"I'm home."
"Welcome back."
I come home and I'm greeted with a sluggish voice. My younger sister, Karen, who is in grade six, is lying on the sofa on her phone.
"How was your meeting?"
"Early afternoon at the cafe, sounds of floating ice echoes. An intense debate over a single story reaches its heated climax."
"Why are you acting like a writer all of a sudden?"
"Well, it's a lot of fun!"
"Your acting was so good that I lost the ability to speak."
"Ah, of course my sister would know so well."
"Shut up, you're gross, stay away."
"I see, so that's how much you love your older brother."
"Get away from me!"
Karen shakes me off as I'm forced to sit on a chair. In the past she would run up to me and greet me with so much happiness, oh how times have changed.
"I don't have any memory of that! You're just making stuff up."
"Shit, I was speaking out loud the whole time!?"
With that, I hit my shoulders. As I'm mulling around due to Karen finally reaching her rebellious phase, I hear the high pitched meows of Syrup.
"Ah, I see Syrup loves me too."
"He's telling you to get his food, you filthy lowlife."
"There's a rank below servant?"
Meow.
"He's saying he thinks of you as trash."
"You know, one man's trash is another man's treasure."
Meow.
He really wants his food, huh? However, spoiling him would be bad. Syrup is a cat that deeply enjoys the pleasures of cat food. Lately, he's been having trouble telling apart ehomaki from cat food, so I might have to start restricting his diet.
Meow, meow, purr.
What a demon. The fluffiness is coming closer.
...
Scratch.
"Come on, Onii! What are you trying to feed him?"
"Hah! What do you mean?"
It seems like I unconsciously walked down the path to revere the God of Fluffiness.
"Don't you dare try to pretend to be a character who was manipulated by the enemy to kill their friends!"
"What's with the specific analogy?"
Of course my sister would be this smart. Anyways, overeating is bad, so I have to limit his intake to about half. I want Syrup to live a long, happy life.
"When is your book going on sale, Onii?"
As Syrup is clawing away, making ASMR-esque sounds, Karen asks me a question.
"Should release around September."
"So half a year? That's a while."
"There are stages you have to go through when publishing a novel. There's also a publishing quota, so that's why things are pushed back a bit too."
"Really now?"
Karen nods her heads as if she understands.
"Have you made an announcement online that it'll be published into a book?"
"Not yet. They say posting an announcement any time is good, but I want to wait a bit before posting one."
"Why haven't you posted it yet?"
"'It'll release in three months' has more a swing to it than 'It'l release in six months', don't you think?"
"Oh, okay. So if it's shorter, it'll seem like it's coming out soon."
"Right on the money."
"Huh..."
"What's with the long face?"
"It's nothing, I just realized Onii is going to a legit author."
Karen says that as if I were a rare creature. She seems to have a look of respect on her face.
"Well of course, big brother over here is a real author!"
"Yeah, yeah, how amazing."
"You know, you could have more of a reaction."
"No way, Onii will just get carried away."
"No way I would."
"If this publication thing ends up being a scam, you will be the butt of all jokes."
"Don't you dare try to speak that into existence."
The day I got the notification for publication, I told my family about it. Below are the contents of the family group chat on LINE.
Me: My story is going to get published!
Dad: Is it a scam?
Mom: It's a scam.
My lovely angelic sister: It's a scam.
FOR FUCK'S SAKE!
Of course, I instantly sent a screenshot of the publication message to verify my claim. My family was still doubtful, but at least they somewhat believed me, so a meager toast was held in celebration. Of course my parents are often on overseas trips, so we usually communicate through chatting apps. And so I received yet another congratulations online.
The next time they come home, they'll be using my royalty fees to feast on some yakiniku. I feel hungry just waiting for it. Being surrounded by such a great family makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.
"But that's good Onii."
Karen's voice is as warm as the spring breeze.
"It really is."
A beautiful smile blooms on her face. On the outside, she may seem prickly, but on the inside, she's sweet and tender.
"When your book comes out, Ishikawa-kun said he will buy five copies!"
"Haha, send Ishikawa-kun my thanks! But you know, 5 copies will be over 3000 yen, will he be fine?"
"He said he found a good method to increase his income by 100 times on YouTube, so he should be fine."
"Yep, that's not fine at all. I'll give him a signed copy so make sure he stays out of that side of the business world, okay?"
People shouldn't target elementary school kids with shady online businesses. The latest trend of hanging weird cartoon ads on doorknobs have been pretty weird too.
"Isn't Ishikawa-kun your servant anyways?"
"Ah, he was but when I told him Oni was going to be an author he said 'A lowly shit slug like me has no right to meet him. I have to better myself before I give myself the chance to see him!'."
"What kind of life has this Ishikawa kid been living?"
When will I ever get to meet him? As I'm wondering about the grandiose life of a sixth grade kid I never met, I hear the notification sound go off on my phone.
"Oh, is it your beloved Rin?"
"How'd you figured it out?"
"No one else has your contact info besides family and Rin."
"How about you stop giving me emotional pain, okay?"
As Karen snickers to herself, I answer the phone. Before I have a chance to speak, that familiar voice enters my eardrums.
"Hey."
"Munch, Munch."
"Oh, are you eating? Sorry about that."
"Ah, no I was just acting like an idiot, don't hang up!"
"Okay, okay."
With a laugh I can feel both of us loosen up. While my phone might be cold to the touch, the warmness I feel from my heart makes up for it.
"How did your meeting with your editor go?"
"Went well. I'm now officially writing for Sugar Bunsha and my work will be officially published now."
"Oh, amazing! Congrats!"
There's a spring in her voice.
"Haha! I've now joined the elite group of pros! With my creative powers, I can become a best-seller in due time!"
While I sound happy, there's that bit of tension in my voice.
"..."
I can hear subtle breathing through the speaker. Because of that, I feel small ripples spreading through my heart.
Huh? And in that short span of time, I notice.
"Acting up like that is gross, Onii."
My sister's words pierces my ears.
"When you're in love, there's no need to hold back."
"Can you stop trying to put up barriers?"
"You and Ishikawa-kun seem to have a thing going?"
"Y-yukito and I aren't like that!"
Karen's face goes red like a flame as she covers her face as if she were giving a salute. With Karen out of commission, I focus my attention back onto Rin.
"Sorry Rin, I was dealing with Karen. Anyways, what's up?"
"Uh, hold on..."
She's flustered. After 10 seconds of silence, she continues. It's my intuition, but I feel something is amiss.
"What's wrong?"
I drop my tone of voice as I ask that. However, I don't get a response.
"If it's fine with you..."
Instead, she's proposing something.
"How about we meet right now?"