Before my eyes, my two favorites are happily enjoying choosing clothes together. What a blissful scene.
An otaku should just become like a stain on the wall and savor their adorableness.
“What do you think, Onii-san?”
I wanted to just savor it.
My heart is shot through by Hinata-chan’s upward glance as she bashfully asks me.
“—-!”
My heart is pierced by the wave of murderous intent from Rui standing behind her.
(It suits her, right? If you say anything stupid, I’ll finish you off right here.)
…I can hear it clearly. I can clearly hear the unspoken threat.
–But rest assured. I agree!
“I think it suits you really well. Hinata-chan is cute and petite, so boyish clothes give a fresh feeling and create a nice gap. It’s super good!”
“R-Really? …Ehehe, maybe I’ll try it on then.”
my oshi Hinata looks embarrassed after hearing my rapid-fire compliments, while my oshi Rui nods with satisfaction behind her.
The latter keeps her own coordinated outfit in the basket and immediately goes off to look for other combinations.
[If you do anything to Hina, I’ll send you to hell]
She firmly drives the point home in a low voice as she passes by me.
…By the way, this is the fifth time she’s driven this point home during today’s shopping trip alone.
At this rate, I’ll end up looking like a straw doll…
But conversely, she’s only driving the point home and nothing more.
This behavior is uncharacteristic of Rui, who usually shows no mercy to enemies.
I wonder what her intentions are…
“Phew…”
The sighs of Hinata-chan and I, left behind, overlapped.
As we suddenly look at each other’s faces, we both burst out laughing.
“Fufu… We got a bit too excited, didn’t we?”
“It’s almost lunchtime, shall we take a break on the first floor?”
“Yes, let’s.”
Before I knew it, the fluttering feeling that had been welling up every time I met Hinata-chan recently had disappeared.
Or rather, I should say that I’ve become able to interact with Hinata-chan calmly, like in the old days.
Although she had traces of her current appearance even in elementary school, back then we truly interacted like real siblings.
“…”
Suddenly, Hinata-chan’s eyes linger on one spot.
It was only for a moment, but her gaze was definitely directed towards a shop window.
In her line of sight was a mannequin torso.
It was wearing a girly coordination of a pink cardigan paired with a black skirt.
It’s quite a cute-focused combination. But…
A feeling of fondness welled up in me.
“–Ah, excuse me, staff. Where can I find the same clothes as those?”
“O-Onii-san!?”
Hinata-chan is surprised by my sudden address to the staff.
Incidentally, the staff member is also startled at being approached by a man.
You, staff member, should get used to it.
“I-I didn’t say I wanted to wear it!”
As the staff member goes off to search, Hinata-chan starts to protest to me.
She’s interlocking her fingers in front of her skirt, only tapping her index fingers together.
Seeing this gesture, I find it a little endearing.
“Hinata-chan is still as stubborn as ever, huh?”
“…Onii-san is as forceful as always.”
My little sister figure turning away with a pout was cute, regardless of her being my oshi character or not.
“Come to think of it,”
a thought crosses my mind about Hinata-chan’s clothes selection today. Except for the last one…
“You’ve been choosing mature-looking things all day, haven’t you?”
“Y-You noticed…”
“I just realized it now. Could it be that you wanted to look more grown-up?”
“Wha-!?”
“Ah, bull’s-eye.”
“W-Well, um… ~~~!”
Hinata-chan’s face gradually turns red all the way to her ears.
“Well, I understand how you feel. After all–“
Thinking I might have teased her too much, I move to cover for her.
She squeezes her eyes shut, anticipating that her inner thoughts have been read.
“–You’ve finally become a high school student!”
“…Huh?”
My little sister figure looks up at me, dumbfounded.
“But don’t worry! Hinata-chan, who’s worked so hard at the training school, will look angelic– I mean, brilliantly cute in any outfit!”
“…”
“Huh? Hinata-chan?”
She sighed with a complicated expression.
“Well, apart from the fatal fact that you’re fundamentally mistaken, I’ll forgive you because I was happy.”
“Uh, thank you…?”
“Hmph. I’m going to try these on, so please wait here.”
Saying that, she walks away briskly.
Left behind is just me, confused.
–At that moment, a pressure so heavy it sends chills down my spine falls on the spot.
As I turn my head around, going ‘gigi’,
“You said something stupid, didn’t you?”
There stood a cruel angel with an oh-so-enchanting smile.
–Goodbye, all versions of Ibuki Ibusuki.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
This place, Sakuramura Shopping Mall, when viewed from above, is shaped like a peanut.
It’s a five-story multi-purpose commercial facility, but the central part has an open structure, with escalators crisscrossing the open space.
Boutiques and food courts are lined up along the walls on each floor.
Today, we visited Wing A for shopping.
If we’re talking about the peanut shape, it’s the larger lower part of the pod.
Because it’s larger, the open space is also wider, so the center of the first floor is like a plaza.
In front of the giant screen that displays particularly notable news, there were also tables for resting.
After securing one of these, I said,
“Hinata-chan, why don’t you go ahead and choose first? –Utsurugi-san and I will wait here.”
“Huh?”
Rui immediately responds with a menacing question mark, but I brush it off with a smile.
Hinata-chan hesitates, looking back and forth between Rui and me, then,
“I see. Alright then.”
She nods modestly. This makes Rui panic.
“Eh, wait Hina. I’ll go with–“
After confirming that Hinata wasn’t looking this way,
I tried to put on a somewhat evil-looking smile that only Rui could see.
“—-!”
The change in Rui, who caught this in the corner of her eye, was dramatic.
Her eyes widened for a moment, then…
“…Tch, I see. H-have a good time, Hina.”
She turned her face away from Hinata, looking frustrated.
“Huh? Okay, I got it. …You two, get along, alright?”
It seems Hinata vaguely sensed that Rui and I weren’t on the best terms.
With those parting words, Hinata walked away.
“…………”
“…………”
Silence fell between Rui, who remained silent with her hoodie still on, and me.
I had anticipated this would happen.
Even so, I stopped Rui.
This was, so to speak, a preemptive strike.
Surely Rui hadn’t just been enjoying shopping since we met this morning.
She must have been subtly toying with me, definitely having some kind of plan.
Although I didn’t know exactly what it was, knowing this girl who shows no mercy to her enemies, if I were to fall for it, it could be fatal.
If that’s the case, I’ll launch an attack before her plan comes to fruition.
To prevent my true identity from being revealed to Hinata.
If possible, it would be ideal to make it so she can’t lay a hand on me, who’s close to Hinata.
“Well then…”
“…!”
As I opened my mouth gravely, Rui’s expression hardened.
“Come on, don’t be so on guard.”
“With that suspicious, creepy smile on your face, how can you say…”
…Huh?
I thought I was smiling as gently as possible to calm her down…
Well, I guess it’s pointless to worry about it now, given how terrible her impression of me already is.
However, even if her impression is terrible, we need to do something about the current situation.
If my true identity is revealed to Hinata or the [Prim-Libra], it would be more than just troublesome.
I need to somehow make sure Rui doesn’t reveal my true identity to others.
The ideal scenario would be to convince her that [I’m not Hinata’s enemy].
But that’s already impossible.
“So? Are you planning to threaten me using Hina as a shield? You scum.”
See…
I can’t deny my own responsibility, but I probably wouldn’t have been trusted even without acting badly.
After all, there’s no proof that I won’t harm Hinata.
–So I decided to change my approach.
I don’t need to gain her trust, just make her think she can’t touch me.
It’s not right, but I’ll have to use my relationship with Hinata as a deterrent.
This is the only way to keep Rui in check without ruining my relationship with Hinata.
And thus, get through this situation.
The longer I can prolong this relationship, the better.
When the time comes to explain myself, it will add credibility to say, “See? I haven’t harmed you all this time, right? I won’t harm you in the future either.”
So I said,
“Threatening sounds so harsh. I just have a small favor to ask.”
I put on the gentlest smile I could manage.
–Rui realized how foolish she had been to think there might be some room for trust.
After all,
Rui knew what kind of person Ibuki was.
Well, it would be more accurate to say she had known, at this point.
It was natural that she knew, as Hinata had often talked about him since childhood.
Rui knows Hinata well as her best friend.
Even to Rui, Hinata has a straightforward personality with some natural airheadedness.
But she’s certainly not stupid.
Given her background, it’s fair to say she has a good eye for people.
And this Hinata would talk about Ibuki as if he were a hero from a shoujo manga.
There was a feeling in the back of her mind that such a person couldn’t really be evil.
In this case, it wasn’t Ibuki she wanted to believe in, but Hinata’s ability to judge people.
That’s why she had been letting Ibuki swim today, to test whether he could really be trusted.
–However.
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