Fikush-ON!

Ch. 12: The Second Year

"Big brother, wake up. Please, wake up," a small, cute voice called me.

I slowly opened my sleepy eyes, and found my sister, Tamiko, standing next to my bed.

"Whaaaat..." I murmured, almost growling.

Tamiko put her hands on her hips. "You promised you would accompany me to the school today."

Due to my sleepiness, I had trouble thinking. "...the hell are you talking about? School doesn't start in days."

"I meant Sakuragaoka. They put up the accepted students board today, remember? You yourself said that you'd accompany me there," she explained.

"Ah, that..." I muttered, finally remembering the promise. However, I just turned my head away from her, pulling the blanket over my head. "I'm still sleepy, so let's go in a few hours... or tomorrow..."

I could hear Tamiko mumbling something out of annoyance, until she stopped. Finally, I can resume sleeping...

"...Ecchan."

Snapping awake, I quickly sat up, kicking the blanket off of me. "I told you to not call me by that name!"

"Well, at least you're finally awake," she noted with a satisfied smile. "Get dressed up and come downstairs, we'll be going by train."

After she left my room, it took me a few seconds to recover from the idea that she had outdone me. But, I just hate that nickname so much... well, whatever, I'll get my revenge someday. After stretching a bit, I threw on some clothes, including my red hoodie, and moseyed downstairs to my sister, who was wearing her junior high uniform. She practically forced me to gulp my coffee down in under a minute, and we headed off to the train station. Why buy alarm clocks, when you have a little sister?

So yeah, I had promised that I'd accompany Tamiko to Sakuragaoka. I don't even know why. Maybe I wanted to be a good big brother, or maybe I wanted to scope out some schoolgirls. Or maybe I thought I'd bump into someone I know. In any case, for the longest time I thought that Tamiko would apply to Kasumimashita, like her two older brothers. But no; apparently, ever since elementary school, she had planned on applying to Sakuragaoka. However, she's not the only girl I know who has applied to that school.

Moments later the train arrived at our stop, and we continued the journey on foot. I began recognizing places from my festival visit last year, and soon we stood in front of the white building of Sakuragaoka. The many cherry blossoms on the yard were blooming, which was actually quite a pretty sight. Guess that's where the school's name comes from. Dozens of schoolgirls from many different junior high schools were roaming around the campus. And, as expected, there wasn't any other 16-year-old guys. I felt vulnerable. We walked to the front of the auditorium, where the accepted students board was located.

"I... I got in! Big brother, I got in!" Tamiko rejoiced as she spotted her name on the list.

I smirked, patting her on the head. "Congratulations, nice to know that at least one Sugimoto isn't an idiot."

"Hasn't it always been obvious?" Tamiko quipped.

She spotted some of her schoolmates further away from us, so she gave me the permission to go back home, and ran to her friends. Slipping my hands into my hoodie's pockets, I couldn't help but smile as I watched my skittering little sister. So many years we've attended the same schools, until now. Well, I don't think she'll have any problems in Sakuragaoka. At least I hope so. Out of curiosity, I turned to check the list out once more, reading it more thoroughly. Wait a minute... That's...

"Sugimoto-kun? What are you doing here?" I heard a familiar voice right behind me.

I turned around and found Hirasawa standing there, dressed in her junior high uniform. She cocked her head confusedly, still waiting for an answer.