His Current Situation

“Haah… what am I even doing?”

Yūha pressed her forehead against her phone screen and sighed.

Golden Week had already ended, and the season was gradually inching toward summer.

Lately, killing time at the park outside had started to feel unbearably hot. She wanted to find somewhere cool to stay. Naturally, that meant somewhere other than home or school.

The first thing that came to mind was a family restaurant. But considering the state of her wallet, she couldn’t afford to go every day. And with the rainy season approaching, it was probably better to save indoor places for when she actually needed shelter from the rain.

So once again, she sat on a bench beneath the shade of a tree and killed time.

On days when her mother was home, she had to pretend she was going to school like this. When her mother had a part-time shift, Yūha could lounge around at home, but that wasn’t possible every day.

For now, she had two problems.

Comfort and boredom.

She could tolerate the former.

The latter was unbearable.

Not going to school gave her an overwhelming amount of free time. From eight in the morning until four in the afternoon. Even by simple calculation, that meant eight hours a day with nothing to do.

It was surprisingly painful.

Her mobile data wasn’t unlimited either, so watching videos would burn through it in no time. About the best she could do was download her favorite music at home and listen to it offline.

That was why, much as she hated to admit it… Rokurō starting to reply faster had actually been a relief.

“What is that idiot getting so serious for with his own sister? What a moron.”

Inside the chat screen, Rokurō was steadily accumulating more and more embarrassing material.

Using knowledge he had obviously crammed at the last minute, he was pretending to be a “guy who seems popular with women.”

When he sent her a message yesterday saying, “I always keep five kinds of olive oil at home,” she had burst out laughing.

She had never even seen that many varieties on a cooking show.

In that sense, watching her ridiculous brother was more entertaining than she had expected.

Messaging also barely used any data, so it helped her in two ways.

To his message—

“Do you cook, Yū-san?”

She replied—

“I’d like to try when I start living on my own.”

“Are there any dishes you’d recommend for a beginner?”

That should give Rokurō even more embarrassing material to work with.

Knowing him, he would probably say something like, “Paella is surprisingly easy, so I recommend that.”

Just imagining what nonsense he would say next was mildly entertaining.

Yūha let out a small laugh through her nose, then suddenly felt empty because of it.

Rokurō wasn’t here.

And he wouldn’t come here.

He was only talking to her because she was “Yū.”

If he found out she was Yūha, he would probably turn tail and run.

—What the hell are you doing, you idiot brother?

She looked up at the clear blue sky and thought about him, somewhere else in the same city.

Then an idea suddenly occurred to her.

Right.

She could look into it.

By coincidence, Yūha had exactly the sort of connection that could help.

There was a chance she would be refused, but there was no harm in asking.

She opened LINE and searched for the name she wanted.

Among the countless “friends” she had accumulated over three years of high school, she found the person she was looking for.

They had only met a few times, but Yūha had liked her.

She opened the chat and typed a message.

“Long time no see. It’s Yūha.”

“If you’re free, would you like to have tea sometime?”

The recipient’s name was Nene Komaki.

Rokurō’s girlfriend from high school.

—You have to be happy. You’re different from me.

“Tch.”

My work had finally settled down, so I leaned back against my chair.

The moment my brain relaxed, Yūha’s face flashed through my mind, and I clicked my tongue.

The fact that her current life seemed so far removed from happiness irritated me.

Three days had passed since I asked Keiji for help.

He had messaged me earlier saying he would call soon.

I filled a glass with tap water and returned just as my phone started ringing.

I answered.

“Hello. How’d it go?”

“Yo, Sabu. —Whoa, that was fast.”

“How’d it go?”

I wasn’t in the mood for pointless jokes.

I wanted to hear the result immediately.

And I desperately hoped it would turn out to be something in the “still manageable” category, like poor grades or trouble getting along with a teacher.

But Keiji’s reply was vague.

“I managed to get in touch with a girl who used to be pretty close with Yūha-chan… but her answer was kind of inconclusive.”

“Tell me what she said. Please.”

“According to her, ‘I could tell she was worried about something. But she absolutely refused to tell me what it was.’”

“Any chance she’s being bullied?”

“Doesn’t sound like it. That was the first thing I asked, but apparently she seemed normal at school.”

“I see…”

I had already suspected it from the messages, but this was getting troublesome.

“Did she just start rebelling or something…?”

“No way, not Yūha-chan.”

“What the hell do you know about her?”

“Whoa, scary. Being a siscon really doesn’t suit your personality, Sabu.”

I’m not a siscon.

I’m not even her brother.

I wanted to say that, but I kept quiet.

No matter how close a friend Keiji was, I had no intention of exposing the Sanjō family’s ugly circumstances.

I continued questioning him.

“Do you know how long she’s been skipping school?”

“Apparently there were signs starting around January. She began missing school here and there because she said she wasn’t feeling well. After April, she only showed up about once a week, and since a week before Golden Week, she hasn’t gone at all.”

“Not feeling well… huh.”

“Couldn’t it just be that? We had people in our year who couldn’t advance because of sleep disorders or migraines, remember?”

“…………”

I knew it probably wasn’t either of those.

But saying that would complicate things, so I kept my mouth shut.

If I admitted I was currently talking to her, he would just say, “Then ask her yourself.”

I hated sound arguments.

“Well, that’s about all I found. Any other questions?”

“No. That’s enough. Thanks.”

“No problem. As payment, how about next time you bring your girlfriend and we go on a double date?”

“……………………Yeah. Sure.”

I couldn’t exactly admit that, even now, Yūha was still the only person I had managed to keep messaging.

So I forced out an agreement.

I needed to find some suitable girl soon.

Otherwise, this was going to turn into a serious problem.