Chapter 124 – Ichijouji Komari’s Troubles

(Komari’s PoV (Reina’s sister-in-law))

I didn’t have much to do after finishing my homework, so I ended up starting to think about the usual stuff… This was depressing.

“Is that still troubling you?” My twin brother, Seigi, asked me as he heard me sigh.

“I mean… Yeah? Because our sister-in-law is still avoiding us…” I replied.

“I get what you’re saying, but it can’t be helped when we were born out of an affair.” He told me plainly.

“I understand, but… But I want to get along with our older sister!” I mean, I get she might hold a grudge over us since her mother was cheated upon, but that’s not our fault! We can get along just fine, can’t we!? “Don’t you want to get along with her too!?” I asked him.

“I mean, I do, but… Not much can be done if she doesn’t want it.” He told me honestly.

“… I hate when you just throw the truth at my face like that, you know that?” I replied while sighing again.

“That’s a bad habit of yours.” He said while patting my head.

I mean, he is right, but I still want to grow closer to her… I want to be proper sisters, not just this in-name thing.

Seigi seemed to understand my plight, so he tried coming up with some ideas, “Why don’t you try cooking her favorite food?” He suggested.

“… Wouldn’t that just be whatever her mom cooked?” I replied.

“Ah… Maybe she left some recipes…?” I’m not sure I can replicate her meals without having the deceased help me… And I’m also unsure if Reina liked the food for the taste, or because it was made by her mom… And wouldn’t she actually get angry if a child that was born out of an affair tried to replicate the food that her mom cooked!?

Yeah, this is definitely no good… Seigi seemed to have realized that too, because he suggested a new thing, “Maybe girl talk could work? Like talking about fashion or something?”

“I don’t think she is interested in this kind of thing…” I instantly replied. She looks great at pretty much anything, and she doesn’t seem to ever wear makeup or to pay much attention to her clothes, so… There’s no way this would work either. What am I even supposed to do!?

At that moment, Mr. Yamamoto entered the living room and said, “So that’s where you two were… Lord Seigi, Lady Komari, I assume the two of you have already finished your homework?”

“Of course, I did!” Seigi said.

“I did too… Oh, right! Mr. Yamamoto, you came at the right time!” He has been working for the Ichijoujis since forever after all, so he must have some ideas! “I want to get along with our sister-in-law, Reina.”

“Oh, with miss Reina…” He seemed to think for a bit before replying, “Well, there is a game that she has been playing quite a bit recently, and she seems to enjoy it a lot.”

“A game?” Seigi asked.

“That’s kinda surprising…” I commented. I mean, I always thought of her as the kind of person that reads books by the window while being bathed by the moonlight, so this is an unexpected hobby for her.

“The game is ‘Karma Story Online’, or KSO for short, she seems to be playing it with her classmates during most of her free time.” Mr. Yamamoto told us.

“She has friends!?” Seigi exclaimed.

“Seigi, that’s rude.” I mean, she is kinda expressionless most of the time, and always avoids us no matter what I do, but, but… But that doesn’t mean she can’t have friends!

“I don’t know what she does as she plays with her colleagues, but why don’t you try playing the same game?” Mr. Yamamoto said.

“It might be a good idea…” I can get a better gist of what she likes by playing it, and I might even be able to talk about the game with her too, so it might be a good way to get along with her, “Alright! Seigi, let’s order copies of the game right now!”

“Why are you working on the premise I’ll play too…?” He asked me.

“You won’t play it?” I asked him back.

“… I’ll play it.” He answered… He should be more straightforward at times. I know he wants to get along with her too after all.

But well, the game won’t arrive right away, so I guess we should try looking at its homepage for now at the very least. Hopefully it arrives tomorrow.

******

“So, come play KSO with me!” I told my friend, Kako, as we left school.

“You’re really going to play KSO, Komari…?” She asked me. I really tried my best at convincing her, but she didn’t seem to be interested…

“Komari, you’re troubling Umemiya…” Seigi said while sighing.

“But I wanna play with her too…” I replied.

“I-I’m sorry?” She said confusedly.

I mean, I do want to get along with our sister, but I want to get along with Kako even more, so I shouldn’t force her… What to do now?

“I mean, you told me about the story of the game so far, and it seems quite murderous and unforgiving… Are you sure you’ll be able to play this kind of game properly? You’re complete beginners to the genre, aren’t you?” Kako tried to explain her reasons, and… Well, it makes sense.

But still, “I think we’d be fine somehow.” I told her.

“We absolutely wouldn’t.” Could you please stop, Seigi!? Don’t make things worse!

I get that there is a player that took over the beginners’ city, burned down a temple, exploded a mansion, started a war with other players and…

“Okay, this might really be a bit too hard for us, who aren’t very used to gaming in general, but still…” I ended up giving in a bit.

“I only touched old games a bit, you know…?” Seigi said.

I get that it looks tough, but our sister seems to be having fun playing it, so I want to try it… It can’t be that hard to accept that!

And at that moment, somehow, Kako seemed to flip a switch on her head, “Since you want it so much, I actually have an acquaintance that can help you.” Her expression was clearly determined, totally opposite to her usual inconspicuous feeling.

“Are you okay, Kako…?” I ended up asking her just in case, she doesn’t have a fever or something that made her start acting weird, does she?

“I know someone that has been playing from the start, I can ask them to help you!” She told me, ignoring my worries.

“Won’t we inconvenience this person though-?” I tried asking, but she immediately replied.

“It’ll be fine, absolutely!” She said while grabbing my shoulders…

“O-okay.” Was all I could reply… Kako, you’re a bit scary right now.

“I’m gonna leave first since I need to contact this person, so I’ll see you later!” As soon as she said that, she turned around and started running away.

“S-see you later!” I almost forgot to reply to her…

“… What happened here?” Seigi seemed to be as confused as I was.

Somehow, Kako seemed to suddenly be more motivated about this than we were… But well, if she wants to help us, then that’s fine?

“Let’s thank this friend of hers later.” I told Seigi as we walked home.

“Yeah, sure.” He replied.

When we got home, we found out that the VR consoles had arrived, so we could start playing today! Let’s do our best!