Once I was comfortably drinking tea and munching on snacks, I suddenly remembered something.
Because of that Service Club imitation show and the “Competitive Presentation on What We Like About Iroha Isshiki” and whatnot, we’d wound up having quite the mad tea party, but didn’t Isshiki come here to do something?
“Isshiki,” I said.
She was munching on one of the cookies we had to go with the tea, and she was just reaching out for another. “Hyeah?”
“Wasn’t there some reason you came here?” I said, and her hand froze.
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
Both Isshiki’s and Komachi’s faces were saying, I completely forgot… Well, I’d completely forgotten, too, so I totally wasn’t going to judge.
Isshiki withdrew the hand that had been reaching out for the snacks, then petted and flattened the wrinkles of her skirt, straightened her posture, and started over.
“If you muuust call it work, then yes, I did more or less come with work. There was a liiiittle something I wanted to ask you about…” She put her index finger to the end of her chin as she said exactly the same thing as she had before.
“Oh-ho? Then let’s hear it.” But this time, of course, Komachi didn’t do an impression of Yukinoshita. Her expression was sharp and serious as she prompted Isshiki to continue.
Though Isshiki nodded back, her eyes were still on the seats of the two absentees, Yukinoshita and Yuigahama. “I’d actually prefer it if Yukino and Yui were here…”
“Then next time works. Next week, or the week after that, or after that. Right?” I looked over at Komachi, and she nodded back.
“…So my brother fully intends to put it off, but what will you do?”
“Hey? Can you not accurately commentate on my intentions?”
Aw geez! With my little sister in my workplace, my normal techniques for sneakily slipping out of things won’t work. I don’t know what to dooo! If she says something like that beforehand, then none of my prepared excuses will work, will they?
So I was thinking, but Isshiki seemed to not pay much mind to that, waving a hand in annoyance. “Oh, that’s okay, that’s okay. It’s just the usual anyway.”
Aw geez! It looks like none of my excuses would work, right from the start! Well, Isshiki’s known me long enough, too, so unsurprisingly, she knew what I would say.
And Isshiki did have a composed little smirk on. “Besides, I know how to deal with him at times like these,” she said, then cleared her throat experimentally, straightened in her seat, and scraped her chair across the floor to face me directly.
“Um…,” she addressed me weakly, voice shaking slightly. A heated breath slipped from her pink lips, which were shiny with colored lip gloss, as she examined me with upturned, ephemerally moist eyes. “…We can’t…do it?” she murmured hesitantly, her trembling fingers squeezing the front of her uniform. Her tone, gestures, and expression were all very emotional.
When she asks me like that, it’s really hard to shoot her down…
As I was overwhelmed—hyperwhelmed, even—Isshiki did a full one-eighty and scoffed in utter contempt. “See, down in one shot.” She puffed out her chest like, How d’you like that?
“Ohhh.” Komachi clapped in applause.
But I could only say sourly, “No, you’re underestimating me. I’m already used to that, and there’s such a thing as being too obvious about it… I can clearly tell whether you’re serious or not, at least.”
Well, even if I am used to it, though, it’s not like it doesn’t get my heart racing! I thought, but I kept that to myself and scowled at them instead.
Then Isshiki totally flipped from her earlier elated smile, narrowing those big eyes of hers into a cool expression. “Huhhh.” Her tone oozed skepticism, as if to say, I dunno… Then something apparently occurred to her, and she smirked enchantingly.
She reached out to grasp my cuff and tug me close. When I leaned toward her, she whispered softly into my ear, “…Are you sure you want me getting serious?”
Her voice was hushed, soft, and sweet—not just tickling my earlobes, but making me tremble to my spine. I bent backward away from her, and when I looked at her again, she pressed a fingertip to the bewitching smile on her glossy lips.
I shook off her examining gaze and just barely shook my head. “Stopstopyou’rekindascaringmeI’lllistensostop,” I rattled off rapidly in an attempt to cover how she’d gotten to me.
Isshiki must have been satisfied by my reaction, as she released my sleeve, puffed out her chest with a smug chuckle, and offered Komachi a triumphant smile. “See?”
“You’re so easy, Bro.” Komachi gave me a condescending look.
No, you’ve got the wrong idea. There’s nothing like that with Isshiki—it’s just my ears, okay? My ears are a bit of a weak point… But if I were to expose my kinks as an excuse, that look of condescension would turn to contempt.
While I was busy escaping from Komachi’s gaze, I took the opportunity to crack my neck and shoulders. “Anyway, what did you want to talk about, actually?” I asked, as if the exchange just now had never happened.
Isshiki folded her arms to consider her wording, touching her hand to her jaw with a hmm. “Well, I’ll leave the details for when Yukino and Yui are here, but for now, I’ll just bring up the short version.”
“Oh?” I’m not sure I like how she phrased that…
I’ve heard it’s generally accepted in adult society that just the short version by itself is an unblockable death flag.
At first, they’ll bring up something like Do you have time next month? I might ask you for a favor. It’ll probably be okay, though, but then once it is later and you have no time, they’ll suddenly shove in that item and get legitimately angry with you and be like, I told you to open up next month, didn’t I? …Or so I have heard.
However, since I’d asked what she’d come for, I had to listen to this short version of hers. With just my eyes, I prompted her to continue.
Isshiki gave me a little nod and began. “The truth is, during summer vacation—”
“I’m not helping,” I said, reacting so fast you’d think I was botting. After seeing his footwork, it was easy.
Komachi promptly flipped out. “Bro! That was fast! So fast! Probably anyone but Komachi would’ve missed a rejection that fast!”
Uh, I mean there’s no way I can help during summer vacation… Did you not see that word, vacation? Besides, I am more or less studying for exams. I can’t be focusing on other things during the summer that will decide the rest of my life. Especially when I haven’t done any exam studying yet!
But Isshiki must have understood my rationale, as she readily agreed. “Oh, no, I don’t really need help. I wouldn’t send a third-year out during summer vacation; I’m not totally heartless.” She was waving a hand in front of her chest like No, no.
Reeeeally? You’re not heartless? “Oh, I see…” I eyed her doubtfully.
She huffed. “Really. I’m not even planning to send out the vice president.”
“Huh…” If even the chief of the Victims of Iroha Isshiki Association is getting exempted from labor, then it seems I can trust this a little bit… Now I can relax and listen. “So what’re you doing?”
“There’s a school information session for prospective students. Well, the school admin will be putting on the info session, and the student council is just helping a little.”
“An info session, huh…?” I made listening noises like hmm, hmm, but this wasn’t ringing any bells. I turned to Komachi to confirm. “Did our school do something like that?”
Komachi’s reaction was lacking. She tilted her head like Hmm? with her eyes pointed upward. She considered awhile but finally shook her head. “Dunno? Maybe…”
“Huhhh…? You were just studying to get into here, though…”
“Yeah, but I didn’t go to the information sessions or anything… And hey, three years ago, you were trying to get in here, too.”
“I don’t remember that far back…” The only real memories I have from the summer vacation of my final year of middle school are of the summer courses at cram school.
And you know me—I’m such a deadbeat, I only took the exams for this school because it seemed like I could pass. There’s no way I would drag myself to a try-hard event like an information session.
Well, if it was like the rumors I’ve heard about post-university employment, where participation in the info session is vital for entry, then I would be forced to go—or if it was like an internship, with some perk like a leg up in selection down the line, that’s something else.
However, if it’s just a formal function to explain things, then no thank you.
In the first place, few people will actually listen to explanations.
With home appliances and the like, most people will not read the user manual. It’s commonly known that everyone just kinda fiddles with it for a while, then says something like I see—I basically get it, and about 80 percent of the functionality is wasted. And I am no exception there. I’m so bad that I only just found out yesterday that our drum-type washing machine has a mysterious “air iron” function. Oh look, another function I won’t touch with a ten-foot pole.
It seemed Isshiki had already taken into account that we wouldn’t care, as she shrugged in resignation. “Well, that’s basically about the size of it. I’ve never attended, either. It mostly seems like it’s for the parents…” She let out a big agh, then shrugged again as if to say, Good grief. “But it seems like some middle schoolers are coming, so we have to prepare for that.”
“Prepare? Are you gonna put something together?” Komachi asked, blinking her big baby eyes.
Isshiki nodded as if she found this all a hassle. “We talk about what the school’s like, and then, well, some kinda tour where we actually look around the school buildings… Also taking questions and stuff?” she said, thinking over each item with a finger on her chin. It seemed the specifics hadn’t been entirely firmed up yet.
Making lazy interjections, I listened until I had a vague outline of this school information session.
When she brought up the school tour, that one thing in particular made it easier to imagine.
To a middle schooler, I’m sure even just entering a high school building would be a little bit of an event, so that would actually make them happy. At the very least, if I were a middle schooler, I think that would legit get my heart racing.
Let’s try imagining it a bit. Imaginate and calibrate.