Myself, Sis, Yokoso-san, and Pouko were gathered in the tea room.

 

What else was a room with two couches and a low table in the middle called?

 

Anyway, Pouko’s hairdo was back to normal. I was seated next to him, while sis and Yokoso-san were seated across us. The tea today was especially black.

“How’s the tea, Maryuku-san? Fufufu~”

“Yes Pouko, how’s the tea?”

By the way, I had a cup of green tea. The poor guy beside me was being forced to down an entire teapot of tea blacker than ink.

“A- As I was saying,” Pouko continued, “I- I’ve already spared Yokoso-san no details about—”

“Ara ara? Please repeat it again for the Akiino-kun and nee-san here, Pou-kun~”

Cold sweat rolled off his face and into the cup…! Oi, do you like adding salt to your tea or something? Wipe yourself properly!

“A- Ah, repeat? S- Sure.”

I’m starting to feel really bad for this guy.

 

…Okay, not really.

 

“T- Then, I’ll state it clearly.”

He stood up.

“I am Pouko Maryukuza! Head of the Maryukuza Reformist Movement!”

 

Only Yokoso-san gave a round of applause, which made it feel more malicious than sincere.

 

“De? Pou-kun, what do you do?”

“E- Ehh, it’s not like we’ve been doing anything lately…”

His head hung down in shame.

 

Maaa, I feel you. I keep telling myself I’d set up my own cult, but I’ve been putting it off for a while. I can’t even use “I’ve been getting pulled around by Yokoso-san” as an excuse—it’s not like I had to follow her around, right?

…I had a choice, right?

 

“Fufufu~ Don’t you worry, Pou-kun! We can still use your uselessness!”

“Guh?!”

“Ha ha ha, this nee-chan is enjoying this idiot’s pain~”

“Agh?!”

He mechanically sat down and gulped down the entire teacup like a shot of vodka. That’s what you get for two-timing.

 

Ah, come to think of it…

“Ne, Yokoso-san, why—no, how did you get signed into Pouko’s harem?”

“A- Ano, Kaba-san, where’s my honorific?”

“Fufufu, why don’t you ask the person himself?”

“Pouko, why were you harrassing Yokoso-san?”

Pouko started drinking straight from the teapot. Those deadfish eyes—poor bastard, but you had it coming.

“It was to protect Yokoso-san, okay!”

 

Ahhh, to protect her, huh… That’s what they all say!

 

“Even if you say that…”

“Really! It’s true!”

“Then, why did you deny it in court?”

“It’s because my brother has spies here!”

 

Ah, well, that makes sense.

 

“Fufufu~ It’s starting to sound like a succession dispute drama~”

“A- Anyway,” I butted in—this discussion needs to get moving! “It sounds like Pouko has the same goal as us, so why don’t we—?”

 

My sister raised her hand.

“And what goal is that, Kaba-kun?”

 

Ah. Right. She’s completely out of the loop. Wait, actually, what’s she doing here? Do I answer her?

Ah heck—Time Out!

I didn’t expect to use this on my own sister, but this was a touchy subject.

I’m smack dab in the middlest middle of the fence on this one. On one hand, if we let her in, maybe she can help us out. Despite how she is, she’s quite smart about handling people, and really, it’s because I’m me that she doesn’t use any of those smooth social skills on me—why would she? I think I can hazard to say that she’s better than Yokoso-san at it, given that Yokoso-san never really had employees for a long time, and the one employee she had now was pretty tame and nice to boot.

On the other hand… This is Hero stuff, you know? I mean, I also can’t just tell her “We’re gonna crush an illegal gambling operation because it’s getting in the way of me joining a proper cult.” That’d just be weird. There’s also the danger of her getting my parents involved in this—though, I think there’s an easy fix for that…

 

Hmmm… subtracting the costs from the benefits…

 

…Fine…

 

Time resumed its normal flow, and I faced my sister with all the dignity I could muster.

“We’re gonna crush an illegal gambling operation because it’s getting in the way of me joining a proper cult.”

 

Yokoso-san did the Fufufu thing, while Pouko seemed like he was wondering who was the weirder one between the two of us. I offered him a new teabag, and he deppressingly received it and tossed it into the lukewarm teapot.

Sis clapped once.

“Ah! Dad mentioned something like that!”

“Eh?”

“He always said ‘Ao-chan, one day, Kaba-kun will go through a cult phase, and it’s going to be your job to be there to support him!’”

“Nani.”

“Don’t worry, Kaba-kun! Your nee-chan is here!”

“No, I mean, why was dad so specific…”

“Eh? Ah, come to think of it… No, wait, don’t distract me!”

 

Sis stood up and activated her Strength magic so fast that I almost evaded—but somehow, I knew that she wasn’t going to hit me.

Rather, she clasped her hands under my arms and lifted me up like a child. She was looking up at me with a slight frown and a glint of complaint in her eye.

“When will you start trusting me, Kaba-kun?”

“Sis…”

“I know you activated Time Out to think about whether or not you really wanted to tell me.”

“Guh…” You caught me there, sis…

“Don’t think twice about pulling me into trouble, okay? Ne, have faith in your nee-chan, won’t you?”

“Sis, that sounds oddly irresponsible…”

“That’s because the younger sibling gets the irresponsibility pass!”

“Again, there’s something wrong with your theory on sibling dynamics! Also, put me down! Something important isn’t circulating!”

 

 

So, anyway, that’s how Pouko and my sister got roped into our little schemes.