Standing restlessly in front of the ticket gate of my hometown, Ichika-cho Station, I eventually saw a black-haired girl with an acoustic guitar on her back running toward me from the other side of the gate, a smile with slightly troubled eyebrows on her face.
Illuminated by the ladder of light shining through the skylight, she truly looked like an angel descending.
"S-Sorry to keep you waiting, Konuma-kun!"
"Ah, no, i-it's fine...! Uh... shall we go...?"
"Y-Yeah, let's...!"
Walking beside me with her face lowered bashfully was Ichikawa Amane-sama.
"I-It’s your first time in Ichika-cho, right? W-Was it a long trip?"
"N-No, I’m fine...! B-But, Konuma-kun and Sako-san do this round trip every day?"
"Y-Yeah, I guess so..."
In the extremely 'home' environment of my local station, my tension was off the charts.
Well, that makes sense. If someone didn't get nervous in this situation, they might not even be human anymore.
...Today, finally, Ichikawa Amane-sama is visiting the Konuma household.
After the call to the studio yesterday, I contacted Ichikawa and explained the situation. Since her mother was at her house, it wasn't available, and as a result, we ended up doing it at my place.
The opinion that I should have looked for other available studios is perfectly valid, and if I didn't limit it to Kichijoji, there probably would have been some. (By the way, the school, including its studio, is completely closed on Sundays, so it can't be used.)
However, if there's an environment where we can do it for free, not only does it save money, but there's also the significant benefit of being able to go through trial and error without worrying about the time.
Now, you might think, 'Hey, you just wanted to bring her into your house,' but that is absolutely not the case. As a winner of the Coward of the Year award, there's no way I would willingly do something I knew would make me this nervous.
So, we have a special guest today.
...No, saying I 'called' them is clearly an error. The guest is Ichikawa Amane-san.
When we got home and I opened the front door,
"W-W-W-Welcome! Please, come in!"
There sat my younger sister, kneeling formally in seiza.
"H-H-H-Hello! Nice to meet you!!"
In response, even Ichikawa was stuttering like crazy. That's rare, haha.
Can't be helped, I'll try to soften the mood with some 'tsukkomi-nication'.
"H-Hehe, you t-two are b-both way too n-nervous!"
...No, of course they are. It was obvious I'd be the one who ended up like this most of all.
Naturally. I am Konuma Takuto, after all.
"I-It's just some humble tea, but please...!"
"Ah, no, please don't trouble yourself...!"
Yuzu served the tea while reciting the clichés she likely learned on the fly just for today.
For me, being with the three of us including my sister was embarrassing, and I simply wanted to get on with the work, so we didn't really need this tea break time, but it seemed the world wouldn't let it be that easy.
Since I was the one who asked her to be here, I couldn't just ignore her, so the three of us sat around the dining table.
By the way, the tea she just served while calling it 'humble' isn't really that humble, since the two of us rushed to the supermarket this morning and bought the most expensive one for the time being. ...No, wait, Ichikawa's family is rich, so maybe it really is humble tea to her?
And on the table was a cake that Ichikawa had brought. Apparently, it was from a delicious cake shop in Kichijoji. Her thoughtfulness is incredible...!
"Um, you're Ichikawa Amane-san... right?"
"Y-Yes, that's right...!"
Ichikawa looked down with her hands on her knees, her face turning red.
"Hey, Tak-kun, you didn't tell me she was such a beautiful person...!?"
She whispered to me across the table, but since there were only three of us, Ichikawa could easily hear her.
"I didn't feel the need to say it specially."
"You should! If a person like this was your girlfriend, you'd be showing off her photo with a smug face!"
"I don't have any photos."
"You don't have any photos!?"
What kind of 'normie' has photos of their girlfriend on their smartphone... Well, technically, I have the artist photos for the band 'amane' so she's in those, but those are different, so they don't count.
"Come to think of it, I've never taken a photo alone with Konuma-kun..."
"Are you like that too, Amane-san!? Well, I guess there's no point in taking photos with this guy..."
"True..."
Normally I should deny it or make a retort, but unfortunately, I agreed.
"I see... those kinds of things are part of being lovers too..."
Ichikawa-san was mumbling to herself.
"Ah, that's right, my apologies for the late introduction. Um... I'm Konuma Yuzu, the brother's sister. Our parents are away on a business trip today... I'm here because my brother told me to be. I might be in the way, but this was my brother's instruction, so it's entirely his fault."
"Y-Yes...! Thank you...!"
What a disjointed conversation... Also, Yuzu-chan, didn't I teach you not to point at people?
"...I mean, why do you even need Yuzu here?"
Yuzu glared at me.
"No, I explained it yesterday. I called Ichikawa here strictly to do music, so if the two of us were home alone... well, I wouldn't be able to face the other members, you know?"
"The other members being Sako-chan and Azuma Yuri-san, right?"
"Yeah."
Setting aside Sako, she even remembered Azuma's name well.
"Yuzu doesn't really get that reasoning. Sako-chan and Azuma Yuri-san already know you two are dating, right? Isn't it fine?"
"No, well, those things are..."
Delicate, I thought, but having it pointed out made me wonder if I was overthinking it.
"Whatever. For now, as long as Amane-san understands that this was Tak-kun's instruction, that's fine."
At those words, Ichikawa let out a mysterious "Wah...!" sound.
"That's right, he's called 'Tak-kun', isn't he?"
She then peeked at me with a grinning smile.
"Yeah..."
It's already been exposed so it's fine, but being reminded of it was embarrassing.
"Is something strange?"
Yuzu tilted her head blankly.
"No, nothing's strange! I just wondered why she doesn't call you 'Onii-chan' or something. Why is it?"
"I don't know, I've just always called him that... Why is it, Tak-kun?"
Yuzu passed the question to me, and both their gazes turned toward me.
"Well..."
The story was simply that when I was small, my parents called me 'Tak-kun', and Yuzu just grew up imitating that, but explaining that my parents used to call me 'Tak-kun' was pretty embarrassing.
"...Anyway, it's just how it is."
"I see... Will you tell me someday?"
"Well, eventually..."
"I understand, then I'll wait until then, okay?"
"Yes..."
As I averted my eyes from Ichikawa's gaze, Yuzu was looking at us with a dumbfounded expression.
"Yuzu, what's wrong?"
"Huh? Ah, no, nothing. It's just... you look much more like a couple than I thought."
""...!""
At that sudden remark, both mine and Ichikawa's faces practically burst into flames.
Having my sister say that was pretty brutal... well, I was the one who asked her to be here, though...
"Um, well, we're going to work in my room now..."
I stood up to escape the silence.
"Ah, right... Um, Yuzu will be in the room next door, okay?"
As Yuzu emphasized that, I suddenly remembered something.
Ichikawa might be singing today, so I had to warn her.
"Listen, I don't know if we'll get that far today, but Ichikawa might make some pretty loud sounds, so it might be better if you listen to music with earphones or something then. If you want, I can lend you my noise-canceling headphones."
Even if it wasn't a live performance, Ichikawa might feel embarrassed having her singing voice heard by someone she just met.
That's what I thought, but...
"...Hah?"
Yuzu froze and looked up at me with an incredible expression.
"Hmm?"
"A-Ah, you see! I'll be singing today! I think Konuma-kun was probably just being considerate about that! Um, it's not something I'd be troubled by being heard, so please don't worry about it!"
A flushed Ichikawa hurriedly interjected from the side.
"Uh, that's what you meant... right?"
Then, she turned toward me and tilted her head.