MCFW 00

Prologue

Bookmark inserted

A holiday afternoon. The weather was perfect—clear skies and sunshine.
On days like this, there’s nothing better than quietly listening to music or working on some school homework.

—Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang.

“Kaede~! You home? Can you get the door?”

My mother called out from downstairs, busy with housework.
Who could it be at this hour?
I was in my room doing homework. My older brother was home—she could have called him instead.
Still, I left my room and headed toward the entrance.

By the way, my room’s on the second floor, so I had to go down the stairs to reach the front door.

—Ding-dong.

“Coming! Who is it?”

I opened the door and—

“Hey, Kaede.”

Standing there was a beautiful girl with well-defined features—my childhood friend and one year my senior, Kana Nishida, someone I think of like an older sister.
She smiled at me in her usual outfit: a pink blouse and a black mini skirt.

“Kana-neechan? What’s up all of a sudden? Are you here to see my brother?”
“Nope. I was just bored today, so I came over… Is that not okay?”
“No, it’s not that—”
“Then, can I come in?”
“Of course.”

I said that and let her inside.

Like I mentioned, Kana-neechan is my childhood friend, and she often drops by even without a reason.
I call her neechan (“big sis”) even though we’re not related because she’s older than me.
Usually, she comes over to see my brother, but this time seemed different.

Normally, she’d just head straight upstairs to my brother’s room without saying anything, but today, she followed behind me as I went up the stairs.
That could only mean one thing—she wanted to talk to me.

“…So, what’s up?”

Once we were back in my room, I turned to ask her what she wanted.

“Well, I was wondering what you were up to today. I got curious.”
“Nothing much. Just working on school homework.”
“I see. In that case, that’s perfect.”
“What do you mean?”

And then—

“Little brother—”

With those words, Kana-neechan suddenly hugged me.

W–what the…?
Kana-neechan—that Kana-neechan—just did that?

We both lost balance and fell onto the nearby bed, with her ending up on top of me.

“K–Kana-neechan!? What’s going on?”
“What do you mean? Why don’t you ask your heart?”

She said that with a smile and then kissed me.

W–what’s happening? Kana-neechan would never do something like this…

While I sat there frozen, she held me even tighter.
Why was the usually well-behaved Kana-neechan acting so bold?
I couldn’t make sense of it.

As far as I knew, just recently my brother had confessed to her—and she’d turned him down politely.

I still remembered it clearly.

“If you don’t mind… would you go out with me?”

And Kana-neechan’s reply was:

“Sorry, but I already like someone else. So I can’t go out with you.”

My brother had looked disappointed but eventually said, “If she likes someone else, then it can’t be helped.”

That’s what I remembered.

A few days later, I even saw her getting confessed to by other guys.

“Even if you tell me to ask my heart, I have no idea what you’re talking about. What happened, Kana-neechan?”
“You can’t go dating other girls, got it?”
“What? That doesn’t make sense! I don’t even have a girlfriend!”
“That’s exactly why it’s dangerous. You know, girls can get really bold when confessing to someone they like. So you’d better be careful.”
“Even if you say that… I still don’t get it.”

I slipped out of her arms and stood up from the bed.

It was broad daylight—two people, a guy and a girl, tangled on a bed… no matter how you look at it, that’s weird. It totally looked like we were a couple.
And that kiss… it almost felt like a confession.
I didn’t want to cause or receive that kind of misunderstanding.

Kana-neechan looked at me, a faintly dissatisfied look on her face.

“You know, you’ve been quite the topic lately, little brother.”
“Topic?”
“Yeah. People at my school say things like ‘he’s cool’ or ‘he’s so kind.’”
“Really? I had no idea.”
“You know my school’s an all-girls school, right?”
“Yeah, I know, but…”

Still, I didn’t get it.
I just lived my life normally.

My school was an all-boys school, so I didn’t interact with girls much.
If it weren’t for Kana-neechan, neither my brother nor I would have any female acquaintances.
I guess the same goes for girls at her school too.

“You know how it is in girls’ schools—outside of the school festival, there’s no chance to meet boys. That’s why a single encounter can turn into love.”
“Is that how it is?”
“That’s how it is.”

Even if she said so, I’d never had any “encounters” like that.

“So, Kana-neechan, what did you come for, really?”
“Me? Nothing in particular. I was just bored, so I dropped by.”

No way that was all.
If she came into my room, there had to be a reason.
This wasn’t just harmless teasing.
But I couldn’t say that outright—I just shrugged.

“I see. You were bored, huh? That’s fine, I guess.”
“Right? No problem then.”

She smiled her usual smile.
She often teased me, so I could never quite tell what she was thinking.
But this—pushing me onto the bed—was on another level.

“By the way, Kana-neechan. How’s your band going? Is it going well?”

Kana-neechan was in a band and was currently looking for members.
It all started when my brother invited her to join his band. She refused, saying she wanted to form her own.

“Not well. I can’t find the right members… Maybe it was a bad idea after all.”
“That’s not true. If you keep looking patiently, you’ll find them.”
“Really? Sometimes I feel like I’ll never be as good as your brother.”
“My brother’s band is different. He formed it with his close friends. You can do the same—ask your friends.”
“I tried, but they all said, ‘I’ve never played before, so no thanks.’ So I had to give up.”
“Well, that can’t be helped. You can’t force people.”
“Yeah. But if you joined—since you’ve played bass before—it’d be perfect.”

She looked right into my eyes.

“Come on, I can’t… I mean, isn’t your band supposed to be all girls?”
“Four girls so far. We’re just missing one member… What do you say, little brother? Wanna join?”
“Uh… I think I’ll pass. I’d just feel out of place as the only guy.”
“Oh…”

She lowered her gaze, looking oddly sad.
It wasn’t that I wanted to hurt her feelings, but still…

Most bands have about five members—one for each instrument—but hers didn’t have a bassist.
That’s why she always came to my room trying to recruit me.
But there are plenty of all-girl bands these days—she’d be better off finding another girl instead of dragging me in.

“Then how about this—just as a temporary helper? Only for a short while.”
“A temp member, huh… I don’t know.”
“If you do, I’ll hug and kiss you again.”
“Please don’t.”

I took a step back.

“You don’t have to be so shy. You used to love it when we hugged, remember?”
“That was when we were kids! Don’t bring that up now!”
“So… is that a no?”
“Not exactly no, but… joining an all-girl band just feels awkward.”
“No need to be so uptight. Anyway, everyone’s meeting three days from now, so keep that day free.”
“Wait, what? I don’t even know if I can make it.”
“It’s decided. And you know what’ll happen if you don’t show up, right?”

She said that as she leaned closer.
I’d never once beaten her at anything since we were little.

“Fine, fine, I’ll go! So where’s the meeting place?”
“In front of my school gate. It’s easiest to gather there.”
“No way.”
“Why not?”
“Absolutely not! That’s your girls’ school! If people find out I went there, my reputation will be ruined!”

In this area, an all-boys school student going to a girls’ school was basically social suicide.
Well, maybe it was just an old-fashioned idea, but still.

“I don’t care. No matter what others think, you’ll always be my cute little brother.”
“You say that, but it doesn’t help! I can’t go to a girls’ school! What will the disciplinary committee say!?”
“I’ll explain everything to them, don’t worry.”

And with that, Kana-neechan left my room.

Even if she says “don’t worry”…
I mean, really—what guy just casually walks into a girls’ school?
So basically, she wanted me to come help with her band.

sigh… Guess I have no choice.
I’ll just go along with her plan this time.

After that, Kana-neechan greeted my mother and left the house.

…What on earth did she really come for?