Tomodachi no Imouto ga Ore ni Dake Uzai

Volume 2, Intermission: Iroha and Mashiro 2

[AKI]: Yeah, please do. I’m expecting some nice acting

Classes had ended, and I was standing at the first-year shoe lockers. Looking at that LIME message, I—Kohinata Iroha gave a big sigh.

“Senpai, you idiot…” I muttered.

From now on, it’s recording time in Otoi-san’s private studio. Since we’d stand out inside the school if we met here, our meet-up place is a nearby park, a bit far from the neighbourhood. At first I thought of ditching, but I immediately threw that idea into the trash bin. I’ll go. Of course I will. It’s the job I love, after all. But, Senpai doesn’t understand. He doesn’t accept my words head-on. It’s like he’s never seriously talking with me. Well, I’m also to blame since I just play everything off as a job if it comes down to it. Even though he could just take it a bit more seriously.

And this LIME message is the perfect example. The only times that Senpai really takes me seriously is when it’s about our job! My stance towards that is the only thing he definitely, without fault, will accept. The place that I can show my ‘true self’, Senpai’s home and that narrow recording studio…

That’s why I’m so emotionally attached to you! And now you’re being shaken by that pure and proper Mashiro-senpai!! But, the one thing that pisses me off the most is me acting jealous, acting like ‘THE woman’, proper and kind, only so that he pays more attention to me. Really, what am I doing…

I was the one that kept my distance from him, judging it as a good thing that I didn’t have any rivals until now.

“Unyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

“…W-What’s wrong, Iroha-chan?”

“Fuee?!”

During my monologue, I had finished putting on my street shoes, and stepped outside the school building. As I let out a shriek, holding my head in my arms, I heard someone call out to me behind my back.

And this super-duper cutesy-dootsy voice is…!

“Mashiro-senpai?! Why are you here?!”

“Why? Classes ended for the day, so…”

“Ahh, yeah, well, our class took a bit longer to wrap up today, with class ending a bit later than usual, so I was wondering why you were still here, ehe.”

“Mashiro was gathering some things at the library.”

With those words, she let me take a peek inside her handbag, revealing several sparkly covers of books.

“Novels addressed at girls? Woah, they’re all so cute-looking. They have to be fun to read!”

“Y-Yeah. They’re cell phone novels. Though they’ve been much more popular before. Now it’s mostly new publications.”

“Oho, so Mashiro-senpai is reading that kind of stuff. I totally thought you’d be like ‘normie books can just die!’ or something.”

“Mashiro thought like that until a while ago… But she thought she might as well try some again. As reference, you see.”

“Reference? For what?”

“Ah, n-nothing. Nothing at all.” Mashiro-senpai frantically waved with her hands.

Mmm… This smells like a secret. Mashiro-senpai, she has such a cute face, but keeps secrets like that, huh. I really cannot underestimate her. Well, prying any further would be rude, and I’d feel bad for her, so I’ll leave it at that.

If only this was Senpai, I wouldn’t have to hold back, and could be as annoying as I want~ But since it isn’t, I have to pull the brakes, since we’re still not that familiar with each other.

“H-Hey, Iroha-chan. Since we’re here already…how about we go home together?”

“Eh? Ah…”

We live in the same flat, after all. That’s how things would end up.

Now this is quite the pickle.

‘I’m going to meet up with Senpai now~’ is not something I can bring here, I know. The fact that I act as the voice actress of the [5th Floor Alliance] is a secret that not even Onii-chan or Sumire-chan-sensei know of. Senpai, Otoi-san, and I are the only ones who are aware of that fact. Of course, that means I can’t reveal that to Mashiro-senpai. Since I still don’t know how to even tell my own mother about it, I have to keep this as secretive as possible. That’s how Senpai decided on it. Naturally, I trust everyone from the [5th Floor Alliance], but there’s no guarantee that accidents won’t happen. To not have to worry about such a what-if, I keep it a secret. That’s why—

“Ahhh… I’m sorry! I have a part-time job after this!”

“Part-time job? Iroha-chan, you’re working?”

“It’s a secret, you know. Not really a job that I can tell other people about.”

“Not a job you can tell other people about… What kind…?”

“A-Job-With-My-Mouth~”

Making a gesture like I was holding a mic to my mouth, I said so. Of course, it wasn’t a lie at all. I just changed the intonation.

“Mouth… Mouth… Eh-Ehh?!”

Mashiro-senpai started reading between the lines, then her face suddenly went bright red like someone had turned the lights on and she started panicking.

“Ah, did you think about something lewd? Oh my~ I’m just a JK with good morals, you know. I wouldn’t do a weird job… Mashiro-senpai, do you want to try as well?”

“N-Not really. Mashiro is busy enough as is already.”

“Is that so. What a shame~”

Perfect. All according to keikaku. Though she clearly got the wrong idea there. Every time you bring up a lewd topic, Mashiro-senpai always gets flustered. And that worked out perfectly this time.

“S-Sorry to call you out when you’re this busy. Then, see you tomorrow…”

“Okaaay~ Bye~”

Mumbling with a bright red face, Mashiro-senpai waved her hand at me as she walked away. Seeing off that distanced back, I let out a sigh as I kept waving my hand.

Judging from her reaction, she totally takes me as a slut right now. Still, seeing a girl get flustered to this extent in this day and age is quite the surprise, I’ve gotta say.

“How nice…”

Honestly, I’m really envious. Not because of a job, but just because you genuinely have Senpai looking your way… A job… huh.

From here, I’ve gotta go to the recording studio. Besides Senpai’s room, it’s one of the two places where I can act freely, however I want. But, how should I behave when I get there? I guess that there’s only one way—