Chapter 3: I always say this, but aren’t you cute?

Translated and Edited by: ynlucca.

Common Honorifics:
-san: A polite suffix, but not excessively formal.
-kun: A common suffix among friends and younger people.
-chan: A common suffix among people you’re close with, mostly used for feminine nicknames and girls, since it’s cutesy and childlike.
-senpai: A common suffix and noun used to address or refer to one’s older or more senior colleagues in a school, workplace, dojo, or sports club.

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T/N: Not the MC’s POV.

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At the end of a dimly lit hallway, as I walked fresh off the bath, my eyes landed on a strip of light cutting through the corridor from a door at the end of the hall. Wiping my wet hair with a towel, I clicked my tongue and asked myself if it was happening once again.

It should be long past her 10 PM curfew by now. She was supposed not to stay up late, and yet she still keeps doing it again and again, breaking the promise she made to mom.

Really, what’s so interesting about it?

It’s been about two years now. I don’t remember the name of the product, but my sister is really addicted to a certain game. Even I know that it’s played with cards. I mean, I love playing UNO and other card games—sometimes I even spend all day with my friends playing them.

But the one my sis plays is a little different, to say the least. It’s the kind commonly played by nerds nowadays.

Frankly, it’s a weird game with anime-like designs, with robots, creepy-looking monsters, sometimes oddly cute animals, and other times naughty pictures of girls. Well, it’s all sorts of weird stuff.

It’s not the kind of game you play with a big group, but rather one you sit alone in front of a computer screen for hours on end without reprise. I even heard they fight with numbers and letters written on the cards, and they appear to move around the “battlefield” or something. I just don’t get it.

“When this is in your hand, you can use this girl to put a powerful lock on your opponent’s hand.”

“Eh, what? Powerful rock? Damn, that guy’s serious about rock and roll, huh?” (T/N: Rock and Lock have the same pronunciation in this case. Pun intended by the author.)

Do cards make sounds nowadays?

“I want to pin them but it’s too expensive and out of my reach.”

“What? Pin? Are they also hairpins or something? Also, expensive?”

I know many eccentric accessories are expensive, but even so, using a card as a hairpin is too fashionable and avant-garde for me. On this good day, she picked up a few cards and started saying the equivalent of arcane words to me. She has such a beautiful twinkle in her eyes when she does that, you can feel her love for the game. I can’t see that as something foul, I just can’t.

She spoke, and I ended up listening to the end even though I didn’t get any of it. My sister is usually so quiet and demure, so where did she learn all that stuff? Not sure as to how many times her sleepless nights will happen again, I let out a deep sigh.

Well, this is a bit my fault to begin with.

I was desperate at the time, but I can still look back and say this is the correct answer for my sister. But even then, I found myself regretting such a way of doing things. After all this time, I still think that there should’ve been another way.

It all started on that day, with the words she let escape from her lips in my room.

Despite it being her time to go to bed, she still opened the door with a tinge of anxiety, and timidly, she walked inside while calling me. “Big sis… Y’know, I’d like to do this…”

I was so happy I almost cried right then. She hadn’t talked to me in such a long while until that night, and what’s more, she hadn’t shown an iota of interest in anything, spending every waking hour shut inside her room, crying on her own. That same little girl wanted something, so she asked me for help.

She then mentioned a card game she was passionate about, and would be to this day. Still in elementary school, she said she wanted to start something, yet still didn’t know what it really was. With pink licking her cheeks and faltering words, I could tell right away she was trying her hardest to be brave since she was always so modest.

I’m sure any other big sisters like me would understand my position. Upon seeing your little sis in such a vulnerable state, you’d just scream “Leave it all to your big sis!”, wouldn’t you?

A few tears even threatened to fall.

I mean, such a thin, small, and gentle ball of love was suffering hardships I couldn’t begin to understand. How many times have I wished I could take her place? I even resented God, wondering why he hadn’t picked me to go through what she was going through.

—That same girl came to me for help.

I had no idea what it was all about, nor did I know how to make an account on the site, and I wasn’t the least bit interested to know the rules, but I still looked it up and was redirected to a beginner message board. I had to give it a little bit of try and see what I could do, so I posted a message on behalf of my sister asking for help for a newbie.

“What’s your account name gonna be? I mean, you can’t use your real name here.”

“Hmm? No?”

“It’s a no-no.”

I had a bit of trouble with the name, and I wondered what to do with it, but I still couldn’t come up with anything clever out of the blue. We were both eating ice cream side by side that night.

“Vanilla is the only winner, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I like it the best! Vanilla is my favorite!”

“Then this is the only way.”

After all this time, she still seems to be playing with the name I chose for her that day. I thought she’d change it sooner or later since it’s something I came up with to my own tastes.

Then, as time passed, she got better at the game—though slowly—and apparently made some good friends on the message board. I had a bad prejudice in my mind that people who played these kinds of games were all weird, gross men, but isn’t this lovely girl in front of me cuddlable?

“What’s your friend like?” I asked her.

“Ehehe, it’s a secret!”

No matter how many times I asked her, she wouldn’t tell me. I just hope he’s not some f*cking freak. If he dares try to do something to my precious little sister, I’ll make hell freeze over. —Needless to say, I was a bit nervous about it.

“He’s a very nice and kind person,” she continued.

While she didn’t tell me more about the guy, apparently he’s keeping an appropriate distance from her, not even knowing each others’ real names or faces. He also seems to be teaching her a lot of other things, like internet literacy and the like, I guess that’s what it’s called? Anyway, he’s doing that, and he seems like a swell guy from what I’ve heard.

No, he’s not just a good guy…

I don’t know who he is or where he’s from, but if I could meet him someday, how would I thank him? Kneeling down, face to the ground is a bit much, but I’m so grateful I just can’t thank him enough.

Until they met, I’d tried everything to make my sister feel even the slightest bit better, to see her smile, but none of my attempts ever worked. It was when I was at my wits’ end that this game and that message-board guy entered her life, and before I knew it, she started smiling like before, and my house lit up as if back to normal.

Daddy and mommy no longer cry when they’re alone, and my conversations with my sister only increased. And well, so far so good. Despite my strange intro to the topic, it didn’t end up being a bad story or something… Really, humans are such selfish creatures, aren’t they?

—I mean, I’m not saying there were no problems as time went on.

The girl is doing well, thankfully, and as for me, I like the current situation. I approached the end of the hallway toward my sister’s bedroom, deliberately making loud footsteps. This is my way of helping a sweet lil’ sis out.

I have no intention of saying anything in particular as long as the room is tidy and there are no traces before I get inside. But if she’s playing cards, as usual, this late at night, as an older sister, I’ll have to drop the thunder.

She’s not allowed to play cards after 10 PM. The other day, she stayed up late with her cards sprawled over her desk playing “this, that, and the other,” ending up with a mighty scolding from our parents.

Normally, my mom’s a sweet tongue-in-cheek sort of woman, but when scolding, she does so firmly. She knows my sister isn’t in good physical condition, so it isn’t good for her to stay up too late. That’s why it’s such an important thing for this promise not to be broken. If it ends up being, they might confiscate her cards this time.

Really, I’m not saying I don’t want you playing with them, sis. You’re just a kid who tried her best at everything, so if we don’t set some rules for you, you’ll lose sleep every single day. No way would that be good, hence our promise to each other.

I’m able to do whatever I want with my hair, nails, and makeup because my parents understand me. Listening to a friend of mine, she can’t do as she likes, so I’m very thankful for my freedom. It’s only natural that I’d want to keep my promises to uphold this status quo.

That’s why I was so angry, even to the point of crying during the last time she ended up staying awake playing games. I wondered what was so good about it that made her break a promise with her family.

Oh well, reaching the door, I coughed loudly to announce I was there, then waited about five seconds before knocking on the door just in case.

“…A little bird told me there’s a cute bad girl staying up late right here~!” I said through the door.

“Ehehe, and another told me there was a sweet big sister coming over!”

When she answered, I opened the door. Lo and behold, the sight I was expecting to see—she put the cards away securely, but there was still that sheet of fabric she uses to play with peeking out her desk.

“Aw, your face is bright-red,” my sister has had frequent fevers since that day.

She sat in her chair and said, “I wasn’t playing cards though?”, trying her best to look nonchalant. I’m sure though, she must’ve gotten that fever due to overexerting herself.

Placing my hand on her forehead, I feel it’s not too hot, but you can never be too careful in life.

“This is different though…” She may have thought she could hide it from me, but that’ll never happen. How long does she think I’ve been her sister, huh? Don’t underestimate me.

“What’s the difference? Dummy.”

I turned her chair around and hugged my little sister from the front, noticing she was in a somewhat chipper mood. Still, she wasn’t that hot, but I still got her a thermometer and water.

“Mmm, thanks, sis,” I lifted her up and sat her down on the bed right next to me. Her body was light as a plume, frail, so even I could support her.

As I was cleaning the sheet off her desk, I thought I’d give her a few words of warning before mom found out, but then she suddenly called me:

“Y’know, sis…” She started, her doll-like face rosy-red as she rubbed her leg. “Am I… Am I a wonderful person?”

What in the world do you expect me to say? As I try to wrap my head around her question, all that left my lips was a confused, “Wha?”

Y’know, a girl like you, with long arms and legs, fair skin, a kind personality, rocking a short bob with the silkiest hair out there, as well as that cute doll-like small face—are you asking me if you’re ‘wonderful’?

Haah… I’m so sick of this. Not many questions in this world are this stupid.

I noticed she was recoiling into her futon as if escaping, so I forcibly pulled it off her, covered her again with it, and started tickling her sides without letting her see where.

“You’re so so wonderful! I mean, you’re my proud little sister!”

She answered by laughing loudly and exclaiming, “stop, stop!”, so mom would be here any second now.

“Wait a second, you even ate my ice cream!”

When I opened the freezer, I saw it empty. I mistakenly thought there wasn’t enough for us, so I went out to buy some in the freezing cold of the night.

“B, but mom said I could eat—!”

“What time do you think it is? Go. To. Bed!” It’s late for her, so if mom finds out I’ll be screwed too.

—But still, I need to get this out there.

So what if you were a bit crippled by an illness that day, three years ago, little sis?

You’re irreplaceable to me, and you’ve always been my sweet, sweet little sister. Nothing has changed, and nothing will. While I’m at it, I’ll even laugh my a*s off as hard as I can, because I feel really lucky…

I’m so happy to be your big sister.

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