Tokyo: Oreimo

Page 201

"what happened?"

"Remember to think of me."

"Ah."

"Heh, take good care of your sister, and take good care of yourself too. Goodnight."

Ryosuke put down his phone, leaned back in his chair, and stared blankly at the ceiling.

The next room was very quiet; you couldn't hear a sound.

How could Chapter 189 possibly be ignored?

Monday morning.

Winter in Tokyo is late in the day; at seven o'clock, the sky is still veiled in a thin layer of gray-blue.

When Ryosuke left, the door to the next room was still closed.

He stood in the corridor and listened for a few seconds, but there was no sound.

Last night, before going to bed, Mihoko took Ling Nai's temperature again, and it was 38.2 degrees Celsius, which was a little higher.

The girl was wrapped up in the blanket and barely ate any dinner.

In this situation, it's impossible to go to school.

On a December morning, the air was as cold as a knife, and the white breath exhaled condensed in front of my eyes and then quickly dissipated.

As Ryosuke crossed the intersection, he saw a girl standing in the cold wind, waiting.

Aragaki Ruri.

She was wearing a winter school uniform: a dark blue blazer, a plaid skirt, black stockings that covered her slender legs, and a pair of clean black leather shoes.

Her long black hair cascaded over her shoulders, framing her delicate face.

Since her relationship with Ling Nai deteriorated, the two have never gone to school together; Ling Nai always leaves home earlier than her.

That's why I haven't seen Ruri Aragaki for a long time.

Compared to the last time I met her, the girl had grown taller and had a more upright posture. Perhaps because she was a part-time model, her overall demeanor was much more mature than that of her peers.

"Brother?"

The girl noticed Ryosuke and deliberately looked behind him.

Ryosuke stopped in his tracks. "No need to look anymore, Ryouno took the day off today."

"Huh?"

"Because I have a fever."

Ryosuke walked forward on his own, with Ruri Aragaki following behind him in small, quick steps.

The girl asked nervously, "Is it serious? If the fever is high, should we go to the hospital?"

"The fever has already subsided, so there's no need to go."

Ryosuke offered an explanation.

"Brother, you and Ling Nai have been arguing lately, haven't you?"

Recently, Ling Nai has been going to Aragaki Ruri's house after dinner to study together until eight o'clock before going home.

This has never happened before.

Moreover, she rarely speaks of her elder brother anymore.

You know, in the past, whenever I chatted with Ling Nai, the topic would always turn to Ryosuke after only three sentences.

It's quite obvious that their relationship has deteriorated.

"Ling Nai has been in very poor condition for the past month..."

"Well, it's a long story, so you'd better not ask."

Ryosuke interrupted her, saying that if he said what Ling Nai hadn't told her, it would definitely make her angry.

Ruri Aragaki lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly. After hesitating for a moment, she grabbed Ryosuke's sleeve.

"Ok?"

"How can we not inquire about this?!"

The girl spoke in a questioning tone; she was usually gentle, and rarely showed anger.

Ryosuke stopped and turned his head to look at the hand that was grabbing his sleeve.

"Aragaki..."

“Ling Nai... for the past month or so, she has been coming to my house every day to study, saying that her academic tutoring has been moved to my place.”

Liuli raised her head, her black eyes veiled with a thin layer of mist, her eyelashes trembling slightly, and her lips pressed tightly together.

"She stopped mentioning her brother."

“When she used to chat with me, at least one out of every three sentences would be ‘that guy is like this or that,’ and even when she was complaining, her eyes were smiling.”

"But now..."

The girl's voice choked for a moment.

“Now she sits in my room, drawing or doing homework, without saying a word. When I ask her what’s wrong, she just says ‘nothing’ and then remains silent.”

“I asked her if she had argued with her brother, and she said, ‘No, I just don’t want to rely on that guy anymore.’”

"rely...."

Ruri bit her lower lip, released Ryosuke's sleeve, and clenched her fists at her sides.

“Brother, do you know? Ling Nai would never say anything like ‘dependence’ before. She’s incredibly stubborn. Even if she’s very dependent on someone, she’ll never admit it.”

"But now she's said it herself, 'I don't want to rely on her anymore.'"

"This shows that she really...really is forcing herself to distance herself from her brother."

Ryosuke listened in silence without interrupting.

"And she's lost a lot of weight recently."

Liuli's voice lowered, as if she were talking to herself.

“The waist of her school uniform was noticeably looser. When she came to my house last week, I poured her some hot milk, and her fingers were trembling as she held the cup.”

I asked her if she was cold, and she said no.

"Then I saw her eyes redden, but she quickly turned her head away and said, 'Something got in my eye.'"

"That excuse..."

Ruri took a deep breath and looked up at Ryosuke.

“Brother, you know Ling Nai, right? She never cries, at least not before I met her.”

"But in the past month, she has cried in front of me three times."

"three times."

The girl held up three fingers, which were still trembling slightly.

“Every time, she would suddenly stop talking and then tears would fall. She didn’t seem to realize she was crying. When I called her, she would hurriedly wipe them away.”

"I asked her why she was crying, and she said..."

Liuli's voice choked, she swallowed hard, and then continued.

She said, "It's nothing, I just feel ashamed."

Liuli lowered her head, her black bangs falling down and obscuring her eyes.

"She said she felt like a fool, that she shouldn't have done that, but she just couldn't control herself. She said she hated herself for it, but she couldn't stop hating herself."

"Brother..."

The girl's voice was so soft that it was almost blown away by the morning breeze.

"What exactly did you do to Ling Nai?"

Liuli raised her head, her eyes already brimming with tears, but she bit her lip, desperately trying to hold them back from falling.

Ryosuke opened his mouth, as if to say something, but swallowed the words back.

It wasn't that she was afraid of being labeled a pervert by Ruri Aragaki for harming her younger sister, but rather that it was Ayano's business, and she couldn't make the decision for her.

He has no right to speak for her.

"Feel sorry."

Liuli paused for a moment, and then tears finally fell, one by one, onto the collar of her school uniform.

"So, my elder brother knows the reason, right?"

"know."

"Then why not..."

"It should be up to her to decide whether or not to tell you this."

Ryosuke interrupted her, his tone calm, but his eyes held a complex emotion.

“Aragaki, you are Ayano’s best friend, and no one knows that better than you.”

“There are some things that even the best of friends need to be prepared for before they can say them.”

Liuli wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, but they kept flowing again, no matter what she did.

"But...but when I see her like that...there's nothing I can do..."