CH 24

“P..Please wait a moment!?”

When I tried to advance, Hino-kun put all of his strength in the opposite direction, refusing to move. He already had an unrestrained voice and when he spoke even louder, the gazes of students walking nearby, started moving over here.

“Oy! Don’t make such noise, dangerous person.”

“Dangerous person.. Is that about me!?”

His each and every reaction was so loud. More than this, will only trouble the surroundings. I temporarily gave up on dragging him off to the police station. I decided to give preference to listening why he worshiped my sister.

“Alright. I won’t be taking you to the police station, for the time being. So, stop reacting loudly.”

“Y..You were going to take me to the police station… T..That was dangerous.”

Crouching on the spot, Hino-kun exhaled a sigh of relief. I leaned on the nearby wall and started checking the photograph possessed by Hino-kun, in detail.

As expected, the one reflected on the photograph is Kaede and if you look closely, my figure could also be seen in the vicinity.

“…Is this during Golden Week?”

Judging from the attire Kaede and I were wearing, it seemed to be photographed around the time, we went shopping during Golden Week.

“Yes, I bought it at the end of Golden Week.”

I thought it was only one photograph, but Hino-kun brought out several of them from his bag. Whichever photo one sees, Kaede was present in the center and for some reason, in some of them, I had also been photographed. Since I have several clothes, I wonder if those had been taken every time I went shopping.

“First of all, don’t buy them.”

Confiscating all the pictures, one by one from him, I stowed them away in my bag. So that they don’t bend in any situation, I put them firmly between textbooks.

“…Why did you say, you worshiped Kaede?”

Looking a bit dissatisfied at me taking all his pictures, once Hino-kun heard my question, he straightened his back again in a good posture and started speaking.

“From the past, I have been told that I give a bad impression… During my childhood, when I would make eye contact with other kids, they would start crying. Even my classmates avoided me.”

Certainly, the kids will cry. I don’t know if he was doing it intentionally, but to a person who makes eye contact with him, would feel he was being glared at. Even I, if had not heard this story from him, would have asked him “Are you angry?”.

“What about that hair?”

I asked, while pointing at his red hair.

“Ah, I dyed it. Our school is not very strict regarding hair and such. So I thought, dying it will garner interest from my classmates.”

“Err… It would definitely have the opposite effect, you know.”

Hino-kun’s expression plummeted down, directly. Even without hearing this reply, I could imagine that he won’t have got his desired outcome.

“I had very few students during middle school. I had thought about making many friends in high school, but… Even if I am walking normally, I am called a delinquent. When I try to help an old lady with her bag, the next day it becomes a rumor, that I stole it.”

What an outrageous kouhai-kun. He is the perfect example of people forming impressions based on one’s appearance.

If you try speaking, you wouldn’t find him unusual, just a kind first year.

“I understood well that you went through terrible experiences… However, what does it have to do with you possessing the photographs of Kaede?”

Did he also think that the story had derailed, as he replied with “Sorry”. It would have been fine, even if he didn’t apologize. For me, I just wanted to know the relation with my sister, quickly.

“That is.. Last month when I went shopping, I was mistaken as a shoplifter.”

“I see.”

“Actually, it was a middle school student, who had shoplifted. After the incident got exposed, he threatened me in front of the store and told a lie.”

I could understand by just those few words, alone. The manager of the shop, seeing the appearance of Hino-kun, while swallowing the story of the middle school student, arbitrarily decided that he was the culprit.

“It was during that time… Kaede-sama told the manager like this…”

‘This person has not done anything. Because I had been watching.’

It does seem like what Kaede will say. After listening to the resolution of problem from Hino-kun… Even though, I had started walking ahead during the middle, he seemed to have noticed.

Since the direction of walking is same, I wonder if he shopped in the same store… While thinking that entering a shop and quickly getting accused of shoplifting, if he had just conveyed the simple truth…

“Until now, when I was accused of being the culprit, there had been people who knew that I did nothing, but none of them had came to help.”

And then, Hino-kun lifted his downcast face vigorously. The look in his eyes changed from somewhat angry to a scary fanatic one.

“That is why, when the cute girl that appeared in front of me.. No.. That was surely the goddess in form of Kaede-sama! That is why I worship Kaede-sama!”

“That is wrong… Since, she is my sister, she is only an ordinary person.”