“Hey, Hyodo!”
Suddenly, a teacher arrived in the classroom and called out in a loud voice, causing Kenji Hyodo, a first-year middle school student, to jerk his shoulders in surprise.
With a look of rage on his face, the male teacher, who taught physical education, moved to where Kenji was sitting and looked down at him.
“I heard that Sakurada’s skirt from Class 3 was stolen during the 4th period PE class earlier.
Go return it immediately.”
“Eh, um…
I don’t know anything abou—”
“Don’t lie!!”
The PE teacher slammed his hand on Kenji’s desk.
He then looked at Kenji with eyes as if he were looking at trash.
“Who else but you would pull such an irrational stunt!
If you confess quietly here, I might still be able to handle this leniently.
Hmm?”
“I-I really didn’t do any—”
Even so, as Kenji tried to argue back, the teacher showed signs of irritation.
Just then, Kenji’s friend who had been chatting nearby—Tomoya Kasugayama—offered a helping hand.
“It’s true.
Ken-ku…
Hyodo-kun was with us the whole time today.
At the very least, he didn’t have the leeway to commit such a theft.”
“Yeah, yeah.
This guy was with us the whole time, you know?
Or are you saying that we were complicit in something so stupid, too?”
Another boy, Yosuke Takatsuki—a light-looking boy with dyed brown hair—glared at the PE teacher annoyedly.
The two had been friends since the early years of elementary school.
Tomoya was the genius type, and Yosuke was the playboy type.
Along with the quiet-natured Kenji, their personalities were all over the place, but for some reason, they got along well and had deepened their friendship over the years.
In particular, Tomoya had a certain level of credibility due to his personality and grades.
Additionally, his parents were members of the PTA board.
Taking advantage of the situation, criticism toward the PE teacher began to gather from the rest of the class as well.
“I don’t know much about it, but isn’t it cruel to treat the younger brother as an enemy just because his older brother was a troublemaker?”
“Hyodo-kun is a serious student in class, though…”
Exposed to the cold stares of the class, the PE teacher backed away awkwardly.
As if to finish him off, Tomoya spoke.
“Since you’re going that far, you must have evidence that Hyodo-kun stole a girl’s skirt, right?”
“T-That’s…”
The PE teacher stammered.
The reason the PE teacher was treating Kenji as the culprit was because he was the younger brother of a troublemaker who was an alumnus of this middle school.
Realizing that further argument was disadvantageous, the teacher declared he would find evidence soon and retreated.
“You won’t find anything unless you fabricate it.”
Yosuke stuck out his tongue.
Tomoya placed a hand on Kenji’s shoulder.
“That was a disaster.
As usual.”
“Yeah…
Everyone, thank you for helping me.”
As Kenji smiled in relief, Yosuke scratched his head as if he were bored.
“What are you saying!
You didn’t do anything wrong, so just stand tall.”
“…Yeah.”
While being comforted, Yosuke grumbled.
“Honestly.
It’s all because of Kenji’s brother!”
Kenji’s older brother was a graduate of this school and had committed numerous indecent acts with his friends.
Because of that, Kenji was being treated with caution by the teachers, the current 3rd years, and even the 2nd years who had heard various things from the 3rd years.
It was a saving grace that the 1st years and the teachers who started working at this school after Kenji’s brother graduated were still on Kenji’s side.
Kenji had intended to take the middle school entrance exams so that he wouldn’t have to attend this school.
(If only Brother hadn’t taken the entrance exam for Kuoh Academy…!)
An academy that had changed from a girls’ school to a co-ed school.
Initially, Kenji had planned to take the exam for the junior high division there, but since his brother passed the high school entrance exam for that school, Kenji’s plan fell through.
As he showed slight irritation and fatigue, Yosuke changed the subject.
“By the way, for summer vacation.
My brother said he’d take us to the ocean with his friends.
Do you guys want to come too?”
“Kyoji-san?”
“Yeah!
Apparently, a relative of one of my brother’s friends runs a small inn!
He said we can stay there!
Most of them are just my brother’s buddies, but they’re good people and it’ll definitely be fun!”
Yosuke’s older brother, Kyoji, was a university student.
According to his younger brother, he was dim-witted but knew a lot of interesting things.
True to that evaluation, Kenji had also been allowed to do various interesting things with him.
He had let Kenji ride double on a large motorcycle.
When Kenji, who wasn’t good at sports, was invited by Yosuke to join a baseball team, Kyoji had helped him practice.
During spring break, he had taken them camping as a celebration for entering middle school.
To Kenji, he was someone he looked up to more than his biological brother.
“Yeah!
I’ll go!
When does it start?”
“After August begins.
I’ll tell you the details on my smartphone later.
What about you, Tomoya?”
“I’ll go.
My summer homework will be over soon anyway, and I’ll be bored.
I’m not interested in a summer vacation spent entirely at a cram school.”
“Are you being sarcastic, you bastard…”
While fooling around, Kenji was laughing.
Problems occurred, but Kenji certainly had his fun days.
“I’m home.”
When he returned from middle school, his mother greeted him.
“Welcome back, Kenji.”
“Yeah.
I’m home, Mom.
Is there anything I can help with?”
“Nothing in particular…
why?”
“Well.
The house suddenly got bigger, right?
There are more people living here now, so I thought it might be tough.
Like cleaning and stuff.”
“It’s fine.
We have a Roomba.
Rias and the others help with the housework, too.”
Recently, members of his brother’s club had started living in this house.
Because of that, they took the plunge and renovated the house.
The house had become incomparably larger than before.
For some reason, he felt a sense of wrongness about that, but surely it was just his imagination.
Before his brother and the others returned, he finished changing his clothes and completed today’s homework.
After finishing that, while he was playing a mobile game, his brother and his housemates returned.
Each of them said “I’m home” as they entered the house.
To be honest, Kenji was not good with those girls who were his housemates.
Part of it was that for Kenji, who had entered puberty, they were a diverse group of beautiful girls who were bad for his eyes, but he also felt resistance toward suddenly treating strangers like family.
He thought they were all good people, and he didn’t dislike them.
It was just that he felt a strong sense of bewilderment regarding the housemates who had been decided so suddenly.
It had been hard enough just accepting Asia and Rias.
Even so, he couldn’t just ignore them, so while harboring feelings of gloom, Kenji moved toward where Issei and the others were.
“Welcome back, everyon—”
Kenji’s smile faltered.
When he looked, the face of his brother, Issei Hyodo, was swollen as if he had been punched.
He had seen that face several times before.
To the frozen Kenji, Rias explained with a wry smile.
“Today, Issei peeked at Koneko’s class while they were changing.
Koneko got angry and punched Issei.”
At Rias’s explanation, Koneko looked away awkwardly in front of the younger brother.
However, hearing that, Kenji’s face turned even paler.
“I-I am very sorry!?
Toujou-san!”
Kenji bent at the waist and bowed his head.
It was as if he were willing to get down on his hands and knees if this wasn’t enough to be forgiven.
While the others were confused by his attitude, Koneko stopped him with a bewildered look.
“…R-Raise your head…
I’m not angry anymore…
okay?”
Feeling uncomfortable because of his desperate state, she emphasized that she had forgiven him.
To Kenji, who wouldn’t raise his head, Issei let out a sigh.
“It’s already over.
Besides, you aren’t the one who should be bowing your head, right?”
At Issei’s attitude, which seemed to say “What are you doing?”, Kenji clenched his fists so hard it seemed they might bleed.
(The side that did the peeking might think of it as lighthearted play, but for the side it was done to, it’s not like that…!)
Moreover, Rias said “class.” That meant the victims weren’t just Koneko.
However, he knew that even if he made a fuss here, it would only be evaded vaguely, so he decided to accept it.
“I see.
Excuse me.
I’ll be in my room until dinner.”
Kenji left as if he were running away.
Watching him, Xenovia asked Issei a question.
“Do you brothers perhaps get along poorly?”
“No, I don’t think so.
He’s just in a bit of a rebellious phase right now.”
In the past, he used to follow Issei around all the time, calling him “Big Brother.”
In the last few years, he had become distant or had taken a rebellious attitude, but Issei thought he was just at that age.
“But, I want to become closer…
He doesn’t let me talk to him much…”
Asia looked down sadly.
It was rare for Kenji to speak to her of his own accord, and even when they were talking, she could tell he was trying to end the conversation quickly.
“He’s probably just nervous.
Everyone is so beautiful!
We’ll be able to get along eventually!”
At Issei’s optimistic words, the members present let their mouths soften into smiles.
“Ah!
Damn it!
Damn it!!”
Punching his pillow, Kenji desperately tried to suppress his violent impulses.
He was angry at his insensitive brother who didn’t try to sense people’s feelings, and at those girls who wouldn’t punish his actions.
Above all, the fear of not being able to feel a place for himself in his transformed home was gradually becoming stress that irritated Kenji.
“Where is this…?”
Looking exhausted from the sense of wrongness and doubt that swelled day by day, he buried his face in the pillow he had been punching.
Just as he was thinking he might as well fall asleep, he heard the sound of a “knock, knock” on his room door.
Did they come to call him for dinner?
With that thought, he opened the door to his room.