Kano POV.
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“I’m fine from here.”
“Got it, see you next time.”
“Yeah, get home safely, Yuito.”
We’d left the love hotel and walked to my neighborhood, and I parted with Yuito — reluctantly. It was bright out and no concern about creeps, so I didn’t ask him to walk me all the way home.
I’d wanted him to, a little, but he was running on no sleep — too much to ask. So I let him go.
“Last night was a lot.”
I’d checked his GPS on the surveillance app and saw he was at the bookstore near the goukon venue, so I’d ambushed him.
Quite the coincidence — but his being near the venue was genuine chance. Maybe we really are tied by some red string of fate.
That said, Yuito being at a goukon had been complicated for me. I wanted no bad bugs landing on him. Kamishiraishi-senpai publicly favors younger guys and was very visibly targeting him — I’d been visibly displeased for most of it.
Still — outing Yuito as a current high schooler had stopped Kamishiraishi-senpai cold.
“But the side benefit — I heard a lot of Yuito’s real feelings.”
Drunk Yuito had said things he never would have sober. He’d told me clearly: he was almost as aware of me as he was of Suzuno. Which made the goukon detour very productive in its own way.
(He remembered none of the drunk material, so couldn’t look me in the face the morning after. If he had, he wouldn’t have been able to.)
I’d brought him from total non-awareness to where we are now — confessing was the right call.
After a few minutes’ walk I was home. Opened the door — Suzuno was at the entryway with a tote bag.
“Oh, Sis, welcome back.”
“Hi, Suzuno.”
Her clothes suggested she was about to go out. Test season — probably a study session.
“How was it last night?”
“Hmm, okay-ish.”
The goukon wasn’t fun per se, but the time with Yuito — bumpy as it was — was.
“You came home in the morning — don’t tell me…?”
“Nothing you’re imagining.”
“Oh. I thought maybe you’d gotten a boyfriend at the goukon.”
“I’ve had someone I love forever.”
She’d put together stayed out overnight as something else. Wrong.
(I would have allowed it but Yuito didn’t make a move. A little disappointing, but the fact that he’s becoming aware of me is the win.)
(Plus — that can wait until we’re actually dating.)
“Going somewhere?”
“Yeah — library with Ayato to study for finals.”
“You and Ayato are getting close.”
“All thanks to your support, Sis. Thank you.”
She smiled, sweetly. I felt the guilt creep — but kept it to myself.
“Don’t let me hold you up — go. Good luck on the test.”
“Yeah, off.”
She slipped on her shoes and left, beaming. As I walked to my room, I muttered.
”…I’m sorry, Suzuno.”
Honestly — even if Suzuno and Ayato did get together, I genuinely don’t think it would last.
Ayato is academically and athletically gifted but, in heart-strength, clearly below Yuito. His giftedness has left him immature in that dimension.
Suzuno idolizes the plus side of Ayato — grades, soccer — but once they dated, the gilding would come off and the minus side would surface.
“If that happens, the two of them will probably have a hard time staying together.”
In my case I love Yuito knowing his negative side too — and would even scold him when needed, like at the movie incident. Suzuno couldn’t.
I could see that future clearly — and yet I’ve been working from the wings to pair Suzuno with Ayato, for my own future with Yuito.
But — Suzuno’s love-blindness to Ayato’s real character would have needed correcting eventually anyway.
If as-is-Ayato and Suzuno coincidentally got married one day, that future is unhappy on every axis.
So to wake Suzuno up to reality, I’m not stopping their dating. It’s the only way she’ll come out of the dream.
“If something happens, I’ll be there for Suzuno.”
I’m a terrible older sister hating my own little sister just for being Yuito’s first love. To compensate — anything for Suzuno except Yuito. That was my private resolution.