Chapter 30
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Volume 1: First Performance: A Tragic Love Story Of A Young Lady And Spring Cherry Blossoms
Chapter 30: A Cross-Dressing Boy Embraces His Little Sister Figure In Front Of Her Mother
“Sniff… I’m sorry, Honoka-san. I suddenly started crying like that…”
After crying out for about ten minutes, I finally calmed down. I wiped away my tears and gently distanced myself from Honoka.
As she looked directly at my face, she smiled softly and gripped my hand tightly.
“It’s totally fine. You see, I’m the older sister with three younger siblings. So, please rely on me more, Onee-sama.”
“Honoka-san… Hehe. At this rate, it’s hard to tell which of us is the elder sister.”
After saying that, we looked into each other’s eyes and chuckled at the same time.
…When was the last time I cried like this in front of someone?
Probably about five years ago.
Since my mother passed away, I haven’t really shed any tears.
I’ve always put up a strong front, acting like I was fine on my own.
And yet, this girl I just met made me cry so easily.
Honoka Hiiragi. She is truly… truly a mysterious girl.
When I’m with her, I feel like I always end up exposing my true self… That’s the strange feeling I get.
“…You really are a mysterious person, Honoka-san. Sometimes you seem like a younger girl, and other times you have the nurturing warmth of an older woman… I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
“That’s not true! I’m just an ordinary person! A ‘normal’ person walking around in clothes! To me, you’re the much more mysterious one, Onee-sama! You’re strong enough to defeat a man, and you saved me from trouble, like a dashing prince… You’re like the protagonist (Hero) who stepped out of a manga!!”
“Hahaha… would a prince cry in a girl’s arms?”
“That weakness is one of your moe points. It might be rude to say this, but the Onee-sama who was crying in my arms earlier was incredibly cute. The way you, who are always so dignified, showed a vulnerable side… That’s what we call gap moe!”
“I think you’re much more of a cute girl than I am, Honoka-san.”
“Eh…?”
Suddenly, Honoka blinked in surprise.
Then, her cheeks flushed, her face turned bright red, and she started fidgeting.
“C-Cute? M-Me, cute!? Compared to the other girls in the acting department, I’m totally plain!!”
“No, I don’t think so at all. It’s true that everyone in the acting department is beautiful… but you, Honoka-san, definitely aren’t losing out. How should I put it… You have a ‘little sister’ type of cuteness? Your adorable face has a charm that tickles men’s hearts, making them want to protect you.”
Any man would be charmed by her small-animal-like cuteness.
She has a different appeal from someone like Karen, who’s a cool beauty, or Akane, who’s the sharp-eyed, feisty type.
If she appeared in the media more often, Honoka would undoubtedly become a popular beautiful actress nationwide.
That’s the kind of charming cuteness she has.
“Th-That’s not true… I’m not c-cute at all…”
She fiddled with her index fingers, sneaking glances at me.
Then, with a determined expression, she nervously spoke to me.
“Um, j-just as a hypothetical, okay? If you were a man… would you… want to date me…?”
“Eh… If I were a man…?”
For a moment, I thought my heart stopped… but it seems she brought it up as a purely hypothetical question.
I swallowed hard and took a deep breath.
From her behavior earlier, it didn’t seem like she’d discovered my secret.
So, her question wasn’t some kind of test… it was just a simple, honest question.
I straightened up, smiled gently, and opened my mouth to speak.
“If I were a man, I think I’d definitely want to date someone as adorable as you, Honoka-san.”
“R-Really!?”
“Yes. But… since you’re afraid of men, if I were a man, we probably wouldn’t be able to have a proper conversation. We likely wouldn’t have become friends like this either.”
“Oh… that’s true. But…”
“But?”
“I… I just thought, if only you were a boy, Onee-sama…”
“Eh…? What do you mean by that…?”
Startled by my question, Honoka suddenly stood up in a panic.
She started fanning her bright red face with her hands and stammered.
“N-N-N-No, it’s nothing!! Oh, it looks like our drinks are empty! I’ll go get some juice!! Onee-sama!!”
With that, she reached for the tray on the table with the two empty cups on it.
But at that moment, she tripped over the power cord and fell spectacularly.
“W-Wahhhhhhhhhhh!?”
“Are you okay, Honoka-san!?”
And then, she fell right on top of me.
I somehow managed to catch her, and we ended up face to face at close range.
We stared at each other silently for a few seconds, almost like we were in a seated embrace.
The only sounds I could hear were the ticking of the clock and our racing heartbeats.
Honoka’s face was flushed red, even to the tips of her ears.
“O-Onee… sama…”
If we got a few centimeters closer, our lips would touch.
The scent of citrus shampoo tickled my nose, and the warmth in my arms pulsed vividly.
In my life, I had never been this close to a woman before, not even once.
For a virgin like me, this situation was too overwhelming, and I felt like I was about to lose my mind.
Just then… when we were both frozen in place, the door suddenly flew open, and a woman holding a liquor bottle appeared in the room.
“Honoka! Mom’s home!!! I heard you have a friend over! Is this that Onee-sama person――― Huh?”
“Eh…?”
“Ah…”
Honoka and I were still in each other’s arms, while a woman who seemed to be Honoka’s mother stood there in shock.
An awkward silence filled the room.
In that strange atmosphere, the woman with the bottle scratched her cheek and gave a sheepish smile.
“Oh dear, did I interrupt something? Maybe I should go for a jog! Haha, haha!!”
“W-Wait, Mom!! It’s not what it looks like!! This is a misunderstanding!!!!”
Honoka’s desperate cries echoed through the room.
