The second semester is packed with events.
It felt like we’d just had the sports festival, and then right after that came midterm exams, followed immediately by the culture festival.
The midterms… well, they turned out kind of underwhelming.
Out of the seven subjects tested, I managed to beat Hina in six, but only by a narrow margin each time. And in the one subject I lost—Comprehensive Japanese—she completely crushed me with a 17-point lead.
As a result, in the overall ranking, I ended up sixth in our year, one spot behind Hina, who placed fifth.
With wins and losses on both sides, it all felt kind of half-baked and unsatisfying.
So for now, we both just agreed,
""The real showdown is at finals.""
—perfectly in sync, no less. Just goes to show, we really are siblings.
Next came the culture festival.
Unlike the one in middle school, this one had food stalls and even welcomed visitors from outside. It was a lot of fun.
For reference, our class ran a casino—or at least something like one—in our classroom.
Everyone brought or made board games and card games. Players earned points based on how well they did.
Then they could trade those points for sweets and other little prizes.
It got a decent amount of attention on the day the festival was open to the public, probably because you could try out some pretty unique board games.
Just to be clear: no, you couldn’t exchange the points for actual money.
Even on the open-to-the-public day, you still needed a ticket to get into the school.
Apparently, though, there was a time when anyone could just come and go freely during the culture festival.
If there had been some event where you could play card games with high school girls back then, there might’ve been a flood of… older guests.
Seriously, Japan used to be way too carefree.
Or maybe it’s just that modern Japan’s gotten to the point where we have to be cautious?
Anyway, about that culture festival—some students (just some, mind you) showed up with makeup so thick it was like something out of a throwback to the “Yamamba gal” trend.
They went all out with layers upon layers. Like, what, are you trying to become kabuki actors or something? The perfume wasn’t just strong—it was straight-up overpowering.
Even those who weren’t that extreme still clearly spent way more time than usual on their makeup.
At first, Hina was all fired up to do her makeup before coming to school too. Naturally, I stopped her with everything I had.
Let me say this from a guy’s perspective: when a girl wears a ton of makeup, guys tend to back off.
And to be even more blunt, most guys don’t get how much effort goes into beauty routines. We’re kind of clueless by default, and we don’t really know how much makeup changes a person’s look. That’s why a lot of guys think natural, barefaced cuteness is the best.
Besides, Hina doesn’t even need makeup. She’s already got a beautiful face. Even among the high-ranking beauties of the Matsujo volleyball team, she’s the cutest.
If she just shows up looking like she always does, guys are going to hit on her whether she wants them to or not. As her big brother, I’m already stressing out about what to do when that happens, so don’t make things harder!
I’m always saying this, but seriously, just look in the mirror.
You’ll see the prettiest girl at Matsujo staring back at you!
I don’t know if my words got through to her or what, but in the end, Hina’s face turned red, her mouth opened and closed wordlessly, and then for some reason she yelled, “Yuu-chan, you dummy!” at me.
Still, she went to school looking like she always does.
There were other oddities too, like the “Mr. Handsome Contest” held during the festival. A beauty contest at an all-girls school sounds like a recipe for drama, but that’s not what it was. Instead, girls dressed up as guys and competed to see who could pull off the most handsome “male” look.
The moment I heard about it, I jumped at the chance to join.
Most of the clothes Ryou-nee and the others buy me are frilly and girly—bad for my peace of mind. But if it’s for the contest, I’d have to buy boys’ clothes.
And once I had them, I could say it’d be a waste not to use them and maybe convince Ryou-nee and the others to let me wear them regularly. More comfy clothes = happier me.
So I entered the contest and, with a bit of mischief, roped my classmates into helping. We pooled our ideas and tried our best to create the ultimate handsome look.
But…
-
Petite, delicate build with sloping shoulders
-
No matter what we tried, still had a pretty, girlish face
-
Long, silky straight hair that no guy could pull off
…these all worked against me. On the day of the contest, out of the 14 participants, I finished dead last.
For the record, the winner narrowly beat Reiko—who’d been dragged into it by our classmates—and was a third-year senior from the soccer team.
Apparently, that made it her third straight win.
Sure, she looked handsome… but it was all an act. The real deal? She’s at Tamaki Commercial High!
＝＝＝＝＝
From a certain SNS site used by Yuuji/Yuuri, Yuuki, and Yuuta
＝＝＝＝＝
[—So yeah, that]s what happened.]
[Huh. Surprising. Girls put on makeup for the guys coming to their culture festival too?]
[Wait, does that mean guys at boys’ schools do stuff for the girls coming to theirs?]
[Mostly just clean up the place, hide manga and other stuff… you know.]
[Shouldn’t you be doing that all the time?]
[There was always at least one guy who’d go all out with hair gel and stuff. Then when girls showed up, they’d start rating them.]
[Oh yeah, totally! Like, “Her girl power is only 5… how plain…” or something!]
[Ahh, memories.]
[You guys should know this—girls’ schools do the same thing behind the scenes. Don’t underestimate how organized they can be. Mess up even a little and it’s all over the group chat: “This guy’s being a creep!” or “He’s just here to flirt!” complete with your photo.’]
[Girls are scary…]
[Still, back in high school, just having a ticket to a girls’ school culture festival basically put you in the upper ranks of the social hierarchy.]
[Wait, you two wanted to go to girls’ school festivals?]
[Of course! Don’t you get that sense of forbidden allure? It’s not about wanting a girlfriend or anything—it’s just… curiosity.]
[Yeah, I get what you mean. That forbidden feeling. It’s faded now, but back in April, just going to school used to make me super nervous.]
And now, I’ve reached the point where even if a classmate changes right in front of me, I don’t even blink. Humans really do get used to things scarily fast.
...
Wait a sec.
[Hey. Mind if I ask something real quick?]
＝＝＝
The culture festival was over, and finally, it was November starting this week.
Not long ago, I was complaining that it was way too hot for the thick winter uniform, but now I’m painfully aware of how utterly useless this thing is at keeping me warm. What’s with skirts, seriously! It’s freezing!
And since volleyball club has morning practice starting at seven, I have to be in the clubroom getting changed before that. The sun isn’t even fully up yet, and it’s just so cold...
“Hey, hey, Ninja! What is that!?”
Mirai shouted something at me. Huh? Is something weird about me?
“What do you mean, what?”
“That thing under your skirt!”
“…Just regular school tights?”
The school rules say that as long as they’re plain black, any brand of school tights is allowed. So this isn’t a rule violation.
Actually, why is everyone going bare-legged? Aren’t they cold?
“You know, you can only show off bare legs while you’re in high school, right?”
“That limited-time offer doesn’t interest me.”
“Hina, Yuu-chan says that, but?”
“No matter how many times I tell her, all she says is ‘it’s cold, no way.’ I’ve given up. By the way, the tights she’s wearing now are 80 denier, but when it gets colder, she’ll switch to 240.”
“Isn’t that kind of extreme for a high school girl?”
“Yuuri, there are 80-denier tights that feel like 160-denier ones, you know?”
“No need for tricks like that. I’ll just wear 160-denier outright. Actually, that’s not even enough.”
It’s frustrating. Thick tights do exist. Last winter, I relied heavily on fleece-lined 240-denier tights.
But those had unnecessary embroidery, probably to make the rugged fabric feel more feminine.
The school tights rule says “plain.” Honestly. Whoever decided school uniforms for high school girls must include skirts deserves a punch.
It’s bad enough that it’s a skirt at all, but having knee-length or shorter as the standard just adds fuel to the fire.
“Yuuri, are you not good with cold weather?”
“Yeah. I really hate it.”
“That’s why, recently, she cuddles up to me when we sleep and won’t let go until morning. Not long ago she was saying, ‘It’s too hot, get off me,’ and now this…”
She says it like it’s a bother, but Hina looks really happy saying that, with a big smile and all.
Still, if I upset her now and get told to sleep alone starting tonight, that’d be a bit of a problem… so I keep quiet.
Honestly, Hina is an excellent hot water bottle substitute. She’s just the right temperature, soft, and (because she takes baths before bed) smells like nice soap. If I sleep with her, she wakes me up in the morning without me needing to stick my cold hand out of the blankets to turn off the alarm. Even for changing, all I need to do is stick out a hand and Hina goes, “Geez, fine,” and hands me what I need.
I do feel a little conflicted about being spoiled by my younger sister like this—and as a sibling, it’s kind of weird—but staying warm is more important.
...Thinking back to this time last year, I was waking up early by myself and making breakfast for the whole family, so I guess I’ve kind of regressed. Probably just imagining things.
—
“Same as during summer camp, huh. You’re still sharing a bed with Hina, Yuuri-chan?”
“I get to sleep next to the most beautiful girl in school. Jealous?”
“You really do love your sister, huh?”
“As a big sister, I like Ryou-nee or Mika-nee more, but with Hina-nee, it’s more like how you like a friend. But yeah, I like her all the same.”
“That’s what they call being a siscon.”
“People have said that before, but if being close with your sisters makes you a siscon, then I’m fine with that.”
“Totally unfazed by sarcasm...”
So that’s how our conversation in the clubroom went before morning practice, and just as we were heading out of the room—
“Oh right. I think I can get about ten tickets to Matsuko’s culture festival. Anyone interested?”
—
“Huh? Where’d that come from?”
“How’d you manage to get tickets to Matsuko’s culture festival?”
“Wait, are you getting them from Yuuki-nii and Yuuta-nii?”
As expected of Hina. She didn’t even need me to say anything.
“Yeah. Yesterday, I mentioned on social media that I wanted to check out a boys’ school culture festival, and they said they could probably get around ten tickets.”
“Hold on a sec! Yuuri-chan! Who are Yuuki-nii and Yuuta-nii? Don’t tell me they’re your boyfr—”
“No way. Just the thought of being one of their girlfriends makes my skin crawl. Not even as a joke.”
Yuuki and Yuuta are good people, sure. But dating them? That’s a whole different matter. For me, it's an absolute no.
Seeing my dead-serious glare, Mana quickly backed off a little, flustered.
“O-okay. I won’t say anything more. But if you dislike them that much, why talk to them at all?”
“I don’t dislike them. They’re good friends. But because they’re friends, I wouldn’t date them.”
“Ah, Yuuki-nii and Yuuta-nii live in our neighborhood. They’re three years older than us and graduated from Matsuko last year. When Yuu-chan first came to Japan, they took her around and taught her about the culture and common sense here.”
Technically, Yuuki and Yuuta are my childhood friends and best buddies, but that doesn’t quite fit with the image of my current “girl” self, so this is the public story.
And it’s true—we hung out all over the place back in March after we all finished our entrance exams.
“Ohh… so that’s why some of your common sense is a bit… unusual…”
For some reason, she seemed weirdly convinced.
“So, what do you all think? Matsuko’s culture festival is open to the public this Saturday.”
Incidentally, we don’t have volleyball practice this Saturday since we’ve got a practice match on Sunday.
“Saturday? That’s really sudden.”
“Yuu-chan. You haven’t forgotten that the second round of the Spring Tournament preliminaries is the Saturday after next, right? Going out just before that feels a little... sloppy.”
“That’s way too short notice.”
“There’s no time to prepare anything.”
“I do want to go, but still... it’s kind of... you know?”
“Yeah, I get it. It’s kind of scary, or maybe just…”
Hmm...
“You’re right. It’s right before the match, so it’s not ideal. I’ll still go since I already asked for the tickets, but what about you, Hina-nee?”
“Well, since I’m also Yuu-chan’s guardian, I’ll go. So that means it’ll just be the four of us again, like when we went to the beach—”
““““Wait!!””””
“It is right before a match… but as the captain, I’ve got to make sure no one does anything weird.”
“Tch. Fine, if you’re going that far, I’ll come too. Be grateful.”
...And so on and so forth.
Girls are seriously complicated...
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