Ch.408IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (105)

And so, I entered middle school’s second year, which could literally be called a stormy period.

Of course, becoming a second-year student didn’t suddenly give me “eighth-grade syndrome.” Surprisingly, my body’s hormones didn’t seem to have much effect on my mind. To be precise, I’m not even sure if those hormones are being secreted in the first place.

I hadn’t grown at all in height. By now, my friends around me were gradually becoming taller than me, and seeing that Shii’s height was becoming almost the same as mine made me wonder if I should feel a bit of crisis, but pondering doesn’t really provide answers when it comes to human height.

I decided to just accept it. Besides, if I grew taller than Kagami, it might feel awkward when hugging her.

Above all, I had a companion.

Well, more like a sister than a companion.

“Kotone?”

“Hm?”

As I was staring blankly out the window, I heard that voice from behind.

Koko was staring at me intently.

While I managed my hair length to keep it around my back, Koko’s hair wasn’t something that could be easily cut.

So, Koko wore her hair braided the way Kagami fixed it for her every morning.

That was cute in its own way. I thought putting glasses on her might suit her well too, but that seemed like too much of a character setup, so I gave up on the idea.

Koko has good intuition.

Her attitude is so pure that she sometimes seems a bit slow, but her observational gaze is sharper than I expected.

Especially when it comes to subjects she’s interested in, that sharpness intensifies.

I’m one of those “subjects of interest.” Koko strangely likes me a lot, and she follows me wherever I go at school.

Thanks to that, our friends treat us almost as a set and seem to perceive us as cute beings. Well, identical twin beauties—honestly, even at this point, the setup seems a bit excessive. Though it’s a common trope.

“What?”

Koko asked, tilting her head.

I briefly thought that I should be the one asking that question at this point, but there was no need to corner Koko.

“Nothing.”

Just as Koko’s question had no particular meaning, I gave an equally meaningless answer and patted her head. Koko immediately broke into a wide grin.

…It’s peaceful. Almost unsettlingly so.

I haven’t stopped hunting yokai, and I still go out with Yuka occasionally. Koko wanted to follow me, but each time, Kagami would hug her tightly, making her grin widely.

Since I returned home after just a few hours anyway, Koko didn’t seem to worry too much.

It’s strange to call all of this “peaceful,” but that’s how I felt.

I turned to the front again at the sound of the classroom door opening.

I took out a book from inside my desk, opened it on the desk, and prepared for class.

The class was as boring as usual.

Though boring, I liked that it was the same as always.

*

One thing I’ve definitely felt while living in this world is that no matter how extraordinary your life is, if you keep experiencing it repeatedly, it eventually becomes your “ordinary.”

It’s a bit of a strange logic coming from me, but that’s how it is.

My job was like that too. Entering fires, cleaning up traffic accident scenes, facing dying people—these might be extraordinary from a normal person’s perspective, but for me, they were part of my daily life.

Whether that’s good or bad is a rather meaningless addition. Anyway, I continued doing that job, and in the end, whether I liked it or not, I faced those situations all the time.

Yokai hunting was also ordinary for me, and in some sense, I started to feel it was… how should I put it, normal. Even while thinking it seemed a bit dangerous, I couldn’t help it. It wasn’t periodic, but it was repetitive.

In that sense, a “human stalker” was more “extraordinary” to me than yokai.

…Is it okay to express it this way?

“Kotone?”

“Shh.”

I put my finger to my lips in front of Koko. Though she blinked her big eyes, she listened well to my words.

I pushed an ice cream toward Koko and looked outside the cafe again.

“Um, senpai?”

Shii, sitting next to me, called out to me.

Well, strictly speaking, that person probably can’t hear our conversation, so it might be okay to talk a little.

I called them a stalker, but I’m not completely certain. The person doesn’t look particularly perverted.

Well, most criminals look ordinary at first—but this isn’t just ordinary.

A beautiful girl stalker.

“Hmm.”

With a furrowed brow, I looked at Souta standing on the street outside the window.

Of course, Souta had heard about this from me beforehand, but he still seemed perplexed standing alone on the street without his usual companions.

A girl was watching Souta from a distance.

She seemed about our age. Definitely a bit taller than me.

She had a face that looked somewhat diligent, but also seemed like she might have a playful side if you got to know her.

“That’s the stalker?”

Yuka asked. Her eyes, as she sipped her iced tea through a straw, were full of disbelief.

Is she unreasonably dismissive because of gender stereotypes? Or is she just lacking awareness because of the times we live in?

“Since when have you noticed her?”

“For two weeks.”

That was actually true. At first, I thought someone had just moved into the neighborhood, but I saw her every time I went to Souta’s house.

“Right, Koko?”

“Huh?”

Perhaps because I suddenly asked her, Koko, who had been eagerly eating her ice cream, jerked her head up. She seemed to have been focusing on my story until just a moment ago, but her interest must have waned as she concentrated on eating.

“You’ve seen her too.”

“Yes.”

Koko nodded.

“Since a month ago.”

“…”

Hmm.

It seems she had been around much earlier than I had noticed.

Only after hearing that did Shii’s mouth close tightly.

Yuka also made a somewhat disgusted expression.

“Can’t you just talk to her? If she’s interested, she could just approach first.”

It was a bit interesting to hear Yuka say that, considering she had spent the entire story agonizing over her feelings without properly confessing, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.

For now, I was satisfied that Yuka had noticed something was off.

“…”

We observed the girl’s behavior for a moment. She didn’t seem interested enough to look into the cafe, as she was just wandering around the alley across the street, peeking out with just her head to look at Souta.

“…Okay, now she does look like a stalker.”

“Right?”

I nodded as Yuka finally acknowledged it.

Outside the store, Souta was still anxiously pacing alone.

“So, you called me to pretend to be Souta’s girlfriend?”

“Well… yes, if you put it that way. Is that okay?”

“I don’t see why not. Despite appearances, I have the skills to quickly notice if she’s carrying a knife or something.”

No, saying it like that actually makes me more uncomfortable. The goal isn’t to put my friend in a situation where he might get stabbed.

“Girlfriend…?”

Hearing those words, Shii tilted her head and muttered, then,

“Girlfriend?!”

She shouted, jumping up from her seat. Koko, Yuka, and I all looked at her in surprise.

Not just us three, but everyone in the store looked at Shii. She sat back down quietly with a flushed face.

“Th-then maybe I should…”

“If she’s been observing the house for a month, don’t you think she’d know you’re his sister?”

At my valid point, Shii shook her head and said with a serious expression,

“Sh-she might think I’m his girlfriend who lives with him.”

Good heavens, a middle schooler living with an elementary schooler.

Well, in the literal sense, they are living together, but the social implications are completely different.

Even if there’s only a two-year age difference, it’s uncomfortable to hear that a middle schooler has romantic feelings for an elementary schooler. If that were really the case, the stalker following Souta wouldn’t be the problem.

“…”

As Yuka and I stared at her, Shii lowered her head with a red face.

“Or should I do it?”

“That’s…”

At my question, Shii tilted her head and fell into thought for a moment.

“Ah, yes. That might be better.”

Yuka said.

“If she’s been watching for a month, she’s probably seen you coming and going from that house a lot.”

“…When you put it that way, it feels a bit strange.”

I went there to see Shii, strictly speaking. She’s practically my little sister.

In the end, I was chosen for the role.

Koko doesn’t know anything about this, and Yuka would be a completely new face to that girl.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be nearby. If she tries to jump out, I’ll catch her.”

It’s reassuring when Yuka says that.

But I don’t really like the idea of walking next to Souta like that.

Because…

If Shii is my little sister, then Souta is my little brother, right?

Siblings are supposed to be in a state of conflict with each other.