Chapter 678 - Probe (2)

With her tone and even her expression changing at the moment, I also changed gears and faced her without any pretense.

However, before answering, I took a glance at the woman typing away at the keyboard. Juri was too focused on it and she’s not one bit bothered about us conversing in this room.

Well, she’s unrelated to it and it’s probably of no interest to her. What’s important was to finish whatever project they had to do.

But I found it a little unnatural. It was Setsuna who’s working on that just before I entered the room.

However, Juri picked up the chair and indifferently sat down on it to continue without even reprimanding Setsuna. It’s as if she’s intentionally avoiding any interaction with me.

Or I was just reading too much on this…

Anyway, since there’s not an ounce of interest coming from her, there’s no point in mulling over this little fact.

I came here for Satsuki’s older sister after all.

After clearing those thoughts away, I finally answered her question. “I’ve known her since the start of this school year. I think Satsuki already told onee-san. We’re sitting next to each other in class.”

“Yes, that’s what she told me.”

The girl nodded twice at my answer.

Somehow, the more I stared at her to observe every minute reaction that she might do, the more I understood the real personality behind this girl. It’s not boasting or anything but… her sudden seriousness showed me the abundant concern towards her little sister.

It’s not only their parents who couldn’t move past that incident, this girl as well. She’s still blaming herself for it. Perhaps even her current attitude towards Sakuma was in consideration for it.

Whether she likes the guy or not, there’s still a part of her that somehow remained in the past.

Well, that’s just my speculation at what I observed. We’d just started talking so… I would probably be able to glean more into what’s the driving force behind her current personality.

Besides, I doubt she’s unaware of most of the parts of our story. Satsuki already told her about us… of course, minus the unpleasant details that could definitely be taken the wrong way if heard by someone else.

What she’s doing this time was close to cross-referencing whether there would be dissonance in my side of the story.

“If onee-san is wondering, I did get in between Satsuki and Sakuma. There’s no way I won’t notice it. Just that, Sakuma gave up halfway.”

“Ryou did?”

“Mhm. And he told me not to hold back anymore. I confessed to her and… you know the rest.”

Although I omitted the details pertaining to how I stole her step by step, my answers were still filled with the truth of the matter.

Even if she glared at me or scrutinized my expression, nothing would come off as unnatural to it.

Besides, she’s just Satsuki’s sister. There’s entirely no point for her to be aware of everything. Though I appreciate her concern over Satsuki, it’s not enough of a reason in letting her know about it.

Anyway, staring at her all this time, since she’s not smiling mischievously anymore, her likeness to Satsuki was too glaring. However, she still lacked the girl’s natural expression which made the others think that she’s hard to approach.

After a while, Setsuna finished contemplating as she continued our conversation.

“Interesting, Onoda-kun. As far as I know, there’s no reason for him to give up.”

That’s true. I was the one who confused him about his feelings towards Satsuki and gave him a reason that became enough to compel him to do that.

On the off-chance that Sakuma told her about my hand in that decision, I have to be careful in responding to this.

“Hmm? Is that so? I think he has one.”

I slightly raised one of my eyebrows to gesture that I was pertaining to her.

“Me? I am no more than an older sister he admires. And he’s like a little brother to me.”

With my eyes fully observing her reactions, I finally noticed something from the way she answered that.

Although faint, she’s a bit hesitant to say that he’s like a little brother. Furthermore, her eyes wavered for a moment.

I guess that’s a little proof about that assumption I made earlier. She’s still tied down by the incident. And although Sakuma was already wagging his tail towards her, she’s not going to let their relationship go past that point.

“Somehow, I feel sad over Sakuma for that, onee-san. What would you do if he heard that?”

Because of that hesitation, I grabbed that chance to take control of the conversation, switching our roles.

Moreover, I didn’t say that out of the blue… Behind me or rather, outside her room, I had just heard a set of footsteps stopping just before the door.

Setsuna, being focused on our conversation, failed to notice that.

It might be Satsuki who already got the chance to escape the room or Sakuma who had just returned from the convenience store. Either of the two, they’d definitely be curious about her answer.

“Then so be it… I’ll be leaving in two days anyway. Besides, you’re the reason I returned.”

Huh? Me? That’s unexpected.

Well, if my assumption was partly true, she returned not because of me or Sakuma. It’s because she is concerned about her sister.

However, her answer could be taken in the wrong way depending on who’s outside.

And sure enough, I heard the sound of something being dropped outside.

With that loud of a sound, Setsuna also heard it and… as one would expect, she was surprised first before realization dawned on her.

The girl shoved me to the side before hurriedly opening it.

Right on the ground was a convenience store bag with its content consisting of chips and cold drinks scattered.

“Y-you! Why didn’t you tell me someone’s outside? Ryou…”

Of course, she’d blame me but more than that, the girl worriedly muttered Sakuma’s name.

“How will I know? Onee-san, he probably misunderstood your answer. Should I call him?”

“N-no! I’ll run after him. You stay here!”

And with that, the girl didn’t even bother picking up what Sakuma dropped as she dashed out of the room.

It’s a clear 50% chance that it’s him but I still banked on that. If it’s Satsuki, I’m confident that she’ll reach the same conclusion as me and not misunderstand it. I mean, I’m not even her acquaintance to become the reason for her return.

And since it’s Sakuma, I guess he can consider that as my last attempt to help him.

Considering Setsuna ran after him, she’s either lying about only seeing Sakuma as a little brother or she just wanted to clear whatever misunderstanding he might conclude in his mind.

If that guy could turn that situation to confess to her wholeheartedly, it’s not 100% that he would fail.

The question is… will he?

With the door left open, I went toward that bag and picked up what he dropped before returning inside and closing the door once more.

Surprisingly, even with what happened, Juri was still sitting in front of the computer.

One detail changed though. Her fingers stopped tapping on the keyboard.

She’s not deaf so she heard everything. This reaction, however, is it because of what happened or… is it because she got left alone here with me?