Published 2021.05.21
The setting sun shone through the window. The hour hand of the clock on my desk read five o’clock in the afternoon.
「Damn it！ I lost again……！」
In a slightly messy room, in front of a small monitor, my childhood friend and I were playing a famous fighting game.
In exchange for helping me with my match with Hayami, I would go along with Rinko’s condition, play games. I quickly digested the condition that Rinko had offered me.
Today, Shizuku, who was the only person I’m worried about when it came to Rinko playing in my room, will be home late because of her homeroom teacher, who had asked her to help sort out some papers. If Shizuku were here, our house would’ve become a battlefield, no question. Therefore, the timing was really good. I’m grateful to my homeroom teacher for forcing Shizuku to take care of it, as if she had planned it.
「Fuu~ A-kun you’re so soft~」
My character was thrown out of the ring, and Rinko, cocky, encouraged me with a smug look on her face. The previous round was my tenth fight, but I have yet to beat Rinko once.
It’s the same old thing, I can’t beat Rinko in anything. This air purifier type childhood friend has a calm atmosphere, as if her whole body is dripping with negative ions. She is smart, athletic, to the point. Truly high spec.
「Haaa…I’ve never been able to beat you at anything in my life… I’m losing confidence」
「Well, my strength is limited to A-kun. If I played with others, I’ll probably lose」
「That’s not true」
「It happens. I’ve always known what you’re thinking, haven’t I?」
「Then, guess what I’m thinking about right now?」
「Breasts」
「!?」
I was astonished and shooken. Rinko’s current outfit was a saggy T-shirt and hotpants. It was probably her loungewear, but she was too vulnerable to go to a guy’s room to play.
It was an old shirt, so naturally the neck was wide open. From that space, her breasts gave off a different sense of existence.
Wearing a saggy T-shirt, but her chest is full. A contradiction. An overwhelming contradiction.
It’s inevitable that breasts with such tremendous mass would have gravity to it. It’s no wonder that my eyes are drawn to it. It is rather natural. It is impossible even for God to twist the laws of physics.
This is exactly the law of universal gravitation discovered by Newton.
「A-kun, you’ve been staring at my breasts too much. You’re losing because you’re not looking at the screen.」
「I see… Is that why I get hit by all your attacks? That’s what I’m talking about Rinko. You’ve got the brains of Zhuge Liang」
(TLN: Chinese strategist, nicknamed “sleeping dragon”)
「It’s quite a strange feeling to not be happy at all when someone compliments you」
「But Rinko, now it’s proven you can read my thoughts, how exactly do you see them? Am I that easy to understand?」
Rinko, sitting next to me, leaned her shoulder against mine and relaxed her cheeks.
「It’s not obvious. It’s just that I watch you a lot. It’s fun to watch you」
「What’s so fun about watching me?」
「It’s fun. Because I like you a lot」
「Yes yes, Thank you」
As usual, Rinko confessed as if she were breathing it out. If I didn’t have a beautiful stepsister named Shizuku, and if I didn’t have a tolerance for beautiful women, I would have easily fallen, confessed to her, and then been rejected. Dangerous, it’s dangerous.
「It’s okay to surrender, you now？」
「……！ Don’t read my mind like that！」
「Fufu~ Your ears are red. Did it work?」
「……Honestly it did」
「Good」
Even a rambling exchange with a close friend can be comforting.
「While we’re on the subject of honesty, can I ask you a question…?」
「Yeah, sure」
Rinko pulled out some kind of old book from her back.
「This, do you know anything about this hypnosis book, A-kun?」
「Eh………………？」
My breathing stopped.
What Rinko took out was a very old book.
That book was the reason Shizuku learned hypnosis, and the reason why I started pretending to be hypnotized.
It was also the reason why Shizuku and I became closer.
My heart was beating fast and cold sweat beads were on my forehead.
「That look on your face, it’s like you know something」
My too-smart childhood friend didn’t miss the change in my expression.
I was relaxed, but then there was physical evidence that I couldn’t get away with.
…No, if I hadn’t lost my expression at all and kept my mouth shut, I might have been able to get away with it.
But it’s too late.
Rinko is convinced. She is convinced that the means by which Shizuku is getting me to do her bidding is hypnosis.
「I’ve been looking for you for a long time. And I finally found it.」
Flipping through the book on hypnosis, Rinko began to speak.
「How Shizuku-chan got you to do her bidding. There were nine ways which I could really think of. The first is to get Shizuku-chan to be honest with you, become your lover, and then make you do her bidding in the form of bondage. The second is to take advantage of some weakness you have, and/or hold you hostage in some way to make you do her bidding」
She continued in a methodical fashion.
「I knew immediately from the way Shizuku-chan and A-kun were acting that the first and second answers were not correct. It’s impossible for Shizuku-chan, who has always been a bit of a jerk, to suddenly change her mindset and become honest. Even if she had hold of A-kun’s weakness, there’s no way that Shizuku-chan, who is someone with a lot of pride and is extremely shy, would be so flirtatious in front of A-kun. The best she can do is to use you as her servant and try to increase your physical contact」
It’s true that even if Shizuku had my weakness, she wouldn’t have given me such a radical order.
In the first place, my weaknesses are always exposed and well known.
I’ve been exposed to my parents and they know where I hide my porographic books, so there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore.
「Shizuku-chan liked you, for a long time. However, even though she had many years to tell you, she kept swearing/complaining and never expressed her feelings honestly. In April, Shizuku-chan’s attitude suddenly changed. I was especially surprised by the incident at the coffee shop. That kind of behavior, not so long ago, she wouldn’t have done even if it killed her. She kissed the one person she didn’t want to let know her feelings the most, the one person she kept her feelings hidden from」
It happened at the coffee shop. Rinko’s face was sour as if she didn’t want to remember it.
「Shizuku-chan’s actions are filled with contradictions. That is the biggest checkmate. As said many times before, Shizuku-chan will never be able to honestly tell A-kun how she feels. I can say this with certainty. She’s been living under the same roof with you for years, and instead of making progress, she just keeps swearing and making your relationship with her worse」
So far, all of Rinko’s assumptions have been correct.
In fact, I felt that she understood the principle of Shizuuk’s actions better than I did.
「So why was Shizuku-chan able to kiss A-kun…? There is probably one possibility. I’m not sure what to think of, but it’s possible. A-kun is not in his right mind. Or Shizuku is convinced that you aren’t. If A-kun is not lucid, Shizuku could do whatever she wants without shame, and is certain that she can make you forget her outlandish behaviors. In fact, she wouldn’t be able to do it otherwise. I’ve been watching what you guys do and say at school. From watching you guys for a month, you can quickly realise that there are two faces to A-kun. The first is when you’re relatively normal, and the second is when you listen to Shizuku-chan without question….It doesn’t change from day to day. It’s only after Shizuku-chan and A-kun are alone that A-kun’s attitude finally changes. In other words, the third option, “a magical method that directly affects the mind,”is something that Shizuku-chan is using on A-kun. But the “magic” isn’t as perfect as Shizuku-chan thinks it is. At the coffee shop, school, and multiple other places, you were able to signal me with a note, and tried to be understanding with me, despite the fact that Shizuku-chan was using magic on you. Once we have all the pieces, the rest is easy isn’t it? Here’s now it happened」
She took a deep breath, sat down on the bed in a relaxed manner, looked me straight in the eyes, and said.
「One day, Shizuku-chan got a hold of a “magic” that could control and manipulate A-kun, and actually tried casting it on him. But the result was a failure. The reason why it looks like it is working is because A-kun is acting to keep the relationship with Shizuku intact」
Correct. There’s no excuse for it.
「What remains is the nature of the “magic.” “Magic” which could be done during school breaks, and require tools which aren’t too big. There were many candidates, but the final hypothesis was “hypnosis” or something of the likes. If it’s hypnosis, even if it doesn’t work, it’s easy for A-kun to pretend to be hypnotized. Even if the answer is hypothetical, the only thing left to do is to seize the equipment that could be used as evidence. It may be a bit unfair, but I asked Shizuku-chan to leave the room today for an errand. I’ve always been an honour student, so it was very easy for me to persuade the teacher.」
Rinko had seen it all. She was calculating. She was trying to read it.
Since the day Shizku kissed me.
Now that I think about it, even my conversation with Rinko this morning felt strange. If she knew about the rumours about Hayami, she would have seen me sweating in my jersey and would have guessed that I was training for the sports festival.
But Rinko didn’t do that. She was probably curious about my reaction.
She was trying to figure out if the incident with Hayami was really what had been rumoured or if Shizuku had hypnotized me as usual. She was assessing it.
「I made an agreement to play with A-kun and went to Shizuku-chan’s room, pretending to go to the bathroom. She must have been super confident that she wouldn’t be found out, because she left it unguarded on her desk. If I didn’t have any evidence, I was going to throw out the possibility of “hypnosis” and decide right or wrong based on A-kun’s reaction…. I’m glad I was lucky enough to have two pieces of evidence」
Rinko got up from the bed and sat in front of me, who was dazed on the floor. She was so close that I could feel her breath on my face.
「Tomorrow it will all end」
The voice was incredibly cold.
「I’ll tell Shizuku that you’re not hypnotized, that you’re just acting. I’ll tell her that, and it’ll be the end of your relationship」
You don’t have to explain why, do you? You don’t have to explain why, because it’s the reason why A-kun was most afraid and kept pretending to be hypnotized. You don’t have to tell me, Rinko’s eyes told me so
Machine Cherry 
Honestly this could go poorly or oddly well, thanks for the translation
LikeLike