Chapter 171

Volume 2

Chapter 150

「Mai-san, Mai-san, would you sit down and have a little chat with me?」

「Yes? Acting all formal, Is anything the matter, dear brother?」

A certain night, as soon as I got out of the bath, I sat on the couch in the living room and pointed my finger across the other side of the low table.

While Mai was drying up her wet hair from the bath with a dry towel, she makes a blank looking face.

The lightly wet skin with a slightly steamed face, and the water color pajama, made of thin fabric and lightly damp, emphasized the well-proportioned body of Mai.

The disparity between her innocent looks that exhibits her inexperience of impurity, further attributes more points to her excessive sex appeal.

「…… Oh well, I guess it can’t be helped. Mai also understands the ecology of high school boys. You may watch this your sister’s body like a dog in heat, so as not to bother others」

Having said that, with a gesture that suggests “Good grief”, Mai sat on the sofa next to me and not the floor I specified, in order to snuggle.

「No, not happening. And sit properly, high school girl. Also, I intend to scold you, so I’m going to sit right in front of you, not next to you」

It is impossible, because she is my sister with blood ties.

No matter how much she is the prettiest in the world, I will not fall into a situation where my qualification as an older brother is lost.

「Mumumu, dear brother? Does that mean you don’t find this sister attractive?」

Mai looks all sullen, and speaks in a slightly childish matter.

The word sit in front was nonchalantly treated as if it wasn’t heard.

「You listen……」

Recently, Mai’s 『Spoiled-child Mode』 is getting more frequent little by little.

When someone who is always excited and in high spirits all the time, becomes depressed and tired, the indulgent personality of a susceptible lonely person who usually hides behind the ruse of a sharp abusive tongue, surfaces obediently.

It was obvious, that Mai is becoming mentally unstable.

If it’s true, I’d very much like to take counseling with her together.

Her apparent excessive dependency on me probably have something to do with it.

「…… That’s not true, you’re a pretty cute sister」

When I see my sister like a wine glass put on a thin needle, I hesitated a little and then I answered thus.

However, setting that aside, the point right now is not the appearance of the younger sister whose beauty is as astonishing as ever, but the state of a younger sister who just came out of the same bath as me.

By the way, since we are an ordinary house, we do not have two baths.

「But, Mai, today’s definitely out, it’s out! 」 (TLN: Reference to baseball, in a different context it simply means “out of the question, inconceivable, intolerable…)

「Out? What do you mean?」

「Our bath is not mixed bathing! Don’t just go in nonchalantly! 」

That’s right, the first time, she stormed into the bath wearing a one-piece swimsuit.

Her pretext being, 『If you do something unusual that you have never done until now, it might stimulate your memory』 was what she asserts, 『As long as dear brother is not a deviant who would devour his younger sister, there should be no problem?』, as she smiled and have her way.

However, now that I think about it, I should have rejected it at the time with a resolute attitude.

Ever since the day I allowed it, she’s intruded upon me in the bath every day, and every few days she’s been in a bikini, a swimsuit with a separator, and today she’s rolled up in a big towel.

There is no longer any room for hesitation, there should be a limit.

「We used to go in together without any clothes in the past. We’re brothers and sisters, so there’s no problem」

「Oh, but there is a problem dear sister! Where on earth did your shyness go? 」

「Is it, not okay?」

「No it’s not!!」

In a gesture that calculated and forecasts how my actions look like, it strongly asserts that this can’t go on anymore from the way Mai sadly cast her eyes down.

「Phew, it can’t be helped, I don’t want to be scolded any more than this, so Mai will go to bed now」

「Eh? Oh, hey wait, don’t run away! 」

It was a very dignified escape proclamation, that for a moment there, I was flabbergasted.

I tried reaching out in a hurry to grab her hand, but Mai dodges it skillfully.

「I am not running away, there’s a date to go to the movies with me tomorrow, so I am going to bed early so as not to oversleep. Well then, good night, dear brother」

She makes the declaration as if suppressing the opinion, and swiftly exits the room.

「……Aaaaaaaaahhh」

In the quiet room, I Sighed Out Loud.

Feeling overwhelmed by a strange feeling exhaustion, I threw myself down on the oblong sofa.

It’s been two weeks since the day I saw the inside of the drawer in Mai’s room.

I have been unable to ask what that blackened dry bloodstained knife was.

I decided to act as if I didn’t see all of it, and it’s taking everything I have to keep Mai from noticing.

While I thought that it was not something that could be left unattended, if I asked about that knife in the current state of Mai, I felt like the normal daily life that is returning back to me would be broken to such an extent beyond repair this time.

Then, while watching and doing nothing, Mai went down the slope little by little.

While some little cog-wheel were dropping from my heart.

(Damn, I’m so pathetic, I can’t even support my one and only sister properly……)

「Dad, Mom, what should I do?」

I ask the portrait photographs of father and mother that were decorated on the Buddhist altar.

It was only after they were gone that I understood, how much our parents had supported us.

The responsibility is to heavy for me alone that, I don’t even know what to do.

I hesitate, and hesitate, and hesitate, and just end up doing nothing.

At that time, the house phone rang.

「…… Hello」

「『Oh, pardon me for the late night call. I’m Onishi from the Iizuka station, am I speaking with Ukei Kaito-san?』」

The call was from the police.

When I reply that it is him, the young detective who became acquaintance, his tone became a little friendly.

「『Kaito-kun, are you free tomorrow? Actually, Miyagawa-san persevered in the negotiations with the top brass, and in the case of example, permission was finally granted from the top』」

It was such words that was told in such good spirits.

A lot of things happened when I met the two detectives the first time, but during my hospitalization, they often visited and as we spend time together and talked, I opened my heart to them.

「…… Is that so?」

Miyagawa-san and co. were requesting for a certain something.

The police confiscated it, apparently I was wearing it when I showed up at school.

Because it is also evidence of the incident, it did not come back to my hand, instead they showed me the items in a plastic bag during my hospitalization.

It is a thin pelt armor that has been torn in tatters here and there, and a deep dark colored cloak that seemed like it could even devour light.

When I saw it, a strange sensation ran through my body.

It felt like something that I cherished very much.

That’s why, even though I knew it was unreasonable, I asked the two detectives if they could return the evidence.

I thought this was important to me before I lost my memory, so I thought it would help me regain my memory.

「『Oh, is tomorrow inconvenient afterall?』」

「…… Sorry, I already had an appointment to go out tomorrow」

「『There is no need to apologize. It was a sudden request to begin with. I just called because I thought it would be better to do this earlier』」

「I will come pick it up next weekend. Please extend my gratitude to Miyagawa-san」

「『Okay, I’ll let her know. I am also sorry for calling so late, till next time』」

We exchanged greetings and then put down the receiver.

「~~~~~—-, WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING, I……」

And so I collapsed on the spot along with my feelings of guilt.

Miyagawa-San and Onishi-San seem to be investigating the case of the 『Teleported Candidates』 that still occur in small numbers.

『Thanks to the idiots out there increasing my workload, as in you have no idea』, he seems to be busy working as he complains thus.

Amidst all that, he did his best and turned up for me, only for me to put off the request that initially came from me.

Moreover, the reason was because I did not want to increase the load on my mind any more because of my sister. That’s all.

Talk about selfishness right.

「……Haa, I’m going to bed」

As I quietly turn off the lights in the living room, I returned to my room on the second floor.

As I lay down on the bed while it makes a Gishi creaking sound, I wrap a good quality futon around my body

I was able to relax just a little, as I felt a moderate feeling of resistance and softness, as if sucking the strength right out of my body.

I must say, it’s worth spending all my saved pocket money to purchase.

「……」

Calm your mind, look into yourself, and look for lost memories.

Since I saw the knife in Mai’s room, that habit that had continued for a long time before I went to bed was also interrupted.

Although it is not as serious as Mai, it is honestly worrisome to face myself with this muddy feeling in my current compromised mental state.

I turned off the light and covered myself with a futon so as not to think about anything.

But, after a while I’m pretty sure Mai will come to my room and crawl into bed today too.

And she’s going to leave my room so that I won’t notice by tomorrow morning.

(I heard that you can sleep in three minutes with your eyes closed, but it’s not so much as sleep and more like passing out……)

I quickly fell asleep, remembering words I didn’t even know where I heard them.

Praying for a deep sleep so that I do not notice anything.

☆

『Hey, you bastard, how long are you going to play dumb』

This is a dream, right, this is definitely a dream.

A dark space that spreads endlessly, and various shapes of crown were floating around.

There I am conscious and slightly dissatisfied thinking, could this unreality be anymore obvious, that if this is a dream, at least it should be a little brighter.

In a dream at least, let there be light without feeling any anxiety or inconvenience whatsoever.

『You bastard, what the hell are you doing?』

I feel like I’m melting away all over this space.

In that box of dim darkness, a man’s voice echoes.

In this place, where there seemed to be no gap which light could penetrate, however, the man’s silhouette was clear.

The man whose face I cannot see as if wearing a shadow veil sits on a needlessly extravagant throne and looks down on me with his legs crossed across the darkness.

The body contour is thin, and the voice a little childish like a boy before breaking his voice, echoes out the belief of one who absolutely believe that he is a strong person.

(…… Who are you?)

I felt like something I’ve seen before in a drama, a movie, or an image of a character I saw in something, somewhere.

It’s funny that I feel like I have seen him before even though I can’t see his face, but it would be strange to ask my dream for such a detailed reason.

『I am, me. I’m a part of you, your power, and the form of sins you bear』

(Whoa, this is nasty. This level of the Chuunibyo is too high)

I’ve heard that dreams are a manifestation of the subconscious, but at this rate, I definitely don’t want to be diagnosed by Dr. Freud.

In this way, dark past will always follow me.

Well, rather than an ambiguous gloomy dream, a Chuuni dream may be somewhat better.

『Haa, to adorn yourself in such a silly affectation even in front of me. That’s quite hardcore even though you let go of your memories. Well, I guess that’s indeed my *main sanctuary who has always had an escapist behavior. Though I already knew that from the beginning』(TLN: It means like a main body or personality)

The self-proclaimed part of me who is laughing through his nose so haughtily seems to have come to kill me with shame.

Hey, what a dream. Or rather, what a character to have been created from my head.

『It doesn’t matter. You bastard, I am tired of waiting. Just remember everything and release me already. You don’t have the luxury of waiting, not even for a second』

……I don’t really get it, but it looks like he is also telling me to recover my memories.

『Only a deeper despair lies beyond your closed eyes. You should already be aware of that』

Oh, damn, you’re just a dream what would you know, currently, my hands are filled with stuff about Mai.

What’s so wrong about postponing matters of myself for just a bit.

Still, I have been trying properly to remember, what more do you expect of me.

『…… I cannot help but feel pity towards the you screaming within yourself. Even though it’s been screaming out loud all this while』

I know, I know that already!!

Every day, every day, every day, feeling like stop messing around, remember, don’t forget!

I CAN HEAR THE VOICE EVERY DAY SO MUCH THAT I CANNOT HELP IT!

『Then don’t disappoint me too much if you already know, otherwise you will』

Beyond the shadow veil, though invisible, surely the man laughed.

He looked at me and laughed.

『End up losing something important, again』