Haru-Naru ♪♪♪ Love is a Comedy

Coming home from the school, I went into the living room and saw my mother, who seemed to have just come back from shopping. While putting things into the refrigerator, she hummed happily to herself and seemed to be in a good mood. Did something good happen?

Holding a wheat tea in one hand, I teased her. "Mom, what are you grinning at? Are you drunk or something?"

"Shut up, Haruto! I'm not drunk! it's just that, just now, the lady next door gave me a compliment. 'That daughter of yours is really impressive,' she said."

"Ahh… so it was about Naruko… " I murmured while my face twitched in irritation, and my mother's face burst into a huge smile.

"Yesterday during club activities, somehow or other she did amazingly well, and it seems she'll be participating in a big tournament later. The lady next door heard from her daughter."

"Oh? And what type of club is she in?"

"What? You don't know, even though you're her brother?

"How should I know? We attend different schools, you know."

"Geez, you two seriously don't have a good relationship, do you? She does track, you know, track."

Hey hey, give me a break… she has good looks. She excels at schoolwork. And now she's also a sports prodigy? Dammit, enough already. This stuff does exist only in manga, where there are characters that are just good at everything. But because this was reality I was really bothered by this all… well, I guess they did exist. This type of freak-like being.

"But, does she have time to do club activities? Studying and playing with friends… doesn't she have to do a lot of other things?"

"Well, of course, she has to keep up with schoolwork and other things too. Otherwise, I really wouldn't approve of it. You might not know, but she's also working as a magazine model."

Well, yeah, sure. It probably wasn't very easy to get this stubborn woman to let Naruko go off and do something flashy like being a model.

"She made a promise with me. Let her do whatever she wants, and she'd be sure to keep up with everything else."

"I see… " I responded in a vague way.

Mom grinned broadly. "And now… she's really pretty famous in the neighborhood. She's also so polite when she goes outside, and greets everyone properly… and also like me she has such beautiful looks, doesn't she?"

"H-Huh?" I raised my eyebrows in complete disbelief, but Mom continued on without paying me any heed. Well, certainly, they both know how to completely ignore other people when they're talking.

"She's also really popular with the elderly! She really makes me proud too! All the others are so envious of her."

"But isn't all that politeness just part of the agreement with you? Her motives aren't exactly pure, you know."

"Not pure? That doesn't really matter. Even if she didn't talk it would be the same, wouldn't it? Naruko would still be great—that wouldn't change."

She's being so blunt about it. Will she really be alright, my mother? But well, she did have her reasons. Naruko put a lot of time and effort into doing this in order to keep her freedom, and she managed to come out with great results. That at least I had to recognize.

It's not like wanting to do something is the same as being able to properly do it. At the very least, it would have been impossible for me. Although lately, whenever people talk about Naruko it's always been "she's so great!" this and "she's great!" that. Do people not know any other words? Although it's possible I'm just speaking from prejudice. Well, whatever. Honestly, it's not that amusing to hear my sister's praises at every turn. It makes me feel like my own shortcomings are being emphasized. This is sort of a shameful way of thinking about it, though. As these complicated thoughts flew through my head, my mother said something unexpected. "Now that I think about it, lately that girl's been more lively than usual. Although, it's probably a change that only I've noticed."

"Oh?" As I raised my eyebrow, my mother said something crazy.

"It's… definitely a boy, isn't it?! Haruto, do you know anything about it?"

"A b-boy?"

"Yes, there's no mistaking it. She met a boy—that's why she's smiling so much now!"

That's not it. Do you really think there would be a boy that would go out with that girl? If there was, I'd give in and concede that he is a god. But my mother clearly didn't agree, so she excitedly investigated.

"So, you don't know? Even a vague idea would be fine."

"Why would I know? I have a bad relationship with her, remember?" I answered as if it was obvious, and my mother stared at me with pursed lips.

"Seriously, Haruto, you really should have looked at your sister. She's doing so well, so it's obviously not a problem with the genes."

"Unfortunately, Mom, I guess those genes came from your side… I'll just have to go the straightforward way and keep studying." At my sharp parting shot, I left the room. Putting my hand on the doorknob, I opened the door with a "clang!'

Naruko has been more lively than usual, huh? Well, I do have a guess as to the reason. Maybe… although it seems unbelievable. Being shown her surprising hobby, being complained by her at every step, being made to play an eroge, being taken along to the offline meeting, being dragged around Akiba… maybe the life counseling that I was forced to give seems to have had a bit of an effect on her.

***

Couple days later, in the evening, I finally finished Loving my Little Sister. Honestly, it was a troublesome, difficult ordeal to get through. I mean, it wasn't as if it was boring. It was just that this game had already driven me insane a countless number of times. Already having a real sister, I had to endure playing a sister capture game like this, and somehow or other survived up to this point.

I did something pretty impressive, if I say so myself. No… seriously, I'm really, really happy… I'm seriously filled with emotion. Setting aside my impressions of the actual game, I feel an extraordinary sense of accomplishment. Why am I getting so excited over this? A warm feeling broke forth from inside my chest…

Yes! I did it! Happy happy! Hooray! I want to shout my triumph out to the world! Haha! I won't ever have to grovel to those little devils ever again! I won't have to listen to their whispers of "Onii-chan, is it okay?" and cry tears of blood ever again! Yaaaaaaaaahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I was showing an idiotic and rare amount of high energy. But even I couldn't stop this excitement! And then, suddenly… on the computer I had borrowed from Naruko, the END credits began to roll.

Sitting at the desk I usually worked at, I stretched my back muscles with all my might and let out a breath. After that, the feeling of accomplishment slowly dwindled into nothingness… my chest tightened. The high spirits of just a few moments before came quickly crashing down. It was my first time feeling the strange emptiness that lingered right after finishing a galge. Nothing good can come of this.

What was up with this feeling, as if a wise man had just achieved enlightenment? Hm… and why was I so worked up a few moments before? Well, let's go return the game then. With a clear and serene determination, I stood up. I left my own room, and knocked on the door to Naruko's room.

Kshh. The door opened slightly, and my sister poked her head out. As usual, she glared at me as if she was looking at her sworn enemy.

"What? Do you want something?"

"I'm here to return the game."

Geez, this girl… in the end, reality and games are different, aren't they? Here, I definitely couldn't go through event sequences and generate good will that way. There seriously had to be bugs in the difficulty level of this game.

Naruko took the computer from me, and spoke with a doubtful tone,"You finished it?"

"Yeah, I finished it."

"And?"

"Well… " Hey, Naruko… what's with that evil professor expression? "Well, it was really interesting?"

"In what ways? Be more specific." Naruko began her emotionless cross-examination.

Ah… I see… right now, I was stuck in one of those "decision points" like in the game… but, the affection points the sister in front of me had for me were already completely in the negative. So, if I made a poor choice, my life would end… and in this game of real life, there were no saves and reloads… my fate would be decided by a single decision. Dead or alive. Well, wasn't this great.

"Umm… Ichiko-chan's scenario? The latter half was… a good story, I think. That is, when their parents didn't like their relationship… and Ichiko ran away from home… and then the main character chased after her… and the background changed to that setting sun… that scene."

Upon hearing my response, Naruko shut her eyes and was silent. Perhaps I had managed to give a correct response… or not. But honestly, I had just picked the scene I had played most recently. Clicking furiously like that through such emotionally burdensome scenes, do you honestly think I could remember all of them, idiot?!

At long last, Naruko opened her eyes. With narrowed eyes as if she was looking down at me, she spoke, "W-Well… I guess you sort of understand then."

Ooh… somehow, it seemed like I had given a correct response. Heh… and then I thought about this once again. This is so ridiculous! This seriously isn't funny! Why do I have to talk with my real sister about fictional sister games?! I mean, I had already tried very hard to help her make friends so I wouldn't have to talk about this stuff in the first place! First, tell me what happened with those people, can't you?!

"But, you still have room for improvement. That isn't the only good scene in the game. For example—"

"W-Wait." Interrupting Naruko when she started trying to speak, I tried to change the subject. "We can talk about that stuff at length later… but first tell me. What's been happening with those people we met at the offline meeting?"

"Huh? Ah… those people," Naruko pursed her lips, and with a blunt tone, beckoned me into her room. "Come in."

It seemed that she didn't think it would be appropriate to continue this conversation in the hallway. "Okay." I followed her and entered.

Naruko put the computer on the table and sat on the bed. She cracked the joints on her neck, and spoke in an extremely uninterested tone. "In short, we've been keeping in touch, even now. Through mail and through messages."

"Oh? Then you've become friends."

"Friends, I wouldn't say… more like conversation partners? Really, we just talk with each other. They tell me things that I wouldn't know, for example… well, it's pretty useful at least."

Wait, that sounds exactly like friendship, doesn't it? She's just dead set on not using that word, it seems. When you're hiding your true personality, you don't have trouble with calling people friends, so why can't you be straight with the people you can be completely open and honest with? Well, it's not like this is unexpected.

"So, you haven't met with them in person again?"

"Yeah. That chuuni girl seems to live relatively close by, but Mio is a bit far from me. So they're thinking of organizing another offline meeting… well, I guess it can't be helped, right? I'll go for their sake… yeah."

"Huh… I see… " It seems like I did a pretty good job. Not only did I clear the game, but it seems that I succeeded in getting Naruko to make friends she could talk openly with.

My mother had said that Naruko has been looking pretty happy lately… and it also seemed that she had become more self-sufficient and stopped relying on me. It seems that she intended to go to the next offline meeting by herself. So, everything seemed to be going pretty well, and there was no more need for our "life counseling" sessions. Geez… so, I guess that my work is done. Feeling refreshed, I spoke. "Hey, Naruko. Don't go carelessly dropping your DVDs again, alright?"

"Shut up. Do you really think I would repeat something stupid like that?"

"Look who's talking. That time, just by shaking you a bit you were so flustered that you were so easily caught in my obvious trap, and tried to cover up your carelessness with your short temper."

As I reminisced with a grin on my face, Naruko blushed and threw a tissue box at me.

"Oops."

Moving my neck, I nimbly dodged it. Then I proceeded to escape from the room. Shutting the door behind me, I heard a loud "bang!" as something else collided into the door. She'll always be like this, won't she? She's pretty frightening, isn't she? Well, whatever. Haruto's life counseling services at this time were officially closed!