The
early morning sunlight is soft, and the summer sky is much higher.
Although
it was going to be hot again today, it was still quite cool at this time of the
day.
Saori-chan
and I were on the street in front of her house. We were sitting on a bench that
her father had made by putting a board over a case of bottled beer, and we were
biting into a watermelon.
Although
it was a public road, it was a neighborhood area in a local city. Moreover, in
the early morning, there were no cars on the street, and only a neighbor aunt
who was walking her dog passed by.
When I
gave her a slight greeting, she looked at me with a smile and said, “That's
nice”.
The
watermelon was sweet. We both took a big bite of it and let the seeds fly.
We
kind of competed with each other to see how far the seeds flew, regretting that
we had won or lost, and laughing at each other.
This
is the etiquette of eating watermelons on the porch, not to say that it is bad
manners. Well, it's not a porch.
「Onii-chan,
are you going somewhere for summer vacation?」
Saori-chan
asked me as she reached for a new watermelon.
「Well,
I have a few plans, but... the closest one is tomorrow, I'm going to Tokyo to
accompany my classmate who is a model for a photo shoot」
「What!?
A model?」
Saori-chan
blinked.
Well,
no matter what I think, I don't think the word “model” has anything to do with
me, but I think she's too surprised.
「Ahaha,
I'm just a baggage carter. But I'd like to see a photo shoot like that. Well, I
thought it was okay and accepted. Do you have any plans, Saori-chan?」
「Eh...
Well, I mean... I have a competition after Obon festival, so I'll be in the
club until then. There's a new coach coming today, so...」
「I see,
that sounds like a lot of work」
Ryoko
said the advisor of the track and field club is being interrogated on suspicion
of being involved in the kidnapping case.
I
guess the new coach was hired to replace the advisor.
「Well...
I hope the coach is not too strict. It's the last tournament for the third-year
students, after all, so Captain is very enthusiastic, but if the coach is strict,
we might die from being pushed too hard」
（That
means Tashiro-san and Kei-chan will be busy until the Obon Festival...)
As I
was absentmindedly thinking about this, Saori-chan turned to me with a nervous
look on her face.
「So...
Onii-chan. If you don't mind... Would it bother you if I asked you to see me at
the competition? I'm sure I can do my best if Onii-chan support me」
「Yes,
I'd be happy to」
「Really!?
Yay!」
Saori-chan
raises her hands in the air and smiles as she reaches for another watermelon.
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As I
watched her pure smile, I thought...
（The
track and field competition... I could play with Tashiro-san in the locker
room... Yes, that's possible!)
I was
thinking of something very impure.
And
just as I was about to reach for a new watermelon..
（Hmm...
What is it?)
I felt
something disturbing, and looked around.
Then,
I saw a girl hiding behind a nearby telephone pole, staring at me.
She has
waist-length blond hair and blue eyes... One of her eyes looks a little
purplish, as if it were an odd eye.
A
foreign girl with pure white skin. Her legs were long, stretching out from her
low-rise denim hot pants, and her upper body was slender, clad only in a
camisole.
Such
an absurdly conspicuous girl was staring at me with an envious look on her
face.
（...What
does she want?)
It was
hard to eat when she was looking at me like that.
「Um...
Do you want to eat this?」
I
asked her with a smile, and she nodded and came out from behind a pole.
Immediately,
Saori-chan jumped up and shout, “Hyaa!?”. Apparently, she had not noticed her
presence.
The
foreign girl takes the watermelon and bites into it with a big smile on her face.
Looking
up at her, Saori-chan whispered to me in secret.
「W-w-w-what
should I do? Onii-chan, I, uh, I can't speak English」
「Don't
worry, I'll take care of it」
I'm
not bad at English, and I should be able to handle it.
「Hello!
My name is Fumio Kijima. May I have your name?」 (Written in English)
I
asked with a pretentious accent, and Saori-chan looked at me with respect, “That's
great, Onii-chan!”.
Yes,
it feels good.
But
the foreigner's girl looks apologetic and spoke.
「Sorry,
I don't understand English」
I was
suddenly sunk. It hurt as much as I was trying to show off.
「O-Onii-chan,
it's okay! It's just that you're not from an English-speaking country. You were
so cool!」
Saori-chan's
concern hurt even more.
「Well,
I was born and raised in Japan. I'm sorry, I'm a fake foreigner」 (*Note: gaijin-> foreigner)
「Oh...
I-I see」
If I'm
not mistaken, her face is foreign, but her facial expression is Japanese. It's
very strange.
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「Yes, I
moved into this neighborhood yesterday. And when I was taking a walk to explore
the area, I saw you eating a watermelon that looked so delicious...」
「So
you're neighbors?」
「Yeah,
Onee-chan moved here for her job」
「Oh,
what kind of work does your sister do?」
「She's
a track coach. She's going to coach the track and field club at a school near
here, and from the start of the new school year, I'll be a student there.」
Saori-chan
and I looked at each other.
◇ ◇ ◇
「Claudia,
where have you been all morning?」
「I went
for a walk」
Fumio
and Saori. I talked about many things with them, and when I came back home
after eating watermelon, my sister was preparing breakfast for us.
「We're
going out soon, so change your clothes as soon as you finish eating」
「Okay,
a new school... I'm looking forward to it」
Most
of the cleaning up from the move is done.
It's
my sister's first appearance on the track and field club at school.
I'm
supposed to follow her to the school and apply for a transfer.
「Oh
yeah, Onee-chan. I met an interesting boy on my walk」
「Interesting
boy?」
「Fumio
Kijima」
「Eh!?」
My
sister looked startled.
「Ahaha,
I didn't expect to meet the suspect himself out of the blue」
「How
was it?」
「Well,
normal. Just an ordinary, ordinary ugly guy. We only chit-chatted today, but he
didn't lie to me, and was it Tachioka? I think there's a bigger chance he's
mistaken. He's been lying to us all along. To be honest, I don't like him」
「Don't
be judgmental. Even if he's not lying, there are rare cases of dual
personalities」
「I
know, I know. Today was just a bunch of random stuff. And he didn't lie, but
that doesn't mean he doesn't have problems. That Fumio. He was staring at my
breasts the whole time. He's a hard-core pervert. And that girl he was with...
I remember her name was Saori. I'm actually more interested in that one」
「About
what?」
「I had
no idea if it was true or not. About her」
