Chapter 10: My Younger Sister Chokes Me
A clamor—
I never expected my extremely awkward self-introduction to be so well-received. At least it didn’t fall flat, and everyone in the class seemed quite interested in me.
How should I put it… Fools have good fortune? Does playing dumb work everywhere?
In hindsight, I successfully established the image of an energetic character who is, perhaps, a bit strange but seems cheerful.
My seat is in the last row by the window.
This used to be Lianbing’s spot. I see, in this corner of the classroom, I do feel a bit isolated. I looked ahead. Did Lianbing used to look at me like this too?
It’s just the back of someone’s head, what’s so interesting about that?
“Hey! Transfer student!”
The person in front of me suddenly turned around, startling me.
“Did you mean what you said earlier? About making a hundred friends? Hey, there aren’t even a hundred people in this class combined!”
“Ah… that… it was just talk…”
I almost said it like I normally would.
No, my current character is an optimist. I absolutely can’t mess this up!
“I’m serious! Ahahaha!”
“Oh~ Interesting. Then I’ll be your first friend, okay?”
“Eh? Ah, yes, absolutely!”
“Hehe, my name is Yun Qingqiong. We’re friends from now on!”
Huh? I made a friend just like that?
Eh? Are friends really this easy to make?
Then why didn’t I have any friends before…
No, did I even try to make friends…
I fell into deep self-doubt.
“Over there! No whispering~ Even if you’re curious about the transfer student, ask after class.”
“Okay~ Teacher Xiaozhen.”
Well, I can’t even recognize all my classmates, let alone students from lower grades.
The most familiar person is Yu Hui. I don’t know anyone else. My younger sisters never invited friends over, so I don’t know their friends either.
Speaking of Keling, thankfully she’s sitting a bit further forward, so she probably won’t be deliberately looking at me.
Because she’s covering her eyes with her bangs, she probably can’t see where I’m looking. And I just made that exaggerated expression, twisting my face, so theoretically, she shouldn’t notice anything else.
With that thought, I looked at the second row in the adjacent column.
…She’s staring.
Keling is completely ignoring everyone else and turning her head, narrowing her eyes, and staring intently this way!
What the heck! Why does she notice even after I’ve gone this far!
And out of all the classes, why am I in the same class as Keling!
What kind of fate is this, the fate between siblings… It’s too much!
Teacher Xiaozhen also noticed Keling staring at me and reminded her.
“Classmate An, I know you’re curious about the transfer student, but you should be looking at me during class.”
“Teacher, the transfer student doesn’t seem to have a textbook.”
“Oh? Is that so? The textbooks probably haven’t arrived yet. Then, could the student next to him lend him one for now…”
“Teacher, I’ll go borrow one for him.”
Teacher Xiaozhen’s words couldn’t stop Keling’s extraordinary initiative. Keling, with the textbook and her chair, came to my seat.
Then she placed the chair on the aisle next to me, opened the textbook on my desk, and revealed a…
Even though she’s my younger sister, I never expected Keling to do something like this!
What is this girl trying to do!
However, she said nothing, seemingly just kindly wanting to lend me her textbook. Teacher Xiaozhen didn’t say much upon seeing this.
The distance between Keling and me is about ten centimeters, with no physical contact. This gave me a strange feeling.
Because the distance between Keling and me was almost non-existent. Whenever she saw me, she would either hug me or cling to me, treating me as her personal pet.
In other words, this is the first time I’ve seen such a reserved Keling… I might have seen her like this when she was very young, but at that time, both Keling and I were just children.
This subtle distance made me sober up.
Ah, this child is An Keling, but she’s not my sister.
Although her gaze remained fixed on my face…
I felt very uncomfortable.
This gaze was different from Lan’s gaze. It was more like the gaze of a police officer interrogating a criminal, as if she wanted to see right through me.
In this agonizing state, I still had to pretend to be diligently listening in class. It was truly too demanding…
Finally, the bell rang for the end of the period.
Almost the moment Teacher Xiaozhen left the classroom, Keling, who was sitting next to me, spoke.
And after Keling spoke to me, everyone else who intended to approach me stopped in their tracks and then retreated to their seats, giving me sympathetic glances.
Huh? Sympathy?
“My surname is also An. My name is Keling. Coincidentally, we have the same surname.”
At least everyone I’ve met with the surname An so far have been from my home—well.
“We’re classmates from now on. Shall I give you a tour of the school?”
Her smile was so friendly that ninety-nine out of a hundred people would unhesitatingly think Keling was an angelic girl.
But that didn’t include me.
This was a smile with ulterior motives. Having been her brother for so long, if I couldn’t even see that, I’d be a failure.
Is it still because of my face? Or is it this unreliable thing called a woman’s intuition? Regardless, giving me a tour of the school is definitely an excuse. She just wants a space to talk alone.
But refusing here would be bad. I should probably agree.
At this moment, Yun Qingqiong, who was sitting in front of me, suddenly stood up and pointed at Keling, challenging her.
Huh? Little Witch? What’s with that nickname?
“Just giving the transfer student a tour of the school.”
“Leave the school tour to me! We just became friends!”
“Ah, is that so? That’s amazing, Classmate Yun. You’re truly gifted. You became friends in just a few minutes. You must have many friends, right?”
“Hmph! Of course!”
“Heh~ That’s impressive. Your friends must really like you, right?”
“Th-that’s for sure! They all like me a lot!”
“Indeed, there are more and more perverts who like washing boards lately.”
“Eh? What?”
Poor child, she’s being toyed with. She’s saying that all your friends are perverts who like washing boards… Wait, does that include me?
Whispers could be heard around me. Everyone looked dumbfounded, but no one moved to intervene.
In other words, this is a common scene?
But this reaction is wrong. I remember Keling being the epitome of a good girl at school—good grades, good at sports, kind personality, many friends, the complete opposite of her brother, a super social butterfly!
“Classmate An?”
“Ah, sorry, I was spacing out. You don’t have to call me Classmate An. We have the same surname, so it’s troublesome to call you. Just call me Juncheng.”
“Alright, then, classmate Juncheng, well… because of a certain washing board, some time was wasted. How about I show you around the campus during lunch break?”
“Who are you calling a washing board! Juncheng! This person’s nickname is Little Witch! Don’t be fooled by her smiling face; she might be plotting something!”
It seems like Keling in this world is a bit different…
That’s right. Xinran also said that Keling was constantly mindful of her image because she wanted to create a well-behaved impression in front of me.
But in this world… Keling doesn’t have a brother!
Without the object of her affection, there’s no need to use her angel mode anymore!
She’s directly in demon mode now! Is that why others call her Little Witch?
“Please don’t refuse me.”
This sentence felt like it invaded my eardrums with a chill, freezing my mind.
Whether I refused or agreed, I couldn’t say anything. I spent the entire morning sitting in my seat like a statue, while Keling kept staring at me.
Then, during lunch break, I was semi-forcefully dragged to tour the familiar school.
Along the way, it seemed somewhat normal. She introduced me to various locations in the school until we reached the rooftop of the science building.
It should have been locked, but for some reason, Keling had the key.
“How is it? The view here is great, isn’t it?”
“Ah~ It’s very nice! But, is it okay to just come in here? I’m satisfied with just one look. Let’s go back to the classroom, Classmate Keling. Ahahahaha~”
I chuckled foolishly and turned back, trying to leave the rooftop.
Bang!
However, before my hand could reach the doorknob, the door was forcibly shut.
“Can you stop putting on that fake attitude? It disgusts me.”
She could tell I was faking it?
I couldn’t help but sigh and ask helplessly.
“…What exactly do you want, Keling… classmate.”
“I want to get a good look at your face.”
“Ah? Whoa!”
She suddenly grabbed my tie and hooked her other foot around my heel, making me fall backward onto the ground.
Keling straddled me, lifted the hand that was holding my tie, and with her other hand, pushed aside my disheveled bangs.
“Just as I thought.”
Keling leaned her face close to mine, staring at me with wide eyes, and finally confirmed.
“You look a lot like my older sister.”
…
So, she saw through it after all…
“Your sister?”
“Yes, my sister disappeared a year ago.”
“Eh? Disappeared… That’s truly unfortunate news.”
“Although Father, my stepmother, and Xinran sister have all given up, I haven’t. I must find Zi’ai sister, so I stayed here…”
Only Keling stayed behind? But Zi’ai “disappeared” while on vacation, right? The search would be on the island, so why stay in this city?
“For a period before Zi’ai sister disappeared, she became a bit strange… she spaced out more often, would sometimes talk to herself in a voice only she could hear, her bath times became extremely long, she’d constantly check her phone, and she’d look in the mirror a lot, but wouldn’t put on makeup. She even tied her hair up and tucked it into her collar… Heh, isn’t that strange?”
“There’s also a very important thing… I didn’t tell my parents about this, but it’s precisely because of this that I decided to stay here.”
Keling’s smile vanished, replaced by a serious expression. Her gaze towards me became increasingly hostile.
“Zi’ai sister once murmured in her sleep, ‘Juncheng, I want to see…’ That Jun… is you, isn’t it? An Juncheng.”
Ah ha…
Her words left me speechless. So it wasn’t a woman’s intuition or sibling destiny. It was bound to happen that it would turn out this way…
My dear (former) younger sister glared at me, directly grabbed my neck, and snarled fiercely.
“Speak! Where did you hide my sister!”
…You’re choking me, how am I supposed to speak!
My foolish younger sister.
