*inhale* ding-dong

Like any other day, I visit this house in the morning, the Nakamura Household. Brushing off my hair a little, I don't think I look too terrible. I glance around, no matter how you look at it, it’s still quite early in the morning. To be fair, if I don’t reach this place any sooner, I won’t have any chance to meet him for much of the day since we’re in different classes. Sigh, I can only guess luck is not on my side. 

…did I say him? A- ahaha- no-no, I mean them, the siblings both. 

"Coming~!" 

H- he’s here, I need to keep my acts together. His footsteps are approaching the front door, and the moment he opened that door, I got a little tense. 

"Sorry for making you wait, Akari"

Kaito greets me with his backpack over his shoulder. W-why does he look cool!? Quick! Say something Akari

“I see you’re still awake on time. Well done!” I pretend to lift my left arm and check my watch 

“...do you really have to keep track of that every morning?” I may have used the same tactic way too often 

“I-I’m just making sure you don’t oversleep, l-look, if I don’t find you here in 2 minutes, I’ll just bust in and pull your legs out”

“Don’t do that!”, he exclaims. “And also… I kind of feel bad if you had to pick me up from here every day when you could have just waited for us at the intersection ahead” 

“You sure about that? I mean, if I remember correctly, last time I stopped picking you up, you were terribly late… or more like, worst you didn’t even go to school once”

“That was over months ago, you can’t keep lecturing me over that incident, and besides… we’re in high school already”

“No can do!” I affirm my position here. “Honestly, I ignored you for just a few days and you turned delinquent all of a sudden. I can’t keep my eyes away from you just for a second, can I?”

“De-delinquent?!… Look, I may have… misbehaved a little, but I’m not like that anymore, okay! And I told you already, I uh… I had to stay at home that one time because my sister was sick that day”

“...siscon. A very desperate siscon”

“...”, he refused to say anything back. He can’t deny it.

“I know right~ onii-chan is such a sad human being that could only stay alive with his little sister by his side” Haru appears from his back with this grin plastered all over her face. 

“Aaand here’s the source of all evil!” I shifted my gaze over to his little sister 

“W-why are you being mean to me out of nowhere”

“My instincts are telling me you weren’t sick that day like you’re still stupidly healthy the day before and after like usual. I don’t know what’s going on, but something must have happened, and you two still refuse to tell me anything!” I can’t remember how many times I said that already, but I still hope I can get something out of their mouth, the truth. 

“Well, your instinct’s wrong! That’s just you assuming things, I was really reaallly sick, you know~”

Despite what she says, I can’t honestly believe she was truly sick that day since… I catch a glimpse of them both together in a cafe on my way home that very day, but I never told them about that since I can’t be sure that was actually them when I couldn’t discern their faces accurately from my point of view in a moving car… and I saw them peck each other passionately. 

“Or...would you like to join us if I invited you to skip school with us?” she cleverly shifted the topic at hands 

“...why would you think I will join you for that?”

“Oh~ c’mon Akari-neechaan~~ I know you’re just jealous, you’re tired from those lessons every day anyway, right~?”

“Don’t twist my words!”

“Fuehehe” she says as she closes the door behind her, by then we were standing around in front of their house. 

I begin to stare at this little sister again…this girl, she’s pretty much a brat… but I can’t hate her, she’s cute, and more importantly she’s important to me. I recognized her like she was my own family, a little sister you can’t help but protect. 

“Sigh…” Kaito just exhales and turns in my direction. “Anyway, Akari, if you’re still worried about me oversleeping, you don’t need to. Haru here has been helping me a lot in that aspect”

This is not the first time he said that sort of thing to me. I’m not sure if it’s truly his consideration of me or something else, but I know I came to their house with his over-sleepiness as a reason, the sole reason. If he tries that hard to convince me that I have nothing to worry about, then is he saying I don’t need to pick him up anymore? Does he not want me to visit him at all?

“Oh~ so you do appreciate my help and what I did this morning” Haru just decides to interject again

“...well I would appreciate it more if only you could just…”, he peeks at me for a second. “Be less annoying about it, I would be more grateful, to be honest” 

“Heh~ so you think I’m an annoyance? Would you rather I stop waking you up for real?” 

“...that…” Kaito sounds troubled by that, maybe his over-sleepiness is still a real issue for him, and maybe there’s something I can do to help him. 

“Maybe I should be the one to wake you up?” …wa-wait why did I say

“A- Akari?”

“Ooooh~ see onii-chan, Akari-neechan is offering herself here, what if we let her in and asked her to wake you up from your sleep the way we always do~”

“No! You can’t, if you do that then-” Kaito just shouted and I’m a bit taken back by that 

“Onii-chan~ why are you rejecting her so hard~?” 

“I- I uh”

“What were you expecting her to do~? Hmmm~~ I was just asking her to. Just. Wake. You. Up.” she’s poking him repeatedly   

“... I just don’t want to burden her with such a thing” he’s averting his gazes 

“And yet you’re expecting such a thing from me every morning”

“Yo- you were the one who did that to me first”

“So you want me to stop?”

“No.. I mean…”

… we’re just talking about waking someone up from sleep… right? Why does it feel like I’m missing something big here…

“Okay then, Akari-neechan listen here, since you were willing to help me, then from tomorrow morni-”

“N- no! Don’t!”

Does he have to reject my suggestion that hard? 

“Wait, it’s not what you think Akari! I- I’m not saying you can’t wake me up, I just assumed you would- No, I mean,, you can enter my room in the morning, it’s just that-”

“Uwaaa~ Onii-chan, you really did just invite a girl so nonchalantly into your room. How much more degenerate can you be?” 

“No! You got it wrong!!”

“Akari-neechan~ onii-chan is such a brute, isn’t he? He lets you into his room, but he won’t let you wake him up, you saw how he refuses your offer like that… and he sincerely considers my aid as an annoyance. He’s very much an indecisive person”, she’s trying to appeal to me now 

“If this goes on, he might not be awake at the right time tomorrow~”

“...I can try setting up my alarm” 

“Impossible” “No way” 

Kaito just made a sensible plan but we both know it’s inconceivable for him to wake up on time… I know since he has always been like that since we were kids… it’s kind of like an attached trait he couldn’t remove from himself.  

“Y- you guys have no trust at all” he’s pouting. He’s pouting. 

“Oh no… he’s pouting, if we let him be, he might just lock himself up in his room and won’t let anyone in.”

“I’m not that stupid!”

“Yes, you are! Hey, Akari-neechan, I’m sorry but can you at least help me convince him to let me wake him up as usual~”  

Help me convince him 

I- if you think about it, I certainly can’t just waltz into his room to wake him up. Maybe there are things I’m not supposed to see, that’s just a breach of privacy, I’m just his childhood friend, nothing else. Yeah- I can’t hope for too much, this much distance is enough for us. In case of waking him up, I’m sure I can depend on Haru, she’s his little sister after all. I mean… she’s just waking him up as usual, I don’t know what she meant by usual, but why do I need to worry about that too much anyway.

“R- right, obviously she’s your little sister. It’s okay if you couldn’t let me in to wake you up. I mean, it’s just waking someone up from sleep. Why are we even talking about this so much? Haha…” I could only give a dry laugh at the end, why am I troubled by this incredibly minor issue anyway... instead of convincing him, this is just me convincing myself 

“Yeah, you heard that, onii-chan? It’s my right as your little sister to wake you up as usual~”

“...”, Kaito just looks at her and then turns to me. “I-.. I’m sorry Akari”

“For what?”

“...nothing, it’s just-” 

Before he says anything more, their mom peeks out of the front door. 

“Why are you three still here, you’re going to be late”

Now that she mentions it, why are we talking so much here anyway, fortunately, if we start walking now, we could still leisurely stroll to school without getting late. 

“Oh, mom’s right! Onii-chan! I want to buy that exclusive pricey limited candy as I said before”

“Are you seriously trying to buy some treats before school?!”

“Yes! I’m crazy for sugar, now let’s goo!” she just ran off 

“Wait! That lil’ brat”

And they just marched away like that, their dynamics are just too weird and off sometimes but overall they’re fun to interact with.

“Fufu, I don’t think I would ever see them as anything but kids,” their mom says as she stares at those siblings’ silhouette from a distance away

“Haha, I agree… well then I need to catch up to them so-”,... but suddenly I was curious 

“...hm? What’s wrong Akari?”

“I’m sorry, Nakamura-san, there’s something I want to ask.”

“Mou~ I told you already, you can just call me ‘mom”

“The- there’s no way I can do that, you know”

“Fufu”

As always, their mom is a kindhearted person 

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but were you listening to our conversation just now?”

“...You’re quite attentive”, she has this warm smile over her

“We were pretty loud after all” I just had to reply with sincerity. “But…you may have heard just now, but I’m entrusting Haru to continue to help Kaito with his sleeping issues”

“...Yes, I’ve heard of that”, there’s a weight to her reply

“I- I don’t have anything to worry about, right?”, my curiosity wins me over

“...yes, there’s nothing to worry about… if there is-” she said it as if she was trying to convince herself 

“Hm? If there is?”

“Ha- haha, nothing, I’m just a little tired”, from her expression, I can be sure that ‘little tired’ is not just a figure of speech

“But, I’ll be honest with you, Akari-chan, I feel more at ease if you were the one to wake him up instead” 

I want to ask more on what she meant by that, but my guts are telling me not to. 

After all, I have my own set of worries. 

This is likely just a coincidence, but ever since her sister was supposedly sick that day, they were… essentially inseparable.