Chapter 17: 17

 

Chapter 17

Let The Sleeping Princess’ Lie

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Fortunately, Mizuno-san and the others did not make any suspicious movements, and we were able to lead a very normal life for the past three days.

Instead, I feel like I’ve become even closer with Aikawa-san.

Some days we go to and from school together, and some days we don’t. It’s completely up to Aikawa-san’s whim, but even so, I’d say we’ve grown closer.

“This is refreshing…”

Today’s Saturday, a precious oasis for students. I came to the library to take a walk as well, because I saw a news report about how exposure to sunlight increases happiness.

“There are no new novels in the library.  I guess I’ll end it with the Programming Language books…”

I put the books I wanted to borrow into my bag one by one, pointing and checking things as I went.

It was very cool inside the air-conditioned library. So I often use this place as a summer retreat to read and study.

But the only problem was that the library doesn’t have that many new books.

There have been no new books in the light novels section for the past three months, and I’ve only seen one or two, “Revenge Series”* light novels that are currently booming right now. [TLN: Thanks Sanguis and Flamer for the help on this one.]

It’s not like they haven’t caught up with the times… But a lot of those kinds of books were popular in the past.

“Oh, there it is.”

I grabbed a programming-related book that I’ve been wanting to borrow for a while.

This book was so popular that it was always borrowed, or there was a waiting list of five people to reserve it.

Probably because of its content, this book was quite thick.

“That’ll get the job done.”

To be honest, I’d like to work as a System Engineer in the future.

I had been longing for this job since I was a little boy. I used to go on company tours with my family. At those times, the employees looked radiant and to my eyes they were very cool.

I wanted to be like them in the future, so that’s how it all started.

When I became a junior high school student, I started studying programming in earnest, and now I am able to create simple programs. [TLN: Meanwhile here I am struggling with a simple word doc.]

“The rest are at…”

I stopped and thought there for a moment. What’s inside my mind was–

(The reason why doesn’t Aikawa-san talk…)

I’ve wanted to know this for a long time.

I was aware that I was driven by curiosity, but the main reason was that I had to change the way I treated her depending on the reason for her silence.

Not talking and not being able to talk are two completely different things. If it’s the former, I could just treat her as I normally would, but if it’s the latter, it’s quite complicated.

(T-This is something that I had to do… I have to.)

I can’t help but think of the old saying, “Let the sleeping dogs lie.”

But my inquisitiveness and curiosity got the better of me, so I walked next to the section about the human body. I plodded through the bookshelves, looking for a book about, “Voice.”

(There it is…! Stress, accidents, and trauma. I see…)

I read through a nearby book on voice anomalies and stowed the content into my mind.

Looking at the index written in bold letters, I found that it talked about inflammation, aphasia, and vocal cord polyps.

Some of the words even included…cancer.

(As I expected, huh…)

It’s hard to imagine that the inflammation would last a year, and I don’t think it’s likely to happen that a young woman would have her throat eaten away by cancer.

“I guess I won’t know, after all…”

I let out a sigh and was just about to put the book back when–

“Aaah! It’s the Onii-chan from that time!”

A small girl’s voice echoed throughout the building.

I reflexively turned my gaze to the source of the voice and saw a cute little girl waving her hands in the air, pointing it at me. But next to the girl was…

“Aikawa-san!?”

There was Aikawa-san in her civilian clothes, holding a finger to her mouth towards the small girl and making a “shhh” gesture with no expression.

——

When Aikawa-san looked at me, her usual expressionless face tensed up a little.

“『”What are you doing here?”』she said!”

“Eh…”

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The girl’s words, which seemed to speak for Aikawa-san’s feelings, made me stiffen up a little. I hurriedly put the book back and headed towards the two of them.

Aikawa-san was wearing a white dress and the girl was wearing a striped shirt.

“Ah, Aikawa-san… have you been alright since then?”

“Mhn.”

“『I’m sorry for worrying you』she said– mhmn.”

Aikawa-san covered the girl’s mouth, who was translating her words, and gently pinched her cheeks.

They looked so close together that… they made felt relaxed.

Maybe this girl was Aikawa-san’s younger sister because her features match too well.

The color of her hair and eyes were the same, and her well-rounded face was vaguely similar to Aikawa-san.

She had a twin-tailed hairstyle, and her personality seemed to be the complete opposite of Aikawa-san… but still, she’s very cute, like a little animal.

(Come to think of it, I saw the word “Aikawa” written on her clothes back then…)

I looked back at my memory of the time I showed her the way. Her hair wasn’t in twin-tails at that time, but I guessed she changed her hairstyle depending on the day.

She was wearing a small gym uniform, so she must have been in kindergarten or first grade. She was very small, only about my waist height.

“…”

Then, Aikawa-san looked at me as if she wanted to say something. Her expression was cold, but it also seemed to contain a sense of sadness.

Perhaps… she knows that I was trying to pry into her out of curiosity.

“『Are you curious?』she said. What are you guys talking about?”

“No, I’m not…”

I tried to deny it as I looked away… but her honest eyes didn’t miss my attempt to escape.

Her eyes were so clear that I lost the will to deceive her. Also her usual expressionless face made me feel uneasy.

“…I was trying not to pay too much attention to it. However, I couldn’t help but wonder why… Aikawa-san wasn’t talking…”

In the end, I said it honestly.

It’s obvious that there’s no deception here, but even in this situation, I’m still wondering what kind of response I’ll get.

“『I see』she said. Do you know Onee-chan, Onii-chan?”

I nodded in reply, and the girl fluttered her eyes, looking a little surprised. Aikawa-san seemed to be having a little trouble deciding whether to stop her sister’s outburst or not.

It’s a little unusual, so I snapped a shutter inside my mind.

“…Mhn.”

“『Follow me』she said!”

After Aikawa-san poked the girl in the head with her finger.

She suddenly turned away, and as if to explain why, the small girl again reads her mind and told me.

Apparently, her name was Misuzu Aikawa, and she wanted me to freely call her Suzu-chan.

She seemed to be five years old. It’s a bit of a hassle to call both of them by their last names, so I’ll just call her that.

“Well then… Suzu-chan, How do you know what Aikawa-san’s talking about?”

“I know it somehow!”

“Somehow, huh…?”

“Un!”

Could it be that Suzu-chan has psychic powers? Well, they seemed to be getting along great, so I guess there are things you can learn from living together.

I wish I had that ability. I’d like to be able to talk to Aikawa-san easily, and I wouldn’t have to let Suzu-chan translate her words.

“Nee~ Onii-chan. Hurting Onee-chan is no good, okay?”

“…I know. Is Aikawa-san hurt right?”

“Un, just a little bit.”

I felt I did a bad thing. It’s certainly not nice to be pried into without permission, especially if it’s something she don’t want people to know about.

The curiosity and inquisitiveness that had sprung up earlier had disappeared before I knew it. At the same time, a vague sense of regret and impatience sprouted anew.

“I’ll be careful next time. Also, my name is Kurose Ryuta.”

“Ku-Kurose…! Nice to meet you, Onii-chan!”

Suzu-chan smirked as if she had guessed something. Oh man, she don’t want to change the way she calls me….

I felt embarrassed of being called Onii-chan, but, but it’s a little pathetic to point it out now. So I didn’t say anything and decide to follow her.

However, despite her cheerful voice, Suzu-chan had a somewhat anxious look on her face.

 

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