CH 60

It Was a Hot Yet Warm Summer Night

Translated by HamletJr

Edited by HamletJr

“Akira, what’s wrong?!”

“Shut up!!”

After being bluntly rejected by Satsuki, Akira ran straight home. His mother called out to him to ask what was wrong as he opened the front door and took off his shoes, but Akira ran into his room without listening to her at all. He then buried his face in his bed and shed tears of frustration.

“Dammit… Dammit!!”

His tears were a materialization of his anger, which sought a place to vent that it didn’t have. For a long time…that is, since he was even younger, Akira had always had feelings for his own sister, Satsuki. He had given up on her because of their blood ties, but he still couldn’t accept the idea of her becoming another man’s property.

“Onee-chan… Onee-chan!!”

But after being told that much, he understood, even if he didn’t want to—that his feelings would never reach Satsuki again. Why did this happen, why did things turn out this way… The face of that detestable Ryuichi floated in his mind.

“It’s him… It’s his fault!!”

Yes, it was all Ryuichi’s fault, Akira thought. The gentle Satsuki had changed because of Ryuichi’s influence, seemingly identical to how Shizuna, who had been close to his best friend Sohei, had changed as well.

“It’s all his fault… It’s all because of him!”

It was truly by chance that he’d seen Satsuki and Ryuichi today. Sohei hadn’t been present for the gathering, but on his way back from having dinner with his friends at a family restaurant, his eyes first fell on Satsuki as she came out of a sushi restaurant…and then on Ryuichi. Ryuichi had recently changed and had become popular in class, but to Akira, he was nothing more than the person who stole his beloved sister away from him.

“That was delicious.”

“Yup. Having you there made the meal even more delicious, Ryuichi-kun. ♪”

He was stunned when he saw them come out of the restaurant looking intimate with each other, but of course, he immediately became angry. He couldn’t stand the two of them being together, so he snapped at them, and the rest is history.

“…Onee-chan… Why?”

Akira couldn’t comprehend why she was with such a shitty person. The same went for Shizuna; he couldn’t understand why she was with him, or even why Sohei had started talking with Ryuichi amicably lately. 

He couldn’t understand why everybody loved him so much just because he had changed a little.

“Onee-chan belongs to me… She belongs to me and me alone!!”

He believed that Satsuki was his, and to that end, he would never hand her over to anyone. However, thinking those thoughts always reminded him of Ryuichi’s words.

“Satsuki isn’t a belonging.”

Those words seemed to cut straight through Akira’s heart. He wanted to object and say, “What do you know? What do you know about me?”…But even so, he couldn’t say anything.

“………”

Akira wanted to monopolize the ever so fragile and ever so gentle Satsuki. He wanted to monopolize her lovely face, her large breasts, her shapely ass, and even her heart; he wanted to monopolize her all. Even though he was aware of how repulsive this idea was, Akira had thought that in the end, Satsuki would never refuse him.

And yet, she did.

“…I won’t forgive him… I won’t ever forgive him!!”

He would not allow anyone to tear apart the relationship he had between him and Satsuki; he would use any means possible to give Ryuichi a good beating, but ultimately, Akira was a coward through and through. 

He’d been fine up until the moment he temporarily let his emotions get the better of him and attacked Satsuki, but after he was rejected like that, his heart gave up on doing anything else.

“…Fuck… Fuck!”

For better or worse, what Satsuki had said was on point. Akira could no longer muster the courage to do anything extreme, and could only shed tears of frustration. It was a moment of resignation…a sad reality he did not want to admit, but also a farewell to the illusions he had had about his sister.

“I see… No, it’s nothing. Yup, good night, Mom.”

While Akira was in his state of frustration and resignation, Satsuki was also calling her mother, likely out of concern for her brother. Though ‘concern’ in this case didn’t necessarily mean she would give him kind words or meet him in any way; her concern only went so far as to check on him.

“Was he okay?”

“Yes. I think he’ll probably be fine.”

Satsuki had said that he would never have the guts to do anything crazy and reckless, but her intuition, as one would expect from his older sister, was spot on. She put her phone away and leaped into Ryuichi’s big chest, who was standing beside her. She just wanted to forget all about her brother and feel safe in his chest for now.

“…I envy Shizuna-chan. She gets to do this with you all the time.”

“Well, Shizuna is…”

My girlfriend, he muttered. But still, regardless of the fact that Shizuna had allowed him to do this, he chuckled to himself that he really couldn’t help himself from doing this in these situations. He then held her for a while until Satsuki was satisfied before pulling away and leaving her room to return to his apartment.

“Man, summer’s just totally hot, even during nighttime, huh.”

His surroundings were dark, but there was a warm breeze blowing through the air. On days like these, the temperature would surely remain quite high even past midnight, so this was also the time of year to be wary of heat strokes while asleep.

Fortunately, Ryuichi’s apartment was well ventilated, so if he opened the windows a little and placed a screen to block out insects, he would get a moderately cool breeze blowing in.

“But still, Shirasagi… I hope he’ll be able to cool his feelings off after that.”

Despite Satsuki’s words, it was natural for Ryuichi to feel a little uneasy. He could only hope that Akira could turn away from his obsessions over his sister and move forward, even if his affection was on an entirely different level than that of Sohei’s. If he did that, things wouldn’t turn troublesome and above all, Satsuki would be able to feel at ease.

“Alright, guess I’ll head home too.”

Ryuichi left the apartment where Satsuki lived and headed home. On his way home, however, he ran into someone unexpected.

“…Boss?”

“Hmm? Oh, Ryuichi.”

The man boasting more muscles than Ryuichi was the manager. He was sitting at an oden stall, and Ryuichi happened to be walking by the stall and saw his face through the curtain. It wasn’t strange for the manager to be out since the club was closed today, but it seemed that he was also accompanied by his wife and daughter.

“Hey.”

“Good evening.”

“Good evening, Onii-chan!”

As a matter of fact, this wasn’t his first time meeting the two of them; they had met several times through the manager before. Ryuichi was about to turn around and resume his journey home, but the manager asked him to stay with him for a bit, so Ryuichi reluctantly sat next to him.

“Just finished your dinner?”

“Yeah, I had some sushi.”

“I see. Well, here, have some oden.”

“What do you mean, ‘Well, here’?” Ryuichi laughed and decided to go along with his request. The manager’s daughter was staring at him as he sat down next to the manager, and Ryuichi, sensing from her expression what she wanted him to do, lifted her up and placed her on his lap.

“Ehehe~ ♪”

“My, my. Please excuse her.”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t mind.”

Although he was a man who was feared by little children, this girl in particular had grown attached to Ryuichi a fair bit a while back. The manager watched contentedly as well as he drank some alcohol.

“What should I have?”

“Anything is fine. My treat.”

“If you say so.” 

Ryuichi put the classic ingredients—konjac, tofu, and fishcake—on his plate, and blew on it to cool it down as he slowly brought it to his mouth.

“Man, this tastes really good.”

“Right? This stall’s a hidden gem. The place looks crappy on the outside, but I can guarantee its taste.”

“You didn’t have to add the ‘crappy’ part in there.”

“Hahahaha!”

It sure is delicious, Ryuichi nodded. Food stalls like these were mainly patronized by adults coming off of work, but if the food was this good, he didn’t think it would be a bad idea to bring Shizuna and visit the place together. 

The time he spent talking with the manager, his wife and daughter was warm.

“Fufu, it’s almost like our family’s gained a son.”

The manager’s wife’s words made Ryuichi chuckle and remark that she shouldn’t have such a failure of a son.

That certain summer evening turned into a heart-warming night for Ryuichi.

The manager was always there to help him out, and he wondered if it would be interesting to have someone like him as an escort at his wedding or other events, if he ever had those.

“Hey, shopkeeper, you got any orange juice?”

“You really think I have orange juice?”

“Didn’t think so.”

Ryuichi and the shopkeeper exchanged laughs, but the manager unexpectedly let slip a few explosive words.

“I have some.”

“Huh?!”

“Why do you have it?!”

Who on earth really is this manager? Ryuichi and the shopkeeper thought.