The next morning, after eating breakfast, I went down to the living room. Kisaki and Kokoro were nowhere to be seen, so I started playing with my phone. I imagined they were still in my sister’s room, but they didn’t show up at all, no matter how long I waited.
At around noon, I began to worry about them, so I went up to Kisaki’s room and knocked on the door.
“Hey, you two! It’s past twelve already!” I said.
After a while, the door opened, revealing a sleepy Kokoro in her pajamas. Behind her, I could see Kisaki still passed out in her bed.
“Really? Dang... We spent the whole night chatting and reading doujinshi together and then ended up going to bed at like seven in the morning...” Kokoro explained, holding back a yawn.
“You really get along well for two people who just met yesterday.”
“You don’t get it! It’s like she’s the sister I was separated from at birth or something! We have similar tastes in everything, we ship the same couples. It was the best, I swear! We had so much fun!”
Kisaki, woken up by our conversation, sat up on the bed with a big yawn.
“...Oh, good morning, Kokoro,” she said.
You greet her and not your own brother?! And you’re already on a first-name basis with her?!
“Good morning, Kisaki!” Kokoro replied. “Totally sorry I ended up crashing in your bed last night. That must have been super uncomfortable for you. Don’t worry though, I’m gonna get a hotel room today, and I’ll put all my stuff in your brother’s room.”
They slept together?!
“A hotel?! No, there’s no need to spend all that money! You can just stay in my room!” Kisaki said, much to my surprise. Sure, they liked each other, but this defied all expectations.
“I couldn’t! That’d be, like, waaay too much to ask!”
“No, really! And you can leave your stuff in here too! Actually, if possible, I’d prefer if you did. Th-There are some more doujinshi in here that I’d like to take a look at...”
“I don’t mind lending you them and all, but wouldn’t it be hard to relax with a stranger around?”
“Not at all! I’d rather you be here than having to be all alone with Kagetora. Ugh.”
Hey! I’m right here! And I have feelings too! I thought. Aside from the insults though, I actually agreed. Having Kokoro around would probably make things less awkward with Kisaki.
“R-Really? If you insist...”
“Yay!” Kisaki grinned.
“To be honest, this works out loads better for me! Staying in a hotel would have cost a fortune.”
And thus, Kokoro was able to remain my roommate while Kisaki was back in Japan. I didn’t even have to deal with my sister’s anger, which was a relief. But I was ultimately surprised that, after treating me so coldly for so many years, Kisaki would be so friendly with Kokoro.
＊ ＊ ＊
Later that day, Kokoro cooked up lunch—which I guess was breakfast for the two girls—with the stuff we had left in the fridge. We all sat down and ate together.
“Wow, this is so good! You’re amazing, Kokoro!” Kisaki said after taking a bite.
“Oh, come on! You’re flattering me!”
“No, really! Even though you’re an otaku, you’re gorgeous, attractive, all your clothes are so cute, and you’re a great cook!”
Once again, I felt confused and somewhat sad that Kisaki would have so much admiration for my roommate. Kokoro was just as much of an otaku as I was, yet Kisaki hated me. Other than the fact that their tastes were so similar, this definitely had to be because of how well Kokoro took care of herself. Kisaki probably respected her as a girl and as an otaku.
“Still, you know, even though we had a free room here, I’m surprised you decided to stay with someone like him,” Kisaki said, pronouncing the last word with enough contempt to hurt my feelings again. “You’d never guess the two of you would have anything to do with each other. Were you friends to begin with?”
“Not really,” Kokoro replied. “We got to know each other because we had the same, um, goal in mind.”
“Goal? What kind of goal?”
“It’s okay to tell her, right?” Kokoro asked me.
“Sure, go ahead.” We didn’t really have any reason not to tell Kisaki, and hiding the truth would just make her suspicious.
“You see, we both want to find an otaku date. So he’s helping me look for a boyfriend, and I’m helping him look for his otaku dream girl.”
“D-Date?!” Kisaki asked, her jaw stuck open in disbelief. “My brother’s looking for a girlfriend?”
She took a short pause to give me the kind of look that you’d give a filthy toilet.
“Ew...” she then said.
“What?!” I exclaimed, offended by my sister’s reaction. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“So that’s why you two ended up living together?” Kisaki asked, as if I’d said nothing.
“Right after we decided to help each other out, my parents told me I had to move overseas with them,” Kokoro began to explain. “I didn’t wanna leave Japan, because that’d have meant being away from otaku culture. But they were all ‘a girl your age can’t stay here by herself.’ Y’know? Ichigaya was there at the time, and he told my dad I could stay here. I totally didn’t see that coming, but I’m super grateful he did it. My dad is kind of... weird, you see. He’s really into the whole romance thing. So we had to lie, but when we told him we were dating, he let me stay.”
“Wow! I can’t believe that worked!”
“But like, the only problem is that when my mom and dad come back to Japan, they expect your brother and me to get married...”
“M-Married?!” Kisaki shouted. “Are you two really going to—?!”
“No way!” Kokoro and I yelled in unison, cutting her off.
“We just figured that if we both found something super serious by the time my parents are back, we could convince them to forget about the whole marriage thing.”
“That sure is a lot to take in... I’m surprised your parents didn’t try to stop you from marrying someone like my brother,” Kisaki said.
Huh?!
“Well, Mom and Dad think it’s fine to marry whoever you like, as long as you’re happy with them,” Kokoro replied.
HUH?!
I was so offended that I didn’t have enough strength left to interject. But with our situation finally explained, Kisaki changed the topic.
“By the way, are you going to Comiket?” she asked Kokoro.
“I’m planning to! There’s a bunch of doujinshi I wanna buy! Oh, and, when your brother and I went to WonFes, I met this super handsome Toppo cosplayer... and he’s gonna be at Comiket, so I really wanna see him there! Awaaah! It’ll actually be my first time there, so I’d be way too scared going alone, but...” Kokoro turned to look at me. “You’re going too, aren’t you?”
“Y-Yeah, I guess I am...” I replied. I’d also been planning on going, so I figured I might as well go with Kokoro.
“Did you say ‘super handsome Toppo cosplayer’?”
“Sure did! Wait, I have pictures! Here, this guy,” Kokoro said, showing Kisaki her phone.
“Wooow! He’s so cool! You said you’re looking for a boyfriend, so are you trying to go out with him?” my sister asked, practically bouncing in her seat.