SS-Sibling Time

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<Author> : This is an extra chapter before the main story.
Chronologically, it will be around after the arranged marriage.
I hope you enjoy reading it as a short break from the main story!

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If you want to observe the changes over time, you should focus on high school and college students.
This is my personal view, but I’m sure it isn’t wrong.

 

High school students are at the most impressionable age, having left compulsory education, while college students, who have more time and money to spare, are more sensitive to the trends of the times.

Recently, tapioca has become explosively popular.

 

However, Minato-kun’s favorite trend is the candy Ramune sold at convenience stores.

<TL: Dunno if it’s always been like that but since I started translating, there’s been quite a few times he referred to himself in 3rd person.>

 

In addition to keeping his hands clean, he has recently noticed that the fact that he can eat them in small pieces is surprisingly ideal when he is reading a book.

Let’s put all this unnecessary talk aside and return to the point.

Trends play an important role for a student, although they are more visible and varied for girls than for boys.
They can start conversations and lead to a wider circle of friendships.

To begin with, a community among students today is not viable if they cannot keep up with the trend.

I may have overstated its importance a bit, but it is still important.

 

It is not a problem for someone like me, who does not have an antenna outside of the city to keep up with the latest trends, but it seems that both Shizuku and Yuuto are getting a certain amount of information.

Fashion, food, TV shows and magazines…

 

The list goes on and on, but I hear that they too make an effort to facilitate their relationships.

Kirasaka is not interested in food, but she does check out clothes and other things she wears.

 

I must admit that I thought this was surprising.

In other words, if I want to spend my school life as a student and build a reasonable friendship, I have to update my information on a daily basis …I thought to myself.

 

While I was spending my lunch break on the roof, I turned to the girls and said to them.

 

 

“I want to go to the pancake shop.”

 

I didn’t mean to say anything strange.
But, Shizuku and Kirasaka stared at me with their eyes wide open.

 

“…”

 

Shizuku silently put down her lunch box and put her right hand on her forehead and her opposite left hand on my forehead to measure my body temperature.

Every time she does this, I wonder if this is even a viable method for measuring temperature.

Well, I don’t think that I have some spur-of-the-moment fever or something…

 

“That’s weird …you don’t seem to have a fever and you’ve don’t seem to have eaten something weird.”

 

“It’s not weird…”

 

“I’ll call the doctor at my house, don’t worry, he’s very good.”

 

“No, I’m not sick…”

 

The two of them looked calm, but their actions seemed impatient.　
What, is it so unusual for me to mention the word pancake?

Is it a pancake panic?

I, who was looking at the two of them uncomfortably alone, was muttering such a thing internally.

After the two of them had cooled down mentally and understood that it wasn’t a fever or a strange illness that I had developed, we resumed our conversation.

 

“I heard there’s a new pancake shop nearby, right?”

 

“Minato-kun, I can’t believe you know that kind of information, I knew it, you aren’t well.”

 

“I’m sure it’s a high fever, and we’d better take care of it as soon as possible.”

 

“…I at least check out my hometown, alright?”

 

And I know this because I was talking to Yuuto this morning when he was on his way to school with us. …You guys were together, right?

I’m starting to get worried that the girls I saw this morning might be doppelgangers, but I have no choice but to tell them how I got the information as well.

 

“You know, Yuuto told me this morning…”

 

“Huh? Is it?”

 

“…”

 

Shizuku put her hand on her chin as if going back to her memory, and for Kirasaka, she even gave up the attempt to recall.

You are thoroughly uninterested regarding Yuuto, alright.

 

The result was the conclusion that neither of them had heard of the story, but anyway, the main point of this story is that I became interested in the store that Yuuto was talking about.

I had seen pancakes on TV and was interested in them, albeit a little late.

 

But let’s be honest …what’s the difference between hotcakes and pancakes anyway?

I think the two of them would know, but I’m afraid Kirasaka would make fun of me if I mention that, so I won’t do it.

 

 

I took out the store flyer I had received from Yuuto and showed it to Shizuku, but she shook her head and muttered that she didn’t know.

The trend hasn’t completely gone away, but it opened after a certain time, so Shizuku hasn’t visited it yet either.

 

If this is a place that even Shizuku, who holds the number one fighting power among girls in my small circle of friends, has never been to, then the bar is too high for me.

 

“Would you like to go there after school today?”

 

“I heard that …Yuuto went there, so maybe I should invite him, too.”

 

“I don’t like to stand out.”

 

I nodded in reply to Shizuku’s invitation and suggested the idea to them, but Kirasaka immediately expressed her disapproval.

The reality is that there are many women in this kind of store.

 

It was easy to predict that taking him to such a place would cause a commotion.

 

It would be fine if he had visited the store in a certain way, but if it was his first time going there, he would not want to be bothered with anything else.

I was sorry to Yuuto, but I decided to exclude him from the list of people to accompany me this time.

 

“I wanted to ask for a recommendation or something.”

 

“Why don’t you just ask the staff?”

 

“In these kinds of restaurants, the recommendation of the staff and the recommendation of the person who actually ate there are different, aren’t they?”

 

This time, I must know the recommendation that will not fail.

The first time, I wanted to know the recommendations based on the opinions of people who actually ate there, not just the waiter’s question-and-answer format recommendations, but I had no choice but to give up.

 

At any rate, it was decided that we would stop by the restaurant after school, so before the bell rang at the end of lunch break, I grabbed my luggage and got up.

 

“Ah…”

 

I got up and Shizuku was fixing the wrinkles on her school uniform when a voice came to me as if something had just occurred to her.

 

“I think I know that person.”

 

I couldn’t guess who it was, but I caught Kirasaka’s slightly disgusted expression out in the corner of my eyesight.

 

 

“Oh, I’ve been there once myself.”

 

After school, when I spoke to the intended person at the entrance of the building where the third-year students are located, I was told that at the very beginning of the conversation.

It was our school’s student body president, Hiiragi Akane-senpai.

 

As expected of a person who knows everything.

Although the relationship between the two of us has been a little awkward with the president due to an arranged marriage, there seems to be no particular problem in our daily lives.

I’m not worried about Kirasaka, who I’ve known for a long time, but because we’ve known each other for so long, there’s something embarrassing about knowing a side of us that we don’t know.

 

“Are you free today…?”

 

“I have time, but …can I take this as an invitation to a date?”

I called out to her and she asked with a smile on her mouth.

The two girls interrupted the bombshell with nothing but an apology for the visit.

 

“We’re joining too, we’ll be there too!”

 

“We’re just passing the time after school, Akane-san, you’ve got it all wrong.”

 

“She’s joking, don’t be in such a rush, both of you.”

 

It’s going to be a …troublesome combination.

The two people who were completely being played with, I returned the words appropriately, while letting out a sigh.

 

“Anything is fine …let’s just go for now.”

 

Thus, the party, including the President, went to the town after school.

In places where there are many students, they attract a great number of stares, but as we moved away from them, those stares diminish and by the time we reached the front of the store, I could hardly feel the eyes of those around us.

There are people around, but they don’t seem to be paying attention to their surroundings at the moment because their objective is the sweets.

Another factor was that, as expected, the majority of the customers were women.

 

The line was shorter than expected, and the waiting time seemed to be short.

While waiting in line outside, I looked at the exterior of the restaurant.

 

At first glance, it looks like an ordinary house, white in color, with a small sign made of wood outside and in front of the door.

There is no terrace, and the building is completely indoor only.

 

If you pass by the store outside of business hours, you can feel as if this was a secret base because then it is completely unbelievable that it could be a store.

After waiting outside for about 15 minutes, a waitress calls out to us and our turn comes.

President and I sit next to each other in the four-seater table, and Shizuku and Kirasaka sit across from us.

While we were waiting outside, a game of rock-paper-scissors was played to decide the seating order, and President won, so we were placed in this position.

 

President, without seeming to care about them, opened the menu and turned her eyes to me, who was sitting beside her.

“You wanted to ask for recommendations, didn’t you?”

 

“Yes, it doesn’t matter as long as President knows what it is.”

 

When I nodded and answered, President dropped her gaze with a thoughtful look on her face.

The two people across from me are also looking at each other and selecting one. I was looking at them with a poker face.

 

The letters written in katakana are so many that they are giving me a headache.

Sugar, maple, honey… I know what they mean, but I can’t imagine what they’ll be like, so I leave it completely up to them this time.

 

“It’s hard to pick any of them, but personally, I’d have to go with this one.”

 

President pointed to a Japanese-style pancake next to the item listed as the waiter’s recommendation.

The first thing I thought was that there are both Western and Japanese style pancakes, but if it is the president’s choice, then there is no doubt about it.

Shizuku and Kirasaka also decided to go with the President’s recommendation, so they trusted her and called out to the waitress.

 

“Four Japanese-style pancakes, please.”

 

I, on behalf of the others, told the waitress what we ordered, and the waitress responded with her business smile in full throttle.

While waiting for my order to arrive, the conversation turned to why I was interested in pancakes.

 

“I have to admit, I was surprised when I first heard about it. I even thought Shinra might have hit it on the head.”

 

“Why do you get doubt me first…?”

 

Well, I wouldn’t have visited if I hadn’t heard about a certain conversation the other day and Yuuto this morning.

But, it’s a little embarrassing to tell the three of them the reason.

While their conversation on the same topic continued, our order arrived.

 

“It’s the Japanese-style pancake!”

 

The pancake quietly placed in front of me was a light green color, perhaps mixed with macha green tea, and was even served with azuki beans and ice cream.

That’s a lot of sugar, isn’t it?

 

The girl’s eyes were shining, but I honestly don’t know if I could eat it.

I put the pancake in my mouth for the first time in my life, wondering if it would be okay if I left some…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few days later, on a holiday.

I visited the same restaurant.

 

Unlike the last time, there were more people there because it was a holiday, but I got there just in time for the store to open, so I was able to get in line where I could be guided to my table earlier than before.

 

“I recommend the Japanese style one…”

 

“I’m looking forward to it! It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a restaurant with my Nii-san.”

 

Next to me, my younger sister Kaede who was looking at the store as if she couldn’t wait to see what was in the store.

 

While waiting in line, we had a casual conversation, since it was the first time in a long time that the two siblings had some time alone together.

I quietly listen to my sister as she talks about what happened at school, what was fun, what was difficult, etc.

 

This is a normal conversation for the Shinra siblings.

In the midst of all this, I turned to Kaede with an air of confidence about the information I had heard from President the other day.

 

“Do you know …that crepe batter is also a kind of pancake?”

 

“Yes, I know!”

 

“…”

 

…Right?

Kaede, who should perhaps have more girl power than Shizuku, is not someone at my level in this kind of knowledge.

 

It was limited to me, and a little bit of awkwardness spread in the air, but even so, it soon disappeared as Kaede’s machine gun talk resumed.

That day was the first peaceful day in a long time in my hectic daily life.

 

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