Chapter 24: Extra — The Sisters' Thaw

Before I knew it, Isshiki-san had started hanging out in the Service Club. Slipping smoothly into our circles of conversation, she was practically a member of the club.

"——Yes... as expected of you, Senpai."

"Yeah, yeah, I (boku) also——"

"Wait, boku?!"

Isshiki-san suddenly stood up. Seeing her reaction, I belatedly realized my blunder.

Crap. I usually maintained my watashi persona when Isshiki-san was around. I had let my guard down just because we were in the clubroom.

What is she going to say? As I observed her timidly, Isshiki-san finally declared:

"Yukino-senpai, aren't you playing cute a bit too much?!"

"I don't want to hear that from you?!"

While I was relaxing in my room, my cell phone suddenly started ringing. The light melody was my ringtone for incoming calls.

Thinking it might be Yuigahama-san again, I looked at the screen, and my heart skipped a beat. It was him—and I had just been thinking about him.

Stroking my hair for no reason, I answered the phone.

"...Hello?"

"Yukinoshita, sorry for the sudden call."

The very first thing Hikigaya-kun did over the phone was apologize. He sounded flat, but listening closely, his voice was slightly higher than usual, betraying his nervousness. He probably rarely had the chance to call a female classmate on his own.

Suppressing the joy that threatened to make my voice bounce, I replied, sounding calm.

"This is rare. What's wrong?"

I asked, but Hikigaya-kun's words were evasive.

"Well, you know. About this Sunday."

"Yes?"

"Ah, could you come to that cafe where you and Yuigahama came to see Hayama before?"

"Eh...?"

The shock almost made me drop my phone. Hikigaya-kun's bashful, hesitant way of speaking.

Could this possibly be... an invitation to a date?

"Hmm, I bought it, but does it really suit me? Will Hikigaya-kun like it?"

On the morning of the day in question, I twirled in front of the mirror and groaned. Today's outfit was a bit different from my usual attire.

A sleek black blouson and tight jeans. To top it off, I tied my long hair back into a single bundle. A ponytail, as they call it.

In a word, it was a boyish outfit.

"I feel like anything suits me since I have a good face, but wearing something so different from my usual attire still makes me anxious..."

Observing my own face with extreme objectivity, I analyzed my appearance.

It suits me, I think. The black clothes hugging the lines of my slim body gave off the impression of a butler neatly dressed in a tailcoat. However, the blouson I threw on added a casual touch.

The phrase "cross-dressing beauty" suddenly floated into my mind.

"The old me would definitely never have worn this."

If someone had seen me like this back then, I definitely would have been terrified they'd expose me as not being the real Yukino Yukinoshita. If Hikigaya-kun and Yuigahama-san hadn't listened to my feelings, I probably would have stayed that way forever.

I truly cannot thank those two enough.

"...Alright, let's go."

Lastly, I slung on my shoulder bag and left the house with a spring in my step.

I didn't get lost on the way to the cafe. On a Sunday afternoon, I walked down the bustling street, heading straight for my destination. I felt quite a few stares from passersby, but it didn't bother the current me very much.

I opened the stylish door and entered the shop. I told the staff I was meeting someone and looked around the seating area.

...There he was. A boy with a characteristic ahoge sticking up was sitting at a table in the back. He didn't seem to have noticed me yet.

Heart pounding just a little, I jogged over to him.

I had already decided on my opening line. Poking the shoulder of the boy who still hadn't noticed me, I declared:

"Hikigaya-kun! You've got some nerve asking me (boku) out on a date!"

Before he could say anything, another voice came from the same table.

"Yukino... chan...?"

"Nee-san?!"

My older sister, Haruno Yukinoshita, was looking at me with a more surprised expression than I had ever seen on her face.

Hikigaya-kun hesitantly called out to us sisters as we stared at each other in mutual shock.

"Well, why don't you sit down for now."

Half in a daze, I sat down. I was busted... Nee-san had caught me using "boku"...

In a surprisingly quiet tone, my sister spoke to me.

"It's been a while, Yukino-chan. Not since we met here, right?"

"Yes..."

With a mind that wasn't working properly, I naturally slipped my mask back on. However, seeing me adopt my old way of speaking, my sister smiled somewhat sadly.

"Won't you show me the real Yukino-chan?"

Faced with my sister—who looked genuinely sad, completely lacking her usual artificial demeanor—I was slightly shaken.

"...It's nothing grand like my 'real' self. I've just... just started to show a little more of myself in front of the other two in the Service Club, that's all."

"I see... I'm glad."

Her gaze, which looked slightly happy, shook me once again.

...Why is she looking at me like that? Weren't you... wasn't Nee-san the one who hated it when I acted unlike 'Yukino Yukinoshita'? For the longest time, I firmly believed she was monitoring me to ensure I stayed true to myself.

Seeing the right moment, Hikigaya-kun spoke up.

"Well, I figured there was some kind of misunderstanding between you and Haruno-san. So I called Haruno-san out here. I asked her if she wanted to talk."

"Hikigaya-kun... called Nee-san..."

I found that somewhat unamusing. But that wasn't the main issue right now. Swallowing my feelings, I urged him to continue.

"So, what did you want to do, Hikigaya-kun?"

"I don't really know what I wanted to do. I just thought she probably didn't like being misunderstood by her younger sister."

When he said "younger sister," Hikigaya-kun's face softened slightly.

"I was just told by Hikigaya-kun that he wanted to talk to me. I didn't come here today planning to do anything in particular."

Saying so gently, my sister reached for the steaming coffee cup in front of her.

...I was so flustered I hadn't realized, but I still hadn't ordered anything. After hesitating slightly, I ordered the same thing as my sister.

After the waiter took my order and left, I timidly strung my words together.

"...Nee-san, aren't you angry that I speak like this?"

At my words, my sister's eyes widened a little.

"Why would I be?"

"What do you mean, why..."

I had expected some sort of negative reaction. That's why I was so tense when I asked, but her nonchalant attitude made the tension leave my shoulders.

Silence flowed over the table. I didn't know what to say, and surprisingly, my sister also seemed to be at a loss for words.

The waiter approached with a smile and placed a coffee cup with a clink in front of me. The pitch-black liquid was letting off a faint steam.

I glanced at their faces. After hesitating for a moment, I grabbed some gum syrup and a sugar stick and poured them into my cup.

Watching me do this, my sister spoke up.

"...Say, Yukino-chan. Have you perhaps been worrying about what I said to you all this time?"

"Eh?"

Seeing her serious expression, I recalled my sister's past words.

『No. Yukino-chan wouldn't say something like that.』

True, those words had been one of the reasons I felt restricted. But.

"I might have been worrying about it. But... me ending up like this isn't your fault, Nee-san. It was my own decision, my way of living."

I can say it now. The me who lived trying to be the ideal Yukinoshita Yukino, and the me who is just being myself—both are me. So there's no need for my sister to make such a heartbroken face.

"I see. ——You know, back in elementary school, when you suddenly changed, I felt like you were going somewhere far away."

Tracing the rim of her cup, my sister began to explain.

"It wasn't a matter of good or bad; I was just scared of you changing. So, I might have said unnecessary things."

Staring off into the distance, she continued.

"Ever since then, I haven't been able to understand you. I thought I could easily tell what other people were thinking, but my precious little sister's thoughts were the only ones I couldn't grasp. That scared me."

"Nee-san..."

I felt like this was the first time I'd seen my sister talk so openly about her feelings.

"So, if you're able to act as you truly want now, I'm happy. ...Ah, in the end, maybe this was all I really wanted to say."

Saying so, my sister smiled naturally.

Seeing that, a wondrous sense of relief spread through my chest. It seemed I had cared much more about what my sister thought of me than I had realized.

Sensing that the conversation had reached a stopping point, Hikigaya-kun spoke up.

"Haruno-san pushed my back when I was trying to get you to show your true feelings. ...This person is probably way more of a siscon than you think."

"Hey, Hikigaya-kun! Don't get so cheeky, you little...!"

Standing up smoothly, my sister began smacking Hikigaya-kun's back.

"Ouch... ouch! Aren't you hitting a bit too hard? ——Ow!"

"If you say rude things to a lady, I won't give you Yukino-chan, you know?"

...They seem to be getting along quite well.

"Nee-san, please stop using Hikigaya-kun as your toy now."

"Oh, did you want to hit him too, Yukino-chan? His back is broader than you'd think."

"I already know that."

"Ah, right."

I remembered when Hikigaya-kun and I went to pick out clothes. It was hard to tell because he slouched, but when holding clothes up to him, I thought he was surprisingly tall.

"Nee-san."

"Yes?"

Looking her straight in the eye, I called out to my sister. I felt like this was the first time I had talked to her with such a clear, sunny feeling in my heart.

"Do you want to go shopping after this? ...Taking Hikigaya-kun with us, of course."

"Sure!"

With a face so similar to mine, my sister laughed. Feeling somewhat happy, I found myself laughing along with her.

"What about my free will...?"

No one answered Hikigaya-kun's mutter.

(Author's Note: This is the last story I wanted to write. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me this far!)