In spite of that—actually, because of that, I needed to work as hard as I could and become the very best big sister I could be.
So I exclaimed, “Hey, Haruna!”
“Hm? What is it?”
Welp, blurted that one out. Whoops.
I scooted closer to my sis. I was so close, I could see myself reflected in her eyes as I took her hand under the water.
“Y-you’re not being bullied, are you?!” I demanded in desperation.
“Um. What?”
I probably should have asked that before the rest of the Quintet got involved, but oh well.
“If there’s something bad going on at school, and that’s why you’re not going…I-I know can’t do much, but I’m here for you.”
You know, I’d never once told my sister why I stopped going to school myself. I just hadn’t wanted to go. So I didn’t. That was all I said, and I stuck to my guns, repeating the same story to my mom, dad, and sister. I wasn’t being bullied, you know? Sure, my classmates ostracized me, but that wasn’t the end of the world. Right? I didn’t want to come out and spill my feelings only for people to go, “Huh? But that’s not so bad.” I felt ashamed of being so insecure. My insecurities made me weak. Pathetic. I didn’t want people to say, “Well, that’s just how life goes.” Because that would just have been making fun of me.
So if Haruna was going through some tough times now…
…I had to say, “You probably think you can’t talk about it with anyone. But hey. I’ll listen. I won’t laugh at you. I’m not gonna be like, ‘Seriously? That’s all?’ So I just…”
My emotions were driving now, and my voice rose to a fevered pitch, echoing here in the bathroom. Haruna’s eyes grew wide, making the reflection of me and my flushed cheeks even easier to see. And then, like a popping balloon, my sister exploded into laughter.
“What the heck are you going on about, Oneechan?” she said.
Excuse me?! “Wh-wh-wh-wha?!” Was it not painfully obvious?
I was so baffled I couldn’t speak, and my sister just kept cackling away. “Like I said,” she managed to get out between guffaws, “nothing’s going on. There’s really, really nothing.”
“But! But! But!!!”
My sister sighed. “You crack me up, Oneechan.”
Thanks?!
“Come on,” she said. “Do I look like someone who’d get bullied so hard they stopped going to school?”
“I dunno! That’s why I’m asking.”
“If anyone bullied me hard enough to make me quit school, I’d give them as good as I got. At that point, it’d be more like me getting suspended for fighting.”
“That’s not something to be proud of,” I told her. Then, almost like I was pleading, I gave her a long look and asked, “So, you’re okay? You sure?”
“Uh, yeah?”
I analyzed her every movement, searching for some kind of sign. I refused to let anything escape me. “So you’re sure sure… You’re positive that you’re not being bullied or anything? That I don’t have anything to worry about?”
“Yup.” She squeezed my hand. “I swear on the roast beef we had today. I’m doing okay.”
Well, if she had that kind of attitude, there was no doubt about it. My sister was being her usual self.
“Okay,” I said. Weirdly, I couldn’t help but frown as I watched her. If she was hiding how she really felt, then I certainly couldn’t tell. Normally, my sister made fun of me, one-upped me, and drove me up the darn wall, but the thing was…I wanted to believe she wouldn’t lie to me. Not about something like this.
“And if was being bullied,” my sister said, “what would you even do about it?”
“Huh? Isn’t that obvious? I’d go beat the stuffing out of them. Duh!”
I leapt up, sloshing half the water out of the tub in the process. I didn’t even have to think. I just put my dukes up and declared, “How dare they hurt my dear baby sis! And I’d bring a kitchen knife, and—no, I’d borrow a Taser from my friend’s mom!”
“You’re so full of it.” My sister smirked and brushed me off like I was kidding. “I like the part where you got so carried away you called me your ‘dear baby sis.’ Especially considering you don’t know how to fight…but I guess it’s no wonder you sound like an extremist with all those shooter games you play.”
“Ack!”
This girl was too quick for her own good, coming up with one zinger after another. Where was the harm in letting me posture a little, huh?
“A-anyway,” I said. “It’s the thought that counts.”
“Mm-hmm. I’m so grateful.” She grinned. “I just gotta let you off the hook. You’re so cute I can’t help it.”
“What?” I said.
“That’s a you thing. You always say that. That, and the protection from misfortune, illogical love crap. Remember?”
Um. Did I say that? When?
Oh. Now I remembered. “Oh my god!” I inadvertently exclaimed. “That was something completely different.”
“Yeah, you sounded like such a goober,” my sister teased. “You probably got it out of some manga.”
“No, you’re missing important context!”
That wasn’t meant for my little sister. Well, it was, but not for my little sister little sister. I was saying it to Ajisai-san! Shoot. There was no way I could explain that Ajisai-san and I had an understanding—you know, the thing where she called me her big sister and let me baby her like a five-year-old. My sister would think I was a weirdo.
“Oh?” Haruna sneered. “What kinda context are we talking?”
My lips trembled. “N-nothing. I was. Uh. Talking about my dear, dear baby sister…”
Oh, the disgrace. Oh, the humiliation. Why was she looking at me like that? Alas, such was the cross I would bear to avoid besmirching Ajisai-san’s honor!
“I guess it makes sense,” my sister said. “You know how much I do for you and all—going to the salon, getting you clothes, teaching you how to talk, fixing your posture and stuff. Plus, I helped you out during that recent school competition, right?”
“Yeah…” I admitted. It came out sounding like a whimper. “I don’t know where I’d be without you.”
“Attachment issues much?”
“Shaddup.”
It felt like I was in a jacuzzi—I was seriously sitting in the hot seat!
“That was all just a slip of the tongue,” I said. “Forget you heard anything!”
“Are you kidding me? That’s perfect Oneechan roasting material.”
“I’ll buy you more ice cream if you drop it!”
“Today’s your lucky day, then.” She flashed me obnoxious double peace signs in an effort to piss me off even more.
“You little brat,” I said. “Here I was being nice and worrying about you, and this is the thanks I get?”
“No one asked you to worry about me,” she pointed out.
“How could I not? You announced completely out of the blue you weren’t going to school. Anyone would’ve been concerned. You’re my sister!” I slapped the water for emphasis.
She gave me a funny, puzzled look and then snickered. “It’s fine. Worry about yourself, you know? You have your own glow-up and good friends to pay attention to.”
“I do, but that’s not the point.”
“Seriously, you should hold on to your friends. They’re good people. Probably better than you deserve, TBH.”
“Honestly? Yeah.”
I couldn’t help but nod at these words of wisdom from my life coach Haruna-senpai. Which one of us was the older sister again?
Just then, my sister stepped out of the tub and twisted the shower knob, effectively ending the conversation.
“You could be reborn a hundred times, and you’d never end up with friends like that again,” she taunted.
“Look, can you keep your comments to yourself?!”
Even if they were true!
My sister laughed long and hard. That was the first time mother dearest had heard her laugh since she’d stopped going to school…or whatever. You know that kind of hackneyed crap. And in return, my mother’s other daughter suffered a major blow to her self-esteem!