The two young girls stared at each other, locked in a silent standoff. After a moment, unable to withstand Ayase's calm gaze, Eriri finally gave in.
(Look, that Eriri lost again.)
"Ayase, just say what you want to say." Slightly gritting her teeth and subconsciously rubbing her chilling arms, Eriri said in a pitiful tone. "Your gaze is kinda creepy."
Seeing Eriri admit defeat, Ayase, who was two years younger, helplessly sighed. Acting like a little adult, she said,
"Sigh.... When will Eriri-nee grow up a bit?"
"Ayase!"
That sentence instantly broke Eriri's defenses.
Bypassing the small coffee table, the 158cm Eriri pounced on the 161cm Ayase with her claws bared. Yep, that's right.
Eriri: 15 years old, 158cm.
Ayase: 13 years old, 161cm.
"Ora ora ora! Take this, Ayase!"
"Haha, that tickles! It tickles, Eriri-nee! Stop... stop... Eriri-nee!"
Having tackled Ayase and half-pressed her body onto the little girl, Eriri tickled Ayase's waist while internally gritting her teeth in frustration.
'Damn it! What is Ayase eating to grow that!'
She's only thirteen! It's one thing that she's taller than me... After all, Auntie Satomi and Uncle Seiichiro aren't short themselves, plus her brother is ridiculously tall (I heard Aragaki-nii is already 180cm?).
But why! Why does this thirteen-year-old brat...
'Have a chest almost the same size as mine! KUSO!'
"....."
After making a noisy fuss for a while.
Lowering her head to tidy her slightly messy clothes, Eriri just looked up and met Ayase's resentful gaze as she was also fixing her clothes.
Seeing this, Eriri, who had been trained in ladylike manners by Sayuri since childhood, reflexively wanted to say sorry.
However, before the words left her mouth, she thought better of it and swallowed them back.
"Hmph~~"
"..." Hearing Eriri's childish little huff, the more mature Ayase mentally deadpanned, Eriri-nee really is like a kid who refuses to grow up, before asking,
"By the way, Eriri-nee."
"How did you know Big Brother got a girlfriend? I don't remember telling you about Utaha-nee?"
Hearing this, Eriri, who was resting her cheek on her fist with her other hand propped on the coffee table, waved her hand dismissively.
"You mean this?"
"Yesterday, when Mom and I were shopping at the mall, we ran into your brother and, um, 'your onee-san' shopping together."
Hearing her good friend specifically emphasize the title 'onee-san' and the content of what she said, Ayase felt an indescribable sourness rise in her heart. She expressionlessly turned her little face away and muttered in a small voice.
"I don't recognize her as my sister."
...Wait, Ayase-chan, didn't you literally call her 'Utaha-nee' on the phone just now?
Holding back her laughter, Eriri raised her hand to cover her mouth and turned her cheek away, just like Ayase was doing at this moment.
Unfortunately, Ayase, who was far from dense, noticed immediately that Eriri was holding back her laughter.
"Eriri-nee, you don't have to hold it in... Just laugh if you want to."
"Pfft—hahaha!"
The moment those words left Ayase's mouth, Eriri, who had been struggling to hold it in, completely lost it and burst into loud laughter.
However, whether it was due to the years they'd spent as close friends, or just pure coincidence, right as Ayase's face darkened to a terrifying shade and she was about to snap, Eriri miraculously cut off her laughter.
"Listen." Raising an index finger slightly to wipe away the tears leaking from the corners of her eyes, Eriri panted, still breathless from laughing so hard.
"Ayase, you know you look exactly like a tsundere little sister from an anime right now."
"You know, the type who goes, 'I will absolutely not hand my brother over to a woman like you!' Yeah, exactly that kind of vibe."
Watching her 'big sister' Eriri imitate the anime character, Ayase felt a mix of embarrassment and an indescribable sense of wrongness. It was as if... Eriri wasn't imitating a 'tsundere little sister' at all, but rather just acting out her true colors.
Feeling the wrongness grow stronger the more she looked, Ayase shook her little head, tossing her chaotic thoughts aside.
Meanwhile, having joked around enough, Eriri suddenly turned serious, her tone finally sounding like that of an older sister.
"So, what do you think, Ayase?"
"Huh?" Caught off guard, Ayase blinked and subconsciously repeated the question. "What do I think about what?"
"About your brother dating, of course." Taking a sip of her black tea, Eriri shot a look of 'you're hopeless' at the dazed Ayase.
"...I don't know." Lowering her head slightly, Ayase murmured. "Ever since Big Brother started dating, he's been a lot happier... Utaha-nee is really nice too. She's good to me, and good to Big Brother."
"Right now, I just... don't know..."
Huh? Why did the atmosphere suddenly get so heavy?
Seeing Ayase's dejected look, Eriri—who had just wanted to chat and hadn't expected the mood to turn so serious—put down her cup and scratched her cheek with a troubled expression.
Subconsciously, she sat up straighter, placing her hands obediently on her thighs. She put on a very serious face... and then, fell silent.
Don't ask why this Eriri didn't go comfort the depressed Ayase. To that, Eriri just wanted to say one thing:
'Wah! I can't handle this kind of deep question from Ayase!'
Tightening her cheeks, the little person inside Eriri's mind screamed in panic.
Logically speaking, she, Sawamura Spencer Eriri, didn't have an older brother like Ayase did, nor did she have any close blood relatives around the same age. As for a profound philosophical and psychological question like, 'My older brother, who has taken care of me since childhood, is dating. What should I do?'
Sorry! Can't do it! I'm out!
After a moment of silence, feeling that this wasn't going anywhere, Eriri slightly rolled her stiff neck, and her gaze happened to land on the game console in front of the TV in her room.
Right! Let's play games!
Although Eriri knew perfectly well that her depressed friend would definitely nag her for suggesting games. After all, let alone herself, as far as Eriri knew, even when Ayase's most beloved brother wanted to play games with her, Ayase would scold Aragaki-nii without holding back.
But even so, she couldn't just watch the little girl stay depressed.
"Ayase, let's play some games."
"Eh? Eriri-nee." Dazing out for a second, Ayase snapped back to reality and looked at Eriri, who was already busy turning on the console and TV.
Just as Eriri had expected, seeing this, Ayase puffed up her cheeks slightly, parted her lips, and started rattling off a lecture.
"....."
"Alright, alright, just for a bit!" Looking slightly bitter from the nagging, Eriri held up the two game controllers and said to Ayase with a cheeky grin. "How about we play Overcooked 2? It's super popular lately!"
"Fine, just for a little bit, Eriri-nee."
"Yay~~!"
However, just then, a sudden incident occurred.
The young lady Eriri had just woken up her game console from 'sleep mode', but before the game interface popped up on the TV screen.
"Ahh~~ Not there!"
A highly suggestive voice, appearing abruptly and cutting off just as suddenly, inadvertently echoed in the room.
In that instant, both girls froze.
Before Ayase could snap back to her senses and ask, 'What was that sound?', Eriri, with lightning speed, yanked out the connection cable in the blink of an eye, laughed it off, and changed the subject.
"Ahaha, sorry Ayase, I forgot my console is broken."
"How about we go to the first floor! Mom just told me she prepared some really delicious cake."
Just now... wasn't it just you and me in the room? When did Sayuri-nee tell Eriri-nee about that?