My Friend's Little Sister Has It In for Me! (友達の妹が俺にだけウザい)

As promised,

I've come up with a good idea for something you can immerse yourself in

while enjoying a normal student life.

Have a seat, both of you.

Wow, check out this room.

Is your brother a scientist or something?

H-He's just a nerd.

Huh...

Dude, this goes way beyond nerd!

Tachibana then spent a while playing the game we had made.

Ozu's sister seemed to enjoy it well enough, too.

MY FRIEND'S LITTLE SISTER HAS IT IN FOR ME!

#05 "MY FRIEND'S LITTLE SISTER KEEPS GETTING CLOSE TO ME"

Well? What'd you think?

Pretty mid.

The art's meh, and the music sounds cheap.

But...

I can't believe I enjoyed it so much based on gameplay alone.

Why did I get so into it?

That's it!

The gameplay!

What you just said is the answer!

In essence, a video game is just a game of pretend.

Pretend? What do you mean?

Rock-paper-scissors, tag, hide-and-seek, dodgeball...

We all played those a lot in grade school, right?

Yeah, so much that I got sick of them.

Did you really, though?

Well, I'd probably have fun if I played them now, I guess.

Right? That's because...

they're some of the most perfect, complete games out there.

The rules are simple, and the conditions for winning are clear.

Players just strive to win, nothing more.

Video games are the same way, right?

Good point.

A truly good game doesn't need showiness to be entertaining.

Even on a low budget, if we just put in the work,

we can make a game that'll captivate fans around the world!

The one hurdle every game creator needs to overcome

is finding sufficient programming knowledge and technique,

but Ozu can bring any idea to life.

Like you said, though, the music is pretty low-quality.

The music...

If only we knew someone who could compose good music.

What are you getting at?

Would you two... be interested in developing the game with us?

A game? Wait... Me, too?

But I can't do anything—

Not a problem! You're Ozu's sister, so you're in!

There's plenty to be done, anyway.

That seems kinda careless!

Honestly, I'm kinda intrigued,

but I could never betray Otoi-senpai after all she's done for me!

I already got her approval, actually.

What?!

I'm totally okay with Asagi's creative pursuits.

I encourage them, in fact.

Well, make your choice. Decide for yourself if you want to do it or not.

Nothing more.

If it means Iroha won't end up a delinquent, I agree it's for the best!

Tachibana-san!

You should definitely do this, too!

If we help them, we get to play fun games all we want, right?

We can say goodbye to the boring lives we've had until now!

I'm sorry. I'll have to pass.

Tachibana-san, I'm sorry to put you through all this.

I won't ask you to let me be part of your group anymore.

Iroha... Come on, don't make this all sad.

You're talking like we'll never see each other again.

No, I'm not saying that.

If you do another street performance, call me, okay? I'll be there.

Well, I'm glad to hear that, but...

Oh! You're going to have a game dev meeting now, right?

I'm sure I'd just be in the way, so I'll step out for a bit.

Iroha! Wait a—

Man, she left quick!

You guys wait here.

Hold up, hold up, hold up.

Hey, yo. Why'd you run away?

Making a game with them sounds fun as hell, yo.

I... I think so, too.

It's not like Iroha-chan actually wanted to be a delinquent or anything.

I get what you're both saying.

But when I saw how Tachibana-san reacted when they asked us to help them,

it made me see the truth all over again.

What truth, yo?

Tachibana-san has her desire to play music that keeps her centered,

so she can be anywhere and still be herself.

And you don't have anything like that?

Of course I don't.

I just looked up to Tachibana-san because I envied her. That was all.

It's not like I had something I actually wanted to do.

I just wanted to be like her.

Oh, no! That's what they call being a wannabe, y'know!

No mercy at all, huh?

But... I think you're right.

Iroha-chan, are you... holding back?

Holding back?

You always... avoid putting yourself out there, you know?

That's because...

Hey, you.

You shouldn't do that.

Wow...

Wh-Wh...

Why are you here?!

He saw me.

He saw me! He saw me!

Yes, I did, but don't worry!

I'm not freaked out or anything!

That's what everyone says when they're actually freaked out!

I mean, yeah, I was at first.

But don't worry!

After a while, all I could think of was that your acting was incredible.

So you were freaked out at first!

If you think I'm not gonna worry about it just 'cuz you said not to, you're very wrong!

Stop nitpicking every detail!

A bit of insensitivity makes life richer!

Now you're gonna patronize me?!

You're entirely to blame in this situation, you know!

I can't argue with that.

Look, Ozu's sister, I won't tell anyone what I just saw, okay?

So can you not glare at me like that?

You're planning to blackmail me instead, aren't you?

- You're gonna ask me to do something dirty! - No, I won't!

You really are unusual, Ohboshi-senpai.

I'm aware of that.

That makes you even more evil.

Hey, so... That one-woman act you were doing...

Do you have to reopen that wound?

I was genuinely impressed by your acting ability.

Huh?

At first, when I was only hearing the voices,

I thought there were three people.

Three people with totally different personalities and voices.

But it was totally weird, wasn't it?

Seeing you doing it didn't make it any less amazing.

In fact, seeing that it was just you impressed me even more.

R-Really? Well, thanks... I guess?

You've made a fan out of me.

Huh?

But that wasn't anything special.

I was just playing around to stave off boredom.

I used to think the characters I saw in Sunday morning anime as a kid were cute,

so I'd mimic them.

Every kid goes through that at least once.

I guess so, huh?

But for some reason, the moment my mom saw me doing it, she went nuts.

She got all angry, and then sad. That was when it all began.

She made me avoid fun things and focus on studying from then on.

Did you ask her why?

I never found out. She wouldn't tell me.

But when I saw how sad she looked, I couldn't bring myself to say any more.

So that's why you just do as your mom says now?

Yeah.

But I got so bored once we didn't have a TV anymore.

I started making up my own stories and acting them out,

but I have no talent for creating stories or characters,

so I just base them on classmates or people I see around.

Ah, so that's why they sounded so stereotypical.

Still, it's impressive enough that you can act that well without a script.

Y-You think so?

Wait, so do you do drama or something?

Nope.

But my mom does makeup for actors and stuff,

and I went on location with her a bunch of times when I was little.

Wow...

Your acting ability is exceptional.

And I've seen a lot of actors, so you can trust my judgment.

It's sort of embarrassing when you praise me so sincerely.

You must be good at seeing people for who they are.

That's why you can portray them so realistically just from looking at them.

When you put it that way... Maybe so.

I just never realized it before.

But you can't bring yourself to betray your mom,

and things between you and Ozu are awkward.

Well... yeah.

I figure he doesn't want anything to do with me,

and as far as Mom goes... frankly, you hit the nail on the head.

So you wanted an outsider to twist your arm into it by force.

And when some delinquents reached out to you,

you thought you'd get them to change you

in a way that absolved you of responsibility.

Sorry if I hit a sore spot.

No, it's fine. That's probably the truth.

I'll drag you into something fun by force

and coerce you to break your mom's rules!

So would you entrust the life of Kohinata Iroha to me?

My life? When did the stakes get raised so high?!

You enjoy it, don't you?

Enjoy what?

Acting. Portraying someone else.

Well... it's pretty much all I've ever done, so...

Then isn't this exactly the path an actor should follow?

Not a mere mimicry of Tachibana, but a dream for Kohinata Iroha alone.

Doesn't that feel right?

An actor...

Let's work on the game together.

Ohboshi-senpai...

We'll take precautions to make sure your mom doesn't find out.

So please!