Chwa-rararak—
“…Sister!”
The tower collapsed.
As the painstakingly built tower fell, an infinitely sharp glare shot from its owner towards me. It felt like a blade that ruthlessly carved into my heart.
However, I could not express any complaints about it.
No, I shouldn’t have.
“Ahaha… U-uh, I’m sorry?”
Thus, Misono Mika knelt before Tanga Ibuki, begging for forgiveness. She was pleading for mercy.
“Buuuu…”
It was an awkward apology laced with countless uneasy laughs, so it was uncertain whether it would resonate with the cheeks puffed out by Ibuki…
“You’ll do it right this time, right?”
“Y-yes! Of course!”
The merciful Ibuki-sama granted me another chance. Hooray.
This was the fifth time my hands had caused the card tower to collapse. By now, I was slowly beginning to get the hang of it. This time, I would truly be able to contribute to building a perfect tower—
Chwa-rarak—
“Wow—?”
The moment the card tower collapsed once again, I hung my head low. I was no longer confident enough to face Ibuki.
Now that I think about it, I had also faced consecutive defeats in Jenga.
Although that’s a completely different realm, it essentially still comes down to the act of ‘building a tower.’
In other words, it leads to a single conclusion.
I possessed no talent that could not lead to more destruction in building towers. Rather, I was like the very embodiment of a minus hand in tower building.
“…”
Chiaki’s gaze, which had become increasingly peculiar since a while ago, dug into the back of my head. At first, she delightedly took pictures, capturing the moments as the tower fell…
But by now, I couldn’t even hear the sound of her camera clicking. Her eyes were surely cold. This was the consequence of the display I had put on in front of Ibuki, who embodied everything about the Manma Battle.
Well, it was all my fault. If I hadn’t stubbornly fought when I couldn’t even stack a single card tower, Ibuki would have built her own.
Maybe I needed to be the support for Ibuki’s legs, as her tower soared to places I couldn’t reach due to her height.
Caught somewhere between feeling sorry and embarrassed, my heart weighed heavily as if it were being pressed down.
Swiiswiiswip.
Just then, a small hand touched my head. It was a soft and affectionate touch.
Without realizing it, I looked up and was met by Ibuki’s worried eyes instead of her puffed cheeks. What a truly innocent gaze it was.
“Sister, are you okay?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“U-uhm… Ibuki wants you to smile happily! So, let’s play something else!”
“…”
Goodness. They say such kids are angelic without wings.
No, she must definitely have wings. Even that of an angel wouldn’t be grand enough.
But at this moment, Ibuki… could certainly be described as an unarguable angel.
“Ibuki chaan…! I’m sorry!”
I hugged the angelic Ibuki even tighter and asked for forgiveness once more. As her small hand patted my back, it felt as if all my sins were being washed away.
Chwalak!
“Even the peaks of Trinity seem to be focusing all their attention on Ibuki-chan’s every little move, which is clear evidence that Ibuki-chan’s majesty has reached the heavens… Alright! With this, she should definitely be on the cover of the next regular newspaper…”
…Why was Chiaki, breaking the mood, snapping photos so enthusiastically?
But I was relieved to see that my previous worries were proven unnecessary. After all, Chiaki was clearly a fool whose head was filled only with Ibuki and Makoto.
*
“Wahhhh! Awesome!”
Finally, Ibuki’s card tower was completed.
The tower, rising to my chest height, was born solely from her fingertips from start to finish. If I had stepped in with my minus hand, the results would definitely have been disastrous, so I thought it was best for me to remain silent and cheer her on.
Ibuki, raising her arms in joy at the completed product, was filled with innocence appropriate for her age. Under Gehenna’s freedom, no one knew how she would grow as a student, but she would surely continue to receive love from everyone.
Yes, just like Misono Mika had.
In an instant, a strange thought crossed my mind, but I immediately shook my head to dismiss it.
“Waaaah~! Awesome, Ibuki-chan!!!”
And then, I began applauding enthusiastically. I could see the bright smile on Ibuki’s face growing.
“Our pride of the Manma Battle! Ibuki-chan is amazing!”
“Ehehe… Next time, I’m going to stack it even taller than Mika-oneechan!”
…Ah, that’s a bit much.
I was already feeling depressed about my noticeably below-average height, and now you want me to look up at a tower built of cards on top of that. What a cruel thing to ask.
Of course, it might be slightly incorrect to say I was below average, but it’s definitely a clear fact that if lined up, I’d be in the bottom 50%.
Among all my lovers, the majority are taller than me.
“Mika-oneechan, Chiaki-senpai! What should we play now? House play?!”
“Mmm, how about hide and seek instead?”
“Oh, that sounds good!”
My instincts rang alarm bells. The moment I supported house play, something that would infuriate Nagisa could occur.
It was crucial not to take it lightly, given that Nagisa’s anger had been steadily and gently rising lately. Even though I had taken on and eased her anger at intervals, it had still reached this point.
With an urgent desire to plan some extraordinary measure to soothe her, I certainly did not want to trigger a volcanic eruption with my own hands.
“Alright! Let’s play hide and seek! The seeker will… Hmm…”
It was at that moment, pondering what to do next based on Ibuki’s choice that history changed.
Dull thud. Boom!
“Ibuki!!! Are you hurt anywhere?!”
A woman burst through the door with a loud bang. There was no need to explain who she was in detail.
As Makoto appeared abruptly, shattering the usual with her loud voice, I could see Ibuki getting startled.
However, perhaps because she misplaced her foot, Ibuki fell back and landed on her rear.
Chwa-rarak—
And with that, her card tower tumbled down.
The ringing in my head, and I suspected Makoto was probably not far off either.
In the breathless silence, the realization of her sin hit Makoto, and her response was faster than I had imagined. She dove to the ground, discarding all pride and anything else.
“I’m sorry!!! I didn’t mean to… Huh?”
“…?”
However, the response that returned to her was quiet. When Makoto, who questioned that fact, lifted her head, she faced Ibuki, whose teary face had yet to burst into tears.
Immediately, Makoto seemed to brace herself to thump her head to the floor…
But I could see it. Ibuki’s teary expression morphing instantaneously into a smile.
Chwalak.
“Just like Makoto-senpai! You’re so straightforward in accepting your mistakes; truly, an exemplary model for the Gehenna students!”
Hearing Chiaki’s words while taking pictures from the sidelines, I distanced myself from her in horror. My rather rude assumption that Chiaki was a fool whose head was stuffed entirely with Ibuki and Makoto was becoming a reality.
…It might be slightly exaggerated, but it wasn’t entirely untrue. Those words definitely could only come from someone who had at least one screw loose in their head.
Well, how many students at Kivotos aren’t like that?
While I was thinking about all this inside, Ibuki didn’t break into tears but beamed cheerfully instead.
“Then… Makoto-senpai is the seeker!”
That was the moment Makoto’s fate was decided.
Due to her slightly slow understanding of the situation, Makoto lifted her head after some time, displaying a thoroughly flabbergasted expression. I responded by beaming back at her with a big smile.
“I’ll be hiding in the assembly hall, so count to 100 and come find me!”
“Whaaat?”
Considering the size of the assembly hall, that was indeed a rather harsh statement, but if she were to blame anyone, she could only blame herself for showing a weakness at a terrible timing.
“Ah… Ehehe!”
Lifting Ibuki high, I exchanged glances with Chiaki. Without waiting for anyone else, we dashed out past Makoto, who was still sprawled on the ground.
“Go, Makoto-senpai! Fight on~!”
“Fight on~!”
“Wait a minute…!”
Chiaki shouted, and Ibuki echoed her, while Makoto reached out, resembling a tragic heroine. However, her feelings never reached us, and thus Makoto was fated to start counting to 100, whether she liked it or not.
Once we emerged into the corridors of the assembly hall, I, being unfamiliar with the place, had no idea where to hide…
“Mika-chan, just follow me!”
Chiaki seemed to have a predetermined spot in mind.
Typically, in hide-and-seek, it would be natural to hide in different locations…
But unless it was a small house, searching in a building like Gehenna’s assembly hall would likely take ages. If we hid separately and Makoto suddenly gave up, that would also be a problem.
As such, considering the various issues at play, I decided to follow Chiaki while still holding Ibuki. Chiaki walked confidently toward the destination.
I was genuinely curious about where we were headed, but that question was resolved shortly thereafter.
Dull thud!
“Wha-what?”
“Hi, Iroha-chan! Sorry to intrude for a moment!”
The girl with fluffy hair, lying on a cushion and twiddling with a game console, turned around in surprise at the sound. In that process, her already short skirt lifted…
Well, I saw nothing. Definitely saw nothing.
“Iroha-senpai~!”
It seemed like Chiaki had brought us to Iroha’s hideout.
I wondered if this was really okay, but soon enough, I thought, who cares? I leaned against the wall and flopped down.
The one who caused it was Chiaki. The one who’s struggling is Makoto. The one who will bear the losses if discovered is Iroha.
I was free from that cycle, so I could just enjoy hanging out with Iroha here.
