, Igarashi-senpai visited me today,” Shion nodded. “She even made me lunch, and it was really delicious.”
For the sake of her senpai’s reputation, Shion deliberately omitted the fact that Rie couldn’t cook at all and had summoned her entire retinue of butlers to prepare the meal…
Ayane pouted. “Big Sister, wasn’t my food enough? Or you could have just sent me a message, and I would’ve rushed back from school immediately.”
“I hope my dear sister isn’t contemplating how to poison her own big sister,” Shion shot her a look, “at least not until you’ve learned how to cook.”
Ayane scratched her head, but then immediately grasped the logic. “I don’t need to learn how to cook myself. As long as I take good care of Big Sister, Big Sister can do the cooking.”
A corner of Shion’s mouth twitched. ‘Well, she truly is my sister. Once she starts relying on me, she clings on so tightly, absolutely unwilling to let go.’
Still, it wasn’t so bad. She was her blood sister, after all; if she didn’t care for her, who would?
Thanks to Rie’s care, Shion had now largely recovered from the weakness brought on by her fever and could mostly move about on her own.
Consequently, after repeatedly refusing her sister’s requests to take over dinner preparations, Ayane ultimately opted to stake out a spot by the television. Although it was only afternoon, her eagerly anticipated evening drama hadn’t yet begun, but she could still catch a rerun of the morning show. Despite being busy buying bento for her sister that morning, Ayane had cleverly used the TV’s recording function to capture the morning drama she’d missed, and now she could watch the replay upon her return.
To this day, Shion couldn’t fathom why Ayane was so fond of morning and evening dramas, especially since, even in their small town, most people had switched to smartphones, making television no longer the primary choice for entertainment.
–Hoshimori-san~ Good afternoon~ [Meow]–
Shion saw the message notification pop up on her phone. Given the adorable emoji at the end, it was almost certainly from Shigure.
–Good afternoon, Iori-san.– Shion immediately replied.
–Could I ask you for a favor tomorrow?– Shigure’s message box popped up.
“What is it?” Shion asked. It was curious; ever since they’d met, Shigure had indeed often sought her out for chats. Shion could tell that despite Shigure’s introverted nature, she genuinely longed for someone to confide in. Shion, for her part, had long since grown indifferent to academics – simply finishing her homework was a feat – so she was quite willing to be Shigure’s confidante. However, this was genuinely the first time Shigure had proactively approached her with a request for help.
“If it’s something I can help with, then no problem,” Shion added. She was well aware that, given Shigure’s personality, it must be something she truly needed help with; otherwise, with her social anxiety, she wouldn’t dare ask anyone for a favor.
–Ah, Hoshimori-san, it’s truly wonderful that you’re willing to help! [Love you~]–
The [Love you~] emoji that followed depicted a snow-white bunny clutching a pink heart, utterly adorable.
“So what exactly is it?…” Shion pressed.
–Please, could you take notes for me tomorrow? I have to take the day off to look after my grandmother!– Shigure finally sent her request.
Shion nearly choked on her own blood.
It was a good thing the first academic performance test hadn’t started yet; otherwise, Hoshimori Shion would definitely make Shigure realize that her grades were the absolute worst in the class!
‘Why, of all things, did it have to be *this*?’ she thought. ‘Any other request would be fine: cooking, praying to the gods… but academics? That’s Shion’s biggest weakness, and one that absolutely couldn’t be remedied in such a short time.’
‘You’d be better off asking me to look after your grandmother; that would be more reliable!’ Shion mused. ‘The notes I take myself are incomprehensible to me once class is over, whether it’s math, English, or Japanese…’ As for Ayane, who was quite good at studying… she seemed to have too good a brain to ever need to take notes.
Now, Shion was already racking her brain for an excuse to decline the request.
“Didn’t Iori-san’s grandmother already have hospital nurses attending to her, or does Iori-san still need to be there?” Shion tried to divert the topic, buying herself time to conjure an excuse.
–Grandmother’s spirits were better for a few days, but today, for some reason, she’s taken a turn for the worse again, so I still have to stay at the hospital to look after her… [Crying]–
For some inexplicable reason, perhaps out of sympathy for Shigure’s predicament, Shion, as if possessed, replied with a definitive, “Alright, consider it done!”
The moment she realized what she had just sent, Shion wished she could smash her phone and then deliver a resounding slap to her past self from ten seconds ago.
‘H-h-how am I, a literal underachiever, supposed to take notes for her?!’