I Joined the Sentai Heroes Who Were Beautiful Girls Other Than Me but the Heroines Were All Yanderangers

93. Reckless Determination

My eyes are still flickering. My head is a little groggy.

“That’s why you shouldn’t watch TV in a dark room…”

I finally understood the meaning of the warning I often saw as a child. In the early afternoon, Tokiwa Uguisu was watching the two people walking ahead of her with a serious expression.

“I’m hungry, I wonder if my brother will buy me lunch”

My brother was eating a big popcorn, but I ended up not being able to buy anything because Tokiwa Uguisu kept dragging me around. I wanted to eat the buttered popcorn and the long, cinnamon-scented bread, but my expectations were high, so I ‘m even hungrier.

“….”

I don’t intend to become friends with this person, but it bothers me that she’s ignoring me even though I’m trying so hard to talk to her. The contact woman who won’t answer but won’t leave my side occasionally chews on a word I said in the movie theater and makes a bitter face. Is she really planning to go to them and ask them directly?

My malicious suggestion seems to have troubled her more than I expected. But that’s fine. I want to reconfirm my brother’s feelings too.

“Oh, I’m going downstairs. Wait, that’s right”

The movie theater is located on the fourth floor of a large shopping mall, and I saw on the signboard earlier that there is a restaurant area on the first floor. As we went down the three long escalators, my brother kept stroking Take Momoka’s head in front of him. He even leaned in on her, taking advantage of the even greater height difference than usual, and slowly descended to the first floor where the restaurant was located.

“Come on, Senpai, you’re heavy–“

Only the cheerful voice of the shrill Dianthus could be heard.

Looking at the two of them nestled together with peaceful expressions, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were different when I visited my brother’s house yesterday. Dianthus would blush deeply at the slightest touch from my brother and seemed awkward, so I didn’t t think they were dating.

However, perhaps they were only acting that way because I and my mother were there. Or maybe something happened after I left. Dianthus didn’t end up coming to the scene, so it’s not impossible.

None of this can be properly guessed with my meager experience in love.

The only reason I’ve followed them this far is because their relationship suddenly changed, and I felt a sense of dissonance in my brother’s behavior. I’m pretending to be led by Tokiwa Uguisu, but I’m secretly investigating because there’s something that doesn’t sit right with me.

Because it all happened too suddenly. Both their mutual affection and my brother’s rejection of me.

But is it really inconsistent?

Like an escalator moving silently, a new question emerged slowly, unpleasantly expanding in my mind.

Actually, there’s nothing strange. The dissonance is a lie. It’s just my delusion, unable to accept that my brother has a girlfriend, and in reality, there’s no problem at all. Just like Tokiwa Uguisu’s delusion, I want to believe that there’s a reason for this and that my brother actually loves me. No, maybe I just want to believe it.

Whether it’s being excited about going to a movie theater for the first time, using the Green Pass for older people, or repeatedly chanting to myself that I don’t want to follow them, all my actions today may have stemmed from wanting to ignore the happy fact that has befallen my brother.

“Hey, Tokiwa Uguisu.”

If that’s the case, then it’s no good.

“…”

At the end of the escalator, after landing with a thud, I turned around and asked.

“Can I go and ask?”

I haven’t been accepted. I still can’t give up. If I keep turning a blind eye to the truth, these unpleasant feelings will linger forever.

“Whether they are really dating, or if there is some reason… I want to know. I want to be convinced.”

I want to hear it properly from my brother’s mouth again. So that I’ll never again have such convenient delusion that it was a misunderstanding, that there was a reason, that it was a joke. I have to know the answer myself.

“You can come with me, or you can keep following us in secret. But I’m going. Even if I do this, nothing good will happen for us.”

“…Are you serious?”

She finally spoke. Unlike in the movie theater, there were many people around. But her forced words reached my ears clearly.

“Do you think I’m a paranoid woman who knows nothing? I know that you keep saying you’re just her younger sister, but you’re seriously in love with Sora.”

An adult expression that seemed to say she had seen through me. I didn’t know this person’s eyes could be so dim, deep, and eerily colored. Maybe she has already noticed that I’m going to confront him to get dumped.

“I just realized it recently. It’s the first time. That’s why I don’t know what to do… I want my brother to give me the answer to what I don’t understand.”

Without any hesitation, our feelings are connected.

“Sora? There’s no guarantee that Sora will tell you his true feelings. Sora, an adult, will lie if there’s a reason. He can even pretend to be in love. You’re just a child, so you wouldn’t understand this , but do you really think it’s right to take Sora’s words at face value and act accordingly?”

“I think so.”

I looked her straight in the eye and replied. Our gazes clashed clearly, and Tokiwa Uguisu made a strange face as if she could visually see the vast difference in our values. I continued without thinking.

“Even if it’s not my brother’s true feelings, even if he lied to me for a reason. It’s the answer my brother gave me for my sake, a lie for my sake. If it’s a lie like that, then I have to.. . believe it. I have to follow it.”

“That’s ridiculous. That’s too blind faith.”

“That’s my love, that’s all I have.”

Tokiwa Uguisu didn’t try to stop me.

“We’ll lose sight of them, let’s go quickly.”

Skillfully weaving through the crowd, we headed towards the restaurant area.