Illusions Always Shatter in an Instant

The room was spotless.

It had stood empty for quite a long while, and yet there was hardly a speck of dust—proof that someone had gone on tending it, faithfully, right up until recently.

"Hmm."

Seated in the chair with a headset on, eyes fixed on the computer, was a woman. Her hair fell in a long ponytail, black as obsidian, and her dark brown eyes carried a chill. The body beneath was long and lean, not an ounce of softness anywhere; if a stranger's first question had been whether she modeled, it would not have sounded strange in the least.

And in fact she did—she was a reader model for a well-known magazine—so anyone who guessed as much would only have stumbled onto something inevitable while pretending it was chance.

That woman was Kayano Yuki, older sister to Kayano Mina, and the screen she was watching had an Ontube video playing.

The broadcast looked as if it were set at a school, and standing in the frame was a girl's avatar. Black hair, so like Yuki's own, fell just past the shoulders, and sharp red eyes left a vivid impression. A cap sat tilted back on her head; a choker set with a silver gem rested at her throat. The faint smile, and the fang that jutted out at a sharp little angle, made it obvious at a glance that the girl was the lively sort.

From beyond the headset of the sister watching that avatar, a voice drifted out—calm, and yet somehow frightened.

"..."

At those words, Yuki quietly swallowed.

Kaino Izumi. No—Mina. She already knew that nothing good could possibly come out of that mouth. How kindly was a girl supposed to think of a sister she saw twice a year, at most? For all that Yuki was the older one, the best she managed was a gift sent now and then. She wanted to kill the stream's audio that very second. If Mina said she hated her sister, Yuki knew she would burst into tears and bolt from the house.

But she also knew that would only be what she deserved.

"...I can't run from it."

The moment her own story came up, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Yuki bit her lip and closed her eyes.

And at that, Yuki thought she might turn the sound off right then, bury herself in the bed, and cry.

But.

"...Huh?"

At the words that followed, Yuki's mind simply stopped. She didn't properly catch the rest.

But this much—

—that part, at least, had already stamped itself clean into her brain.

"...Hehe."

And when Mina went so far as to call her beautiful, Yuki let out a worthless little laugh so like her sister's that it might as well have been proof they were related.

She felt better than she had in a very long time.

"Guess I ought to have a drink..."

It went without saying, but Yuki had never once disliked Mina. If anything, adore and love still fell short. The very notion of disliking Mina was impossible for her. How was anyone supposed to dislike a little sister that cute, that lovable?

Light brown hair, softer and lovelier than silk. Blue eyes set under lids that drooped just slightly, giving them a dreamy cast. Skin as smooth, dewy, and soft as it had been when she was small, though she wore no makeup at all. And that perpetual air of being just a little frightened only laid another shine over the rest of it.

To Yuki, her sister was like a doll. No—cuter than a doll. Mina was nine years younger besides, so every last thing she did registered as nothing but charm.

The proof was everywhere. The wallet in Yuki's bag was a birthday gift from Mina, four years ago. Her phone's wallpaper was a photo of Mina asleep. Even the jet-black hair of Mina's virtual avatar, Kaino Izumi, existed because Yuki had gone to their mother and asked for it herself.

If it weren't for work, Yuki would surely still be living at the family home. Honestly, she wanted to quit the company this very moment.

Oh, I know that one! Gloomy Mister Survival Log!

But she knew Mina genuinely enjoyed the anime whose scripts she had written, and so she could never bring herself to do it. If the next one bored Mina, then she would quit... She had been writing under that private condition for five years already, and whether it was misfortune or luck, every script of hers had landed square in the middle of Mina's taste.

Quit screenwriting as soon as she could. Come home. And then, just to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠see the look on her face—

The anime and the game scripts you said you liked? Your sister wrote those.

Springing that on her was Yuki's dream. It was still a long way from coming true.

"...Even so. I hate that she thinks it's awkward."

In front of Mina, Yuki grew tense for reasons she couldn't name and went quiet. Mina, whose self-esteem would be faster to find on the floor, defaulted to the negative. Between the two of them, the misunderstanding was only natural. Yuki wanted it cleared up as soon as humanly possible, but they were sisters who barely talked, and that made it anything but easy.

"What am I supposed to do..."

And so the night deepened, and the beer cans stacked higher on Yuki's desk.

"...Time I slept."

The game was over, and on top of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that I'd chatted for a whole fifteen minutes, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now I was so tired my eyes were sliding shut. A glance at the bottom right of the screen said ten-thirty.

Hawawa, a healthy high-school girl ought to be getting her beauty sleep right about now...

Still, I went back to Ontube's main page first. As far as I remembered, Nacchan didn't have a stream in this time slot today, but she did throw a guerrilla broadcast now and then.

Thankfully, there was no live marker on Nacchan's channel.

Whew. I could sleep easy.

Just to be absolutely sure, I checked the channels of the people who guerrilla-collabed with Nacchan a lot, and fortunately the thing I'd been dreading hadn't happened.

I'd gamed for five hours and then talked for fifteen whole minutes. I wanted to sleep, okay? My head was spinning...

Next time I did a chat stream, I'd keep the game to thirty minutes.

One last light round of ego-surfing on the community, and then I shut the computer off and lay down.

"Mmm."

Nod, nod—my eyes closed, slowly. I didn't fight the drowsiness rolling in. I let it take me, and quietly shut my eyes.

I worked hard today, too. I had every right to sleep in peace...

Click.

Shuffle, shuffle.

"...Nn?"

A door opened, and the sound of someone walking in with no attempt at quiet lifted my awareness gently out of the dark. I'm fairly sensitive when I sleep; even ordinary footsteps are enough to wake me. Noise that blatant meant there was no chance of staying under.

My family knew that, of course, so they kept as quiet as they could while I was asleep. No—they didn't come into my room at all.

W-wait.

Was it a b-burglar?

"...Mina."

That ominous thought sank quickly, thanks to a voice that was awkward and familiar all at once: my sister's.

Even so, I waited until my pounding heart had settled, then picked up my phone to check the time. 2:48 a.m. The dead of night, perfectly.

What? There was no reason for her to come into my room at this hour...

"...Mina. You asleep?"

And yet something was wrong with her voice. She wasn't speaking properly. It had sunk, gone mumbled.

"I-I'm awake, Sis."

"...Hehe. Sorry. Did Sis wake you uuup?"

If I had to compare it to something, it was the voice of someone dead drunk. No—she actually was drunk. A sister laughing like that, tongue tying itself in knots, could not possibly be in her right mind.

But why drink until she was this far gone? It wasn't as if I'd never seen her drink, but she had never drunk in front of me to the point you could call her drunk.

...Had something gone wrong with the modeling work?

"Mmm."

"S-Sis?"

She swayed her way to the foot of my bed, drew herself up straight, and smiled as she stroked my cheek. There was none of her usual chill in that smile. It was the face of someone whose tension had come completely undone.

"My cute little sister."

"Eek..."

She leaned in without a moment's hesitation. Close enough that the slightest shift would have our noses touching. There wasn't a trace of ill intent in it, so I only swallowed quietly and looked into those dark brown eyes, or I would have—

"U-um, Sis. Th-the alcohol, it smells a little..."

—if that had been possible.

"Aaah, sorry. Sis drank juuust a tiny bit too much today."

Because the smell coming off her was so strong I couldn't even guess how much she'd had. The one small mercy was that she'd apparently been on something like a fruit beer; the fruit was a little louder than the rest. The harsh bite of alcohol mixed in underneath was another story entirely.

"Hehe. Sorry. Sis isn't managing a single sisterly thing, 'cause I'm a useless sister. But thank you, really, for liking me. Sis likes Mina lots too..."

"U-um, Sis?!"

Saying so, she hauled me into a tight hug.

The—the alcohol smell! I just said that!

"I know Mom's busy, so I should've looked after Mina more. Sorry I couldn't..."

There wasn't any problem! Being home by myself was nice, plenty of times! I was getting along just fine! You don't have to feel guilty!

I tried to get all of that across, and none of it reached my drunken sister. If anything she only clung harder, murmuring that I'd had it rough, being so considerate of her.

So what, exactly, was the correct answer to this problem? I thought ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it over, and decided to make use of the fact that it was the middle of the night.

"S-Sis. It's dawn right now, so we should p-probably sleep soon..."

"Ah... you're right."

Only then did she seem to understand. She let go of the hug, put a little distance between us, and nodded.

"Then let's sleep together!"

...Huh?

The conclusion was a little...?

"S-Sis?!"

The sister who had said it didn't hesitate. She went around behind me—that is, deeper into the bed—and flopped down flat. I hauled on her arm with everything I had, but I barely exercised, and I couldn't budge a drunken sister by so much as an inch.

"...Do you... not wanna sleep together?"

"Th-th-th-that's..."

This was ch-cheating. If the sister who had been, in my heart, the very symbol of a cool woman looked up at me with the miserable eyes of an abandoned puppy, there was no way I could refuse.

"...I-it's fine."

"Yeah!"

She smiled, bright as anything. That sister of mine smiled like a little kid. And from behind, she wrapped me up tight.

"Hehe. Mina's body is sooo soft..."

"S-S-Sis, that's..."

Your body is incredibly soft too! Especially the middle! And you smell really nice!

If I said that out loud, it would be sexual harassment, wouldn't it?

But going by what I'd learned from Tateyama, was it fine? Or was it not?

Was I allowed to unleash my male instincts?!

"Hehehe..."

"Hiiiek!"

Even so, the groping was a bit—!

This wouldn't do. If I didn't do something...

"Sis, I-I'm hot, so maybe we should sleep in our own rooms...?"

"Just turn the AC on."

"...You're right."

"...Mina. If you like Sis, give me a kiss."

"A-as I thought, separate rooms?!"

"...So you do hate Sis?"

"I like you! I-I do like you!"

"Hehe. I like Mina too."

"Hueeeek?!"

Obviously, with my communication skills, there was no persuading her. In the end I stayed awake for a good while even after she had fallen completely asleep, and only managed to drift off around five.

Still. She hadn't hated me after all.

That was a real relief. Next time, though, if it looked like she was drinking, I was locking the door before I slept.