Chapter 31: Two-Timing?

After repeated efforts by Teacher Tamaki, she finally managed to secure a spot for Origami in front of the Principal.

Once the personnel were confirmed, Teacher Tamaki notified the six people to attend a meeting after school that afternoon.

The meeting was mainly about assigning tasks and important points to keep in mind.

Since the tour was hosted by Shiryuudanshi Girls Academy and Miku Izayoi, there weren’t many positions left for Raizen High School, and the roles were all fairly simple, so the teacher in charge of assignments distributed the tasks without even checking the students’ circumstances.

But these tasks really were simple enough that anyone could do them.

In the end, Shiori was assigned to the Publicity Department, responsible for publicity work, and Tohka was also assigned to this department.

Origami, on the other hand, was grouped with Ai, Mai, and Mei to take care of backstage organization and similar tasks.

Although Origami raised objections to this arrangement, the teacher flatly rejected her.

“Hmph, this time I win.”

Leaving the classroom, Tohka looked at Origami with a proud face.

“You just got lucky. If I see you dragging Shiori down, don’t think I’ll go easy on you.”

Origami replied with her usual expressionless face.

Listening to the two, Shiori was at a loss.

“What strange bet did you two make this time?”

“Nothing.”

Tohka, who always answered any of Shidou’s questions, replied immediately, but the flicker in her eyes clearly meant she was hiding something!

“Origami?”

Shiori turned to Origami.

Tohka’s behavior gave him a bad feeling.

Origami also shook her head and gave the same answer as Tohka.

“Nothing.”

Their relationship usually didn’t seem good, but today they were surprisingly in sync.

As the saying goes, if something abnormal happens, there must be something behind it.

He decided to be on guard around them for now…

***

That night, back at home, Kotori—wearing a white hairband—sucked on a lollipop and urged from the kitchen,

“Oniichan, your cute little sister is starving. Is dinner ready yet?”

“Almost, almost.”

Shidou, now back in his male clothes, replied as he fried eggs.

For the past few days, to adapt to crossdressing, Kotori had insisted he wear female clothes to school and even at home.

Today, for some reason, Kotori switched back to her white hairband, finally freeing Shidou from crossdressing.

But strangely, after taking off the female clothes, Shidou felt a sense of discomfort.

Could it be that he’d become addicted to crossdressing?

No, no, Shidou, you’re a man. How could you be addicted to women’s clothing!

“Shidou, the eggs are about to turn into charcoal, you know?”

“Huh?”

Kotori’s reminder snapped Shidou back.

He saw the egg in the frying pan was nearly burnt and quickly took it out.

Unfortunately, Egg-kun couldn’t be saved and turned into a mysterious black lump, which Shidou dumped into the trash.

At the dining table, Kotori had unknowingly switched back to Commander mode with her black hairband and grinned at Shidou.

“Shidou, did you feel a little regret when you took off your dress just now?”

“Absolutely not.”

Shidou denied immediately and shoveled a mouthful of rice.

Regret wasn’t quite right.

It was just a bit of discomfort, but that was all thanks to Kotori.

After several days of crossdressing, it was only natural that he felt strange switching back to male clothes.

He wasn’t a pervert; he had no particular interest in women’s clothing.

“Really?”

Kotori stared at Shidou, a half-smile on her face.

Shidou frowned slightly.

“What are you trying to say?”

“Just admit it, Shidou. You want to crossdress, don’t you? Don’t overthink it. Even if you’re a pervert, I won’t hate you.”

Kotori said with a tone full of meaning and sympathetic eyes.

Shidou, who had just taken a bite, nearly spat out his rice.

After calming down, he said helplessly,

“Where on earth did you get the idea that I wanted to wear women’s clothes?”

“You were just thinking about it while cooking, weren’t you?”

Kotori pulled out another lollipop from who knows where and popped it in her mouth.

“The first time you cooked in a dress, you didn’t burn the food, but now that you’re back in men’s clothes, you did. Isn’t that proof that you want to wear women’s clothing?”

“What kind of logic is that…”

Shidou sighed, feeling a pain in his liver.

He didn’t know when his cute little sister had become like this.

If possible, he wished Kotori would stick with the white hairband.

“It’s fine, Shidou. I also think it wouldn’t be so bad if you stayed in women’s clothes forever. Oniichan turning into Onee-chan is pretty nice too.”

“Nice my ass!”

Shidou really wanted to flip the table.

He was a man—a genuine, solid man.

How could he ever become Kotori’s Onee-chan?!

“And no eating snacks during dinner.”

“No.”

“‘No’ doesn’t work.”

As he spoke, Shidou reached out to take the lollipop from Kotori’s mouth, but Kotori stubbornly refused to let go.

Shidou had no choice but to give up.

“This can’t happen again.”

“Heehee.”

Kotori laughed twice.

“By the way, did you and Tohka sign up to help with the stage setup at Ryudanshi Girls’ Academy today?”

“How did you know?”

Shidou eyed Kotori suspiciously.

Kotori tilted her lips.

“Did you forget that Reine is still the Assistant Homeroom Teacher in your class?”

“Ah… That…”

Shidou really had forgotten that Reine was the Assistant Homeroom Teacher in their class.

Reine’s presence had been so weak lately that unless someone mentioned her, most of the class would probably forget they even had an Assistant Homeroom Teacher.

Seeing Shidou’s expression, Kotori was almost certain.

She dropped the topic and switched to,

“Joining the stage setup this time is a good opportunity. You must take advantage of it to get close to Miku Izayoi, understood?”

“Of course.”

Shidou nodded.

Then, something else occurred to him.

“By the way, I want to invite Miss Ayase and Shinomiya to watch the tour. What do you think?”

“If you’re not worried about them being discovered by Origami.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. Origami was assigned to the backstage, so if they’re just in the audience, she probably won’t notice them.”

“If that’s the case, then go ahead.”

Kotori nodded, but her expression changed slightly.

“But I didn’t realize you were such a scumbag, Shidou. You even want to two-time? Aren’t you afraid of getting caught dating two people at once?”

“What?”

Shidou didn’t react immediately.

Kotori shook her head with a look of disgust.

“But since you’re my brother, I can’t disown you even if you are a scumbag.”

Only then did Shidou realize what Kotori meant.

“No, you’re misunderstanding. I just wanted to invite Miss Ayase and Shinomiya to watch the tour, that’s all!”