Chapter 100: Sakamoto Yuika
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 100: Sakamoto Yuika
Click!
The moment that sound came from the front door, we all turned our heads at once.
After a quick assessment during a moment of silence, the first to move was Sakamoto.
"I'll take the entryway!"
He hastily threw down the Pro Controller in his hands and ran toward the front door.
The living room was immediately visible from the end of the short hallway at the entrance, so we needed someone to cover for us.
I snatched the controller before it hit the floor and quickly quit the game, while Satoru hurriedly used the remote to turn off the TV.
The whole thing took about five seconds.
It was, in a word, fantastic teamwork.
"Huh? Bro? Why are you at the door?"
"Ah~ I thought you were home, so I came out to greet you."
"Really?"
Having successfully played his part as a lookout, Sakamoto glanced over at us.
When Satoru gave him a thumbs-up, an OK sign, Sakamoto put a hand behind his back and gave a thumbs-up in return.
I felt a strange sense of camaraderie forming between us.
"Bro, is someone over?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, some classmates came over to hang out."
"That explains it. You were doing something you never do."
The girl who walked in while chatting casually with Sakamoto had the same orange hair as him, tied up in a half-twin tail style.
When her eyes met mine, she looked slightly surprised and bowed her head.
"Hello."
Thankfully, she didn't seem scared.
It was probably because we had met on the subway before.
"Yuika, I'm here too!"
Satoru waved cheerfully as he said this, but Sakamoto's sister placed her hands on her hips and spoke as if she found him pathetic.
"You should stop coming over so much."
"What! Why the cold shoulder!"
"Because you're always teaching my brother weird things!"
"That's a straight-up accusation!"
"You secretly brought over those dirty magazines last time, didn't you!"
As the two started bickering, Sakamoto, caught in the middle, tried to mediate with a troubled expression.
"Now, now, you two, let's not do this here..."
But his sister and Satoru shouted in unison.
""Bro (You), stay out of it!""
...I never knew, but it seemed Sakamoto was the type to get picked on.
*
Sakamoto Yuika.
In the memories from before I was transmigrated, which were now growing faint, her overall appearance and name remained crystal clear.
And for good reason. Sakamoto Yuika was, undeniably, one of the main heroines of 『Scramble Love』.
Not just any heroine, but a super popular character who had ranked third in the final popularity poll.
One might ask how a family member, a younger sister, could be a heroine, but in Japanese-style rom-coms, it was rarer for the younger sister not to be a heroine.
Whether she was a blood-related sister or a stepsister.
It was probably a strategy to target otaku who chant about their love for younger sisters, but honestly, unless the author was insane, the younger sister in a rom-com was guaranteed a loser ending.
At least, that was the case in all the rom-coms I had ever seen.
"Honestly, bro! Eating nothing but snacks again! I'll go cut up some fruit, so just wait a minute!"
Yuika said, putting down her school bag and starting to rummage through the kitchen fridge.
Watching her, I commented.
"You have a good sister."
Sakamoto wiped under his nose with his index finger and said, "She's more than I deserve. I just wish she didn't act like my mom all the time."
Satoru shot Sakamoto a look as if he were the most ungrateful person alive.
"There you go again, complaining when you have it so good. If my sister was like that, I'd bow down and serve her, man."
"Satomi? Isn't Satomi the quiet type?"
"That's just her putting on an act in front of you. At home, she's a total gorilla, I'm telling you."
As Satoru grumbled while sitting cross-legged, Yuika, who was cutting fruit in the kitchen, called out.
"Bro! If you keep that up, I'm telling Satomi next week!"
Satoru flinched and immediately shut his mouth.
It seemed the sisters knew each other.
Watching them from the side, I asked the two boys.
"When did you two first meet?"
Sakamoto looked up and mumbled.
"Let's see... Was it the first year of middle school?"
Satoru chimed in to supplement his words.
"We were in the same class in our first and second years. We were just acquaintances at the beginning of the semester, but this guy saved me when I was getting shaken down by some delinquents, and we've been best friends ever since."
"Ah, right. That did happen."
"Don't tell me you forgot?"
"It was a long time ago. How do you even remember that stuff?"
"You're the weird one for forgetting!"
Satoru exclaimed, looking at me as if hoping I would join in on criticizing Sakamoto, but I feigned ignorance and asked something else.
"Sakamoto, why did you decide to go to Ichijo Academy when it's so far? There are plenty of high schools around here."
Sakamoto answered while eating a potato chip.
"Ah, my parents are archaeologists, so they travel abroad a lot for work. I needed a guardian, and it just so happened they knew someone at that academy, so I ended up staying with them."
As expected of a rom-com protagonist's backstory.
It was such a textbook example that I couldn't help but be impressed.
While I was busy prying for information about Sakamoto, who had been a close yet distant figure until now, Yuika emerged from the kitchen with a plate, having finished cutting the fruit.
"What are you three guys doing, looking all gloomy?"
"Ah, we were just talking about old times. It seemed Kim-kun here was pretty curious about us."
After placing the fruit platter on the table, Yuika's eyes met mine. She stared at my face for a moment before suddenly asking.
"You're the son from the Korean restaurant near the residential area up ahead, right?"
Huh?
Her question came so far out of left field that I was momentarily stunned.
Sakamoto was just as surprised.
"Yuika, you knew Kim-kun?"
Yuika looked at Sakamoto as if he were being ridiculous.
"We went to eat there together once after winter break started two years ago, remember? He was working then, too. This guy. I think it was around Christmas?"
She was even right about the date.
I couldn't believe she still remembered something from two years ago.
Truly an extraordinary memory.
"Did we? Have we met before?"
I had no choice but to feign ignorance in response to Sakamoto's question.
"I'm not sure. So many customers come and go when I'm working at the restaurant."
Yuika popped a slice of apple she had cut into her mouth and said, "Your face is similar, but your body has changed so much that I honestly didn't recognize you at first. What on earth happened to you in the last two years?"
Hearing her words, I gave a bitter smile.
"I just worked out a little hard, that's all."
It might sound like a lie, but it was the truth.
*
After chatting in the living room while eating the fruit Yuika had prepared, we took the remaining snacks and went into Sakamoto's room.
Of course, to commit the perfect crime, we also brought the game console from the living room with us.
"Phew, I thought we were gonna get caught."
Satoru muttered, wiping his forehead as he removed the Busty Hyper Action Game disc with the delicate touch of a bomb disposal expert.
Beside him, Sakamoto nodded with his arms crossed, as if in agreement.
"I mean, I wouldn't mind getting caught watching porn, but getting caught playing this is a bit..."
It was the kind of game that was embarrassing no matter how you looked at it.
It was definitely fun, but it certainly wasn't the type of game you could proudly announce you played.
Anyway, since Sakamoto's sister, Yuika, had taken over the living room TV, the only thing we could do was hang out in his room.
"Here, a cushion."
"Ah, thanks."
I sat on the cushion Sakamoto handed me and looked around.
Sakamoto's room wasn't much different from any other high school boy's room. It had a simple layout: a desk with various manga and textbooks, a bed, a display cabinet, and a closet.
The one difference from a Korean high schooler's room was the absence of a personal computer.
It's not particularly strange for a Japanese home not to have a computer; I'd heard that many people don't even use one until they get to university.
To the point where they have to learn how to type from scratch.
Meanwhile, Satoru, acting as if he owned the place, hopped onto Sakamoto's bed and asked, "So when does Yuika's vacation start? Is her school schedule different from ours?"
"The middle school division seems to start next Tuesday. They said they were a bit short on class days for the first semester."
As Sakamoto answered, tilting a drink bottle, he accidentally spilled some on his clothes and frantically reached out in alarm.
"Whoa! Tissues! Tissues!"
Hearing him, I stood up.
"Tissues, where?"
"They're on top of the display cabinet over there!"
My focus had been narrowed, but now I finally noticed the tissue box sitting on the cabinet.
Thump!
Not knowing how many sheets he'd need, I lifted the whole box. As I did, I felt something brush against the back of my hand and glanced down.
Next to the tissue box was a cat-head-shaped ornament. That must have been what I touched.
"Here you... huh?"
As I turned around, I was suddenly at a loss for words.
And for good reason. Floating in the air right behind Sakamoto, who was panicking about the spilled drink on his shirt, was a man with pitch-black skin.