CHapter 162: “I don’t want to go home.”

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Translator: Soafp

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I had always disliked taking photos.

Now, I was willingly accepting the camera.

“It's rare to see you taking photos, Toumachi-kun.”

“…I've kind of gotten into it lately.”

“Fufu, you really have a lot of hobbies, don't you?”

Since then, a couple of photos (national treasures) had found their way onto my phone.

I couldn't let Kanon-chan catch a cold, so I decided to head inside for now—

“—?”

At that moment, I felt a gaze on me.

“Toumachi-kun?”

“Ah, I think I felt someone looking at me from behind…”

“…There's no one here, you know? Fufu, with that hair color, ghosts definitely won't come near you.”

“Yeah, that's true (invincible color).”

Well, it was probably just my imagination.

“Icchi-Nii! Hurry up!”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Don't rush me, Kanon.”

“Hahaha!”

“Speaking of which, it's already this late. Are you okay, Toumachi-kun? We have school tomorrow, after all.”

She said that with a worried expression.

Her gentle voice echoed against the warm light.

“I don't want to go home today.”

I blurted out those words without thinking.

“…Ah. W-What should we do?”

“Just kidding (criminal). I'll be heading home soon.”

“Then… why don't you stay over?”

“Eh?”

I was taken aback.

I mean, I'm biologically a guy (virgin).

But I guess it's not like it hasn't happened before!

“Um! Kanon has been looking forward to this. She's been so loud since the last sleepover.”

“Haha… that sounds touching (tears of joy).”

“What do you think?”

I see.

Yeah, after “next Sunday,” it might be impossible to sleep over at a friend's house.

“I'll go get some clothes.”

---

[Momo PoV]

—Pikon!

After club activities ended, I had dinner… and when I started feeling a little lonely being alone.

Ayanon: “Toumachi-kun is coming over now. Momo, do you want come too?”

Momo: “I'll go.”

Ayanon: “That was quick…”

It was an immediate decision.

…If I didn't go, Ayano and Icchi would be alone together!

Sure, Kanon-chan would be there too!

“I haven't talked to Icchi in a while…”

I thought it would be a good opportunity.

Since the family troubles I had, I couldn't help but overthink things, and it made it hard to talk to Icchi.

Today, I would finally have a good talk.

“I need to take a bath…!”

---

So.

“Waa!?”

“Ah. Hatsune-san.”

A one-on-one situation was dangerous!

Thinking that, I hurried towards Ayanon's house.

Icchi came out of the front door.

“Wait, is that Icchi? Are you leaving already…?”

“Haha, actually, I'm going to stay over. I'm just going to get some clothes.”

“Oh! I see…”

Ayanon, what would you have done if I couldn't make it?

…Would it have just been the two of them sleeping over?

That's not okay!

They have no sense of danger. Icchi is a guy, you know?

Plus, he used to like her…

Well, I don't think he's that kind of person.

But you can't be too careful!

In any case, that was close!

“?”

“Ah. Um, Icchi, how are you doing?”

“Haha, yeah. I am doing well.”

Not knowing what to talk about, I ended up asking a strange question, like a beginner in English conversation.

“Um, are you okay…?”

“…Yeah. I don't know what's going to happen, though.”

I cautiously asked.

Even though we were friends, it felt presumptuous to intrude on family matters.

This was my first time dealing with something like this.

I had only met people from families that were close and harmonious.

I didn't know what to do.

I hated that I could only say vague things like this.

“I see…”

“Yeah.”

I might be becoming cowardly.

Is it because I don't want to be disliked?

Even though we're friends?

“…Well, I'll be going now. Is that okay?”

“Oh, sorry for stopping you, Icchi. Later, um. I’ll wait for you.”

I stumbled over my words, feeling oddly nervous, my face growing hot.

“—Yeah. Well, see you later.”

But he said that with a smile, not seeming to mind my awkwardness.

Just that made me really happy.

“Yeah!”

I was looking forward to my time with Icchi after a long time—

“…He'll be okay, right?”

—He should be.

I whispered that as I watched his back as he ran off.

---

[Nina PoV]

I curled up inside the house.

What I recalled was the scene from earlier.

[—“Okay, I'll take the picture in ten seconds…”—]

With a small child.

[—“Icchi-kun, come closer!”—]

[—“O-Okay!”—]

[—“You were the one who suggested it, yet you're so nervous.”—]

He was taking pictures in front of the entrance with an astonishingly beautiful girl.

[—“I don't want to take pictures. I hate them…”—]

In the past—he always said that and refused.

Even when asked to take one together, he could only make a displeased face.

[—“I'm sorry, Nina. I'll stay to the side.”—]

[—“Let's take a picture, Hajime-Nii. It's a Christmas party after all.”—]

[—“Sorry. I just can't do pictures…”—]

He always rejected them.

Even when we were little. Even as we grew older.

Only when taking pictures with me!

“…Why? Why…?”

His album, which should be in this room.

The last page had one picture torn out.

The one displayed in his private room across the way was a photo of just the two of us, Hajime-Nii and me.

Most of the photos were candid shots taken by Mom, but that one was the only one where he was facing the camera.

After begging him along with the whole family, we finally managed to take that one shot.

The day before we flew to America—that was the only day he allowed a photo.

A “modest peace sign.”

With an unfamiliar pose.

The image showed him forcing a smile, looking strained, and—

“…It's so different…”

The pose was the same.

But the smile he had when taking pictures with “them” was completely different.

[—“Yeah. It's the best picture…”—]

[—“You're being too dramatic.”—]

Yes, the one who said that.

The one who laughed with her.

Surely—he was laughing from the bottom of his heart.

“…Ugh.”

I shouldn't have looked.

I shouldn't have done that.

—I wish I hadn't known.

“…I'm such an idiot. What am I even doing?”

I had assumed he was still the same as he was during the bad times.

I thought he was still that pathetic brother who was always alone.

The expressions he had while with “them” were different from the one I knew.

“He even threw away the album.”

What replaced it were—

“Polo Masterclass”

“The Hidden Truth of Polo—Getting Closer to the Nomads of That Time!”

“More! Tips for Horseback Riding (Polo Edition)”

“—What a bunch of nonsense books!!”

Even when I screamed, it only echoed emptily in the room.

The pages were filled with strange people who hit balls with sticks while riding horses.

It's dangerous. Get off the horse and do it!

I can't understand!!

…Don't joke with me.

Are you saying that album, filled with pictures of me, has less value than this?

“Something like this. Something—more incomprehensible than horseback ice hockey!?””

I clenched my fists.

I glared at the books in front of me.

“…Ugh. I'm so done…”

And then I came back to reality.

I'm the worst.

I rummaged through someone's room without permission.

I insulted the books he reads.

I disappointed myself for no reason.

I cried for no reason.

“…I want you to go back to being Onii-chan…”

The fact that my brother, who had always been by my side, was now in a completely different world.

He wouldn't look at me.

He wouldn't play with me anymore.

He used to be so clingy when we were in elementary school.

But since middle school, he suddenly distanced himself from me.

That day he said he would be fine alone.

That day when he said, “I'm okay without you, Nina.”

I thought he would take those words back soon.

Stubbornly refusing to come back to Japan.

“…Please come back, Onii-chan—”

With that faint whisper, tears fell onto my palm.

“—Nina?”

What I heard was his voice.