About half an hour later…
“Geez… Why didn’t you explain earlier?” said Haruka-chan.
“You didn’t give me the chance to!” I protested.
Sitting down on some chairs near the escalator, I gave everyone the rundown on what I had talked about recently with Haruka-chan. Kikuchi-san understood as well, and it seemed that the baseless accusations had been cleared. But she still seemed a little huffy, and the way she told me off with a red face was very human. I mean, she is a human, of course, but thinking about it now, it had been a long time since I’d had a couple-y moment with Kikuchi-san. In that sense, I was thankful to Haruka-chan… Or was I? Mm, I don’t think so, actually.
“H-how is it…?”
“Oh! That’s cute; it looks good. I really like it.”
“You l-li…?!”
In the clothing shop across the way, Haruka-chan was coming out of a changing room as Mizusawa did his playboy routine, making her blush bright red. If you teach this sort of thing to a middle school girl, she might become a monster who can only be satisfied by experienced older men, you know?
“Is that okay…?” Kikuchi-san asked.
“It is concerning…in many ways,” I answered.
But she seems like she’s having fun, so let’s just say it’s fine. Kikuchi-san was also giggling as she watched, and the mood was overall positive.
“Actually, this is my first time coming to Cocoon City,” Kikuchi-san said.
“Oh, me too.”
Cocoon City is a mall at Saitama-Shintoshin, and when I was in middle school, I often listened in as classmates around me talked about their recent weekend trips there with friends. In other words, I’d never gone myself, but I knew it’s a place where middle schoolers would want to go.
With apparel shops, general stores, restaurants, a supermarket, and even a movie theater, this place was a proper mall, and it was big enough that it would take a full day to hit everything. The perfect place to go as a group on a weekend.
“Tomozaki-san, Big Sis Fuka-chan, I got some stuff!”
Haruka-chan must have liked that outfit quite a bit, as she was still wearing it when she skipped out of the store toward us.
“Hee-hee, it suits you perfectly,” said Kikuchi-san.
“Right?!” she said cheerily, doing a spin to make the hem of her reddish-brown dress flutter. I don’t know if it was because Kikuchi-san was also a girl or because Kikuchi-san was so warm, but Haruka-chan had quickly become attached to her.
“She’s really opened up to you, hasn’t she?” I said.
“Do you think?”
“Yeah. And you seem pretty used to it…”
It seemed like Kikuchi-san didn’t totally get what I meant at first, but then she put a hand to her lips thoughtfully. “Ah,” she said in realization. “It might be because I have a younger brother.”
“Oh, I see.”
Now that she mentioned it, that was a good point. Her hidden big sister trait had activated, which made the scene even cuter. By the way, I’m technically an older brother, too, but I’ve generally failed to be big brotherly to my sister. In fact, she looks down on me, so I’m stuck without any big brother element to activate.
“Hey, Big Sis Fuka!”
“C-coming!”
When Haruka-chan took Kikuchi-san away from me, I sighed. At least Haruka-chan was having fun.
“You have such nice skin, Big Sis Fuka. Cool winter, right?!” Haruka-chan asked Kikuchi-san with sparkling eyes. Her terminology was a mystery. Something about winter being cold? We were in an area with a bunch of cosmetics shops.
“O-oh, do I…?”
“What’s your skin care routine?”
I found myself listening in for no particular reason. I saw Kikuchi-san as a girl now, but I’ve always kind of seen her as fairy-like, too, so I couldn’t really imagine her using things like makeup or skin care products.
“I… Oh, I buy those ones over there.”
Then she walked slowly over and picked up a green box labeled INNISFREE.
“Oh! Innisfree! My friend mentioned that brand!”
“This set has toner, moisturizer, and cleanser, so it’s easy to try out.”
“Ohhh!”
This was definitely girl talk. I didn’t know about the manufacturers or brands or whether they were any good, but it was a new experience to hear Kikuchi-san using those words.
“What do you do for makeup?”
“Makeup?” Kikuchi-san hesitated a moment and said, “I…don’t use any primer or foundation. I just use some brightening sunscreen.”
“But you look so good!”
Okay, so Kikuchi-san doesn’t use primer or foundation and uses brightening sunscreen… Maybe I kinda get it? Not really.
“What about lipstick?!”
“For my lips, I’ve always just used the tinted lip balm from NIVEA…”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Lately, I’ve been using the Paul & Joe lipstick.”
“‘Pauland’…?”
“Um, do you know the kitty lipstick?”
“Oh! Yeah, I do know that one!”
The two of them seemed to be getting into a discussion about cosmetics. I was glad to be able to listen and learn about Kikuchi-san, but I didn’t get any of it except for “NIVEA.”
“Oh, hey, you can’t wander off too far.”
“I-I’ll be fine!”
Kikuchi-san took Haruka-chan’s hand, and Haruka-chan was actually the one to get shyer about it. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was clear that Kikuchi-san was being very helpful to her.
But I gradually came to realize something.
“…”
Mizusawa was going around looking at clothes and stuff with Haruka-chan, making her blush like it was second nature.
Kikuchi-san was in full big-sister mode, getting Haruka-chan completely attached to her.
“Aww, I envy you, Fuka-chan. I’d like to hold hands with Haruka-chan, too.”
“Wh-wha…?!”
“Hey, Mizusawa-san, you’re making her uncomfortable.”
“Y-yeah…!”
While watching the three of them, I thought, Hmm, hmm…
Yep, it’s pretty clear. Even though I introduced them all, I’m the odd one out.