Yuna and I arrived at the big commercial facility and even though it had only been open for less than an hour, there were people everywhere.
There are too many customers. How can they have time to go out on the first day of a long holiday? No, from an outsider’s point of view, I must be one of them.
As soon as we arrived, I was dragged to a women’s clothing store. I’m currently in front of the fitting room while making sure the clerks won’t find me suspicious. Yuna Amane will start her fashion show any minute.
「Well? Does it suit me, oniichan?」
「Ah, yeah. It looks good on you.」
I don’t know anything about fashion or trends and just went with my instinct. Yuna is a good material so as long as she doesn’t wear anything less, she will be picturesque. A rough impression would be enough since she looks good on anything. I can’t believe she came from the same parents as me.
“Does it suit me?” is a game where you guess what has already been decided by the person herself.
When I received this explanation from Yuna before, I thought it was a meaningless act and it hasn’t changed up to this day. If you like something, try it on to check the size, and buy it. I don’t know why women find it difficult and I don’t think I’ll understand it for the rest of my life.
Since Yuna hid from the other side of the curtain again, I’ll have nothing to do again. When I looked around, I saw several guys in the same situation as me. Though I doubt the one behind the curtain is their little sisters.
Suddenly, I saw a man who looked like someone I knew.
Given that slightly tired look, it’s definitely the vice president. That means on the other side of the curtain is the president. The other party also seems to have recognized me and lightly bows his head. I did so too and after that, we decided to not look at each other.
Soon after that, Yuna came out again.
「Well? I changed the look compared to earlier.」
「Looks good looks good. It definitely suits you.」
I can see Yuna’s mood getting worse.
「Oniichan, no matter what I wear, your reaction is the same! Look properly!」
「No, they all really look good. It’s just that my vocabulary for impression doesn’t have any words on it.」
「Then practice now! Oniichan, Hirose-san won’t take you seriously if you’re like that.」
You’re going to pull that out again? Why do you want to stick Hirose with me that much? Are you going to earn some money if we get together?
「Don’t worry. I’m sure she doesn’t have any interest in me. So, are you going to buy anything?」
I’m sure Yuna had already tried everything she brought in the fitting room. It’s just taken that long to try them all out.
「I’ve already decided but I won’t tell you! I’ll buy some underwear so go to the bookstore and wait for me, oniichan. You are mentally tiring.」
「Really!? Then, I’ll go to the bookstore. Go there when you’re done buying.」
「Oniichan, Yuna will forgive you but you should never show that you are blatantly pleased when a girl asked you to act separately.」
I said “Yes yes” and left the women’s clothing store.
I wandered around the bookstore as if I’m in a museum. I knew it was nice to be in a space full of books. I’m going to recover my mental power.
For the time being, I picked up some specialized books I was interested in and checked them. After that, I put them in the basket.
Then, I looked around at the new books that were stacked flat.
「Amane-san, hello.」
The second daughter of the Hirose family, Iori-chan has called me out.
「Ah, hello.」
Maa, I didn’t talk to her much and I don’t even know what to say to her. I mean, why did she even talk to me?
「Amane-san can study, right? Do you have any reference book you can recommend?」
「Maa, if you’re really asking if I can study, I indeed can.」
Even though I’m like this, I’m second in class. Though I’m not as good as the class president, who’s always the first place, I’m not far behind. Though the recognition between the class president and me, the second place, is greatly different. The only people who know I’m second place are Shinozaki and Yuna.
「However, do you really need a reference book?」
「Yes. People around go to cram school but I don’t want to burden my family too much because our family is big.」
That’s certainly a lot of burden. If it’s only Hirose and Iori-chan, there shouldn’t be a problem sending them to cram school but there are 4 of them. I don’t know much about subsidies so I can’t say for sure but it must be difficult for their family to send the two of them to cram school.
「Oneechan and I have exams coming up so I want to make sure I’ll do well so she can worry less. Oneechan has been putting up a lot for us all these years.」
Her eyes were serious. I’m not really good at this kind of consultation.
「I don’t know what they do at cram schools. I just read textbooks and solve the problems there so I don’t know what method they use in cram school.」
「You mean, Amane-san managed to take the second place on your own!?」
She was terribly surprised.
By the way, how do you know that I’m second place? Maa, it doesn’t matter.
「When I was in junior high school, my parents told me that if I didn’t want to join any club, I should at least study. When I started going to high school, the only ones in our house most of the time were me and my little sister. I can’t go to cram school because I have to do housework.」
A respectful gaze is directed to me. That made me embarrassed.
「Areh? What are you doing, oniichan? Picking up girls?」
Fancy words interrupted our conversation. Of course, those words came from Yuna.