Episode 6: “The Steamy Hot Spring Romance Case Files ⑥ ~Treading on the Tiger’s Tail~”
This was a story from when Akira was still six years old, right after she started elementary school—
“Look, Akira. Take a look,” Takeru-san said gently. “It’s the stars. Beautiful, aren’t they?”
“Whoa! So sparkly!” Akira exclaimed, her eyes wide with wonder. “They’re so pretty~!”
After the drama shoot was over, Takeru-san had apparently brought Akira to the Starfall Hill Observatory.
“This is a spot I discovered with a junior back in college,” he explained with a warm smile. “The stars here are just incredible~ I’ve always wanted to bring you here, Akira.”
“Twin~kle, twin~kle, li~ttle star~♪” Akira sang cheerfully. “How I wonder what you are~♪”
“Hahaha, that’s right,” Takeru-san chuckled. “That’s the meaning of your name, Akira.”
“The meaning of my name?” Akira asked curiously.
“Akira, can you write your name in kanji yet?”
“Yep!” she declared proudly. “It’s three ‘suns’~!”
And with that, Akira had apparently written her name on the ground with a tree branch.
“You wrote that really well,” Takeru-san praised her. “But Akira, listen to this. Those three ‘suns’ don’t actually mean the sun, you see.”
“They don’t?” Akira tilted his head in confusion.
“It means ‘the light of the stars.’ The character for ‘Akira’ combines three star lights to represent the sparkle of all these countless stars.”
“The sparkle of tons and tons of stars?”
“That’s right. The sparkle of the stars.”
As Takeru-san held Akira’s hand, he suddenly looked up at the night sky. When Akira followed his lead, the thousands of stars seemed to shine with a different brilliance than before.
“When I first came here, I thought to myself—if I ever get married and have a kid, whether it’s a boy or a girl, I’d want to name them ‘Akira,’” Takeru-san said softly. “I want them to be a light of hope that shines bright and illuminates people, just like this starry sky.”
“You mean I’m sparkly just like those stars?” Akira asked with innocent excitement.
“Of course! You’re already sparkling just like a star right now, Akira~”
“Ehehe ♪ I’m a little star~”
“That’s right. So Akira, you don’t have to shine as bright as the sun. It’s okay to be more modest,” Takeru-san continued, his voice growing gentle. “But I want you to become a light of hope that illuminates the dark night sky someday. In place of me, who’s completely lost his shine… will you do that for me?”
“That’s too hard, Dad…” Akira replied with a slight frown.
“Hahaha, maybe that’s still a bit too grown-up for you, huh Akira?” Takeru-san laughed warmly. “You’ll understand someday. So for now, here we go── tickle tickle tickle~”
“Kyaa! That tickles~!” Akira squealed with delight.
“Smile, Akira, smile. Come on, come on~”
“Sto~p it! Ahahahaha! …──”
Two years later, Takeru-san left Akira behind.
It seems it was around then that the smile, the sparkle of the stars, vanished from Akira.
＊ ＊ ＊
I was gazing up at the starry sky while soaking in the ryokan’s open-air bath.
After hearing Akira’s memory of Takeru-san, I was feeling a little sentimental.
Hope, huh…
The Akira I first met wasn’t like that──
“Look, I’m gonna say this upfront, but I’m not here for any cozy family bonding.”
── If anything, we started from a place way closer to despair.
Could I really get along with this stepsibling of mine? I was anxious at first, but once I got used to her, she turned out to be an honest and adorable kid. Well, it turned out she was actually my stepsister── and man, once I found that out, everything seemed to move at lightning speed.
I repeatedly clench and unclench my right hand. The right hand I offered back then met with empty air, but now we hold hands like lovers. That in itself feels somehow deeply moving.
Akira is a light of hope that illuminates the dark night sky.
To me now, Akira seems to be shining. If I were able to help her regain that shine, even just a little, I’d be happy. And I hope I can do something, anything, for the one who always illuminates my heart.
＊ ＊ ＊
When I got out of the bath and went into the hallway, I happened to run into Hinata, who had just come out of the women’s bath.
“Oh? Ryouta-senpai, you were in the bath too?” she asked with surprise.
“Same to you, Hinata-chan. You’re by yourself?”
“Yeah. Kazusa-chan and the others were all like ‘Let’s hit the town tonight!’ but…”
“Geez, that girl…” I let out an exasperated sigh.
It feels less like a training camp and more like they’re just on vacation.
“You sure you didn’t want to go with them, Hinata-chan?”
“I just wanted some alone time to think about something…”
“Something on your mind?”
“Well, kinda like that──” She paused, then looked at me hopefully. “Oh, Ryouta-senpai, would you mind if I talked to you for a bit?”
“Of course. You’re always the one listening to me, after all.”
We moved to the lobby, and Hinata and I sat facing each other. What Hinata wanted to talk about was mainly about Kousei. It seems he’s the same as ever at home, and is causing Hinata trouble again.
This time, the story was that she had sent him a few photos from our trip during this training camp on LIME, and Kousei got angry at her.
“And then, y’know, my brother just fired back with ‘Quit sending me every little thing!’” she said with a troubled expression.
“Ahahaha, that’s so typical of him,” I replied with amusement.
“I’m just sending him pics of yummy food and pretty scenery, and it’s not like I’m asking him to comment on every single one, y’know?”
“So why are you sending photos to Kousei then, Hinata-chan?”
“That’s, well…” she hesitated, looking down. “I guess I wanted to share how much fun this trip is…”
“You want him to share in your feelings?”
“Um, something like that, yeah…”
Perhaps feeling embarrassed, Hinata’s face turned red all the way to her ears. Her skin, flushed from the bath, turned an even deeper shade of pink.
“I’d be happy if he could share in the moment with me, but I guess that’s not happening, huh…”
“Well, that’s just how it goes sometimes, right?”
“Ryouta-senpai, if you got photos from Akira, what would you say back?”
“Me? What would I say──”
Just then, a LIME message from Akira arrived on my phone. I asked Hinata for a moment and opened it.
A photo had been sent──it was a screenshot of her high score in the puzzle game he’d been playing while I was in the bath. And it even came with the message, ‘I did it!’
What kind of reaction is this guy even looking for from me…?
I mean seriously, what the heck is she doing on a trip away from home?
“Well, if it were me, I’d at least send back something like ‘That’s awesome,’ I guess~…”
“That’s like, the normal kind of response you’d expect, right?”
“Um, I don’t think our sibling dynamic is a perfect example to follow, ahahaha…”
As I replied with a wry smile, Hinata changed the subject with a, “Oh, right.”
“How’s it been since you started living with Akira?”
“I guess it’s way livelier than before? It’s really fun. We basically just laze around together, but our hobbies and stuff really click.”
“That sounds amazing. I’m honestly kinda jealous.”
“That kind of thing seems pretty tough with Kousei, huh?”
“Honestly, I have zero clue what goes on in his head, and I keep wondering what he actually thinks of me…”
Hinata’s expression suddenly grew darker.
“Of course, he thinks of you as his precious little sister,” I assured her. “During the Kanon Festival, when you had that accident, Hinata-chan, he was trying to act all cool, but he was actually pretty shaken up, y’know?”
“Huh!? My brother was!?” Apparently, this was the first she was hearing of it, and Hinata’s eyes went wide with surprise.
“Besides, he came to help you at the crucial moment, didn’t he? Y’know, in the final scene of ‘Romeo and Juliet’──”
“Ah, the ki-ssing sce— mmh…” Remembering the kiss scene, I instinctively looked away.
Thinking about it again makes me feel kind of embarrassed.
“Um, about that time, I’m sorry…”
“No, no, I’m the one who just froze up…”
“It’s not your fault, Ryouta-senpai. It’s because I went up on stage without getting my feelings straight…”
“No way, it’s totally my fault for not being able to take the lead even though I’m older… I was just pathetic…”
As we both kept insisting it was our fault—“It was me,” “No, it was me”—we realized both our faces were bright red, and this time we both just burst out laughing.
It was a laugh born from a mix of bashfulness and absurdity.
“Maybe we should stop bringing this up?” I suggested.
“I agree. It makes me blush every time,” Hinata replied with a sweet smile.
I couldn’t help but think how beautiful that smile was, but right after, I imagined a pouting Akira in the corner of my mind, and it made me feel somewhat awkward.
＊ ＊ ＊
After that, Nishiyama and the others who had been out playing came back. In their hands dangled convenience store bags. I stared at the convenience store bags, hoping they hadn’t bought any alcohol, and was relieved to see it was just cans and plastic bottles of juice and snacks.
Seeing me and Hinata in the lobby, Nishiyama looked around restlessly.
“Huh? Where’s Akira-chan?” she asked.
“She should be in her room, I think.”
“Then Majima-senpai, could you call Akira-chan for me?”
“Why?”
“Want to play some ping-pong now? You know, the hot springs ping-pong thing!”
“What’s with the sudden urge for that?”
“Well~, before we hit the indoor baths, I wanted to work up a little sweat~!” she declared energetically. “Come on, come on, let’s have a quick game and feel refreshed~!”
Seeing the strangely energetic Nishiyama, I felt that something wasn’t quite right. I tried asking Ito, who was smiling wryly.
“Ito-san, did something happen with her?”
“Well, you see, a group of four guys came up to us in front of the convenience store,” she explained.
“Whoa!?”
“They looked like college students, and they just started talking to us out of the blue. Things like, ‘Where are you guys from~?’ and ‘You girls are cute~’…”
Perhaps embarrassed by the memory, Ito’s face turned beet red.
“So what happened?”
“Kazusa-chan chased them away for us.”
“Whoa, as expected of the club president! Not bad!”
I think this is the first time since joining the club that I’ve respected Nishiyama as the president. When it comes down to it, she really does put the club members first. You’ve gone up in my estimation, Nishiyama!
However, Ito lowered her voice, looking awkward.
“…Actually, at first, Kazusa-chan was totally into it when they started talking to her…”
“…Eh?”
“She started asking them things like, ‘If you had to pick one of us to be your girlfriend, who would it be?’ and──”
“Ah, I think I get the picture. You can stop there, yeah…”
Nishiyama was definitely the one left out.
Somehow, I’m starting to feel sorry for her…
“Um, Nishiyama…”
“Yeah? What’s up, Majima-senpai?”
“Is there anything I can do for you?”
“That’s why I’m asking you to call Akira-chan! And what’s with that pitying look!?” she protested indignantly.
“It’s not pity. This is a look of solidarity. See, I’m not exactly popular either, y’know?”
“What’s this ‘not popular’ nonsense?! Don’t you dare lump me in with you!”
I was trying to be considerate, but somehow I just made Nishiyama even angrier. …Oh well.
I called Akira and told her to meet us in the lobby. She seemed to still be in the middle of a game and said, “I’ll be there in a bit,” so we headed to the game area first.
＊ ＊ ＊
About ten minutes had passed since we started playing ping-pong. Akira finally showed up and sat down next to me on the bench.
“Sorry for dragging you out here so suddenly,” I apologized.
“It’s fine. But Aniki, why are you guys playing ping-pong?”
“It’s probably to help Nishiyama blow off some steam…”
“What do you mean?”
“Ask Ito-san about it later. It hurts my soul too much to explain…”
“…Seriously, what do you mean?”
However, the Nishiyama in question was happily playing ping-pong with Minami. The club members with nothing to do were playing in the game corner, and the atmosphere was cheerful and harmonious. Maybe I don’t need to worry about it that much.
“Okay, next up, Majima-senpai and Akira-chan, if you please,” Nishiyama called out.
Urged on by Nishiyama, we took the rackets and ball and stood in front of the ping-pong table.
“Aniki, is this how you hold the racket?” Akira asked uncertainly.
“Hmm? That’s how you hold a rice paddle. Here, you hold it like this──”
I adjusted Akira’s finger positions to teach her the proper grip.
“When you swing the racket, try to use the rotation of your hips, not just your arm──”
“Like this?”
“Right, right. Relax your arm more──”
“Like this── how’s that?”
Akira showed me by swinging the racket.
“That looks pretty good. Apparently, it’s better to hit the ball using your whole body like that.”
“You’re incredible, Aniki! You know everything!” she said with admiration.
“Nah, it’s just ’cause we had ping-pong in gym class last week~”
As Akira and I were chatting like this, Nishiyama was glaring at us with a pouty expression.
“Could you quit flirting and actually play already?” she demanded.
“We’re not flirting!” “We’re just being normal!”
Akira and I protested with bright red faces, but Nishiyama just shot us this unimpressed side-eye.
A little while later, once the game of ping-pong actually started, Akira quickly got the hang of it. As we managed to keep a rally going, it began to get pretty fun.
“You’re doing great, Akira.”
“Huh, really?”
“You pick up on everything so fast, don’t you, Akira? That’s so like you.”
“Y-You think so? Ehehe~♪”
As we were enjoying our ping-pong game with big smiles on our faces, Nishiyama chimed in again.
“Could you quit the lovey-dovey act and play for real?” she said, once again looking totally annoyed.
Normally, this would be the part where I’d talk back, but no──
“Nishiyama, wanna at least play a game with me? I probably can’t offer you much besides ping-pong, so…”
“I told you to quit looking at me with those pitying eyes!” she snapped.
I managed to tick off Nishiyama again. For now, I guess I’ll just finish up this match with Akira.
For once, I was winning against Akira. The score was eight to five, with me leading by three points. By the way, it’s first to eleven points.
Well, Akira is pretty much a beginner, so this match is more like practice for her. I wasn’t concerned with winning or losing from the start, and there’s no joy in winning anyway.
Then, Akira looked at me with a fearless smile.
“Aniki, how about we start playing for real now?”
“Oh-ho, so you want me to get a little serious, huh?”
After that, Akira started playing for real. Unlike her loose swings from before, she was returning the ball at sharp angles.
“Kuh…!”
She sent one to my backhand. After that, she gradually adjusted the placement bit by bit, varying the speed, and strategically returned each shot . …I don’t know why, but I’m really starting to hate the idea of losing.
But before I knew it, the point difference had shrunk, and though I was the first to reach match point at ten to nine,
“Sei!”
“Ugh!”
Akira showed some tenacity, and now it’s a tie . Since there are no deuces, the next person to score a point wins.
“You’re really something else, Akira!”
“I’m gonna take this next one, Aniki!” she declared confidently.
It was Akira’s serve. She fixed me with her intense stare.
A tense moment── Akira releases the ball from her hand.
Here it comes!
I held my breath, my eyes wide open, and focused all my nerves on Akira’s every move.
But, in that instant──
“Hyaa!?”
Akira, realizing something was wrong, suddenly froze up bright red──and then the obi of his yukata came undone, causing the front to fly wide open.
Clack── clack, clack… roll…──
The ball rolls across the ground.
I slowly closed my wide-open eyes and tried to immediately erase that moment that had been burned into my retina.
“A-Aniki… can we just pretend that one didn’t happen…?” Akira asked weakly.
“Nah, you can just take the win…”
Talk about a service ace that’s way too much service…
The cliché development made both me and Akira turn bright red, but then I heard a “Tch…” as Nishiyama clicked her tongue.
＊ ＊ ＊
After finishing a match, Akira and I sat side-by-side on the bench again. This time, Hinata sat on the other side, sandwiching Akira between us.
“Phew~, I worked up such a weird sweat…” Akira sighed.
“You should’ve noticed your obi was coming loose before that happened…” I pointed out.
“But I was totally focused!”
“Ahahaha… that was super embarrassing just now, wasn’t it?” Hinata giggled sympathetically. “If that were me, I probably would’ve cried…”
Incidentally, Hinata had already been in the hot spring and didn’t want to get sweaty, so she wasn’t playing ping-pong.
It was Nishiyama’s turn, but the opponent she chose was──
“Alright then, Amane, how about a President vs. Vice President showdown?”
“Ehh!? No thanks, I’m good~…” Ito replied reluctantly.
── Ito was getting roped into this.
Ito looked a little troubled, but in the end, it seemed she reluctantly decided to go along with it. As she passed in front of us, I casually called out to her.
“Ito-san, if you don’t want to, you should really say so, y’know?”
“No, it’s not that I don’t want to, but…”
“What’s up?”
“No.── It’s just, I have a feeling I might be a bad matchup for Kazusa-chan…”
What a humble girl. I can sense her lack of confidence, as if she thinks she’s no match for Nishiyama. I felt like cheering for Ito.
“Well then, Ito-san, good luck!”
“Um, I’ll just play like I always do…” she replied shyly, blushing slightly.
I handed over the racket I was holding to Ito.
But the moment I did, a chill ran down my spine. My palms suddenly got all sweaty. Somehow, I have a horrible feeling about this…
When I cautiously looked up, Ito had started to stroke the racket affectionately.
“Ah, this little guy… it still wants to fight…” she murmured with vacant eyes that were honestly kinda scary.
“Um, Ito-san…?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing, Majima-senpai! Well then, here I go──”
As Ito reached the ping-pong table, Nishiyama smirked.
“So, loser buys drinks for everyone, sound good?”
“Kazusa-chan, I really don’t think that’s such a good idea, y’know?” Ito cautioned gently.
“What’s the big deal? Doesn’t having stakes make it way more exciting?” Nishiyama boasted. “Oh, but just so you know, I’m actually pretty good at ping-pong. Wanna back out now? You hate competitive stuff like this, don’t you, Amane~?”
What cheap trash talk… The small-fry energy is off the charts, Nishiyama.
“It’s fine. I’m pretty decent at ping-pong too, so──”
Then, Ito let out a sigh.
But this sigh was utterly different from the exasperated ones I was used to hearing from her. It went way beyond exasperation—there was this chilling coldness to it. Like absolutely nothing in this world could possibly interest her…
The air instantly became heavy, as if someone had dumped thick oil all over everything.
Akira, Hinata, and I had noticed the complete change in Ito’s atmosphere. The only one here who probably hadn’t noticed was Nishiyama, who was acting all confident.
“R-Ryouta-senpai, what should we do…?” Hinata whispered nervously.
“Aniki, if we don’t stop this, isn’t this gonna be really bad…?” Akira muttered urgently.
“I was thinking the exact same thing, but it’s kinda terrifying… My hands haven’t stopped shaking for a while now…”
While we were hesitating, the match began.
A service ace from Nishiyama.
The moment Nishiyama cheerfully called out, “Here I go~” and the ball bounced on Ito’s side of the court──
PAAAAAA───NG!
──A sharp, piercing sound rang out.
By the time the ball rolled to a stop behind Nishiyama,
“──…Eh?”
Nishiyama finally seemed to understand what had just happened.
Nishiyama’s face twitched. We who were watching were also left with our mouths hanging open. In response to Nishiyama’s serve, Ito had simply returned it straight. But that single shot had gouged out Nishiyama’s court at an unbelievable speed.
“A-Amane…? What just happened there…?──”
“Sorry, Kazusa-chan. ── But you’re the one who started this, remember?” Ito replied coolly.
Seeing Ito act like it wasn’t her fault, we were all totally freaked out.
Ito casually pushed up her glasses with this blank expression, then got into position with the ball and racket.
“Well then, next── here I come, ’kay?”
What happened next was absolutely brutal to watch.
While Nishiyama had this expression that practically screamed ‘please have mercy,’ Ito mechanically and ruthlessly went in for the kill. The second Nishiyama sent even a slightly weak ball toward Ito, the ping-pong ball would make this sound I’d never heard before as it shot off the table.
Every time Ito swung her racket, Nishiyama would let out this pathetic “Eek!” and duck for cover, diving under the ping-pong table. It was basically a disaster drill at this point.
In the end, Ito completely demolished Nishiyama by an overwhelming margin, but the outcome was obvious from the start, and I just couldn’t help but feel bad for Nishiyama.
The cause of her defeat was definitely underestimating Ito. She’s intelligent , humble, and tends to get swept up in things. But it was Nishiyama’s rotten luck to step on the tail of the terrifying tiger sleeping deep inside her.
── By the way, this is something I heard from Minami, one of our club members who went to the same middle school as Ito.
Apparently, Ito was on the ping-pong team back in middle school and was good enough to make it to the national top 4 in girls’ singles. Minami was literally shaking as she told me that Ito’s entire personality changes when she picks up a racket.
Ito can pinpoint an opponent’s weakness with just one shot, completely preventing them from getting into any kind of rally, and on top of that, she totally crushes their will to fight. She was apparently feared throughout the school and beyond for that ruthless, merciless playing style.
That’s how she earned the nickname “The One-Shot Empress.”
It’s such an intimidating nickname that you’d never connect it to the gentle, soft-spoken Ito we know today. When Ito heard that nickname while not holding a racket, she was apparently pretty shocked and gently set down the racket she was holding on the ping-pong table. Then,
“I’m going back to being a normal girl!”
S he declared, and completely shut the door on the ping-pong career everyone expected from her.
And then, after getting into Yuuki Academy, while she was looking for a cultural club to join, she was approached by this girl who was cheerful, hardworking, and a little concerning but totally straightforward.
“Why don’t you join the drama club with me?”
That was Nishiyama Kazusa—the president of our drama club.
And as for that Nishiyama──
“Waaah… that was so scawy~… sob, hic…”
──Having been completely destroyed by Ito, she was pathetically sobbing to Hinata.
“It’s okay, Kazusa-chan. It’s over now. It’s all… over…” Hinata said gently, stroking the sobbing Nishiyama’s head.
This was the first time I’d ever seen Hinata with such a tragic yet compassionate expression. Like I was looking at some religious painting, there was this heavenly light just pouring down on Hinata’s head.
War only begets sorrow. On the other hand, perhaps it further highlights the nobility and beauty that humans possess.
Akira and I just watched this scene, utterly dumbfounded.
As for Ito, on the other hand──
“So then, who’s my next opponent?”
──She was totally in the zone.
Instantly, Akira and I whipped our heads away, and Nishiyama let out this tiny “Eek!” The other club members had already evacuated to the indoor baths.
“Um, Ito-san, I’ll buy juice for everyone, so maybe we can call it a day… ahahaha…”
It seems like most problems in the world can be solved with money. In that case, the money I’m about to feed into this vending machine must have some deeper meaning. We absolutely cannot let the sadness in this world increase any further.
With that thought in mind, I decided to buy juice for everyone here.
For now, I absolutely must not let Ito get her hands on a racket.
I’ll definitely keep that in mind going forward.
