Nezu-Nezumi (An Odd Pair of Sisters)

[Past Event]

“Nezu~ Nezu~ Nezu~ Nee-chan~”

My little sister, the mouse, the girl that looks somewhat like me, an idiotic person that gets influenced by me, she’s pestering me. Really, this is kind of annoying. Since she’s not getting my attention, she starts tugging on my hair. Why did I even decide on this hairstyle though?

“What?”

She shrinks back a bit. Maybe I was a bit loud and glaring a bit too much.

“Well… Our parents aren’t home… And I can’t cook… So…”

The idiots, they said that they were in a ‘financial crisis’, but in the end, they can just run off somewhere far away to do who knows what. I’m betting if something really bad happens, they’ll just dump the blame on us two and try to run off, though I bet they’ll get themselves killed instead.

Cooking, that was a problem. Truthfully, Mayu isn’t too picky, but she’s a critic, so she’ll be a bit unhappy if I make something bad or unhealthy. Why did I influence her this way anyways? Or maybe, she’s just too smart for her own good.

“…So you want food…” The yankee-nee-san is being forced to cook for the little mouse, how horrible.

She nods and looks away awkwardly. “Basically…”

“Make instant ramen.” Making food is a pain. I think she can pour hot water into the ramen and wait 3 minutes.

“No~”

This is annoying; she shouldn’t be so whiney even if she’s still a kid. It might be okay to spoil her though. As I thought that, a smile appeared on her face. Was I being too obvious?

“I’ll take you to the festival… You use your allowance on food or whatever…”

“Nezu~ Thanks!” She hugs me with happiness emitting from her.

“Yeah, yeah, get dressed or something.”

Since she doesn’t really have friends, she tends to stay in pajamas the whole day unless she has to go to school or something. Mayu is the type of girl that won’t go and talk to strangers. She needs someone to nag her in a positive way in order for that someone to be considered a friend or acquaintance.

“Hai~”

Now that I think about it… I don’t really want to go… But who knows…

“Nezu, done!”

Looking her way, I see her in a nice purple yutaka with white flower patterning, It looks nice and long black hair looks nice with it. Wait, you’re putting on a hoodie? It’s summer already. She has way too many of those hoodies and there are a lot of colors. Despite it being summer, she’s going with a black hoodie.

“…What the heck… Oh… Whatever…”

“Let’s go?”

“…Yeah…” She’s somehow excited.

This place, it’s somewhat brighter than usual. Almost everyone is smiling, no one really cares who or what you are, but some people are a bit unhappy seeing me around. Being the person I am, upsetting one or two people is somewhat normal. As I spaced out for a second, Mayu ran over to the oji-san running the stall and ordered two of those golden honey-caramel sculptures on a stick.

“Nezu~ Here you go, as thanks for taking me out!”

“Ah… Thanks.”

Too bad she doesn’t go ahead and make some friends; it’s a shame that she only really shows her smile to them and me. Eating so much sugar the second you get here is a bit bad isn’t it? This thing is like pure sugar, a condensed cotton candy that’s 2/3 the size of a regular cotton candy.

“If you don’t eat it, it’ll melt on you.”

“Ok, ok. Got it.” And then I bite off the head of the dragon or whatever it was a sculpture of. This is a bit sweet, but a nice treat, I guess.

Only just doing this at a festival is boring, so when I see this shooting game, a light bulb lights up inside my head. Since I’m here anyways, let’s just spoil her.

“Hey. Mayu, what do you want?”

“Hrm… Anything is fine if it’s from you…” Such a childish happy smile she’s showing.

“Sure.”

Instantly, I stuff the caramel sculpture into my mouth and throw away the stick. I know this is probably bad for me, but the head first thinking of a certain person that I had been around kind of throws me off at times. Yeah, this was a bit too sweet.

“Oji-chan, can I have 3 shots?”

“Sure thing, Nezu-kun! Even if you’re a pretty good fighter, let’s see you get these targets!” He seems pretty happy that I decided to play the game. Even if you’re a yankee, it’s not like everyone will hate you. This place, despite being in the city, it has a nice feel. I hand him the money and shoot.

Bang, the first one misses. Rifles are a bit hard to use. Bang, the second one misses, ah so close. Bang, bomp, I manage to hit something. I guess I’m not good at using guns.

Curiously, I ask him, “So, what did I manage to hit?”

He gives a beaming smile, too bright, “Somehow, you got the 3^rd best prize the PSP!”

“Really!? Wow… Thanks Oji-chan!”

Taking the prize, I wave good-bye to him. Mayu likes games, so I guess she would like a new PSP. In truth, she already has 2 already. At least I got this one cheaply.

“Wah! Nezu-nee-chan! Amazing, you got this one? This thing is [random jargon]!”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s great.” It’s kind of sad how she only adds Nee-chan when she wants something or she’s surprised.

The best part of the festival is always the fireworks. Actually, it’s not the best part, but that’s the main reason people come. We’re probably the only people that came because I don’t want to make food for my little sister and it kind of pissed me off thinking about my parents at home.

Now she got some yakisoba, somehow the speed she eats at is insane. Mayu was really hungry wasn’t she? Ok, probably not something that should be a surprise.

“Hey, girls, how about we hang around a bit…” A drunk gang of guys come walking over to us. This type of situation is really annoying.

“If you don’t want to get hurt, go away.” I’m just trying to be nice here.

“Huh? Come on… You don’t have a choice anyways…” The boss grabs my arm, his breath smells bad. Somehow, this is annoying me. Mayu… How can you be eating so calmly right now!!? Even though it’s not like they’d be able to do anything.

“Hey, come on…”

I kick him, well, where it hurts. That’s what you get for flirting with, junior high students! Though technically… Yeah, no one cares if it’s not exactly true…

“What? You punk!”

“Not my fault.” I just keep on kicking the boss and give the other guys a killer glare.

“Grr…” They come charging anyways.

“Oh… By the way…” Then, Mayu throws her trash at them. Kid! Don’t litter! No, wait… Why should I care? Taking the opening, I kind of beat them up? No, I don’t think that’s the right phrasing and no, I didn’t kick them in their manly area, I just basically… Yeah, beat them up.

After getting up, and luckily for me, taking the trash with them, they ran off saying the typical villain line, “I’ll be back!!”

She had a satisfied look on her face for throwing her trash away in an easier manner than usual. That’s not a good thing to do as it might become a habit. I face palm, look who’s thinking about being good people that don’t litter.

Boom! The fireworks are starting already, that’s surprising. Luckily, the place we are at is convenient. Not telling her what I’m doing, I drag Mayu along up a long flight of stairs. Once we get up there, we reach a ledge.

“Hah…hah… Nezu… I can’t run like that…”

“Hrmph.. Just look.” I’m the one that had to fight, though there probably was a different method.

Boom, boom, boom. The multi-colored flowers exploded in the sky. I’m not a fan of the noise, but they look nice.

“…Wah… They look nice…” Exactly my thoughts right before…

“Un…”

“…Nezu… You’re a great sister sometimes you know?”

“Hehe…” Sometimes is it? Well, I guess it’s true that I tend to not be all big sister like all the time. Blame our stupid parents for that… But now, let’s just leave that matter for later…later is fine…