Higashino Suzu was lost in thought.
If her memory wasn't failing her, she was pretty sure she had a big brother.
"…Where's my brother?"
She looked around the empty classroom, then peeked through the hallway window at the deserted school gate.
Where did her brother go? And what about Konata-sis?
Suzu leaned against the doorframe, utterly confused. Normally, when you couldn't find them in class or at the gate, you could always track those two down in the teacher's office—usually being lectured for something stupid they did.
So why weren't they there today?
"Seriously, what kind of brother forgets his own little sister at school?" she muttered.
"Hey, that wasn't just me.""How is it not?""If you hadn't ruined my original sketches, I wouldn't have gotten mad and forgotten about Suzu!"
Just as Suzu debated wandering the school to search for them, two familiar figures—one in black, one in blue—appeared at the far end of the hallway.
And they were saying things they really shouldn't have been saying.
The little white ahoge on Suzu's head stood straight up like an antenna.
"Hey, Suzu, guess what? Your brother totally forgot you at—mmph!"
"Shut it!"
Konata Izumi tried to spill the beans, but Kanade Higashino quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.
"I heard everything."
Suzu crossed her arms, her tiny face full of righteous anger. She had actually worried—worried for three whole seconds—that her brother and Konata-sis had been dragged to the office for a scolding. But nope. Reality was crueler.
They had forgotten her.
Forgotten her, the absolutely, undeniably, impossibly cute Higashino Suzu!
Unforgivable!
"What did you hear?" Kanade asked nervously, ruffling his little sister's hair in a lame attempt to smooth things over. "Come on, let's go home."
"You two forgot your cute little sister at school."
Suzu snorted like an angry bull, clearly displeased with being abandoned.
"No way. How could we possibly forget our adorable Suzu? You must've misheard." Kanade lied through his teeth, not even blinking.
"Yeah, totally! You misheard!" Konata eagerly backed him up, shoving all the blame away from herself. "It was him, not me. I never forgot you! In fact, if I hadn't reminded him, he probably would've gone home without—ow!"
Her head was immediately smacked down.
What a shameless traitor. They'd both forgotten Suzu, but Konata was pretending to be innocent.
Fortunately, second-grade sisters were easy to bribe. Even if they got mad, a promise of ice cream usually did the trick.
September weather wasn't too cold for ice cream. The real problem was money.
Kanade was an elementary schooler. He didn't exactly have a wallet—or cash. He wasn't some rich kid; his family was just average.
As he bit into his popsicle, staring up at the sky, Kanade felt a chill that had nothing to do with the cold treat. His pockets were as empty as his soul.
"…Hey.""What? slurp slurp""Why am I the one paying for your ice cream?""Don't sweat the details. Thinking too hard makes you dumb, you know. slurp slurp""Do you have to eat it like that?""If I don't, how else am I supposed to—slurp slurp"
Kanade crunched his popsicle with loud, sharp bites, while Konata licked hers noisily like a dog drinking water.
"Three-hour rule," Kanade said with mock seriousness.
"Ridiculous. It's three seconds, not three hours—and even that's questionable." Konata scoffed. She only believed in the three-second rule when it suited her. At home on tatami? Sure. In a bathroom? Absolutely not. And if cockroaches were nearby? Forget it—even unopened food was dead to her.
Kanade sighed. Being thrown into this crazy "isekai protagonist" life was like winning a lottery you didn't even buy a ticket for. Except… he wasn't sure if he was actually the protagonist.
On his left, Konata's tongue danced around her popsicle with suspicious skill. On his right, Suzu munched happily on her cone.
In the "main story," he'd probably end up marrying Konata. In the "18+ side story"… nope, nope, best not to go down that path. Big no on the whole "sibling romance" thing.
Only people without little sisters dreamed about them being cute girlfriends. Anyone who had a sister knew better. Little sisters were adorable when they were small. Then came the rebellious teenage years—arguments, maybe even fights. And when they grew up? It was all about money. You either gave your sister money, or you gave your sister money. There was no third option.
What could you do? If you didn't, you'd worry she'd go astray.
On their way home, Kanade and Konata may have forgotten Suzu earlier, but they hadn't forgotten the three boys they'd tossed in the river—or the two bullied girls.
Before running back, Kanade had told the girls to watch the boys in the water and promised he'd return. He also warned those boys: if they hadn't found the missing hearing aid by the time he came back—or worse, if they tried to run off—then every day after that, he'd beat them up on sight. Telling the teacher or their parents wouldn't help; if he got punished at home, he'd just hit them harder.
Violence couldn't solve everything—but it could solve the people who caused problems.
And as it turned out, it wasn't just the boys searching the river. One of the bullied girls—a slightly older brunette—was also in the water, looking for the hearing aid.
"Any luck, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Tokyo?" Kanade asked casually.
He wasn't surprised to see her helping, just quietly impressed. She was too kind for her own good, and kindness often led to getting hurt.
"What are you even talking about?" Konata squinted at him, trying to figure out the joke. She came up empty.
"Yeah, better you don't know," Kanade chuckled.
"Uh-huh… I don't like the sound of that."
But before she could press further, a small voice interrupted them.
"Um… excuse me…"
The three of them turned.
Standing there was a black-haired, big-eyed little girl with straight hair down to her waist. She wasn't looking at Konata or Suzu—her gaze was locked on Kanade.
"Th-thank you… thank you so much for earlier. My sister and I are really grateful." She clutched the strap of her backpack, her expression serious and sincere. "My name is Yuzuru Nishimiya. Could you tell me yours?"
"Whoa, whoa—destined encounter!" Konata gasped dramatically.
"You've been playing too many games," Kanade muttered.
"…?"
Suzu, of course, had no idea what was going on.