Vol 1 Chapter 5: A Heart-to-Heart Talk Between Siblings

After dinner, I immediately returned back to my room to catch a good night sleep. I was still a six year old boy after all, so I still needed to sleep a lot, especially if I was going to grow tall like I certainly wanted.

Yeah, being a short guy looked to be quite the depressing existence to me. The only way it could work if I also retained a baby face with it, so I would become like one of those shota characters in female dating sims.

I think I preferred being a normal ikemen though.

When I threw myself onto the bed however, my mind couldn't help but wander back to Marina.

Something was definitely bothering her! I just knew it!

But she wouldn't tell! Not even to me, her cute little brother!

Haah, I knew exactly her type. The honor student, "perfect daughter" type that would hide her problems from her parents and siblings.

I remembered a girl like that at high school. She was getting awfully bullied by other girls who were jealous of her, to the point that her face actually got slashed by a boxcutter or something. Only when that happened that her parents took notice of the unjust harassment and suffering that their daughter had received for so long.

...Don't tell me that she's also getting bullied there?

With such thoughts swimming inside my mind, I drifted off to sleep.

…

Only to wake up what felt like half an hour afterwards, with Marina standing beside my bed.

Wait, Marina?

“H-Hugo… c-can I… c-can I sleep with you? J-just for tonight, I-I promise...” I heard her mumble.

Even without looking, I could tell by her awfully shy tone that she was blushing furiously right now.

W-wait, did she just say that she wanted to sleep with me?

"S-sis?" I sat up, a confused look on my face.

"N-nevermind…"

She turned around, no doubt intending to run back to her room in embarrassment.

I stopped her in her tracks however, grabbing her wrist before she could escape.

"Sure, Sis. You can sleep here if you want." I answered with a smile.

I knew that if I let her go, I would've regretted it for sure.

In the past, I was selfish, only caring about myself. I didn't bond with my siblings as I should. I ignored them, even as they tried to save me.

I would not make the same mistake this time.

"O-oh Hugo!"

Before I knew it, she already threw herself on top of me, hugging me as tightly as she could.

Oi, she was lucky that there was a soft bed behind me, or I could've been seriously hurt!

"Sorry Hugo, but tonight, I want to hug you just like this," she said with a smile.

Hmmmph! Hmppphh!

She was suffocating me! She pressed my head right into her chest with her hand!

"Ah, sorry, you can't really breathe if I hug you that way, can you?” She giggled.

With her relaxing her grip, I could finally take a breather.

And I was immediately greeted by the sight of cleavage.

It was still small, naturally, but it was definitely there, unhidden by her loose, low neckline white nightgown. I could also see that she wasn't wearing any bra underneath.

"Oh Hugo, I missed you so." She sighed as she started playing with my hair. "One year of not being able to play with my cute little brother, it's really lonely, you know."

"I missed you too, Sis," I returned with a smile, hugging her back. This warmth she's giving… I certainly could use more of it.

"What's the matter, Sis?" I asked her. "You're not usually this forward."

"Oh, is it so wrong for a big sister to want to be close with her little brother that she hadn’t seen for a year?” She pouted.

“N-no, not at all!” I replied. “It’s just that—you feel different than your usual self.”

Suddenly, her smile vanished and she averted her gaze. But then, she quickly recovered, and retaliated by going on the offense.

“Oh? Maybe because I’ve grown up a little since we last met? You’ve been staring at my chest all this time, you know.” She smirked.

“O-of course I’m going to stare! Y-you now have boobs, Sis, and you don’t even wear any bra to cover them!” I protested with a blush.

I knew I should be bad for being a pervert who peeked at his own sister, but given how she reacted, with amusement, and not with embarrassment and distress, I couldn’t help but feel I was the victim here.

“Hehe, I see little Hugo is growing up as well.” She smiled. Wait, was that a sultry smile I just saw? “You’re starting to have an interest in girls, huh? Even though you’re just six. Don’t tell me you’ve gotten your first wet dream already!”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, SIs…” I decided to feign ignorance. Putting up my best upset face, I replied, “I hadn’t wet my bed since I was three, you know!”

“Haah, nevermind. You’re still as innocent as ever.”

Without warning, she started to hug me strongly once again.

“...Let’s just stay like this for a while, please?”

At that moment, I sensed it.

The sadness in her voice.

I had to know it. I had to know what bothered her so much.

“Hey, Hugo… what would you do if… if you have someone who doesn’t like you very much?”

That’s… an out of the blue question. I still tried to answer as best as I could however.

"I think… I think I'll try asking them what they so disliked about me first.”

“I see… But what if—what if they hated you for a nonsensical and petty reason? That you really couldn’t do anything about?”

Now her question just got weirder. What did that even mean?

And then, my dense self finally connected the dots.

She was talking about herself! She got someone that hated her guts in the Academy and she wanted to know how to get along with them!

But what did she mean by a “nonsensical and petty” reason though?

If we were talking about fantasy stories, then fantastical racism certainly could be a possibility. But she was human, and so should be her classmates. If I read my book correctly, the nation where her academy was located was human dominated, same as ours. So what could this reason be about?

“W-well, then I would think of them as a petty person that I wouldn’t bother being friends with,” I replied.

Damn it, I didn’t even know if that was the right answer! It sounded kinda condescending and selfish, but it’s genuinely how I would act in the situation.

Hearing that answer however seemed to make her smile.

“Of course! Why should you make a friend with someone like that?” She let out a short laugh. “There are so many other people you could be friends with after all!”

W-whoa, she suddenly gave me a hug once more! And this time around, she’s wrapping her arms around my stomach instead, with her face buried on my shoulder.

“Thank you, Hugo,” she whispered into my ears. D-damn it, why was this actually turning me on? Maybe because I always had a dream of being whispered upon by a girl like this! Come on, Hugo, she’s your sister! Your sister! And she’s still 11!

“Hehe, you’re blushing, aren’t you? I knew it, you are already at that age after all~”

W-was this how those shota hentai leads felt when they were being assaulted by their onee-sans?

“Do you like it, hmm? Being whispered from the back like this?” She continued her assault.

D-damn it, I wouldn't be able to hold back if this continued!

"Oh, Hugo, you're so adorable, you know that?" She hugged me even tighter. "I know you'll be able to get a cute girl to be your girlfriend in no time at all. And then you'll be able to do things like this all the time with her."

I was relieved to hear that. For a moment there, I thought she had gone full brocon and wouldn't allow me to have any lovey dovey relationship with girls other than her!

"Don't forget about me when you do though."

"O-of course not, Sis!"

Nevermind. She was still a pretty heavy brocon.

“Oh, right, Father said that you have been going around the village frequently, haven’t you? So why don’t you find yourself a girlfriend or two there, hmm?” She decided to tease me again.

For some reason, my mind immediately went to Sherry.

"W-well, there's this one girl that--"

"Wait, what?! You actually have someone you like?!"

She immediately lifted me up and flipped me around so I would face her.

"Tell me everything about her. Now." She shook me on my shoulders.

H-hey, your expression was getting kinda scary there, Sis!

I told her everything. About how we first met, about her attitude and temper, and even about her unnatural strength.

When I was finished, Marina was in her usual, ponderous look—the one she would be in when she was thinking hard about something, usually something related to spells as we were studying.

“You say she just appeared one day in the village. And that she was an orphan. And Old Woman Farla was employing her hard in her farmland.”

Old Woman Farla was the name of Sherry’s employer. I believed she also stayed and slept in her house when she wasn’t working day and night for her. Some also called her Old Maid Farla, since she never got married, but I believed that would be a bit too rude, wouldn't it? I mean, you could call me an old bachelor in my old life, and you would be right. Even her grumpy, hostile attitude was understandable. Anyone would be that bitter if they grew that old and never experienced love.

Hah, quite funny how a six year old could emphatize so much with a--what, 60, 70-year old grandma?

"She must have gotten her from the city's orphanage then. Most likely for free. Those places were always underfunded and they would always be happy to send their children to work so they wouldn't have to feed them anymore."

"Wow, Sis, you really know a lot of things, don't you? I thought you're just a magic nerd," I couldn't help but tease her a little with a grin on my face.

I really was impressed though. For real.

"Whaaat? I'm not a magic nerd! How dare you say that to your sister, huh? Huh!" She pouted, before assaulting me by tickling my midsection, sending me into a laughing fit.

"Hahahaha! S-stop, Sis! S-stop!" I begged, all teary-eyed.

Damnit, she really knew my weak spot!

She laughed as well before she finally relented. Clearly, she enjoyed tickling me, just as much as I enjoyed teasing her.

"Anyway, she doesn't have any slave collar on her, does she?"

"Slave collar?" I paused.

Oh right, I forgot slavery was still a thing in this world. She could very well be a child slave.

"I-I don't think so. No collars or anything else on her neck."

"Then, she's from an orphanage." She declared as if it was a proven fact. "That also explains her bad temper. They didn’t raise the kids there right most of the time.”

“Sis, how do you know all this stuff anyways?” I couldn’t help but ask. Since when an 11-year old could know so much about orphanages? I found that seriously hard to believe.

“Oh, Mother told me all about it,” she answered quite nonchalantly. “Haven’t she told you that she used to work in an orphanage before she took up adventuring?”

“Wait, really? That’s news to me!” I actually never knew about this!

"Hehe, just like you have your secret talks with Father, I too have my secret talks with Mother." She gave her "I-win-this-round!" smile.

Suddenly, silence.

It seemed we had both run out of things to talk about.

"Well, it's decided then." She smiled wistfully. "Tomorrow, we'll go meet this girlfriend of yours."

"I-I told you, she's not my girlfriend! I don't even know if we're friends yet!"

"Oh, what's the difference? I know that in no time at all, you'll be really good friends with her." She smiled scandalously. Wow, she's really confident of my ability to pick up girls, didn't she? I wondered why. I was absolutely horrible at it in my old life after all.

"Never expected you to like feisty and tempered girls though. Just be careful not to be too pushed around by her alright?"

And with that, our conversation was finally over. It didn’t take long afterwards for me to fall asleep, as she gave me a gentle headpat all the way until I arrived at dreamland.

I couldn’t remember what my dream was that night. Only that it was something pleasant and nice. Not anything perverted though, to my surprise, even though I basically slept with my face buried in her budding chest.

I wouldn’t complain about that. Having lewd dreams about my sister—that would disturb me for sure.

----

When I woke up, Marina was no longer there. Damn, there went my dream scenario of waking up in the morning with a beautiful girl by my side. Even though that girl was my own 11-year old sister. She must have woken up earlier and returned to her room. She wouldn’t want Father and Mother to know that we had been sleeping together, I imagined.

Sure enough, I found her later having breakfast with Father and Mother in the dining room.

“Hey, Hugo, you’re late!” She greeted me with a smile. I suppose we’re just going to pretend last night never happened then.

After having our breakfast, she immediately declared that she wanted to go to the village. “Hugo, you want to come along?”

She didn’t need to say anything. I already knew just from her face that she wanted me to come, as she wanted to visit Sherry.

“Yeah, of course, SIs!” I quickly replied.

Our parents of course gave us their permission. They even gave us a bag of coins to be used if we wanted to buy something in the village.

And with that, we departed.

----

The farmland Sherry was working at—Old Woman Farla’s farm—was located on the other side of the village, so we had to walk decently far in order to get there. I wasn’t bothered at all with the fact though. In fact, I couldn’t help but be excited to do the trip. So much so that I challenged Marina to a race. Not all the way, of course. Just a race down the hill from where our house was perched on.

“Haa… haa… haa… wow, you’re fast, Hugo!” She praised me once I won, panting as she was completely out of breath.

“Yay! I’m faster than Big Sis!” I declared with a triumphant smile, though I too was gasping for air. Quite ironic that my current six year old self could run further than my old adult self. That’s what being healthy (and not overweight) got you. Not to mention all the physical training I had gone through with the old man.

“I see that the training you’ve been doing with Dad has its effect! You’re now definitely stronger than me in physical activities, Hugo!” She praised me again. Yes, Sis, praise me! Praise me more!

"Hehe, it wasn't easy, you know. Father can be a harsh teacher at ti—whoa!"

Her white dress! It had turned completely translucent! No doubt from her sweat!

I could see her black panties clearly!

I froze, giving it a good stare for two or three seconds before I finally could avert my gaze.

“S-Sis, y-your dress…”

“Mmm? Oh!” With a blush, she quickly covered herself with her hands. Damn, that was a really cute reaction!

“Oh dear, wait a sec.”

She chanted something under her breath. And then, she moved her right palm all over her body, turning the fabric of her dress dry using what I could only assume to be a drying spell.

It might look easy, but I knew for a fact that it wasn’t. That spell… was not in any of the magic books we had read throughout the years. It was her own original invention. That, or something she learned exclusively from the Academy.

When she was done, her dress had returned completely back to normal.

“So, did you see?”

“H-huh?”

“See them? My panties?”

She was now putting her hands on her waist, staring at me disturbingly similar to how Mother would stare before she gave me a good scolding.

“U-uh, I… uh…”

I looked away, feeling as if I was shrinking under her burning glare.

I was going to lie, telling her that I didn’t see anything.

But then, I did see them, didn’t I? For a good few seconds at that. Should I lie? Would she know?

...No, I would not. That’s what my old self would do. Lying just to save his own ass.

“Y-yeah, I did… Sorry about that, Sis…” I looked her straight in the eyes as I said so. Not doing so would just make myself even look more dishonest than I already was.

And then, her glare suddenly turned into a giggle.

"Oh Hugo, such a gentleman! Even when you're still little!" She came over to me and ruffled my hair. "As your big sister, I'm glad I had raised you well."

And then, she bent her knees and whispered, "You know, if it's you, Hugo, I don't mind you peeking at my panties all you want~♥"

With a naughty, knowing smile, she then ran off, giggling yet again.

T-too much! Sis, you're being too much!

She couldn’t just keep teasing me like this or else I would end up with a sister complex as well! And an older sister one at that! I had always preferred little sisters more, you know!