Vol. 1 Chapter 9 – Sister × Sister Exchange

Today ended with only the orientation but when I thought about tomorrow onward, my heart felt heavy.

In the end, Her Highness Princess Arvin had not spoken to me properly after that.

Whenever I tried to talk to her, she would go『hmph』and turn away.

“This is troublesome…”

After returning to my room, I threw myself onto the bed and muttered that. Shirley, still wearing her knight outfit, showed a gesture as though she were deep in thought.

“Her Highness the Princess is someone who treats everyone without discrimination but only toward Danna-sama does she seem stubborn.”

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to work on it steadily…”

The first step of research was observation. Even with problems I thought were difficult, there had been many times when, once I found a clue, they were settled surprisingly easily.

That did not change when it came to human relationships either. No matter what, she and I would be treated as a set within the Academy. I would have no choice but to improve our relationship through repeated trial and error.

“Also, the one I’m curious about is that guy, Thomas Balsabar…”

“Yes. Most likely, that person is from the Balsabar family of Kujana.”

“Kujana?”

“It is a small territory bordering the neighboring country of Mature. Their family traces its origin to a younger brother of our great ancestor Feria. Because they sided with the Empire and opposed our great ancestor, their peerage was stripped away and they became commoners. However, I have heard that they were pardoned during the reign of the previous Queen and were enfeoffed with Kujana as their territory.”

‘Younger brother…Feria did have two younger brothers, if I remember correctly. So Balsabar looked after her brothers too, huh? But they ended up opposing each other… For Feria, who cared so deeply for her younger brothers, it must have been terribly painful.’

Disliking the heavy atmosphere that was starting to settle over us, I changed the subject.

“Even so, shouldn’t you act a little more like an older sister, Shirley? You kept almost slipping and calling me Danna-sama, didn’t you?”

“If you are going to say that, then Danna-sama, you did the same!”

“Then, for a while, even when it’s just the two of us, shall we practice acting as older sister and younger brother?”

When I suggested that, Shirley suddenly began fidgeting.

“Does that mean… even in bed?”

“Ugh…”

As expected, that would come with an incredible sense of immorality. Just thinking about it made me lean forward.

“N-no… As expected, that part is…”

“Ah, y-yes, of course… Umm, f-for now, I shall go change.”

The atmosphere had somehow become unbearable, and Shirley hurriedly left the room.

***

Just as I was passing in front of Ozma’s bedroom, Knight Shirley came flying out of the room with her face bright red.

I nearly bumped into her and hurriedly jumped aside.

“Awah… wahwah…”

“Ah, sorry! Mew Mew, are you all right?”

“I’m all right.”

She probably did not intend to mock my short height, but the fact that she deliberately bent her knees to match my eye level was irritating. While feeling annoyed inside, I smiled sweetly.

‘Well, this is perfect. I had business with this woman anyway.’

“U-um, Shirley-sama. Her Majesty the Queen is calling for you.”

“Her Majesty is?”

“Yes. She said it was about Ozma-sama… but as for the details…”

“I see. Thank you. I’ll go there for now.”

Even from my perspective as a woman, the way she carried herself was cool. Having an outstanding figure, status, honor, and popularity too was truly irritating.

As I watched her walk away gallantly, I spat this out inside my heart.

‘How arrogant, despite being nothing more than my younger brother Imre’s sex toy! When the time comes, I’ll make you kneel miserably before me!’

I understood even myself that there was a good deal of jealousy mixed into it. But what pissed me off pissed me off.

Even so, I had no choice but to admire how skillful Imre was at acting, despite him being my younger brother.

Even when he saw the form of his elder sister, he behaved without becoming flustered and when the head maid Giselle introduced me to him, he perfectly maintained the attitude of someone meeting me for the first time.

My younger brother, Imre, had slipped into the royal palace while pretending to be Ozma. In order to help him, I had infiltrated the palace under the name Mew Mew. That much was fine, but because that knight Shirley was constantly clinging to my younger brother, I had not been able to get a chance to make contact until now.

But right now, my younger brother should be alone in his room.

That said, there was no telling when Knight Shirley would return.

Going all the way into the room would probably be bad.

While keeping watch over my surroundings, I called out to my younger brother through the door.

“My younger brother!”

***

“My younger brother!”

When I heard such a voice from outside the door, I instinctively tilted my head.

‘Is that Shirley? Why is she outside the door…? Hahaa, I get it. She’s embarrassed. Ahaha, she really is such a cute girl.’

“What is it, Eldest sister?”

I answered like that with a wry smile.

As practice for how to act as siblings, this was not bad. Even if it was embarrassing face-to-face, it would be fine with only voices. Shirley was quite quick-witted too, I thought.

“It seems things have gone extremely smoothly so far, but what do you intend to do next? Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Next? Well…first, I have to capture Her Highness Princess Arvin, but…”

“I see. So you will make her the target. In that case, we must first gather information.”

“Yes, I think so too. But when she hates me that much, it’s quite difficult…”

“Hou…so she hates you. I suppose that much of an obstacle is only natural. Very well. Regarding the capture of Princess Arvin, I shall support you as much as I can.”

“Thank you, Elder sister! As expected, the elder sister is reliable.”

“Hahahaha! Of course. Of course!”

A voice laughed in high spirits from outside the door.

‘She even went out of her way to change her voice. Her role-building is incredible… Amazing, Shirley!’

I had thought she was more on the clumsy side, but apparently, Shirley had a talent for acting. However, when she acted this perfectly, wanting to tease her was only human nature.

“Elder sister… Hearing my older sister’s voice is exciting me, and I’m starting to want to hold you.”

I deliberately made my voice sound painful.

The moment I did, she started panicking on the other side of the door. I could even hear the sound of footsteps going gata gata gata as though she were backing away.

“W-w-w-w-what are you saying, m-my younger brother!”

‘Ahaha, she’s super embarrassed. As expected, Shirley is cute.’

“Isn’t it fine! Eldest sister, I love you!”

“Hih!? W-we are r-real siblings, you know!”

‘Oh, amazing, Shirley! What a convincing performance!’

“That doesn’t matter. The only one I love is my older sister!”

“Haun!? No, no, no! Y-you have a great ambition that you must accomplish from now on, don’t you!? Wh-what will you do if you let yourself be swept away by desire!”

‘A great ambition…Well, if we started, we might end up doing it so much that it would affect tomorrow’s classes.’

“It can’t be helped… Yeah, I’ll endure it, even though it hurts.”

“Kuh…H-how admirable, my younger brother! I-I understand. Very well. When the day comes that we accomplish our long-cherished wish, I shall accept that love of yours and stay by your side as your wife. Even if the world points fingers at us for being siblings, I do not care.”

‘That’s some really exaggerated setting…A long-cherished wish, huh.’

“A-anyway, be careful so that no one realizes the relationship between you and me.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

When I answered like that, the sound of footsteps went pata pata as they moved away beyond the door.

‘Huh? Where did she go? Ah, I see… She got embarrassed.’

With a wry smile, I lay down on the bed again.

***

I rushed into the room I had been given, locked the door, and dove onto the bed.

“M-m-m-my younger brotherrrr! T-to think he was harboring such lust toward this older sister of his!”

When I remembered it, it felt like my head was about to boil. A forbidden love between blood-related siblings. When he was little, he used to follow me around, saying 『Onee-tan, Onee-tan』and yet these past few years, he had been acting coldly toward me. That must have been the legendary thing where, because he was too conscious of me, he ended up being mean to the girl he liked.

‘So all this time, when he kept making fun of me by calling me a shrimp, saying I had a childlike figure and saying no one would ever take me as a wife, it was all to hide his embarrassment!?’

“Uhaa, u-ah, ah, ah, uhoooo!”

Out of sheer embarrassment, I writhed alone on the bed, flailing.

And then, after thrashing around for a while, I made up my mind.

“V-v-very well! This older sister shall g-give it her all, Imre, in order to r-respond to y-your love!”

Clutching my pillow so tightly it felt like it might tear apart, I swore that to myself.