I Think I'm Inside A Shoujo Manga

Chapter 9 | Heroine's Halo

Brother is most likely already aware of Momo's presence inside our house.

He gave me a glance, "Where are you two going?"

I didn't bother answering since Momo would do all the talking. 

She beamed happily while telling my brother about our supposed plans, in which some of them somehow were included despite me not knowing it.

"And then, we're going to the garden!"

Brother once again stiffened. He awkwardly scratched his neck and asked again.

"The garden?"

"Yes," Momo didn't notice brother's tense tone, "I went there, no, I got to see a glimpse of it. I really want to explore there."

Brother threw me a desperate look.

Poor guy. He must be envying Momo right now.

"I, uh, Momo." Brother tried talking casually, Momo tilted her head in confusion when he suddenly called her name. "Can you both... not go there?"

Then, the atmosphere turned gloomy and glum.

Momo's smiley ambience dropped, making brother cold-sweat by the change of temperature.

"...why can't we go?"

Brother sent sos signals to me, I did not help him since as told, I am not a radio station that receives signals to give you your desired song.

Like father, like son. Brother seriously look like father right now, the familiarity is uncanny, and I'm slightly amused.

Perhaps he settled with a plausible lie, and thus asked us to come to him closer.

Momo intently listened to him.

"This is a secret but..." Brother started his oscar-winning acting, whispering his voice like he really meant what he said. "There's a certain location where the garden is haunted."

Momo slightly gasped and brother frowned, putting a finger on his lips. He then explicitly told her to not tell anyone about this information.

I was very much amazed with my brother's unexpected talent of acting. For a guy his age, it was quite impressive.

Momo was deceived, I felt a bit bad for doing this but I blamed it all on my brother. He started this.

"I went there because I was chasing a cute cat," His eyes were narrowed—as if he's afraid. "But then..."

Momo waited for the climax but brother cut his story there.

"Momo, I'm sorry. I don't want to recall these memories, but please understand, you can't go there."

She was clasping her hand together, it trembled a little.

I decided to go all in with acting. I held her hand and made a frightened expression, "Momo, I didn't expect this too. What should we do?"

She saw that I was scared and tried to act tough in order to make me feel a bit better, when in fact, it's making my guilt deeper.

"It's okay, Yasu!" She bravely assured me, truly a good child. "We don't have to go there, I'm sure there's other places similar to it."

I saw my brother's stoic face slightly smiled at her dialogue, relieved.

He wiped his smile off his face when she turned back her attention to him.

"Tsukishima-san, do you know any places with similar... vibes?" 

She sought my confirmation on her choice of words, I nodded and gave her a thumbs up to the new word she added inside her brain vocabulary.