Kaiwa mo shinai tsurekko no imouto ga, naganen issho ni baka yatte-kita Netoge no friend datta

“Thank you for being such a good Step-Elder-Brother.”

[TL notes: “お義兄ちゃん” ]

“…”

—Step-elder-brother.

It somehow seemed like an unfamiliar word. Certainly, I am her elder stepbrother. But, to be honest, I felt like I was her classmate, having no awareness of actually being her step-elder-brother in the slightest. Ah, but— somehow, it does make sense.

A stepsister who wants to be spoiled by her stepbrother― If you think about it that way, it certainly makes a lot of sense.

“Shiyori is… what she is.”

“Subaru-kun…?”

I remembered the words I just said to Shiyori earlier. As if telling myself like some sort of suggestion, I quickly put the rest of my dinner in my mouth and swallowed it whole.

After dinner, I didn’t go back to my room straight away, but went to watch the TV in the living room.

Somehow unable to get my thoughts sorted out, I was therefore getting a continuous serving of tea from time to time. All I had in my mind was Shiyori, though.

Before long, the program that was just playing on TV came to an end.

The time on clock was eight.

―That reminds me, I got invited to play the game.

It was around the time I usually logged in, thus I left the dining room while scratching my head.

“… Shiyori.”

“…!”

As soon as I opened the door, I bumped into Shiyori. Did she get impatient with me who didn’t log in for a long time and came to find me to check if something was wrong?

When I look closely, Shiyori was wearing her usual jersey. And since her hair was left organized as it was, somehow, I got an out of place feeling, or rather an impression of imbalance looking at that. That was when I blurted out the words I was thinking in my mind.

“If you are going to change yourself, why not also change from jersey to wear for your loungewear?”

“!!”

Hearing that, Shiyori’s face turned bright red in a flurry, as her eyes began to swim around. She immediately turned around and ran back to her room.

Looking at her running back, I thought that I had really gone and done it now.

――What the heck am I saying…

I return to my room while scratching my head in order to forget what happened just now.

As soon as I turned on my PC, I noticed several messages had arrived on my smartphone.

《Are you logging in today, can you please  notify me about it.?》

《There is something that I want you to tell me.》

《Hey, why is there still no reply! Mou! I am done with you!》

《A~H Philia-san is here! FINE, I’ll ask Philia-san to tell me about it Humph!.》

It was all from Nanjo Rin.

If you look at the history, all of it was sent in a succession of over every few minutes.

While apologizing in my heart, I quickly sent 《I’m coming in now》 and logged in.

“Sorry, I’m a little late”

“You’re late, Kreis-kun!”

“Good evening – desu”

Because of what happened moments earlier, I was wondering how I should react to Philia-san, but somehow, she was surprisingly normal.

Again, even though Nanjo Rin had sent such a flurry of urgent messages, here, she was just as normal.

Somehow I felt a little overwhelmed.

Apparently, Shiyori and Nanjo Rin, who had logged in earlier, were about to do something.

“Oh, yeah! Look at this, Cinq-kun!”

“What do you think? How is it?”

“Un… O~oh?”

When I looked at him, Cinq’s attire had changed from the beginner’s equipment which he wore until yesterday to something gorgeous.

It’s was a red dress costume that was seemingly worn by some high-class lady somewhere.

Since it can also be equipped by male characters, there were many characters who use that to create a joke appearance for their characters.

“There are more! Show the earlier one!”

“This …one desu!”

“Hoho~u”

This time, it was a poncho with an autumn-inspired pattern that completely covered the character’s buttocks. The fluffy beret with the combination of hot pants look good on it.

“Yeap cute~ , isn’t it? Cinq-kun is cute!”

“I bought and collected the materials, and asked Philia-san to make it for me!”

“A~h, that’s not such a big deal… But wasn’t Cinq a male character?”

They both really suited each other very well.

Rather, it suited him too well that no matter how I looked at it, it was definitely a girl.

In that case, wouldn’t it have been better if she had selected a female avatar from the very beginning?

“Haa… You still don’t understand, Kreis-kun. Rather, why not! Moreover, there is also a phrase saying that it’s better with that thing attached, remember!?”

[TL notes: Please don’t make me .. Well think of it as a trap.]

“It’s perverted and good!”

“Is that how it is supposed to be?”

“Right~!” “Desu~!”

… It seemed like the two of them hit it off quite well with each other. 

And when I got to see two girls saying that in a single breath, I was left with no words to even reply with.

“More importantly. Cinq, what do you want me to teach you?”

“Yes desu, there is something I want to try out desu.”

“Eh, what is it? I will cooperate with anything so you can say it.”

I thought it would be bad if things went on like this, so I asked about the message she sent me on my smartphone to change the topic.

What came back was an unexpected line.

“I want to try Tank!”

A tank is a party shield that receives enemy attacks. Since one has to keep an eye on the opponent’s behavior and attack patterns and the rear guard at the same time so that the attacker doesn’t fly off, it can be said to be a role for intermediate to advanced players.

At least, it’s not recommended for beginners just starting out.

“Cinq-kun, tanks are quite difficult, you know?”

“Honestly speaking, they are indeed quite difficult, and I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners, however…”

I asked her as if to confirm it, but the words that returned without any doubts expressed the strength of her will.

“Actually, there’s a girl in the same class that I want to protect.”