Operetta - Brothers 5

Location: Coffee Shop

- A few days later, on a weekend evening -

Mao: ‘Sup~. Sorry, sorry. I really made you wait, Ritsu.

Ritsu: You did. Apologize more. If I'd been meeting up with anyone but Maa~kun, like for a date or something, I’d definitely have gone home by now. And from the next day on they’d be a stranger to me.

Mao: I told you I’m sorry. I’m really super busy lately~, I was already past my limit at this point in time last year, and it feels like my work has doubled since then. 

Ritsu: But isn’t that just the position you wanted to be in~? If you wanna complain, why not quit entirely instead?

Fine by me, though. I am well aware that nothing I could say here would get through to you, Maa~kun, since you love working yourself to the bone.

…..Um? 

Koga: Yo.

Ritsu: Hey Corgi, what are you doing here? I thought this would finally be a chance for me to be “all alone” with Maa~kun for the first time in a while~.

Koga: Sorry for intrudin’ then… But since this involves Sakuma-senpai, it’s not someone else’s business to me. I won’t get in your way, so leave me be.

Mao: Mhm. Koga seemed to be pretty worried about this, so I thought it’d be faster to explain it to both of you at the same time and brought him along.

And he might not necessarily turn out to be unrelated to all this, I think.

Ritsu: ….?

Koga: I appreciate that, but. Hey Dekosuke, why are we havin’ this conversation at a coffee shop that’s strangely far from the academy?

We could’ve done this at school, even if we got split into different classes this spring.

Thanks to that, Ritchii has been annoyin’ me day in and day out with his “I’m so lonely”, “I want to see Maa~kun”, like you two got separated by death.

Mao: Don’t look at me. That’s something the school decided on~, so complaining about it won’t change a thing.

Anyway, there’s a reason as to why we’re meeting here, but telling you right now would be no fun so I’m keeping it a secret for now.

Just explaining everything with words would be lame, right?

In any case. I’m seriously busy, and I’m sure you guys want your suspicions cleared up as quickly as possible, so I’ll get right into it. Koga, can you go ahead and just order whatever drinks for us?

Koga: Aahn? Don’t you go orderin’ me around, do you think you’re suddenly hot shit just ‘cause you’re the student council president now?

Well, whatever. Ritchii, you already ordered for yourself? 

Ritsu: Yeah. I don’t like to imitate that thing, but I ordered tomato juice… Just drinking something that’s blood-colored is unexpectedly comforting.

Koga: Haha. Like someone who’s quittin’ cigarettes and says “my mouth feels lonely” before suckin’ on a lollypop, huh? 

Mao: Ahaha. I know you don’t like to hear this, but you siblings are really alike in that regard. ...Anyway, I’ll cut to the chase and say what I came here to tell you.

About “Operetta”.

The inquiry came from Ritsu, and I took some time to look into the matter after that…

It’s not related to the academy, but to “that agency”. It seems that they really are planning a project with that name… That’s all I was able to ascertain.

It was a pain to figure it out~. The project’s still not confirmed by official sources, and they’re bound by confidentiality.

But well, the vice pre-... Hasumi-senpai is outside the range of that confidentiality, and was able to allude to it a little bit.

...Maybe I made him cross an unnecessarily dangerous bridge for this. Honestly, in the past and even now, he’s someone I owe a great debt to.

Koga: Hmm? Maybe it’s ‘cause I’m pretty much an outsider and that’s why I don’t get it, but why does that shitty four-eyes know about “Operetta”? 

Maybe he reconciled with Sakuma-senpai after graduation? In that case… Well, I guess all I can say to that is “good for him”, huh.

Mao: No, no. Since you’re still working together as the four of you in UNDEAD you should know this, Koga. Look, at “that agency”, both Akatsuki and UNDEAD--

Koga: Ah, right. I see, so he got that information because they’re workin’ at the same place.

Now that he doesn’t have that high and mighty status of “Vice Student Council President” anymore, that shitty four-eyes should live his life for himself for once.

Instead he’s gettin’ right into the next status position, and probably stickin’ his nose into other people’s business the whole time. It’s an illness, I tell ya. What an idiot.

Mao: ? Actually, were you that close with Hasumi-senpai? The way you’re talking about him makes it sound that way.

Koga: We used to be, I guess… Well, this ain’t about me.

Puttin’ that aside. The problem here is that “Operetta” project, what the hell’s that all about?

I ain’t heard a word about this, and even if this concerns only “that building”, I’m still part of UNDEAD.

Mao: Hm. Well from what I’ve heard, it seems like it’s a job Sakuma-senpai accepted as an individual.

I tried to look into it more myself, but I also asked Makoto to help with the research and analysis, since he’s good with the internet. Because of that, well, I think the information we gathered is pretty accurate.

“Operetta” is a type of live that we often have at Yumenosaki.

It’ll take place at the beginning of next month--... And as you can infer from the name “Operetta”, it’ll be held at an opera house.

Or well, it’s a theater. These days, something like an opera isn’t exactly in vogue after all.

Koga: Haha. Of course, since it’s the era of rock now.

Ritsu: The rock fad is long over, I think. If anything, I’d say the current era is that of idols.

Operetta - Brothers 6

Location: Coffee Shop

Ritsu: Well, putting that aside. Hmm… That story's weirdly different than the rumors that've been spreading around, isn't it?

“Operetta” is a live where Anija is going to advertise me, his “cute little brother” to the world at large… At least that’s what I’ve heard.

That’s why I was all like, “what is that piece of shit Anija thinking”, and got mad at him.

...But now that I think about it, there’s no way Anija would have accepted that job if he knew it would cause me trouble and mental agony.

On the contrary, it seems like he stubbornly tried to keep the fact that he has a younger brother a secret from the world by all means possible.

And I can’t imagine that he’d think “Now that his existence has been exposed during that incident the other day, I might as well turn on him and introduce him to the world with great fanfare~” either.

Mao: You think? I guess all “siblings” are different in a way…

If I were in his position, and my little sister aimed to become an idol, I’d definitely tell people “That’s my little sister! She’s working hard, so please support her!” whenever I got the chance to.

Ritsu: You really dote on your sister so hard for no reason, Maa~kun… That’s exactly why she’s so cocky and impolite to you.

Mao: Eh~, isn’t that better than needlessly playing the high and mighty older brother?

Koga: You’re gettin’ sidetracked. So what is this “Operetta” all about, in the end?

Mao: Yeah, that’s what we haven’t really been able to figure out entirely.

However… There’s a limit to what we can find out by investigating from the outside and speculating, so I thought it’d be faster if we just asked the person in question directly.

I called Sakuma-senpai here.

Since this is an important time for him right now and he’s been crazy busy since he graduated, I chose this coffee shop since it’s close to the dormitory he lives in as our meeting place.

Ritsu: Aah, thanks for solving that completely inconsequential mystery. I see, so that’s why we’re in this coffee shop?

Mao: Ahaha. I wanted to keep it a secret but it slipped out… He’s an alumnus, but I thought it might be difficult for him to just walk into the grounds of Yumenosaki Academy all carefreely now.

Especially since the campus security has been reinforced lately.

Ritsu: Yeah, and vampires can’t enter places they’re not invited in. Though, that’s a rule only a minority of us conscientiously follow these days, even within our family.

Koga: Aah, so that’s why Sakuma-senpai doesn’t ever drop by Yumenosaki. The twins are lonely, y’know. ...Maybe they’re dissatisfied with just me.

Ritsu: Ahaha. Normally, you’d think he just doesn’t want to see you because he hates you, Corgi.

Koga: I-It’s not like he hates me! Why would you think that, Ritchii...?

Ritsu: It was just a light joke. Sorry, sorry~.

...Huh?

Kaoru: Hello~hello~, how are you guys? It’s me, Kaoru-oniisan~♪

Koga: Wuoah!? What the hell are you doin’ here? Wasn’t the one you called here Sakuma-senpai, Dekosuke?

Kaoru: Oh-oh? Feels like I’m not wanted here? How sad~, Wan-chan you bully! You’re so cold to me, even though I love you this much~♪

Koga: Aah shit, how irritatin’! Don’t come huggin’ me every damn time we meet, it hasn’t even been long enough for you to have missed me this much!

We see each other all the time when we do work for “that agency”, right? 

Kaoru: Ahaha. While I was still enrolled at the academy I hated you, but now that we’re separated I get strangely nostalgic and lonely without you…

I guess I should do childish things like this more often, is what I thought.

Also, to solve this completely inconsequential mystery: Me and “Rei-kun” have a job to do together after this, so I decided to drop by.

That guy is surprisingly careless about punctuality, so I’ve gotta keep my eye on him.

Koga: …Bastard, you went and changed the way you address Sakuma-senpai at some point, didn’t cha?

Kaoru: Yup. The idol industry is merit-based~, so there’s no place for treating people like your elders or juniors.

He told me himself to drop to the suffix if I wanted to, but I just couldn’t get accustomed to that.

And well, that’s why I now tentatively call him “Rei-kun”.

Koga: ...I’m fine with you droppin’ the suffix for me too, y’know?

Kaoru: Eh, what was your name again? I remembered you as “Wan-chan”, so I have no idea~, sorry~ ♪

Koga: Aahn!? If you’re bein’ serious right now, I won’t forgive you!

Kaoru: Eh~, as usual you just don’t play along with my jokes~... This must be what they mean by “youth”, if you keep getting angry at every little thing it’ll take a toll on your body, alright? Smile, smile ♪

Ritsu: Umm. Kaoru-san, thank you for always taking care of my brother.*

However, I can’t seem to see my brother, could you tell me where that thing is?

Koga: Oooh… Bastard, what’re you talkin’ to Hakaze-senpai all politely for? For a moment I couldn’t tell who was speakin’.

Ritsu: Hm. Well, he managed to pull off what I couldn’t, so I respect him quite a bit.

And I like that he always acts like he has no motivation to do anything, just like me.

I wish Kaoru-san was my Onii-chan...♪

Kaoru: Eh~, I’m really honored to hear that, but Rei-kun would cry if he heard that, you know? “Siblings” should get along~, though I’m in no position at all to say that ♪

By the way. My partner has finally figured out how to use a smartphone, so he’s been calling people all the time.

Using his phone inside the coffee shop would be bad manners, so he’s still outside.

Koga: Tch… So now he’s suddenly conscientious about that, even though he used to do whatever he liked regardless of the occasion back at school, like sleepin’ in his coffin whenever and wherever.

Kaoru: Ahaha. That can’t be helped~, he can’t stay Peter Pan forever.

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*Aside from the obvious “-san”, Ritsu also uses very polite language here and doesn’t even call Rei “Anija”, but “uchi no ani” (my brother).