It was around 10:00PM on a weekday.
“Alrighty then, my overtime as a high-school girl ends now,” Shigure proclaimed, finishing her homework and tossing her mechanical pencil on top of the tea table for emphasis.
“Good job,” I replied. “And fast, too. Goes to show why you have the second highest grades in our year.”
“Hurry up and finish, Big Bro. I wanna play Mushroom Kart together. You can go ahead and copy mine if you want.”
“No, there’s no point in doing that.”
“Rude. Are you implying that I got all the answers wrong?”
“No, I meant that the homework itself loses meaning. The goal shouldn’t be just to finish.”
“I mean, you’re not wrong, but it sounds weird coming from you of all people. Cut it out already—you’re making me feel like a dumb bimbo.”
“That’s your problem.”
Incidentally, I still had a lot of work to do. We’d received a formidable pile of homework for every single subject today. “Midterms might be behind us, but that doesn’t mean you get to slack off!” the bloodthirsty AP teachers seemed to laugh at us.
“And after I’m done with my homework, I’m going to prep for tomorrow’s lessons,” I continued. “If you want to play games, you’ll have to do it solo.”
“What? That’s so boring! Games are only fun when you’re playing with the person next to you.”
“Then why don’t you prepare for tomorrow, too?” I suggested.
“Is there any point to studying in advance and reviewing, anyway? I tend to understand something after hearing it once, and I don’t forget it either.”
“If you say that to me during college entrance exams, I might kill you.”
“From my perspective, those who need to review that much must be slacking off in class,” she explained.
I see. That’s certainly one way of looking at things.
Well, the ability to focus differed from person to person. There were even people who could memorize enormous strings of letters or numbers from just a single glance—maybe Shigure was one of them.
“Also, a total knockout like me doesn’t need to study,” she continued. “From the moment I was born, I hit the genetic lottery. Learning a little psychology might not hurt, though—that way, I can unlock the secrets to getting men wrapped around my little finger.”
“You already seem quite proficient at that,” I retorted.
“I owe it all to you, Big Bro. I couldn’t have asked for a better punching bag.”
“How kind of you to say.”
Shigure already got on my nerves constantly, and I was just her brother. I pitied her future husband—he would have one hell of a rough life, completely and utterly whipped till he was black and blue. Then again, any man who couldn’t see past Shigure’s looks deserved that fate. I couldn’t bring myself to feel too sorry for the guy.
“Unlike yours, my face is no money maker,” I said. “And since I’m prone to screwing up, I have to do this sort of thing. Just turn on the TV if you’re not interested in studying or playing games alone. Make sure you keep the volume down, though—it’s already pretty late.”
“You’d seriously refuse an invitation from your girlfriend’s spitting image? How cold.”
“No matter what you look like, you’re not Haruka,” I reminded her.
“So if I were Haruka, you’d give me more attention?” she asked.
“And the point of discussing impossible, hypothetical situations is...?”
“You’re right. Well then, I’ll play a game that works even while you’re studying.”
Huh? What is she talking about?
I glared at Shigure from the corner of my eye, and she returned her trademark malicious smile.
“Let’s have a staring contest,” she said. “I won’t take my eyes off of you, so if you break concentration and stop studying, I win.”
“Nah, I’m not doing that.”
“This is happening whether you’re a part of it or not. Okay then, let’s start!”
She’s going to do this against my will? Talk about pushy.
Shigure placed an elbow on the opposite side of the table, propped her face up with one hand, and began to stare at me intently.
Ugh...
Being examined this closely was embarrassing. And since Shigure had the same face as my beloved Haruka, it felt like my girlfriend was the one staring at me. It caused my heart to race.
I, for my part, did my best to look away and focus on the task at hand—well, to be more precise, I tried my best to. Yet, even with my gaze averted, I could still sense Shigure’s eyes on me. When I glanced in her direction, I could see that she still had her eyes firmly locked on me, not seeming the least bit bored.
She relaxed her elbow, placed her cheek on the table, and looked at me with upturned eyes. From underneath her lashes, I could see myself reflected in her large, round pupils.
Damn. There’s no denying it—she’s cute.
No one would refute her self-proclaimed status as a “knockout.” Plus, she knew how to flaunt her charm. Whenever Shigure put on that flirtatious act of hers, she was even harder to resist than her sister. If Haruka hadn’t been my girlfriend, this little temptress probably would have driven me crazy... the keyword here being if. Unfortunately for her, I did have Haruka.